The Trick To Adding Local Search To Your Website or Blog

By Reggie · May 4, 2008 · 7 Comments 

Last week I talked about how mapping can help market your sales history (or any data for the matter) on your website or blog using Google Maps. This week I will use maps to showcase local attractions for home seekers on your website. As you know, many buyers care just as much about the neighborhood /community as the home itself! Why not add a page to your website or blog that facilitates buyer neighborhood research without leaving your site. Search ideas are limitless, but to start buyers could search local shopping, restaurants, parks, schools, recreation centers etc.  

To accomplish my goal, I will cover two different methods. The first method will be for real estate agents using WordPress, and the second method is for all other platforms or traditional Websites.

For both examples Read more

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HomeGain Launches New Agent Blogging Network

By NikNik · April 29, 2008 · 6 Comments 

HomeGain launched their new agent blogging network tonight. Since Max the HomeGain Gorilla isn’t returning my Facebook messages and tweets, I had to hit up Louis Cammarosano (General Manager of HomeGain) with a few questions. Thanks for the lowdown Louis!

HomeGain members can now blog directly to consumers! Each agent blog will have a distinct URL with the member’s city, name, and zip code (ex: http://blog.homegain.com/real-estate-blog/sanfrancisco/NicoleNicolay/94133). Unlike the agent to agent blog platforms, HomeGain’s blog network provides agents with a forum for helping consumers with the home buying and selling process. Agents can reach out to consumers via their blog, as well as make, receive, and approve comments.

The HomeGain Blog recently scored a page rank of 7, so agents looking for a SEO boost could potentially get one from blogging there. Louis adds, “Also since our traffic comes not just from SEO but from HomeGain.com (which is a source of traffic that far exceeds our SEO traffic), SEM and from hundreds of partners, there is a built in audience so the agent does not have to write for Google to get noticed.”

The new HomeGain member profile features the agent predominantly with a link to their web site and phone number. There is an email box that the customer can use to ask a question (the email box remains a fixture at the top of all tabs). The HomeGain member interface incorporates carefully organized tabs for quick links to the agent’s blog and profile, as well as other home buying and selling tools including the Homesale Maximizer. And, if the consumer wants to they can fill out a form and get a professional CMA or they can just ask for one by calling or emailing the agent. Louis shared that he’s got one more tab coming that will complete the offering and there will be NO ADVERTISING!

HomeGain will continue to enhance its functionality with additional features. A new HomeGain Search Feature and Library of Syndicated Content are in the works already! Check out the HomeGain real estate blogs here.

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New Feature from MyBlogLog Builds Your Contact Manager

By NikNik · April 25, 2008 · 2 Comments 

So, you just discovered a rockin’ new real estate blog and want to know more about the author. What about adding the author to your contact manager? If you are a MyBlogLog member, you are in luck! MyBlogLog recently added a new feature that allows you to easily add your favorite bloggers contact information to your address book via vCard and hCard.
 
vCards are commonly used in eSignatures or attached to business emails. They are standard electronic business card files that usually include an address, phone number, email, Website or blog URL, etc. vCards can be added to the Mac OS X Address Book, Microsoft Outlook, and other applications.

Now, I hadn’t heard of the hCard so this gave me a chance to learn more. Apparently an hCard is a microformat for publishing contact information, as well as for extracting details to be used in other applications or  Read more

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How Mapping Can Market Your Sales History

By Reggie · April 20, 2008 · 8 Comments 

This is the first of a series of posts I’m writing about creative ways to utilize mapping in real estate.  I will show how a real estate agent can display their total history of home sales (or any other data for that matter) and showcase it on a WordPress blog using Google Maps. This unique approach to transparency may prove helpful for those agents that have a thriving sales history in a particular county, city or even neighborhood. Possibly rounding out the about me page.

I will not be using Google MyMaps to accomplish this goal because it does not have an import feature. You would need to plot each sale, one by one.  So those of you that have vast sales histories would have a labor intensive process. Also when done hand plotting the addresses, you would not be able to use that data again. (It’s not in a raw data file such as text delimited, csv or spreadsheet etc.)

So I will have you start by compiling a complete list of your sold properties in a spreadsheet.  You may already have this created, if so great! If you don’t have your complete sales history, try your MLS system as they may Read more

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Focus Your Social Media Marketing

By NikNik · April 16, 2008 · 10 Comments 

Ever find yourself in Facebook’s spine and wonder how the last 3 hours flew by and all you have to show for it are a couple of pokes and Funwall messages? It’s happened once or twice to me. Real estate professionals have a complex task when it comes to staying focused in the distracting world of social media. First and foremost, understand why you are there and develop a personalized strategy.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is taking off as a standard soft sell approach to Internet Marketing. That doesn’t mean that some marketers don’t take advantage of networks and become annoying spammers. It’s the best social media marketing gurus that can effectively target, communicate, and appeal to a desired audience.

Social Media Marketing takes place at all your favorite social networking sites:  Facebook, ActiveRain, RealTown, LinkedIn, MyBlogLog, Flickr, Digg, Stumbleupon, Twitter, YouTube, etc.  These social media sites usually incorporate some form or mashup of Read more

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How to Redesign Your Active Rain Blog

By NikNik · April 4, 2008 · 5 Comments 

I love bling! And not just to wear; I love it on all my blogs and networks.  In fact, I had Reggie hook up my ActiveRain sidebar to match the MyTechOpinion Blog v1. So naturally, I was excited when Brad Carroll informed me I could customize my Active Rain Blog layout. With so many sites to maintain on the Web, this is a great way to brand yourself and provide consistency among all your blogs and networks.  

To learn how to customize your ActiveRain blog, click here.

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Three KPIs for Real Estate Websites

By G. Dewald · March 26, 2008 · 9 Comments 

This article is going to be about web data analysis. If those three little words send you running in terror then now might be a good time to close the browser and slowly back away from your computer. If you’re interested in seeing what you can do with some of those web charts and numbers that you’ve set up to auto-email to yourself, then read on. I promise to make it fun and exciting.

Is a KPI like CSI?

I should probably start with something about web metrics. Web metrics are those bits of data like “pageviews” or “unique visitors” or “bounce rate.” Most analytics packages, like Google Analytics, VisiStat and so on have hundreds of these little data chunks.

We don’t all have time to look at all the reports. And many of the reports don’t contain information on which we can act. So one strategy of getting value from the analytics package without spending our day gazing fondly over medium/source performance charts, is to identify a handful of really important metrics.

And that’s pretty much what a KPI is: a really important metric. More completely, a KPI (just an acronym for “key performance indicator”), is a metric that is directly relevant to Read more

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Free Flash Charts for Your Real Estate Blog or PowerPoint

By Reggie · March 22, 2008 · 6 Comments 

I thought that might get your attention.  It’s true; FusionCharts Free is now available for you to download. This free version is an amazing entry level flash charting component for your real estate website, blog or PowerPoint.  Easily create high impact, visually appealing graphs on Local Market Indicators, Average Sales Prices, Building Starts, Vacancy Rates, Mortgage Originations, Neighborhood Sales, and tons of other compelling data for your audience.

FusionCharts Free supports popular chart types including bar, column, line, pie and more. Also note that FusionCharts is a cross-browser and cross-platform solution that can be used with PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, ColdFusion, HTML and even PowerPoint Presentations. Read more

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Viral Tools to Boost Your Real Estate Blog’s Readership

By Reggie · March 5, 2008 · 4 Comments 

Over the past few years we have all witnessed the explosive growth of social networking. One could argue this growth has been achieved with viral marketing tools. Think about it every time we sign up for a new network or add a new application we are given the option to spread the message (or application) to our network. By having the option to easily broadcast a message to your database, without having to retype your contacts email address, you are more likely to spread their word…right? Would that type of viral element work on your real estate website or blog?

Introducing Octazen Solutions a contacts importer and address grabber for PHP, .Net, Java, and Ruby. Octazen has built in support for all the major Webmail systems (Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, & AOL) also including Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and Mozilla. For their complete list of supported services, click here to review. Are you wondering if your server is compatible with the address book importer? Try this PHP test script? Try the contact importer demo.

Perhaps rather than importing contacts from an address book, you’d like to spread your message through a social network. With Octazen’s Invite Sender Script, your visitors can message their friend list in Friendster, MySpace, Hi5, Facebook, Orkut, Xing, BlackPlanet and Bebo. Your visitors with enter their login information and the Invite Sender script will compile a list of contacts to invite. Once the message is sent it will arrive as a social network email. Try the Social Network Friends finder

These scripts could be placed before the download of an eBook or other value added item. It would allow those interested parties to also help spread the word with other that share similar interest…easy!

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Inman News Beta: Same great news. Brand new site.

By NikNik · March 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

When it comes to Real Estate News, “Either you’re in or you’re out!”

It sounds much better coming from Heidi Klum. On Project Runway, Heidi and her A-list designer judges critique and praise the battling designers on their looks and designs each week. Advising along the way, “make it work!”

Well, this week Inman News revealed their new look at www.Inman.com. I was delighted to see their core theme “the first word in real estate” maintained and supported by impeccable construction and detail, with a fabulous color palette and logo to boot! Besides the new look, the Beta Inman site will boast new benefits for members.

News will continue to flow from Inman TV, the InmanBlog, the InmanWiki, and NOW via the NEW Blog Network! The Blog Network is a consortium of Real Estate industry bloggers which include (just to name a few): Transparent RE, FORUM, 4realz, Urban Digs, The Mortgage Reports, and MyTechOpinion. Yep, our real estate technology posts from here at MyTechOpinion are now available at Inman. This doesn’t sway our opinion of Inman’s new look…but rather raise our level of expectations. And with that, I’m proud to say, “Inman News Beta, you’re in…you may leave the runway!”

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Get Marketing, Get Real Estate, Get 4Realz

By NikNik · February 20, 2008 · 2 Comments 

If you are a real estate agent with a passion for technology and great marketing tips you should consider attending one of the upcoming 4Realz Internet Marketing Seminars. (Especially if you live in the SoCal region!) 4Realz featured speakers, Dustin Luther and Jim Marks, promise to share great marketing advice for real estate agents. I have witnessed Dustin in action several times. He has a great way of breaking down complex issues and helping you focus your time and effort in real estate marketing activities that get results! They currently have three seminars scheduled for Southern California (room for only 100 participants at each location).

• Los Angeles on March 6th
• San Diego on March 19th
• Orange County on March 31st

The type of material they plan to cover in the full-day course includes (1) quality website features and design, (2) engaging in existing social networks, (3) building an online community with blogs and (4) tracking and conversion to maximize return-on-investment.

The seminar costs $149 for a full-day course. This includes a light breakfast , full lunch, and 8 solid hours of valuable real estate marketing advice! Click here to register and check it out for yourself!

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Have you been Blogged?

By NikNik · February 8, 2008 · 1 Comment 

With over 100 million blogs on the Internet, how do you discern which ones make it to your Google Reader. Blogged.com is “better blog” directory and organizer. The authors and editors of Blogged scour the Internet and blog submissions to identify “better blogs” for different content areas and award each a score. Editor reviews are provided by professional editors who evaluate a blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style. The closer you are to 10, the better the blog you have. Use keywords to search for blogs and see if your blog made the cut!

MyTechOpinion was contacted by Blogged recently because they had given us an excellent score of 9.7! When searching for “real estate” we are currently the top rated blog. For business, we rank in the top 6 just under Seth Godin and SEO of the Sea. And for technology, we are #7 right under the Google Blog!!!! Thanks Blogged….MyTechOpinion greatly appreciates your opinion!

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