Real Estate Marketing 2.0

The importance of Local.com to real estate agents

mikeoue — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:52:54 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Tracking Print Campaigns Online

G. Dewald — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:10:06 -0700

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.

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

3 Point Digital Marketing Strategy and the Importance of the ‘Assist’

mikeoue — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:19:25 -0700

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...

Real Estate Trends

Are you branding with the college aged crowd? You should be... but how?

Goomzee — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:08:33 -0700

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...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Why not?

Greg Holt — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:33:01 -0700

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

Real Estate Trends

First post in a series on Social Media Today! Please rate/leave comment. Thanks

drsallywitt — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:39:23 -0700

Hi,

I will soon be launching my training product for people starting in Social Networking/Media/marketing with my wonderful partner Charly. I do a lot of training in person in the Philly area, and do a lot of webinars, teleseminars, etc.

I am teaching for the summer series on August 29 on the topic, and will have the first training product available by then.

I finally got up my nerve to start posting to Social Media Today instead of just commenting on other people's posts. I am so excited!

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/44466 more...

Social Networking and Internet Marketing for Realtors, and other Service Professionals

Vote for the Real Estate XXIX Olympiad!

Goomzee — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:10:37 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

WE JUST CREATED A WEBSITE EXCLUSIVELY DESINED FOR REAL ESTATE VIDEO'S

david101975 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:23:37 -0700

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

Real Estate Website Reviews

Technology Review Request - Free Patent Pending, Web 2.0 Technology that makes it easy for REALTORS to sell new construction

lu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:57:54 -0700

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,

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Inman Conference - we're missing out!

Goomzee — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:09:37 -0700

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...

Real Estate Events

It's all about what my seller wants - or is it? It's YOUR job to EDUCATE!

Goomzee — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:43:43 -0700

"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...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

What does Weight Watchers and your Marketing Plan have in common? More than you think!

Goomzee — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:50:28 -0700

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.

---

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Home Swapping, the Hottest Trend in Real Estate Marketing

Greg Holt — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:21:18 -0700

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...

Real Estate Trends

Just when you thought you had a real mobile office...

Goomzee — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:21:55 -0700

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...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

MLS Standardization Underway

joshcarney — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:16:27 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

E-mail marketing

jason.holstein — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:04:25 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Google Base Housing search inserted to main Google SERPs

G. Dewald — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:00:15 -0700

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."

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Identifying your tech-savvy customers

Goomzee — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:18:36 -0700

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...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Social Media Marketing and Etiquette

G. Dewald — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:12:29 -0700

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.

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

If you don't blog now...

Steven Stearns — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:09:57 -0700

...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

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

My first RE spam comment caught by Akismet

G. Dewald — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:12:40 -0700

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,

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Your top 3 marketing tools you can't work without

Goomzee — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:06:38 -0700

Alright, we all have our favorite, and most effective technology tools. However, your favorite may not be your most effective, and your most effective might not be your favorite. But they do something for your business and you would definitely miss having them if they were to disappear one day. more...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Best video platform for Realtors?

jburslem — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:50:27 -0700

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.

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

SocialSpark.com - Will it be relevant to the Real Estate Industry?

lackiem — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:10:05 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Blog post: Website Optimization, not search engine optimization, but performance optimization

G. Dewald — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:25:09 -0700

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!

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

What's Your Great Idea?

lackiem — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:47:42 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Flickr now does video

G. Dewald — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:56:35 -0700

Headline says it all. Quick rundown of the basic info at "Flickr Allows Video Uploading" at the USM blog.

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Any Lenders Going to Use Zillow's new Platform

jburslem — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:15:17 -0700

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.

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Twitter roundup blog post

G. Dewald — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:46:41 -0700

I've been too slammed to write a long post this week. So I did a roundup of all the Twitter posts out there with a heavy focus on Real Estate stuff but also a few out-of-industry sources. Twitter for Real Estate Roundup. Includes posts to get you going, some specific business examples etc. Let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it in.

[Update: I fixed the link as I've made it a page instead of a post]

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

What would you want to know most about your site visitors?

G. Dewald — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:30:23 -0700

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?

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

IDX Solutions?

hobokensbest — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:44:50 -0700

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

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

What do you consider a goal or conversion on your site?

G. Dewald — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:15:58 -0700

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!

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

www.1234yourstreet.com - What's the value of this service? Am I missing something??

Goomzee — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:16:48 -0700

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...

Technology, Tools and Tidbits

Two Groups with Same Subect Matter???

hobokensbest — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:47:17 -0700

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

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Two Groups with Same Subect Matter???

hobokensbest — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:47:00 -0700

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Two Groups with Same Subect Matter???

hobokensbest — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:46:44 -0700

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

How do you talent scout for agents who can use social media and other online tools?

G. Dewald — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:58:11 -0700

In one of the other topics, a group member lamented the challenges in locating agents for his brokerage that were prepared/willing/able to use social media and other 2.0 developments. This question is about finding (and likely developing) talent.

Here are some of the tools discussed already:

ActiveRain
LinkedIn
Facebook more...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Biggest Challenges for RE Video

G. Dewald — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:42:17 -0800

Since a lot of us seem to be aware of, if not participating in video for RE (or recommending it to our clients etc). I thought I'd throw a wider net and ask what's the biggest challenge you face (as Realtor or as a marketing consultant for real estate)? Is it even worth it? What sort of strategies are working in your market?

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Organizing my Web 2.0

stacey108 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:39:37 -0800

Does anyone know of a product out there that agents [or anyone] can use to organize all of their online community involvement, memberships, archive comments and questions they've made [maybe], blog updates, video marketing... a way to see it all and to some degree manage it easily online? is this making sense? there's probably something obvious available and it's probably called something that i have no clue about... please point me in the right direction, thanks!

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Real estate Video Marketing

david101975 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:05:33 -0800

Hi,

I have a question i want to ask our Real Estate Experts, Is it to early to bring video to the real estate world?

I talk to a lot of Agents, Brokers, Owners and it seems like nobody wants to come out of the BOX. People keep doing same thing over and over again and expect different results, I think Thats wrong.

Personally i think in todays real estate market you need to be much more creative, find the marketing tool that will help you stand out from the rest, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!! and Video marketing just might be that tool. more...

Real Estate Marketing 2.0

Thoughts and Resources to Help Homeowners KEEP Their Homes

Frances Flynn Thorsen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:55:46 -0800

I published an article at RealTown today that contains resources that agents and consumers can tap to help people remain in their homes. ENOUGH of this short sale discussion! Let's use our savvy and set our INTENTION for a happier, more joyful outcome!

http://www.realtown.com/articles/foreclosures/let-s-learn-how-to-help-am...

The New American Dream -- KEEPING Your Home!

Brand New Group

jburslem — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:20:36 -0800

I wanted this group to be a place where people could post ideas, advice and tips on how they are integrated Web 2.0 technologies into their business.

A couple ideas to kick start the conversation:

Are you blogging?
Are you using social networks?
Have you tried video?