I recently was looking for a way to display photos on my WordPress Blogs / websites, and I found a great little slideshow generator that was easy to use, install and had some great features . The WordPress Plug-In called “1 Flash Gallery” I used it create a photo blog with some pictures I’d taken in Cumming Georgia Called “Cumming GA Photos Slide Show – Cumming Georgia Photographs!” What I like most was that the gallery slideshow was easy to install, it was free, I could customize the display, the size of the display, and the fact that music can be added to it also! Let me know what your thoughts are of if you have any other WordPress slideshow that you use and what are its features. 

WordPress Slide Show Plug-In

I find the number one thing that makes a real estate website successful is that it has to be found easily on the search engines with consumer terms.  I prefer to use terms like “Atlanta Homes For Sale!” rather than “Atlanta Real Estate.” I am more concerned that a consumer find our site by looking for Atlanta SAT Scores on a Google search and showing up on page 1.  Not industry terms.  If a site cannot be found by the consumer there are dire cosequenses for the agent!  It is like not having a real estate website at all, and that is like the athiest at a funeral…all dressed up with no place to go.  In other words, if a site cannot be found, it has no value.  A website needs to be found on page 1 of any consumer query.  If not, it does not offer service to the seller trying to sell, or the buyer looking to buy a home. We have to ask ourselves will the consumer use generic terms like “real estate?”  Or will they use terms that relate to a local market as in using the names of various subdivisions?  If the consumer finds a real estate website, likes what he /she finds but is turned off by filling out forms?  Or will a cumbersome IDX search ruin the consumer experience?  Success on the Internet is really a strategy.  Success on the cannot be purchased it is a thought out event.  Since I activley buy and sell real estate, and mostly from the Internet, I have to constantly revise my Internet marketing ideas.

1. Strategizing for Internet Profits In Real Estate
2. Strategizing for Internet Profit In Real Estate – Part II

Jim Crawford

I guess the thing that I know that is most responsible for my success in real estate is that years ago I was asked to join a real estate mastermind group. I thnk God I did!  I can honestly say that I owe much of my success to joining that group!  Nowadays, I belong to several masterminds, both local and national.  Since the real estate field is highly competitive, agents in ones own office are least likely to compare or share real notes on what they do to increase their competitive edge, and close more business.  Why?  Because you are the competition!  In fact if you are in a high producing office, all the agents are most likely to be competing for the same listing or buyer.  It isn’t unusual at all!  So if they will not share specifics on how to do things, and allow you to see their real inner workings – then how are you to succeed?

The answer is to join, create or get yourself invited to a mastermind group.  Why?  Because a real estate agent or broker in San Francisco is not going to be an immediate threat to a real estate agent in Charlotte NC!  So if we share marketing ideas, and each benefit we stand a better chance of referring business to one another, or mention your name to another agent in the office that has a clients with real estate needs in your area.  Think of it as a get pay as you learn project.  The concept is very beneficial to all.  It allows a sharing of ideas, experiences, and brain storming sessions that allow us to think outside the box.  It is collaborative experience that allows you to break through the glass ceiling and achieve a level of production not dreamed about before.  The synergy is also so inspiring it challenges you to be your personal best.

Forming A Real Estate Mastermind Group
by Jim Crawford

Loads of real estate agents e-mail me everyday asking how on they get their website to the top of the search engines so they too can be successful in real estate. That is a tricky question, because the person asking this should first understands the nature of real estate, and sales. First of all web placement or SEO that gets you on page 1 or 2 does not make anyone a success in real estate.  No more than getting immense leads from a giant marketing campaign. First a plan needs to be developed, and then it takes the ability to grade hot and colds leads – sort them, and close the hot ones!  Nurture the cool ones, and drop the cold ones.  Since over 100% of our income comes from the Internet each year… I care enough about web business and real estate to understand what needs to take place. Making a profit on a real estate website is easy money if you do!  Think about real estate possibilities. No more cold calling, no more mailing postcards, postage, ads, classifieds, magazine ads, publication deadlines etc…

1. Internet Farming And Prospecting
2. Build A Web Site For Farming
3. Strategizing for Internet Profits In Real Estate 
4. Strategizing for Internet Profit In Real Estate – Part II

Unless you do not care about creating a stream of income that is better than all the other prospecting, sphere of influence leads and the rest. The Internet is ON 24/7/365 GLOBALLY!  Yes position changes all the time, but it takes continuous knowledge to meet the change and stay on top.  But it is worth it, and it can be done. 

Choosing the “Best” Domain Name and Purchasing It!

There always loads of questions that I receive daily from real estate agents about buying the right real estate domain name for their real estate website or WordPress Blog, and so I developed a short list below of articles that best explain what you need to know. 

• How to Choose the Best Domain Name
• Buying a Real Estate Domain Name
• The NAR Trademark on the Internet
• REALTOR® mark as part of your domain name
• Can I use “REALTOR®” in my domain or email?
• Choosing A Domain Name
• Choose a Domain Name Wisely
• Choosing A Domain Name
• How to Pick, Register and Protect Your Domain Name
• www.GoDaddy.com – A favorite of mine! $11.95  / Year
• eNom.com
• NameBoy.Com

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Buying a domain name for your real estate business or pleasure?  Choose carefully and do a lot of research before you buy a domain name, because there is a lot of power in a good domain name if you choose correctly.  A great domain name that is keyword rich can boost your online visibility and web SEO ranking.  Personally, I’m a big fan of the Internet and own over 200 domain names 60 of which are active websites or Blogs, and together they account for 100% of my business income.  Before I purchase a domain name, I create a notepad text file, and when I see something I like, I copy and paste the names and save them all together, and then I set them aside for a little while and mull them over.  After a while some names really stand out.  I think it is wise not to purchase a real estate domain name on impulse or whim. Over the years I have come up with a few rules I adhere to when buying a domain name, I’ve listed them below.

• Brainstorm first and come up with lots of ideas – write them all down!
• A domain names should be easy to spell and easy to remember.
• A great domain name should relate to your business or audience.
• It should not violate copyright laws.
• Always buy a .Com for a website or Blog.
• Branding – consider carefully the words that you need contained in the domain name.
• Never buy a hyphenated domain name
• Purchase keyword rich domain names – example: www.atlantageorgiahomes.com
• The shorter the domain name the better
• Never use numbers as a substitute for words example: www.homes4sale.com
• For SEO purposes never buy a domain name that has your name if you are trying to sell homes.
• Is the domain name easy to remember?
• Purchase them at reputable sites: Godaddy, enom etc…

The problem for real estate agents is that all too often in sales we operate on a self serving broker’s decades old playbook that has no relevance to our current real estate market. Brokers are obsessed with having lots of listings – the more the better.  Personally, I prefer fewer listings that will sell quickly with less hassle. However, many in the industry do not feel the same way. Many of the everyday ideas we use everyday in our industry are real estate holdovers from the pre-Internet age where all agents represented the sellers, and the key to survival was always being the top listing agent. “List to live,” was the war cry of every real estate broker and trainer in our industry. Why?  Because it is free billboard advertising around town.  The goal of most agents under the tutelage of the broker was to get the listing at any cost. However, in the mix there was always a mixture of successes and failures.  Some homes would sell quickly while others would linger for quite a while and then expire or were withdrawn by a frustrated seller.  To the agent that questioned the process, it was always described as a “Numbers game!”  Basically it was described as “You win some you lose some!’  The process was always about getting the listing, and even if was overpriced.  It was the visibility the listing would have to attract other buyers and sellers that was the life blood of real estate survival and success. In the rush to obtain the listing all too often pricing and appearance were just small irrelevant details that were often overlooked, and in doing so…questionable real estate listings were added to inventory.  Back then, all of the above really didn’t matter.  In a good economy – homes sold! Perhaps those strategies worked then, but are they working now?  My thoughts are no!

Since the advent of the Internet we are now agents that have to deal with very informed buyers.  They have access to a plethora of information about listed homes, price per-square foot, neighborhood home prices, demographics, price drops, and how long the home has been on the market can be had with the click of a mouse. On a Google or Bing map buyers can see an aerial view what is around your home or property and decide for themselves if it is a bargain when they compare one home against a dozen others.   It is the real estate principle of substitution.  Why would a homebuyer pay more for basically the same home that is in better in the same neighborhood?

Success on the Internet is often based on showing up higher on page one than your competition.  So sometimes, we need some insights so we can improve our web position and ranking.  I recently came across an a thread on the web that talked about stop words, and thought it would be a shart idea to share it.  Basically, stop words are words that are not supposed to be in your title, and if so used sparingly because the search engines do not like them.  Grammatically, they make sense, but spider-wise and bot-wise they do not.  It’s interesting topic, but I’ve never really paid much attention to the use or non-use of these words because I have my own idea how to write title tags, meta descriptions, keywords and tags and but thought it would be a great topic of discussion.  What words or words do you avoid using in your title(s) of WebPages, WordPress blogs or posts?  Some of the more common stop words that are suggested not to be used in a title or title tag are:

and, an, at, which, on, a, the, for, to… etc.

List of Stop Words to Avoid – Click Here!

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