Real Estate Blog Pro

Virtual Tours, Newsletters and Resources on the Fly! Now that's Pro!

Wanna create Virtual Tours like a PRO?  Integrate them into your blog or website?  Lifehacker told us last week about this kick ass new website called Mapwing and let this Pro be the first (ok, second) to tell you, It Kicks Ass. 


Mapwing simplifies all of the hassles involved with creating real estate VR tours.  No stitching of panoramics. No learning code in order to embed the 360 pano thingy.  None of that crap that you have to pay web designers bizillions of dollars to do for you.  Just follow the instructions to the T and you'll end up with a terrific looking floorplan with integrated Virtual Tour.  In the end you'll have the option of embedding it within your own website or emailing it to your clients! Its the perfect blog marketing tool.


Create newsletters on the Fly with Letterpop [found via Lifehacker] This is an AMAZING tool!  Look at the newsletter that I created for my father's surveying equipment supply company in South Carolina here.  This is perfect for real estate agents because you have so much flexibility with how photos and text can be displayed, you can have multiple pages and instantly email the newsletter to up to 500 people.  Give it a whirl!

A hefty list of blog resources can be found over here at Daily Blog Tips Blog.  You should definately subscribe to this blog's RSS because it always comes packin!'


Technorati Tags: newsletters, resources, links, virtual tours, Letterpop, Mapwing

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Uncle Google brings New Beta for Blogger

You must have asked for it, cuz  you got it!  Blogger just went beta and Google is bringing some new features.  Also, you can now tie your blogger account to your gmail account.  

Some of the new stuff you'll find:

• Categorizing posts with labels
• Blog Readers - specify who can read your blog
• Appearance changing - templates, and managing changes without HTML

Pro wonders how this will effect the development of Picasa Web Albums.





[link via DownloadSquad]














check out the Blogger Buzz

Technorati Tags: google, blogger beta, picasa web albums

Problogger spreads the Gospel of Blogging A-Z

Here's a group of tips from the man himself- Problogger.  Unlike this Pro, Problogger already is a Pro-blogger. Just check out his list of blogging tips from A-Z for professional bloggers.  Here are a couple of the example that he pulls from the alphabet:

Bloggers for Hire - bloggers looking for work and potential employers looking for bloggers
Google Analytics - Metrics Tool
Webpad - web based text editor

and many many more...check it out!

A-Z of Professional Blogging [ProBlogger]
[link found via LifeHacker]



Technorati Tags: blogging tips, tricks

Textcasting: Podcasting for text will be BIG for real estate listing syndication

Almost a year and a half ago, LoftNinja began to maintain an all text blog for strictly listings-at the time, the blog was called Ninjalistings.*  He chose Blogger as the platform because its ownership (Google, duh) and began to use Talkr (a text to speech feed reader) so that his subscribers could download the listings to their iPod.  Just a few days ago, Library Clips Blog posted an entry about Textcasting (which is essentially the same thing) and confirmed further speculated that syndicating text via podcast could be the next thing!  Today, you can still recieve listings from the LoftNinja on your iPod...its still somewhat of a guerilla housing operation, but that's what makes it fun i suppose.


Today's Paper on your iPod [Slate]
Podcasting Listings are we? Hmmmm...sounds mighty familiar, don'tcha think?[Urbanfoto]
The fotoUR BLogger of the Day on iBlogthere4iM [Urbanfoto] (provides a bit of background and links to an interview with LoftNinja's friend- The fotoUR)

* its probably important to note that while one becomes a Pro [ie. zero experience---->learning process through self teaching], sometimes you will run into roadblocks such as getting hacked by outside entities.  In the case with LoftNinja and Ninjalistings (version 1), he hotlinked an image by permission from another blogger's site and one day that blogger's little brother thought it would be funny to insert a pornographic image in place of the original image (on like this: ) and all of a sudden the oh-so innovative real estate blog turned from respectable to smut.  Luckily he caught it right away, but had to delete the entire thing and start over....thus, the Typepad turn.  I tell you thins so that you will learn from the mistake.  1) Make sure your images are hosted safely in a place under your control and 2) Remember that there is always someone out there smarter than you- and if they aren't, thier little brother or sister will most certainly be.


Technorati Tags: textcasting, blogging, ipod, technology, real estate, housing, innovation, guerilla housing

Blog Dictionary will keep your words in check

Blogging Dictionary may be a very helpful allie in your quest to become Real Estate Blog Pro
[Lifehacker via Quick Online Tips]


Technorati Tags: dictionary, blogging dictionary, tips

Pro invited to be a contributer to Realty Blogging Blog

That's right.  Pro is gonna be all up in some Realty Blogging with some real estate-ish / web 2.0 bloggy-type posts pretty soon.  Who knows- maybe there's even a chance he'll use grammatically correct english and a somewhat understandable sentence structure!  Wouldn't that be exciting!
Would it?

A Network of Blogging Evangelists Writing On Effective Real Estate Blogging

Technorati Tags: bloggers, invitation, web2.0, real estate bloggers, network, realty blogging, realty

A top menu bar Typepad Hack

If you noticed the Pro's new navigation menu up top, you might be wondering "How the hell did he do that?"  Well, if you use typepad blogging platform from six apart, you know that hacking it isn't all that easy- and there arent too many hacks out there for typepad.  Nevertheless, check out Jimmy The Geek for this top menu bar hack.  I promise that if you follow the steps as laid out by Jimmy, you'll have one for yourself in no time.
This is especially useful for real estate agents who might want to keep their listings blog and company blog separate from their personal blog.
For other typepad hacks, check here.


Technorati Tags: typepad, hacks, sixapart, navigation,

A tip for realtors regarding links and linking correctly

The RealtorWeblog posted a useful tip yesterday for realtors regarding linkage.  With Google apparently "cracking down on unrelated links" (per Matt Cutts of Google), it may be time for you to think about who you trade links with.  Realtor Marketing Blog has a few suggestions for who to jump in the linking game with:

Mortgage companies

Home renovators

Mortgage brokers

Banks

home inspection

Realtors from out of town

Technorati Tags: marketing, linkage, realtors

Feeling overwhelmed? Here are six steps for learning difficult subjects quickly

I know.  All of this blogging biz can be a little overwhelming at first.  Believe me, looking at RSS, AJAX, and all of the other stuff one should know when blogging, its enough to make you wanna dig a hole and crawl in.  and In fact, if the Pro had begun blogging knowing that there would be all this stuff to learn, he might have gone about it a different way.  But for your sake, its good he didn't!  Everything that you are learning on this blog was self taught and most of it had to be figured out becuase there havent been many tutorials around for this stuff for very long.  If you stick with it, it will be worth it to your business and your clients.  This much is for certain.  With that in mind, take a look at these six steps for learning difficult subjects quickly (Paul's Tips). [link Lifehacker]
Step 1: Bombard yourself with information
Step 2: Identify the key concepts and make them yours
Step 3: Only memorize what absolutely has to be memorized
Step 4: Get some feedback on your understanding
Step 5: Bombard yourself with some more information, but from another source
Step 6: Get some real-world feedback (blogging makes this one a given...)
[read them all in detail here]

If you think that one is helpful, you might wanna also check into the Five Minute Organizer [Success Begins Today]



Technorati Tags: tips, real estate, learning, organizer

Get more info from your readers and make that sale with this easy form builder

Would you like to put a form on your site for your readers to fill out and submit?  Its a terrific way to find out who your readers are and put you in contact with them directly.  Well, let me introduce you to Sidewalk.  [link via DownloadSquad] Its an AJAX enabled form builder that's easy to create and simple to integrate onto your blog.  For a real estate agent, this is a powerful tool, as there is a good chance that the info that you gather from your readers will tell you a lot about the types of clients that your content appeals to. You'll have information to work with in minutes!

 Sidewalk forms can be embedded in any web page
just by copying and pasting a bit of JavaScript, which I think is one of its greatest selling points. When someone
fills out your form their answers are e-mailed to you as well as added to a web-based database where you can search the
responses and export them to CSV.

[link via DownloadSquad]

Real Estate Blog Pro ZOOM Cloud

technorati tags: zoomcloud, realestate, blog, reblogpro, cloud, tags

Why real estate broker-owners arent blowing their advertising wad online

 
Today on Inman Real Estate News - No tipping point offers a few terrific reasons for why real estate broker-owners may not be spending their advertising cash online.
In his blog, Brad Inman give ten reasons for why this may be:

1. For decades, their tried and tested model for getting business is paying sales commissions to real estate agents.
2. Agents tend to pay for consumer marketing, not brokers.
3. The lead management technology out there to help brokers digest and distribute leads is not very good.
4. Brokers are incented to give Web leads to low performing agents, for better splits, that creates trouble in the office with top producers and gives an inferior experience to the consumer.
5.  Some brokers who have tested online lead programs have been disappointed with the results.
   
6. To do it right, brokers need to invest big dollars, like Weichert has, in e-commerce systems.
7. To justify the economics of the investment, brokers must also sell a referral program inside the company, which is not very popular with agents.
8. The housing market has slowed, putting broker attention elsewhere.
9. Technology intimidates many brokers.
10.  Many brokers put their attention on fighting Web innovation instead of embracing it. What do you think?

                   -B.Inman 

Brad hit the nail on the head with almost all of these.  Nevertheless, for our purposes the last two are the most important.  The Pro hopes to help with the woes of techno-intimidation by offering a few routes towards success to embrace.  Your voice matters.  The real estate market is influenced by you.  Why not make your presence as colorful as possible?

 

technorati tags: brokers, realestate, online, advertising, technology