SpotMixer: Creating Video Ads That Sell!

By Reggie · August 26, 2008 · 6 Comments 

With the rise of online video sharing over the last few years, you might be asking yourself the question “How do I effectively implement video to promote my business?”  After all it’s an important question since you have so many items in need of promotion. Whether it’s you and your real estate business, a specific home, the surrounding community or testimonials; video has the power to capture emotion while also conveying difficult concepts.

But I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. I would guess the real reason most real estate agents would hesitate to implement video into their business stems from beliving video creation costs outweigh the benefit. Or you understand that Read more

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Great Tools For Getting Your Message Up On the Web

By Allen Hainge · August 22, 2008 · 4 Comments 

In the “olden days,” we spent thousands of dollars just producing one multimedia piece for our business.  If we wanted a video, we went to a specialist and paid the money for the product…lots of money.  If we wanted a multimedia presentation, for example, there were a number of real estate vendors who would do it for us….for a hefty price.

Today, the situation has changed thanks to some dynamic, valuable and free tools on the Web.  Here are a couple that I find useful.

Issuu.com is a free site for posting “books,” newsletters and more.  I just posted a “book” there for the first time, and it looks great…and cost me nothing!  The process was simple:  I built a PowerPoint presentation, saved it as a pdf file using a free pdf program, PDF995, and uploaded it to Issuu at no cost. Read more

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90% Still Don’t Get It!

By Allen Hainge · August 17, 2008 · 8 Comments 

As you know NikNik, Chad and I have a strong love for real estate technology.  Recently we crossed paths with Allen Hainge, President of Cyberstars. Alan will occasionally contribute his thoughts on marketing, technology and its application in the real estate industry. Please Welcome Allen as a guest contributor to MyTechOpinion. [Read full bio here.] 

What an opportunity!  90% of the agent population still relies on traditional marketing methods: classified ads, same-ol-same-ol real estate magazine ads, recipe cards, open houses, floor duty, etc.  Folks like you, as evidenced by your reading MyTechOpinion.com, realize that you can market much more effectively and reach far more prospects for less money by using methods that meet the needs of today’s consumer.

How do I know?  I teach tech seminars to the real estate industry, both my own seminars and as a Senior Instructor for the Council of Residential Specialists (CRS).  Across the country, I see that the majority of agents are well-grounded in traditional marketing but that a small percentage are using Web marketing to build their businesses. Read more

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How I Stopped Paying For Online Meetings!

By Reggie · August 10, 2008 · 3 Comments 

I love free technology, especially when it increases my productivity. That’s why I was so excited about the release of Adobe’s Acrobat.com beta.  This new online application suite is not what you would think looking at the name. It’s not just an online version of their already popular Acrobat. This site is packed full of features ranging from free online meeting software to document storage and delivery.

Free Online Meetings, what’s the catch?

The only catch is that you need 3 or fewer attendees. If you do, your meeting is free!  The service is called Adobe ConnectNow. This online meeting and collaboration solution is both attractive and powerful.  ConnectNow boasts features like video conferencing, teleconferencing, chat, whiteboard, screen sharing, and unique meeting URL.

Setting up a meeting is a snap. To invite attendees give out your personal meeting URL. (Choose your custom URL based on availability.) Or send an invite from within your ConnectNow account.  Invitees will be asked to join as guest or create an account. If they choose “Guest” they Read more

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Internal Factors Affecting Your Blog Success

By NikNik · July 14, 2008 · 6 Comments 

Last week I talked about the importance of assessing your real estate blog. Whether you have room for improvement or just need to boost your already prospering success, tweaking your blog is a process that should continue throughout its life on the Web. Today, we’ll look at the internal factors affecting your blog success, as well as support tools.

(1) Speak to your target audience

Identifying your target audience hopefully occurred for you during the conceptualization of your blog. Now that you’re up and running, is your blog geared up to attract new niche readers?  By that I mean, are you including a variety of Read more

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“Does my blog REally rock?” An Assessment for Serious Real Estate Bloggers

By NikNik · July 6, 2008 · 10 Comments 

Have you taken a good look around your real estate blog lately?  Would you like to gain more traffic?  And, reach each your target audience, for real? If you are serious about your blog, then you should be serious about taking new steps and exploring innovative options to boost your blog success. Don’t let your blog take a back seat to 2.0!

MTO is gearing up for the Inman Connect SF. In fact, I’ve been invited to speak on the Blogger’s Connect panel entitled, “Growing Pains: Taking Your Blog to the Next Level“, alongside these A-list rockin’ real estate blog experts Dustin Luther, Jim Cronin, and Daniel Rothamel.  The RE 2.0 guru himself will be there as moderator, yes, you know him….Jeff Turner.  So over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing tools and suggestions for taking that next level leap. But of course I’ll be leaving the meatiest of it all for those of you attending the Connect. So, I hope to see you there!

Anyway, our blogucation cannot begin without a self assessment, a blog assessment really. The best teachers assess at the beginning and the end of an assignment or goal. How else will you know if you made any real strides? To start, you will notice that the following assessment is organized in 2 sections, Internal Factors and External Factors.  To examine your blog best, you should focus on these 2 areas.

Internal Factors are actions, tools, and strategies you put into play on your blog to give it life, display your expertise and target your audience. These may include your voice, design, blog posts, organization, comments, etc.  External Factors are actions, tools, and strategies you use to reach outside of your blog, create interaction, and hopefully bring readers back to you.  These may include, but not limited to: IDX Search, email newsletters, commenting, podcasting, video, social networking, etc.

Take the “Does my blog REally rock?” Assessment (Directions: Print this article, read each question, and write your yes or no answer next to each one. If you’re old school, grab a piece of paper and number 1-6 twice, then write down your answers. Keep your eyes on your own paper. ) Read more

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MTO Interview: Behind the Great Real Estate Plug-In

By Reggie · June 30, 2008 · 4 Comments 

Recently Roger Theriault released a new plug-in for WordPress that makes displaying and marketing your real estate listings on your WordPress blog a snap. This new plug-in is called “Great Real Estate.” I was amazed with the thoroughness of this first release.  In my opinion, Roger has built powerful plug-with lots of future potential. See my introduction to Great Real Estate Read more

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Great Real Estate Plug-In: The Secret Tool For Featuring Listings with WordPress

By Reggie · June 29, 2008 · 13 Comments 

Many of you have already realized that WordPress has many benefits over a traditional Website. To start you are in full control of design, content, and distribution. Plus you can integrate any IDX MLS search unlike many template Website providers that only offer one solution.  You could argue the only WordPress limitation for real estate agents has been the difficulty of displaying listings in an attractive and useful format…until now. Introducing Great Real Estate!

Great Real Estate is a new WordPress plug-in designed to assist real estate agents in displaying and marketing their listings online. This free plug-in was created by Roger Theriault; a developer/Realtor. To recognize the full potential of this plug-in, you should Read more

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Are you missing lead generation opportunities with your IDX MLS search tool?

By Reggie · June 22, 2008 · 9 Comments 

As a real estate agent over the past few years you’ve been hearing more and more about buyers turning to the internet as part of the home search process. According to the California Association of Realtors, in 2007, 72% of home buyers actively used the Internet for home search.  Which means that you should be looking for new and innovative ways to enhance the online consumer’s shopping experience on your Website or blog.   Great user experience doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice strong lead generation tools.  Quite the opposite, you need the perfect combination of both.

If you think you may already have such a tool, ask yourself the following questions. Do you offer consumers the ability to visually search neighborhoods on an interactive map interface? Do you combine home details with state-of-the-art tools such as Google Street View? How about providing school and community information tightly bound with home details? Do you offer consumers more than one way to keep updated on new homes in your area?  Have I peaked your interest?

Recently I had the privilege of Interviewing Robert Luna, Director of Business Development for Diverse Solutions about their blistering hot IDX MLS search tool titled dsSearchAgent. With Robert, I focused my questions on lead generation, RSS and Read more

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Advertise to Your Local Niche via Trulia Pro

By NikNik · June 19, 2008 · 2 Comments 

If you are looking for an affordable option for advertising to your local audience, Trulia can help. Yesterday, Trulia stepped up with yet another great feature to assist real estate agents and local businesses with the launch of Trulia Pro.

With Trulia Pro, you can target up to 20 locations with unlimited local spotlight ads. Participant listings will also get a boost to the top of relevant search results. And this self-service offering is available via a low fixed fee of $39 a month, or annually for $348 (just $29 a month).

Why advertise at Trulia you say?

“Trulia is the fastest growing online real estate site with approximately 5m unique monthly users and is a top 10 real estate site.” –Rudy Bachraty

Give your brand, your service, and your listings the online visibility they need to take your business to the next level. Advertise with links to your real estate blog and/or Trulia Voices Profile to grow your network of readers, clients, and colleagues.

Oh, and if you are already using another advertising program, Trulia wants to give you 3 months FREE with the purchase of a one year subscription.

Visit the Trulia Blog to learn more!

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How to Add Podcasting to Your Real Estate Blog

By NikNik · June 14, 2008 · 20 Comments 

You may have noticed we recently made a commitment to podcasting here at MyTechOpinion.  If not, look just below each of our posts and you should see the podcast player.  Podcasting is simply a way of distributing digital media over the Internet using RSS.  And for real estate agents who are looking for that next social medium to boost their blog success, perhaps podcasting is just what you need.

Podcasting can enhance your blog content and your online visibility. Strengthen the bond you have with your current audience, as well as reach a new audience. And, give your blog readers the flexibility to listen and obtain your expertise on the go!  Podcasting is even an affordable and pretty seamless option when it comes to integrating a new social media tool to your blog. So let’s get you started already!

Get equipped! Prior to your first audio podcast you will need the following equipment. Read more

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Add Cyberhomes To Your Real Estate Website, Blog or Single Property Site

By Reggie · June 2, 2008 · 17 Comments 

As a real estate agent looking to keep buyers and sellers on your website, blog or single property site, you realize the importance of providing local data that provides transparency to your market. Nevertheless finding the right data can be a daunting task. Not only does the data need to be accurate and updated often, but it needs to be presented in a way that encourages consumers to interact with it.

Today I’ll be sharing the Cyberhomes Smart Frame which will allow you to search by city or zip code then retrieve a unique URL to be framed into your site without cost. Although before I do, let’s review some of Cyberhomes strengths:

+ Over 100 million searchable properties with AVM
+ 575,000 records updated monthly
+ School scores
+ City boundaries
+ Neighborhood charts and graphs
+ Interactive heat maps

Ok, now let’s look at the steps needed to get the Cyberhomes Smart Frame on Read more

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