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Mike Blaney

Jun 05
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How Important is Website Speed?

By Responsive Websites, Website Design

In an excellent article about the importance of website speed, Kathy Goldman provides some excellent insights.

So how important is the speed of your website?

A 1-second delay in page load time yields:

    • 11% fewer page views
    • 16% decrease in customer satisfaction
    • 7% loss in conversions (source: Aberdeen Group)

Amazon found this to be true, reporting increased revenue of 1% for every 100 milliseconds improvement to their site speed. (source: Amazon)

So did Walmart, who found a 2% increase in conversions for every 1 second of improvement.

Akamai did a study and found that:

That’s not all. A study by Akamai found that:

  • 47% of people expect a web page to load in two seconds or less.
  • 40% will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
  • 52% of online shoppers say quick page loads are important for their loyalty to a site.

You can read her article and learn how to speed up your website by clicking here.

May 29
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5 Things a Realtor® Should Do After Closing

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing

Finding the home for your buyers is the first step in a long and potentially fruitful, symbiotic relationship. Your new buyers are going to need your guidance and assistance and you have the opportunity to earn referrals for life. According to the National Association of Realtors 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 64% of sellers who used a real estate agent found those agents through a referral by friends or family, and 25% used the agent they previously worked with to buy or sell a home,

What are the top 5 things to do after the sale?

1) 7-day and 30-day follow-ups.

Call your clients to see how they are enjoying their new home and ask if they need anything. You don’t want a nagging problem preventing your clients from referring future business to you.

2) Make a list of special dates.

Make sure every past client is on your personal holiday card list. Consider mailing birthday cards or closing day anniversary cards. Record the move-in date, mortgage renewal date and any birthdays that you feel comfortable requesting.  Stay in touch with clients on a regular basis by phone, email or on special occasions.

3) Welcome them to their new home

On moving day think of taking a lunch and refreshments.  After they have moved in drop by with a gift showing your appreciation for their business. It can range from a plant, to a bottle of wine or anything else that you feel is commensurate with your appreciation for their business. Think outside of the box; hire a company to power wash their patios, hire a lawn cutting company to cut their lawn. The more thought you put into it the longer lasting the impression.

4) Be their go-to real estate resource

Make sure they know they can rely on you for anything real estate.  From market conditions to tradespeople and everything in between. Encourage them to have their friends and neighbours call you too.

5) Host a client appreciation event

It does not have to be a fancy sit-down dinner. You could organize a family picnic and sports day, rent a theatre, invite them on a harbour cruise, an evening snowshoe or a wine tasting at a local restaurant. The important thing is to invest the time to show your appreciation and have clients meet your other clients. This group is your number one source of referrals so treat them accordingly.

May 21
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Logo and T-Shirt Design

By Branding, Promotional Item

We were asked by one of our website clients, Star Individuality, if we could design a logo for a T-Shirt which would be sold as a fundraiser.

The Star Individuality Foundation is a 501(c)(3)non-profit FOR purpose organization dedicated to helping the upcoming generation tackled the every day heard statement of “Just be yourself.” with the question that automatically comes after it which is “Who am I?“. The Star Individuality Foundation assists, supports, and motivates the upcoming generation to live a passionate creative and motion-filled lifestyle in order to find their individuality. All proceeds go to support the Star Individuality scholarship fund.

Using the phrase “Imperfect Spells I’m Perfect” we designed a ladies and men’s version. Using the website Represent.com the client uploaded the logos and now they have an online store which they use to market the T-shirts.

About The Cause

The Star Individuality Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission of presenting the upcoming generation with the support they need to find their true selves. Our one goal is to be there to provide the support you need while going through the journey of finding yourself.

The confusion of not knowing who you are affects nearly everyone in our upcoming generation. We are aware this, and we are here to help this is why we provide both financial and emotional support. We understand it is a long, hard, and confusing journey, but that’s why we are here to carry some of that weight on you with you while you are going through this challenging yet liberating journey knowing that once you find yourself, all of the work was worth it.

We believe in YOU. We believe that you deserve to be YOURSELF and NO one else.

We believe in YOUR right to live a life where you take pride in who you are.

Apr 24
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Seven Marketing Habits of Effective Agents

By Marketing Strategy, Prospecting, Realtor Marketing

In November 2014, we wrote a guest blog post for Real Estate Weekly (REW.ca) titled “Marketing For Agents: Seven Marketing Habits of Effective Agents“. The byline was “You should never be too busy for marketing if you want to see success. Incorporate these seven habits into your daily work and you’ll quickly see results.”

As Spring is a time for new growth we thought it would be a good time to reprint this and offer you access to the E-Book in pdf form below.

Habit 1: Start tomorrow today

At the end of each day review your phone calls, emails and personal contacts and make a list of tomorrow’s marketing activities.

Habit 2: Return your phone calls and emails immediately

Your phone is like an ATM. It is what makes you money. When buyers and sellers are looking for a Real Estate Agent, your response time is a benchmark for how the rest of the relationship is going to progress. The faster you can respond, the less chance a prospect will contact a competitor.

Habit 3: Check your social account engagement

Social media can be distracting, so get it out of the way early in the day or late in the evening. Review your accounts and determine if there is any action you need to take.

Habit 4: Plan social posts for the day

Tweeting and posting can consume more time than is necessary if you are reacting throughout the day. In the morning, when you are sharing content on social media or if you read something in the newspaper or online, schedule posts or tweets for different times of the day so it looks like you are active all the time.

Habit 5: Check your website stats

Are you using Google Analytics on your website? If not then you should set up Google Analytics and log in each day to see how your website is doing. You can see visits to listings, the number of visitors and how long they stayed on your website. You can even see if visitors are reading your blog posts.

Habit 6: Write and upload a blog post

According to some studies, blogging gets 67 per cent more leads on a company website than a site without a blog. That is a good enough incentive to make blogging one of your habits.

Habit 7: Never be “too busy” for marketing activities

As a company specializing in Real Estate Agent marketing, we work with dozens of Real Estate Agents developing marketing plans and strategies from note cards, to letter writing and newsletters to blogging – and the number one reason we hear why they cannot execute their marketing is they are “too busy.”

Click here to read the entire article or click here to sign up for our 26 free real estate marketing E-Books.

 

Apr 03
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Top 50 Branding Companies & Agencies in Vancouver, Canada 2017

By Branding, Design

A recent study of Vancouver Branding companies and agencies by Akihiro Nomura, an SEM/Digital Marketing Specialist at My Loud Speaker has Limelight Marketing tied for 15th with Blast Radius.

The study ranks the 50 companies in order of their monthly Google search volumes using Google Keyword Planner. “For the record, this list isn’t in order of the quality of the marketing agencies – just the search volumes. However, this could be a reflection of how good they are at gaining exposure for themselves or that they’ve simply been in business for a long time.”

Akihiro writes “I would say that there are 2 types of branding out there: Marketing-led branding vs. Design-led branding. Marketing-led branding goes far beyond just a logo or website. It pushes past typefaces and colours. Your brand is how your audience perceives you. It’s their first impression of you.  Through branding, you have the power to tell your story in a way that makes a memorable impact. Our agency gets real results by taking an authentic approach and beginning with a creative strategy.”

At Limelight Marketing we are definitely a Marketing-led agency. Check out our Portfolio and Testimonials as proof.

“Branding can be an arduous, soul-searching and highly philosophical process. And although it’s a process filled with seemingly subjective decisions, we’ve noticed that companies that have a strong idea of their vision, mission and values, tend to be able to build the strongest brands.  These companies have marketing-led branding.  Their goal is to have all their materials reflect one common goal and message.”

“The flip side of the coin is Design-led Branding. This is where clients want to make their blog, brochure or website ‘cool’, ‘modern’ and ‘fresh’. While this is still strategic, it’s priority isn’t to reflect the brand’s marketing message, rather to focus on the aesthetic look”

Feb 09
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1244 Point Ideal Road 8 Page Feature Sheet

By Realtor Marketing

Do you have a special property you are trying to highlight? Limelight Marketing can design a feature sheet from 1 to 24 pages or more.

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Nov 02
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Promotional Idea That Keeps on Giving

By Promotional Item, Prospecting, Realtor Marketing

This is great, branded promotional gift idea that is inexpensive, demonstrates to your client or prospect you care and will be seen at least 50 times.

A pocket spray hand sanitizer is the perfect giveaway!

hand-sanitizer-sampleEveryone uses pocket hand sanitizers at this time of year. With cold and flu season around the corner people will be hand sanitizing more often and if they could pull a spray sanitizer out of their purse or coat pocket they will be thinking of you every time.

I am not in the promotional business, but I did a little research and you can order 250 of these for about $1.75 each.  With the one-time set-up fee of $50.00 and shipping you are looking at about $2.00 per sprayer. See specs below.

With 50 sprays per unit your gift will be top of mind all fall and winter.

Specs:

  • Alcohol base, non-stick formula 50+ Sprays
  • Great idea for people on the go! It can fit into a purse or even your pocket
  • Cap Color : Yellow, Blue, Black, Pink, Green, Red and Frosted
  • Dimensions : 4.7″ x 0.87″
  • Imprint Area : 1″ x 1.25″
  • Alcohol-base or alcohol-free hand sanitizer spray with custom 4-color process label
  • Special non-stick formula

If you are interested in Limelight creating the design and ordering them for you please call Mike Blaney at 800-568-8338 or email me at info@limelightmarketing.ca.

Nov 01
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Featured Snippets in Search

Is Content Important? Check Featured Snippets in Search

By Marketing Strategy, Realtor Marketing, SEO, Website Design

If you don’t believe the Google algorithm has evolved into making content the number one search result criteria then check out “Google’s Featured Snippets in Search”

We had no idea this new feature had been added to Google search until a client called and said he had 7 phone calls in one day about cottages for sale on a specific lake. At the top of the page was a box with an excerpt from the page on his website, a photo excerpted from the page and a link to the page. Right below that is a link to the page again. Try your own search for lake vernon cottages for sale and see for yourself.

We did a little investigation and learned what Google has to say when a user asks a question in Google Search:

“we might show a summary of the answer in a special featured snippet block at the top of the search results page. This featured snippet block includes a summary of the answer, extracted from a webpage, plus a link to the page, the page title and URL.”

“The summary is a snippet extracted programmatically from a webpage. What’s different with a featured snippet is that it is enhanced to draw user attention on the results page. When we recognize that a query asks a question, we programmatically detect pages that answer the user’s question, and display a snippet as a featured snippet in the search results.”

How can I mark my page as a featured snippet?

You can’t. Google programmatically determines that a page contains a likely answer to the user’s question, and displays the result as a featured snippet. The only way to achieve this incredible advantage is to continue to add relevant keyword content in context so your page is the authoritative result for the search terms.

One thing I find interesting is that the page that is featured in the snippet does not have a lot of content which adds to the mystery of Google. Check it out.

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