Fresh Start Virtual Assistants

At one point in time many in marketing felt that social media was a fad that would pass, something kids were using, and there was little a business could benefit from. Today, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are an estimated 3 billion users on the internet and out of those - 2 billion are said to have an active social media account.  Social media platforms have now become a hot place when it comes to marketing and businesses can no longer afford not to utilize them in their marketing strategy.

Here are 5 ways your business can stand to grow as a result of social media marketing.

Brand Awareness

Before a potential client does business with you or your company they want to have trust in your company’s ability to deliver what they promise. Social media is a great way to build brand awareness while also gaining the trust of potential clients. Build trust by letting potential clients know you are the expert in the industry by providing content that is useful and knowledgeable in your area. This builds your brand's authority, helping to make you a leader in your industry.

Valuable Insight

Using social media in your business marketing strategy allows you to gain valuable insight into your customers. By being active on a daily basis and engaging with others on social media platforms you are able to gather data that is relevant and useful, leading you to make better business decisions.There are many platforms available to you, such as Hootsuite Insights that gather data across various platforms providing you with the details you need to better market to your target audience.

Lead Generation

Don’t waste money running ads and drawing traffic to your website homepage or blog if you don’t have a lead generation tool in place. Through consistent lead generation, you can gather data to help promote and grow your business.  By regularly interacting on social media and providing timely services you can increase sales and retain clients.

Search Engine Ranking

The number one reason to use social media in your marketing strategy is the benefit it provides in drawing traffic back to your website. The more traffic you draw to your website, and the more your social media content is shared - the higher you will see your search rankings increase.

Competition

Through social media monitoring, you can gain insight into what your competitors are doing on social media allowing you the ability to make better decisions for your business. Hootsuite provides social media monitoring tools that allow you to track industry keywords as well as any mentions of your competitors. This information can be useful when it comes to seeing what content your business may be missing.

Content marketing is something that every business owner needs to be doing. Not only does this help establish you as a leader in your industry, it leaves you top of mind among your target audience.  You may think that posting articles written by others that are relevant to your target audience is all you need to do. Think again. Adding a blog to your content marketing strategy is a must. Here is why you can’t afford not to.

Website Traffic

Blogging can increase your website traffic if done right.  Each blog you write and post adds another indexed page to your website, which in turn means it’s just one more way that you are likely to be found  by a search engine which will drive traffic back to your site. Adding a blog post to your website also lets Google know that you are an active website and it will increase your Google ranking.

Industry Leader

Blogging helps establish you as a leader and expert in your industry.  This helps you establish credibility with your target audience.  Building trust with your target audience helps build your brand image.

Long-term Results

Your blog reach continues to grow beyond when it was first posted.  That means it can continue to generate traffic for you even a year or more down the road. Provide content on your blog that others will find informative for years to come.

Increase SEO

Blogging is a great way to increase your SEO. Adding new content to your website is one of the easiest ways to add to your SEO.

Competition is fierce in the real estate industry and you need to stand out among the competition.  Many areas across the country are struggling with a decrease in housing inventory and if your listing presentation is lacking in persuasion, now is the time to spruce it up. Real estate agents successful in the art of persuasion usually have this trait.

Effective Listening

The number one way to persuade others is to start with effective listening. If you are looking for others to do something you want them to do, such as list their home with you, you need to be actively listening.  If you’re not being an active and good listener don’t expect to land the listing.  Show prospective sellers that you are interested in them by listening attentively and you will find that they are more open to hearing what it is you have to say.

Show Empathy

Selling a home is not always a positive situation for every seller.  Those that need to sell their deceased loved one’s home, or are facing foreclosure, may need a little bit more empathy from you. You will find that those sellers who might not be facing a hardship may still need your empathy because many sellers develop an emotional attachment to their home - which tends to make it hard for them to decide to list their home for sale. Always reassure potential sellers that you are there for them and will be looking out for their best interest and will do everything you can to make the real estate transaction a positive one for them.

Adequate Questions

After you have shown a potential seller you can actively listen and show empathy, you want to follow up by asking adequate questions.  This means asking the right questions to obtain more information and helping to influence them. Build a connection with them.  Keep in mind that open-ended questions will allow the potential sellers to open up more. The more they talk, the more you will know, which will help you determine what you have to offer that is of most benefit to them. To persuade others effectively you need to be able to identify what it is you have to offer that they will benefit from.

The Value In Being Quiet

When there is a lull in the conversation you may feel the need to fill in the silence, but keep in mind that potential sellers may need that quiet time to collect their thoughts and analyze what you had to say. Allow some quiet time, then follow up with asking them if there are any questions they may have or something that you did not cover.

Close The Deal

Close the deal by always following through. That means calling when you say you will and returning their messages in a timely fashion.

The number of millennials has surpassed that of baby boomers when it comes to homebuyers. As a real estate agent, you need to have the right tools when it comes to communicating with millennials who fall into the 25-39-year-old age range.

Here is what you need to attract and reach millennial homebuyers without spending a fortune

Text Takes Over Talk

The days of rotary phones and having to get up to manually change the channels on the television are something the millennial generation can’t relate to. Today they communicate via Snapchat and look to Google to answer their questions.  These buyers are looking for agents who know how to speak their language and how to talk to them. Starting a conversation with a buyer via text may come off as rude to you, but with the millennial generation, it’s the norm in their culture and many times preferable. However, not everyone is the same so a combination of text and actual calls works better for some millennial buyers.

Go Mobile

Millennials are used to instant access to nearly everything.  If they are curious about a home that is for sale they can instantly access pictures online by their phone.  In 2015, the number of mobile users surpassed the number of desktop users. This means your website needs to be mobile capable.

Hyperlinks Take Over Direct Mail

In today’s instant access environment marketing and advertising is getting cheaper for many.  Direct mail still has a part in marketing, but hyperlinks are taking over direct mail.  Sending out a monthly eNewsletter is an affordable way to communicate with buyers and helps build your database.  In your monthly eNewsletter, include hyperlinks to your website and social media platforms.

Social Media Platforms Take Over Word-of–Mouth

There is more to marketing online than just hosting a website. It involves being active on various social media platforms and other various sites to direct traffic back to your website.  It seems like every day a new social media platform emerges and to reach millennials you need to stay on top of them. For instance, Facebook used to be the place to be for millennials until their parents and even grandparents started using it. As a result, a good portion took to Instagram and now it seems they are moving on to Snapchat.  Each of the various social media platforms out there seems to have something to offer and provides you with a wide variety of tools when it comes to reaching millennials.  Social media today is today’s word-of-mouth. Both positive and negative experiences are shared via social media platforms.

It used to be said that an unsatisfied client/customer would tell 10 people about their experience. In today’s world an unsatisfied client/customer can reach ten thousand if not ten million by putting their experience online in the form of a review.  Each business should always strive to provide excellent customer service and it is more important than ever to do so in today’s internet driven world. With sites such as Facebook, Google Reviews, and Zillow, clients now have the ability to let everyone know exactly what they think. As a small business owner, the way you handle a negative review of your business can impact future business.  

Here is how to move forward once a negative review is left online regarding your business.

1. Stay Alert

The last thing you want is a negative review to be left online regarding your business and you don’t find out about it until months later. Every business needs to use a service that alerts you whenever a new review is left about your business online.

2. Don’t Overreact

It is human nature to take offense when something negative is said about you or your business. Don’t overreact.  You may find you want to quickly reply to a review, but don’t reply while you are in an emotional place. Take some time to gather your thoughts, relax, and regroup before responding.

3. A Learning Opportunity

Don’t take negative reviews as a personal attack, but instead think of it as a learning opportunity. Criticism can be hard to take, but take the negative and turn it into an opportunity to improve and better your business.

4. Respond Timely

No matter if it’s a negative or positive review, take the time to respond to each review as timely as you can.  When you respond be authentic. If there is a negative review respond with a way to solve the problem.  Others reading the review will want to see that you care about your clients/customers and want to make it right.

5. Excel In Customer Service

Make your business a customer focused one and excel when it comes to customer service.  Make it your policy to place customer satisfaction at the top.

Don’t be upset or take it as a personal attack if a negative review is left regarding your business online. Instead, takes steps to solve a problem and prevent it from happening in the future. Many times increasing the customer service your business provides will help reduce negative reviews in the future.

Fresh Start Virtual Assistants gives you a “fresh start” to your business needs. Contact Us today to see how we can help!

How many reviews does your business have on Google? What about Yelp or your business’ Facebook page?  According to Google’s recent research, having reviews about your business on Google increased website hits via local search results by 350%. When it comes down to it, reviews are important and you need them in today’s business world.  Towards the end of last year, Google introduced a “Reviews from the web” section. Here Google pulls consumer reviews from third-party sites such as Facebook, HomeAdvisor or Yelp and adds them to the knowledge panel on their website.

Here is what you need to know about Google’s Review from the Web section.

Nearly 90% of consumers admitted to trusting online reviews as much as they do a personal recommendation.  Google has recognized the importance of consumer reviews and the importance of reviews has just gotten more prominent.  Start by searching for your business on Google. On the right side of the page, you should see your Google My Business profile where you will find the new section “reviews from the web.” Here you will see reviews left for your business on third-party sites such as Facebook, HomeAdvisor, and Yelp.  If you have not registered your business with Google you can do so here.

According to Google what is needed to implement Reviews from the web can be found below:

By implementing review snippet markup and meeting our criteria, your site’s user-generated composite ratings will be eligible for inclusion. Add the Local Business markup to help Google match reviews to the right review subject and help grow your site’s coverage.

What does all this mean for your small business?  It means you need to be asking clients for reviews on a wide variety of platforms. Asking for reviews on Google itself should still remain a top priority.

The Reviews from the web section operates on an algorithm like everything else with Google, which could be the reason why different searches for your business at times could return different results in the Reviews from the web section.

Reviews on your business are an important part of your business and should be treated as such.  Don’t be afraid to ask clients to leave a review.

When it comes to real estate there is a lot of competition and it can be tough to stand out among the crowd.  It’s important that you find a way to stand out among the competition and you can do this by reevaluating how you are choosing to communicate with your clients. Say goodbye to the consistent sales pitch and truly connect with your clients by providing helpful information that they can use.  This can be achieved via content marketing.

Here are 4 reasons realtors need content marketing.

Establish Yourself as an Industry Expert

As we mentioned before, there are a large number of real estate agents in nearly every market and you want to be known as the industry expert. If you’re the only agent out there providing helpful information of value you will stand apart from the crowd. Start creating and publishing helpful content to establish yourself as the expert in the real estate industry.  In the future clients will not question your skills or ability as a result of the knowledge you have shown by producing meaningful content.

Gain Brand Awareness

To be successful with content marketing you must be consistent. Stay consistent and continue to produce new and fresh content while getting your name out there. The more potential clients see your name, the more familiar you will become to them.  The goal is to be in the forefront of all buyers and sellers minds so the next time they are ready to buy or sell they will use your services.

Improve Your Google Ranking

When it comes to your ranking on Google, the key is that you are consistently updating your website with new things. An easy and affordable way to achieve this is by producing new content on your website’s blog which is engaging and geared towards your target audience.  Many buyers start their real estate search online these days and you want your website to be appealing and to stand out from the crowd.  

Build Likeability

Too many agents create a profile across many social media platforms but fail to be social. Creating content that is relevant and current is a great way to stay social on the various platforms out there. Not only does this content increase your search engine ranking, it also helps you come across as likeable.

If you are not currently using content marketing as part of your marketing plan start today! If you find it hard to set aside time to focus on your content marketing let us help.  If you are interested in finding out more about what a virtual assistant can do for you contact us.

If your marketing plan doesn’t include content marketing, it should! Getting started with content marketing may seem overwhelming while you’re inundated with all the other tasks needed to keep your business running. However, with a little planning on your part you can add content marketing into your 2017 marketing plan. However, don’t make these 4 content marketing mistakes.

1. Not Knowing Your Audience

Before creating content, have a strong understanding of who your target audience is.  The content you create needs to serve a purpose for your audience and draw them to your business at the same time.  If you don’t properly understand your audience and their needs, along with their behaviors and all the various digital platforms they use, it will be extremely hard to produce content that is right for your audience.

2. Wrong Content                                                      

The purpose of content marketing is to produce content that your target audience will find valuable and serve a purpose. Don’t make the mistake of producing content that is not useful to your targeted readers.  Have a good understanding of your target audience and what their needs are. Then produce content that solves a problem they may have.

3. Too Much Selling

Don’t forget the purpose of content marketing is to produce content that is of value and will educate your readers or solve a problem - not to sell them. Don’t draw attention to your business until the end of your content where you can add a call to action. Don’t make the mistake of selling more than providing useful content.

4. You Don’t Come Across As An Expert

If you are creating content for your business you have to know what you are talking about.  When it comes to content marketing you need to produce content that proves you are the expert in your area.  Don’t make the mistake of providing content that doesn’t show you as an expert. This means only produce content related to information you know inside and out.

Real estate marketing is continually evolving and transforming. This year will be no different. Being active on many social platforms is a must when it comes to real estate marketing.  Video marketing is gaining ground and is expected to grow in 2017. Real estate is visual and Snapchat is the perfect platform to express that.

Here is why you need to add Snapchat to your real estate marketing today.

Launched in 2011, Snapchat is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there.   The latest numbers show that almost 15% of smartphone users who are over the age of 35 have this application installed on their phone. When it comes to Snapchat, millennials dominate it, but this year it is expected to draw a larger and more diverse crowd.  This year experts expect the app to draw in more affluent users in the 30 to 45 age range across the nation. That means if you are looking to attract millennials and more affluent older buyers then this is where you need to be. Snapchat has over 100 million users daily.

Free to download and use, there is no need to buy a fancy expensive camera when it comes to producing content that is ready for viewers.  The next time you list a property take some photos or videos of it from your smartphone and produce your first snapchat post. Add some catchy captions and fun filters and you are ready to hit the Snapchat world. You can share your new content via private message or publish it as a story for an entire group to see.  If you share content to Stories it will be available to be seen for 24 hours.

Snapchat has added some new geofilters that work very similar to the regular filters where it lets you add overlays to your content to make it more appealing. With the geofilters it is location specific and those filters are only available depending on your location. This is just another way to put fun but visually appealing content out there.

When it comes to engagement the average Snapchat user spends an average of 35 to 30 minutes on the app each day. Of those users, 25 percent spend their time viewing content through Live Stories, Discover, and messaging friends.  When it comes to comparing it to Twitter, Snapchat is five times more effective at getting users to stay on their platform. This means even if you only have a few contacts your content is highly likely to be seen if you produce content on a regular basis and interact with others. When it comes down to it you need to be social on social media platforms.

If you want to increase your following use the app GhostCodes that lets you find Snapchat users who are listed under specific categories. With this information, you can then target certain individuals and add those people.

In today’s “on demand world” adding Snapchat to your marketing plan is a must.  Don’t expect to just start getting more leads from simply using Snapchat right away.  To be successful it takes time to grow your following and then lead those followers back to your website. It’s important to produce content on a consistent basis. It takes time and consistency.

Welcome 2017! The world of marketing has changed over the years, especially in this digital era, and it will continue to change.   In this new year there are a few real estate marketing trends every Realtor needs to be doing.

1. Video

For those that are camera shy, it’s time to break out of your comfort zone. Video is gaining popularity, especially live video.  If you’re not comfortable jumping in with live video, start by doing some pre-recorded video. In terms of engagement, there is more when it comes to live video, and it fairs better when it comes to social media algorithms.  Consider using platforms such as FacebookLive, Periscope, and MeerKat.

2. 3-D Listings

Many real estate agents have already begun using 3-D virtual tours for their listings. If you have yet to integrate 3-D tours in your listings give it a try in 2017.  Matterport seems to be one of the most popular providers at this time. These tours allow viewers to be fully immersed in the space as if they were actually there, and as a real estate agent, it makes you appear more technologically savvy.

3. Pay to Play

Too many real estate agents rely solely on organic results when it comes to their website and social media sites.  Your lead generation budget should include funds for running ads on social media. Not that long ago the content you put on Twitter or Facebook would have been seen by a majority of your audience, but those days are gone.  Running ads is the way to get your content seen these days. Facebook is the go-to social media platform for ads in today’s market. Start now with experiments with new ads on Facebook.

4. Be Active

Many real estate agents have social media accounts on various platforms, and may even have it so that content is published on all platforms routinely.  Being active on social media should go a little further than just posting content routinely to various platforms.  Don’t forget to be social on the social media platforms. Don’t spend your time posting content that is only full of your listings. Put out content that provides information to your clients. Also, be engaging yourself by starting conversations and responding to conversations on your social platforms. Be Personable!

Welcome to 2017, while many Americans are busy planning their New Year’s resolutions, business owners across America are planning their business goals for the year. If you haven’t yet planned your business’ goals for the year, now would be the perfect time to start. If you’re not sure where to start here are a few areas you should examine in determining your goals.

1. Monetary Goals

Owning a small business isn’t always about the money. In reality, your business’ finances are a strong indicator of its overall health.  Spend some time going over your company’s statements or reviewing your accounting software to examine how well your business did in 2016.  While looking at your 2016 finances, find what helped make you profitable. Add what you need to do to make that happen again into your 2017 goals. Begin planning for what extra costs you will incur in 2017. Does your business need rebranded, your website updated, or marketing budget increased? Determine those costs and budget accordingly for the new year.

2. Company Goals

Another easy way to start planning your 2017 company goals is to work on goals for your team.  If you find that you are doing everything it may be time to add a team to help you reach your goals.  Virtual assistants are an easy way to add experienced team members without the added costs you would encounter if you hired an employee.

If you already have a team in place, review your 2016 goals that you had with your team and see if they were met.  If you find things didn’t work out as well as you expected, make changes for 2017. This is also the perfect time to brainstorm with your team on how to grow the business.

3. Customer Service Goals

If your business is providing poor customer service it will suffer.  When planning your 2017 goals you need to examine how your business performed in the eyes of your customer.  If those who did business with you had a bad experience, you could lose future business from them and their acquaintances. Nearly every business can do something more to provide better customer service. Plan for your 2017 goals to include new ways to provide the best customer service possible to all you encounter.

Sum It Up

In today’s digital age it is rare we come across a business that doesn’t have a website. If your small business doesn’t have a website it needs one.  Consumers want to find the information they are looking for on your website quickly and with ease.  If you want to meet the needs of today’s consumers you need a website that is up to date and easy to navigate.

Here’s how to know if your business website is out of date:

Not Mobile Friendly

According to the 2015 Internet Trends Report, the use of mobile devices to access the internet increased by 600% from 2010 to 2015.  The report also showed that adults spend an average of 5.6 hours a day on the internet and 2.8 of those hours were spent on a mobile device. Your website needs to have kept up with the times and be mobile friendly to find its way to the top of Google’s rankings.  In fact, as of May of this year, Google began awarding websites that were mobile friendly with higher rankings.  If you‘re not sure if your website is mobile friendly visit this Mobile-Friendly Test by Google.

High Bounce Rate

The bounce rate on your website is the percentage of visitors who leave immediately upon landing on your page without moving on to other pages on your site.  The way your website is designed can impact your bounce rate.  When visitors land on your website for the first time first impressions do matter. Visitors will either like it and choose to view more pages or not find it appealing and bounce away.  If your bounce rate is higher than you would like, it may be time to update your website to make it more attractive.

Slow Loading Time

We are living in a time where we want information and we want it quickly. If your website is slow to load, then more than likely visitors will not stay on your site to look for more information.  Google itself aims for its website to load in under a half a second. If your page is loading slowly you can expect to lose visitors.  If your website is lagging in speed it may be a result of unoptimized images, content without HTTP compression, images without caching information, and too much bulky code. You can check your business website speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

Poor Google Ranking

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method of strategies and techniques that are used to increase the number of unique visitors to a website in order to obtain a high-ranking placement in search engines.  In reality, it is the way visitors find your website via searching by keywords. SEO changes just as rapidly as popular social media sites and it’s important to keep up with it.  If your website doesn’t have a high Google ranking consider adding consistent relevant content, external links, and inbound links. Inbound marketing should be part of your marketing strategy to increase your SEO.

Poor Lead Generation

Every business wants new leads and your website should be generating new leads.  An updated website should be modern and have tools in place to generate leads.  Easy ways to add lead generation to your website is via landing pages, forms, and calls to action.

If your website is lacking any of these tips it may be outdated and time to do some updating.

2016 is quickly coming to an end and you shouldn’t wait till 2017 arrives to start planning your business goals for the upcoming year. If more free time to yourself and growing your business is part of your plan for 2017, then hiring a virtual assistant is key to helping you achieve that goal.

Here are a few ways a virtual assistant can boost your business in 2017:

Ease The Workload

There will always be aspects of your business that you feel you can’t trust to be done as well as you could do it yourself. However, those tasks should only make up a very small portion of your business. A majority of other tasks are things you could hand off to your virtual assistant to tackle in 2017.  During your busy times having help with day-to-day administrative tasks, social media, marketing, listing management and graphic design are just a few things your virtual assistant could be take off your plate – allowing you the time to do the things you do best.

Time Consuming Work

Take a minute to think about those tasks you do as part of your business that consume a great deal of your time. These tasks are great for handing off to a virtual assistant. This allows you more free time to focus on growing your business and less time on time-consuming work.

Virtual Assistant Benefits

Working with a virtual assistant saves you the hassle that comes with an employee. You are free of the tax issues, benefits, insurance, and other overhead that comes with hiring an employee. Many virtual assistants are contractors and not employees.

Blogging

If your business does not have a blog it should. Blogging is great for Search Engine Optimization and a great way to connect with visitors. In reality, many business owners find it hard to set aside time to do consistent blogging. A virtual assistant can help set your business apart from others with custom blogging.

Graphic Design

Many business owners are not graphic artists. Good quality graphics help portray your brand and attract customers. Don’t try to create graphics on your own. Use the expertise of an experienced graphic designer. There are many virtual assistants who are graphic designers as well.

Listing Management

If you are a real estate agent you know the amount of time that can go into putting a new listing on the MLS and all the other real estate sites out there.  This is one of those tasks that you can hand off to an experienced virtual assistant.

Social Media Marketing

With all the social media sites available it can be hard to keep up with maintaining all of them and staying in the loop with all the changes that are constantly taking place. Having a virtual assistant take on the management of your social media and connecting with users will grow your business while freeing your time to focus on sales.

There are numerous tasks that a virtual assistant company can help you with to grow your business in 2017. If you are interested in finding out more of what a virtual assistant can do for you contact us.

2017 is just around the corner and now is when you should be planning your marketing plan for the upcoming year.  If your current marketing plan does not include email marketing, you are missing out on potential revenue. Each month in the United States there are an estimated 1.47 million marketing emails sent out and more than 34% of people in the world use email.  That percent is expected to increase in the next two years.  Email marketing is simply a powerful way to connect with your target customers and increase revenue.

Here are 5 reasons you should add email marketing to your 2017 marketing plan.

1. Effectiveness

Email marketing is highly effective and many times is more effective than social media. Research shows that email is 40 times more effective at increasing your customer base than Twitter and Facebook. With that being said, this doesn’t mean you need to stop being active in social media so that you can start email marketing. Social media makes up an important component of any businesses’ marketing plan.

When it comes to conversions, email marketing is the way to go.  Customer acquisition via email marketing has increased by 4x the amount from 2009-2013 according to a study by Custora.

2. Return-on-Investment

A 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Report showed that 60% of marketers reported that email marketing has an ROI of nearly 32%.  On average, you can expect a return of $44.25 for every $1 spent on your businesses email marketing.

3. Personalization

Email marketing allows you the opportunity to personalize emails that can be sent to a targeted list. Personalized emails that are sent to targeted readers provide value. When you post to social media you are putting out content that is designed to reach your whole audience base, whereas with email marketing you can create content that is more targeted.  In fact, with email marketing if you put the lead’s name in the subject line they are 22% more likely to open it according to a 2012 research report from Adestra.

4. Measureable

When it comes to email marketing there is no guessing about who is reading your content. The popular platform Constant Contact allows you to track who opened your email, what they clicked on, and how many chose to unsubscribe.  Those who click on links in your email make for great leads to follow up on. There are many email marketing platforms out there and each will provide you with a wide variety of services. Nearly all include trackable measures.

5. Mobile Devices

It seems like almost everyone has a smartphone these days and people are always staying connected and checking their emails.  In fact, data shows that nearly 91% of people are using their phones to check their emails, whereas the same data reported that only 75% of users were checking social media with their phones.

At Fresh Start Virtual Assistants, we prefer Constant Contact due to its easy user interface, tracking abilities, and great customer service. If adding email marketing feels like one more task to add to your already busy plate -- let us help!

Fresh Start Virtual Assistants is a U.S. only based company of virtual experts who would love to help you reach your goals by handling your everyday tasks.  Let our team help you once again free up your time to focus on high-value tasks, while we tackle your day to day administrative tasks.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over but that doesn’t mean you can’t save on your real estate assistant services. Here at Fresh Start Virtual Assistants we have made helping you with all your real estate assistant services easy with our flat rate pricing.

Here is what we have to offer:

Listing Coordination

We are now pleased to offer real estate agents a flat rate deal on their Listing Management services:

New Listings: $200

Price Changes: $50

Change Active Listings to Pending     and update of database: $25

Claim closed transactions on     Zillow/Trulia/Realtor and request reviews as well as remove listings from     other sites as needed: $100

Listing management is a service that we take the most pride in because it can instantly transform your business.  Every listing you take should show the pride you have in your business and we ensure that we give each one the attention it needs and the details it deserves.

We have extensive knowledge of every MLS system and can create for you a detailed plan that outlines every step of your listing process. We can communicate with your clients to ensure the listing is not only processed with every last detail highlighted, but also that as the market changes we show them the value of changing with it and we focus on ensuring that you look good at all times!

More Details On This Service Can Be Found Here.

Marketing And Social Media

Marketing, Social Media, and Blogging are three items that change more than any other services that a virtual assistant can ever offer.  It seems like each week a new site or feature comes out that we need to research and learn.  And we do just that!

We are pleased to now offer our clients a monthly, flat rate plan to fully market your business.  Our flat rate plan includes the following services to fully encompass your marketing desires:

Initial Setup:

Creation of Newsletter Template

Creation of Just Listed / Price     Reduced Weekly Eblast Template

Creation of Blog Site and     Embedded on Website or Setup of Existing Website Blog with formatting and     graphics

$500 setup fee​

Monthly Services:

Research topic, write, edit and     post of 1 blog per week.

6 social media posts to Facebook,     Twitter and Google + per week of applicable news stories or events in the     community.

Monthly newsletter sent out and     results tracked to ensure maximum exposure each month.

Weekly Just Listed and Price     Change eblasts sent out and results tracked to ensure maximum exposure     each month.

Graphics created, edited and     tracked for Facebook ads to target demographics.

Facebook ads budget of $160/month     (mixture of boosts of new listings, blogs and price changes to assist in     creation of low cost leads).

Daily website analytics review     and tweak of ad campaigns as needed.

$1,000 per month, payable through PayPal on the 1st of each month

More Details On This Service Can Be Found Here.

Branding Services

Get your business up and running and advertising at a top level with our branding services.  We will help you be identifiable in your market by providing you with high level graphic services that launch your business at a top level.

We will provide you with:

Target Market Demographic     Research

2 Logo Designs Then Choose 1 and     get 3 Revisions

Identify Website Domain Name     Presence

Cohesive Social Media and Website     Design Presence

Basic and Expanded Company     Information Written for Website and Social Media Use

Content for up to 5 Webpages written,     loaded, and formatted to website

Masthead for Website

Facebook Header and Profile     Graphics

Google+ Header

Twitter Header

Business Card Design and 500     Business Cards (3.5" x 2" high quality stock, bright colors,     double sided)

$2000 payable at half up front and half upon completion

More Details On This Service Can Be Found Here.

Now is the time to start planning for 2017. Get your business in order so you can start the year on a strong note!

Fresh Start Virtual Assistants is a U.S. only based company of virtual experts who would love to help you reach your goals by handling your everyday tasks.  Let our team help you once again free up your time to focus on high-value tasks, while we tackle your day to day administrative tasks.

The holiday season is here in full force. For many of us this means numerous deadlines and commitments, some of which are planned for while others not so much. The chaos that comes with this time of year can make it hard to find the perfect work-life balance. Here are a few tips to help you find the perfect work-life balance this holiday season.

Down Time

Build some down time in your schedule that allows you a few minutes to step away from focusing on others and turn the focus on yourself.  A quick trip to a coffeehouse or a spa can be the break you need this holiday season.

Planned Time Off

We all enjoy taking time off during the holidays to spend time with family and friends. This holiday take your days off strategically.  Plan your days off in a way that you are still able to manage the long to-do list that comes with the end of year tasks. Focus on completing key items during non-peak times.

Half-days

If your schedule allows for it, consider taking a few half-days off this season versus the whole day. This allows for you to get those need to do tasks done while still enjoying some time to yourself.

Cook Now

If all the cooking for the holidays falls on your plate, start planning now.  Go over your menu and determine what you can cook now and freeze for later.

Online Shopping

Today’s busy professionals find it hard to put aside time to hit numerous stores to buy all the gifts on their lists.  The one-on-one customer service you experience in the store can’t be matched, but when it comes to saving time head to the internet to get your shopping done.

Reschedule Meetings

Review your scheduled meetings for the month and if any of them are not necessary. reschedule for the first of the year.  This time of year is notoriously hard to get everyone together.  If the meeting can’t be rescheduled try turning it into a walking meeting.  Heading outdoors and taking a walk during a meeting can rejuvenate you with the fresh air and change of scenery.

Just Say No

In the spirit of giving back to others this holiday season it can be hard to say no.  However, to keep the perfect work-life balance, this is the time of year to say no if the commitment adds more stress to your plate. This does not mean you need to stop giving back or helping others in your community. This means don’t take on more than you usually do.

Exercise

With a jam-packed schedule you may decide to slack on your exercise schedule. Don’t! Exercising reduces your body’s stress hormones and promotes the production of endorphins.

Have fun this holiday season and take the time to enjoy it while creating the perfect work-life balance.

In marketing, a call to action (CTA) is a line of text or an image that prompts an audience to take an immediate response.  Without a strong CTA on your website you will have a difficult time converting those who visit your site into leads.  CTA’s that are poorly placed or are boring will not grab the attention of your visitors. An excellent CTA will have visitors taking action and will ultimately help you convert those visitors into leads.

When it comes to creating a CTA for your website content there is no need to over-complicate things. A few common CTA’s that could still be effective are: “Search For Homes”, “View Properties”, “Click Here To Start Searching”, “What Is Your Home Worth?”, and “Contact An Agent”.  Keep them simple and make sure they are in the scope of what your visitors are looking for.

Keeping it simple does work, but consistently relying on what every other real estate website out there is using could diminish your chance of converting visitors to leads. Get creative! Change up your CTA to clearly let visitors know what they can expect and what you have to offer.

Try these ideas out:

1. Call us today for your free home matching consultation.

2. Find out how you can own a home for less than what you pay in rent.

3. Subscribe to our newsletter today packed with valuable real estate tips.

4. Subscribe here for the latest real estate market reports.

The one thing to remember when creating a CTA is to avoid lingo that only those in the real estate world are familiar with.   One we see too often is, “Get a free CMA.”  Those in the real estate world quickly know that it stands for Comparative Market Analysis, but not too many other people outside the real estate bubble will know what it means. Another common CTA is, “Search the MLS.” Today many consumers not in the real estate world know what the MLS is, but not everyone.

What Do You Want

Before creating a CTA that is perfect for your website, you first must know what you want visitors to do. For example, are you looking for them to sign up for your newsletter so you cano build up your mailing list or are you interested in attracting those looking to sell their home?  Once you have a goal in mind, begin testing a few different CTA’s to see which one will work best. Don’t forget to make the CTA attention grabbing and attractive.

Best of luck! Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you with your real estate marketing needs!