4

May 20, 2009

Real Estate Blogging Objectives

Tired of blogging? No Time?

Recently I came across this forum post by a beleaguered, blogging Realtor.

“when i first began blogging i was very excited i found out a way to reach the world and express my thoughts.My Real Estate blog began to be filled with content and awesome articles. As i continue to blog and expand my audience and continue to grow my business i have found myself exhausted and overwhelmed. I am exhausted every article requires time and thought something that i really dont have. i recently began looking for a ghost blogger but guess what i haven’t found one yet. Does any one have any suggestions?”

As the season gets busier for Realtors, a common issue is finding time to sit down and write a well written blog post with good content. It is wiser to keep a consistent output rather than flurries of activity, so if you only blog once a month that is preferable to a high frequency of blogs and then nothing at all for long periods. Readers will check in at regular intervals but if there is nothing there for ages you run the risk of losing them completely as they think the blog is dormant. Rather than leave your blog dormant until you find the time and energy to jump back in, consider this:

+ Continue Reading

Comments

Ted Adler

May 18, 2009

Real Estate Apps on the iPhone

Apple is running TV commercials focusing on the applications available on the new iPhone. They recently released one that highlights a real estate application geared towards students looking for apartment rentals close to campus. You can see the advertisement here.

Although college students perceived as market leaders when it comes to technology adaptation (just behind middle schoolers), they’re not the only ones using their mobile devices to look up real estate. As iPhone sales skyrocket even in this down economy, users are expecting that your site will load on their mobile device. The trend is catching on amongst real estate data sites too. Some newspapers like the Gainsville Sun and sites like Trulia & Zillow are making their sites easier to search using a mobile phone.

You should check with your web developer to make sure your site is mobile friendly. Some real estate web site developers (like Union Street Media), can create a new mobile template for your site that strips away non-core images & content, which increases the speed that the site loads on the mobile phone. Check out the two variations of Brian Boardman’s web site to see what it looks like on a web browser and on a mobile phone.

We generally see three types of REALTORS requesting mobile-friendly sites:

REALTORS who are technology savvy and browse the web on their mobile phones
REALTORS who’s clients are technology savvy and use mobile phones for real estate searches
REALTORS in a second home markets

Check out http://www.adamdow.com if you’d like to see one person that fits all three categories (and was one of the first clients to get a mobile-friendly site from USM).

There are a lot of other cool examples of mobile-friendly real estate web sites out there. Please share any that you have come across in the comments section below. Thanks!

Comments

Union Street Media News

May 1, 2009

The Value of Real Estate Video-Bios and Testimonials

Image by gamerscoreblog via Flickr

In a new era of ‘social’ media and more direct communication with buyers, it’s important to remember to be sociable without the appearances of a hard sell. Realtors are very much used to the meet-and-greet with prospective clients so a natural extension of this is to display these skills on the web.

When we here at Union Street Media talk to our Real Estate clients, we frequently hear that before the dominance of real estate websites they received many more direct calls from perspective clients. These days, they say, there are so many more barriers before that initial phone call happens. Many potential clients want to avoid the pressure of a face to face meeting and are more inclined to make contact via email and contact forms. In this sterile online environment, the opportunity for the broker to display his or her knowledge and personality is limited, thus reducing their direct impact on the buyer. In effect, there is so much more run-around before the broker and buyer actually meet and make a personal connection. This is where the video-bio comes in. If used correctly, the video bio can break down these communication barriers to get across the knowledge and personality that you just can’t achieve through email.

We are proud to present our own video bio for Brian Boardman here, which we produced in-house. Clearly comfortable in front of a camera, you get to see a more personable view of him and not just a slick advertisement.

What are the advantages to video bios?

+ Continue Reading

Comments

Union Street Media News

April 18, 2009

Negative Real Estate Consumer Report

I receive daily emails from ActiveRain, these cover all kinds of topics. Usually I don’t have a lot of time to read through them; so I skim over the newsletter titles and see if anything catches my eye. Well today one did: “Survey Says… REALTORS Suck”. Wow! I certainly clicked on that one.

The first thing that struck me was that this is a great example of an attention grabbing blog title. It will get your readers to click and read. It is controversial, and let’s face it, people love controversy. As a former real estate agent and the daughter and sibling of two REALTORS I couldn’t resist reading on.

I found the article interesting. I think it is a good reminder to ANY agent, new, old or otherwise, about what your consumer is looking for and what is important to them. A professional in any field should always be keeping up on the needs of their clients.

Two of the most interesting points for me where:

1. That the most important thing to the consumer is lowest commission and knowledge is the least. My reaction to that was, “No wonder you think REALTORS suck.” In my experience the lower the commission, the less attention paid to the client.

Maybe that’s not true in all cases, but I have a feeling it doesn’t help! So how does the average REALTOR put this information to use? Should they all be slashing their commissions? Well it turns out that 95% of consumers are still using Agents. Even though the consumer feels they can get just as much knowledge by doing their own legwork, they are still relaying on real estate professionals when all is said and done.

I don’t think this is a free pass and should be counted on, especially in this market. I think it’s important to be the best at what you do and the most knowledgeable about technology, your area, the state of the market, etc. Those are the agents that will get the business and keep it.

2. The example photos Jeff Corbett uses, got me giggling. He could not be more dead on with this point. If all you can fit in the bathroom shot is the toilet, leave it off the listing! Nobody needs to see the toilet. Okay, so the owner did a great job redoing the bathroom, but it is too small to photograph. How about taking close-up shots of some of the details? BUT, please spare us the toilet shot.

The other one that always gets me is the tiny bedroom, that just shows the bed or maybe a corner of the bed and a window. In those cases, how about a video of the property? We can help guide you through this process and you’ll be better off for it!

Just to hammer the point home, here are a few examples of photos you should skip!

Are they selling the bed or the house?

Ahh the lovely toilet… So homey!

Overall its a great article so give it a read! “Survey Says… Realtors Suck!” By Jeff Corbett, Active Rain Staff Writer. You’ll probably find one or two take aways.

Comments

Union Street Media News

April 15, 2009

Real Estate Blogging Success Story

When talking to clients, USM consistently recommends starting an on-site blog to help boost their website’s performance. At their most basic level, on-site Blogs are very beneficial to a lead generating website on two distinct fronts:

Blogs

On the human side of things blogs, offer a way for a business to show their clientele a more personal side with minimal time commitment. When writing copy for a business website, the author needs to think about maintaining professional voice and assuring that the piece that they are writing is consistent with the subject of the page they are posting it. The beauty of a blog is that by their very nature people expect blogs to be more informal and cover a variety of subjects. On a blog you can have two posts one after the other about completely opposite subjects and it is completely acceptable.
As with everything on the Internet, you are writing for two audiences: people and search engines. There is lots of fancy language involved in Search Engine Optimization, but the keystone of SEO is “the keyword”. If, as you blog, you do so with an eye to your site’s primary keywords, you can turn your blog into a treasure trove of unique, keyword-rich content for search engines. The SEO value of blogs does not stop there, however. Because of the nature of blog software, every time you write a post, the software notifies Google that it has new content and the blog is re-indexed. The more frequently the site is indexed the better your placement in Google will be.

These are pretty standard, as long as you blog frequently on you own domain you will reap these benefits. Quality of writing and pertinence of subject also can provide their own benefits. Take for example our client, Brad Dinsmore, a Southern New Hampshire Realtor. Brad had us build him an on-site blog a few months ago and started blogging about subjects effecting his market area in and around Windham, NH. He was doing a great job, titling his posts with keyword rich language, blogging frequently and linking to the rest of his site. Because of this, he was receiving the benefits listed in the bullet points above. Because of the quality and originality of his posts, a reporter from a local paper called the Eagle Tribune came into his office last week with a copy of one of his blog posts titled Southern NH Home Sales: 1st Quarter 2009 the reporter wanted to write a feature article for the Sunday Edition based on Brad’s post. The end result of this was that on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Eagle Tribune were two large color photos of one of his office’s agents Debbie St Jean and two, first time-home buyers as part of an article entitled First-time buyers a ray of sunshine in dismal N.H. housing market. This is publicity that you cannot buy and a perfect example that when you put your expertise out there you will reap the benefits. If you know your market better than anyone else then let people know. Add content to your site and blog regularly. You may not get a featured article out of it but you will start to gain the recognition that you deserve.

Comments

Union Street Media News

February 18, 2009

Internet Marketing Basics for Realtors: IDX participation

Image via Wikipedia

In all the hubbub about listing aggregation services like Trulia and Zillow or the classifieds site Craigslist or any number of other new and emerging real estate services out there, some simple basics can get lost. If you are a real estate professional interested in getting the property you list seen by the most people there’s often a basic tool available to you: MLS IDX participation.

I know that it isn’t new or sexy. In fact, it’s really old. But getting your listing viewed by people who are genuinely interested in buying property can be achieved right out of the gate by participating in your MLS IDX. The people who see your listing via the MLS IDX are likely to have the following traits:

Interest in buying property vs kicking tires
Interest in working with a Realtor
Interest in the geographic region served by your MLS

That’s the basics. If someone meets those characteristics then you probably want them to see your listings. By participating in your MLS IDX program you make it easier for more qualified people to see your listing.

Once you’ve got that basic piece down, then go wild with all the other aggregation and syndication options you can. In some MLS programs they will even handle the syndication themselves. If not, your web developer may be able handle automate the syndication as well (I know the real estate websites we make at Union Street Media can have syndication options enabled).

But start with the basics. Don’t miss out on all those people interested in buying, interested in working with a real estate professional and interested in your area.

Comments

Union Street Media News

February 17, 2009

Why video is good for marketing real estate online.

Image by zcreem via Flickr

[Ed. note: The Real Estate Internet Marketing blog welcomes a new voice to the blog, our intern Tom Cull. We think you’ll enjoy his perspective and experience working with video in this and other posts.]

Remember when “Video killed the Radio Star“? According to The Pew Internet & American Life Project, almost 15% of all web traffic comes from You Tube and other video-sharing platforms. Couple that with Google’s increasing ability to index video into top search results and using video becomes a key component.

Many small businesses are jumping on this bandwagon as people are becoming more accustomed and willing to watching video online as they are to read text, especially with advertising. Using platforms like YouTube also saves on storage and bandwidth costs with great distribution possibilities from social networking.

But a caveat, large or small it is important to follow some basic rules of online video to communicate your message effectively and not turn off the viewer:

+ Continue Reading

Comments

Union Street Media News

February 2, 2009

USM in the News: SEO, Real Estate Marketing Online and Print Media

Image via Wikipedia

Union Street Media pulled a hat trick of news mentions this week. We think the readers of our blog will find something of value in each these articles as well.

Search Engine Optimization for Small Business

Our director of web strategy, Gahlord Dewald, was quoted in the Burlington Free Press for an article that discusses the marketing discipline of search engine optimization (SEO) from the perspective of a small maple syrup producer. Dewald says he was very happy to offer his insights to the story and encourages you to read the sidebar, especially Nicole Ravlin‘s excellent tie in to social media at the end. [Please note that Gannett time-limits the availability of their articles, so the link may cease working sometime in the furture–read it while it’s hot]

Future of a Daily Print Newspaper

Union Street Media founder Ted Adler was quoted in a feature story about Free Press publisher Brad Robertson in Seven Days (the Burlington-owned weekly paper and kind-of competitor to the Free Press). Ted makes note of Brad’s innovative change-agent style. If you’re interested in what’s happening in news media, the article provides a great perspective from outside the big shakeups going on in the larger markets.

Examine the True Costs of Your Online Marketing Efforts

Gahlord answered a Q&A about which types of skills and technologies will be most useful to real estate professionals engaged in online marketing for Inman News. He encourages business owners to evaluate whether their current low-cost methods of marketing are truly low cost.

Comments