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The Secret to Using Your Blog to Generate Sales | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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You’ve probably been at a party where some fool is talking his face off at everyone he meets. He talks about his trip to Spain and how he is such an amazing photographer. He never asks, “What you do or what interests you?” He just blathers on and on about himself.

On a good day I silently chuckle at this guy’s lack of social common sense. On a bad day I snap and scream, “PLEASE listen to me for just 10 seconds!”

When all you do is talk about yourself, you send people running in the other direction. If you don’t care about other people they for sure won’t care about you.

This was how the old school way of marketing worked. Megaphone style.

Image by nem_youth

Many of you might not think of your blog as a business and I understand, but one day you might want to create a ebook, product or use your blog to leverage a new career. When you improve your engagement your blog it becomes a tool to help you level up your life and career.

Spray and Pray

Back in the day, companies used to spray and pray. They sprayed their message in as many places as possible (magazines, newspapers, TV, radio, etc) and prayed that they picked the right advertising spots. Larger companies could afford to pay for market research, so they were able to make sure most of their efforts paid off.

Smaller companies didn’t have this luxury. Straight out of college, I worked in the marketing department for a high pressure valve company. They grossed about 10 million a year in sales. Not too shabby, but nothing compared to the bigger players in the industry.

We had to carefully choose our national magazines and our marketing company told us who read the magazines and which ones we needed to advertise in. We had to believe them. We had nothing else to go on.

This style of marketing has been turned upside down due to blogging and social media. Every business has the opportunity to measure their engagement on their website, email and social media accounts. The problem with all these new tools is we have the wrong attitude toward them. Companies are afraid to be transparent and engage with their customers.

Why? Because it’s hard work.

Truly Listen

Mr. Blather Lips, from the introduction, had a great time at every party he went to because he didn’t have to gauge people’s emotions. He just blathered on until he found someone to listen or it was time to go home.

Now businesses actually have to listen to their customers because if they don’t, a social media storm comes crashing down upon them. Just ask Netflix if they wished they had a better plan for when they doubled their prices.

Listening to your readers isn’t just for dealing with social media storms. It’s also so you can anticipate them and avoid them before they even happen. Now, every business has the opportunity to do market research. You can ask specific customers if they would be willing to fill out an online survey. You can ask them direct questions on your blog or social media that help you figure out what they want from you.

You don’t have to guess what you think people need. You can ask them directly and find out. You can even include them in the process of creating your product.

Invitation to Join In 

Threadless created their million dollar t-shirt company from this idea. They have people send in t-shirt designs, have the users vote on which designs they would like to buy and print only the most popular ones. They already have a built in audience for their t-shirts. It’s a win-win for everyone.

The company prints the most popular, making some good cash and the buyers get a limited edition t-shirt that they are proud to wear. Even the winning t-shirt designs are helpful to the designers. They can add this accomplishment to their resume.

You probably knew that engaging your ideal people was wise, but now what?

Now you have to go out and find them and start a conversation, but before you do you need to find out where you can connect with them.

  1. Write a description of the ideal client for your product

You have to ask yourself some specific questions to help you gain clarity:

    • What does she look like?
    • What motivates her?
    • What does she do for fun?
    • What are her career goals?
    • Where does she hang out? (Facebook, conferences, Twitter, etc.)
    • How do you engage with her? (light banter, philosophically, monetarily, etc.)

    The hard part is making the mental switch from talker to engager.

    I’m not just talking about being a better listener. That’s a good start, but to engage with people you have to be listening and asking great questions. It’s part art and part science.

    If you want an example of someone who understands her community then visit Mayi Carles to see how she is creating content that engages and builds trust. You’ll notice that she creates content around branding and business building. All a perfect target market for her.

     

    The Secret to Using Your Blog to Generate Sales : @ProBlogger.

    Will the housing rebound crush the job market? | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    For the past few years, economists have been waiting for the housing market to rebound so the job market can finally — crash? Wait, no. It’s the opposite. Right?

    On Friday, we’ll get the latest look at how the job market is doing. Hiring is improving, but the unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly high. The go-to explanation among economists has been the weak housing market. Where are all those construction workers going to find work? Nursing? (That’s actually a pretty good idea.)

    Housing prices are jumping again, and some people are even saying there’s a new bubble. We’ve pointed out you shouldn’t expect the economy to come roaring back just because the housing market is. But two economists are taking an even more extreme stance: that a good real estate market, where more people buy houses instead of rent, will throw more people out of work.

    The paper by David Blanchflower of Dartmouth and Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick titled “Does High Home-ownership Impair the Labor Market?”, has been out for a month or so but was only published by the National Bureau of Economic Research on Monday. Among the findings:

    States with more homeowners, fewer renters, tend to have higher unemployment rates.

    It’s not the homeowners that tend to make up the majority of the unemployed.

    So we really don’t know why this happens. But it does, so there.

    Also, maybe homeowners are less likely to start new businesses, because property makes people lazy I guess.

    That makes the study interesting for another reason. Not only are the authors saying the conventional wisdom of a weak housing market and a weak job market improving in tandem is wrong. But also the reason we say such things.

    Most people believe the reason high homeownership in a housing bust creates stubbornly high unemployment is because the out of work can’t afford to sell their houses — they owe too much — and move to an area of the country where their job prospects are better.

    But Blanchflower and Oswald insist it’s not the homeowners who are the unemployed, or at least the overwhelming majority of them. So the “trapped in a house” storyline doesn’t work for them. Instead, they say homeownership creates a sort of economic rigidity that hurts the job market for everyone, but they don’t say how.

    Homeownership, though, was rising throughout the 2000s, and yet the unemployment rate dipped below 4% in the middle part of the decade. Would it have gone lower? It’s only recently that homeownership seems to be holding us back.

    Another funny thing about the study is that one of the first economists that Blanchflower and Oswald thank in the beginning of their paper is Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and a prominent liberal economist. It’s odd because Baker disagrees with Blanchflower and Oswald, which he says he told the two authors before they published the paper.

     

    Will the housing rebound crush the job market? – The Term Sheet: Fortune’s deals blogTerm Sheet.

    Networking and social media: A recipe for REO success | Pound Ridge Realtor

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    Brokers working in the REO space face stiff competition, but social media — when used correctly — is leveling the playing field, making it easier for tech-savvy professionals to gain a foothold in the space.

    Social media, conferences and networking all play a role in a professional’s success.

    Experts at HousingWire’s Real Estate Expo (REX) discussed how growing your REO business starts with you.

    The panel featured Windy Keefe, manager of business development withREO Network; Brent Taggart, senior vice president with Green River Capital; Kirby Pearson with Pearson Realty Group; Lauretta Martin with The Martin Group and TMG Properties; Marcia Toms withPEMCO; and Patti Donovan with Freddie Mac.

    When it comes to standing out as a broker, Taggart said a simple letter of recommendation makes a world of difference, especially when it’s exposed online or through simple social media tools.

    In addition, he said people should be active and involved in boards, including the National Association or Realtors, rather than simply limiting their involvement to paying membership dues.

    Meanwhile, Donovan said, “A strong thing for us is people who are making a difference in peoples lives that live in the communities that they work in.”

    But, perhaps, the greatest change in real estate networking revolves around the social media space.

    “Social media is a good way to connect and help build that relationship. It should be an extension of a way to stay in contact,” said Toms.

     

    Networking and social media: A recipe for REO success | HousingWire.

    Mortgage rates jump to highest mark in a year | Pound Ridge Homes

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    Mortgage rates surged again this past week, completing a consistently steep ascent in May, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac.

    The 30-year fixed-rate average jumped to 3.81 percent with an average 0.8 point, its highest mark in the past year. May began with the 30-year hovering at 3.35 percent, well below last year’s reading at the start of the month; however, four straight weeks of increases have pushed the average above last year’s reading of 3.75 percent.

    The 15-year fixed rate average followed suit, rising to 2.98 percent from 2.77 percent last week, with an average 0.7 point. One year ago, the average was 2.97 percent.

    Hybrid adjustable rate mortgages, on the other hand, remained below their averages from last May. The five-year ARM rose slightly to 2.66 percent, down year-over-year from 2.84 percent, and the one-year dropped slightly to 2.54 percent, down from 2.75 percent a year ago.

    A Freddie Mac executive pegged the rising fixed-rate averages to some recent signs of economic improvement, including higher home prices and improving consumer confidence.

     

    Mortgage rates jump to highest mark in a year.

    Obama administration extends Making Home Affordable Program until 2015 | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    The Department of Housing and Urban Developmentteamed up with the Treasury Department on Thursday to announce an extension of the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program through Dec. 31, 2015.

    The new deadline was determined in coordination with theFederal Housing Finance Agency to align with extendeddeadlines for the Home Affordable Refinance Program and the Streamlined Modification Initiative for homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

    The program deadline was previously set to end Dec. 31, 2013.

    The Making Home Affordable Program is a critical part of the Obama administration’s efforts to provide relief to families at risk of foreclosure and help the housing market recover from the housing crisis, HUD explained.

    “The housing market is gaining steam, but many homeowners are still struggling,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.

    He added, “Helping responsible homeowners avoid foreclosure is part of our wide-ranging efforts to strengthen the middle class, and Making Home Affordable offers homeowners some of the deepest and most dependable assistance available to prevent foreclosure. Extending the program for two years will benefit many additional families while maintaining clear standards and accountability for an important part of the mortgage industry.”

    Since its creation in March 2009, roughly 1.6 million actions were taken through the program to provide relief to homeowners and, consequently, nearly 1.3 million homeowners were helped directly by the program.

    As of March, more than 1.1 million homeowners received a permanent modification of their mortgage through HAMP, with a median savings of $546 every month — or 38% of their previous payment.

    Since the fourth quarter of 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed more than 2.7 million foreclosure prevention actions. Approximately half of these actions are permanent loan modifications, including more than 435,000 permanent HAMP modifications, according to the FHFA.

    “One of FHFA’s priorities is to provide assistance to struggling borrowers who are at risk of losing their homes,” said Ed DeMarco, current acting director of the FHFA.

    He added, “These extensions keep two valuable foreclosure prevention programs available to those who need them. The extensions also align the end date for three key assistance programs that were developed in response to the housing crisis.”

    Since 2009, Freddie Mac has helped more than 830,000 borrowers avoid foreclosure and nearly 230,000 of these families were assisted through HAMP, said Tracy Mooney, senior vice president of single-family servicing and REO for the GSE.

    The Making Home Affordable Program has also put into place important protections for homeowners that have helped inform efforts to create standards for the mortgage servicing industry.

    This includes requirements for mortgage servicers regarding clear and timely communications with homeowners and protections to ensure that they are evaluated for assistance before being referred to foreclosure.

     

    Obama administration extends Making Home Affordable Program until 2015 | HousingWire.

    Wall Street rallies as home prices jump | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    Stock markets soared after data showed consumer confidence climbed to the highest level since 2008 and home values jumped the most in seven years, Bloomberg writes.

    Nine out out 10 S&P 500 groups advanced, paced by a 1.4% rally among financial shares.

    The S&P rallied 1% to 1,665.68, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 156.59 points, or 1%.

     

    Wall Street rallies as home prices jump | HousingWire.

    FHFA: Home prices continue climb | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    Upward momentum in home prices remained strong in the first quarter of this year due to the Federal Reserve quantitative easing program, which continues to help asset prices rise in the housing market.

    As a result, home prices inched upward 1.9% from the previous quarter. This is the seventh consecutive quarterly price rise in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index, according to theFederal Housing Finance Agency.

    From the first quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013, home prices rose 6.7%.

    “The housing market has stabilized in many areas and homebuilding activity has strengthened in recent quarters,” said Andrew Leventis, principal economist of FHFA.

    He added, “That said, labor market weakness and still-elevated foreclosure pipelines remain hindrances to a more robust recovery.”

    The FHFA house price index, which is calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rose 1.3% over the last quarter.

    The FHFA HPI revealed that of the nine census divisions, the strongest increase in home prices was in the Pacific, which posted a 4.4% price increase in the latest quarter. Conversely, the Middle Atlantic division posted the weakest come prices, increasing 0.3% from the prior quarter.

    Of the 75 most populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., the Jacksonville, Fla. metropolitan statistical area reported the greatest price increase, with a 9.3% jump between the further and first quarters. The Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, CT, metro saw a 3.5% drop in prices over that same period.

    The monthly seasonally adjusted purchase-only index for the U.S. has increase for 14 consecutive months, the FHFA explained.

     

    FHFA: Home prices continue climb | HousingWire.

    Why we can’t just be SEOs: A reply to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz | Pound Ridge Realtor

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    Last week I saw this interesting whiteboard Friday which talked about ‘Why We Can’t Just Be SEOs Anymore’ by Rand. Though he has raised some valid points, like ‘perception of SEO is hard to change’, I have to disagree with him overall.  Sorry Rand, you are missing the complete picture.

    SEO is not bigger than SEO

    SEO is all about generating relevant organic traffic to the website through search engines. That’s it. SEO is not about email, CRO, UX, Social Media, Branding, PR, Reputation Management, Coding, Advertising, Customer Service …

    You may argue that there are 200+ ranking signals so I need total control on everything which influences SEO. While it is true that they are 200+ ranking signals, don’t forget the 80/20 rulei.e. 80% of your output comes from 20% of the input. If you have worked in the SEO industry long enough, you already know what that 20% is that will generate 80% of the SEO results.

    That 20% consists of basic on-page optimization, keyword research, content development and above all link building. We can tweak brand signals, social signals, authorship, Page Rank, markups and other weak ranking signals all day long but they won’t generate any considerable amount of organic traffic on our website. What really drives traffic is that 20% I am talking about.

    If we talk about the real world (which could be very different from the blogging world) there could be unlimited ranking signals. For a start, your client is a very strong ranking signal for you. Without his support and cooperation you can’t make any change on his website. No amount of SEO is going to help, if the client is not responsive to your needs and demands. Poor product, bad reputation, poor customer service all are sort of ranking signals which are beyond our control.

    Just because something may impact your SEO so you must develop expertise in it or take total control of it is a wrong mindset. Here is why. When someone works as a marketing generalist who knows little bit of everything (well sorry but this is what specialists really think about him) he is eager to give suggestions to specialists (like CRO consultant, PR consultant, Community Managers etc) on how they can do their job better.

    Since he is not a specialist, his suggestions may not be well received or align well with the recommendations of specialists. This creates disruption in digital strategies and work environment. So instead of creating synergy the marketing generalist could inevitably end up creating stress and chaos.

     

    Why we can’t just be SEOs: A reply to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz.

    Home builders buck market trend on Wall Street | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    According to MarketWatch:
    Hovnanian Enterprises ($6.04 -0.06%) shares rose 2.7% after the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes rose 2.3% to 454,000 in April, the second highest post-recession level, on pent-up demand and low interest rates.
    Toll Brothers ($36.75 -0.85%) closed up 1.4%, Lennar Corp. ($42.79 -0.61%) gained 2.6%, KB Home ($23.11 -0.29%) added 1.6% and Ryland Group ($48.46 0.36%) advanced 1.1%.
    To see the full analysis by MarketWatch, click here.

     

     

    Home builders buck market trend on Wall Street | HousingWire.

    Foreclosure threat subsides for more Miami households | Pound Ridge Real Estate

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    Foreclosure rates in the greater Miami area remain astonishingly high, but they’re headed in the right direction.

    In March, 13.25 percent of the outstanding mortgages in the Miami, Miami Beach and Kendall area were in some stage of the foreclosure process, according to CoreLogic. That was down from 17.51 percent a year earlier. But it was dramatically higher than the national foreclosure rate of 2.84 percent, according to the Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate data firm.

     

    Foreclosure threat subsides for more Miami households | HousingWire.