World-Class Business Management & Marketing for 81 Cents/Day

I want to start right out and say that I'm not going to be talking about advertising in all of the normal and established print and other media. All of that costs money, and much of it can be effective. But, you may be looking for alternatives, or simply can't afford to spend advertising dollars. What this tutorial is going to do is to present to you established and effective online and software tools to market and manage a real estate business. You can take what you learn here and leverage it, spending money in conventional media as well. Or, you can focus on the online marketing potential and spend less, but it takes time and dedication.

Whether you're new to real estate, planning to become a real estate professional, or you're experienced in the business, your ultimate long term success will depend on several factors. Success will come from getting new business, performing in a quality manner, and generating referrals.

Performing in a quality manner includes making your customers happy, but also involves business practices that minimize your liability and provide for detailed record-keeping. No matter how well you do at getting new business, a lawsuit or two can end it all.

This tutorial isn't meant to teach you how to use each tool, but will describe them for you, and clearly set out the value of the tool in your business. Use the links at the end of each article to learn more, including some detailed tutorials on using the tools. So, let's go through a series of technology solutions that will allow you to accomplish everything you need, and even do a better job than many brokerage offices do in client service and business management. And, we'll do it all on a shoestring budget.

We're going to set up a complete system of real estate marketing and management using these technology solutions:

• WordPress for a successful Internet presence
• Using the Social Networks for generating business
• Gmail for email marketing and contact management
• Zoho Creator for website forms and lead generation
• Google Calendar for event, appointment & task management
• RTM (Remember the Milk) for transaction task management
• SugarSync for secure file backups & sharing transaction files
• Evernote for information capture, file retention, & liability reduction
• Faxing online with Myfax

There's not one facet of your real estate business left out. You'll be able to do everything you need to do to successfully market your services, work with prospects and customers, and manage your back office. Oh, and you'll do it all for about $0.81 a day. That's right, for about a third the cost of a fancy coffee, you can operate a successful and efficient real estate business.

And, there's yet another benefit. Almost all of these technology tools will help you to make your business highly mobile. In fact, I'm using all of them on an iPad in my travels. But, this isn't a mobile office tutorial. It's about using these technology tools to make your work easier, reduce your liability, satisfy your customers, and grow your business.

Since the first thing you need is a customer, we'll start with setting up a website with WordPress to market your services.