G+ is growing at a rapid rate and Google is promoting G+ extremely hard. The fact that Google is heavily promoting G+, in my opinion, is enough reason to at least establish a presence on the new network. Here’s why.

SEO Benefits

Google is incorporating G+ into all of its web platforms, search results, Gmail, YouTube, etc. They’re advertising G+ on TV as well. Make no mistake, they are serious about this new network!

There are many benefits to creating a profile and a business page on G+ from an SEO perspective. Google has incorporated G+ into its search engine results pages in several ways. It’s rumored that they are using +1’s in their algorithm as a ranking factor, they are including G+ personalization in the search engine results pages, and favoring G+ pages in search results.

If you’re logged-in to your Google account, your search results will be “personalized”. One of the ways Google is doing this is including links and images from your G+ network in the search results pages. Think about it, the more G+ connections you have and the more active on the network you become, the more opportunities you will have to gain a presence in people’s search results. So, just having a presence on G+ will give you more chances to be found!

Its also rumored that Google is giving additional value to websites that have been +1’d. Someone giving a website a +1 is a way of endorsing and recommending the site. This is one of the reasons why we’ve incorporated Google +1 buttons on all our BoomTown websites. Users can also +1 a site directly from the search engine results pages now. If you haven’t noticed by now, Google always seems to favor their own products so having +1’s included as a ranking factor only makes sense. Encourage your clients and brand supporters to +1 your websites for additional “Google juice”.

Also, do a search for a person or a brand. Chances are that their Google+ profile or page shows up near the top of the search results. This is powerful! Google is favoring G+ accounts in their search results over both Facebook and Twitter accounts most of the time. This is a clear signal that you and your brokerage need to establish a presence on G+.

Profiles and Pages

Creating a personal profile for Agents is equally as important as creating a page for your business or brokerage. This way if someone does a search for an individual agent or brokerage, you can ensure adequate coverage in the search results pages. Make sure each profile is filled out with information about the agent and brokerage, why they are different, and all contact information as well as links to your main websites. Also, try to include images about your business and agents. G+ images show up in search results pages as well. The more “real estate” you can take up in the results the better!

New Opportunity To Connect

Aside from all of the SEO benefits, at the end of the day, its a social network and if you have time, you should use it like one. G+ provides yet another social media opportunity to connect and converse with potential clients and colleagues.

Another Social Network, I Don’t Have The Time!

I’m willing to bet this thought crossed your mind and rightfully so. You’re in real estate and your time should be focused on activities that build your business and help your clients. This being said, the more active you can become on G+ or any social network the better, however you simply may not have the time. If you are currently stretched, at least take some time to build agent profiles and pages for your brokerage. At bare minimum, create full profiles and pages complete with information about you, your business, images, links to your websites, and contact information. Also, if you’re already posting updates on Twitter and Facebook, go ahead and post updates to G+ as well. That way you won’t have an empty stream. Establishing a basic presence will help provide you with some of the SEO benefits mentioned above.

Join BoomTown on Google +

Looking back at 2011, we couldn’t have asked for a better year.  Our client list grew exponentially and we are continuing to catch the eye of some of the most talented real estate professionals in the country.

In 2011 we also doubled the size of our own team internally here at BoomTown. In 2008, when BoomTown was just getting off of the ground, it was a very exciting time where every member of our team wore many hats. Engineers were also our support department as well as the sales and marketing team. Product design was also operations and account management. Things have changed dramatically since then and now many of us are more focused in our specific roles and responsibilities

As your business grows, you are always faced with the challenge of letting go of responsibilities that you feel may be too important for you to delegate.  What I have learned over the years, this past year especially, is that there is nothing more gratifying and assuring than to have someone on your team take that delegated responsibility and do it better than you ever could.

We had so many big wins in 2011, but the most remarkable for me was BoomTown achieving a Net Promoter Score of 74 which tops both Amazon and Apple in customer satisfaction.  That score is the result of having a team that is dedicated to the success of our clients.  They understand ‘why’ we do what we do rather than just understanding ‘what’ we are supposed to do everyday.  If we focus on making the best use of our time and resources to make our clients more successful, then we too will be successful.

In 2012, I look forward to continuing to work with and grow the amazing team that we have here at BoomTown.  The level of energy and engagement that I feel around our office today is as strong if not stronger than it ever has been.  Thanks to our amazing team and amazing clients for another great year!

William Raveis Real Estate is the #1 family-owned real estate company in the Northeast, an elite group of 80+ offices, some of them BoomTown clients. Part of what makes William Raveis Real Estate so successful is that despite being the 9th largest real estate firm nationwide based on sales volume, they still offer local, personalized attention while embracing research and technology.

Congrats William Raveis and Team from your friends at BoomTown! We are so inspired by your embrace of innovative technology and dedication to your clients. We look forward to partnering with more of your offices in the future.

This past week BoomTown’s CEO, Grier Allen, joined a panel of real estate technology experts at Real Estate Connect in NYC. The session, Conversion Optimization, focused on proven strategies to turn online leads into real estate clients. The panel was featured on Inman News last Friday.

The panel of speakers agreed that the key to converting visitors into leads is providing customers with an amazing online experience. This starts with the website design. When designing your real estate website, think about how consumers would like your site to function. How easy is it to search for a home and view a listing’s photos? Equally important is how easy is it to find the Realtor’s (your) contact information? Give some serious consideration to how your website visitors will approach the registration form on your website. At BoomTown we encourage showing some of your site’s value before asking for the visitor’s contact information and keep the form as brief as possible.

After a visitor has submitted a form, the key is to respond quickly. Grier stressed the importance of Brokers setting clear expectations for follow up. Brokers should be setting expectations for their teams with guidelines on how quickly Agents should call their new leads. *Studies show that the odds of reaching your leads are 100 times greater if you call within 5 minutes than if you wait 30 minutes to place the call.  Brokers should also be setting the follow up process for if a lead is reached on that first phone call as well as if they are not. Grier recommended that Agents should not leave a message after their first call attempt and simply give up on the lead. Agents should be calling the leads upwards of 6 times to qualify them and using scripts developed for the qualifying process.

For more tips on offering an amazing customer experience and on converting online leads, check out the full article on Inman News.

*Source: MIT Lead Response Management Survey

BoomTown released Smart-Drip, our version of drip email automation, this past November. In only 2 months time, over 300,000 leads have been placed on Smart-Drip Plans and close to 900,000 Smart-Drip emails have been sent! Smart-Drip’s goal is to automate the email process so that Agents have more time to make calls. Even if each email only took 1 minute to draft, that’s 15,000 hours that have been automated!

BoomTown’s Sharing Library is a community driven platform where Agents and Lenders can borrow plans entered into the system by other BoomTown users across the US and Canada. Plans have been shared over 1,500 times! Plans are ranked by an algorithm that measures both reply and spam rates. Want to know what types of plans are getting the best responses? From our research, plans with short, to the point emails that incorporate BoomTown’s enhanced template text options like “time of day” and “day of the week” perform the best. Plans that span across a longer period of time, touching base once every few weeks, are also performing well – aiding Smart-Drip’s mission to elicit a response from leads that are further out in their buying process.

For more information on how Smart-Drip revolutionizes email marketing, watch our Smart-Drip launch video.

Testimonials

“I credit BoomTown for much of my success as a Realtor. I have written two offers in the last two weeks that I directly attribute to Smart-Drip! BoomTown is the best thing to happen to the Real Estate agents’ productivity since the cell phone. Hallelujah for BoomTown!”
- Theresa Hutchins, Exit Mountain Realty, Agent

“This new auto drip feature is unreal! Very well thought out.”
- Aaron Armstrong, KW Armstrong Real Estate Group, Real Estate Consultant

“Smart-Drip is simply amazing!”
- Gary Blankfort William Raveis Baer & McIntosh, Associate Broker

“Smart drip, the new email drip system from Boomtown, is just one example of the “brilliant” development minds at Boomtown! And the amazing thing, these guys roll out enhancements to the product quarterly with more features and improvements than we typically see from a vendor in a year. Smarter than any email drip system I’ve ever seen, Smart-Drip immediately enabled me to stop paying $600+ per month to have emails sent every 4 days and our agents are already seeing improved responses from leads, leading to higher conversion rates. Your only challenge in using Smart Drip is to make sure that you dig into it far enough so that you don’t let a single Smart-Drip app go unleveraged!”
- Hinton Dillard, Dillard & Company Realty Group, Managing Partner

The future cannot wait

As we set forth on another year

Houses will sell

New buyers will dwell

Leads will register without fear

So as the ball drops down

There’s no time to frown

Let’s all let out a collective cheer.

2012 is here!!

Happy New Year from your friends at BoomTown!

In the process, we received some valuable insight and feedback from our clients. This got us thinking about how all of us can use customer feedback to fuel growth in our businesses. As real estate agents, referrals and repeat clients are the bread and butter of your business. This all stems from client satisfaction. Check out our list of 5 easy ways to become more client centric in 2012.

1. Put yourself in the client’s shoes - We all know how frustrating it can be to deal with demanding clients.  However, it’s important to take a deep breath and put ourselves in the client’s shoes.  If we always approach the conversation from the client’s perspective we will get much further in solving the ‘real’ problem at hand. Sometimes thinking of things from their perspective can help you learn what their problem really is and what’s important to them.  This helps uncover the best way for you to help them.
2. Give your clients a voice - Give your clients an outlet for feedback and suggestions.  You are the expert in your industry, however, your clients can be a valuable resource in generating new ideas. Think about using a survey system like Survey Monkey, Google Form or setup a poll on your Facebook page.  Participate on review sites like Mountain of Agents, Yelp and Google Places.  The more we offer transparency in the level of service we provide, the more trust our clients will have in us.
3.  Become a partner and a coach - Always think about what is in the best interest of the client. You were hired for your expertise. It’s important to speak up if you think your client needs the guidance and could use a little tough love. You have a wealth of knowledge from your industry experience, share it! Educating and partnering with your clients will ensure you satisfy their needs and build a healthy business relationship that can last for years.
4.  Encourage a sense of community among your clients - Create a forum for your clients to share stories and collaborate.  Setup a Facebook group or Google community to help facilitate the conversation. This will quickly become an added benefit to working with you.  You can also manage both negative and positive feedback head on. Your clients can often help one another. Sharing experiences is very influential.
5.  Never compromise service for profit -We live in a social world and one bad review can go viral in a matter of seconds. Always put service and honestly first and your reputation will benefit ten fold.

2012 is a new year with new opportunities to grow your business. Practicing “The Golden Rule” and keeping your focus on your clients can pave a solid foundation to a successful New Year!

Celebrating its 16th year, this year’s conference theme is “Leading the Way: Innovation in Action” which is on point with BoomTown’s vision statement “To constantly innovate and share knowledge to drive the future of real estate technology.” BoomTown’s most recent innovation, Smart-Drip, is a new form of email drip automation that revolutionizes the way Agents are able to contact leads through more personable and well received emails.

Real Estate Connect NYC 2012  is full of great workshops, breakout sessions, networking opportunities and general sessions. Topics will range from tech start-up entrepreneurship to Social SEO. Leading up to the event, Agents can also participate in Agent Reboot events which will focus on technology immersion. We can’t think of a better and more exciting way to kick off 2012!

Real Estate Connect will be held January 11th – 13th at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. Register now for this can’t miss event!

BoomTown’s Smart-Drip revolutionizes drip email marketing by making plans more effective. Watch our quick video to see how we’re leading the industry in more personalized, response driven drip campaigns. Smart-Drip is not just good in theory, it’s works! Here is what one of our client’s had to say about it.

I credit BoomTown for much of my success as a Realtor. I have written two offers in the last two weeks that I directly attribute to Smart-Drip! BoomTown is the best thing to happen to the Real Estate agents’ productivity since the cell phone. Hallelujah for BoomTown!

- Theresa Hutchins, Exit Mountain Realty, Agent