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17 Single Property Website Solutions for Real Estate

By Reggie · September 18, 2007 · 10 Comments

With real estate agents looking for more exposure online, the single property website technology has exploded. I have listed 17 Single Property Websites Solutions for your real estate business.

Do you know of any single property website technologies not listed? Please let us know.

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Filed Under: Marketing • Product / Service
Tags: blogs, RealBird, real estate agent, MyTechOpinion, real estate agents, technology

PSD2HTML for Coding Your Real Estate Blog Design

By Reggie · September 15, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Do you have a design for your real estate website but need someone to code it? Of course you don’t want just anyone; you need someone that truly understands markup languages and search engine optimization (SEO) technology. If so, PSD2HTML might be a good answer for your needs. They will take your website design and create markup that looks exactly the same. With PSD2HTML you can ask them to pay special attention to site compatibility, dynamic HTML, CSS, and markup options. You can also specify your blog or content manager platform such as Blogger, Drupal, Movable Type, Joomla, Pligg, Typo3, and WordPress. PSD2HTML promotes an “8 working hour turnaround for the first page of the order”. Take a look at a few of their examples here.

If you don’t have a design, you could try their designing service Outline2Design. First look at pricing as custom work comes at a cost. However their designs are gorgeous and might just help you establish your real estate brand.

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Tags: wordpress, MyTechOpinion, real estate, technology, compatibility

Email Newsletters for Real Estate Agents

By NikNik · August 29, 2007 · 4 Comments

Real estate newsletters are a very popular form of communication. Email newsletters can be a great alternative for busy real estate agents who want to try another marketing medium, save on printing costs and reach a larger audience. Brand yourself as the local expert and offer community information. Include your latest listings and inform your clients with real estate industry news. A concise newsletter with several small informative snippets is the way to go! In addition, you can direct your subscribers back to your website and blog, as well as capture new leads. But before you can do all this, make sure you have collected, and continue to collect, email addresses and update your contact database regularly. There are a variety of online marketing websites that can help you take it from there. Try these similar, yet different marketing solutions on for size:

Constant Contact
Choose from a variety of professionally designed newsletter templates. You’ll need to insert pictures, contact info AND your own industry articles. Cost is based on your email list size. So the range spans from $15 a month for a list 0-500, all the way to $225 for lists up to 25,000! You can also create unlimited surveys and invite participation from your email list or website visitors.

iContact
iContact is an email marketing service that provides you with the ability to design a template, insert your content, send, and track email newsletters, RSS feeds, surveys, and autoresponders. Pricing starts at $9.95 per month for 500 contacts to $699 a month for up to 100,000 contacts!

MyNewlsetterBuilder
MyNewsletterBuilder gives you the ability to incorporate multi-media within your newsletter: virtual tours, audio tours, rotating banner ads, and custom template design. Free 60 day trial. Offers additional services: website design, RSS Feeds Setup, SEO, and more!

EmailFusion
If you have even less time to create content and you don’t mind spending a bit more, EmailFusion may be the answer for you. Besides having some amazing looking email campaigns, they offer professional pre-written content for your newsletter. And for those of us who prefer original content, you still have the ability to insert your own content. With EmailFusion, you can easily manage your subscribers and receive real time reports with detailed analytics. Pricing on their packages range from $39.95/month to $139/month, all include a $99 one time set-up fee.

Zookoda
Great solution for real estate bloggers! Promote your blog and your brand! With Zookoda, you can send a daily, weekly, or monthly summary of your blog content. You can also manage your subscribers and enhance your blog with custom a subscription form. For those of you that know a little HMTL, use their Zootags to customize your newsletter. (Format your picture, logo, etc.) Oh, and did I mention it’s FREE! (BTW-We use it and we like it!)

Create your own with a Publisher template!
This is a great option if you have an assistant or work in a team. And FREE! Create you own Publisher template and have your assistant fill in the local and community info, featured listings, etc. Bloggers, just copy and paste your blog content into your newsletter template. Send your email newsletter right from Publisher (File>Send Email>Send this page as message) and access your Outlook database! And for those of you that are using Publisher 2007, you can take advantage of their new email merge feature. Once you have set up a template, it’s just about plug and play!

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Filed Under: Marketing • Product / Service • Tips
Tags: bloggers, Microsoft, customize, MyTechOpinion, real estate agents, real estate

Kyte Offers Online TV Technology for your Real Estate Business

By Reggie · August 25, 2007 · 4 Comments

Video has been reshaping the Internet, and it’s no different for your real estate business. Think back to your listings online, what do consumers want? Enhanced content…right? They want multiple photos, home tours and now video. So the same could be said for real estate information on your website. A text-based story would work, but imagine an article with video and photo support. Could you prove your point better? Could you also brand yourself better? I believe so!

Introducing Kyte.tv; their technology will allow you to create your own FREE real estate TV channel and broadcast it to the world. Your TV channel can include still photos, slide shows, video, music, voice and instant polls to help enhance your online presence and in turn, provide you a competitive edge in your real estate business. You may choose to include videos outlining industry trends, steps towards home ownership, the selling and buying process, real estate investment, or even showcase local attractions & hotspots. Of course you would also include video tours and photos of your listed homes for maximum appeal. Why not also invite colleagues such as your preferred lender to talk on evaluating loans, and improving credit. The ideas are limitless.

Once your TV channel is built, Kyte will allow you to embed it on your website, blog or even Facebook. Then every time you update your TV channel using the KTYE.tv interface, your website and blog will be updated simultaneously. Kyte has also integrated chat technology, allowing your audience to leave comments promoting your website community.

If you are interested in leveraging the latest in Internet TV technology for your real estate business don’t wait; create your own channel today!

A few other companies providing similar TV channel technology:

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Filed Under: Marketing • Product / Service • Social Media • Tips
Tags: real estate, MyTechOpinion, api, technology, YouTube

vFlyer Offers Single Property Sites

By NikNik · August 20, 2007 · 7 Comments

Or, “custom and vanity domains” as Oliver Muoto prefers. Earlier this month, vFlyer launched their single property site solution, Domain Plus. If you are already using vFlyer to create your listing flyers for syndication, then you may want to consider upgrading your subscription with Domain Plus. If you are not a current vFlyer subscriber, I urge you to check out this valuable real estate marketing tool.

With Domain Plus, you can search for and then purchase the domain name for your vFlyer listing ad or gallery. For example, a listing at 1731 Chanson Place in GA, would have the domain: http://www.1731chansonplace.com/. (Thanks Brad) Now you can spotlight your listings on the Web by giving them their own URL. Show your clients just how dedicated you are to featuring their listing in a variety of mediums…single property sites being one of them. This is a great feature to highlight in your prelisting presentation as well.

vFlyer can save you more time than ever now by giving you an additional marketing option with minimal set up time. Even the best multi-taskers will appreciate the ability to create listing ads, distribute them to leading online marketplaces, and purchase custom domains all in one visit to vFlyer.

vFlyer is offering competitive pricing for their single property sites. You do need to sign up for an annual subscription to take advantage of Domain Plus. For example, a vFlyer starter subscription has an annual fee of $99.50 a year, monthly fee of $9.95 and each domain name can be purchased for $9.95 each. (Total cost $149.25) Also, the more you purchase the more you get. vFlyer is currently promoting their “FREE Domain Name Offer” until August 31st. Anyone who signs up or upgrades to an annual subscription will get one or more free domain names, as well as 2 months free service.

BTW-vFlyer is not the only one is town offering these bundled services. RealBird provides a similar tool with their Listing Publisher. Both are great offerings depending on your specific Website wants.

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Tags: technology, RealBird, MyTechOpinion, real estate marketing, real estate

RealBird’s New Features and New Business Model

By Reggie · August 9, 2007 · 1 Comment

RealBird has reworked their business model for you real estate agents, and will now be offering their RealBird Listing Publisher technology for free—without advertising. RealBird’s Listing Publisher has some great value propositions and is one of 7 great ways to syndicate your listing. To start, Listing Publisher will allow you to create an unrestricted amount of property websites. Since we know that enhanced content online helps sell the home, start by uploading an unlimited amount of property photos. Also use their powerful HTML editor to embed any multimedia content such as a video tour of the home, panoramic slide show or podcasts.

According to NAR, approximately 70% of buyers want to know more about the community they are buying in, so you’ll want to use the rich-text editors to include community and neighborhood information. Potential buyers will also see a “ValPak” icon to the map providing local coupons to enhance their experience. The Listing Publisher will also cross market your listings on each custom site you’ve created. You will also want to include these listings on your personal website. Simply grab their ‘Just Listed” widget to display your listings in the side bar of your website or blog. Or maybe it’s GeoRSS mapping widget you’re looking for. This widget will provide your website visitors local street maps, amazing 40 degree angle “bird’s eye” views (HOT technology) with local points of interest overlay.

Once your site is built, easily publish your listing site to a domain of your choice. Now it’s time to syndicate your listing for maximum exposure. RealBird can help you get the word out to Google Base, Trulia, Edgeio, Lycos Classifieds, Oodle, Local.com, Vast, and RealBird’s own SearchOnMaps.com. You can also grab the code to post on tools like Craigslist, Backpage, Kijiji, Facebook etc.

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Tags: real estate agent, real estate agents, technology, RealBird, MyTechOpinion, map

Google Mobile Maps Technology Utilizes GPS

By Chad A. Johnson · July 29, 2007 · 2 Comments

I have to admit that I was a bit put off when the Blackberry Curve (8300) came out so shortly after I purchased my Blackberry 8800. As with many advances in technology, it’s smaller size and the addition of a 2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headset jack, and bluetooth stereo made it seem to be a far superior smartphone. This all changed for me this morning.

I have been a huge fan of the Google Mobile applications ever since Reggie reported on the service in his post, FREE Google Maps for your Mobile Device. I use it to get driving directions, find businesses and check traffic conditions. It truly is an indispensable program for anyone with a compatible smartphone.

Yesterday, I upgraded to the latest version of Google Mobile Maps for the Blackberry 8800 and got a pleasant surprise. This latest version takes full advantage of the Blackberry 8800’s GPS functionality. Now, when I open Google Mobile Maps, it shows me my current location (within 3 meters)! This is huge, especially for someone without GPS technology in their car. I can now search for an address or business (by name or business type) and get turn-by-turn driving directions from my current location.

The Blackberry 8800 comes with a navigation application installed, Telenav. While Telenav probably has its strengths, it requires a paid service. The $10 per month fee is not much, but the average real estate agents has so many subscription fees for different services and memberships that it can really add up at the end of the year.

While I have only mentioned the Blackberry 8800 (AT&T), those with the new Blackberry 8830 (Verizon), Blackberry 8800 (T-Mobile), Samsung BlackJack, Helio’s Ocean and other GPS enabled phones can take advantage of this great new functionality, as well.

To get the Google Mobile Maps application, go to http://mobile.google.com/ from your smartphone’s browser. Download the Google Mobile Maps Tip Sheet here.

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Tags: technology, mobile maps, MyTechOpinion, map, api, real estate agents

Google Business Search for Real Estate

By Reggie · July 20, 2007 · 2 Comments

Google Search for your real estate website your way…branded and ad free. That’s the latest technology offering from Google. Real estate agents have a new tool for their site search of their blog or website. Google has now improved their Custom Search Engine with a business twist. This new Google search goes by the name Custom Search Business Edition.

The business edition includes the following features:

Place your logo next to the search to fully brand the search.

Ad-words are turned off so you don’t lose traffic to catchy advertisers.

Search results can be delivered through an XML feed for complete merge with your design.

Place a specific page above the organic search results for maximum exposure.

Labels to guide users to search a generic term for channeling website visitors.

Search multiple domains to bridge the gap of content between your blog and website.

Ok, so how much? Google price for the useful technology is $100 per year for websites with less than 5,000 pages. Websites between 5,000 and 50,000 the cost will be $500 per year.

The bottomline in my opinion is that Google search obviously works quickly and with great results. So, you’ll benefit by merging their search technology in with your real estate content and design for maximum appeal to your website visitors.

Take a look at this 2 minute overview of the Custom Search Business Edition.

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Tags: MyTechOpinion, Google, real estate, technology, real estate agent, google search

Got Real Estate Questions? TruliaVoices Answers.

By NikNik · July 14, 2007 · 10 Comments

Trulia launches answers to your questions with “Trulia Voices”. The Trulia community provides a place where anyone can ask real estate questions and get real answers from homeowners, real estate pros or anyone with an opinion on your local market.

To get started, visit Trulia online. Click on the “Trulia Voices” tab up top, then type your real estate question in the provided field. Update with your area info and submit. You will be prompted to register, if you haven’t already. Within seconds, your question is submitted to their online question/answer forum. You can view questions/answers that may be similar to your inquiries. If there are no like answers found, then just sit back, relax, and soon other community members from your area will begin commenting and answering your specific real estate question.

I asked the question, “Where do you find the school scores for your area?” Now, I already have a few favorite resources when it comes to that question (see past article: School Scores & More), but I wanted to test the Trulia forum to see if I would really get some quality answers. And within 10 minutes of submitting my question, I had some fabulous results. The first real estate pro who answered my question provided me with list a great list of websites. Two of which, I use and recommend frequently (GreatSchools.net & NeighborhoodScout.com). And the following 3 real estate pros also recommended GreatSchools.net, among others.

Trulia Voices makes it easy for anyone with almost any kind of real estate question get knowledgeable answers quickly. It’s quite a helpful forum, really. And, it was nice to see some familiar Trulia Voices: Pat Kitano, Kevin Boer, Brian Brady, Tyler Moxley, Maureen Francis, Trang Nguyen.

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Tags: MyTechOpinion, local market, trulia, real estate

Real Estate Agents with Verizon: It’s Time to Upgrade

By Chad A. Johnson · July 3, 2007 · 5 Comments

Up until now, all of the cool, new Blackberry smartphones that we have covered (Real Estate Agents Catch the Curve and The New Blackberry 8800: Not Just For Work) have only been available from AT&T Wireless (formerly Cingular). As with the recent iPhone release, it seems that AT&T prides itself on offering the latest new phones first. Fortunately for real estate agents on the Verizon Wireless network, the next generation of Blackberry device is now available.

For you technology savvy real estate agents, the Blackberry 8830 World Edition is Verizon’s first Blackberry device to offer the new trackball navigation, brilliant screen and multimedia functionality. Based on the now 3 month old Blackberry 8800 model, the 8830 will appear virtually identical except for the device’s silver enclosure. The only real difference between the 2 models is that of the 8830’s more advanced network capability. As the “World Edition” moniker would imply, Blackberry 8830 can be used overseas. The 8830 can also access the Verizon EV-DO network, giving the Blackberry 8830 faster web browsing than that of the Blackberry 8800 which is limited to Cingular’s EDGE network.

While the new Blackberry 8830 World Edition doesn’t have the ultra compact size or 2.0 megapixel camera of the Blackberry Curve, it is still an outstanding smartphone device. It is also surprising to see Verizon offer the new Blackberry device so quickly after AT&T introduced is sister device, the Blackberry 8800. It took then over a year and a half to follow-up AT&T’s (Cingular’s) Blackberry 8700 with their own Blackberry 8703e. By the time Verizon customers had that device, it seemed out of date.

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Tags: real estate agent, real estate agents, real estate, iphone, api, MyTechOpinion

Yugma Online Meetings for Real Estate Agents

By NikNik · June 28, 2007 · 5 Comments

After posting a recent article on 6 different Online Meeting resources for real estate agents, I was introduced to Yugma. Yugma is a FREE web collaboration service that enables people to meet online using any application or software. The Yugma platform is compatible with Windows, Mac, or Linux computers. When it comes to real estate technology, we rarely find FREE offerings. So check out this new online meeting resource and let me know what you think. Here is a quick overview:

Price: Packages range from FREE (up to 10 attendees) to $69 a month for up to 100 attendees (check out their tiered premium services)
Download the basic version for FREE (for up 10 attendees) or 15 day trial of Premium Service
Host online meetings for up to 500 attendees
Features Include: real-time desktop sharing and collaboration, mouse and keyboard sharing, whiteboard and annotating tools, session recording and playback, real-time private and public chat, built-in file sharing, free teleconferencing, embed Yugma into your website or application( Yugma Widgets)
Click here for the Yugma Demo

Yugma is focused on providing an easy, secure, and inexpensive solution. But don’t take my word for it, check out what others are saying about Yugma .

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Tags: real estate, real estate agent, technology, real estate agents, online meetings, real estate technology

Blackberry Messenger: Helping Real Estate Teams Communicate

By Chad A. Johnson · June 23, 2007 · 1 Comment

Blackberry devices are a great way for real estate teams to communicate. Having the ability to send and receive emails from anywhere adds an additional channel of communication that previously was limited to the home or office.

There is one noticeable downside to email communication via Blackberry, unless you have invested in a technology called Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES), you may experience as much as a 15-minute lag in the sending and receiving of emails. This lends itself to the possibility of a 30 minute timeframe for an email to be sent and a reply to be received. I have seen real estate teams try to overcome this shortfall through the use of PIN messages. This is a fairly decent alternative technology, but really doesn’t amount to much more than a fancy text message (SMS).

A great technology solution for instant communication is the Blackberry Messenger. This instant messenger program allows real estate agents using such Blackberry models as the Pearl, 8800, and 8300(Curve) to chat as they would using any of the more familiar desktop computer instant messaging programs (AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger). Chat with everyone in your team simultaneously with no delay in transmission. You can even send files and voice notes using the Blackberry Messenger.

If you are not a fan of the Blackberry Messenger, you might be interested in the Yahoo Messenger for Blackberry and Google Talk for Blackberry.

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