Whoa!  Youtube has totally updated their platform look and feel and it ROCKS!

Check out the video below to see the changes that you need to be making to maximize your Youtube channel and get more traffic flowing to your site today!

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Today I had the opportunity to sit down with Jonathan Rivera, Founder of The Official Real Estate Referral Group and discuss his success with using Facebook to promote real estate business.

In this exclusive interview, Jonathan discusses with me what prompted him to start the Facebook Page and how it has evolved into the total win-win movement that has taken over the entire Real Estate community within Facebook!

Jonathan has done a tremendous job of taking the Facebook platform and turning it into a catapult of additional business for (not only himself) but for all its Facebook Page fans. He discovered a way to completely ENGAGE his audience to not only “Like” his Page, but return and re-return. If this doesn’t get you motivated to get out there and do something, I don’t know what will!

NOTE: This video is 6 minutes in length, but worth EVERY minute! Grab a coffee and have a seat!

Want to learn more about the Real Estate Referral Group? Head on over to Jonathan’s website (www.RealEstateReferralGroup.com) and follow the steps he provided in the video above. It’ll be WORTH your while!

Interested in getting a custom Facebook Page created with your branding, listings, MLS Search, lead generation and more? Fill in the form below and we’ll be in touch in 24 hours (or less):

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Related posts:

1. Real Estate Facebook Fan Page vs. Profile – What’s The Big Deal?
2. 25% Off Facebook Business Page
3. Custom Facebook Business Pages for Real Estate Agents

The fundamentals and must-know rules of thumb on how to create your lead generating masterpiece!

NOTE: Click image to open in a new window and then click the image again to increase size for easier readability.

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Why Peripheral Not Tunnel Vision is Your Key To Success

I just finished reading a great post by my friend, Jimmy Mackin with The MLS App.  He truly hit the nail on the head so well that I just had to put the fingers to the keys and write my own take on it.

Image Courtesy of deanspic on Flikr.com

In his blog post, Mackin describes how the new Google + is another “shiny object” placed in clear view of business owners, such as Realtors®, that distract and divert their attention from what we know works and will continue to work if we keep working it.

Now, what I am NOT saying is that Google + doesn’t have the POTENTIAL to be another great source of lead generation and income – what I (and Mackin) are saying is it’s NOT YET.  That’s where the peripheral vision philosophy comes into play.

By keeping your eyes open to the things happening around you, you can stay informed and allow things to evolve (or not evolve) while still keeping on the track of success you’ve been on (before Google +  came into your line of vision).

What you don’t want to do (but I see happening every day) is to have tunnel vision;  by taking your eyes (and more importantly, efforts) off of what you have been working diligently on (for however long) and changing gears to a new “shiny object”, your road to success has now taken a detour and you may not make your way back.  In fact, you may go completely off course and wonder in 6 months why your business has come to a screeching halt!

A severe scenario?  NO.  Not at all.  It’s actually reality for many business owners who do not have a definitive plan.

You may say, “But, don’t I want to jump on the bandwagon while the iron is hot?”  ”Get in during the initial phase?”  No, this isn’t a pyramid scheme – this is social networking!

The moral of the story is, stick to what works, but keep your eyes open to new opportunities that are bound to arise.  Jumping ship is not your key to success; Stay onboard with your goals and they WILL be met!

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Real Estate Blogs – How To Correctly Use Permalinks And Why

Permalinks – short form for permanent links – are another integral part of real estate blogs (or as I like to call them, “21st century websites”) that will not only assist in gaining the attention of the search engines, but of your specific niche market too.

Ok, so first of all, what are Permalinks?

Permalinks are fixed urls (or domain LINKS) that will never change (ie., PERMANENT) which are created for each post and page that we create within our blogs.

Why are they so important?

Imagine there’s a puzzle which consists of three pieces.  If one of them is missing then the puzzle is not complete and, therefore, unfinished.  Your permalinks is one of those puzzle pieces.  The other two are your

• Blog Post Titles, and your
• Keyword Phrases

All three of these pieces of the puzzle are intertwined and affect each other in a very unique way.  Here’s how:

1. When writing your new real estate blog post, make sure that when POSSIBLE and SENSIBLE (or in otherwords, natural), you use one of your keyword phrases within the 70 characters allowed within the title.  Don’t add them just to keyword stuff – it probably will sound ridiculous and completely unnatural – the opposite of a well-written blog post.
2. Since the title may contain one of your keyword phrases, you should also use it within the first sentence (or 160 characters) of your blog post content and/or derivatives of the keyword phrase – for example if “real estate blogs” is your phrase, a derivaties may be another keyword phrase you are trying to be found on (the almighty) page one of Google, such as “real estate blogging“.
3. Your blog title will determine what your permalink will be (if set up correctly – see video below!), which is what your readers will be directed to via backlinks of the post you add to your social networking sites, and bookmarked for future reading (for example).

How do I correctly set up my Permalinks?

Here’s the important part – how to make sure you have your permalinks set up properly. There are many tasks you have to complete when setting up a new self-hosted blog, one of which is getting your custom-structured permalinks in place.  Here’s a short how-to guide on completing this task in about 30 seconds:

As mentioned in the video, you can read more about the details behind permalinks, the difference between “ugly”, “almost pretty” and “pretty” permalinks, and how they are created on wordpress.org‘s website. Was this information new to you?  Let us know in the comments below!

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