Hi All, I thought a positive message going into the holidays was needed. May everyone take time to recharge and plan and execute towards a successful 2009 season. Austin Smith is an active blogger on our team and I loved his most recent post and felt inclined to syndicate it here - Happy Holidays!
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By Austin Smith, Product Specialist - Goomzee.com more...
Keeping it real-and being grateful for my friends and associates at Inman:
FREE Obeo StyleDesigner ($40 value) on any new Obeo photography package.
StyleDesigner lets you redecorate digitally -on line!
To redeem, use promo code 'PC955689' Ends Nov. 30th, 2008.
Call 800-729-6236!
Thanks to all for your thoughts and comments-(;-])
...Blog ON!
Steve
Obeoman
The days of Googling your keywords to measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategy are coming to an end. According to Bruce Clay of PubCon, there will be big changes in ranking. In the name of Top Shelp Organic SEO, Google will be tuning into the specific behaviors of individual users to serve up more customized results.
What this means to the end-user is better results and less spam. more...
As real estate professionals, nationwide, search for sales and marketing tools to better advertise their listings to consumers, talk of mobile advertising capabilities continues to rise to the top of discussion.
We've seen MLS and Associations swarming around the idea of mobile MLS search, in attempt to meet real estate consumer demands and provide easy access to listing information from mobile phones. The only question is, are we ready to start marketing campaigns via mobile web search? If you are trying to reach a large audience, wireless user reports point to "No". more...
Coming soon to a cell phone near you: The ability to project images and videos via a built in micro sized pico-projector on any surface up to 100 inches. more...
Big, Bigger, Biggest Real Estate Images!
Tired of terrible images? Yep, so were we.
We begged, pleaded, coaxed, and nagged our development team for excellent image presentation for vacation rentals and real estate images. We so appreciate their patience and expertise in finding a solution for better images! We think they delivered in a big way! Check these incredible pictures for this snow-bird vacation home listing - they speak for themselves and just check out how many sizes are displayed here! more...
I've just begun using videos and can't figure out how to get decent quality video and sound. I use a mini DV camcorder, because the CNET forums concurred they were best for undergoing compression (I don't know what compression is as it relates to video). The software is Pinnacle Studio 12. The only one I've uploaded to Vimeo makes me look like Gumby, kind of elongated, and some of the video itself looks like cable news when the weather gets bad.
Hello,
Please review our site and let me know what you think. http://www.OpenHouseDealer.com
New Exclusive Real Estate Video website, We tried to keep it as simple as possible for everyone.
Thank you for your input.
Hey everyone,
I put together a submission for the Forrester Groundswell Award this year. For those of you who haven't read Groundswell it's about using social media and other tools to move business forward. I recommend it highly (and also the author, Charlene Li, is pretty much a genius).
The submission is for my firm's one-click search feature and in particular how real estate pros can use it to highlight their knowledge and specialties. more...
In this economy of intense competition, it is easy to get stressed out at the thought of learning new techniques to getting your listings out in the public eye. But, there is no need to completely abandon traditional marketing strategies. The best advertising and marketing strategy is to diversify your marketing to reach a larger target audience. In order to do this properly, you must more...
If you are not familiar with Local.com, they are localized online search tool specializing in helping people find large and small businesses within their local area. Unlike other local search tools out there Local.com contains rich review content submitted by actual customers as well as free listings within their directory.
According to Compete, Local.com’s traffic has been steadily increasing over the past few years as well and they are now just under the 10 million visitor per month mark. more...
One of the questions at the Inman panel about analytics this summer (seems sooo long ago now) had to do with tracking print campaigns using analytics.
I just wrote an article tracking print campaigns online using a combination of the excellent ListingNumber.com tool and Google Analytics.
Any and all feedback is welcome.
Hi - This is an article that I recently wrote for an online trade publication that I thought would be relevant here.
Thanks
Mike
Too many marketers live in silos. Their strategy too often fails to address all the ways they could be reaching their target audience. In many cases if they are reaching their audience through the right channels the message is not consistent or integrated properly. more...
Today my colleagues and I took our first trip to the new Hooters that opened just last week (the first Hooters in Montana!). While there we were talking to our lovely waitress and making conversation asked where we worked. On Monday, we hired a new member for our sales team. This gave him the chance to give his first live spiel about Goomzee and what we do. HE DID SO GREAT! more...
With the market as difficult as it is are you doing everything you can to sell your clients homes? Have you considered home swapping? If not, then why? The service we provide is FREE and easy to use. Just log into www.pad4pad.com, find your listings, claim them, add the exchange information and do a swap search. If your listings are not on our site, request your agency set up a feed to download them for free. Why not?
Greg
Last week over 40 participants entered to be considered for the Gold, Silver or Bronze award as one of the real estate industries premier pacesetters for 2008. Over the weekend, the nominations were narrowed down to 8 finalists!
You can see more information and finalists posted in the Technology, Tools and Tidbits group as well as the Real Estate Trends group. However, for your vote to count, you must be a member of the Real Estate Trends group! more...
THIS WEBSITE IS FOR PUBLIC USE. IF YOU HAVE A HOUSE OR APARTMENT THAT YOU WANT TO SELL OR RENT, YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN VIDEO AND UPLOAD IT TO OUR SITE WITH THE DESCRIPTION AND YOUR CONTACT INFO. WE HAVE A SEARCH ENGINE THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO SEARCH FOR WHAT THEY LOOKING FOR. AGAIN, THIS IS A FREE SITE FOR PUBLIC USE. PLEASE CHECK US OUT AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT US.
THANK YOU ALL!
http://www.OpenHouseDealer.com
Hello everyone. We have just launched our new version of Agent Shield. This is a free web 2.0 tool that makes it easy and safe for Realtors to sell new construction properties.
Please visit www.AgentShield.com.
Would you take a look and give it a try. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.
Sincerely,
Lu
If you are reading this blog, chances are you are just like me and MISSING OUT on all the great information available at the Inman Conference!
I have a co-worker who is attending and has been keeping in contact and sending me text messages (rubbing it in that I'm not there), letting me know all the of the industry names who he's mingled with. He sure knows how to make a person jealous! He just informed me that he's off to begin the day again to meet some more! more...
"It's all about whatever my seller wants to hear."
Recently I've read some interesting comments in some of the blog posts about agents adopting new marketing tactics - or not adopting them for that matter.
What stands out in my mind the most is a comment that read, "It's all about whatever my seller wants to hear." Stop there. Isn't it also about the buyer? These comments triggered an irritation that just needed to be scratched. So here we go. more...
Some things in life seem so different; but when you break them down to the core, they end up being much more alike than you'd ever have imagined. There seems to be a similar cycle in many of life's challenges and feats.
I got to thinking today about comparing a marketing plan to the Weight Watchers diet. Sound strange? Hear me out here and then let me know what you think.
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Goals
WW: You want to lose weight and eat healthier. You decide what your goal weight is and now you need to define the best path to get you there. more...
Since starting Pad4pad in February of 2008, we have received many inquiries regarding what exactly home swapping is and how it can be used to sell your home. Below is what we know about home swapping and how you can utilize Pad4pad to help sell your home. more...
Sick of driving around in your vehicle (the office away from the office) looking for a WiFi Hotspot?
Now you can really set up a "mobile office". Chrysler has announced they will add wireless routeres to some of their 2009 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge models. What a great service for REALTORS and road warriors alike!
Now I know what you're thinking... How much is it?
Not as bad as you'd think!
The router - $449
Installation - up to $50
Mobile Web access - about $29 per month ($35 activation fee)
Service will be provided by Autonet Mobile.
Feel free to check out the full article: more...
Does your website appear at the top of real estate-related search engine results?
If so, enjoy it while it lasts.
The adoption of a universal MLS data language could hike the demand for real estate search-engine keywords online.
NAR has mandated that all MLS companies nationwide adopt a standardized language called RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) by June, 2009.
RETS will allow approved Realtors & industry vendors to gain third-party access to MLS listing data like never before. more...
Hello. Since this is my first post here, I'll briefly introduce myself by saying that I am not a Realtor myself, but rather I work in the marketing department of a large residential brokerage in Orange County, California. I am working on developing an e-mail marketing campaign for our agents and I thought this might be a good topic of discussion.
What types of experiences have you had with any of the many vendors out there offering e-mail marketing services and software? more...
Hey all,
I've begun noticing Google inserting housing searches above the #1 organic for real estate related searches on their main search. Not sure how long this has been in place for various markets.
I wrote a post describing it along with a couple ways real estate pros might use this at the Union Street Internet Marketing and Technology for Real Estate blog
The short version is: "listing as content."
Nielsen is preparing to report their Q1 2008 findings for mobile buyers, according to the Mobile Marketing Association. http://www.nielsenmobile.com/
"One is Five US Consumers Has Interest in Using Text Messages to Purchase Goods or Services"
* Total = 20.9%
* Male = 25.8%
* Female = 17.3%
* Ages 13-17 = 24.1%
* Ages 18-24 = 22.7%
* Ages 25-34 = 24.6%
* Ages 35-54 = 19.3%
* Ages 55+ = 15% more...
I'm going to be interviewing Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute later today for a blog post about Social Media Marketing and Etiquette. I'm going to be defining social media fairly broadly to include social networking sites, blogs, fora and anything else that constitutes a group of people "gathering" online.
I've got a nice healthy list of questions for Anna but since the purpose of me writing the article is to get you all to read it... I figured I'd ask if there are any questions you want me to put forth.
Interview's in about an hour.
...well, I think if you don't blog now, you may miss the boat when something leapfrogs blogging.
Either that or your laptop might fall off your lap.
Seriously.
Steve
steven.stearns@obeo.com
Obeoman
Just a heads up, I'm sure the more active bloggers have seen one of these already. I was cleaning out my spam comment-catcher and found one headlined "Sell My House Pasadena California."
As an industry, this sort of thing is damaging to the reputation and, sadly, mostly out of the control of individuals. Probably worth monitoring the kinds of messaging used in the spam and making sure your own messages are completely different in tone/scope (unless the spam is working of course... heh).
Happy Monday everyone,
G
I'm curious, what's the best video platform for Realtors? WellcomeMat, Mixpo, Youtube or others?
Whose had experience using any of them? What have been your results?
Share your experiences in the comments below.
I'd like to see what everyone thinks about this service. Will it be relevant to Real Estate? The site is www.socialspark.com
The service, as far as I can tell, connects businesses and bloggers. There are two main components to the site:
1) Bloggers - they build a profile and can have others rate them on their previous work or experience (similar to LinkedIn profiles), and
2) Businesses/Services - they post their blogging needs on the site and have bloggers bid to write (market) about their brand or service. more...
Hey all,
Been quiet the last few days, I hope everyone's doing well.
I recently finished a blog post about doing analytics benchmarking. It's part of my series on on site optimization (getting people who visit your site to convert), not to be confused with search engine optimization (getting people to visit your site).
Please give it a look-see and let me know how I can improve it. Thanks!
We just started this group and want to get the idea juices flowing!
Do you provide or know of a great tool or service to help those in the Real Estate industry flourish? We are hoping for some truly successful, original, cutting-edge, and creative ideas and services.
Does anyone out in Inman world want to throw their idea, service, or tool into the ring? more...
Zillow just launched a new offering for consumers and lenders; their Mortgage Marketplace. Any lenders planning to use the product to find new business? What are your experiences so far? How was the experience? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
Slow a little here for the past couple days (I hope everyone is out closing deals). I figured I'd throw out another topic:
If you could know one thing about visitors to your site/blog/online-presence what would it be? For those of you who know lots about your visitors already, what if you could know just one thing, what would it be?
For example, on the site I manage directly, if I could know just a single thing about my visitors I would want to know how soon someone is planning on making a purchase. I could do a fair bit of marketing with that information.
What about you?
Can anyone suggest a good idx solution for an agent website? I'm wondering about two distinct things:
1. Should it be map-based search or a pull-down menu search form, or both, or something else entirely?
2. Who are providers with whom other realtors have been happy?
We've just, finally, been granted the ability to use IDX by our board and I'd love to set it up once, correctly from the start. We can frame, we can FTP, we may be able to get access to the RETS feed but it's not entirely clear yet.
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
Lori
This is for anyone tracking the performance of your web site. What do you consider the goal or conversion of a visitor into a lead? Becoming a registered user? A contact form? Something else?
Those of you not tracking this sort of thing, is it because it's too difficult/time-consuming or just that you do all the tracking at the sales level?
Thanks!
This morning I was in deep thought about the newer service available, which allows you to create an individual domain for each of your listings. As the domain name, you list the address of the home, then hang a sign rider at your listing with the website address: ex: www.1234yourstreet.com more...
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
It seems that there are 2 inman groups here called "Real Estate Marketing" . The other is "Real Estate Marketing 2.0" but I don't see that it's any different. Should these not be combined? Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Lori Turoff
