Mobile Readiness for Real Estate: Google’s New Update

Brace yourselves. Mobilegeddon is coming. Okay, maybe “mobilegeddon” is a little dramatic, but the search engine world is all atwitter after Google’s latest announcement.

Last month, Google announced that as of April 21st, it will incorporate mobile-friendliness into its search algorithm’s many ranking factors. In their words:

“…we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”

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9 Ways to Enhance Your Listings for Maximum Exposure

One of the biggest challenges that real estate agents face is marketing their listings to a wide audience. Some agents try their darndest to spread the word about new listings, price reductions, and featured properties, but no one responds. Nothing. Crickets. They don’t seem to take notice, or worse: they ignore an agent’s promotions altogether. In fact, the whole process can feel a little one-sided.

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App Alternative: Save Websites to Your Mobile Home Screen

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Frustrated that the websites you frequent don’t have apps? Sick of opening your browser for every quick check-in? It’s a hard life, having a smartphone. I get it.

Here’s a simple hack to make your mobile browsing that much easier: next time you’re on that website you can’t live without, just save it to your home screen.

Voila! You just made an app.

For iPhone users, simply select the Share icon at the bottom of your browsing screen (the arrow coming out of a square) and choose “Add to Home Screen”(shown in the picture).

For Android users, save the website as a bookmark first, then go to your browser’s settings menu, open the Bookmarks folder, press and hold your finger on the bookmark, and choose “Add to Home Screen.”

Our real estate clients sometimes ask us why we don’t make apps for them. Our answer is simple: we make you great mobile sites that are even better than apps! Now, just tell your clients about this neat little trick and they’ll have easy access to your site and the app they so desire.

 

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Creating Mobile Websites for Real Estate Agents and Offices

As any marketer knows, you should always think about your audience and their habits.  When designing your mobile site, make sure you’re keeping the mobile user in mind rather than the desktop user (yes, they are different).  While someone who visits your mobile site might also visit your standard site, their behavior may be different.  Someone visiting your site on their phone is more likely to be looking for specific information on the fly and may bail out faster if they have to dig to find it.

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QR Codes for Real Estate – Hype or Here to Stay?

Invented in Japan in 1994, QR codes are short for “quick response” and can be read by camera-ready smart phones with an app. Much like with a bar code, which have been used for decades, it is easier to scan something than it is to type something.

The sudden hype around this type of technology today is due to the explosions of smart phones.  Scanning QR codes from a phone is easier for users than typing, which personally I still find finicky on an iPhone, for example.

So, What Kinds of Uses Do They Have Already?

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A Case Study in Video Marketing: St. Michael’s College

I recently participated as a judge in a video contest for students at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. The rules for the contest, sponsored by the Admissions office, were straightforward: Create a 2-4 minute video that includes three or more reasons why you love St. Mike’s (at least one had to relate to academics), and post it on YouTube. You can imagine the array of reasons that resulted!

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The Thing with Bing – Not Just a Search Engine

So some of you might have seen the commercials recently for Bing, the search engine formerly known as MSN Live? Hang on, did I say search engine? I meant to say ‘decision engine’. That’s what they call it and want us to think of it as. Kind of reminds me of when Prince changed his name. Regardless, why should we pay attention to Bing as search engine optimizers? You can call us search engine optimists, since we like to hear the positives!

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