Real Estate Investing and Marketing Strategies that Work Today

What strategies are you currently using for your real estate investing portfolio in this crazy economy? Wholesaling, Shortsales, Rentals, Land Contracts, Apartments Buyer, Subject To’s? Are you a jack of all trades and a master of none, or are you a ninja of your craft? Either way things can change in an instant for you in the moment of a decision! I know that things literally changed for me in my life with a 45 minute conversation with my mentor.

I Have Made Millions of Dollars, Lost it and Made it Again

I have been an entrepreneur for the last twelve years. I’ve owned 7 different companies mostly in the construction and Real Estate Investing Niche. I was able to land a hit national television show “Flip This House” based around the operations of my real estate investing business. I built up a 2 million dollar portfolio and lost it because of a few critical errors. Errors that I will never make again! When I made these errors, and lost my shirt in this crazy economy, I didn’t know what in the world I was going to do. I went back to the drawing board teamed up with mentors for everything in my life that I felt was important and began to learn what it takes to make it in “Today’s Market”.

Wholesaling in any Economy is Still Key

A staple real estate investing strategy in any market is “Wholesaling.” It doesn’t matter what strategies you specialize in, Wholesaling is key because it provides “Cash Flow” on a consistent basis. If I had to pick one great thing that I love about wholesaling is that it is a simple strategy. I quickly realized that it’s just as easy to “Wholesale” an apartment building in Phoenix Arizona, or an office building in Nevada, as it is to sell a single family home in Texas. The really great thing is the “assignment fees” are about 5 to 10 times bigger. The most important elements to being successful at “Wholesaling” is building a powerhouse buyers list and generating consistent seller leads. This all boils down to marketing! This is one of the key elements of the topics I discuss as I work with “new” Investors or even more experienced investors that are trying to get their edge back!

Do You Have a Marketing Strategy, Online?

So let’s talk about a few things that can really set you apart from the “pack” when marketing yourself today. Now if you’re stuck on bandit signs and mail outs, you’re probably struggling to generate a consistent lead flow. Don’t get me wrong these strategies, while a little dated, still work but you’ll have to get a little more creative especially online if you expect to attract the apartment and commercial property sellers of the world. Let’s face it, if someone is looking for information today they don’t go to the phone book anymore.

My Top 10 Tips and Strategies for Building an Online Presence

Here are a few things you MUST DO NOW to create an online presence and begin evolving yourself into the go to expert in your market. 1) Own your own domain name. If you don’t already own your personal domain name (URL) i.e. www.melinamontelongo.com go get it it’s probably no more than $10 through www.buymyurlnow.com You’ll also have to buy hosting for your site. Godaddy, Blue Host and Host Gator are all great hosting providers 2) Build a website. I recommend using a self hosted WordPress site on your domain (not a WordPress.com). You can find some great WordPress templates from WordPress that come ready to go right out of the box. Just add content. A basic website should have a video of you explaining briefly what you do and why you are the best at it! An Opt-in form for perspective clients, sellers and buyers to leave there contact information including name, email, and phone number. A written statement about how you treat your clients and people that you do business with. 3) Start a Blog. It’s best if your blog is connected to your site.  You want your blog to have written and or video content if possible. This will help with your search engine rankings or basically ranking near the top of search engine results page when someone searches for keywords in your area of expertise. Example, “save my house from foreclosure” 4) Get your Social BUZZ on with Social Media Connect with all your friends, clients and people of similar interest through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin, etc. There are 600,000 new members that sign up for Facebook daily! If you want people to know what you do there is probably not a better way to create an online BUZZ about yourself and or business than through your social medias… Period! 5). Promote your websites and Blogs through all of your social medias i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc. Invite all of your friends and network to read and comment on your blog posts. Link your blog site (RSS feed) with other bloggers to syndicate and maximize your exposure. 6) Shoot a series of Videos Either how to’s or case studies, on the deals that you are currently working. Post these videos on Youtube and your Blog site making sure to add your URL and strong keywords describing the content of the video. i.e. Wholesale Real Estate, Stop Foreclosure etc. Tip: keep the videos short 2 minute videos are great, definitely no more than 4 minutes and don’t ramble! 7) Participate in the Online Conversation There is no greater way for people to reciprocate syndication of your content than to comment on other niche related blogs. Seek out other niche related sites and comment on their topics. It goes a long way to establish rapport with other leading experts in their field. 8 ) Create written articles to distribute to article distribution websites like www.Ezine.com Make sure the articles are legitimate and not duplicated and or repetitive. Each article should focus on certain keywords around your topic of choice or your area of expertise. Create press releases to submit to www.PR.org for example, these rank really high with search engines. Tip: If you’re not familiar with how to write a press release you can have one written for you through www.needanarticle.com for about $10. 9) Build a list with an email service provider You can build a list by placing a web form on your site from an email service provider. This way you can capture your prospects email addresses and turn them into leads for your business. There is no better way to establish communication and trust with your clients, customers or subscribers than with email marketing. IContact and Aweber are two great resources for email autoresponder services. You’ll be able to email your entire list all at once and also schedule out several emails out in advance on auto pilot. 10) Always deliver value In everything that you do always deliver more value than you expect in return. You will absolutely set your self apart from everyone else when you understand this principle. People are looking for answers, help them find it.

In a Crowded Room of People All Holding Up the Same Sign, Who Stands out?

All of these tips can totally set you apart from the next guy when marketing for leads. When I began my trek back to the top I needed deals and I needed them fast.  I didn’t become who I am today by following the crowd. I’ve established trust, expertise and delivered results to all of my clients all by setting myself apart from my competition. I believe that now and over the next 3 to 5 years will be one of the largest opportunities to create an absolute windfall of income in this industry that we love. If you’ll take 1 or 2 of these tips and implement them immediately, it will have a huge impact on your business and you’ll have already positioned yourself to be ready to capitalize. I am extremely excited to come to your beautiful city of Houston to speak about the things that have created the lifestyle of my dreams and I can’t wait to hear about the Massive Success that the great Investors of Houston are experiencing as well. Until then take care and Godspeed! David Montelongo