A few brokers have contacted us lately to ask if we 'assist with lead generation', and the confusion is one that is easy given we invest quite a lot into a leading website experience. The reason we apply effort to your website because it leverages your promoted (and organic) funnels enormously. You cannot and will not enjoy digital success without a compelling digital presence. This article introduces the Instagram Post Slider - another feature that'll support a more engaging website experience.
The Result
An Instagram Post Slider will show the latest Instagram posts from one or more accounts in a fully customisable rotating carousel. Each carousel shown on your page can be unique in terms of the posts displayed and the hashtag filtering applied, and each may inherit its own style.
We Don't Like Sliders: First, we're not particular fans of 'sliders'. However, this applies when your primary and clear Call-to-Action message is obfuscated by multiple messages... so our distance from sliders doesn't apply to lower-tier content such as social media and videos. When it comes to social media articles, the carousal is a highly effective way in which to render large amounts of content.
For the purpose of our in-post examples, we'll use shortcode to return a result, but it's expected that clients will use the drag-and-drop Elementor block introduced shortly.
For the first example we'll return a 'default' carousel with the shortcode of [bm_instagram]. The result isn't ideal because we're limited to just two results in a post-style format when the intended purpose is for usage on a wide page (if you're on a mobile, you will only see one single panel).
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Shad(s) of the Day, 17th August 2024. If you know any of the businesses listed in the attached screenshot, let them know they're throwing money into a void - their basic subscription is broken. It's a garbage experience. BrokerGrow popped up on our radar when they started leveraging our Broker Growth program brand, and they're responsible for ongoing mediocrity every since.If you're running one of these ads, I suggest you stop doing so now.Video in our Facebook group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/financemarketing
News is reporting on yet another person led into a fraudulent transactions. The MO is typical and often involves gift cards (nobody will ever ask you to buy a gift card). We need supermarket counter staff to be better educated (they'd spot the scam in a second if they know what they are looking for), we need Virtual (VoIP) Mobile numbers flagged when they originate offshore, better inbound scammer ID (Apple is still a few years behind), and better overall consumer education. Further, we need a team of commandos to hunt these crooked charlatans and throw them into the same human meat grinder used for the boneheads that sell leads.As brokers, we have a responsibility to educate those that lean on us for all types of monetary advice. Make your social count!
There's a Facebook group called 'Mortgage Brokers Australia' that I get banned from all the time. Unlike others in my field, I don't start conversations, but I'll often call out marketing pretenders on their ubiquitous BS.One such example is 'Jessica'. I only know of her because I inherited somebody that had worked with her, so I'm familiar with her entry-level methods and poor results. Normally I'd just ignore false and/or misleading information in the group, but in this case I was directly exposed to her incompetence so I thought I'd take her to task on her porky pies. My reply got me banned (again). Her comment of ".. just continue doing what everybody else is doing and see how it goes" rubbed me the wrong way because *nothing* we do is what anybody else is doing, and her methods are literally a cut-and-paste of every other BS Facebook program in the country.I find it staggering that some weekend-educated marketing stooge will willingly engage others when they know they don't have the knowledge, skills, or expertise, and they'll knowingly introduce worst-practice methods into an operation. If the same style of deliberate misconduct and malpractice took place in the finance industry you'd end up in prison, but 'marketing experts' seemingly have a free pass.The conversation was innocent enough, but Jessica was wrong in *so many ways*. I would have though moderators would welcome and encourage competing arguments when replying to beginners, but they instead willingly allowed brokers to be led into the arms of absolute mediocrity in complete contrast to the overarching best-interest ethos that is meant to be the foundation upon which the industy operates.I understand my posts in these groups may sound a little self-serving, or maybe even a tad egocentric, but I'm also leaning on a lifetime of experience. To put it bluntly, I'm always right (except when I'm not, which is never), and to silence my expertise was a little offensive. For moderators to actively allow promotion from a charlatan is despicable.The pictured post never made it. Rant over.
This is a very important note for clients. You'll be hearing more from us via email as recent and pending Yabber changes will impact everybody. The number of brokers that use more than one CRM, or multiple pieces of software, is quite staggering, and any tool or process that duplicates data will impact productivity and potentially compromises compliance. This has to end... and we certainly can't let our own clients lean into worst practice tech stacks (this is you, James). A long time coming, we're leveraging the entire Microsoft suite (beyond the current capability) and making certain MS applications a primary source of Yabber data. For example, one should never have more than one source of contacts, so we've migrated our entire contract module into Microsoft (Outlook). This means modules such as the SMS toolkit reference Outlook Folders and Categories almost exclusively rather than any isolated Yabber list. The contacts example is a big-ticket change, but it's just one change of many. We've found that many brokers use a second CRM (a nutty concept), so we're building features into the free Microsoft Planner Kanban Board (made available with your 365 subscription). With our revised trigger module - and native connectivity with other MS apps - Planner comes alive in a way that makes it one of the best Kanban facilities on the market. Planner integrates directly with email, files, OneDrive, Tasks (ToDo), Groups,, Teams, and other apps, making it a ridiculously efficient tool.We've met every few days with top brokers in order to determine how facilities like OneNote or ToDo might be used to assist with workflow/compliance, and we think we've designed some brilliant solutions.We'll be migrating the SMS module over the next 48 hours so we ask you not create any new SMS autoresponders, voicedrops, or even send any messages, until the migration is complete.Edge (Repricing), BDMset, and Saturn (Relationship Manager) are all limited until Friday. More information to follow via email.
I saw a post on LinkedIn a few weeks back where a broker was celebrating the fact that he was working his weekend in his pyjamas. Each to their own, I guess, but the same weekend was very different for me. Starting on a Saturday morning, I supported four of my brokers and property guys with a seminar in SW Sydney. We had 400 attendees booked and expected 150-200 to turn up. Over 400 attended. The rest of the weekend followed a fairly standard pattern of meeting a few partners and attending a ton of open homes and auctions (have you ever announced yourself to a large and eager crowd once sold?). The net result: over 120-million in likely settlements and 9 properties sold (off the back of the seminar). The weekend was one of the best we've had in a long, long time (keeping in mind a second-year broker set a BM record recently with over 100m in a single day.The property world comes alive on weekends - don't waste it in front of a PC.I say it all the time: more conversions = more conversions. I even have a few brokers walking with (golfing) stroke counters in their pockets to motivate them to meet targets.Digital always plays a significant part (and we genuinely do it better than anyone else), but that doesn't diminish the value of organic funnels - they'll always return better results.If anyone wants to unplug themselves from the Matrix and join us for part of a weekend, give me a call.
I was watching a short ABC clip on Facebook and noticed that they were using a FlashMic, a product discontinued years ago by HBB - their UK and Australian distributor. It's nice to know that one of the best field microphones on the planet is still made available through YellowTec. They're crazy expensive, but they're also an excellent product.We have a large number of FlashMic units, as well as a truck load of wireless options, that are all available for loan. Let us know if you need something, or book it in via the 'Loan Hub'.
This is an important note for clients. We've updated the 'Formly' module on your website and in Yabber. We're migrating all foms manually over the next couple of days, so you might experience some minor disruptions. This major update coincides with the new Trigger and Email Marketing features, but the first step is migrating your forms.There are a large number of stylistic and functional changes in Formly, but it's the backend where you'll see the majority of updates. When building a form (now a 10-second process), you may use recycled components, such as calendar options, images, or redirect profiles. The number of changes and new features is seriously significant. We've built an alternate booking calendar in the style of Calendly (for your website appointment page), but our option is obviously far more refined with a ton of automation. More information to follow. We'll update our FAQs/BeLearn with information and videos later this week.Why? Apart from the fact new forms were required for the property module (and property modals), the new forms are completely error-resistant in that they can't be broken by configuration errors. All other forms will be integrated with the new Formly framework, such as Fact Find, Venus, Referrals, and others, and these changes will be progressively introduced over the next couple of weeks Remember, every page on your website is a potential organic entry point, so every page is a type of landing page that requires a calendar-integrated form (made easy, of course, via our one-click form assignments). The form should then conditionally redirect to that ridiculously important second page. It's such a basic high-converting concept that most businesses ignore - just crazy.Your competitors don't have a chance.
The single most significant change we've introduced to our website framework in the last few years is the inclusion of full-featured Property Listings. The module will make its way out of a lengthy Beta sometime soon and find its way into our standard website and Elementor plugins. The Property module is significant and unique in that the effectiveness of the rendered widgets are supported by around 30 of our own APIs retuning data of various types. It's *very* cool. As part of this API architecture we required the inclusion of address and spatial property data, and most of this information (around 16-million pages) was all built directly into your website.The 'Streets' module shapes itself into a property matrix that has ridiculous value when the pages are leveraged as intended. The problem is that the module is not quite ready for a true production environment. To avoid having the same conversation over and over, we've updated our website with a short introduction. In short, the pages are designed to render a page that will return an option to deliver a property report (based on data obtained via third-party sources), and it gives us scope to return property listings, analytics, historical data, and other information relevant to the address. When you understand how and why the module will be developed, the early naked framework will make a little more sense.https://www.beliefmedia.com.au/website-streets-module
Berger & Sons Paint Works, Rhodes, Sydney, 2nd August 1937.Operating since 1916, Berger was (and still is) a popular local brand (who can forget "keeps on keeping on"). In 1923 Berger Paints contributed 22,7125 litres of paint to the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protect the bridge steelwork, so they're an important part of Sydney's history. Rhodes had been part of Sydney's industrial heartland since the 1900s when it was purchased for chemical manufacturing by CSR in 1930. The following 60 years saw Allied Feeds, Berger Paints and Union Carbide operate major industrial plants in the area. As a result, the 20 hectare Rhodes Peninsula became heavily contaminated with some of the most toxic man-made chemicals on the planet, including Agent Orange.The area was developed into Rhodes Waterside by Walker Corp and is now the home to thousands of properties, commercial premises', and a shopping centre.The side-by-side comparison photo shows the broader Rhodes area in 1930 (top) and 1972 (bottom).
Australia’s first stock exchange, located at Collins Street, looking east from Queens Street, Melbourne, 1883.In the 18 October 1852 issue of the 'Argus', Edward Khull listed 14 companies in which investors could buy shares. This was the first stock listing in Australia and led to the formation of the Melbourne Brokers Association, which traded from rented space in the Hall of Commerce on Collins Street from 1859. It was Australia's first stock exchange.From The 'Argus' publication in November 1856: "It has been the subject of constant and increasing complaint that while there are recognised marts and markets for every kind of produce, imported and otherwise, there is none for a larger and more important item in the wealth of the colony … there is no recognised Stock and Share Exchange, where quotations of stocks and shares could be made to show a real market value".The Stock Exchange of Melbourne grew out of and flourished in the economically tumultuous 1870s and 1880s when a huge influx of British capital flooded into 'Marvellous Melbourne'. It codified the behaviour of brokers, company listing requirements and trading processes. These practices remained unchanged for almost a century.The market contracted during the 1890s depression but grew again with the incredible success of mining in Broken Hill. This pattern of boom and bust drove the stock exchange through the first half of the 20th century but the stock market grew exponentially with the steady growth and diversification of the Australian economy after the Second World War.In 1987 the Melbourne Stock Exchange was absorbed into the new national trading body, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Text Source: nma.gov.au.
We uploaded videos to a client YouTube channel yesterday, and with a single block of just four hours with us the channel is now full of content and looks fantastic. We'll chop up the primary video to create a further 100 snippets or so that will eventually find their way onto social channels.Having video on a YouTube channel is obviously essential, but it's their use on your website and within your funnels where they'll deliver your business with results. Yabber is connected to YouTube, so after your videos are ingested they are optionally assigned to each and every page of your website with a simple point-and-click interface, with additional placements on your front entry page. Further, each video is sent to a dedicated video library with its own archive page (this feature gives you full control over your content and effectively creates your own self-hosted video library).Most website guys will give you a pedestrian website destined for a life filled with static mediocrity. Our broker website has over 600 dynamic features that includes around 30 big-ticket video tools (two of which are pictured). There are some 'web guys' that claim their websites convert (you've heard their pitch 100X before), but none come close to providing the array of dynamic conversion-focused features made available in our framework. When these jokers say their websites convert, we genuinely don't know what they're talking about.The opposite of extraordinary is what everybody else is doing. Simply because it's a great way of engaging with our broker clients, we'll be giving away a full session of video with the few discounted website spots we have left (we also try and record a couple of ads for use in paid promotion). You'll generally walk away with a library of around 25-30 evergreen videos. Call me on 0400 777 300.
Note to clients. We've updated the authentication system on your website as a result of some partner discussions last week (that moved the goalposts in a very beneficial direction). Yabber manages multiple groups of contacts, such as clients, partners, introducers, referrers, property groups, and so on, and the new system will update session permissions based on user groups and sub-groups. This update also allows for more effective online courses (the education module will be modified in the next plugin release to cater a new style of course content)We avoided using the default WordPress authentication because of inherit flaws, so our system is more effective for our use case. Login forms may be rendered as forms and popup modals, and content on your website may now be hidden 'inline' requiring a user to authenticate before 'member' content is returned. It's a great system that gives you far more flexibility with your online ambitions.We've also built an Elementor Widget to render the login form or login buttons/text. Pictured is a basic popup modal login on a demo website. More details to follow.
The former Chiltern of the Bank of Australasia was designed by Anketell Matthew Henderson of Reed & Barnes Architects and constructed in 1877. The building was a fully operational branch of the Bank of Australasia until 1943 when it closed and became a private residence. The Bank building has also been an Italian Restaurant, the Mulberry Tree Tearooms/B&B and The Old Chiltern Bank Teahouse, before reverting back to a private residence in 2018.Chiltern is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the northeast of the state between Wangaratta and Wodonga.Picture of Chiltern taken around 1880 with the old bank the last large building on the left. The colour photograph shows the 'Mulberry Tree' Bed & Breakfast (source: Google), still branding the 'Bank of Australasia' markings.
Meeting with Terry and Dan from nMB. Always a pleasure hangimg out with these guys. You have to look very hard for people that are more dedicated to their brokers.
This is a note for clients. We've added a ton of features to the website framework over the last few weeks - pictured is just a few of them. Far from exhaustive, the most recent update includes an autocomplete address form that immediately redirects to a full property page, the same for an emergency search engine, and a post-type based autocomplete website search form.A large number of the updates further supports the property architecture, while others are used to support paid promotion or simply set the funnel on fire Seriously, your competitors don't have a chance.
I spent just four hours with a WA broker yesterday, and he shot what might be a record 30+ videos in that short time. Take after take was fluent, inspired, and without error - it was seriously impressive.I'm very clear with business owners - the video we shoot won't have much of an impact on anything unless we do something with it, and it's the raw everyday guff that'll create more nested funnel engagement. However, every business *needs* a library of evergreen cornerstone content in order to support about every digital and offline program they might have in place.Is you're doing this sort of thing yourself, please get out of the studio or office and make your location a character in your story. If you're shooting something in Construction Finance, find an early build, and if you're taking about First Home Buyers, shoot from an elevated position in one of those locations that they'll likely recognise. Don't worry about making small errors in your patter as your goal is to demonstrate your expertise and authoritativeness, and the naked unrehearsed nature of these videos will resonates with your audience in ways that rehearsed studio videos cannot and will not do.I still have two websites spots and I'm surprised they're still available. If you're in Sydney I'll throw in a session of video, and the product comes with a couple of turnkey advertising campaigns. It's a no-brainer.
During the week I spent a large part of every day running programs for a client in Edmondson Park. The area where I worked is close to the local YBR office, and you'll note from the photo that the office has a fantastic location directly opposite the railway station. It's street-level locations with tons of 'static' and foot traffic (like this one) that led us to develop the 'TV Wall'. Yabber's 'Wall' tool basically plays social media posts as a sideshow, but these guys would be nuts if they didnt invest in a cheap 100" TV and play crafted targeted videos to the hundreds of people that transit the railway station directly opposite, and the hundreds that sit on the bus stop benches, also directly opposite.The Edmondson crowd is one that many work hard at targeting through paid promotion, yet this is the very crowd that passes by this office every single day. I've seen brokerages triple their volume overnight with the sub 2k TV investment. Invest a little more and a second screen can be used to cycle through contact information and display a QR code.Hopefully this post reaches the operator. As a side note, I worked with one of my local brokers handing out flyers for his 'FHB & Investor' event (literally 20m from the YBR office), and earlier today he filled up the last of the 130 spots. Total cost $127. He'll close 10% of those that attend. You don't make friends with salad.
Note to clients. On the back on the Streets API, and as another necessary measure before we introduce the Property Module and website widgets, we've added a single search form on your website that'll search a single Aussie address and then immediately redirect you to a dedicated page with a ton of data specific to that location.The point of this functionality isn't just to add 16-or-so million pages to your website. It can be used to refine and filter property widgets, serve value magnets, and deliver property or broader property reports - all of which is managed in Yabber. The Core Logic style of property data is forthcoming. We've packaged a large amount of this information into the next release of the partner plugin, meaning that you'll significantly elevate the value of your offer by way of tech your partners won't find elsewhere.There's a ton of information we'll share through our FAQ module over the next week or so because the scope of all the new features is seriously significant.We've tested this 'minor' feature over the last couple of weeks with tremendous results. The number of websites users that'll search their own home simply because they can is staggering... it's then up to us to do something with that engagement.We still have a couple of website spots left. Call me on 0400 777 300.
This is a great example of what *not* to do with forms, and it serves as an indicator of marketing mediocrity. I normally wouldn't care what anybody did with forms, but in this case, it comes from an AFG subby that promotes their marketing in a way that suggests its effective. Sadly, their presence is ridiculously bad.I required a book from a broker so I could upload it into Yabber and create some 3D book covers, so what's pictured is the second page after the subscription.First, a funnel is a journey, and the subscription funnel is the entry point into the marketing funnel, but the subscription itself has the capacity to build pathways by delivering fresh content to an engaged user. The entire funnel process is built upon the principal of 'escalation of commitment', meaning that 'what comes next' is more (or just as) important than the previous user interaction. We know that engagement, escalation, and relevance are core ingredients to a conversion - (all factors that underpin and contribute towards our expertise and authoritativeness) - so a 'simple' subscription should continue to deliver value page after page... but in the simple page used by Mortgages Australia we reach a literal endpoint.The pictured page doesn't show a video, additional resources, FAQs, fact find reports, property data, or *anything* else. There's no mention of the referring broker, or even a link to the parent website. The second page is (or should be) a gift to business owners because it allows us to guide an engaged user into a conversion funnel, so the second, third, fourth, and other pages absolutely shouldn't be wasted.For comparison, our forms are diametrically opposed in terms of functionality when compared to the pictured atrocity. We apply conditional redirections based on the first page interaction (calendar booking, phone booking, email subscriber etc), and we have the capacity to deliver conditional content so relevance is maintained. Bottom line: the second page is another landing page, as is the third page and each page that follows. Don't throw away the opportunity to further engage with an active user.
Every now and again I feel the need to prove a point because there are still brokers and other businesses that are led to believe by the leadgen charlatans that investing in (what is usually non-compliant and/or illegal) pay-per-lead services is a good idea.Paid leadgen services might charge around $18-$20'000 for the pictured 148 leads, while our broker paid just a little more than $1100 for a fully-owned and branded solution. The pictured campaigns aren't fantastic, and the lead cost is still too high (the FHB leads are normally returned for less than $5), but the broker expects to convert around 40 candidates with volume of at least 28m. Not a bad return, and he'll write more this month than he did the last 9-months.Not all campaigns work. This one did... and it'll get better over time.We have a couple of spots left before we close our books for a while. Call me on 0400 777 300.
The pictured YouTube channel was empty yesterday. Today, there's nearly 50 videos with about a dozen more to come. The same videos (and extras) were split into about 200 snippets for social that might be used over 6 months.Time to create the library? One day. Immediate business impact? Zero. As I told James before, during, and after our shoot, the cornerstone 'evergreen' content is boring, but it's also necessary for website/funnel engagement. Any video content (or YT channel) created in isolation will have precisely zero impact on an operation UNTIL the material is built into a website and/or funnel. After the content is assigned to various 'blocks' on a website, your online experience will start to come alive - videos that live exclusively on YouTube may as well not exist Any single page is over 50X more likely to appear on the front page of Google when it includes a video, and the same page is 3X more likely to convert when compared with the typical 'pedestrian' website. When used with our every-page framework you're at least 15X more likely to make a booking when compared against the typical broker website.It's not rocket science. Inbound website traffic can come from anywhere, so every page on your website is a potential organic entry point, meaning that every page on your website is a 'type' of landing page that absolutely needs to convert. Social video content is entirely different, and we've created a ton of tools to make the process easy (and fun).Here's a stat that's difficult to ignore: of all the business we worked with that created over 200 raw short videos last year (and then sent to *all* social networks via our automated tools), every one of them wrote over $200m, with most writing far, far more (that 200 videos sounds like a lot, but it's barely a few hours of content in total). The laws of social are entirely predictable.We still have a couple of website spots available. The purchase includes your first FB ads and funnels. Call me on 0400 777 300.
I've spent a few days over the last week visiting brokers and property professionals with no real purpose. Today, it was Camden's turn.There's a ton of aggregation management in the area so I suspected they had some sort of local presence or visibility, but I was entirely wrong.What started as an unplanned walk around Argyle/High St. turned into a number of lunch bookings with the region's leading property guys. I've also booked in time the with some brokers to demo our evolved highly evolved marketing methods (one poor guy recently purchased 20 leads for $5500 which returned nothing - typical).More conversations = more conversions and wins. It's really as simple as that. As Homer one said, "you don't win friends with salad".Sure, our Facebook/Google/YouTube guys returned nearly 1000 leads today.. but they're "online leads" (it's the real-world equivalent of meeting classy woman at a McDonald's).
Late last year we stopped taking on new website clients because we were committed to an aggregation product. However, that process is far slower than expected, so we're opening up 5 website spots for delivery within 5 days.The website is designed with an architecture that genuinely supports partners, property, information, and *conversions*. With over 270 pages (about 140 primary), and over 20-million pages if you include backend features, it feeds clients (and Search) with the industry expertise and authoritativeness necessary to build Trust and garnish funnel engagement. It's the only *real* purpose-built broker framework in the industry. The website is supported by Yabber (our marketing and social system) which includes literally hundreds of features.The package includes the standard induction sessions (customising and setup), but I'll also be giving you two full leadgen and strategy sessions. I'll introduce you to the methods our clients are using socially, digitally, and with partners to grow. We drastically increased our pricing in December, but we've reverted to pricing only marginally more than our former cost.Just in time for EOFY. Call me on 0400 777 300.
Last Wednesday I spent most of the day with a relatively new broker that planned her first sessions sourcing and meeting potential referral partners. She found four accountants that she wanted to work with and we staggered the appointments through the day.We ran an internal program called 'Saturn' with results that exceeded any other single partner day I've had since I implemented the program back in 1997. Of the four, three accountants didn't just formally subscribe to her program during the first meeting, but they opened up their database almost immediately. The first booking popped up while driving to the second appointment. She had 82 appointments booked by Friday afternoon with more trickling in every few hours. We expect that the single day of effort will return at least 70m in volume. If the relationships are properly maintained we should see the results continue over time.Think about that potential volume. She's done in a single day what many brokers won't do in two years. She's obviously had to call in the cavalry to support the deals, but her mentor, a few others close to her, and our own office, will support the unexpected avalanche. I don't typically accompany brokers on these programs anymore, and we no longer provide the same 'managed' service. However, any broker that makes the same effort can expect results - it's entirely predicable. The caveat? One must have a formalised partner program in place, and you must approach each encounter with a bucket load of value. You don't build your business when you're sitting behind your PC processing deals. As often as I say it, and while all brokers know it, there's one fundamental growth formula that is often ignored: More conversations = more conversions.I often say that new brokers are easiest to work with because they haven't learned from industry dinosaurs, caveman mentors, or clueless coaches... and her results support my claim. I'm recording a short video with her this afternoon and I'll make it available in our FB group.
Farewell, 716385. Would you believe Trillian is also still working? ICQ would still be perfect if anybody actually used it.
A note for clients. This is a minor feature, and is one that has existed in our website framework for a long time, but it's more relevant now as we start to expose additional partner and property features.Our address 'suggestion' autocomplete form is a plug-and-play feature. You simply assign an ID to a standard form text field and the suggestions are immediately applied (there's no code, no mess, and no text hurdles). Returned data will populate 'hidden' fields or those shown in the form. Returned attributes such as latitude and longitude may be used for mapping. The field works on keystroke and works on dozens of input permuations.The fully-owned feature was initially created for online applications, but it works across a number of modules.If you use Elementor to build forms of any type (as shown with the inset), you simply add the ID to any text field to enable the feature.Details of the extensive 'Streets API' and this specific feature will make their way into FAQ/BeLearn soon.It's a small feature, but one we don't see used nearly as often as we should.Digital matters.
There's a property module integrated with Yabber that we've used ourselves for some time, and the features will be enabled in a plugin update we'll be pushing this month.First, why did we build a property module into a broker website? Apart from the obvious overlap with many brokers wearing many hats, the module is designed to support your property partners, and it adds additional value to the proposition offer introduced as part of our ridiculously high-performing 'Saturn' program.The latest addition to the property toolkit includes a module hidden in the back of your website that shows all streets and registered blocks - all fully searchable and references by postcode, locality, street, suburb, and other attributes.The *current* value of the module in isolation sits somewhere between pointless and extraordinary. The first client release includes placeholders for property listings, videos, and forms (filtered by generic, state, suburb, postcode, and most important, resolved interest), but this very early version doesn't do a great deal. While the updates are pushed in the latest plugin update (with all basic features automatically enabled), we'd discourage using it until we update the maps with spacial data, boundaries, and other property attributes. We expect to introduce property history, comparative pricing, and associated graphing sometime soon. Each page will obviously include a 'Property Report' form.Around 16-million pages are added but the SEO value is nullified (with 'noindex' and other pages instructions) until the full property components are enabled.It's nuts, but the property features you'll have on your website (and the associated social media features in Yabber) far exceed the capabilities of actual RE websites. The good news? You can give your partners access to a bunch of features at no cost.Clients: Keep an eye on our emails for instructions on how you can leverage the toolkit as part of your growth programs.
Why did we add a malware/IP search engine to our mortgage broker website? It might seem out of place, but the focus of many of our articles sent to broker websites is orientated around identity protection, online scams, and digital safety, so the page is one that is (or will be) linked from these articles to further reinforce your expertise.The pages aren't linked to from any primary navigation structure, so it has to be referenced directly (basically, it's entirely hidden). No SEO value is assigned to the section because we don't want the content contributing towards your service focus, although those that find their way into the module will certainly appreciate the feature.The feature is active from websites after version 202404. Existing clients won't miss the feature but it can easily be added (details will be provided in an FAQ).As always, each page will have a calendar integrated form, video, and other converting assets. Remember that each page - regardless of its purpose - is a potential organic entry point that needs to convert.
A couple of years ago we ran an experiment where we replaced a broker with an AI. Using all our own tech, the broker had direct oversight before recommendations were made, or before communication of any type. The net result was better customer satisfaction, and better product/processing outcomes (borrowers were briefed on the AI experiment so there was an inherent bias that wasn't measured).Open AI have released ChatGPT-4o that does what we trialled, except they do it much, much better, and they do it much, much faster. You really need to check it out.Feedback on our experiment centred on the notion that borrowers will always want to talk to a real broker. With emerging AI tech, borrowers won't know the difference.
We had a brilliant broker come up from Melbourne today. Had a great day, and it didn't hurt that he kept us laughing all day.
About Result: The default result shows the image, title, and description, in a vertical format. The title, introduced shortly under the title of 'Social Architecture', discusses broader Instagram features and how the title result is returned. If no title is found we'll show the date.
Instagram accounts are registered in Yabber, so we'll return all results from all Instagram accounts by default, although both the Elementor widget and shortcode provides for rendering of individual accounts. The expected usage is three panels in a vertical format, or up to two images in a horizontal format. The default usage as applied to any mortgage broker website on delivery is shown below.
Pictured: The Instagram slider as it might be shown on your website, and the default format in which the feature is provided to clients. Two or three panels are normally shown, and a single panel will normally be shown on mobile devices.
Pictured: The 'Horizontal' format shows the image to the left, and text to the right. The former version of our Instagram slider included this format so the style was carried over for compatibility.
An example slider showing just the image and panel 'frame' may be returned with the shortcode of [bm_instagram include_title="0" include_description="0" items="3"]. The result:
Pictured: Showing just an image and the image corners. The next update will show a tooltip or similar on mouseover to return the title, content, or publish date. The 'Naked' format includes only the image and removes all style - including the corners.
Note that clicking on the full screen icon () launches a modal returning more detailed post information. The nature of this modal is discussed shortly (as a 'known issue').
As you can tell, the use of shortcode can be rather clumsy - especially given there are around 30 optional attributes that alter the output - so the Elementor widget provides a more usable solution.
Elementor Widget
The Elementor Widget makes it a simple drag-and-drop experience to include the Instagram Slider onto any page. Simply select the widget, drag into your post or page, define the presentation options, and you're done.
Pictured: The Elementor Widget makes it a simple drag-and-drop experience to include the Instagram Slider onto any page. Simply select the widget, drag into your post or page, define the presentation options, and you're done. There are a large number of customisation options that allow for styling to emulate your own branding. Note that inclusion of social media accounts is via the multi-select menu. Select one or more of your Yabber-registered accounts to show that content. The 'hashtags' options is one that is currently only used by us in test, and it filters results based on the hashtags used in a post.
Social Architecture
The social media systems in Yabber are rather extensive, with the two primary posting systems being Vista and Instagratify. Vista is an Outlook calendar-based method of posting (meaning that you post articles directly from a dedicated outlook calendar), and the Instagratify tool evaluates those hashtags used in posts and filters before filtering content to assigned social networks. We generally encourage use of Instagratify since it's easy to use, and the content is broadly distributed (and content is shown on your website slider).
Part of Vista and Instagratify's distribution includes posting content to a dedicated social media archive on your website. This archival gives you complete ownership of your own content, assigns SEO value, and creates another organic resource. Since we manufacture a post from your Instagratify content, we're required to include a title in the post content, and this is the same title shown as the title in the Instagram slider. To create a title to be rendered in slider results, simply use the syntax of [title: This is a title] in your Instagram post (this content, including other content that isn't required, is removed from your Instagram post in shared content). If no title is found the posting date will be rendered instead. If you generally don't create titles you might consider removing the title option entirely.
Since the Yabber social architecture is rather extensive, and given that we provide dedicated archives for social media and your video content, we'll be creating a single slider for that combined content, with the videos returning a video link, and the social content returning content in a format not entirely dissimilar to what we've just introduced.
Known Issues
As a completely revised feature it's expected that there may be various errors these features introduce. If you encounter any bugs, please let us know. Clients can expect the feature in the next plugin updates, currently scheduled for Wednesday 18th January. Note that the styles applied in the following update will be based on client feedback.
There are certain issues that are known 'bugs'. An instagram post may contain up to 10 images and videos. At the moment these items are rendered individually. Additionally, clicking on the click returns the image in the modal as a single thumbnail. We'll obviously update this next week so there's a carousal of images within single slides, and the linked modal will show all media associated with this post. This limitation is one imposed on us simply because we're relying on some deprecated features, so an update next week will take care of this.
We're working on a more efficient way of returning videos, both from your website and the preview modal. Until then, some video results may not show.
Interactions statistics are maintained, although that data, along with customisation options, aren't available yet in Yabber. Options will be made available to create a full profile that'll negate the need for Elementor customisation, thus allowing global changes. Options will also be made available to alter the presentation of the 'Details' modal.
Because of the large number of changes that have to be made, you may choose not to include this feature for a few weeks.
Conclusion
The value of social media engagement is outside the scope of this article. However, it doesn't need to be said that you're often speaking into an echo chamber with most of your content... so we have to ensure it's found, and the slider is just another way of ensuring that happens.
Two additional sliders are forthcoming. The first slider renders videos in a slider, and the second returns content sourced from your social media and video archives.
Featured Image: E.S.& A. Bank Building, west side of King William Street, Adelaide, 1895. A single decker horse tram trundles past horse cabs standing in the centre of the street. These are wagonettes, which were popular as hire vehicles. The E.S.& A. building is in the centre, with the AMP building on the left. On the right is the premises of Robert A. Thompson & Company, Photographers. The extreme right of the photo is 22 yards south of North Terrace. [ View Image ]
