Poor Frankie Muniz. First he struggled to shake his teenybopper image, and now he cannot seem to sell his Hollywood Hills home.

Source: IMDb

Listed for $3.195 million, the estate at 1229 N Wetherly Dr., Los Angeles CA 90069 has been on the market twice before, first in 2010 and then again in 2011. In the interim singer Cee Lo Green rented the home for $10,000 a month. After failing to sell in 2010, the price was dropped by $100,000 but since has remained steady despite Hollywood Hills home prices increasing 2.3 percent over the past year.

The 4,200-square-foot Hollywood Hills home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. With high gates, city views, a pool and exquisite interior details, this Los Angeles area home suits the celebrity lifestyle, which could bode well for Muniz getting out the middle of his housing standstill.

But don’t feel too bad for the former child star. He bought the home at the young age of 21 and recently purchased another home in the Phoenix real estate market for $2.65 million.

Word of mouth is still the best way to find a handyman you can trust. If a friend refers a plumber or electrician it’s because they had a good experience, so good that they want to share with you. That means a lot.

Ask Your Group

Recently there have been local groups popping up on Facebook where people can list their local businesses, buy and sell used items, advertise upcoming events, and more. I joined several groups in my area and am always finding great bits of information that I may have missed. One of the great things about these closed groups is that someone has to invite you in. It creates a kind of six degrees of separation feel. Perhaps you don’t know all the people, but you know people who know people who know them. I’ve also joined a moms club on facebook so I have a group of women in my area that I actually hang out and have playdates with. These are the ones I ask when I need something like Smog testing for my car before I can pay the registration. I got referrals to three different testing garages, all of them without any hesitation. It makes me feel good about calling up and making an appointment knowing that friends of mine had good experiences there.
It’s the same with handymen you need to visit your home for plumbing or electrical repairs. Check with your local friends on facebook to see who to use and sometimes you will also hear warnings about who not to use.

Ask The Right Questions

When you call a handyman, you should be prepared with some questions to ask so you don’t get as many surprises later. learn to find tools online and their names, check out standard prices for common jobs around the house. The first thing you should ask about is the minimum callout charge. What are you paying them to come and find the problem? They are very unlikely to offer a free consultation! Before you agree on a fee, ask if they have insurance and if they have any accreditation or professional affiliations.  Find out if they charge you for travel time, when exactly are they on the clock.

Plumbers and Electricians

Find out if they have tools and parts. If you are going to need to replace parts that they don’t stock, will they get them for you or will you have to go to the hardware store. Ask your electrician if the work you need done requires any kind of permit or inspection.

Roofers

Always get three estimates for big jobs like roofs. Get their opinions on whether to repair or replace the roof and whether you can go over the existing surface or if it needs to come down. Get the warranty in the contract so there is no question about that.

Painter

Whether you are painting inside or outside, make sure that the estimate includes all the prep work. Sometimes the masking and getting the area ready for paint takes longer than the actual application of paint. All the supplies the painter will need should be in the estimate. A painter will usually be able to get a better deal on the paint and supplies because of the volume they buy

LinkedIn is typically used for networking among employees, but companies–especially online ones that customers may never interact with face-to-face– are finding that having a LinkedIn presence can help validate their reputation for consumers by establishing credibility and trust. There are over 1.9 million companies with profiles on LinkedIn, and these companies have 100 million professionals following them to get updates, learn of job openings and have advance notice of new products and services.

LinkedIn offers a company page that allows you to centralize business information, controlling the publicly accessible LinkedIn profile for your business. Think of it like a central hub for professional information, with your employees’ personal pages representing spokes of the hub that offer greater insight into your goods and services. There’s a lot to be gained from developing a company page. You can access analytics data that shows what LinkedIn connections are looking at, and how they’re accessing it. Promote your goods and services by showcasing products, campaigns and graphics, and send private message to those in your circle to inform, entertain and connect.

Why Is LinkedIn A Good Resource?

Because this information comes from a professional networking service, members view it more positively than something like a Facebook post. Users perceive LinkedIn information as somehow more authoritative because it’s posted on a networking site with a veneer of professionalism, and not on a social media site, where the same information could be construed as marketing or promoting. Additionally, colleagues and connections can write recommendations for you that appear on the company page, showcasing more authority and inspiring more confidence in you than Facebook posts on your Wall. You can pull in an RSS feed from your company blog and a Twitter feed, but here these modules seem more newsy and less social.

Making A Successful LinkedIn Page

An example of a company with a nice profile page is YouSendIt, a tech company that offers document sending and storage via the Internet. The company’s LinkedIn page begins with an overview to introduce the company and its services to people who come across it. LinkedIn automatically pulls in newsy features from other sites, such as TechCrunch, that can help put the user at ease by offering authoritative third-party information about the company in question. Map data shows the street address, and other general information on the company size, type and founding date provide the basic information users need and want to know that can often be buried on the company’s website or missing from social media. The products tab showcases products–in this case, applications and product trials–that can then be recommended by regular LinkedIn users. The Careers tab showcases available job openings, connecting users to positions that may interest them and offering quotes from existing employees on why they’ve chosen YouSendIt. An Insights tab provides analytics data to the company’s administrators, allowing them to see what parts of the company page have been accessed. This provides administrators with real-time data that can be used to improve page functionality.

Additional benefits of creating a company page include higher search engine results, since the page is indexed by search engines and full of SEO-rich data, and access to LinkedIn data of potential new hires. Make smarter decisions about business and hiring, and provide customers with information, authoritative information through LinkedIn.

“Writing one epic post per week is a better long-term strategy than writing mediocre content every day.” –Jon Morrow

I know the quote above is talking about writing; however, taken in the proper context, the same can be applied to video.

Having a solid content strategy is one of the key foundations of blogging, be it video or written.

The stats on video from the National Association of Realtors show that 72 percent of home sellers want their agent to use video, and 3 percent actually do. We also know that 92 percent of consumers are starting their search to find a home and a Realtor online.

on air image via shutterstock

In this post I am going to focus on two different areas: why you should consider a video blog, and four tips on strategy. I hope this will help you to take action and implement video as a part of your overall marketing plan.

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My why and my strategy at the beginning

When I started my video blog in April 2010, my goal at the outset was to give a certain piece of my personality to my potential client/customer. I felt this would help my potential client gain insight into who I am as a person and as an agent. I also wanted to “flood the Internet” with my videos because I knew that potential clients were going to be searching there more and more. At the beginning my strategy was to focus more on quantity — and potentially mediocre content — than quality. Happy to say that my focus has shifted over the years and the quote above sits on my desk as a reminder of my end goal.

I felt that my personality, combined with my knowledge base, was going to give me a competitive advantage over other agents who chose not to use video as a part of their marketing.

The infographic below is a perfect example of how I am dominating the first page of Google with my videos when you search “How to buy a house in Calgary.”

Not sure what your why is? Why should you consider video as a part of your overall marketing strategy? Allow me to give you a couple of reasons to help you get started:

1. Video is the most inexpensive marketing that you will ever do. I don’t have deep pockets to spend tens of thousands on SEO; I do, however, feel comfortable in front of the camera and confident about helping people to make a decision based on the information/advice that I can give.

2. Gain a competitive advantage over other agents in your marketplace. Allow the potential client/customer to “get to know” you before they ever meet you. The matching of personalities is important in the formation of a personal relationship, as this is the foundation of a successful real estate business.

Not comfortable in front of the camera? Then get behind it. We as agents will find excuses for everything when it comes to prospecting. “I’m not comfortable in front of the camera” or “What if no one watches?” are two perfect examples that I hear all the time.

If you aren’t comfortable in front of the camera, then start doing screen shot videos where we hear only your voice. Try interviewing mortgage brokers or home inspectors and stay off camera while filming. Try doing a video walkabout of the neighborhood you are focusing your marketing efforts on.

In terms of no one watching, it takes only one person to pick up the phone or send an email to make an inquiry and for you to turn him into a client.

I firmly believe that once you get comfortable being behind the camera you will want to try your hand at being in front of the camera. Don’t let fear hold you back from a brilliant way to market yourself as an expert and get in the way of your “why.”

How to get started planning your video strategy

1. Know your niche. The Google Keyword tool is a killer way to find out what questions people have about real estate in your city or neighborhood. One other strategy I have also employed is providing videos for agents on using my iPad in my real estate business. Why? Because agents are another source of income for us, by providing value to them and answering any questions they may have, I am hoping to become their referral source for Calgary, Alberta.

2. Pick your platform. YouTube is the No. 2 search engine on the Web. Let this be your primary focus at the start, branch off into other arenas once you are comfortable with optimizing your videos. A quick tip about the description on YouTube: Start off every description with “For more information go to http://YourWebsite.com”; this provides you with a nice backlink and will also drive traffic to your site. Lastly, make sure once the video is uploaded that you also embed the video on your website with a short blog post.

3. Keep your videos short and be consistent. My videos average about two minutes apiece. My overall retention rate is 76 percent up to one minute and 40 seconds — after that it drops considerably. This stat tells me that I need to shorten my videos up by 20 seconds to keep 100 percent of my viewers. With the recent change in the Google algorithm, being consistent with your video blogging efforts has never been more important. Fresh new content uploaded to your site at least once a week will help with your overall SEO.

4. Focus on quality content. Some ideas to help get you started would be to give insight into how the whole buying and selling process works. You can provide valuable content by answering questions that other clients may have had in the past. One last thing in terms of quality is that it is not just about the content, it is also the quality of your video and your audio. Consider going with a lavaliere mic setup as well as a tripod for your HD video camera or even your iPhone.

How video has helped my business

Employing this strategy has helped me gain business not just from people searching YouTube for information but also from getting referrals from other agents from across the country. Here are a few of my stats:

• Four transactions in 2011 totalling $30,000 by people finding me on YouTube.

• Currently (at time of publication) working with three buyers who found me on YouTube.

• Received five referrals in one week (four weeks ago) where three of the five agents originally found my videos on YouTube about using my iPad in my business. Two of those five referrals are closed transactions.

• My video strategy has also gotten me in front of large audiences to talk about the use of video in my business at events like Agent Reboot, REBarCamp Toronto and Calgary, and the Banff Western Connection. This has also helped me to take the online offline and gain referrals from other agents throughout the country.

Be strategic in everything you do

You have to have strategy in every part of your marketing, and video is no different. Video is such a huge tool for us as agents, as it gives us a platform from which to help educate our potential clients. It also allows for a more personal connection: People can get a glimpse of who you are and what your personality is like. I have often sent new clients a link to my video blog before they meet me to get an idea of what I am like in person. They can make the decision at that point whether they want to work with me.

It is imperative that you have an end goal and a detailed road map of how to get there. Your strategy is important; make sure you know who you are posting content for. Be consistent and pick one platform at the start, master it, and provide killer content with great audio and video. These four points will set you miles ahead of your competition and will set you on the right path for success.

I’ve worked on my fair share of social media campaigns, and every once in awhile, a project comes my way that I have an extra ounce of vested interest in making a success.  A few months ago I had the honor of taking on doing some social media consulting for one of my favorite local restaurants Emory’s, a fine dining establishment north of Seattle and in my neck of the woods.  I’ve been a regular there for some time, and had a good friend that opened up the door for me to work with them.

Emory’s has an interesting history as the original building actually burned to the ground a few years ago and was completely rebuilt and re-launched.  It’s a fantastic restaurant right off a small lake, and their are very few options like it in the area.  Good food, great environment, and fantastic service.  They were doing good business, but wanted to ensure they didn’t suffer from the same early year drops in business.

They turned to social media as an area to focus on and I had the opportunity to craft and implement a plan for them.  The plan consisted of:

1. Give their FB page creative a facelift
2. Create and launch a promotion
3. Use a FB ad campaign ($500 budget for Feb) to target users within a 10 mile radius of the restaurant to promote a gift card giveaway to increase FB likes.
4. Increase their Twitter reach by identifying users within close proximity of the restaurant.
5. Re-vamp their engagement/content strategy to incorporate more interaction, photos of food/daily specials, and highlighting nightlife events.
6. Re-design their website to include a blog and better social integration.

According to the April Realtors® Confidence Index report, as of April 2012, 27 percent of properties had been on the market for six months or more when sold. In contrast, 48 percent had been on the market for three months or less. Additional information on a variety of topics related to current residential market conditions may be found here.

Have you ever thought that you are probably already doing content marketing ‘offline,’ with talks and presentations at conferences or business fairs? The concept of content marketing is nothing new, but web 2.0 has created unlimited opportunities to publish and spread content online with the help of the Internet and social media networks. If you understand the similarities and differences between content marketing ‘on’ and ‘off’-line, your online marketing strategy will become much (easier and) more effective.

The main difference between online and offline expertise lies in the way content is published and distributed, the number of people you can reach, and the readiness of which people share content. However, there is more to the difference between online and offline content marketing. It is worth taking a closer look at the two forms of content marketing in order to connect the them in the most efficient and successful way.

Same story, different outcomes

Even though the stories and content in online and offline content marketing often are the same, the methods and the format by which the content is presented can differ quite strongly; the achieved results will, accordingly, be diverse. Online content – such as videos, articles, comments, graphics – has the chance of staying visible for a much longer period of time than offline content. In fact, it can be fairly difficult to remove content from online media once it has gained a certain visibility. (This should be kept in mind when publishing sensitive content.)

In today’s social media world, the number of people who will see your online content will (quite likely) be much larger than the number of people you can reach via offline methods, simply due to the potentially viral mediums social media outlets provide. The people you reach online will probably also represent a greater variety of people, as targeting a specific group becomes much more challenging. A misstep online can therefore have much more drastic consequences than a similar misstep offline. At the same time, a well-placed contribution online will have more potential to impact your company than the same content placed offline.

Although large networks mislead you into seeking the largest number of people reached, you should consider if these people truly represent your target group. Then, if so, can they be reached via these networks? In the end, it is not the number that counts, but if you have really connected to people interested in you and your business. Ask yourself: can your target group be reached via Twitter, Facebook or Google+, or rather LinkedIn? It might be worth looking at smaller networks, as they may be better suited to reach the right people for you. This can be compared to offline networking, as many prefer a small conference over a large business fair, if if it is better suited to their direct purpose.

Same Goals, Different Approach

The goals in online and offline content marketing are closely connected: build a reputation as an expert and connect to people who can turn into business partners, collaborators and clients. With online and offline content marketing, it is important to attract the handful of people that fit with your business ideology, rather than wasting time investing on an infinite amount of unrelated people. Let this consideration be part of the decision in which type of content you use. Rather create content that is helpful to your target audience than ‘fun’ stuff that is spread, but does not inspire relevant people to return to you for information.

With offline networking, target groups can be more easily identified and reached at conferences and business fairs. Online, this kind of targeting is more tricky; rather than an introduction at a specific conference (with a preselected audience), your online networks are created by building an interested and faithful readership of friends, followers,  and fans. Locating and interacting with your right target group relates to formulating a strong content strategy.  Online you must produce continuity and consistency, as well as quality in your content. Whereas one piece of good content, i.e. a presentation at conference, can be enough in offline marketing – you will probably need more than that to gain the success you are looking for online.

Personality vs. Anonymity

Although speaking for a company throughout social media might induce a desired amount of anonymity, you should be aware that personality plays a big role in reputation. Even if the diction and facts in your content are perfect, when personality is missing you risk someone else get the job, as most of us would prefer to work with someone we feel we ‘know’ and can trust. In offline content marketing, your personality is usually part of the picture; you personally speak at a conference and the best business meetings might have result from the shared coffee after your talk. Within the anonymity of the Internet, you have to make sure your personality transcends through the screen. This might especially be a problem if your company expertise builds on the expertise of multiple employees, or you choose to have social media activity run by an external social media manager.

You can achieve great things with your content marketing activities. Being aware of the differences between online and offline content marketing and playing them to your own advantage could make the difference in making the right connections and generating the most active leads.