Myrtle Beach Real Estate

I have always enjoyed the 4th of July in Myrtle Beach.  There are so many July 4th or Independence Day festivities to do in Myrtle Beach. There are usually parades on the water, fireworks shows all over Myrtle Beach, and so much more to do. However to me, I've always looked at this holiday as a symbol of the beginning of Summer.  Time to enjoy trips to the pool, grilling out, and just having fun.  So, tonight I decided to start the holiday a little early. 

Since the in-laws are still in town, we threw some ribeye steaks on the grill this evening and decided to kickoff our festivities with a good cookout. Below is the final result.  Let me just tell you, the meal was delicious! 

So now that we have begun our holiday festivities for the 4th of July in Myrtle Beach, we will continue them tomorrow afternoon by visiting our church for a huge picnic/game night.  Once again, the grills will be on overload as we make hundreds of hot dogs & hamburgers.  There will also be all kinds of games being played including basketball, volleyball, and who knows what else!

Since the heat will probably be in the high 90's here in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, we will hopefully enjoy an afternoon at the pool.  Now that Isabelle has turned 1 year old, she is really starting to enjoy the pool more and more.  She loves being in the water.  Whether she is flying around in her floating tube, or in the arms of mommy & daddy, she is really starting to turn in a big fan of the water.   I am not sure if it is because she really like splashing daddy in the face, or if it is because she knows she is darn cute & always accessorizing her swimsuit. 

I know what some of you are thinking... Jeremy you live in Myrtle Beach!  Yes, the beach is only 10 minutes away from my home, but to be completely honest, I rarely go.  Why?  I hate the sand between my toes.  It drives me crazy!  I know, I am probably weird, but it is ok.  I can live with it.

After the pool, we plan to finish Saturday with dinner out at a nice restaurant and then fireworks somewhere here in Myrtle Beach.  I am not sure yet where we will go.  Hopefully down to the ocean.  Watching a fireworks show on a pier over the ocean is just way cooler than anywhere else.  If you are here in Myrtle Beach, and know of an awesome place to go and enjoy the festivities, please feel free to share them here!

Two more things to cover.  First, don't forget to take a moment and remember those that have made our ability to celebrate Independence Day possible.  Without them, there would be no holiday.  Lastly, while you are celebrating & enjoying the holiday, please do so safely! I don't want to hear any tragic stories on Sunday!

Happy 4th of July everyone!  Make it a memorable one!

I just finished reading a post by Joe Spake asking the question, Does Social Media Encourage REALTOR® Spammers?  In this post he brings about an excellent point about Hard Selling yourself & services instead of using social media the way it was intended to be used.  As a soft sell.  So what are the differences? 

ALWAYS Ask Everyone You Come in Contact with this: "Do You Know Anyone Looking to Buy or Sell Real Estate?"

Man, haven't we all heard this line before at least 200 times through our real estate career.  This hard sell technique has been ingrained into our minds that we must ask every single person this.  What if we didn't ask and they were really looking for a house? *Gasp*

Welcome to Real Estate 2.0- Home of the Soft Sell!

What the heck is Real Estate 2.0?  Real Estate 2.0 is a way of marketing yourself through the use of various social media strategies.  This includes the use of a real estate blog, twitter, facebook, youtube, etc.  Another way of explaining this is using marketing & media avenues that encourage a two way stream of communication between you & the consumer.  As Jeff Turner calls it, YEO, "You Engaging Others."

This Soft Sell Idea Seems Pretty Lame, nobody will know I work in Real Estate!  On the contrary, if you use the soft sell technique in RE 2.0, you will build your business faster than ever!  So what is soft selling?  You are still trying to market yourself to clients and get the word out about your business, but it is done without the "in your face" mentality. Those that follow you on the social media sites can easily read the about me section and know quickly what you do for a living.  When you engage someone, they will take the time to find out what you do for a living and actually care about the info they read.  When you engage readers, there is no need to constantly say, "I work in real estate!  I work in real estate!" because they will have already connected enough with you to know that basic information.

Stop Telling Everyone Your Profession in Every Post!

One of the easiest ways to begin implementing the soft sell techniques of Web 2.0 is right here on your ActiveRain Blog.  Instead of writing about this new listing you have, or how you would love the opportunity to help someone buy or sell a property & using the Hard Sell technique which will turn off consumers instantly & makes you look like a desperate REALTOR®, maybe try a few of these ideas:

• Write about your favorite restaurant.
• The amenities of a development.
• Your favorite fishing hole.
• Local Golf Courses
• Festivals in Your Area.
• State Parks
• Changes in the Lending Industry
• Market Stats for an Area
• Local Charities

Lastly remember that site called Localism! It will be your best friend at perfecting the art of Soft Selling.  I could list hundreds of other ideas of things to use for soft selling yourself. Writing posts for Localism & your Outside Blog is great ways to promote you with soft sell.  

Why do I have to use this "soft sell" approach?  The reason you need to change your marketing strategy over to a soft sell approach is because with popularity of Google & other search engines at an all-time high, more and more consumers are coming online to find the information they want.  They are not coming to see how many designations you have, how many sales you have completed this month either. Real estate marketing is no longer all about you!

As consumers become more interested in the information you offer, they will also in turn become more interested in you.  Here is an example i wrote a few months back. I wrote about one of my favorite restaurants in a post titled:Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse in Myrtle Beach is not a Meal, it's a Feast! and then I wrote a followup to that post titled, Do You Let Local Businesses Know You Appreciate Them? A simple Marketing Idea. This was a simple soft sell technique that landed me some really good PR within one of the major local restaurant chains.

I promise you if you begin using these tips diligently, you will increase your social media presence beyond your wildest imagination in no time!  So get to it!

For those of you that live in the Philadelphia/Delaware area, I have some exciting news for you!  The New Castle County Board of REALTORS® have planned a great event to help anyone in the real estate industry.  On May 28th they will have a lunch & learn session on social media.  I will be presenting along with TwitterQueen founders Lesley Lambert, Diane Guercio, & Maya Paveza.

The event is free and seating is limited, so make sure you register immediately.

Here is a brief rundown of what will be discussed:

• Blogging 101- How to start blogging and use it for business by me.
  
• Sex, Lies and Videotape- making your blog more attractive to traffic by Lesley Lambert
  
• Social Media and Your Business by Maya Paveza
  
• Building a Social Media Microculture for Hyperlocal Traffic by Diane Guercio
  
• Open Discussion on how Twitter & Facebook can be profitable.

This event will take place on May 28th 11:30-1PM.  It will be held at the New Castle County Board of REALTORS office.  Seating is limited and will be on a first come first serve basis. The Address is 3615 Miller Road, Wilmington, DE 19802 (302) 762-4800

To register, visit http://www.nccbor.com. If you are a NCCBOR member, click on the blue LOGIN button on the right, enter your login and password, press submit, scroll down to and click on “Register for Events”, click on Soc Networking – Twitter Queens(LL0509), follow the registration prompts and you will receive an email confirmation of registration.

If you are not a member, click on the blue LOGIN button on the right, click on the link titled “Not a member – click here”, complete the new account form (you choose your login ID and password), after pressing submit, you can then follow registration instructions above.

For those of you who are not able to attend this event live, you can follow updates about it on Twitter at #NCCBOR.

I spend all day in front of the computer reading posts on all sorts of subjects here on ActiveRain.  One of the ways I enjoy finding the newest and latest posts on ActiveRain is to use Tweetgrid.  I usually keep a few columns open with different keyword terms i want to keep track of during the day.  Of course, one column that always is open is ActiveRain.  I noticed though the other day a recurring theme from many of our members on the network. 

In September, 2008 ActiveRain added a feature that as Brad said, "Mark this day as another that will go down in History as an AWESOME NEW FEATURE added to the ActiveRain Network"  When ActiveRain introduced the feature that allows you to send your posts straight to your twitter stream, that was the intention.  To help grow your social network on twitter and also integrate your ActiveRain blog into your twitter stream.   But, what many have missed is how to use the function effectively.  To the right you will see a screen shot of a member on ActiveRain.  I don't remember who that member was, because I had looked at so many member's twitter streams that all it was pages & pages of tweets that were Just posted on ActiveRain:.  Unfortunately, these members are actually doing harm to their social networking instead of help.

If the only thing that gets fed to your Twitter account is the auto update from ActiveRain, then you are missing the point of Twitter.  Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to share with your network in 140 characters or less what you are doing.  It was designed to engage others in conversation. 

A few months back Rain Radio did a show titled Twitter Gone Wild.  I was privileged to be a guest speaker on that show with @kimwood who explained how she rarely talks about real estate on her twitter page.  At first thought, the real estate agent in me thought WHAT?!?  Don't we constantly need to remind our followers that we are a Real Estate Agent and to ask "the question" Do you know anyone looking to buy or sell real estate? I mean, that is what was ingrained in me when I was going for my license.

If you listen to the show  in it's entirety, you will learn what I did that day.  People do not need you to constantly shove your career in front of them. Her followers on twitter know exactly what she does for a living and know how to read her information.  She does sprinkle in her posts, but they come through so rarely in comparison to everything else on her stream. For her, it has been extremely productive as she can now accredit several real estate transactions straight from her twitter account.

After that conversation on the show, I began to really rethink the way I use twitter. I still use the auto update for my posts.  But, I write 4-6 posts per week.  Right now I am averaging over 75-100 tweets per day.  This is a way more effective way to use this feature.  As you are using twitter to actually engage in social networking, you will engage your followers into reading your blog posts.  I compare this to the person who starts a blog, but all that is ever posted is their new listings.  It is obvious right away that they are not understanding the purpose of a blog is to share quality content with consumers about specific areas that you are an expert on.

"How's it working for ya Jeremy?" 

Well I am glad you asked! Personally, I believe it is starting to really pay off in great dividends.  I see a higher amount of traffic visiting my blog on a regular basis and each of my posts is starting to average more and more comments.  By the screen shot to the left, you can see that I am averaging a good amount of traffic.  The first column is  number of comments.  Column 2 is views of the post, column 3 is #of clicks in the post. 

On top of this, the part that is difficult to show is the amount of traffic my posts are receiving and comments and conversations that are taking place on both Facebook & Twitter! At the time of writing this post, I had received 461 direct messages and well over 1,000 replies on twitter and have also had several posts re-tweeted.. 

What is your Point?

My point is that to optimize the use of the automated tweet of your ActiveRain posts you need to do more than just set it up.  You need to engage your followers in a communication stream that consists of more than just "Just Posted on ActiveRain" type tweets.  You don't have to be on it 24/7 tweeting like some, but you do need to give it some attention.  If you are guilty of what I have been talking about throughout this post that you change your plan of action to one of the two listed below:

1. Begin using twitter more often and start interacting with your followers.  I wrote last week some easy ways to use twitter from your phone, so it is now easier than ever to begin using the social network.
2. Stop using the auto update feature on your ActiveRain Blog.  I know it seems harsh, but the reality is, using the function improperly can have a huge negative impact on your social media presence that harms your efforts more than it helps!
   

Option 1 is definitely a better idea and the amount of business that can come will blow your mind away! So, start tweeting today!  To see what I am talking about, follow a few of our fellow members who have mastered twitter:

• @jasoncrouch
• @kimwood
• @ines
• @housechick
• @lesleylambert
• @heyamaretto
• and of course myself @myrtlebeachblog

Another Wednesday has come upon us which means it is time for the weekly installment of Widget Wednesday.  If you missed last week, we covered the Local Posts Widget.  We talked about how it categorized your posts and also helped to build your SEO.  This week we are going to discuss the Search Widget. 

What is the Search Widget? The search widget is probably one of the more powerful widgets available for an outside blog and also one of the most easiest to grasp.  As many of you may recall, I wrote a few weeks back, how the ActiveRain Search Button could save you thousands.  Well, the search widget may not save you thousands, but it can easily help you make thousands!  

So how does it work?  The search widget is a Google Powered search engine that allows viewers of your blog to search for the keyword terms they are interested in.  It will display the results to them as if they were doing a regular google search.  The big difference is that it will only show results from your domain!  How cool is that!?!  So, for example, if someone stumbles upon my blog, http://myrtlebeachhomesblog.com and they are interested in purchasing a home in a community called, The Farm at Carolina Forest, the search brings up only posts that have been published by my blog.

If you remember me mentioning how the Local Posts Widget adds layers to your Outside Blog by categorizing and giving each post a unique domain to help increase SEO.  Well as you add that widget and some others you can easily create some great searches for people.  My search above brought back 241 results!

So what are you waiting for?  Go add this Widget today! if you have not set up your Outside Blog yet, go do it now!  If you are not sure how to set up an ActiveBlog, as usual, Brad has written a tutorial here.

As some know, before coming on board with ActiveRain I spent a few months working for TMobile as a sales associate.  During the time there, I was able to learn the nitty gritty of the phones and the features that they possess. One thing that really helped me was being able to explain how to use the smartphones for social media work.  Many that came in had no idea that most of the major Social Media Networks have applications now that allow you to use the network easily and quickly from your phone. For sake of time, I will be covering the two most popular smartphones, an iPhone & Blackberry. So, I am going to touch on just a few of these different applications that can make your smartphone make you look like a genius. 

Hi, My Name is Jeremy, I am a Twitaholic

The first would be for twitter.  As most know, twitter is a huge craze right now that is taking the world by storm. Even Shaq is into twitter!  Most don't realize the great twitter applications available.  For the Blackberry there is Twitterberry.  iPhones have a few more options available. There is Twitterfon, Twitteriffic, & Tweetie just to name a few.  Tweetie is probably my favorite because of a few great features it includes.  One of the coolest is the ability to see who is tweeting nearby.  It uses the GPS of your phone to find those around you who have recently sent a tweet.

Numerous agents have shared success stories of how they have received solid leads and even great paychecks straight from using twitter.  I know personally I gave someone business just yesterday because of having a conversation with them on Twitter.  Just like Blogging, it takes time and sometimes a good dose of common sense to use Twitter effectively.

Is there something for Facebook Fanatics?

Facebook on Your Phone.  Both the BlackBerry & iPhone have a great application to be used with Facebook.  One of the feature I enjoyed on the blackberry was that I received my facebook notifications automatically and was able to keep up instantly.  Unfortunately, I don't believe the iPhone app has this same feature.  But, something that application for iPhone has is chat.  You can do facebook chat just like you were on your computer with all your friends.

Just like Twitter, Facebook is another social network outside your blog that can be used to bring you additional business.

What about Pictures?

Flickr on your Phone!  Flickr is a great way to share your photos with the with the world.  Both the IPhone and Blackberry have a good 2.0 Megapixel camera. (Unless you have a new Blackberry, then it is 3.2 MP) They both take some really good quality photos that you can share with quickly and easily to this site.  A great example of how to use this is Miamism.com.  Ines has an entire section of just photos that has been taken by her iPhone and then uploaded to her Flickr account.  This has helped her to become an instant success and very well known real estate agent all around Miami, FL.   The picture to the right is one that she took with her iPhone. 

Many of the photos you have seen in my ActiveRain blog were taken with my phone and uploaded to my flickr account.  IT is a huge time save.  Plus you almost always have your phone handy and charged.  Unlike the infamous digital camera.  For some reason, it never seems to be close by or charged when the perfect photo op is present.

So, we have these three applications, to help us on our way of becoming a genius.  While having the applications is important, it is just the tip of the iceberg.  How you use these applications is what will help to set you apart from the rest.  I wrote a few months back about an idea I used when listing a home for sale that helped me obtain several listings when competing with other agents.  In case you missed it, read: How Twitter can set you apart from the competition when listing a home.  This was just one example of using your phone and thinking outside the box. 

When I would share this with sellers, they would marvel at the concept even if they may not understand it in it's entirety.  I instantly became this genius because of some simple processes I did with my phone.  The point I am trying to make is that the simple applications & concepts that are present can be used for business and not just fun.  It is all how you package the material and use it.  The key is thinking outside the box to come up with a concept that nobody else has. 

So, don't use your smartphone to just make a call and check your email.  Let it become your most useful business tool.  I know my business would not survive long without it!

I am sure by now that most of the country has seen about the wildfire here in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It started yesterday afternoon and now has consumed over 8,000 acres.  I wanted to take a minute to let everyone know, that my family is all safe, the fires have moved around us.  However there are several others that are Local ActiveRain Members from throughout the county that need your prayers and support.  It has destroyed several homes in Barefoot Landing which is about 10 minutes north of me.  As long as the winds stay calm, hopefully they will be able to get things under control.  If the wind were to shift south though, the fire would be heading right towards my house.

Here are two pictures from my development. 

This was the view yesterday afternoon from my Office Home Office Window

Fire at Night Taken by my Brother

So even if you do or do not know any of the members here, take a minute to either stop by their blogs and send them a quick email to check on them all. I will keep everyone updated of any changes.

The other night I was chatting with The XBroker, Jeff Corbett and he was sharing with me how he was stunned by the amount of traffic his recent post, Survey Says...Realtors Suck!  In less than 48 hours, the post had over 10,000 views.  As I began writing this post, it had been viewed, 11,951 times and clicked on to be read, 11,483 times.  Personally I was blown away by these stats! 

When I was selling Myrtle Beach Real Estate full time as a real estate agent and had just a personal website, the highest amount of traffic my website ever received was just over 3,000 hits in a month! So, I began to investigate my blog to see what kind of traffic my posts receive on ActiveRain.  This is post #474 for me.  I started looking at the statistics on my blog to see what kind of traffic my posts have been receiving. For the sake of time, I used my last 25 posts to figure out my average number of clicks and views.

The last 25 posts I have written have received 40,699 views and 9124 click thru's to be read.  This averages to over 22% click through rate. Or, 1 out of every 5 visitors to my blog is clicking into my post to read it.  Rainmaker accounts on average receive around 500 views per post.  But, let me show you a few tips to increase traffic even more  and get them reading your posts.

First, you need to have a catchy title.  Having a title that peaks someones curiosity will always be more effective than a good descriptive title.  If Jeff had written his title as, "California Association of Realtors 2008 Home Seller Survey Results" instead of "Survey Says...Realtors Suck!" the activity would have been much less.  Remember, over 10,000 views in less than 48 Hours!  Here is a free tip to all the members on how to increase your chances of getting featured.... TITLE TITLE TITLE!  I view over 300 posts daily and if your title doesn't make me click on the post, your chances of being featured go way down. 

Next, be consistent!  A consistent blogger is a successful blogger. before I go any further, let me insert this caveat. Consistency is different than just placing up a bunch of blah blah junk on your blog 3 times a day.  What I mean by being a consistent blogger is someone who writes on a regular basis (daily or every other day) good quality content each post.  When you read through a post by that person, you find a new nugget of information that is important.  Writing a short 3 line blog is a waste of your time and mine.  Something that short is nothing more than an over sized Tweet and needs to be used in that forum.

Remember, the consumer has showed up to your blog hungry to learn something.  If you are not feeding them the nutrition they came in search of, they will move on to someone else that will satisfy their needs.

Thirdly, Be as committed as a Major League Broadcaster.  Last week one of my favorite announcers, Harry Kalas the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies passed away suddenly.  While it was a rather tragic and very sad event, one thing I learned from Harry was to be committed.  He was the Phllies announcer for over 30 years. He became well known for his great "outta here" calls.  But his commitment to a team that has the most losses of any other professional team had to be hard at times.  But Harry knew that it was only a season and that the Phillies would return to greatness which happened last year as they won the world series. 

When it comes to blogging, we need to have that same level of commitment. I talk to people on a daily basis that say blogging is a waste of time.  Whenever I ask, how long have you done it, they normally respond with, "oh, 4 days, and I did 2 posts with no leads!  As Brad Andersohn says, "It isn't a sprint, but more like a Marathon!"  Give it time, and whenever you want to throw in the towel, watch this clip.

Live on the edge but don't fall off!  My father used to tell me all time, "Jeremy, there is a difference between being cutting edge and bleeding edge" When you are writing your posts, using some "edginess" will start conversations among your readers.  One of the main points in writing a blog post is to get interaction with your readers through comments. Be Cautious though to not push the envelope too far and go from that cutting edge to bleeding everywhere.  If that happens, your readers will disappear.

Share your expertise in a "No Holds Barred" manner.  One of the things I have been gifted with is the ability to learn new gadgets quick and implement them into a business plan.  Many of these items I have learned I have shared with members here on ActiveRain through multiple tutorials. As I stated before, interaction is an important between your consumers/members is an important aspect to the success.  The posts that continually get comments on are the posts of tutorials on how to do this, or how to use that.

Don't get consumed by comments! Did I just contradict myself? I think I did!  When I say don't be consumed by comments, what I mean is this: Do not give up and think your blog is not working just because you do not receive a gold star or 100 comments.  As I began looking back over my stats I noticed that the posts that had the most views & clicks were not my featured posts.  Nor were the posts with over 100 comments or even the one with 791 comments!  Instead, it was the posts that were consumer oriented & Localism.  Several of my Localism posts have been viewed well over 3,000 times! 

I know I made it sound super easy to get a good level of readership to your blog, but in all honesty it really is! If you take the time and put forth the effort, your end results can be amazing!

Our Cat Thomas

March 11, 1995 - March 11, 2009

Have you ever wondered why in the world would I use twitter?  Why would someone care that I am having a morning coffee, or taking the dog for a walk.  As I have mentioned the numerous benefits of using twitter on many occasions, here is another way to look at it.  Using a site called Twinfluence you can analyze your twitter profile to see just how effective you really are.  Here are the stats from my profile:

As you can see, it starts by showing my rank which is #3,159 of over 24,000 profiles that it has analyzed.  While that is nice to see me ranking pretty well, that ranking is not what mattered to me.  The number that stands out is the second order followers.  Currently, 1,516,637 are accessible to my tweets either from being a follower of mine, or being a follower of someone who is following me. It shows my potential daily influence is just over 8,000.  That is one huge SOI available to me each and every day when I write a tweet.  The site explains in great detail what Velocity, Social Capital and Centralization is, so to understand those terms and what they mean, go here.

A good friend of mine, Jason Crouch is currently ranked #125 on the list with an influence on over 6.8 million!  When you add to this all the wonderful applications available to use with twitter, like forwarding to facebook & myspace, the influence your simple tweet has is limitless.

So while you may think twitter is dumb or pointless, you may want to check some of these stats to see how much influence you really can have by using this social network.  The results may just shock you!

Follow Me on Twitter @myrtlebeachblog.