Real Estate Software & Technology Newsletter
This newsletter is provided especially for [[Contact:26]]
Welcome [[First Name:78]] to the April / May issue of the Ascendant Australia Real Estate Software and Technology Newsletter which provides you with information to real estate agents and property professionals with respect to IT changes and news. The March Newsletter had some great feedback many thanks!
This month we discuss a new concept in real estate marketing – Blogging! Next month we will focus on SMS usage in real estate, and Google and search engine optimisation (SEO) for real estate which is a big issue now and if you didn't realise it's a big issue you should read next months issue.
On Email Newsletters
You may notice a change in the style of the newsletter and its worth explaining why and how it is being generated now as frequent client newsletter contact is a central part of a contact management strategy for all property professionals. Quite simply this newsletter has been designed using Microsoft FrontPage and sent via ACT to an email group as an ACT email template. The original page was actually part of our web site and we simply renamed/copied an existing page and then started changing the content in FrontPage. This results in a number of benefits:
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Ease of design in MS FrontPage.
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Consistency of style and images with the company web site.
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All newsletters are in fact web pages so they can be archived more readily for access on the web site.
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Easy email sending via ACT as an email mail merge template which enables the email newsletter to be personalised like this [[First Name:78]].
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Click off "link tracking" can be enabled using HTML newsletters ( more on this for ACT clients ).
A popular and practical strategy to adopt in real estate is a 2 pronged one:
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Weekly Buyer / Investor Newsletter - basically your stock list
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Monthly Property Newsletter - aim this at prospective vendors, investors etc
So when you decide to setup an email newsletter here are a few questions and tips to stop and think about:
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Plain Text or HTML or both ?
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Bounced Emails - how to handle Email Verification of your database
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Real Estate Software - which one will you use to handle the client list?
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Competition - what are they doing ?
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Good Content - Has to be more than an Ad and must have value to a client
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Community Feel - people value this highly so create a warm n fuzzy feel
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Consistency - style and content can be simple but similar
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Change the Problem - people want different solutions in different issues
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Pair Content with a Promotion - make a special offer to generate interest
Think about what you want to achieve and also how you can access past copies and streamline the process. Also, do you want to do a personalised email like this one. Most consumers don't realise that so much personalised email may be done via an email merge as this is still new to them. Whatever you decide though the first one or two issues may take a while it will be worth the effort.
Check out our Property Bits page for more info on email marketing but If you need help and assistance with this Ascendant assist many real estate agents with this process so give us a call anytime to discuss your needs and options.
Blogging - What's that got to do with Real Estate ?
A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically like what’s new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, project updates, etc.
Most blogs have been previously written and maintained by IT people but it has grown greatly to all types. Is this popular yet in real estate?
Well lets see how many web pages a Google search show for “blog real estate” shows us and here they are:
Results about 927,000 for blog real estate ( all world search )
Results about 33,300 for blog real estate ( Australia only )
With 927,000 web blog references for real estate world wide it looks rather BIG actually. Although it seems like Blogs have not really hit the Australian industry from that search and after reviewing the pages available – most blogs in Australia which reference real estate are from disgruntled consumers with one site even naming an agent as incompetent and giving their web page link !!!
Have a look at 2 very different styles of real estate blog from a very polished approach to a more down to earth one:
1. John Mudd’s Blog – an agent in Tampa Bay Florida with high visibility.
2. Toronto at Home – a very different style to the one above from Canada.
A blog is an interesting and novel way for a Real Estate agent or any property professional to both open up to clients in a human way and or to simply present clients with real estate information with a twist. At the least it’s a way to be different from all the other property people out there and at its extreme its an incoherent collection of rants and mumbling! What do you think about blogs and their role in real estate? Let us know if you are planning one or know of some good local Australian one’s.
ANTI SPAM Legislation
The Federal Spam Act 2003 officially took effect on April 11 with companies which breach the legislation facing fines of up to $220,000 per day or $1.1 million for repeat offences. The term Spam, as defined by the Spam Act, is any commercial electronic message sent without consent. The term electronic messaging includes email, SMS text messages and MMS (Multimedia Message Services). (Faxes are to be exempted by regulation, but would otherwise have been covered.)
One common recommendation is for businesses to confirm permission with potential e-mail recipients - rather than leaving any ambiguity as to whether consent has been granted or whether the message is factual or commercial. Most real estate agents are adding “spam” tick boxes to buyer or vendor enquiry sheets or equally to their databases additional fields. This will still mean careful selection and monitoring of your database email lists to ensure you don’t send unsolicited spam.
In particular for database lists you already have you should ensure you add an “unsubscribe” option at the least to some part of your emails. Here's what the ACS say:
1. GET PERMISSION IN THE FIRST INSTANCE
2. COMPLY WITH THE PRIVACY ACT
3. ALWAYS GIVE THE RECIPIENT AN OUT
4. IF YOUR EMAIL IS ON THE WEB, SAY “NO SPAM”
5. IF THEY DON’T HAVE IT, THEY CAN’T USE IT
More related info ACA Spam Page Zdnet Spam Article
Email Signatures - Do you have one you are really proud of ??
This has been mentioned before but its worth doing it again and emphasising how important a professional and consistent approach is with your emails.
ACT Users check out our Video support Page for details on this.
Outlook users - Go to Tools/Options in Outlook and find your Signature normally under Mail Format select and copy the text. Have a look at this link for some advice !
In this months issue:
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Email Newsletter Issues
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Blogging for Real Estate
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ANTI Spam Legislation
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Email Templates vs Letters
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Email Signatures
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Are you a Web Consumer ?
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See Propel 2.0 for ACT in Action !
Real Estate Software designed, by a former agent and valuer, to save you the effort of changing ACT yourself !
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Ideal for Email marketing
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Over 2 Hours of Training Video's
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Exclusive Tips / Hints Newsletters
Click here or above to see and hear our new demo and see how you can stand out by using Propel and ACT !
A free ACT Quick Study Guide
with orders of ACT & Propel ?? WOW tell me more
Are you a Web Consumer ??
With the Internet being such a topic of use and interest with real estate many agents still have not become Web consumers themselves. Many don’t think like the consumers who are using the Web to make everyday buying decisions or the people who will look to the Internet to help select an agent.
Think about this next time you tell a client to " check out the web site". Are you making life easier for them or easier for you ? If your web site and the info your clients need are muddled and take lots of clicks to find you need to address this. Either change the web site and your info sources or provide TOP email information with all the information in links for your clients to save THEIR time and ultimately make them VALUE your service.
So set aside some time each day and act like a buyer or a vendor and poke around the web generally and your site.
Email Templates vs Letters
With the growth in the use of email and also the amount of resources available on the Web its time you thought about Email Templates.
Everyone has a huge body of mail templates and favourite letters but not many have converted them into Email templates. Why not take advantage of the Internet and make up some email based templates ?
You can add favourite links and web sites within your email to your clients to help then access WHAT YOU WANT them to. And if you are really progressive you can even monitor WHAT they click on !
So be different and back up your existing letter collection with an email collection and stand out from the pack !
Miscellaneous Bits
March 2004 Ascendant Newsletter
Auto Updating Your client database in Outlook & ACT & more.
Property Bits page with extra info on email marketing and much more.
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