CLASS Leasing: Google Rankings

We just recently began working at a property in Arizona that had a very minimal amount of content when we arrived on-site. There was neither a property website, nor was the community listed on any ILS (i.e. Forrent.com; Apartmentguide.com). Therefore it became first priority to establish some sort of presence online, so that if a prospect were to search for the community, there would at least be some sort of relevant material to appear. In a matter of weeks, we were able to get the Google Place Page established, as well as work the SEO of the Facebook Page to the point that it is currently the first website recognized as relevant when the property name is searched (Itom A'e Apartments, Guadalupe, AZ; Great job Kimberly!)

This brings me to the larger point of this example in that we were able to create a Facebook Page for a property and have this page move up the Google rankings system...but how?? There are many layers to this question that neither I, nor really anyone else, other than those who have written the Google algorithms, know the real answers to. Obviously, a great first step to take when trying to get a website up the rankings is to make a website/page that is going to have relevant information of interest to readers. After establishing your webpage with substance that individuals are actually going to read, there are a multitude of steps that can be taken from this point forward. Social Media Examiner lists a thorough explanation of 7 detailed steps one can take to get a website up the ranking list of Google.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Resident Blog

If you're looking for a great way to get information out to your residents that is interactive and unique, then a resident blog may be just what you are looking for. A resident blog is a spin-off of the staple community blog in that it allows residents the opportunity to actively communicate with one another on an open forum. This forum is still subjected to office maintenance, but it is a much more convenient way to hear and spread pertinent information amongst a community. In order for the resident blog to be benefecial, an office staff must make the blog known to residents via flyer, newsletter update, or any other convenient announcement means.

The resident blog is where an office staff can learn of resident concerns, as well as post community events to receive feedback from the residents about their thoughts and needs. Of course, if you are a member of the office staff where a resident blog is instilled, make sure to monitor the comments. The reason is that once the blog begins to become regularly updated and starts to receive comments from residents, the acivity of the blog will generate relevancy in a Google search, thereby making it open to potential prospects searches. You always want to make sure that prospects are not turned away from a property as a result of seeing something online that could have been addressed right away.

Here are a few examples of some apartment resident blogs I was able to find:
Mountain View Crossing
Shea Apartments

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: BlogGlue

Writing a blog gives users the ability to share relative information about any aspect of business they choose. The added benefit of a blog is that there is no one format to follow when it comes to constructing a daily post. Where the challenge comes in for a blog creator is getting individuals to actually read the information that is put together daily. Obviously in updating a blog regularly, the SEO of the blog will eventually lead it to the top of a Google search in being relative to a specific title search, but how do people find it if they do not know the exact title?

BlogGlue is one such site that exists with the sole purpose of expanding the amount of views that a blog is able to draw-in. BlogGlue essentially does "all the work for you" once your blog posting is created by dispersing the blog through multiple venues of social media. BlogGlue will actively post your blog to Facebook and Twitter, will partner the blog with previous blogs written by the user and will link all your blogs in RSS feeds. In spreading the blog throughout the different social media sources, the traffic views will be increased, thereby boosting any potential revenue streams desired from creating the blog.

BlogGlue does offer a free route for their services, but if you are in fact a regular blogger that is looking to benefit from blog revenues, then it may be worth the buck to pursue an active partnership with BlogGlue.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

Are you on ApartmentRatings?

Just how important are consumer reviews these days? You can look at the power of sites like yelp.com and kudzu.com, or you can type in "Apartments in any town USA" into Google and see how high sites like apartmentratings.com land on the search. Whether we are looking for a restaurant, a resort, or a place to call home, consumer reviews are driving the purchasing decisions of the modern consumer.

The old way of thinking was to avoid apartment review sites at all cost. As most people in the industry will tell you, they were nothing but venting forums for disgruntled and evicted residents. But now all of that has changed. Not having reviews readily available to prospective residents puts you at an extreme disadvantage. Prospects want to see CGM (consumer generated media) prior to deciding where to live. They do not trust traditional advertising, including your website.

Solicit Reviews! What happens when we solicit reviews rather than sit around and wait for them to appear? We usually see a much more positive response. Maybe it is because our residents appreciate the fact that we are asking for feedback? Maybe it is because without a reminder to review our properties, only the disgruntled residents are motivated enough to post on their own? I don't have the answers, but I do know that when you ask for feedback, the response is overwhelmingly positive.

Take for example Dental TLC in Atlanta GA. I recently went there for the first time based on the high number of positive reviews. When searching for them online, I noticed that they have 283 reviews on Yelp, Kudzu, and other rating sites, giving them four and a half out of five stars.

Upon leaving my appointment, I was handed a water bottle, toothbrush and toothpaste, and this card.




I asked the receptionist about the review card and she said that a majority of their business comes from their online reputation and word of mouth. She credited the fact that their patients are great about writing online reviews. Talk about bang for your marketing buck!

Get some feedback from your residents. It will not only help with resident retention, but it is becoming a necessary marketing piece in order to capture today's renter. If you don't have any reviews, rest assured your prospects are searching for a property that does!

CLASS Leasing: Facebook Losing Users??

As Facebook nears the 700 million mark of users globally, there has been a slight setback occurring amongst its American population. In the last month there has been a drop-off of nearly 6 million American users of Facebook and this was the first time that Facebook had seen a monthly decline of any kind in a year! What could possibly be leading to such a huge amount of individuals just simply leasing Facebook? There is no clear defined reasoning as to why such a drop-off occurred, but its left many people wondering if Facebook is just starting to lose its luster, or if people are just becoming tired with the constant changes. On the flip side of that, maybe its that people are becoming tired with the lack of updated changes and are bored by the website. Could it possibly be that people are becoming more weary of the intrusive nature of Facebook, especially with the introduction of the Face Recognition software to the website?

Regardless of what the reasoning may be, Facebook is continuing to add users abroad and is even making potential headwind in the country where Facebook has been banned for years...China. It will be interesting to see where Facebook turns to keep up its title as one of the most successful websites of all time.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

Great news for owners!

What happens when multifamily housing starts all but vanish for 4 years? The answer is a drastic increase in demand for rentals! After biting the bullet of falling rents over the past 4 years, apartment owners and operators are now leveraging the decreased supply of rentals into the beginning of the much forecasted increase in rents.

Here is a great article from msnbc that talks about the nationwide increase in rents. The challenge owners now face will be to re-acclimate their residents with an increase in renewal rates. We are sure to see some shock at first, but going back to the pre-2008 landscape, residents all but expected an increase at renewal. It will take some time, but it appears that our ability to push NOI on properties is becoming much more feasible.

-Danny Soule

CLASS Leasing: If You've Ever Had Someone Object To Price...

It is basically an understood notion that the number one objection any leasing specialist will find at their respective community is price. Regardless of if the property has rents equivalent to every other property in the region, someone will complain about the price for rent being too much. I always joke that the rent for an apartment could be free and there would still be someone to say that it costs too much! A great way to look at the price objection is that it is something that will always be brought up, but at the same time, there is always some other property that probably is dealing with a price issue on a more grand scale. Insert One Hyde Park Apartments here. One Hyde Park Apartments just opened in January as the most expensive apartment building in existence. Although they are considered to be more of condominiums, they are still classified as an apartment community and value at about $9500 PER SQUARE FOOT! The details of this London-based community are absolutely jaw-dropping and almost seem like a fairy tale when you read what amenities come with being a resident at this community. This just goes to show once again that if you ever think your community is a little pricey, think again!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Leasing Specialist Creed

As a leasing specialist you are the first contact for nearly every prospect that walks through the leasing office doors. It is important to be on your game with every single prospect, because there's no second chance at making a first impression.

With this in mind really concentrate on the little things this weekend:

Make sure that your balloons are out front and you are in the office ready to lease five to ten minutes before your scheduled time to be in the office. There's nothing wrong with being early.

Walk your tour routes to make sure that they are completely clean and there are no unforeseen surprises that could hamper a tour.

Check the model and show apartments to ensure that the lights are on, there aren't any little surprises hiding in the bathtub or cabinets and it smells fresh inside the apartment.

Right when you get into the office, search your community online to make yourself aware of any new information posted on any websites about your property.

Make sure to get 3-5 Craigslist ads up throughout the day in between taking tours and phone calls.

Put together an informative post for your property's Facebook page.

Get your key cards out from the previous days that still have follow-up phone calls that need to be made.

When the phone rings make sure to enthusiastically answer the phone, say your five questions verbatim and really make a true effort to build rapport with the prospect, so they will be not only more inclined to come visit you, but will also feel more comfortable leasing with you.

Hop up from behind your desk and greet every single person that walks through the door, so they immediately feel welcome and at home.

Take the time to fill out the entire key card in order for proper follow-up immediately following the tour.

Really sell your community to the prospect while on tour and nail your FBC's when inside the model apartment.

At the closing table really use your ten closes to get every prospect to lease and if they will not lease, absolutely aim for a 24 hour hold in order to get them back in the door tomorrow.

Complete your follow-up email and thank you letter the second the prospect walks out the door. In doing so, the tour will be fresh on your mind and the prospect will be taken aback by getting an email so soon after their tour.

At the end of the day, send your nightly email before you leave the office. There are many clients that are waiting to see how the day went and may be anxiously waiting for the daily numbers.

Make sure to call-in at your specified time.


All of these things are supposed to be done every single day, but really make an effort to go above and beyond of what you normally are expected of this weekend. If your goal is two leases this weekend, then aim for four. Don't give yourself an opportunity to look back on a day and think you may have got a lease if you did something differently. Make every tour count this weekend!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Google Presence

Multifamily Insiders hosted a great webinar earlier this week highlighting the importance of a property's Google presence. This webinar was spot-on, because when individuals "search" for a property online, they are 99% likely to search for the property using Google. "Google it" has all but replaced the phrase "search for it" when it comes to finding something online. Therefore, having a great presence on Google is imperative and this webinar does a great job offering tips to improve that presence.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: RentMineOnline

RentMineOnline is catching on like wildfire throughout the apartment industry and is really revolutionizing the concept of resident referrals.

Resident referral is a great first line of defense for marketing purposes, because the marketing is done in-house and there are no sorts of gate keeper HR departments to get through. Whatever the monetary amount that is offered to residents for referring their friends and family, this number needs to be constantly engrained in the residents mind. Many residents don't understand that you really do get money for something as simple as referring a friend until they receive that first discount off of their rent. In steps RentMineOnline to simplify things even more for residents to get money for essentially doing nothing.

RentMineOnline accesses the social media realm for referrals by having residents sign up through website, which in turn allows RentMineOnline to begin the referral process through the residents social pages (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Therefore if someone views a referral done by RentMineOnline on my Facebook profile and decides to live at my community, I will receive a referral bonus without even physically telling that individual to join my community! It's that easy. RentMineOnline has taken the simple concept of resident referral and made it even easier.

Here is a great write-up about RentMineOnline in Multifamily Executive.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Google +1

Google +1 is finally here and became active this past week for anyone with a Google account. I wrote a blog not too long ago about Google +1 and what exactly it entails, but there is still some grey area for some in regards to what its purpose is. Google released a great tutorial video that really breaks down the benefits of accessing Google +1 and how it is essentially their break through into the social realm of websites. The video can be found at the bottom of the linked webpage.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: How Should A Facebook Page Be Used For An Apartment Community?

I have written a few blogs about general ideas on how to use a Facebook Page for an apartment community. First off, I cannot harp enough that a Faceboook Page is only as useful as you make it. If a property page is created and you think that it going to lead to more leases just because you created it, then you are going to be heavily disappointed.

A Facebook Page is designed with the purpose of getting residents involved and having a place where they can be connected to not only other residents, but also to management. In addition, a Facebook Page will also help to increase a property's SEO, because it is another site that other property specific sites can be linked to, which therefore is offering another venue for property exposure online. Although, just because it is a property specific page does not mean that it needs to be updated daily with information trying to sell the community. Keep in mind that people that "like" the property page do not want to constantly see on their Facebook walls information about your apartments for rent.

There is a general rule that an apartment community page needs to be a balanced ratio of 80/20 of general information to direct apartment community. General information can consist of anything relating to the city the community is in, helpful tips for apartment living, or just random tidbits of information, such as today and how it is national donut day! Tracey Lott Heitzman contributed a great article today on Multifamily Insiders that outlines the importance of making a Facebook Page interactive. Below I have highlighted her great topics for Facebook Page status updates and you can find the full blog here.

•Have fun with your profile picture and change it up often
•Post your You Tube videos
•Notify residents of upcoming concerts and events in your area
•Post interesting new jobs. I’ve seen a property management company that has a Twitter feed on their website with job postings that fit their demographics
•Post new movies out on DVD or to the theatre
•Start a 'Best of' list and have residents to vote
•Offer green cleaning tips
•Plan a Yahoo Sports Pick Em’ Group for the playoffs
•Offer exclusive discounts, coupons, and content (40% of FB users “like” Pages that give them deals)
•Partner with restaurants in the area and offer exclusive deals (I live in a condo community and the new restaurant across the street gives us 10% off!)
•Post a photo of a local restaurants dish and have a contest to have residents guess the dish and where it came from (offer a gift card to same restaurant)
•Advertise a time and place at the community and host a “Sweets in the Streets” where you hand out candy bars
•Post an events calendar to share with sister communities. Allow residents to participate among the communities
•Have monthly Birthday Parties and post to Facebook
•Have a yearly 'Birthday' for your community
•Reward residents and fans by helping them give to charity
•Recognize fans and select a “Fan of the Month”
•Become “Fans” of local business and post on their walls
•Use the Question feature to offer polls (more on this below)
•Contests are one of the most effective ways of keeping your Fans interested and engaged
•Introduce various competitions with giveaways
•Watch the comments/likes pour in with these status updates from Funny Status (not all are appropriate)
•Post trivia questions- people love to show off their knowledge
•Ask for opinions
•Encourage your Fans to share personal stories on a particular topic, like “my first apartment”
•Upload lots of photos from Resident Appreciation Events and be sure to “tag” your Fans

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: The Geosocial Universe

I am a big visual person whenever it comes to understanding the magnitude of anything relating to comparing numbers or data. Seeing a table, graph, chart, etc. for me just helps to understand the scope of data in relation to the comparable item numbers.

JESS3 Labs designed one of the more up-to-date and visually appealing models that I have truly seen in awhile. Per their site, "JESS3 Labs is a creative agency that specializes in data visualization" and they put together a terrific visual of the social media network database entitled "The Geosocial Universe." This infographic draws together the major hitters in the social media universe and compares them in total registered users in spherical orbit form with shading done to represent the fraction of users that access these social sites via mobile phone.

In addition to there being some new faces on this social media orbit, it should come as no surprise that the top two social sites are Facebook (629 million users) and Skype (663 million users). What is surprising data to me considering how reliant society has become on their mobile phones, I a guilty member as well, is how such a small fraction of Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Gmail users actually check their mail via mobile. I would think that many people are like me in that I rely on my phone for talking, texting and email as the three main purposes, so how are the spheres of those three main email providers not more filled in? Regardless, JESS3 put together a great representation of our "Geosocial Universe" and the number of registered users will only increase as social media becomes more and more of an entity of its own.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: The Best Resident Event Contest Finale!

Hopefully everyone took the time to enter the Resident Events and Peachtree Business Products competition to come up with the best and most creative resident event, because the finale is tomorrow afternoon! Everyone should make sure to visit Multifamily Insiders and sign up for the free webinar from 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Central Time to listen to the industry leader judges break down on their thoughts of each submission, as well as the winning resident event idea. This is a great opportunity to possibly pick-up a resident event idea for your community that could be used in the near future. As of today there have been a total of 85 submissions, so it is sure to be a great opportunity being a part of this webinar!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing