By D.C. Fawcett, Business Building Coach to the Foreclosure Industry

The first step in any business is to understand the terminology that goes with it. Real estate is no different and that's why foreclosures definitions are important. Foreclosures definitions you need to be familiar with include:

Bank Owned Foreclosure- When a property is lost via foreclosure it goes back to the bank and then becomes one of the now thousands of bank owned foreclosures (or REO properties) on the market today.

Preforeclosure- Any time prior to a foreclosure auction, a property is said to be in preforeclosure, a time when you can work directly with property owners.

Short Sale- When a preforeclosure property is negotiated to be paid off for less than what is owed to the bank, this is referred to as a short sale. Massive profits can be earned with short sales because deals don't just exist, they are created.

Lis Pendens- This is the initial filing by a lender that a loan on a property is in default and that they are pursuing foreclosure as a remedy. This is usually when investors can first discover that a property is in preforeclosure and worth pursuing. It is also when your competition (who include realtors, mortgage brokers, bankruptcy attorneys, and loan modification counselors) discover the same so you need to have a solid game plan in place to effectively operate in a competitive marketplace.

Real Estate Investment Training- This is any dedicated effort by an investor to learn the tools of their trade from those who have walked that path before them. Serious investors should consider real estate investment training (including training that is specific to foreclosures and short sales) as mandatory precursors to running a successful real estate investment business. Whether the training is of the free variety or through paid training services offered by real estate experts, the point is to do anything to avoid going into a new business unprepared.

While this is just a start, these foreclosures definitions should be studies and committed to memory because they will soon become the foundation for your business as a real estate investor.

In today's market, foreclosures as much as part of real estate investing as any other part of the business. Make sure you have a steady source of leads and a professional team to assist you because the deals are out there to be had. Commit yourself to real estate training (including knowing the foreclosures definitions I've mentioned in this article). I wish you the very best in success in real estate foreclosure investing and in business as a whole.

How to convert an ordinary real estate investor website into a successful one?

Many people are confused as to why only a handful of real estate investor websites can create tons of leads while most of the sites hardly ever do? Majority of the agents create a website only because their competitors have one. Many agents are confused as to how should a real estate investor website look like. Agents want their websites to have animation, graphics and look attractive.

The three basic elements for successful real estate investor website are as follows:

Try to attract potential prospects. Build a targeted list of prospects to follow up with and lastly, convert prospects to paying clients. If an agent provides information like their credentials, services on the website it may be boring for prospects. It may not attract qualified prospects. It won't motivate them to provide you their contact information.

Always target on prospects problems? Find a solution to solve their problem. Content should be based on their problems. A prospect wants answer for his problem. He wants tips as to how he can get a mortgage, how to find that right home or sell his house at top price and what are the best schools in that area. They want to know if a single parent has the capacity to buy that house. Prospects would want to know whether the new house has any damages for which they have to pay to get it rectified. They want tips as to how they can negotiate the best price.

If there is good content in the site 50% of your problem is solved. The other 50% depends on the fact that the prospect should be able to find the information easily. If someone visits your site, you have only three seconds to attract his attention. Prospects don't read pages. They just want information that interests them. If they don't find anything that could benefit them, they just leave the site and start their search. Agents think that prospects can find information in the website easily. They think that prospects can easily learn the site navigation and browse through all their great content. The fact is, prospects will not do not anything like this. You have to guide them by telling them they should click this link to get the information that they need. You have to guide them that if they want free consultation they should fill a form etc. Your end goal should be to get their contact information and permission to follow up with them.

If you are not getting the desired result you should try something different. You have to keep working towards your site to attract more visitors. You can install Google Analytics on your site and find out who is visiting your site. You can find out various information as to which keywords do they type into the search engine to get into your site. Other information like what pages do they view, how many pages do they view and so on. You can find out more information about the website by analyzing statistics and making decisions on the data you collect. If you keep testing different things on your website you will know what works and how well it works.