January 28, 2010 by tinainvirginia
Personally, I like Chrome more than Firefox. It’s not as buggy; and now that there are more extensions like those for Firefox, I am very happy. Here is a list of my 10 favorite Chrome extensions:
1. Autocomplete=On Changes ‘autocomplete=off’ to ‘autocomplete=on’ in web pages, so your passwords will be remembered.
2. Chromed Bird Chromed Bird is a Twitter extension that allows you to follow your timelines and interact with your Twitter account.
3. IE Tab For those annoying sites that still only work properly in Internet Explorer, this extension allows you to open an IE tab without leaving Chrome.
4. Google Mail Checker Displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox.
5. RSS Subscription Extension Adds one-click subscription to your toolbar.
6. Google Voice Notifies you of new messages and gives you quick access to calling and free SMS via Google Voice.
7. Google Wave Notifier Displays number of unread Waves.
8. Webpage Screenshot Fast and Simple solution to save JPG screenshot of any webpage.
9. Select to Get Maps Select addresses on any webpage to get useful map links.
10. Shareaholic for Google Chrome Share, save or email any web page with your friends right from the page you are on using Twitter, Facebook, GMail, and many more.
Posted in Opinions, Tips | Tagged browser, chrome, extensions, google | Leave a Comment »
January 11, 2010 by tinainvirginia
On January 4th, AppMakr was launched.
With AppMakr, you can not only create an app for your own site(s), but consider the other uses: conferences, clubs, meetings, family reunions….
AppMakr is really (almost ridiculously) easy to use. For a limited time, they are offering the service for $99 (regularly $199), just use the code “LAUNCH” for the discount.
Posted in Marketing, Tips | Tagged app, application, applications, appmakr, custom, iphone | Leave a Comment »
December 30, 2009 by tinainvirginia
1. Advertise on your website. Something as simple as Google ad words can provide income.
2. Want the consumer to use your affiliated services? Try going B2B instead of B2C. Put some responsibility on the affiliates to drive business to your business instead of having them sit passively waiting for the agents to send them business.
3. Offer agents a chance to blog on your company website. This will give your agents added exposure, drive more traffic to your site and also provide hyper-local content that consumers want. It can also be a great recruiting tool.
4. Form affiliations with worthwhile companies that agents need. Train your agents on how to use these products and reap the benefits. They key here is “worthwhile” – make it something the agents want and need and will benefit the consumer in the end.
5. Stop thinking the only way to recruit an agent is to offer them a higher split and/or an opportunity to make more money. This is a relationship business. Take the time to form relationships and they will come. Get to know them in online communities, Meetups, Realtor committees, etc. Real estate companies need to step up and become leaders in real estate technology so they can pass this knowledge onto their agents. Corporate leaders being ignorant with regards to technology is just not acceptable.
6. Along those lines…stop recruiting anything with a license and a pulse. You are the driver of the industry…act like it and set some standards. Ask yourself, “would I let this agent work with my mother?” – then decide if they’re worth hiring. Think of things you can offer besides a split that will attract today’s agent. A few examples: a featured agent spot on the company website, free company training for a year, free coaching for a year…these all cost very little.
7. Teaching sales techniques to agents is great; however, add industry education. Agents need to be students of real estate, not just sales. Teach them the economics of real estate, trends, history, etc. The consumer will reward you for this. Along these lines, think about adding content on the company website that is not just about houses. Have agents put together short videos for your site about the market in their area, how mortgage rates are determined, their favorite park in their city….the content is fabulous and the exposure priceless.
8. Stop being passive with referrals. Use the power of the internet to attract referrals which you then pass to the agents. Engage with relocating consumers online and form relationships.
9. Being open 9-5 Monday through Friday is so 1980’s. Your website needs to be open and have instant chat available 24-7. Look into overseas agents to keep working while you sleep. It’s surprisingly affordable; and consumer friendly.
10. Your cost of carpet, bricks and mortar is huge. Look at how many agents (and consumers) are actually walking on that carpet on a DAILY basis and you will most likely realize that it can be cut dramatically. If you train your agents to be mobile and work a paperless transaction, this cost can be reduced even further.
Posted in Opinions, Tips | Tagged 2010, broker, companies, company, money, realestate | Leave a Comment »
December 28, 2009 by tinainvirginia
Yes, there is. I truly believe that the newspaper industry can survive. Actually, I think that network television has a bleaker future than print media (but that’s another blog post).
Here’s what newspapers need to do…stop competing. Stop having the online department compete with the newspaper and the weekly magazine. Working together as a team can be grand….
What do I want as an advertiser? I want ONE portal. Let me go to one site where I can upload my ad and you, Mr. Newspaper, give me a menu of choices from which I choose where to send my ad. Offer me direct mail, the local section, multiple online options – maybe even a few different discounted bundles.
I recently attempted to run an ad in one of the newspaper-owned magazines. I went to the website, entered my information, hit “submit” and got a screen telling me I needed to call in. So, I called. Then, I was told that because it was a real estate ad, I would need to call my “rep” and do the ad through her. Seems like the epitome of inefficiency to me….and no, I didn’t call my rep because I don’t have time to:
- leave a message for my rep
- wait for her to call me back
- tell her what I want over the phone
- have her relay that info. to a designer
- fax or email me a proof
- make changes to my proof
- email or fax the changes back
- etc., etc., etc.
Please, Mr. Newspaper, I don’t want to see you die. You have writers and reporters with an incredible amount of talent. We need them. Why not use them to write “bloggertisements” for local businesses that you can post to your blog for a fee? Offer small businesses in the community advertising/marketing classes without a sales pitch – they’ll most likely come to you for advertising that way…I know the rule has always been not to mix the news and advertising departments; however, when the life of the business is on the line, drastic changes are needed.
The newspaper is the heart and soul of hyper-local content. I hope they will take the time to listen to the consumer so they can still keep providing that content for years to come.
Posted in Opinions | Tagged advertise, advertising, future, media, newspaper, print | Leave a Comment »
December 5, 2009 by tinainvirginia
THANK YOU Christine Donovan for the unselfish sharing of the information you took in at the recent Rain Camp! You rock!
This post is a little long, but I attempted to avoid the “wall of words” and think it’s well worth the time.
Blogging 101
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Title of post becomes the URL & title of page – use good keywords.
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Multiple articles using different, but similar, keywords.
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2-4% keyword density on each website page or blog post (2-4% of the words on the page).
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Start and end each page with the keywords for that page/post.
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300-500 words per page/post.
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2 to 4 outgoing links.
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Use anchor text for your links – “Costa Mesa Real Estate” not “Click here”.
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Insert pictures, video or graphics to make it pleasing to the eye.
Twitter 101
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Microblogging – 140 character or less.
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May give you news before it’s even on traditional media.
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Google indexes the past.
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Twitter is indexing things as they are happening, now.
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Post every day – “I found a great deal. . .”
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Twitter is about getting an audience.
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Facebook
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Create fanpages – they can be used to email many fans at once.
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Facebook ads – can be extremely targeted by area, occupation (ie. REO asset manager, HR), etc.
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Invite all of your clients/ past clients to become fans.
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Create groups and lists.
Be the Mayor of Your Community
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Be the resource for all things
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Parks, schools, events, weather, transportation
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Can be a city, neighborhood, subdivision or a group
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Be a connector
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Promote the community
Why Should You Be on the Internet? (I think the better question is why not)
- 74.1% of the population is online
- 32.1 hours per week are spent online – double the amount spent watching tv
- 350,000,000 people on Facebook
- 93% of consumers use search engines
Why is the Internet Important for Real Estate?
- 87% of buyers online to search for properties
- 94% of buyers between 25-44 years are using the internet to search for properties
- 32% of buyers found the home they bought online
SEO
80% of all searches are long tail searches.
The best way for a small company or an individual agent to dominate the internet and their area is by using the long tail search.
- This is the difference between searching Orange County homes and Newport Beach Ocean Front Homes
15 Tools for Geeks from Ben Kinney
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www.namechk.com – checks social networks to see if your name and brand are available. Sign up to keep others from using your name.
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www.wiggio.com – communicate with an entire group, collaborate, group text and email, send polls.
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www.igetsales.net – productivity tool that keeps track of daily activity, pending deals, closed deals.
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www.bing.com and ad words – Bing’s less expensive because they’re new.
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www.xobni.com – takes an email address and goes online to find other profiles and information.
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www.logotournment.com and 99designs.com – allows you to run a logo competition for a few hundred dollars.
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Real Tools for Real Estate from Brad Andersohn
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www.box.net – upload anything. Creates a link and anyone can download.
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www.drop.io – similar to box.net – good for presentations.
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www.jimdo.com – free websites – good for individual property websites
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Posted in Blogging, Marketing, Tips, Training | Tagged activerain, camp, christine, donovan, rain, san francisco | Leave a Comment »
December 1, 2009 by tinainvirginia
I am NOT a photographer. In college, I took a visual media class hoping to awaken my inner creativity through photos. For our final exam, I had the “great idea” to do a collage/slide show of kid’s facial expressions. My excitement was hard to contain as I waited for my film to be developed. That was quickly extinguished when I got my pictures back….I put the film in backwards and all of my photos were black.
Fast forward to last week..the excitement again when I learned I had made it past the first round of the Blog Brawl competition; quickly diminished by my realization that I had to publish a photoblog. Fortunately, my family had planned a trip through the mountains and surely I could get some great photos there…
Upon reaching our destination, I saw the sun setting over the mountains and the wonderful opportunity to capture that for my photoblog. Too bad I didn’t have my camera charged nor did I have the charging cord with me. (FYI…there is not a camera shop anywhere in Elkins, WV to get a charging cord). I was now relegated to using my only other “camera”, my iPhone.
The next day, we set out on a train ride up into the mountains. The scenery was gorgeous, yet I was discouraged from taking any photos as I did not have the ability to zoom or focus the camera and also, I had to take the photos through the window of the train. I decided to just suck it up, quit worrying about the pictures being perfect and take some pictures.
Sunday night, as I reviewed the photos I took, the one below really surprised me. I didn’t realize it would capture my son’s reflection (and his expression) in the window.
I’ve definitely learned a lesson from all of this…the more pictures you take, the more chances you have of getting that one great shot. And, if you don’t bother to take any photos, well, the memories are only that…memories.
Posted in Blogging | Tagged blog, Blogging, brawl, buzz, camera, photo, photoblog, photographer, photography, var | 1 Comment »
November 25, 2009 by tinainvirginia
While the rest of the world is fighting through crowds and standing in long lines in the wee hours of Friday morning, consider sitting in front of your computer, cup of coffee, fuzzy slippers and all….
WHY? Well, to do shopping research, of course! Get ready for Cyber Monday!
Yes, the online stores start their sales on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day; however, they tout the REAL deals on the Monday following the weekend.
So, make your list, check it twice and then go hunt for online coupons to make the deals even sweeter….
Wolkia’s favorite site for online coupon codes: Retailmenot.com
And, of course, our pal Albert at Cheapcheapcheap.com is always keeping us updated with the crazy cheap deals he finds all over the web! Albert also has a new function on the site which will alert you when they find a deal on a specific product you are searching for!
Posted in Tips | Tagged black, cyber, deals, friday, monday, sale, sales, thanksgiving | Leave a Comment »
November 13, 2009 by tinainvirginia
Some people in the web 2.0 world say a physical business card is no longer necessary. With virtual business cards and apps like Bump, it is very easy to share your contact information with people. That being said, I still like a good ‘ol fashioned business card. Please, though, don’t give me the business card of the 1980’s.
Here are a few tips to update and modernize your business card:
1. Get your mug off of it. Seriously. No one wants to see your big glamour shot. Now a caricature, that’s pretty cool.
2. No more than 1 phone number. Really. I just met you and you gave me your card; our next form of communication is not likely to be a fax so I don’t need that number. Cell phone # or office # is just fine.
3. Add some color. Boring white business cards get lost in the shuffle. Oh – and print on both sides too.
4. Making your own cards on an inkjet printer? Just stop. Please.
5. Add some social networking sites so we can connect. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…give me ways to learn more about you.
6. Email, website and/or blog addresses are a must.
7. Want to show off your coolness? Add Skype, IM and/or Google Voice contact info.
Below is a card I received yesterday from Amanda Wernick of Seven Gables Real Estate. I love her card. It’s clean, classy and memorable. The only thing I would change on here is to either add a physical address or somehow incorporate where she is located.
Posted in Marketing, Tips | Tagged business, card, contact, information, update, virtual | 1 Comment »
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Personally, I like Chrome more than Firefox. It’s not as buggy; and now that there are more extensions like those for Firefox, I am very happy. Here is a list of my 10 favorite Chrome extensions:
