Last week was great! There were 5 highlights that made my week! Each is related to social media and search marketing (SEO). It felt as if a lot of hard work was really starting to pay off. Let's start with the #1 highlight of my week:
1 - Google Search
Friday I get a call from a woman who mentioned that she found my phone number after searching Google for Trump and Tax Liens. I have been working on my own personal SEO for a while now, but never thought I would be part of a result for Trump and Tax Lien. For all those who say SEO is not worth the time or money I say think again. After directing this woman to the correct person she learned about some of our other training (she had no idea existed) and is probably going to enroll in a program.
2 - WSJ and SEO
We posted a blog to the Trump blog titled Accidental Landlord-How Does It Happen?. Based on an SEO recommendation we changed the original title. Wouldn't you know it but the next day the WSJ ran an article with almost the exactly same title. How is that for timing?
3 - LinkedIn and Trump U Client
As much as I enjoy social media connections I do try to consider the connection request before accepting a new connection. To me it is not about how many "friends" I have but the quality and usefulness of the connection. Last week one of our clients sent me a request. I didn't know who they were but they took the time to explain who they were, why they wanted to connect, how they found me etc. I accepted the connection and started a dialog. This student was attending a training in San Francisco so I reached out to the instructor and asked that they make a connection. This student was very happy to receive the extra attention and sent me a follow up note with valuable feedback about her training. This once again proved that social media does have a business purpose.
4 - Found New Resources
Twitter is another social media site I have been using. Based on some of the relationships I formed by following and reading content I hired one of my "social media friends" to help us with a few projects and have been exploring and talking to a few others. Social media does work if you contribute interesting and useful content.
5 - Active Rain and Blog Commenting
Just last week one of our clients who uses AR posted a blog and mentioned our training. I of course took the opportunity to comment back and initiated a dialog. The client then responded back. A perfect example of successful relationship marketing using social media.
Big Take Away (in case it wasn't clear)
Participate in social media. The time spent will help grow your business and build your reputation.
Do you have any social media success stories you want to share?
Josef -
I want to get involved more with social media, but, trying to parcel my time, I am unsure how much time to allocate versus blogging, website updates, SEO (very critical - I agree!) and the like.
Through Facebook, I often get what I consider a lot of "junk" even from friends - pokes, drinks, plants, etc. If I took the time to respond to every one of these, I would have no time left in the day!
Any thoughts, suggestions?
DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
I spend by far and away the most time on AR and here is where I have made so many wonderful friends. But, they are now my friends on other Social Networks as well. I twitter a bit but haven't gotten into a routine with it. So many great sites but not enough time!
Josef I have been working on my SEO for a little while now. I just have to keep at it.
Josef - Without a doubt my best time investment has been in SEO. Keep at it, youd be amazed how diligence pays off...
Josef-I am just beginning to "Twitter" but have been working on my SEO...learning as I go process:) Glad to hear you have been so successful! Best of luck and continued success to you!
Josef-
Great job on your "highlights"! I am also working on SEO... this is encouraging! JB Brookman
I went from page 18 to page 1 on google for my #1 search term. all because of what I learned on active rain
This does take a lot of time and as I newbie I find myself in overwhelm most of the time - wondering IF I will ever learn it all ... of course I won't ... I do enjoy reading posts and learning as I go. It feels good to hear stories of how people connect here and on the Internet. Social Media life takes off ... social life ..... ????? I love my PC.
I have been working on my SEO as well. I am still waiting to see if it will work.
I took a year and a half off from real estate to raise my daughter and I recently got back in about 3 months ago. It's like the entire industry warped online overnight. I can't believe how much things can change in a year and a half. I feel like I have to catch up with the times now! I've been getting used to the whole blog thing, it's definitely worth it and any agents who want to survive over the next 10 years in the industry are going to have undergo a serious technology makeover.
Great information Josef! I am just getting started with the Blog and so new that I need to look up "SEO" but am excited about the opportunities! If only we didn't need sleep, we could stay up all night and do this!
Dean - Time is a valuable resource. I try to stay focused in my social media interactions and when using sites like Facebook I really only interact with true friends.
Diane - I feel your pain. If only we could add hours to our days. Twitter is a fun and easy to use social media site. There are always some fun posts.
Larry - Keep up the SEO it will pay off. There are lots of great resources on AR.
Elizabeth - Thanks and best wishes to you with your SEO and Twittering efforts.
JB - Thanks. Keep working on the SEO you will see a return on your efforts.
Michael - That is amazing. There are some great SEO folks here on AR.
Kathleen - Don't get overwhelmed. Take it one day at a time and your efforts will pay off. SEO and social media change daily so just take it day by day.
Kay - If done right SEO will work but it is a daily battle so don't give up the good fight.
Erica - Yep things they are a changing. Technology is not going away and everyone uses the internet these days. If your not online you might as well not exists.
Beth - Sorry about leaving off the definition. Good luck with your blogging and SEO efforts. I am almost at a point where I don't need sleep (if only...)
Thanks everyone for stopping by and commenting.
I love the phone calls that start, "I'm on your website..."
That's when the time I have put in feels like it was worthwhile.
It's great to know how this is working for you. I am finding it challenging to balance everything with blogging and social media. What are your thoughts on that?
Time management is the key. There are so many ponds to drop your hooks into you have to figure which ones are going to work the best for you. -Charles
Josef, congratulations on your social media success!
Glad to hear about your success, Josef! There is some real synergy when you participate on multiple social media sites.
So many social networks, so much to learn and never enough hours in the day.
You said, "As much as I enjoy social media connections I do try to consider the connection request before accepting a new connection. To me it is not about how many "friends" I have but the quality and usefulness of the connection.
I agree, if they want a meaningful connection tell me who you are, why you want to connect or how you know me. That's why I have 98 friend requests on facebook. I just got tired of automatically accepting everyone. I'm hardly anti-social but...................
Carolyn - Those are great calls and usually more qualified folks too. There even better when they say something like "I read your article on..."
Joan - This is definitely a balancing act. For me it is about finding what you enjoy and focus your time. Of course you have to make sure the time is well spent so sending hours on MySpace and Facebook is probably less valuable then spending the same time on a site like AR.
Jacqulyn - Completely agree. You need to test different sites and find what works.
David - Thanks
John - I agree. I don't think you can have the same success by just using one site. Each site offers something unique. It pays to plant more then one seed,
Christine - Time management is the biggest challenge with all this. You still need to run your business or do your job. You can start sleeping less... of course that is not a long term solution.
Missy - You mean you didn't accept my Facebook friend request. I am crushed...Your doing the right thing. Social media for me is about the connections and relationships.
AR is amazing and it's an excellent starting point. Finding time to integrate multiple social networks and blogs and websites and and and is the key!!
Congrats on you success with social networking, it is always so rewarding to see something you put so much time into finally pay off. The article about the accidental landlord is very good also. Kudos all around!
Christina - Completely agree. AR is great and there are tons of resources for anyone who spends the time exploring.
Ilyce - Thanks it was a very rewarding week both personally and professionally.
I have to do more in social networking. I just need more time in the day to do it.
Russ - We all need more time. Wish I could help on that one. I just sleep a little less each day.
That is some great stuff Josef! Awesome how the WSJ found you!
Jeremy,
The WSJ was more coincidence then anything else. I thought it was a great example of how SEO help can pay off. It is all about the terms people search. Thanks for the compliment.
I am trying to socialize as much as possible, and am mainly using AR to try and develop new relationships as well as increase my SEO. I also have been trying to develop my website as well, and figure out how to relate them together.
I personally have not had much success yet, but am still fairly new to this, and am hoping it will pay off sooner or later.
Troy - Thanks for the note. Keep up the work. New relationships will blossom and your network will grow. Remember to give more then you get and you will benefit. If you want to talk about your site and SEO drop me a direct message and we can find a time to talk.
nice blog post. I have been hearing a little bit about using social media for defendable link building efforts.
James, Social media and blogging are good ways to build links but I am not sure what you mean by defendable link building. Can you explain?
Hi Josef,
It just means that the linking meets the TOS of Google et all. There would not be any question that it is entirly above board.
James - gotcha. Makes sense. That is the only sort of linking that makes sense long term. Thanks.