What are the benefits of article marketing, especially for real estate agents? There are several benefits, such as:

• Articles can drive traffic to your website each time someone clicks on the link in the author’s box.
• Generating traffic can be completely free if you write your own articles. Even if you hire someone to write the articles for you or buy articles with private label rights, it is still inexpensive. Original articles can cost anywhere from $5 to $25 each, and prewritten PLR (Private Label Rights) articles can be just a few dollars each. Membership sites focused on prewritten PLR articles for real estate, like Agent Success Club, can make them even more affordable.
• You will get free incoming links to your website if you submit your articles to article directories. All of the directories allow you to put your website URL in the author’s box. If people like your article they may decide to visit your website to see what else you have to offer.
• Since internet marketing is all about building trust with your customer, writing articles will set you up as an expert in your area which, in turn, will increase your creditability with people who read your articles. The end result will be increased conversions of website visitors to clients.

Submitting your articles to an article directory means that other people can use your articles on their sites. If they do, you get free incoming links to your website. Some of the giant article directories are EzineArticles.com and ArticleCity.com.

The way it works is you write your article (or modify your prewritten PLR article), making sure you include your name and a link to your web site (even your photo if you want), and submit it to the e-zine of your choosing (or use a service like Article Marketer to submit your articles to lots of sites at the same time). Then publishers (web site owners) who are looking for free content to use in their newsletters, on their websites and blogs go to the e-zine article directories. If they choose your article, they will put it on their website giving you full credit by including your byline as a requirement for its use.

The advantage of having all of those one-way incoming links from all of the articles you’ve written is that your website will get a much higher ranking in the search engines. If you make certain that you include your local information in the web page meta tags, you may even get the number one spot for local searches. There are meta tags for “city”, “state” and “zip code”. You need to include this information on every page on your website. Why?

Let’s say you live in Nashville, Tennessee. An individual in Pennsylvania who is being transferred to Nashville goes to Google and types in “real estate agent +Nashville +tn”. If you included your local information and have been doing article marketing, your site could be listed on the first page of the search results. I’m sure you can see how this will be an advantage for you. It works for local customers as well as out-of-towners.

1. “Be sure to carefully inquire as to whether or not any “special” software needs to be present”: Agent Success Club CD Business Cards for Real Estate agents and lenders run like a “web site on CD” and utilize the Internet Explorer built into all Windows operating systems. No special software required!

2. “Secondly, as you will typically need to purchase these CD’s in large quantities in order to have a reasonable price-per-unit, you’ll definitely want to carefully consider what information is appropriate for inclusion in the presentation”: Agent Success Club CD Business Cards for Real Estate agents and lenders can be ordered in quantities as low as 10 CDs, with NO setup fees. Prices drop significantly for larger orders, but if you just want a few for an open house, for example, you don’t have to buy a big minimum quantity.

3. “Lastly, and of most importance, you’ll want to make sure that your web site and email address are both prominently”: Every page of Agent Success Club CD Business Cards for Real Estate agents and lenders prominently features an active link to the user’s web site and email address!

In addition, critical details such as your photo, logo, contact information, and biography are stored online, can be updated at any time, and automatically reflect in the content of the CD when a user inserts it into their computer.

Here is the link to the original article: Realty Times

Visit Agent Success Club for more information on our CD Business Cards for Real Estate Professionals.

Bakersfield, California-based InFront Tools has launched innovative CD Business Cards for Real Estate Professionals to help them stand out from the crowd and win more business.  These interactive Business Cards, supplied on mini CDs, respond to the growing problem that Real Estate Agents and Lenders (Real Estate Professionals) face when too many agents compete for the same business. These CDs will help them stand out while promoting themselves and property listings.

Matt Coy, Owner of InFront Tools, explains: “I have been providing similar CD marketing tools since 2003 under contract to an $8 Billion Title Insurance company, and at the termination of that contract, I decided to continue offering my services independently. My CD Business Cards have always been tremendously praised by the hundreds of real estate professionals who have used them across the state, reporting increased sales and customer satisfaction from their clients.”

You can order as few as 10 CDs for just $30 through the company’s Agent Success Club, which was developed to help real estate professionals increase their online and offline marketing presence.

Other membership benefits of Agent Success Club include additional tools such as monthly private label prewritten articles, personalized financial calculators for web sites and CDs, a PDF newsletter generator, and more. To help you get the most out of your Agent Success Club membership, Coy has written an e-book, free for all members, entitled “A Real Estate Agent’s Guide To Online Super Success: How To Survive And Thrive In Today’s Online Real Estate World.” This book will teach you everything you need to know to create and keep a powerful online presence, utilizing the tools available on the web site.

These new CD Business Cards for Real Estate Professionals mean that real estate professionals have a new, high-tech tool for their marketing arsenal, with features that are sure to impress current and potential clients. Business Card CDs will cause them to stand out from their peers in the massive competition for limited business. “Using our CDs will win our customers a larger share of business and increase sales,” says Matt Coy.

The customized CD Business Cards can include:

• The member’s photo, logo, and contact information (including links to their website and email) on the label and disk presentation
• The member’s biography or sales message to promote themselves to potential clients
• The member’s personalized suite of financial calculators
• A collection of real estate-related documents for their clients (i.e., a huge real estate glossary, a property-shopping comparison checklist, a moving checklist, and more)
• Alternatively, CDs can include details of properties the agent is promoting, including photo slideshows, property flyers, and web links to online virtual tours.

Coy believes that the clients of Real Estate Professionals will reuse the CDs again and again to get answers to their financial questions and are likely to pass them on to their family and friends, netting the agent even more referrals.

“Through Agent Success Club membership and its new CD Business Cards, Real Estate Professionals will no longer struggle for business along with other agents because they will now have marketing tools that will help them stand out, with features that are sure to impress current and potential customers. My clients tell me the CDs have helped them get more listings and increase sales dramatically,” says Coy.

To find out more, visit www.AgentSuccessClub.com and take advantage of the 7-Day Trial for $1.

An online blog, either written entirely by you or supplemented with real estate PLR (Private Label Rights) pre-written articles from Agent Success Club, is a great way to supplement your online real estate marketing tools. A blog lets people get to know your thoughts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If a potential client is looking at real estate Web sites at 4 a.m., they can read your blog. They will learn what sets you apart from your competition, all while you are sleeping.

Before your clients ever pick up a phone and call your office, your blog will persuade sellers and buyers alike to choose you as their real estate agent. A blog allows you to establish common ground with people in a way that standard real estate Web sites simply can’t. Make establishing yourself as an expert a part of your overall agent marketing plan. In your own voice, you can show that you understand clients’ needs and are an expert in your field. Your blog will make it clear that you’re the best agent to choose in the area.

Your blog will drive traffic to your Web site. Write on relevant titles that contain valuable keywords, or modify real estate PLR pre-written articles to include your keywords. For instance, writing a blog entry entitled “How to Find Anaheim Pre-Foreclosure Homes” will certainly get some attention in today’s real estate market.

Not only will the keywords drive traffic to your blog, the blog itself will feature a backlink to your Web site. This backlink will let your blog readers go directly to your Web site if they like what you’ve got to say, further boosting your online real estate marketing presence.

Blogs are a great way to make a fantastic first impression on the Web-browsing masses. The average home buyer or seller does not know as much as you do about real estate.

With all the news about how abysmal things are, a positive voice with a fresh perspective is very comforting to someone looking to buy or sell a home. If you establish yourself on real estate Web sites as a friendly expert willing to share key advice, potential customers will perceive you as one of the “good guys.”

Once readers have decided they like you, they can even subscribe to your RSS blog. It’s a great way to build an online fan club. You can also offer your RSS feed as an e-mail, which will provide you with a great list of subscribers who are interested in hearing what you’ve got to say.

Blogs are a big part of a successful agent marketing plan, but it can often be difficult for a busy agent to keep up with the demands of creating content. If you need copy or content ideas, be sure to look into real estate PLR content from Agent Success Club, or hire a professional copywriter.

Blogs will let you position yourself head and shoulders above the rest of the Realtors in your region. Your competition is likely dabbling in this arena, but these secrets of online real estate marketing will give your blog the edge.

This is the age of the Internet, and information is the hottest commodity going. Any person, anywhere, with information to share can now market to that exact audience looking for the information faster than ever before. Now, anyone has the potential to be the hotshot owner of a rapidly growing Internet business, and yes, even to be the top-dog online real estate agent in any town in the world. The Internet can make anyone a Superstar, for more than Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes. But the Internet is only a tool.

Consider the following recent statistics:
· 84% of home buyers use the Internet in their home search.
· 60% of all real estate companies have a web site for business purposes.
· 50% of all real estate agents communicate by e-mail with their clients half of the time.
· 82% of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home purchased it through a real estate agent
· 65% of those who did not use the Internet purchased directly from a builder or an owner they already knew.
· 61% walked through a home that they viewed online.
· 29% first learned about the house they bought online.
Those statistics make it pretty obvious that you NEED an online presence.

So, what kind of website should you use?

Larger real estate companies will offer you a page on the company’s website. If one is available, by all means use it to send traffic to your own personal website. Yes… you MUST have your own personal web site.

Why do you need a personal web site? Because it allows you to be in complete control of your marketing, which lets you control your future. Your individual web site is where you will post all of your listings (in addition to the Multiple Listing Service and any other cross-listing services available to you), plus all the information about you as an agent such as:
· Testimonials from past clients
· Your professional certifications
· Your photo
· Articles for your clients
· Personalized tools, such as customized mortgage calculators

Benefits of having your own personal website

There are several benefits to having your own website, such as:
· You own everything. If you leave your franchise, all you have to do is change a few things, like the colors and the logo on your site, and you are ready to go.
· You have complete control of the content. You can do whatever you want such as survey your visitors, post videos, post an online newsletter, etc.
· Your website is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to service your customers. One major advantage is with out of town buyers. They can get a much better idea of who you are and what you can offer to them without having to pay for a trip to your city.
· You can capture leads and funnel them directly to your own mailing list autoresponder. This way, you can continuously market to your leads, economically and on your own schedule.

Conclusion

If you don’t have your own website, you are leaving your independence and control of your own business, not to mention large amounts of money, on the table. Do you really want to do that?

Agent Success Club is designed to give you the tools to build and market your web site so that it is found amongst the thousands of other agent sites on the web. Visit today to see how we can help win you more business!

There are online real estate software packages you can purchase and have installed on your web site. The drawback, however, is that the programs can be expensive, and you will usually need to hire a programmer to install and test them.

There are also several online services that offer online financial calculators that you can link to from your web site, as long as you keep their advertisements intact. Again, most of these free calculators are not visually appealing, and often lack many of the sophisticated features (such as printable payment schedules) important to offer your website visitors. In addition, usually they cannot be customized to the look and feel of your existing website.

Our company, AgentSuccessClub.com, gives you the ability to use our suite of bilingual online mortgage calculators on your web site, either framed into your existing site or through a custom link, on an affordable monthly subscription basis and with no advertising.

The package of twenty-one online mortgage calculators at AgentSuccessClub.com can be branded with an agent’s (or lender’s) photo and contact information, provide PDF output of the calculation results, and also include simple explanations alongside complex financial computations. Additionally, they include a lead capture function to help you build your potential client list.

Advantages of using mortgage calculators

There are several advantages to providing branded online mortgage calculators for your visitors such as:

• Providing online mortgage calculators service makes you look more professional and can enhance your credibility with site visitors. The more services you can provide to your visitors without them having to leave your web site, the more likely they will ask you to represent them in purchasing their home. If they are local, they may even ask you to list their current home as well.

• Get more traffic to your website. The first thing a prospective buyer wants is a mortgage calculator so they can see how much house they can afford to buy. They could ask the real estate agent but most people prefer to use the calculator so they can try all different combinations to see what their options for getting a loan are and what it is going to cost them. Mortgage calculator is one of the top search terms used in the real estate business.

• Many visitors will actually bookmark your web site so they can find your calculators again. If you can brand your online mortgage calculators, all the better because you are building brand recognition which means your visitors will recommend your website to their friends.

• With branded online mortgage calculators, web site visitors will spend more time on your web site, which increases the likelihood that they will contact you with any questions they might have, or when they find a property they like.

Studies have shown that one of the most stressful events that occur in an individual’s life is buying a house. Mortgages are complex financial documents that include several variables such as the term of the loan, varying interest rates and variable closing costs.

Giving your visitors access to easy-to-use and easy-to-understand online mortgage calculators, especially ones that can be easily printed or emailed, can make financial jargon much more understandable. Even better, if your branded online mortgage calculators can translate the complex financial analysis to a “plain English” explanation, your clients are sure to be much less bewildered about how to interpret the results. The calculators we provide at www.AgentSuccessClub.com achieve this goal.

I recently released my first book about online real estate marketing, and it’s called “A Real Estate Agent’s Guide To Online Super Success.”

The reason I wrote this book is that I have worked with real estate agents, in various capacities, for almost twenty years, and (forgive me) most just aren’t that savvy about technology.

Now, this won’t be news for many of you agents out there… I think many of you would freely admit that the modern technology your profession requires can be difficult to understand, let alone master. I know this from first-hand experience, by the way, as I was a Realtor for a short time (I’m still a licensed agent, but I decided to focus my efforts on the online world. Mostly because I wasn’t a very good agent But I’m great with technology… hey, you gotta know where your strengths are!).

As a new agent, I knew I needed to have a website, but I didn’t know which way to go with online real estate marketing. Realtor.com, Homes.com, build from scratch, build from template, hire an expensive webmaster… everyone wanted my money and promised the “best” solution… sound familiar?

Times have changed (evolved?) in the few years since I tried my hand at selling real estate, and there are more choices than ever for an agent’s adventure in online real estate marketing. I decided to write my book for newer and intermediately experienced online agents to describe, in mostly non-technical terms, your options. Not just your choices in how to get online, but what to do to make yourself be regarded as an online “expert” in your field so that you are the agent of choice in your area. This is essential in making sure that when a prospect is searching the web for an agent, YOUR SITE is found amongst the thousands of other agent sites on the web. I explain the “why’s” and “how’s” in great detail in my book, with examples, and screenshots so you can follow along easily.

The point I like to make is, what good is a real estate website (or any website!) if nobody can find it?!

Well, I’ll cut this short, because you can read all about what the book “A Real Estate Agent’s Guide To Online Super Success” offers over at www.AgentSuccessGuide.com. For a limited time, all you have to do to get my book for free is to request it! Just enter your name and email address, then make sure to check your email and confirm your request and you will be able to download the book.

Give it a try and see if you can elevate your online real estate marketing to the next level!