Okay, so you are a real estate agent and you need to drum up some business. What can you do? Whether you are getting out of that lull, getting back into the game, or just getting started, these great ideas might just be your ticket to riches:

• Set up your Facebook Business Page (this is different than a personal page). They are free, and easy to set up.
• Use your facebook page and be sure to post new listings, price drops, photos, testimonials, etc.
• Collect your contacts’ email addresses and set up Constant Contact eNewsletters – only $15 per month for fewer than 500 people in your database. Past clients, prospects, family, friends, past co-workers, friends from church, friends from school, baseball, soccer, etc. You can create great looking newsletters and send them as often as you wish (although we recommend you keep it to 2 times per month max.)
• While Constant Contact is great for email, don’t forget about the power of direct mail like regular post cards, brochures, and booklets… Great looking printed materials for both yourself and your listings let people know that you are professional, you mean business, and you can help them.
• Make sure your business card is professional looking. Almost nothing is worse than a cheap looking business card. Print lots of them. Give two cards to every single person. The goal is to give them out and print more.
• Get your own domain name like YourNameRealEstateSolutions.com or CallMyName.com and make sure you use that domain name for email, and NOT something like YAHOO / HOTMAIL, etc, as the professional domain name is obviously more professional. Plus, each email you send, or that someone types TO you is an advertisement for your domain name.
• Your domain name itself can point to your affiliated real estate company web site, or you can make your own web site.
• If you have your own site, make a video of yourself and put it on your home page, welcoming people to your site, letting them know why you are the best. Be sure to have great lighting, a great microphone, and a good backdrop. Be interesting and not boring.
• Always return emails and phone calls within an hour, M-F. Or on the weekends, with 2 hours. Otherwise you are losing out on business. Customers move on until they can reach somebody.
• Find a competing real estate agent or group that you admire because they are successful. Find out what they do, and try to do it yourself, one step at a time.
• Make sure people know what you do, and why you are better than others out there. There are a gazillion agents out there…. “Why should I hire you?” You need to know the answer to this question, and make sure your contacts know it, too.
• When you have listings, make sure you have professional photos taken of the outside and inside of the home. Nothing is worse than bad photos of a good house. However, good photos of a bad house can help attract buyers.
• For listings, print great looking flyers on nice paper. Make sure your flyers stand out from the rest.
• Blog about your business, your industry, the market, etc. Set up a blog on your web site, on Blogger, WordPress, or on ActiveRain for real estate agents. Blog articles with relevant content can point back to your site. The links to your site from relevant sources can actually help your Google search results.
• Create blog pages that are specific to each property you are listing. If you or a colleague are selling the house at 4321 Main Street in the Redland Hills district, then set up a blog called 4321MainStreetRedlandHills.blogaddress.com — and include house details, photos, etc. This page should also link back to your site and facebook page.
• Post listings on Craigslist and have them link back to your site.
• Make phone calls. At the end of the day, all the pretty stuff looks pretty. But you still have to talk to people, and ask for their business.

For a free 15-minute marketing consultation write to info@faithinmarketing.com or write to 858-877-FREE.