Kim Hughes

Providing solid solutions since 1999 specifically tailored for today’s real estate professional.

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Backing Up Your Tweets


Twitter is an effective and fun tool, it can be used for your business as well as personal connections. Some people spend a substantial amount of time and energy into their tweets. So what would happen if all the time that you spent on Twitter, all the great stuff you sent out, all the followers you’ve gathered were to suddenly disappear? For a lot of people who are hooked on Twitter it would be a nightmare.

Have you ever thought about backing up your tweets? If not reading the above statement about what could happen if you don’t may make you change your mind. Backing up your Twitter can be simple and free. Here are a couple different programs that can keep you tweeting even if something happens to your account.

BackupMyTweets.com
Their tagline “Don’t lose your Tweets. Make Them Permanent” and that’s exactly what they do. With this service you can protect your tweets, do daily backups, and they offer flexible download options. The basic service is free but you can also get a Premium Edition $4.95 a year, pretty cheap for all that it does. BackupMyTweets.com also offers a suite of other programs such as BackupMyMail and BackupMyBlog.

TweetBackUp.com
TweetsBackUp is easy to use and it does daily backups but what makes it really stand out is that it’s all web based. No installation of extra programs on your computer to bog it down.

Tweetake.com
Tweettake makes possible users aware of just what can happen when Twitter malfunctions. On their about page under “Why bother to do this?” They state that Twitter may lose followers again like it did in June/July. If you are backing up your tweets you won’t be the one that’s scrambling to get them back.

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How to Prepare for a Disaster Using Social Media

It could happen at any time, you could be running your daily errands. Your oldest is at school and youngest at daycare. Your husband or wife is in another city 400 miles away at a conference. You go into the store to buy milk while your walking to the register to check out it happens, an earthquake. Once the initial shock is over your mind is spinning. What do you do next?

Preparing for a disaster is something we all need to do to make sure that our family is safe and technology is there to make it possible. Within minutes we could contact our husband and children to make sure they are ok, find a local shelter to get everyone to, make sure you can find the safest route to all the destinations that you need to get to.

To use social media and technology as a guide to getting through a natural disaster you need to know where to start. First step is to make a plan and involve your whole family in it. Make sure everyone has all the vital information in their electronic devices that they need. Phone numbers, addresses, email address, etc. Check with your children’s school to see what their plans are for natural disasters. Have a meet up place if your children are older so they know where to meet in case of an emergency. This is a great project for your virtual assistant to help you with so your family is prepared as well as you business associates.

Disasters can strike at any time and using technology can keep you connected. For more information check out this great article from wonderful guide HOW TO: Prepare for Disasters Using Social Media.

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Certified Distressed Property Expert – You Gotta Get This!

Alex Charfen founder of the Certified Distressed Property Expert organization is rock’n and a rollin with the CDPE course that are all over the United States. All you need to do is to find a location and attend the two day event. If you cannot travel to the course then you have the option of attending it online. But being at the course you will walk away with so much more knowledge and meet some great people who all have the common goal and that is to help our neighbors, friends, family and new friends to know there are solutions and options regarding foreclosure.

I had the pleasure of meeting Alex at the 2009 STAR POWER Conference in Denver this past July and I was very impressed with his dedication, not to mention his wonderful smile. Tee Hee! Anyway, I was happy to hear they moved their headquarters to Austin, Texas recently, which I then saw on the tour schedule Austin will be holding a CDPE class and I am going.

Now you are probably wondering why would Kim Hughes a Real Estate Virtual Assistant needs to invest in the CDPE? Right now homeowner’s need all the help they can get to resolve their foreclosure issues and by having this designation I can help my clients achieve their goals, which is to help today’s homeowner’s find a solution to their foreclosure crises. When you earn the designation of a CDPE you have so much given to you to market yourself as well as information to ensure you have the tools to successfully help resolve the problems.

Agent’s today need to take advantage of the tools offered by the CDPE organization, which below is just a couple of things you need:

Set-up and manage their micro-site
Prepare and submit press releases
Incorporating the CDPE information to their website and marketing material

Today, the CDPE offers a micro-site for those that want to go a step further with their designation to become and Advanced CDPE, then there is RealPro Systems that offers Foreclosure and Short Sale Stealth Sites not to mention custom pages that you can add your own content regarding foreclosures and short sales. Pro Step Marketing recently got on the board to offer stealth site on the same.

Agents now have options on where they feel they will receive the most exposure and they do not have time to create the content, submit the sites to the search engines, etc., not to mention the marketing strategy that needs to be implemented. So, by attending the class I will gain the knowledge on the best way to assist my clients achieve their goals and that is to dedicate themselves in helping homeowner’s resolve their current situation so they can relax and get their lives back track and start focusing on what it really important and that is their life and family.

To give you some idea of what the CDPE Advanced micro-site looks like visit Brian Schantz – www.stopnorthernvirginiaforeclosures.com.

If you would like to learn more about the CDPE please visit www.CDPE.com and then visit www.KimHughes.com to see how I can assist you.

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Social Network Marketing for Real Estate Agents

Daily I am reading about new opinions, tricks and new applications with social networking. Sometimes I think “this is consuming my life” – But, really it is the best marketing you can do for yourself and your business, if you do effectively.

Because I work with so many real estate agents across the country in building their social networking presence I find real estate has its own social networking niche. What works for other businesses or industries is not necessarily the case with real estate.

You need to constantly work on re-crafting your talent and message to your target audience. Your audience already knows you help buyers and sellers with their real estate needs, so get creative in keeping them focused on you because you don’t necessarily focus on your real estate marketing, but focus on local charities that need attention, local events, local issues. Ask yourself – Why would the local community connect with you? Yes, you should throw some real estate in there on occasion, but you will receive more positive exposure by focusing on what your audience is craving. Be unique and supportive. Get to know your audience and engage with them.

Believe me – this has a bigger impact and makes your audience want to see what is next or rely on you to have the information about what is happening in the local area.

As for who your audience is. You need to focus on your community. Sure connect with other agents (Keep them private, if you can) and learn from their posts and hopefully build a great network for referrals, but engage your neighbors, local businesses, etc.

I made this suggestion to a client and we re-focused and he even went as far as hosting a social networking event to help his community to involved in social networking. This was unique and a big-big hit!

Another client hosted a church networking event and again – huge hit.

I discovered the principal of our high school was following me on Twitter. I told him I would be happy to build a background page for the high school. He was very appreciative. After I created the background I would get stopped at events by people saying they saw the page. I thought to myself “WOW! Word sure gets around!” So, remember people talk and share information, so do something that gives your community something to talk about and WANT to connect with you.

Social Networking is about socializing. You have a wonderful opportunity to offer so much more than just real estate, but make them remember you when it comes to their real estate needs.

Tip – You might want to have two Twitter accounts – one for real estate connections and the other for your local community. I have two and it is amazing how well this works.

If you are attending the 2009 STAR POWER Annual Conference look for me and let’s see how I can help you make this social network marketing concept will work to your advantage.

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5 Tips to Teaming with a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

You love the idea of finding a virtual assistant who specializes in real estate, but you are just not sure where to begin finding the right one for you.

Over the years I have found that any real estate agent, real estate coach or the entrepreneur wants is to have someone to assist them in organizing, maintaining and creatively assisting in building their business with them. Someone who will have an interest your success. One thing about a virtual assistant is they are a business owner and they are successful only when their clients are successful.

So, when you are ready to find the right real estate virtual assistant to assist you keep these 5 tips in mind.

1. Decide what you need a virtual assistant to help you with. What skills and abilities do you want your VA to have? What projects/tasks do you want to delegate to them? Do they have the knowledge and experience you need? Visit their websites, view client testimonials, view the services they offer and get to know them through their profile.

2. Jack-of-all-trades. Although VAs primarily offer administrative support, many are now specializing in specific industries/niches. If you’re looking for someone who offers listing coordination, lead management, website assistance, copywriting, blogging, marketing, social networking and/or transaction management look for a VA that specializes in these areas. Most real estate virtual assistants offer these unique real estate services, but it is important that they have the knowledge and experience.

3. Cheaper isn’t always better. Even though you are on a budget that does not mean to find the VA who has the lowest fees. I know it is tempting, but in the long run it could cost you more. Why… if a VA is charging less than the average rate, think about how many clients are they going to contract with before the break even in their business. The last thing you want to do is not have the deadlines met, too busy to call you and give you personal attention, mistakes because they are rushing. This will leave you with a bad experience. Remember, you get what you pay for and in most cases the higher the fee the more experience the VA will have and in the long run will save you money.

4. Virtual Assistants are Business Owners. The virtual assistant is a business owner and should run their business like a business. They may work all hours of the day and night, but they have a business and should run their business like any other successful business. Virtual assistants are organized professionals and they have systems in place to ensure their business runs smoothly so they can take care of their clients. When contacting a VA keep this in mind. This is to your advantage. They have a process of scheduling appointments for client consultations and will offer to try to meet your timeline, but may not always be able to, so work together on this. They are giving you their time for free to consult with you and to discuss your specific needs. Each client is different and will require at least an hour to determine if there is a good fit to work together, making sure they can accommodate your needs, etc. You should never work with a VA until you have spoken to them and confirmed they can handle your tasks and projects. This is the most important part of the process when working with a VA and if the VA determines they cannot meet your needs they will be happy to recommend someone who can. Everyone wants to have a positive experience and it is important to remember that the VA has your best interest.

5. Sign the dotted line. Once you and the VA decide to move forward with your working relationship they will send you an agreement, which you will be required to sign. Make sure to read it. It is important to know and agree to exactly what is expected of each other. The agreement will include information about the fees, terms & conditions etc.

And remember to schedule weekly, bi-weekly or monthly conference calls to stay on target and comfortable with the relationship.

Having a real estate virtual assistant on your team is a great asset and the return on investment in priceless. They can help you to become more organized, help you focus on what is important and allowing you to have the time you need for your business or personal life.

Your Virtual Assistant will help you plan, strategize and achieve the goals you have set for yourself. And if you have worked with a virtual assistant and had a bad experience don’t let that leave a bad taste in your mouth. Find another one. I guarantee if you work together and communicate the possibilities are endless.

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