Here is an example of what we’re talking about:

Authorship Markup is essentially a way for Google to connect authors with the content they create and then show what I’m calling Visual Search Cues in the organic results.  This is all done by using HTML5 microformats such as the rel=”me” and rel=”author” tags to identify your content.

How do I setup Authorship Markup with my Blog?

The first thing you’ll need is a Google Profile, which is already a good thing to have based on the fact it’s highly search optimized and Google lets you link directly from the profile to your website, blog, external social profiles and more.

TIP: Make sure that your avatar is “a good, clear headshot of yourself” and does not include a logo.  If it does, Google has said that they will not show it in the results.

To establish authorship of your content, you’ll need to complete two steps:

(1) Link the blog to your Google Profile
(2) Link your Google Profile to your blog or blog’s author page

Step 1 – Linking your blog to your Google Profile

You may have noticed, with WordPress v3.2, on your individual post pages the link from your name to the author page includes the rel=”Author” parameter. That’s awesome, and exactly what we need. All you’ll need to do is add a link from the Author page on your blog, to your Google profile. The link should be in this format:

<a href=”[profile_url]?rel=author”>Google+</a>.

Replace [profile_url] with your actual Google Profile URL, which will look similar to this: http://plus.google.com/107461963711346948468. Also make sure not to delete the ?rel=author parameter

If you prefer to use a button, use the Google profile button generator

Step 2 – Linking your Google Profile to your blog’s Author page

Next you’ll need to create a link from your Google profile to your blog or blog’s author page. Do that by visiting your Google Profile and selecting “Edit Profile”. Next click on the “Links” area located on the right-side of the screen and include a link to your blogs homepage, or if you are writing on a multi-author blog you can link directly to your Author page. Now check the box that reads “This page is specifically about me.”

One last thing…Google also recommends that after you’ve completed these steps you should complete this form.

MyTechOpinion

I can see this feature being a huge hit with content creators and even searchers, especially as search and social seem to be converging.  We’ll be able to spot our favorite authors easier, and with that we’ll also be able to reach out and connect from a search results set. It’s still unclear how quickly newcomers will be added to this new index, but I would highly recommend getting things setup from your end.

Here’s to seeing you in the search results!

About the Dragon Search app:
Historically if you wanted to search a keyword or phrase on your iPhone you’ve typed directly into a search engine. Ok, maybe you’ve tried the Google voice app, but for me I was left wanting more. Not any longer, Dragon Search is the new one-stop search application controlled by your voice. At its heart you’ll gain the ability to speak any given search into like Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Twitter, iTunes, and Wikipedia. Once the results have populated your screen, use the intuitive search carousel to switch between the other sources on the fly. Dragon also archives recent searches, allowing you to quickly recall past activity.

Why we like the Dragon Search app:
Dragon search is quickly become one of my favorite iPhone apps because of the accuracy, speed and convenience. Plus the fact that Dragon provides a very slick and intuitive interface. I also appreciate the ability to define my preferred search engine. I would recommend that you head over to the iPhone app store and download Dragon search today.

If you like this app, try Dragon Dictation.
Cost: FREE

For example, say you’re working with a homeowner moving to the Marina District in San Francisco California. They’ve been asking lots of questions about local attractions, so you sit down with them and search the area using Google Maps. Right mouse click the general area, and select “What’s Here?”  You’ll see a green arrow display like this:

Now look to the left-hand side of the screen, you should see the geographic name and a link to “Explore this area.” Based off the zoom level, Google will serve up the “most appropriate geographical entity at that point.”

Once selected the maps should fill with photos from the surrounding area.  To see more, select the “More photos” link on the left-hand side and all available photos quickly populate the map, something like this:

MyTechOpinion
This new feature is super cool and will certainly come in handy for anyone looking to investigate an area further.  To get the most complete mashup available, try clicking the “more” link located at the top right corner of the map.  From there you can add videos, Wikipedia, webcams, and transit information to the current view. If you want to take your search experience from Google Maps into Google Earth, you’ll aslo see a button included.

For those of you that want to participate in the user generated content, try Panoramio.

If you’re not familiar already, FB launched “Facebook Connect” similar to Google’s Friend Connect. The goal of these utilities is to make your social profiles portable. Many social networks, like Twitter, have already taken sides and aligned themselves with Google.  But the power of Facebook’s enormous network still impresses me.  Even the “non-technicals” are investing time in their profiles and connections. And with more than 110 million users, Facebook’s Webprint is making for an obvious social alliance…for your blog!

Facebook Connect can kickstart your real estate blog community ON YOUR BLOG! WordPress users are in luck and can add FB Connect to their blog by downloading the Facebook Connect WordPress Plugin. Your FB friends can instantly become members of your blog using their FB login. FB Connect adds your profile into the site that you’re on bringing your network of friends with you.  Your FB friends that visit your site will appear in a “recent reader” type widget. You can view people in your Facebook network who also belong to the same blog community or newbies with similar interests (to add to your network). FB Connect routes comments made on your blog back to Facebook profiles.  AND, because FB Connect is integrated with your blog you are also able to grow your database for blog newsletter distribution.

Getting started:

(1)    Create a Facebook profile, if you don’t already have one

(2)    Sign up for developer account at Facebook

(3)    Download the Facebook Connect WordPress Plugin

(4)    Upload and activate the plugin for your WordPress blog

(5)    You will need to paste the API Key and Secret from Facebook and set other features

(6)    Then click “Design” and then “Widgets” to add to FB Connect to your sidebar

(7)    Further customization will need to be done through the CSS

Many agents rightly focus on a niche or specific target market when it comes to blogging. So, why not add a widget that provides local content, events, and even property listings. Hyperlocal aside, even adding a news widget with a larger content scope (say, nationwide) adds value to readers who check both local and national market info.

When thinking about adding a widget to your blog, you may want to ask yourself:  (1) Does this widget provide helpful information? and (2) Does this widget foster interaction and build your network?

Some options for you:

Property Search
Give consumers a home search tool they will come back for again and again. Try: Realivent Home Search Plugin, Realbird Map Based Search, Foreclosure Radar, dsSearchAgent from Diverse Solutions

Featured Listings
Showcase all your listings and get additional online exposure. Try:  MyMarketWare, vFlyer, TruliaMap

Home Valuation
Provide home valuation reporting. Try: Zillow Search Box, or Cyberhomes API.

Hyperlocal Content
There’s that buzz word again…but “hyperlocal” info can help you carve your niche and further emphasize your local expert status. Try: Upcoming Events, Google Calendar,  iBegin Weather, and Walkscore

Industry News, Information & Statistics
Nothing supports your message like great data! Try: Trulia Stats, Altos Research, Wiki Widget

Custom News
MSNBC recently launched NewsWare which brings you a variety of news widget options, including the Spectra Visual Newsreader and NewScroller a build-your-own news ticker.

Social Media
Build your community and foster interaction by utilizing widgets from your favorite social networks. Try: MyBlogLog, Realbird Widget for ActiveRain, YouTube, Flickr, Criteo Autoroll

Chat
Personally, I’m not a big fan of chat widgets, but some agents really like the ability to instantly connect with readers and consumers. Try: Meebo

Calculators
Give consumers a helpful tool for calculating mortgage payments, etc. Try: Mortgage Calculators, 10 Mortgage Calculators, Amortization Calculator

Real Estate Technology
MyTechOpinion is your go-to resource for all the real estate technology happenings. The MTO Widget rocks and not just because my partner in this blogiverse created it, but because it provides great resources to your consumers and helpful tips to your colleagues.  Enough said, get the MTO widget now!

WIDGET DISCLAIMER: Although I’ve listed a nice variety of value-add widgets, PLEASE DO NOT OVER WIDGETIZE YOUR BLOG!!! Seriously! Adding too many widgets can actually harm your blog by being distracting, as well as slow down your load time. You do not want so many things going on in your sidebar that it actually takes away from the meaty content. Too many tools and not enough great blog posts will hurt you. Your number one focus for your blog should ALWAYS be: adding helpful and remarkable content frequently. Content is your main dish….and a great widget is your garlic mashed potatoes on the side.

1. Site Search
Having a tough time finding what you are looking for on a particular site? If they don’t have a search you can use Google. Try searching for a keyword only on that domain. See example:

Use this format: Phrase or Keyword site:domain

Here is an example search:

Paperless site:MyTechOpinion.com

[Hint: If you are still having trouble finding the phase you searched on a particular site? Try using Google Cached version. It will highlight your search phrase or keyword.]

2. File Types

Outside of standard web documents, Google searches many other popular file formats. To restrict your next Google search to a specific file type, try this format. Start by searching your brand or name. You may find other people talking about your business in PDF, PS, PPT, etc..?

Use this format: “Search Phrase” filetype:extension

Here is an example search:

“Marketing Tips” filetype:pdf

Here are the file formats Google provides. Try running your search against:

• Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)
• Adobe PostScript (ps)
• Lotus 1-2-3 (wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, wku)
• Lotus WordPro (lwp)
• MacWrite (mw)
• Microsoft Excel (xls)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt)
• Microsoft Word (doc)
• Microsoft Works (wks, wps, wdb)
• Microsoft Write (wri)
• Rich Text Format (rtf)
• Shockwave Flash (swf)
• Text (ans, txt)

3. Search by Number
Waiting for your new sign rider to be delivered? Do you have a tracking number? Let’s head to Google. Yes, Google will let us type tracking ID’s or patents. Type your Tracking ID, see below for example:

Try this demo UPS Search:

1Z9999W99999999999

Google’s search by number works for the following:

• UPS
• FedEx
• USPS
• Vehicle ID Numbers (VIN)
• UPC Codes
• §Telephone Area Codes
• Patent Numbers (Format search like this: “patent 5123123″)

4. Google Negative Search
Have you ever searched for a topic only to find unrelated results are returned? Why not filter the poor results by excluding a keyword. All you need to do is add a minus (-) sign before the word you would like to exclude. For example:

Use this format: Search Phrase -excluded word

Here is an example search:

Real Estate News -Mortgage

5. Google Phonebook Search

I’m sure you’ve used Google’s large phonebook directory before. Maybe when search Google local. But did you know you can query not only business listings, but residential too? For example:

Use this format:  bphonebook: last name, city or   rphonebook: last name, city

Here is an example search:

rphonebook: Smith, San Francisco

The slowing of the real estate market and the economy as a whole has made everyone a bit more frugal and willing to go to a bit more effort to find a great deal.

Allow me to show you a few tricks to saving money while still keeping on top of the latest real estate technology.

Discounts on Computers

First of all, never pay full price on a computer. In fact, don’t even settle for a sale price. A simple Google search and a bit of good timing can save you so much more money.

When making an online purchase, have you seen the promo code or coupon code field and wondered what that is and how to get one?

Promo codes are special offers sent to select groups of people that can lead to huge savings. These codes tend to be for very specific products and expire after a short period or after a limited number of uses.

Luckily, there are numerous websites that post promo codes for leading manufacturers. By performing a Google search on the company name followed by the words “promo code”, you are bound to stumble upon a site with relevant codes.

I find the best luck with HP and Dell codes on sites like DealTaker.com. I have found discounts as deep as $500 off of a computer or 30% off of the purchase price. Many times, these discounts negate other deals, but they are usually better than the discounts offered on the company’s website.

If you don’t find a good promo code, be patient. New codes are released all the time.

Peripheral, Software and Other Technology Discounts

The advent of social networking has brought upon the idea of social discount sharing. Many websites have popped up where visitors can share discounts that they have run across.

Probably the best of these sites is SearchAllDeals.com. What makes SearchAllDeals special is that it compiles discounts posted on other sites like SlickDeals, TechBargains and DealCatcher.

While these sites showcase a ton of technology savings, they also offer other discounts. Does a Papa John’s 5 topping pizza for $11 sound good to anyone?

Subscribe to the SearchAllDeals RSS feed to make sure that you don’t miss out of any fantastic money saving offers.

Realbird has already begun taking advantage. You may remember we talked about manually embedding these maps. Well not anymore, Zoltan has integrated the new API in with RealBird’s Listing Websites.

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 your business goals and is built on data that you trust enough to take action.

My favorite article on what makes a KPI special can be found at visual revenue.

The conversion conversation

I’m going to be mentioning conversions a lot in the following KPIs because I think that more conversions generally leads to more money. I think that conversions are better than page views or time on site or any number of other metrics. For lead-generating real estate sites, I like to use contact forms, user registrations and property details emailed to a friend as common conversions for real estate sites. But your site or strategy may have other conversion goals. The important thing is to set up those goals, measure them, track them and love them.

It’s also important to remember that a conversion is not a sale. Conversions turn ordinary human beings into potential customers on your lead list. They want you to tell them why they should work with you. And that’s pretty valuable (not as valuable as a sale, but still valuable).

Alright so we’ve got that part down. Now on to our list:

#1 Conversion Rate (aka Take Rate)

What it is:

This is the number of conversions divided by the number of people who visit your site (I like to use unique visitors).

What it indicates:

The higher your conversion rate, the better qualified your visitors are (your off-site marketing is working) and the better your site content is at encouraging visitors to convert (your site optimization is working). Hopefully, it also indicates a future increase in revenue.

Example actions to improve your conversion rate:

• Is your site designed to get people to contact you? Make more contact points and see if your conversion rate goes up (assuming contact is a goal, of course).
• Is the traffic to your site the kind that you want (the infamous “visitor quality”)? Make sure your marketing efforts are leading people to the right page. Make sure you are marketing to people who want, need and can afford your services.
• Is your offer any good? Try changing the wording you use to entice people to convert, explain to them the benefits of why they should contact you.

#2 Traffic Sources

What it is:

The percentage breakdown of how people find your site, usually broken down into broad groups of “Search Engines,” “Direct,” “Referrals” and “Other/Campaigns.”

What it indicates:

This one is all about your dependence. In particular, dependence on search engines. If the algorithm changes tomorrow, what percentage of your traffic is at risk of never finding you? Word of mouth and past clients? Those people are probably the ones who type in your web address and get put in the “Direct” bucket. It also lets you know who else is sending people your way and if your campaigns are working. Traffic Sources is a friendly little monitor on the main roads leading into your site. Which ones need repair?

Example actions to take based on Traffic Sources:

• No search traffic? Time to read all those SEO/SEM guidelines out there and put them to work.
• No direct traffic? Maybe no one knows you or your web address is hard to spell. Try some off-line advertising and other branding efforts so your market knows who you are and types in the address directly.
• No referrals? Start participating in online communities (your profile will usually allow you to link to your website) and blogs. Start making great content and letting others know it’s there.
• No campaigns traffic? Start advertising or start optimizing your advertising (that could be another blog post or three on its own).

#3 Top Conversion-page Exits

What it is:

A visitor gets to within one step of converting but decides to go somewhere else. For example, maybe they get to your contact page but don’t fill out the form and instead go to the “About” page.

What it indicates:

The nagging question your visitor from converting right then.

Example of what you can do with Top Conversion-page Exits:

• Is there anything from the Conversion-page Exit you can incorporate into your conversion page? Try to answer their question without making them leave the conversion page.
• Is there anything you can do to get a conversion on that Conversion-page Exit? From the example above, try putting a contact form on the “About” page.
• How can you get those questions answered before they get to the conversion page? Sprinkle content from the Conversion-page Exits on all the pages people arrive at (your home page will likely be the biggest of these).

Keep testing. Keep learning. Keep taking action.

So there are three things you can track about your website and it won’t take you long to figure out how. Track the results. Test new ideas. Adjust your site based on what your users are telling you when they come to your site, convert or don’t convert and go somewhere else on your site.

———-
G. Dewald is a software product manager and head of the analytics and site optimization for Union Street Media, a web design and development agency specializing in integrating MLS/IDX search into office and agent websites. He often spends his day lovingly gazing upon take rate and top performing content data. He writes regularly at the Union Street Media blog.

Download the Google Calendar Sync

1. Click the download link above and then click “Save File.”
2. Click “OK”.
3. Read through the Google Calendar Sync Terms of Service, and click “I Agree.”
4. Continue to follow through the Installation Options and click “Install” to finish.

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!

RealBird
Is Google street view available in your area? If so you are going to enjoy the directions from Zoltan over at RealBird. He recently posted on a very simple way to manually embed Google’s street view into your next listing publisher design. This view will give home searchers an up close view of local streets and neighborhoods as if they were driving down the street. Potential buyers can visualize their drive to the freeway or downtown without leaving their chair.

MyMarketWare
Our own NikNik offers MarketSites to real estate agents utilizing the latest in satellite imagery called pictometry. These visually pleasing aerial photos come from Microsoft Live and the give your web audience a surprisingly clear view of the neighborhood. Click your mouse on the satellite image and drag to explore new areas. Zoom in to 20 meters for an extreme and detailed close up. Take a look at backyard conditions, as well as distances to schools and park–you can do it all.

Remember that marketing your real estate blog will come in many forms. Here are a few more ideas:

1. Start with properly formatted HTML
2. Create remarkable and link worthy content
3. Syndicate original content: Ezine Articles, GoArticles
4. Social Bookmarks: StumbleUpon, Digg and Del.icio.us
5. Participate in communities: ActiveRain, Zolve, RealTown, Trulia Voices, etc
6. Guest post on popular blogs
7. Analytics Software: Google Analytics, Clicky, CrazyEgg
8. Conduct interviews with opinion leaders
9. Widgets: MyBlogLog, WidgetBox

1. Unique Visitor Tracking: Visitors are a good way of tracking your website or blog traffic. So Unique Visitors are a great way of monitoring new traffic. You will be looking for your monthly number of unique visitors to trend upwards month after month.
2. Referring URL’s: I absolutely love this feature of analytics software. In my opinion Clicky is the best at giving me complete URL’s for referring pages. This data is extremely useful when tracking marketing campaigns for your listings, blog interviews, carnivals and lots more. You can see a specific number of unique visitors that came from a particular page or domain.
3. Searches & Keywords: Knowing what your website / blog visitors are searching to find you is very useful. Think of viewing your visitors search terms as understanding their goal in coming to your website. Gold mine! You’ll understand the content that is working so you can write more in that area.Also use the searched terms provided by your analytics software to track the effectiveness of your optimization strategies. Say your primary search term is “Dublin Ca Real Estate.” Analytics software will help you identify whether or not any searchers are finding you with those search terms. If you see they are not, you can increase your keyword density around those words.
4. Outgoing Clicks or Exit: Understanding where your visitors are leaving your site is important. Did they leave because they were uninterested, confused, or just because they didn’t want to proceed the way you were offering? Based off your exit page stats you can make adjustments to slow abandonment rates. For example you may learn that users are getting to your IDX MLS search but you require sign-in. The website visitors are leaving your search tool, looking for another site without registration. A simple fix may be to move the registration, and give more information upfront.
5. Screen Resolution, Browser etc: When first developing your website / blog you probably didn’t know a lot about your potential readers screen resolution. So you had to build your layout based on what little information you had available. However with analytics software you can track your visitors screen resolution. How many visitors have resolution lower than your site width can fit? If it’s a big segment you may want to redesign to stop unneeded scrolling.
6. Filter Viewers: As you take a closer look at particular characteristics of your visitors, you may have the need to segment your results. This is where Filters come in. Filter only users of a particular Web browser, Country, or even referrer domain. Maybe you want to filter out a specific IP address of your work? By eliminating those visits you gain a deeper understanding of your true visitor count.
7. Bounce Rate: If the bounce rate is high, you may need to tailor that page better…maybe redisplay the content. You may also look at the referrer URL and compare bounce rates. Are some traffic sources higher quality? If so, you can focus on gaining more traffic from those referrers.
8. Site Overlay: Google, CrazyEgg and a few others provide the ability to overlay your metrics on your website / blog to see exactly where users are clicking. Wouldn’t it be powerful to understand how Digg users are interacting with your site compared to StumbleUpon users? How about Google search traffic, how do they interact with your site compared to Yahoo search traffic?

Although there are many strategies for attracting new readers to your real estate blog, one basic strategy is to closely follow your website analytics software. If you don’t already use one…start now! I use three different analytics packages: Google Analytics, Clicky Web Analytics and CrazyEgg. Google Analytics is free up to 5 million page views a month. Clicky and CrazyEgg both have a limited free version and a few tiers of paid plans.

However before you jump in to your metrics and get overwhelmed, start by asking yourself a few key business questions about your real estate website or blog that you would like answered. The questions could be:

1. How do I convert more visitors with my IDX MLS tool?
2. How do I gain more subscribers to my Buyer or Seller eBooks?
3. How do I get more visitors to search local communities on my blog?
4. How do I get more visitors to subscribe to my RSS feed?

Once you’ve come up with the questions, you can analyze your data to help find the answers. This method should prevent you from being overwhelmed by the aggregate data and make better use of your time.

Next I will explore specific ways analytics software can help build a broader audience for your real estate blog.

• Share your calendar with teammates and assistants.
• Import activities from Outlook.
• Receive email or mobile text-message reminders for events on your calendar.
• Create a special marketing calendar for each listing, and share it with the homeowner using the “send to a friend” feature.
• Use the invite feature to email special invites for a preview of newly listed homes (Google Calendar keeps track of RSVPs).
• Schedule your “blog posting plan” to keep content ideas flowing and prepared for upcoming posts.

To become even more organized and rid yourself of tardy excuses, simply visit http://m.google.com/sync in your mobile browser to download and install the Google Sync for mobile application. Once installation is complete, click on the Google sync icon and sign in to your Google Account. Now that’s efficient!

Introducing the BLING Widget for Real Estate Agents

Since we have not seen the perfect sidebar bling application for you real estate agents, we developed one for you to use. You will notice in “Step 7″ I instruct you to use the full path to the icons. This is so that you can use this code on real estate networks like Activerain, Facebook and more without making further changes.

Here is an example of the buttons I have created for your use.
(Buttons from left to right: LinkedIn, Facebook, RSS, Activerain, Zolve, MyBlogLog, Google MyMaps, Friendster, Trulia Voices, Zillow and RealTown Real Estate Network.)

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE OF BUTTONS HERE.

IMPORTANT: If you are adding this to your blog, please make a backup of your template before beginning so you can easily restore things if you need too.

Step 1:
Create a new folder on the root directory of your website or blog and title it “bling”

Step 2:
From the icons I’ve created, choose the specific icons you want to use on your sidebar widget and add them to your newly created folder titled “bling”. (Note: Choose either the .jpg files or the .png files. PNG files have a transparent background.)

Step 3:
Start by opening notepad or your HTML editor. Now you will be adding the code from each step to the blank notepad document. Please add each snippet of code to notepad in the order below. If you are advanced, the complete code is avaliable here.

Step 4
Copy the code below. Now paste into the notepad document we opened in Step 3. The code we just copied is for the header of our widget. The widget title is”Find Me Online” If you would like to use a different headline, replace those words with your own. You can also update the header and border color by replacing the hexadecimal (6 Digit) color with one from this chart.
<div style=”margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 3px; padding-bottom: 15px; border: 1px outset #0D3F70; background-color: #FFFFFF; width:210px; height:200px;”><div style=”background-color: #0D3F70; border: 3px double #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF; padding: 2px 3px 2px 2px; margin-bottom: 5px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; width:200px;”>Find Me Online</div>

Step 5
Copy the text below. Now paste this code after the code above. We will be editing it as follows:

Replace [Insert URL of Personal Photo] with absolute/full URL to photo. (i.e. http://www.mytechopinion.com/images/reggie.jpg) (Tip: Ideal width is 75 pixels or less)
Replace [Insert Name] with your name
Replace [Insert Company Name] with your company or blog name
Replace [Insert Your Blog or Website URL Here] with your actual URL
<div style=”position:relative; top: 0px; left: 3px; width: 80px; height: 80px; float:left;”><img src=”[Insert Your Blog or Website URL Here]” alt=”Real Estate Technology” width=”75″ height=”72″/></div><div style=”position: relative; top: 0px; left: 3px; width: 130px; height: 80px; float:right;”><strong>[Insert Name]</strong><br />[Insert Company Name]<br /><a href=”[Insert Your Blog or Website URL Here]“>My Blog</a></div>

Step 6
Copy the code below. This is the DIV for the buttons. Please paste to our open notepade file after the previous code.
<div style=”background: #FFFFFF; top: 10px; left: 3px; width: 210px; height:50px; display:block”><!– Insert Buttons to the left of this block–></div></div><span style=”font-size:9px; vertical-align:top;”>Sidebar Bling by <a href=”http://www.mytechopinion.com”>Technology for Real Estate</a></span>

Ok, now you will start to add the buttons for your widget. 4 buttons will fit on each row. If you are using more than 4 buttons, you can add another DIV by preforming Step 6 again. This will create a 2nd row of icons.

Step 7
Earlier you added the buttons for your widget into a newly created folder. Now find the corresponding code from the options below. Then add each desired to your notepad or open editor. Look for “<!–Insert Buttons to the left of this block–>” and paste the button(s) code before it.

LinkedIn
Replace [Insert LinkedIn URL] with the link to your LinkedIn Profile.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="View My Profile on LinkedIn" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

Facebook
Replace [Insert Facebook URL] with the link to your Facebook Profile. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="Friend Me in Facebook" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

ActiveRain
Replace [Insert Activerain URL] with the link to your Activerain Profile or blog. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="Read more from me on ActiveRain" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

RSS
Replace [Insert RSS URL] with the link to your RSS feed URL. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="Add My RSS Feed" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

Zolve
Replace [Insert Zolve URL] with the link to your Zolve profile or blog. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="View My Profile on LinkedIn" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

MyBlogLog
Replace [Insert ByBlogLog URL] with the link to your MyBlogLog Community. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="Join My Community on MyBlogLog" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

Friendster
Replace [Insert Friendster URL] with the link to your Friendster URL. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="Friend Me in Friendster" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

MyMaps
Replace [Insert MyMaps URL] with the link to your custom Google MyMaps page. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="View MyMaps for Location Info" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

Trulia Voices
Replace [Insert Trulia Voices URL] with the link to your Trulia Voices profile. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert" mce_href="[Insert"><img style="border-style:none" mce_style="border-style: none;" src="[Full" mce_src="[Full" alt="View My Profile on Trulia Voices" width="51" height="47" align="left" /></a>

Zillow
Replace [Insert Zillow Profile URL] with a link to your profile on Zillow. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert Zillow Profile URL]“><img style=”border-style:none” src=”[Full Path to Image]” alt=”View My Profile on Zillow” width=”51″ height=”47″ align=”left” /></a>

RealTown Real Estate Network
Replace [Insert RealTown Profile URL] with a link to your profile on RealTown Real Estate Network. Also replace [Full Path to Image] with your full URL to the image.
<a href=”[Insert RealTown Profile URL]“><img style=”border-style:none” src=”[Full Path to Image]” alt=”View My Profile on RealTown Real Estate Network” width=”51″ height=”47″ align=”left” /></a>

So how exactly does the My Location technology work?

Google will pinpoint your location within 1000 meters by calculating and estimating your handset location based on the unique footprint of surrounding cell towers. To start up this feature from with Google Mobile Maps, click “0” and your approximate location will be displayed on the Map. Your location will be represented by a blue dot if you have GPS or a blue dot with a light blue circle around if you do not have GPS. This dot is your approximate location.

To get started, simply text the word “bluedot” to 33669 or visit www.Google.com/gmm on your mobile device to download the application.

Other useful Google Mobile Apps:

• Search
• Gmail
• Picasa
• Goog-411
• Google Readers
• Google Docs
• Google Calendar
• YouTube

SiteSeer3D is an online application that integrates with your website and allows real estate agents to show buyers 3D views of local geographic areas and points of interest. OK, I know so far I’m just describing Google Earth and Microsoft Live Maps technology. But SiteSeer3D packs in tons of other useful features by interfacing with the local MLS. For example, imagine the buyer (or buyers agent) zooming into individual properties for sale and identifying a home’s proximity to schools, parks, and downtown locations. SiteSeer3D also displays parcel boundaries, much like Cyberhomes, to help buyers understand the true size and shape of the lot. Buyers can click a “details” button on any home for sale to see listing photos, tours, physical characteristics, associated flyers, mortgage calculators, community links and resources etc.

If a real estate agent would like to give their buyer a guided tour, they can use SiteSeer3D’s remote tour guide features. This allows the potential buyer to watch his/her screen while the real estate agent takes the driver seat and explores the local homes for sale and community characteristics. This tool makes the initial preview insightful and helps eliminate showing mismatches; making the actual tour day much more productive while shorting the sale cycle.

After carefully reviewing the SiteSeer3D demo, I found the technology rather intuitive; however one challenge you may face is that they are not integrated with every MLS. When they do integrate, data flows from the MLS via a FTP data push or RETS feed. I was told by SiteSeer3D Excel import is also available although I have not personally tested the feature.

Useful Links for SiteSeer3D:
Watch a video overview of SiteSeer3D