Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

This is the social network equivalent of another motto that comes from the business world: “You are just as good as the last deal you made”. But who has enough time and money to share with other people information for free? You can look at it from the other perspective as well: if you act as if you had all the resources that would allow you to share with others you will eventually get them.

Procuring the buyer a way to get a loan is probably the best selling tool in residential real estate

How this plays into the real estate market? Well, most people today don’t seem to be out looking for a house, but are looking for somebody that will help them get a loan. Addressing the financing issue and helping potential buyers qualify through maybe some financial coaching is proven to be a key factor for facilitating sales in the only area that seems to be moving well now: the first time home buyer.

I have been selling houses for a few months now using some other broker or Realtor and I have noticed that the interest in the property was more dependent on the question: “Is it going to appraise for the agreed selling price?” rather then on the merits of the house itself. Naturally the buyers need to like the house, but they depend utterly on their ability to get a loan for actually getting it.
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I have been conducting a very thorough research during the last few days to evaluate which subject could work best in the evolution of my blog. Sometimes your blog doesn’t have to address directly what you do in business, but can rather be something parallel or connected that is interesting and that you have a passion for. I have therefore made a very wide scope research on the key subjects that word and don’t work on the Internet to establish what are the main topics of interest.

And it looks apparent that the three winners are: how to make money, how to have a better health (which includes looking better, losing weight, and so on), how to save time and have a better life, how to get a date or find a significant other. These are the four wheels that make the world go round: money, health and physical shape, freedom from constraints and love (which includes sex of course).

The picture doesn’t include entertainment as a possible way to make money online. It is actually confirmed by several Internet marketers and bloggers that entertaining others cannot be part of a profitable presence on the web. It can be part of a branding presence of course, but people are used to get entertainment for free and when they get to an entertaining site or video they just leave after the entertainment is over. Also affiliate sales don’t work on these type of sites.
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Time has come to make an assessment of my business and activity to ensure that I am on the right track and that I can travel with the highest speed possible. During a recent seminar I was told that the two key factors to assess a business success are a “clear strategy” and “flawless execution”. The second is heavily dependent on the first, because it doesn’t matter how well you execute if you are going in the wrong direction.

The Web has now become the fundamental sounding board for any business, whether online or offline. You can get an instant mirror of what people are saying and doing and what they want to achieve. You just need to know where to look and have the courage of facing what you find. So today I have started a process that will bring me to much better understanding of what is out there and how can I conduct this blog more properly.

I want to share with you the process I have followed so far, so that you can also use for your own planning. My core business is international real estate and also international business opportunities, and I focus mainly on connecting Europe to the USA.

The first reality check I have done is to go to Google Keyword Tool to see how many searches are available in this specific area and how much advertising is associated to those searches. I got 49,500 searches per month with a 100% saturation of advertising presence. This tells me that “international real estate” it is a nicely sized niche with a lot of competition, which is a very good indicator as competition and advertising exist only where money is available.
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This is not a commentary about affiliate marketing and some techniques on how to convince just anybody to buy just about anything. It is rather a candid observation of how today everybody is focusing on promotion and sales and so much noise is raised about all kinds of products that it is actually difficult to tell what is really good unless you actually try it yourself or you take the time to do some research.

But who has the time to do a whole lot of research, particularly when purchases are often based on emotion? I see it all the time in my real estate business: people look for the first impact, they need to fall in love with the house or with the location or with the idea that they can own a piece of America, if they are buying from abroad. They seldom get into any detail at the beginning, they leave the fine analysis to their financial advisor or they just want the summary of it afterwards.

What they want is to feel they have made a good deal, that they are safe, that they have been smarter than somebody else, that this is much better that some frustrating deal they had done before. Whatever makes them feel good about it.

So you can’t really sell based on price only and you can’t definitely sell on the quality of the product only (although the quality has to be there). What people buy is the emotion you put in what you do and the passion that drives you in the first place.

Are you selling your passion? Your emotion? The very soul of your personality? Then you should be able to stand out from the crowd. In this regard, P.T. Barnum dictates: “Advertise your Business” as rule 15 of his book “The Art of Money Getting”. He also tells: “Those who deal with the public must be careful that their goods are valuable; that they are genuine, and will give satisfaction… Advertising is like learning—a little is a dangerous thing.” In 2009 were spent $ 12.5 billion in online advertising. A banner on a leading portal like MSN or Yahoo costs $ 500,000 a day, about the same a 30 second TV spot.

But then how can you advertise yourself on the Web effectively? Well, first you should ask to yourself, are there people on the Web that look for what I have to offer? Is your product or blog or service of interest to your intended audience? How big is the audience? Are there competitors and what are they doing? If you are really going to put your “soul” into something, then you’d better find someone who wants to buy it. And Google Keyword Tool can be your best friend in doing it.

Roberto Mazzoni

Financial newspapers and TV have long been the main channel to keep informed about what was going on in the business world. The Web has now replaced paper as a main source of reference both because most of the papers have gone online and because you find many more resources, closer to your particular niche and market, and they contain often articles or comments written by experts in the field or by people that are actually familiar with what they write about. Blog are ranking high now as a source of information on specific subjects.

In his “The Art of Money Getting” P.T. Barnum lists as rule number 12 “Read the Newspapers” but today he would have said read the most important blogs in your area. In doing so not only you can get valuable information for your business of for your passion, but you can also get ideas on you to structure your own blog.

Where can you find them? On Technorati.com the directory of the top blogs in any industry. You chose the subject or field and then you browse the list of blogs available, starting from the top. Some of them are actual magazines, written by several people, each contributing with her own knowledge and expertise.
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