Thanks for coming today! It was really a pleasure getting to present and interact with you. As promised here are the slides & links to resources that can help you improve your web presence.

Slides – PDF Format

Slides – Flash Slideshow (Broadband helps)

Online Resources

Blogging – WordPress

Online Meetings – DimDim

Auto Dealer Demo

Outdoor Company Social Network Demo

Flickr Demo Software

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And hey, if you have any questions give me a call 870-0467.

Here’s a few posts from this blog you might like:

Video of the Week – Prime the Pump

I’m a Great Lover

5.5 Questions to Ask Your Web Designer

Hahns Peak & Steamboat Lake

So in reorienting some to the reality of what buyers want, great photography is something that brokers should require of themselves as a minimum. I’ll try to illustrate some differences between really good pictures and the uninspired, drive-by point & shoot photos we see way too often.

I was recently on a trip and took a picture of some super colorful shops. Online, someone else had posted the same shot but with very different results. Take a look & imagine yourself in the market. Pay attention to how these photos make you feel.

This first version was taken by someone else with a simple point & shoot.

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I took this picture with serious camera gear and an inspiration to get a great photo:

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Big difference. Or how about this photo of a ranch:

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Compared to this one I took last fall:

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Which one would interest you?

Photos are such an important asset for real estate agents and here in Steamboat there’s almost no excuse in having crappy pictures. Hire a great photographer and smile when you pay them knowing that you have awesome photos that tell a story and sell property much more effectively. Great photos will pop on the MLS and can be leveraged in many ways.

Kim Keith is an excellent local photography resource. She’s a real pro and puts art into her photos. What this means to you is you’re likely to get photos that evoke emotion. More emotions equals more sales at higher prices.

Kim Keith Photography
Studio K
2550 S. Copper Ridge Rd, suite #204
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 846-3680
kim@steamboatgallery.com

The Most Memorable College Football Plays of All Time

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here if you can’t see the video. 

With so many brokers concerned about referrals are you memorable enough?

There is so much average stuff in the middle there’s not enough room to remember it all. I suppose it’s a bit like this graph with the painful experiences being a little more memorable:

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If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average.

So many Steamboat Springs brokers are concerned with referrals but I wonder if they’re really doing the stuff that’s memorable. Are you memorable enough? 3 years from now will your clients remember the exceptional experience they had with you. 3 years from now what will your clients say? Will they say you were average? If you’re truly average, I doubt they’ll remember anything at all. And in today’s world truly average is actually a pretty high bar.

If you do everything right & meet expectations, you’re average. It’s only when you exceed expectations or really screw things up do you become memorable. Going with the flow, blending in, doing what everyone else does feels safe but we won’t remember you come referral time.

Buying & selling a home is such a life changing experience for your clients the goal should be to make it THE most memorable experience of their lives so there is no way they could forget you.

(Not my kids)

Just as we expected, we had a great dinner and our daughter wasn’t fidgeting or dumping salt all over the table. So the question is, what kid friendly stuff do you have to occupy kids when you’re clients bring them along? It might be a good idea to have a “kid kit” in the trunk with an assortment of activities for boys and girls.

Love my kids and I’ll love you forever.

See the rest on our Flickr account

This video is from Michael Bungay Stanier

In 1893, a young pharmacist created a drink that bore his name: “Brad’s Drink” In 1898, Brad’s Drink was renamed “Pepsi-Cola”, and what would become the world’s most recognized “number 2″ brand was born.

Naming your company, organization, development, etc, is the single most important marketing decision you can make. It sets a first impression that can’t be erased.

The best part of naming your company is that it’s FREE (and probably be the only free bit of marketing you’ll ever do).

700 is a big number. When I first heard about “Steamboat 700″ I thought “big.” Something didn’t fit – “Steamboat Big.” The only thing we really want to be “big” in Steamboat Springs is snow.

So the mistake, in my opinion, that Steamboat 700 made was using a big number in their name. Every newspaper article, filing, discussion, presentation, interview, conversation & blog post now includes that big number. I’m not at all questioning the merit of the proposed development. Danny seems nice enough and they’re intentions might add much needed resources to our community. But that number focuses our attention on the size instead of the merit.

A bit more thought up front about the name would have served them well. They have a critical time ahead and need to have the community on their side. For better or worse, community perception can make or break a deal. Just calling it what it is may have been simply the easy thing to do; 700 acres in Steamboat = Steamboat 700. But marketers need to realize that

my perception is my reality.

So the best thing you can do is set the right perception from the beginning. A good, free company name can do just that.

steamboat.com reaches approximately 13,976 U.S. monthly uniques. The site attracts a over 65, mostly Caucasian, slightly female slanted audience. The site’s visitors’ interests are auto info (Yahoo Autos, Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book), travel (Priceline, TripAdvisor Travel Info, Travelocity, Orbitz) and business & finance (MSN Money).

Here’s a partial report. What I find interesting is that people over 65 are almost 2.25 times more likely than average to visit steamboat.com indicating that demographic has a very keen interest in Steamboat (especially compared to vail.com which is only 1/2 as likely to visit). And yet I can’t find one real estate website catering specifically to that potential client.

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See the complete report here.