For over three years, Marty Remo of RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in Central Valley, NY has been a regular contributor to Agent Insight, submitting hundreds of photos and written posts.

“Agent Insight is a fantastic platform,” he said. “When I receive a new listing, it allows me to promote the entire surrounding community with unique and consistent posts. They drive on-line searches to those communities and, therefore, to my new listing.”

Marty, leader of the HV Home Team, says his team’s written insights and photos give their potential clients a chance to get to know them.

“Being genuine goes a long way,” Marty said. “People want to work with people, not just with their computers. If a client is interested in a house, that person wants to know what it will be like to live there. They want to know about activities for the kids, how close is the nearest grocery store, or if there’s a park nearby. I can show skiing and snowboarding in the winter and boating in summer.”

“There’s a fear factor for people in learning how to get involved in a new area. They can visualize themselves there with the help of my Agent Insight photos and articles. Zillow and Trulia will never be able to provide that kind of detail about neighborhoods and communities,” he said.

Marty frequently uses first person in his writing, giving his clients a good idea about his experience and history.  Here’s an excerpt of a post he submitted on Village Woods where he grew up in Monroe, NY.

Life on the Beach at Round Lake Park
There were lots of kids in the neighborhood. I recall swimming out to the dock at the beach with friends….We would take out our small row boat and bass fish near the island in the center of the lake. Now there are paddle boats that you can rent. It’s really nice. You feel like you are far away from civilization, but in reality you are only a mile from the center of Monroe.

Marty urges his RE/MAX team and other agents to tap into all the neighborhoods that still need to be covered for Agent Insight. “If you want to grow your business, you have to think smaller,” he says, meaning that emphasis on specific subdivisions is a smart strategy when submitting to Agent Insight. Marty arrives early before every property showing in order to snap a few neighborhood photos and submit them.

“After putting posts on to my Agent Insight pages, I cross share them with other social media accounts like Facebook and LinkedIn,” he said. “I use many ways to redirect people into the community information I want them to see. I frequently include YouTube videos as well. Videos create a powerful connection and provide a ton of good information.”

In addition to strengthening his SEO, Marty’s goal is to find a common bond with potential clients.

“You need a connection to start communication,” he said. “For example, I love dogs and sunsets, so I can include posts about them in Agent Insight. If somebody identifies with those things, that personal touch will help build the business side of a relationship. People can get to know me and my community through Agent Insight. ”

Marty has covered dozens of subjects with his  photos. The selection below includes one of his favorite sunset scenes.

Baseball is a sure sign of spring, and you can find a game nearly everywhere.  Little League, high school, college or pros, rec teams, church leagues, men, women, kids — the countryside is dotted with players and fans. This is a prime opportunity for some great Agent Insight submissions covering America’s Favorite Pastime in your town.

In addition to showing off your market’s homes and neighborhoods, Agent Insight is designed to give your prospects a good look at all the community’s amenities. Why not highlight the events and activities that happen this time of year? Baseball is an easy choice because you can find photo opportunities all over town, and the sport has such broad appeal.

Colin Seitz, RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in Central Valley, NY, submitted the insight below. His writing tone is breezy and personal and tells an appealing story of a baseball game he attended.

Little League Baseball at Frank Policano Field
One evening this week I took a trip to the Newburgh, NY Little League fields to cheer on my nephew in a baseball game. It was a beautiful night to enjoy the competitive all-star game. The concession stand was open so that spectators could purchase food or drinks to enjoy throughout the game and the bleachers were crowded with cheering parents. The scoreboard made it easy to keep track of what was happening, in case you missed something, or to update friends and family who couldn’t be there in person with a quick photo text. The facility has many positive attributes to make sure that you enjoy your time while watching your team.

The friendly tone of Colin’s article tells a little about his personality and describes this excellent sports facility in Newburgh. Plan to write something similar about the stadiums and ball fields in your town, and submit it soon. Be sure to use first person like Colin did because it makes the article personal and more fun to read. That’s one of the beauties of Agent Insight:  your prospects can get to know you a little bit before you even meet.

All the baseball venues provide a rich source for photos, too. Take a look at the variety in this selection below submitted by agents from several states.

Daytime or nighttime games are all great. Show the sweep of the field from high in the stands, team mascots, scoreboards, the crowd, or the trophies. Combine your imagination with a little sports mania, and create some excellent new submissions for your Agent Insight pages. Batter Up!

Photos provided by:  Sara Snook, RE/MAX Revolution, Kansas City, MO; Stephen Stewart, RE/MAX Alliance, Brandon, MS; Annette Hurley, RE/MAX Elite, Little Rock, AR; RE/MAX Home Team, RE/MAX Advantage Central, Birmingham, AL; Roxanne Plummer, RE/MAX Masters, Fayetteville, NY; and Ryan Eashoo, RE/MAX Edge, Davison, MI.

Preparing photo submissions for Agent Insight is simple and fun. It’s easy because you can do it all on your cell phone in a matter of seconds:  just shoot the photo, write a good caption, and send it in (if you need a quick refresher on the how-to’s, click here).

It’s fun because you can send photos of virtually anything in your market area that you think would interest prospective clients. As you tour clients through town, what do you show them first? While you drive from one property to another, what highlights of the community do you point out and discuss? Snap the photos of all these subjects and post them on your community pages. Easy!

However, there is also a challenge associated with your cell phone pictures. Although you don’t need to be a professional photographer to point and shoot with your phone, you still want to make each photo as good as possible. Here are a few tips:

Use the “rule of thirds” to get a balanced and appealing composition. Mentally divide your image into thirds with two vertical lines. Center your primary subject on one of these verticals. Your finished shot will be slightly off-center, making a more interesting picture.  See how the gazebo in the photo below is off to the right, even though it is the main focus of the shot. This pretty scene was submitted by Marty Remo, RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in Central Valley, NY.

Another good composition tool is using leading lines to bring your viewer into the photo. Direct their eye with vertical, horizontal, or converging lines. The pier railing in the photo below leads you straight up to the top of pavilion. It was taken by Kenneth Nilson, RE/MAX at Barnegat Bay, Ship Bottom, NY.

Another beautiful use of leading lines is this photo from Wendy Chong, RE/MAX Preferred Properties, Oklahoma City, OK. The edges of the buildings soaring up to the sky give a strong feeling of height and drama.

Always look for different perspectives that can depict your subject in interesting ways. The lovely chapel shown below is photogenic from many angles, but this ceiling shot captures a stunning architectural view. The photo was taken by  Brenda Parker, RE/MAX Real Estate Results, Bentonville, AR.

Here’s another excellent perspective photo. Donna Fitts , RE/MAX of Orange Beach, AL, wanted to show off the beauty of a beach front condominium. The landing page for this luxury condo shows its exterior, amenities and interiors, but Donna’s photo shows both the graceful curve of the balconies, as well as the spectacular beach vista below.

These are all good tips and you can find loads more, including instructional videos, if you google “cell phone photography.” Here are a few quickies that seem logical, but are often overlooked:

• Clean the dust and grime from the lens on your phone’s camera from time to time.
• Hold the cell phone steady when you shoot. Best results come when you use two hands and brace your elbows on a flat surface.
• Don’t shoot through your car’s windows. You will likely get some crazy reflection and possibly a piece of windshield wiper. Take a moment, and step out of the car for the best results.
• Remember that all Agent Insight photos are horizontal. If you submit a vertical picture, it will likely require substantial cropping.

So get out there, shoot the photos and post  them onto your Agent Insight pages. Fun! Fast! Effective!

When Jacob Ainsworth, RE/MAX Coast Delta Realty in Diamondhead, MS, writes a submission for Agent Insight, he puts a lot of himself in the post. He wants to tell about interesting features of an area but also to show readers his personality and knowledge of the community.

“In the past year, I changed careers from banking to real estate and I’m finding that Agent Insight is a great marketing tool to get a lot of people to know my name,” Jacob said. “If I can offer information about something people might be interested in, it’s a way for me to cast out a line and see what I get back.”

Jacob has seen an increase in his leads from LeadStreet, and he attributes this in part to his Agent Insight work. His enthusiasm for the Mississippi region he calls home is evident throughout his submissions. In each of the excepts below, he uses first person to tell his story and grab his readers’ interest.

Why Diamondhead?
I will be the first person to tell you that, prior to my real estate career, I wasn’t ever an advocate for living in Diamondhead. Honestly, I’m a transplant. I grew up in Southeast Texas and fell in love with Southern Mississippi while traveling for work and decided to moved here. After changing careers and setting up a permanent office in Diamondhead, I’ve fallen in love with this town.

Festivals Here Are Like Hollywood
I was driving through Wiggins some time ago and happened to pass through downtown. The sight was like something out of a motion picture. Have you ever seen “Sweet Home Alabama”? The festival, dancing, street vendors, and blocks of antique style buildings are just like that. A picture-perfect small town scene with quick access to the luxuries of cities.

Jacob chooses subjects with wide appeal, but favors those where he has a personal interest. One example is the piers in Pass Christian, MS, that he and his family missed when they were heavily damaged in a hurricane. When he discovered that the piers had been repaired and reopened, he hurried to write a post to let his readers know.

The Piers at Pass Christian
We happened to be driving along Beach Boulevard and I noticed a fisherman far-off casting a line from the pier that my wife and I liked to visit when we first moved to the area. And with that glance, I quickly drove into the harbor and up to the edge of what was pure excitement for me. We unloaded our children and ran out over the water; the boys were dancing, laughing, and exploring – as was I. The piers are a great place now. Whether you’re casting a line, wanting to watch the sunset with the special person in your life, or just wanting to catch a salty breeze, I encourage you to visit the local piers in Pass Christian; you won’t be disappointed.

Jacob packs plenty of information in his written posts and photos. He currently has nearly 30 different Areas of Expertise throughout Agent Insight and he is working to add more. In addition to homes and subdivisions, he gives a lot of attention to businesses, events, and attractions in his market. His time is paying off and he has fun with it, too. His wife, Mary, and their three children understand the purpose of Agent Insight and they will frequently point out different sights around town that they think should be included.

“All of us look for things that would make a cool post,” Jacob said. “I just incorporate our daily life into my submissions. Instead of only taking selfies throughout the week, I also take pictures of the beautiful places here on our beaches and neighborhoods.”

Some of Jacob’s photos are included here. Each one has a good descriptive caption as well, instead of a simple label. Tip:  you have space for about 15 words in a photo caption.

From the first of autumn through the end of the year, you have endless possibilities for photos and written submissions highlighting the seasonal beauty, events, and changes in your market area. Your Agent Insight pages can showcase all the features that you think draw potential customers to consider purchasing homes in your community. Adding colorful and interesting posts relevant to the season gives your location pages a real depth and shows your clients that you know a lot about what is happening in your town.

The holidays present great visuals and fun additions to your pages. If you have Halloween shots saved on your cell phone, take a few minutes and send them in now. We have received many good ones, including the two shown below sent from Kathleen Freeman, RE/MAX First in Russellville, AR, and Valerie McEvoy, RE/MAX Preferred Properties in Oklahoma City, OK.

Thanksgiving comes next, and while it may be a harder to find the ideal Thanksgiving photo, we have received some good turkey photos over the years. One of the best was sent in by Tabatha Davis, another RE/MAX First agent in Russellville, AR.

Mother Nature provides such a beautiful pageant during the fall months. Take advantage of the changing season to snap photos all around your community. Pictures showing a variety of seasons can be especially helpful to potential clients moving to your area from a different part of the country. There are literally hundreds of gorgeous autumn photos scattered throughout Agent Insight pages. Here is a sampling:

The photos above were submitted by (starting at the upper left and going clockwise):  Katrina Roloson, RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group in New Windsor, NY; Trina Ward, RE/MAX Champion Land Brokers, Poteau, OK; Crystal Gober, RE/MAX Bayshore Properties, Traverse City, MI; and Beth Darby, RE/MAX Tri-State, Muscle Shoals, AL.

As fall gives way to winter and the next holiday season arrives, be sure to take pictures everywhere you go within your market. Christmas parades, decorations on Main Street, and wreaths on the entrance monuments of your favorite subdivisions are all good candidates. Make the most of December and populate your Agent Insight pages with your best photos and written posts. If you need some inspiration for your writing, read Wonderful Christmas Spirit in Milltown by Katty Velez, RE/MAX Dreams, Sayreville, NJ. Hers is a great story and yours will be, too!

Agent Insight can be an important tool in your online marketing plan if you position yourself throughout the site to cover a wide range of your sales area. It creates the perfect sales funnel to change a stranger into a prospect, then into a client. The classic sales funnel philosophy creates a sales journey that shifts a prospect through various stages of awareness from interest to decision to action.

Awareness
Catch the attention of as many prospects as possible by placing your written insights or photos on dozens of places throughout Agent Insight such as  subdivisions, school districts, cities and counties. Determine the places where you want prospects to find you and blanket them with your submissions.

Interest
Fill your submissions with reasons why prospects might want to utilize your expertise about an area. Make your photos tell a story about the place. Ensure your written insights convey your knowledge about the amenities and features of your market.

Decision
If prospects see that you are the go-to person in areas where they have an interest, your Agent Insight posts could be the enticement they need to reach out to you. You could get a call or an email asking about a HOA, proximity to schools, distance to downtown or the nearest airport, or about a specific home for sale. Any question is an opening for you to engage with a new person.

Action
If you have a chance to connect with a prospect, a very real opportunity has arisen for that person to move forward with you as their real estate agent. The end of a well-utilized funnel yields income-producing clients.

This is a simple look at the Agent Insight sales funnel. The reality is that the top end of the funnel needs to be fairly wide to be effective. You need to cast a broad net with a lot of insights placed in many different areas to attract a large number of Internet visitors. Some of these will be casual web surfers with only a passing interest in buying or selling a home. However, that large crowd will contain some valuable prospects. Grab their attention as they scan your posts and progress through the stages of the funnel. Signed contracts at the end is the goal and your efforts with your Agent Insight work will be time well spent.

Visitors to any website or blog post only glance at it for a few seconds and, if they don’t engage with the content, they are gone. If your posts include only a photo of an entrance monument, you could lose potential clients.

Agent Insight gives you the unique opportunity to show all aspects of your community in words and pictures. This is your chance to present the “Wow!  Factor.” Figure out what makes people take a second look at a neighborhood or develop interest in your town, then show it to them.

Many agents across the country are doing exactly that. For example, Tracy Parker, RE/MAX Dallas Suburbs II in Murphy, TX, has posted a lot of compelling information about the Grand Heritage neighborhood in Lavon, TX. She entices readers with information about the development’s resort-style living, many amenities, new and resale homes, and proximity to the greater Dallas metropolitan area. Her photos tell a complete story, too. Here is a sampling of her pictorial essay on Grand Heritage:

You can explain in glowing terms what makes your community appealing to families who want good schools, to young couples looking for starter homes, or to people who want country living. You know what the selling points are for your town. Use Agent Insight to showcase them.

Here’s an excerpt from a post by Marie Wohlrab, RE/MAX Best, West Babylon, NY.  Marie grabs her readers from the first sentence:

Northport Village at Its Best
Imagine a village with a trolley running down the middle of Main Street with beautiful homes on hills overlooking the water and gorgeous boats coming into the marina.  Restaurants, cafes and shops of every type with breathless sights at sunrise or sunset. The people are warm and friendly and will nod hello whether they know you or not. This is Northport Village over 100 years ago as well as today!  Well, except for the trolley. The lines are still there and are driven over every single day, but the trolley no longer runs.  It is a fantastic place to live, raise a family and remain for the rest of your life.  Well, that’s if you love good schools, great locations, warm and friendly people, and just about every type of recreation and shopping known to man.

Get your viewers interested, and they may contact you with a question or comment. Now the door is open for you to pursue the lead.  Make a list of the features you love about your community and cover them in Agent Insight. You know dozens of reasons why your community is great. Share your knowledge with your clients and prospects. Show them the why. Show them the “Wow!”

A primary goal of your Agent Insight submissions is to spread your name across as many places as you can within your market area. To help you achieve that objective, we have added a handy new tool to your personal agent page.

Take a look at the example below featuring the agent page of Christine and Carol Lies, RE/MAX 1st Choice in Liberty, MO. The new addition is the red button titled “View Places Needing Insight” indicated here with the blue arrow.

The red button is only visible to you when you log into Agent Insight; it is invisible to clients and other visitors. Click on the box to see a list of about 50 subdivisions located within your market and close to your central office area which have few Agent Insight postings.

In the case of Christine and Carol Lies, their office is located in Liberty, a community within the greater Kansas City, MO area. Their list, partially shown below, picks up about 50 Liberty subdivisions that have few or no Agent Insight submissions from any RE/MAX agent.

Another search tool has been added to every Agent Insight city page. Included in the row of red command buttons is a new one labeled “Opportunities“.  Choose the city, click on the button and a list of about 50 subdivisions in or near that city will appear. Here’s where the button appears, using another of Christine and Carol Lies’ cities, Fairway, KS, as an example.

Armed with this knowledge, the Lies Team can move quickly through their lists, adding written insights and photos they’ve taken. Until another agent posts a submission on any of these places, the Lies Team will be the only agents to collect leads generated by potential clients who run Google searches for those subdivisions and contact Christine and Carol with questions.

Look for these new features and get busy!  Be the first one to post on the subdivisions on your lists, and strengthen your Agent Insight presence.

Dan Troup has been an enthusiastic supporter of Agent Insight since it was first introduced. The Regional Director at RE/MAX of Michigan, he says he believes “100% in the Agent Insight concept.” He promotes it to the agents in his region as a high impact marketing tool to get their information out to the public.

“An agent can explain about a subdivision on their own website, of course, but they will reach a significantly larger audience if they also post their information on  Agent Insight,” he said. “Together we create a much greater value if we all do a little work on this project.”

During the first year of Agent Insight, Michigan’s regional office gave monthly prizes for agents with the most posts. They responded enthusiastically to the competition, pouring submissions  into thousands of different subdivision, city and county pages. Their work frequently moves the RE/MAX of Michigan site to the top of internet search results, especially searches for subdivision home sales. As a result, conversation leads stream in continually from postings on the region’s site. Nearly 2000 were received last year and they have continued in 2017. This is in addition to the market area leads that the agents receive from the various RE/MAX portals.

“This is an inbound marketing concept,” Dan explained. “If you show potential clients what you can do for them, they’ll come wanting to do business with you. This is a much stronger approach than making cold calls.”

“It is so important to be at the top of the list in a Google search. It can make or break an agent’s business. Agent Insight provides a great opportunity there, especially for subdivision and school district searches since Zillow doesn’t offer that,” he said.

Dan says new agents should be all over Agent Insight, posting written submissions and photos on as many pages as they can. For veteran agents, he recommends using this as a way to protect markets where they’ve worked for a long time.

“If you are well connected in a particular area, you should place many posts there,” he said. “Give strong coverage to the existing spheres where you are already well known.”

Dan encourages his region’s agents to commit to Agent Insight and to contribute regularly. Even one submission a week from many participants helps build Michigan’s large base, he says, and casts out a big web to capture prospects’ attention.

Spring is a time to freshen up your Agent Insight pages with all of the colors of the season. Beautiful snow scenes can be breathtaking, but the photos tend to be pale or gray with cloudy winter skies. Starting now and through all of the summer months, spruce up your pages with photos full of color and new life.

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.
— Doug Larson, columnist

You don’t have to worry about finding new material (although that’s always good, too!). If you have already taken good winter photos of the neighborhoods, parks, restaurants and other amenities of your market area, shoot them again now that the seasons have changed. Showing off your community throughout the year gives a more complete picture to visitors viewing your Agent Insight pages.

The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.
— Edwin Way Teale, author and naturalist

This pair of photos of the spectacular Victorian homes on Cape May, New Jersey’s beachfront shows how well the same subject can be featured in different seasons. Patricia A. Piacentine took the cold weather photo and Jill Giancola shot the warm weather picture. Both agents are with RE/MAX at the Shore in Cape May.

There’s nothing more beautiful than watching trees getting dressed up for Spring and Summer.
— Charmaine J. Ford, poet

Remember to also include events that take place in the spring. You want to show potential clients the beauty of your town and also include the fun things to do and see.  John DeVries, RE/MAX of Grand Rapids, MI, submitted the spring plowing competition photo below. Christopher H. Evans, RE/MAX Masters, Skaneateles, NY, spotted the nesting eagles. A path lined with beautiful purple spring flowers was featured by Team Nina Clare and Dave, RE/MAX Real Estate Results in Bentonville, AR. Even subdivision monuments look best in spring. Check out the tulips in the photo from Betty Simmons, RE/MAX Best Associates, Overland Park, KS.

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”
— Robin Williams, actor

While you’re putting away your snow boots and getting ready to turn on the air conditioner, plan a few photos that celebrate the colors of spring. New submissions to Agent Insight boost the SEO of your community pages and each one only takes a few minutes to post.