Ok. There has been a lot of fuss about Twitter over the last few days flowing around the Real Estate realm. There has been talk about it on the real estate.co.nz forum where a number of very smart real estate agents are starting to pick up on how it can be used for benefits of their business People such as Sharon James, Alistair Helm, Clive Bray, Ross Bradier, Brad Maxwell, Bryan Thompson are just a few that I know that are now starting to use twitter.
Here are some of the recent articles that have been made about twitter.
Realestate.co.nz industry website
Propertyadguru website
Business2 website
So what is twitter: Well wikipedia says
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.
As of March 2009, Twitter has received extensive visibility and popularity worldwide. Twitter is often described as the ‘SMS of Internet’ in that the site provides the back-end functionality (via its APIs) to other desktop and web-based applications to send and receive short text messages often obscuring the actual website itself. This extensibility of the service has earned it more popularity than it would have garnered if users had to visit the site to use the service.
I have been using Twitter for a while now and have built up a great network on there. My Twitter is Swiggs.
From using twitter I have learnt quite a number of things that the online world want and dont want. I am rated second in New Zealand as a twitter user. I love Twitter. When my job prospects in Real Estate changed I sent a tweet out to my network and instantly there were opportunities coming to me. Twitter is a directly engaging system that means you are in touch and broadcasting to the world and your followers directly and instantly. There are many different ways of using Twitter and here are a number of things listed below.
- Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.
- Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
- Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.
- Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
- Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.
- Make New Friends. Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesti
ng. A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.
- Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
- Notify Your Customers. Set up a twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.
- Take Notes. Twitter provides you with an easy way to record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.
- Event Updates. Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience
- Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on a twitter search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.
- Time Management and Analysis. Twitter can simply be used to keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily. This might be boring for others but this type of usage is useful when you want to analyze how you spend and manage your time.
As you can see Twitter is a versitile platform that can be used for all sorts of means. Here is a little tip.
Set yourself up an auto responder with your twitter account. I use Socialtoo. This means when someone follows you they get a personal message.. You soon learn what these are and look like because most of the time it reads.
Thanks for following me – now read my ebook or buy my product from this link………. OR
Thanks for following me, now look at my blog at ……………….
I learnt quickly that people hate this and its not a smart thing to do if you want to build the relationships. You dont want to force anything down the reader or followers throat. You should already have the link in your profile where they can look if you strike the right chord with them.
In your response in these situations what people appreciate is acknowledgment that you have followed them. A simple message with NO links in it along the lines of thank you and look forward to coersing with you or something like that is very very powerful. If you do this then you are building that trust relationship with the other person. This is what is key with twitter.
I hope you have fun. Have a look at the users that are using it from the list above and learn from what everyone else has to say.
Deon
March 24 2009 | Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Today all over the new there has been a story about these australian couple from fushnchups.co.nz that posted a blog about New Zealand slagging us off to the aussies and other parts of the world. I think this is a typical Kiwi vs Aussie rivalry that will always go on. But have a look and see what you think of the website which is Fushnchips.
Here is the article that was posted on the NZ Herald website.
An Australian couple has upset Kiwis with an online expat guide which warns that Auckland is a “horrible soulless city” and its inhabitants are “hobbits” who cannot dress properly.
The anonymous duo have used their website, fushnchups.co.nz, to attack their new home here, rubbishing everything from the country’s beer to its major cities and lack of worldliness.
“I was horrified that I couldn’t buy a copy of The Age, even in the major bookstores. True story,” wrote the bloggers, a professional couple in their late 20s.
They sum up the largest city, Auckland, as horrible and soulless, a comment the city’s tourism chief executive, Graeme Osborne, took exception to.
“Maybe they’re just envious that Auckland recently rated ahead of every Australian city as a tourist destination,” Osborne said.
“They should get in touch with me personally and I guarantee I’ll change their impression.”
The couple also trashed Rotorua, a popular tourist destination famed for it sulfuric activity, saying it “absolutely stinks”.
“It smells like the whole town let rip at once,” they say on the site, set up as a guide for Australians contemplating making a move over the ditch.
“Can blokes (in Rotorua) get away with letting out a silent-but-deadly in bed next to the missus?” they ask.
“How do people tell when their eggs have gone off?”
Ruth Crampton, from Destination Rotorua, said the Aussie bloggers had missed the point.
“It’s the smell that makes us special,” Crampton said.
“And didn’t they read that scientists have discovered the gas which causes smell is great for men’s sexual arousal and prowess?
“That’s a reason to visit.”
The New Zealand beer brewery, DB, took exception to an open letter on the site which says the national brew is lacking in hops.
“They can’t be serious,” a DB spokeswoman said.
“We’ve got some of the best beer in the world.”
The bloggers also waded into touchy trans-Tasman waters, laying claim to pavlova and Phar Lap, but adding “you can have Russell Crowe”.
Professor Philippa Mein Smith, of the NZ Australia Connections Research Centre at the University of Canterbury, said the comments were “pathetically rude” and did nothing to help the two countries relate.
Picking up that the young pair were from Tasmania, she decided to give some back.
“Isn’t Tasmania the butt of all the jokes over there?” Prof Mein Smith said.
“They’re just attacking us because they themselves are at the bottom of the pecking order back home.”
- AAP
I think it is important to realise that New Zealand is a great country to live in and then realise that this country is the country we all live in and grow up in. Most of the People I know that have visited this place love it and have always enjoyed their stay. This is a tourist destination most people around the world long to come to to visit and experience the Kiwi culture. Auckland is Auckland.
At the end of the day we have a multi cultural nation and I am proud to be part of it. But people are able to have their own opinion but when it comes to being on a website like theirs its a little rich. But hey you cant look at it just as a negative. Its a little bit of a laugh and if i were reading about it from some other country id probably be quite interested to see what the whole thing was about.
The great thing is that New Zealand is as well as being multi cultural is a very diverse country. There is a vast difference when you go from one part of the country to the next. Every city you visit is different and every rejion is different. I have lived in so many places in New Zealand and I can say that not one place was the same. As with anywhere you have the good places and the bad but I think the people of New Zealand make this a good place. Most people are friendly and because of the diverse culture you can learn a lot from different people.
I have had a good look through their website and it is funny in a way. It has a quirky nature that I know the Australians have which is great fun most of the time. But are the things this couple have been saying a little over the top. In their blog they call it a “piss take”.To some people maybe yes and to some people maybe no. Everyone has their own opinion.
I would be very interested in seeing what people think of this story.
March 24 2009 | Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
All original posts are below. All new posts are above. This will contine to be a great blog.
Go to my other blog in the mean time. 
November 24 2008 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Quite a number of fellow bloggers have asked me how I put the video into my blog at the top in the left hand side. This is how you do it.
First of all you need to create a video of something that you want featured. Then you need to host it somewhere. I have used Youtube to host the video. You will need to create a Youtube account so that you can upload videos and broadcast them. (if you haven’t got one yet I strongly suggest you get one and use it in your marketing) – Its free to use.
Now once you have a video made, and its uploaded to Youtube (or another place where you can create embedding code) you almost there. But if you are using youtube then its very easy and straightforward.
Go to your videos in your profile. And click to watch the video you want in your blog. (If you have just uploaded the video it takes a few minutes for the video to process before you can view it). You then need to go to the section marked ( 1) in the picture. You then need to go to the embed section marked (2) in the picture. Left click the words and then right click to copy the text. Now your finished on Youtube for the time being.
Now go to your voices blog and log into the control panel where you would check your stats etc. Now to get the right things you need to paste the Youtube text into follow this step. On the picture below I have numbered the steps so you can follow visually as well. Now
1. Click on DESIGN
2. Click on WIDGETS
3. In the drop down menu on the left hand side and go to TEXT and click on ADD
On the right hand side the widget will have been added and can now be found at the bottom of all the widgets on the left hand side. This is the widget you will need to add the text to.
In my picture this is numbered (4). Now to open the text box click the EDIT button numbered (5).
From here you need to paste the text you copied from Youtube into this box. This will then look like the picture below.
There is one last thing you need to do. In the picture below I have 4 red circles. READ CAREFULLY This is the most important part. Look at the code you have pasted in and you need to change it. It needs to look like mine. You will need to change the width from 425 to 220 and the height from 329 to 170. (This is the best fit I have found to work in this way.) Once you have done that you need to click the CHANGE button at the bottom of the text box and then SAVE CHANGES which is at the bottom of the widgets. Then view your bog and the video should be playing.
November 22 2008 | Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
A few weeks ago I was thrilled to have posted my 100th post but today my 7 month old blog received its 10,000th Unique visitor and 60,000th view (both on the same day I know that there are many bloggers that get this many views every week, but for me, this is a fun milestone considering I only received 20 to 30 hits per day during the first few month (those were the days) and only 6 months ago. My blog now averages between 600 to 800 hits per day and is steadily increasing. I look forward to the 100,000 post milestone. I may even throw a competition for it but in my last post I am giving away free one of my internet products. Anyway here is a little snapshot of the great milestone, although I missed the 10,000 but only by 2.
I have learnt so much since starting blogging. It takes up a fair bit of time and at times frustrating but the rewards have been massive. I really enjoy it now. Thanks to all of you who read this regularly and contribute. I am very much looking forward to my future in the South Island and continuing to make this blog a one place for anyone to come to when they have a real estate question in New Zealand.
Thanks So much.
Deon
November 17 2008 | Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
After an enlightening rum with some fellow bloggers I think it is pertinent to mention one of the things that we all had a cry about and it is one of the things that we all agree that makes blogging and if done with passion will be just as important and will grow your blog just as much as the methods I mentioned in t
he post “How will Blogging Grow Your Business”.
The thing we are talking about is Commenting!
When you join up to any blog you have effectively entered into a community. A community of likeminded people who share the same view and the same passion as you do. And if you are active in this community blogging on your own blog or not you should participate and liven the blog up.
Think about it for a second. When I go to a blog and read an article on their I get information. BUT. If you go to a blog and there are many comments on their I always find myself reading the comments more than the article itself as the comments are really interesting sometimes and hearing people’s opinions and viewpoints on any topic are sometimes more beneficial than just reading the article itself. Think of it like having a fire that’s just starting up that doesn’t heat much, but by adding the comments your adding fuel to make it burn bright and when its burns bright it can then heat more. Thus being more useful.
How will this help your blog and your business. Well I go back to the title and explain from there. How to make blogging enjoyable? Well by commenting on other peoples blogs you give the blogger a greater sense that they are being noticed. There is a great sense of achievement when you get a comment on your blog from someone. If you have one I know you will agree. This will then motivate the blogger to do two things. Write more blogs and they will comment back on your blog and then participate more within the community as well. So this answers the second part, How to get the most from the experience?
One thing Kerry said to me is that she sometimes doesn’t comment because it doesn’t add value or it might sound silly. SO WHAT! Put it down anyway. Just do it!!!!! Adding value comes in many forms, whether this is by saying good post or by giving your opinion on the matter it all adds to the validity and quality of the blog. And guess what. If you have a blog or a website you can leave a link to your site in your name and this is links as I discussed in the previous post that will just grow your site you link.
I will basically conclude to say you must comment. If you want to help grow the blogs your participate in and establish yourself or just plain old say thanks. It goes a long way in growing the overall value of the blog. So comment away to your heart’s content. If you’ve read the post take 30 seconds to write something below in the little shaded box \/ down there \/
October 06 2008 | Uncategorized | 20 Comments »
Don’t think that blogging or having a website is the magic pill that will turn your business around. But do expect if done well to work for you in terms of exposure and credibility. This is the 21st Century. We have to realise what is now. And we are in an online revolution. The Fact is for any Generation Y person the internet is joined to us at the hip, to Gen X its widely used and is increasingly used by Baby Boomers. We have connection in our homes, our offices, in our cars and on our cell phones. Heck you can even go to MacDonald’s and go online.
There are many ways of participating on the internet. You can be a reader which absorbs the mass amounts of information available. You can have a stagnant website that promotes your business or you can have an active social platform that is constantly updated with new content that the reader absorbs and possibly comments on.
With these varying means of participation on the web what will give you the best results that you want. Well having a website is a great start. But what’s the purpose of it? Most websites for Real Estate Agents are just promoting themselves and their material and has little content that is updated. From time to time you may change the look of the properties order but in essence they stay the same. SO by themselves are fairly useless for delivering traffic of viewers. Unless you’re doing a vigorous marketing campaign with promoting the link to your website through online articles, Blog and forum posts the only time you’re likely to get someone visit your website is a current client and you have asked them to take a look at your stuff. Don’t get me wrong this in itself is still a very powerful tool as an agent. But for building new business it’s probably very limited.
So we move onto the next things that you can do on the internet and this is blogging and forums. I am mainly going to focus on blogging as your blog is yours and you control it, on a forum you don’t control it. Now don’t get me wrong but just having a blog will not mean you get success for the sake of having one. It actually does take a little effort. But the great thing about it being on the internet is that once it is there it will stay and the more you grow it the easier it becomes.
Blogs. Firstly what are they. Well it’s like a journal. The big aspect to these fore being seen on the internet is that the search engines love them. They are easy to read and the content is updated regularly(when the owner posts a new post). But how do you use them to the best of their ability.
Well your blog should help you in your business and accommodate your website. Linking is the key here but I’ll talk about that soon. The key is that you need to update your blog often. Keep the content relevant and new. The first step is to start one. So you have done this what next. Well get writing. Actually it’s not that simple but you do need to put content on there. But this can be hard. The need for content is to get traffic. The visitors are what is going to in the future bring you enquiry. If you like me you get excited about the thought of people reading the things you write. And the thought of more traffic is thrilling. To get this traffic you need to use the search engines to see them and the content. Now if you do start a blog and add 2 or 3 posts a week your on the right track. But if after a month you start to notice that there is very little search engine traffic coming your way don’t get disappointed. At this point you may start finding yourself wanting to give up, or slowing down in your posts. But PLEASE don’t give up. Just keep plodding on with relevant and rich content and you will be noticed.
Google – which is the biggest search engine and the one I focus on indexes websites every three months. This means if you have a new blog it may take up to three months before its recognised. But when it comes to indexing time if you have a rich content filled blog that’s looks to be updated frequently Google will index it higher than one that isn’t the above. Once it is indexed and ranked you will then probably start to receive more and more traffic from the search engines. And with more content you deliver and more searches made the more frequent the search engines will rank your sites keywords and the more traffic you will receive. When someone searches say for example for my blog “New Plymouth Real Estate” and from the search engine click on my blog that search engine regards my site as linked to this key word or phrase. And the more it gets clicked for this phrase that’s typed in the search engine “bots” think it’s more important and up the scale you go.
When you start to run out of things to write which will happen. There are a number of things you can do to get you thinking. Here are a few hints and tips: One of the things I do is I have “Google alerts” set for key phrases like Real Estate New Zealand, Real Estate Market, New Plymouth etc. What this does is every time something is posted on the internet with those keywords you get an alert to the email address you assign to them. A great way to keep in the loop with what’s going on. You can then create articles relating to the stories, put your spin on it. This also means your content is up to date and in the medias eye, so of public interest, which will generate traffic for you.
The other way which will quickly turn you into a perceived expert is use forums and site such as yahoo answers to find questions that people are asking in real time. When you find a question or a topic you know something about write up an article and put it on your blog. What you then do is go back to the place where the question was asked and post a link to your blog there. But also attempt to answer the question so your seen to be adding value so that the reader trusts your link. This will help the people asking the question. You will get targeted traffic from the link and the search engines will love you for it.
WOW! A lot to take in isn’t there. But this is the bread and butter stuff to creating a powerful blog that works for you. Now to get it really working for you there are some other things that you can do. Above I mentioned about linking to your website if you have one. Now that your blog is giving you great search engine response and you have regular visits every day you can start to use this traffic to the highly visible blog to the less visible website. What you can do is put links on each of your pages to go to your website. So when a visitor is on your blog reading through it and come to a word with a link and they click this they will be taken straight to your website. Now this has two great effects for your website. The first is that you will get traffic from your blog going to your website. Going from a content rich site that makes you look as an expert to your maybe promotional website about you. This is very powerful if done right. The second is the links to your website from your highly raked blog make it look to the search engine that your website is also important. Because your important blog is linking out it gives your website great exposure and credibility. How good is that!
There is a lot to take in here and to get the results you do first need to put the effort in. I think that if you do these you will be on the right track to having a great blog. To help your business you will become more exposed to the general public. Even if you get to 100 unique views per day you could have up to 700 people viewing your blog each and every week.
Blogging is still a relatively new concept in New Zealand so the participation is a little on the sad side in terms of numbers. But don’t be worried on this. People will be reading it. They will know it’s from you and if you keep doing it when they do have a question on the topic of some of your blog posts they will ask you. And this is when the rewards come. This means they respect your opinion and want your advice.
I wish you all the best with your blogging. If you do have any questions on this stuff please contact me.
Deon Swiggs
Property Profits
September 30 2008 | Uncategorized | 13 Comments »
