RealEstateSchoolMarketing.com

Does your Real Estate School have an affiliate program? Most states allow schools to give a referral fee to someone who refers a student. But it can be a hassle to track who was referred, and to make payments to the referrers. If you have a CMS like WordPress, it's relatively easy to add a Plugin which can do things like... - automatically tracking referrals through a link you provide to the referrer - showing referrers how many referrals have succeeded, through a Dashboard - paying out either automatically or with a single click Then it's a matter of promoting it. I recommend sending a link shortly after someone signs up for the course, when they're most enthusiastic, and again right after they've (successfully) completed the course. Plus it's great to hit up all former students about once per year to remind them. If you're curious which WP Plugin we recommend, or if you'd like a list of things to look for when comparing plugins for any CMS, just message me! #realestateschool

If your Real Estate School website suddenly stopped working, what would you do? You may have a person who handles all of your web stuff, but it's important to ask them a few questions TODAY (before the crisis happens). Here are the key questions... (1) Is our website backed up? (2) How often and where? (3) Have you tested a "restore from backup"? BUT... if your website is hacked, it can get much more complicated. The best solution is prevention, so you should also ask... (4) What kind of security do we have in place to prevent hacking? (5) How frequently are the plugins/extensions updated? It can take days worth of (billable) time to recover from an attack, not to mention the lost revenue while your site was down, and unhappy students if your Online Course is affected. After years of trying different solutions, we now have an incredible (and cost-effective) system that updates plugins DAILY and has world-class hacker prevention controls. (DM me if you're curious!) Here are the questions one more time, so you can copy/paste them to your Web Developer RIGHT NOW, before you forget about it! And if you ever have any questions, I'm here to help! :-) #realestateschool (1) Is our website backed up? (2) How often and where? (3) Have you tested a "restore from backup"? (4) What kind of security do we have in place to prevent hacking? (5) How frequently are the plugins/extensions updated?

I know I've talked about this previously, but if your Real Estate School isn't doing Google Remarketing Ads, you are MISSING OUT on additional registrations!! (And if you *are* doing Remarketing, I recommend RLSA as the next step - DM me if you want to know more!) Of the 600+ RE School websites I've viewed, I'd estimate that less than 20% of them have Google Ads Remarketing Tags. Yet when we set up Remarketing for clients, we see a distinct upswing in registrations (typically a few weeks after the Remarketing Ads start serving). And if you visit certain "nationwide" school sites, you'll see THEIR Ads everywhere you go. So if you want to compete, ya gotta show up! #realestateschool

Have you thought about offering Webinars to your pre-license prospects, but didn't want to have to sit in front of your webcam for an hour every week? Besides, you want to present it to them as SOON as possible after they first visit your site... before they pick another school! These, and many other issues, are solved with the use of an eWebinar. I've put together a 9-minute "Webinar Webinar" (a Webinar about Webinars!), which shows the state-of-the-art in HIGHLY INTERACTIVE, pre-recorded Webinars. Get started right here: https://ewebinar.com/ #realestateschool #webinar

Let's dig a little deeper into optimizing Google Ads for your Real Estate School. If you're running a Performance Max Campaign, you know that it's completely focused on Conversions. You may think of a "conversion" as a sale of one of your courses. But there are lots of other "micro-conversions" which can help the Algorithm to hone in on your ideal prospects. I'm referring to clicking the "add to cart" button (without completing the sale)... or filling out a form... or watching a video... anything that shows that a particular user is "interested" in what you're offering! Prior to Google Analytics 4, the best way to identify these actions as micro-conversions was through Google Tag Manager. But now, it's really pretty straightforward with GA4 and Google Ads. The basic process is... (1) identify significant "Events" from the standard GA4 list (2) "mark as conversion" (3) if not already done, link GA4 and Google Ads (4) create a "new conversion action" in Google Ads (5) Import from GA4 as "primary" conversions If you run into any issues, I'd be happy to try to help! Just reach out any time. :-) #realestateschool

Have you viewed your Real Estate School website on a smartphone recently? More than half of your site visits are probably from phones, yet most marketers view their own site on a computer when thinking about its effectiveness, or when making changes to their website. If it's been a while, have a look right now! Go ahead, I'll wait... ?? #realestateschool

How do you find out when your Real Estate School students pass the State Exam? Many of them will reach out to you (or their instructor) to celebrate, but why not plant the seed and create a win-win? For instance, you could ask them to take a selfie with their results in-hand, which you can use in Social Media and on your website, and which in turn gives them something to "share" on their own timeline. Makes "humble bragging" a little easier. If you need to incentivize further, you could offer to send them your favorite Real Estate book, or a special discount on your Continuing Ed courses. Modeling the behavior of "sending a gift after the purchase" will set them up for success as a new agent, and don't forget to mention your referral program, if you have one! #realestateschool

Do you remember the first student who passed the State Exam after taking the pre-license course from your Real Estate School? Remember what it felt like, to know that you had helped them to move one step closer to their dreams? If you've been at it for a while, it's easy to get focused on filling classes, and answering phone calls, and the million little details of running a growing business. But for each student who succeeds, it's VERY personal. I encourage you to take a moment and think about (or find out about!) the last few students who reported passing the exam. You've helped to change the direction of their life! That's something worth celebrating. #realestateschool (photo courtesy of www.ccpixs.com)

I expect to see reviews on any fairly robust Real Estate School website - it's a basic feature. But what I rarely see is "success stories" - where there's a write-up about someone who took their pre-license course with XYZ School, then got a job and actually made money. Prospective students are frequently not so concerned with whether they can pass your course, or even the real estate exam - it's whether they can find an agency to work with, and earn a living. I looked at the top 20 results for a Google search of real estate schools whose sites contained the words "success stories", and only ONE of them had detailed stories, with photos, names, and agencies they work for. Takes a bit of work to gather the info, but it's a great way to stand out from the competition, especially the generic national franchises! #realestateschool

Do you have an Abandoned Cart strategy for your Real Estate School? You've probably noticed that your Order IDs aren't always sequential - assuming that you're not on a shared platform, each of those numbers "in between" represents someone who wants to take your course... except that something got in the way. An effective Abandoned Cart strategy includes... - an exit pop-up which provides a compelling reason for finishing the transaction right now (one-time discount, phone number to discuss further, etc.) - an automated email (assuming that the user got to the point where they provided it), within minutes of the end of the session - a remarketing campaign (Google and/or Facebook) which links back to the specific course the user was considering - a series of email messages (DRIP Campaign) focused on urgency, always with a "handy link to complete your purchase" You can take it further, by calling/texting, stalking them on Social Media... well, maybe not, but you get the idea. :-) Most schools don't bother with ANY of this stuff, so you'll stand out from the competition, with a prospect who has already indicated that they like what you offer! Best of all, this is "set-it-and-forget-it" stuff! #realestateschool