Real Estate 2.0 Technology

This is a common question that I get asked by many who are considering starting up a Blog or a Website. I really don't know what the right answer is, but I think that Blogs are starting to have a real impact in our Industry. I also don't think that the websites (especially corporate ones) will ever go away. The Blog is always changing with new and fresh content, topics, and ideas. Comments from others also adds new and fresh text for the search engines to find! Websites are great because many of us already have them, and consumers are used to them. Will Blogs be short lived based on the owners ability to keep coming up with good content? Are Websites more permanent? Listen to what Inman News predicts. Are there really some significant reasons as to why you'd want one or the other...or both?

What's on a Typical Real Estate Website or Blog?

• Listing Information
• Area Statistics
  
• Demographic Data
• Buyer and Seller Reports
• Why they should choose you
• Home Valuation Research
• Website Traffic Reports
• Email Lead Notification
• Leads Management
• Featured Listings
• Mortgage Calculators
• Custom Property Searches
• Buyer's Hot-list
• Relocation Tools
  
• Lead Generating Tools
• Local and National Free Reports
• Local Events and Information
• Weather Reports
  
• School Information and Reviews etc.
  

Can't you do all these things on both a Website or a Blog? So why have Both? In fact, isn't it easier to do a Blog than it is to try and learn HTML so you can keep up a Website? A Blog gives the user more control over the activities, changes, ideas, upgrades and overall site management. With a well written and professional looking Blog, you can't tell it's not a website! Is it easier for clients to interact with you on a Blog or on your Website? Email or phone seems to be the only way to communicate with you from a Website. Hasn't the Website become just a one-way portal of advertising? Isn't that why Blogging is called Web 2.0? Website vs Blog!


One BIG advantage of a Blog is the cost! I know some REALTORS® that pay over $50.00+ per month for their Website, and they have no control of it. They have to contact a webmaster to make any changes, and they have to pay for any additional services and support. Even worse,sometimes their page doesn't show up on the search engines, even when you type in their domain names. What about leads and referrals? A Blog is FREE and easy, and the support you get from networks like Active Rain and others is priceless. People helping people just because. The downside of the Blog is the time you need to invest. So is it worth the money to just pay a webmaster and have a Website? Should you just hire a writer for your Blog? Wouldn't they be called a Blog-Master? What's the difference?

Google loves Active Rain Blogs, maybe even more than some Real Estate Websites out there. I am not saying that Websites are a waste of time, money and effort, just wondering what advice to give someone who asks this question? What advice would you give another industry professional who might really need your help with this? In a time where money is tight, the market has shifted, and technology in our industry is changing, where do you suggest that marketing dollars are best spent? What's your thought on having a Website or a Blog? I know some very successful REALTORS® that don't have either, and some that have both! I wish I had a plain and simple answer for this one!! Do You?

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Today a client asked me, "Why should I Blog? Why wouldn't I just use email or talk on the phone?" This was a great question, and momentarily had me stumped! "I wish I could just use my phone to Blog?" I asked, "Why wouldn't you want to expose your marketing and advertising efforts for free using a Blog? She responded, "Because I don't have time, I'm not a writer, and Blogging requires both!"

I have to say, these are valid concerns for someone who is considering starting a Blog. Then she commented, "If I could just speak into a microphone or something like that, I might consider it. If I could use my phone to Blog, that would be even better." I started looking for a solution on how to to create a "Voice Activated Blog!" Taking into consideration the cost/expense of creating such a thing, I did some research and here's what I found.

It's a company with a widget that allows you to use your phone to Blog. The widget is then placed on your Blog for others to hear, and they can comment or reply via their phone. I thought this was pretty cool, and wanted to share it on my Blog tonight. It's called Utterz. It's simple to sign up and begin using your cell phone or land line to Blog! IT's FREE!

Here's how it works: Just call 712-432-Mooo(6666) and record your topic, record an idea for a post, explain your world view, or just post what's on your mind. You can also send video, pictures and text to go@utterz.com, and they'll post it for you!! It adds a whole new meaning to "finding your voice" for a Blog! Here's another member's phone Blog regarding a woman who was fined $222,000.00 for "Stealing" some Music (24 Songs) from KaZaa

Where does Blogging go from here? Where will technology take us and our Blogs in the days ahead? There are already tech-tools in place that will allow Video Blogging and now Voice Recorded Blogging? There is even a social networking community now called "Second Life" which is a virtual webspace with Life-Like Avatars! it's crazy, they're even selling lots and land in the cyber worlds. That's a whole different topic and post. (coming soon...) Check out Utterz, it's utterly a new way to Blog from your cell phone!

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YOUR Attitude and mindset mean everything.  This is out of the ordinary for me to share a post like this, but I feel it is warranted.  If it helps just one person who reads it today, then the mission is accomplished!  One of my clients shared this with me today and I want to share it with you.....Our Attitude can really determine our Altitude in life and in business.

John is the kind of guy you love to hate.  He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"  He was a natural motivator.  If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!  You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"  He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood I choose to be in a good mood."

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.  "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.  "Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."  I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.  We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.  Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.  I saw him about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied.  "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."  "Weren't you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?"  I asked.  He continued, "the paramedics were great.  They kept telling me I was going to be fine.  But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.

In their eyes, I read "he's a dead man" I knew I needed to take action."  "What did you do?" I asked.  "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied!'  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity."  Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."  He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.  After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.                                                    

Photo Courtesy of Simplyread.com

What's "your" attitude?  Why?  Who's really in control of it?

When I think of the old traditional maps, I still think of the ones in my glove compartment.  You know the one, you unfold it six times to open it, stretch your arms across the entire front seat of the car to read it, and then you're never able to fold it back up the right way to get it back in the glove compartment again. LOL!  I use to get those maps from AAA before going on road trips with my family, just 2 years ago.

Today, there's GPS, Google Earth, Mapquest, Mapopolis, Yahoo maps, TREO's and other options to finding our way around the planet.  So clean out your glove compartments! :-)  In my research to find a marketing tool for a client today, I discovered a Blog that talked about customizing Google Maps!  It's the Google Lat Long Blog. DETAILS>>>  We are creating a map showing all her listings, and one for open houses Sunday.

Customize your maps with icons, photos, images, graphics and more. Here are some links to some helpful sites  using Google Maps!

	Use Google Maps on your phone: Learn more »
	Add or Edit your business: Learn more »
	Advertise with Google Maps: Learn more »
	Add Google Maps to your website: Learn more »
	Get free local info. 800-GOOG-411: Learn more »

Next, here's how to customize your maps. Personalize Google Maps using Google Real Estate Search, Photos From Picasa, Photos from Panoramio, Gas Prices from GasBuddy.com, Distance Measurement Tools and Browse other Popular Maps for ideas.  Add these to your listings, open houses, MLS tours, flyer's, address domain names, and even your website.  Here's how: Go to Google Maps:

Select "My Maps" to begin creating hundreds of customized maps for you, your business, your clients, and personal use.

Click the option to "Create new map" and you're ready to get started with customizing your map.

You'll notice that you have the option to: add place marks, draw borders and custom lines, import graphics from other Internet sources and much more.

Take the time to explore Google Maps and all these possibilities.  In less than a few minutes, you can create some really cool and useful maps which are great Blogging tools as well.

If you want some support with doing this, there are support and instructional links and Blogs at Google's support Blog!

I think anything you do to advance yourself with these "new" technology tools will help keep you on the cutting edge, and ahead of your competition.  

To View a Sample Map I created, CLICK HERE!

  Once you're done, you can link or email with the URL address, or you can embed the map into your Blog or Website.  The HTML code and links are provided by Google.   THIS IS AWESOME!!  Do I seem to be a little over excited?!? I think this new feature is the Bomb!!  It's making me Crazy all this new stuff!!

  
                                                                    
                                                                                                         MY SAMPLE MAP

Just to show an example of how powerful this customized mapping can be, these guys are thinking really BIG! 

Look what Google has done with maps in their International project, Cleaning Up The World.  You're invited to participate in this project/event too.  Pick a spot and join on in.  Join Google, and the rest of the world, in the International Crusade, Cleanup Weekend!  3 EASY STEPS

I love how Google is making an impact "outside" of the Internet too!  Taking a cyber-space tool to help our communities and our planet.   I hope you can use these maps to make an impact in your area, and for your business as well!   :-)

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How could I resist a post about such an important factor of our business.  How important is your database?  Might be the most important tool you have.  A database is nothing more than "Text-in-a-box" if you're not using it properly.  There are so many programs out there today, the question is, which one is best for you?  Here's my take on the different database applications and what they can do to help or hurt your business!
Here's a link to (ALL Real Estate Contact Managers)

Let's start with a few of the common one's we are all familiar with:

Outlook - Now if Bill Gates would have known how Big this application was going to be, he probably would have named it "Lookout" instead.  I personally use Outlook as my database manager for all my contacts, appointments, email, tracking, follow-up, and mail merges and marketing campaigns. It does what I need, and more.  I use the Journal for keeping all my notes, emails, and correspondence tied to an individual contact.  I currently have over 2035 contacts, but that's 20 years of business in two different states. I like that Outlook works seamlessly with Word, Excel, Access, and Power-Point as well.  From a Realtor or Lenders perspective, it's a great contact manager, but was not created for Loans or Property information. There are ways to create and modify Outlook, but might be a little time consuming and costly.
MEMBER POST - Secret to Real Estate Success

Top Producer - A great "All Around" database and contact management system, but I think it's a little to complicated and expensive for your standard Agent who has little or no technical skills.  $30-$40 dollars a month, every month, and there is a whole lot to learn.  I am a certified trainer for Top Producer Systems, and I still can't get my arms around everything that it can do. Then you start adding all the other modules like Top Connector, and Hot Marketer, and the next thing you know, you're on the computer all day learning instead of out selling and helping your clients! One of the many key benefits to TP7i is that it was designed for REALTORS® by REALTORS®.
MEMBER POST - Contact Database in Top Producer

ACT -  Used to be my favorite application.  I used Act and Q&A from 1991 to 1998 and was very pleased with it's performance. I liked how you could modify your views and screens to be exactly how you wanted them to look. You could even modify the field names and import data from public records with little or no effort at all.  I also love the alarming tool in ACT.  It's like a hand would reach out of the screen, grab your neck, and start shaking your head to prompt you of any appointments that day. (ok I exaggerate a lit'l) 
MEMBER POST - Keeping a database

AgentOffice - Like Top Producer, Agent Office is a feature rich application that has so many tools that most agents never even use.  I like that you can multi-task with multiple windows open at the same time, but unless you invest the time to really learn it's features and all it can do, you might want to consider something a little more simple. It really depends on your needs and your business.  Many agents have assistants who whiz right through this stuff so the "Whys" and the "How-to's" are not really an issue. It does have a great graphical user interface and is fairly user friendly. 
MEMBER POST - You Are Your Database

Goldmine - In the early 90's, many of the loan officers used to work with Goldmine.  In fact the whole Bank of America in my geographic area used Goldmine because of it's interface with their loan origination software. I only know a few REALTORS® that were using it, and as I recall, it came up a little short of their more simplistic needs.  I like that Goldmine has stayed in the game, their website shows some great stuff which tells me they may still be a player in the race to be the best. 
MEMBER POST - A Different way to Build your Database

The power and credibility from any good post really comes from the comments of members like YOU! :-)  What database do you use? What features do you look for and use the most?  Do you mail merge, create postcards and flyer's, schedule appointments and create marketing campaigns with follow-up plans?  Do you just put Birthdays and Anniversary's with an occasional farm area or geographic neighborhood?  Are you using your database to cross reference sellers and past clients to potential buyers?  What about your referral business? 

If the goal is to ultimately work by referral, which database gives you the most return with the least amount of effort or learning curve? Are you building your database to sell one day when you retire and can collect a pension from it the rest of your life? If so, better pick a good one, maybe even update from what you're currently using.

I would always recommend that you do a thorough needs analysis before spending any time or money to learn a program  that you're not 100% happy with.  I hope readers can come away with a better understanding of what they want in an application and why?!?  Just look at some of these members posts!!  Many need our help and not just with their databases either!!  I'm here to help, are you? 

All Content Copyright Protected © 2007 - The Escrow Guy