RealtySites PLUS is pleased to bring you new updates and features to our already great suite of online tools.

Please log onto our website for a quick webinar demonstration to learn more about our:

MLS Update feature: Now you can quickly and easily update your listing information like Price, Status, Expiry, Date, and Cancellation dates from MLS

Organize your Rooms: This new feature will allow you to sort the order you’d like the rooms to appear on your listing.

Content Library: If you want to add some great new menu items quickly and easily please help yourself to content that’s already created for you. You can also edit the content to suit the needs of your online consumers.

Email Template: Give your email a professional look by adding color to your banner head. Although this is not a new feature it will make all of your emails and incubation letters look great!

http://www.realtysitesplus.com/index.php?id=events

Stay Tuned! More updates and features to come from RealtySites PLUS!

RealtySites PLUS is pleased to announce  a brand new MLS update feature for our clients. You can now update your listings information and changes from MLS by using this great new tool. Quickly and effortlessly update Price, Status, Expiry date, and cancellation dates.
MLS update can be accessed by going to your Site Manager, and clicking on the Update MLS tab. Allow up to 24 hrs for the information to be collected from MLS depending on your board. Once you receive the information you’ll see all of your listings that need updating. Select the listings that you want to amend and click the “update button.” Voila! Your listings are now updated on your site.
Stay tuned for more great features from RealtySites PLUS

Rob Matton

Selecting the right domain name for your real estate website is essential to catapulting your new site out of the Google Sandbox and into the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).  So, here is my Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Domain Selection. Hopefully this will take some of the mystery out of the process.

• 1. Always choose a .com extension. .com’s are the Cadillac’s of domain names. I know it can be hard to find an available .com name, but the time invested in researching is worth it. Most people assume a domain is a .com, so selecting anything other than a .com can actually prevent people from finding you even when they “know” the address.

NOTE: NEVER select a .info name!!! .info extensions are cheap for a reason. They are notorious for being used by spammers and search engines are savvy to that and do not rank them as highly.

• 1. Try to avoid including hyphens (-) in a domain name. Hyphens make your domain hard to remember for the average person and easy to mistype. Another very important reason why a site should not chose a hyphenated domain is that Technorati and some other social networks can have a difficult time indexing new hyphenated domains. Technorati is a great way to get your message out so you don’t want to alienate it with a bad domain.
  2. Keep domains short, easy to remember and easy to spell. Check out this old but good article on selecting memorable domains. This is especially important if you are selecting a domain with either your name or a farm area in it. If your name or farm area is difficult to spell, nix it from your domain! A domain name should be no longer than 25 characters not counting the www or .com.  Now, if you can keep the words simple and easy to remember, you can make it a bit longer, but try to keep it under 25 characters if possible.
  3. Include keywords in the domain. Search engines love keyword rich domains.   Keywords specific to real estate are: your farm area, home, homes, home sales, house, condo, real estate, realty, rent, rentals, estates, etc. You can buy your name as a domain, but using it for your primary site isn’t as useful from an SEO standpoint.   If you want a URL with your name in it use it as a redirect to a site with more SEO pizzazz so you can leapfrog out of the Google Sandbox and the domain itself is easier for the general public to remember.
  4. Beware of including poison words. According to Aaron Wall of SEObook, poison words are words that are known to decrease your pages rankings if a search engine finds them in the title, description or in the url. They don’t kill, they just bury pages in rankings. There is a huge list of poison words so I won’t post them here, but outside of the obvious curse, porn, medication and disaster words, terms like “blog,” “forum,” and “hurricane Katrina” are considered poison as well. There us a long list of poison and general words to avoid in domain names, use good judgment when selecting a domain and avoid anything too controversial.
  5. Always check to make sure you are not purchasing a domain that is blacklisted by Google. Use this blacklist checker tool before purchasing any domain. Needless to say, many times after a Realtor or company realizes their site has been banned, they let the domain lapse and it goes back on the market for an unsuspecting consumer to buy. To check to see if your new domain is banned for having sent spam, check with SpamHaus. If you are banned for spam, you will have trouble getting your email delivered to recipients, so all you have to do to get your domain reinstated by SpamHaus is call or email them and explain you get purchased the domain. Much simpler fix than the Google one.

So, what are my favorite tools for finding a domain?

GoDaddy

I have to say the Daddy of all registrars is my favorite. If the domain you search for is taken, it will make helpful suggestions of other names you might like instead and their prices are very inexpensive.

Just Dropped

Oh, I love this site. It will show you a list of websites that were previously owned (meaning they had some name value to someone) and are back on the market. You do have to be careful with these previously owned sites as they can be blacklisted, but overall I have had good luck with this site.

The dreaded “Goober Call”…just the thought of it makes me squirm like a child waiting in the dentist’s office. Some of you may be asking, “What the heck is a goober call?” We Realtors have ALL experienced the goober call on many occasions, some more often than others. A goober call, my fellow Realtors, is when a Seller calls and asks you things like, ”Hey, why isn’t my house selling?”, “How come I haven’t received any feedback on that last showing?”, or – god forbid – “Just what the heck are you doing for all those commission dollars I’m paying you?”

Actually, a goober call is almost every call the Seller makes to you. The reason I say that is because most of the time the call doesn’t start out as a goober call, but turns out like that. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mean that I think the Seller is a goober, I just think that the conversation is a goober call, and honestly, the goober is usually the Realtor if they get that kind of call. Why am I dissing my peeps, my colleagues, my own Realtors? Simple: if you get a goober call, it’s usually your fault. These types of calls can be prevented with a little effort and strategic planning.

“Terry, how can we avoid goober calls?” I’m glad you asked! The first way to prevent goober calls is to ALWAYS do a listing presentation using proper presentation software (like PowerPoint). Yes, I said ALWAYS. A good listing presentation is invaluable to you as a Realtor. First, it should set out all the parameters with regards to marketing efforts, advertising, communication and feedback systems, and how your client will use your systems. You must explain your processes, commissions and any other ancillary services you may offer. The key is to never over-promise and under-deliver. If you say you’ll communicate feedback from every showing, you’d better darn well do it.

Another strategy I use in my business is to send the Sellers a `Stats Update’ letter every two weeks. This letter should explain to them what the current market conditions are, what comparable homes have recently sold or been listed, and how many web hits MLS and your website have generated. By giving the Seller this information BEFORE they ask for it or even want it you eliminate the goober call. On opposite weeks to the stats update letter, send a marketing update letter and include PDF`s of any ad or marketing piece. Let them know where and when their home will be exposed to the market. Also, send them all the listing and selling documents via email so they have the ability to answer their own questions before they call you, and the conversation turns into a goober call.

This approach has helped me greatly in my business. I’ve sold 100 homes every year for the past 12 years with NO buyers agent, only an admin person. And, I did it working only the odd weeknight, and hardly ever on weekends. That, my fellow Realtors, is what happens when you eliminate the goober call.

A few different blog posts I’ve read recently point to the same problem: way too much online information. With search engines and people gobbling up free stuff like e-books, webinars, tipsheets, special reports, and other forms of e-info out there, it seems that we’re facing a crisis of information overload.

By now, we know that content satisfies search engine appetites and helps drive SER’s, and we’ve all hopped on the bandwagon. I find myself agreeing with the bloggers saying that the content bandwagon’s beginning to look more and more like one of those clown cars at the circus. Everyone’s got content to read, download, print, or view on-demand – the internet’s bursting at the seams with information.

If you’d rather stick pins in your eyes than watch yet another webinar or have bamboo shoots shoved under your fingernails before downloading and half-reading another e-book, maybe the problem isn’t really too much information, but rather too much of the WRONG information.

I get several emails every day urging me to sign up for webinar after webinar on seemingly every e-marketing tool and technique going. The reality is that there’s only so much time in the day, and I’ve probably actually attended only 2 out of the 20+ webinars I’ve signed up for in the last few months. Chances are good that I’ve missed a few usable morsels of information. For the most part, though, the unfortunate reality is: probably not. Most of the tips and tactics shared by these companies are things I’ve already learned on my own or picked up through research and reading, and practice in my own businesses.

So how do we, as busy professionals, separate the good stuff from the crap? What ‘free’ information warrants an investment of our time to read, view or engage in, and what doesn’t? Ultimately, it’s up to us and our experience level or interest with the subject matter. For example, I likely won’t attend a webinar on successful email campaigns, given my past experience and expertise on the subject, unless it appears that the session will impart something new. On the flipside, I read a lot of blogs and other information on social media and emerging practices because that’s one of my specialties.

However, if a software company that I just created an account with were encouraging me to participate in a webinar that would provide tips for using their software and improving my results with great insider tips and information, chances are I’d invest the time, whether live or on-demand.

There’s a lot of free information floating around in cyber space these days – it’s up to you to figure out what’s going to be worth your time. Even if you learn just one new thing, I’d say that’s time well spent.

Lisa-May Huby, Director of Marketing

Previous Real Estate 2.0 posts discussed conversation, communication, and transparency. This final instalment will cover information. Instant information, that is.

Providing instant information should be a priority when you’ve got a captive audience on your website. You need to give your online visitors easy access to information they want, without making them meander thru your site viewing page after page.

You literally have just seconds to captivate online consumers before they bolt from your site, so this MUST be a priority. Adding something simple, like pdf downloads of moving checklists or tips for adding curb appeal provides helpful information for visitors quickly and easily. To make it easier to search your listings, try creating unique ID numbers for each listing, and add a search function on every page of your website so visitors can get to the exact property listing they’re looking for.

With RealtySites PLUS™, you have lots of options that will get information in your online visitors’ hands instantly (or, in some cases, almost instantly). Customize your menu items to include pdf downloads or articles visitors can read online, and don’t forget about automating notices. You’ll blow your clients’ minds when they receive a note or instant message (IM) from you advising them of an upcoming open house for a property they viewed online.

TLC