Online Real Estate Technology

Well just as you are getting used to the “new” technology of blogging!! along comes another update on this called Vlogging. This is where you get to put video to your blog, now if you are like me and have a good face for radio!! then you may shy away from this, but if you really want to add some new zing to your blog then this could be right up your alley, the team at MyTechopinion.com are running a competition for agents to try vlogging, so if you think you can create a video that answers the following question: What technology product or service has made the biggest impact on your real estate business? And why?Then have some fun and enter the competition, Heres the link and good luck if you decide to enter, come to think of it, I might even give it a try myself. Although I’m not exactly the Brad Pitt of the real estate industry!!

So, you’re still using old style virtual tours and standard old photos to market your clients listings and don’t know the benefits of video, well this post just may help. A number of agents that I deal with regularly are starting to use video now in place of the old style virtual tour and in a recent survey over 54% of people who viewed a video stated they would not go back to the old style virtual tour once they had seen the property in a professionally produced video tour. In one of my recent posts I highlighted some PRD research which indicated that over 87% of people view a property first on the net, and with such a large percentage of people starting their search on the net, the use of video is the first thing that comes to mind. Video gives the property searcher a first hand experience of the property in real time, and you can use video to showcase the local neighbourhood and street appeal of the area. The content on your video is “evergreen” and allows people evaluating your listings to get a real feel for the area. You can also use video to profile your agency and your team, allowing each member to showcase themselves as identities within your office. This can be left with prospective clients as a listing tool, accessed via your web site or used on the real estate portals as your find an agent profile, and you can give your client a copy of the video as a memento.

Are there any listings that can’t benefit from a video tour? no I don’t believe so, any property will benefit from being presented properly and a professionally produced video will showcase every property to it’s best potential. Videos can also be uploaded to social networking sites such as youtube and recently Century 21 in the US ran a competition asking vendors to video their own property and upload to youtube for a chance to win a cash prize, also not a bad prospecting concept, the results in some cases are quite funny and I’ve included one very interesting video for you to look at. One word of warning though, make sure you get a professional video company to shoot your video, you will only get once change to engage the buyer and or prospective vendor, so make sure your video meets their needs. Make your video engaging, informative and compelling to watch and remember this product is a highly portable piece of content so make sure you upload it to facebook, youtube and email.

Now click on the link and see how not to do it, enjoy

During my training presentations and real estate office visits I’m often asked about the role of traditional marketing vs On line when it comes to marketing your vendors properties and your own branding. Some agents even tell me they have cut down or cancelled their on line advertising altogether, well my friends now is not the time to be cutting your on line advertising, in fact, you should be ramping up your on line advertising whilst using every tool available to you in the on line space to market your brand and your properties. On line searching has increased in the past month and right now is the most cost effective way to market your self and your property, but you do need to understand how to maximise your on line presence. So here are a few tips to help you:

1. Use headlines that are lifestyle driven, provide the solution to the consumers needs. Target your property and then write the headline accordingly, don’t use headlines such as “Will sell this Weekend” and then leave on the net to be found in 3 weeks time.

2. Use 15+ photos to provide a better experience for the buyer – Most on line buyers want more not less

3. Use video tours where possible and upload these to youtube or facebook and include these in your listing presentation

3. Provide up to date descriptions that provide the online searcher with complete information – Remember they are in research mode and if you provide complete information you will satisfy that need. Include Information on the suburb, lifestyle expectation, schooling, investment potential or rental growth etc,Consumers will read up to 75% of text on a listing so don’t leave anything important out of your listing.

5. Include a call to action – You want them to call, email or contact you, don’t leave this out!!!

6. Remember, consumers will judge you on your professionalism, and sometimes their first experience of you is your on line presence – In fact realestate.com.au indicate that over 30% of their on line audience are also prospective vendors.

7. Set up a Facebook profile and use this to market to prospective clients

8. Set up a blog and provide up to date information on your market as well as provide advice to the on line consumer

9. Update your listing weekly and change your photos every 7 days

10. Don’t wind back your on line presence, increase it and use as many sources as you can to promote you and your client

I’ll spend some time on my next post on “On Line Reputation Management” This is something you really need to be aware of and how you can set up a best practice when it comes to on line marketing and protecting your brand on line.

If you’d like some additional reading on this please click on the following link: http://www.mytechopinion.com/2008/08/90-still-dont-get-it.html

I’ve just finished a presentation for my friends at Century 21 Australia about setting up blogs to provide interesting and updated information about the market, their products and listings etc to help further promote themselves and their vendors/clients properties to the on line world, and also how real estate agents can benefit from blogging in their local community’s. I’ll be presenting these ideas and suggestions at workshops for real estate agents in Mackay on the 1st September and followed up by 3 day long presentations on the 9th September in Brisbane, 10th September in Sydney and 11th in Melbourne, all sponsored by Domain.com.au.

If you would like to attend please let me know via my blog and I’ll forward information on venues etc, in the meantime here is an interesting read on marketing your blog. Once you have set up your blog, you’ll need to include good content and start to market your blog via your listings, press and internet advertising.

Getting started is probably the hardest part, the rest is quite simple, good luck.

http://www.mytechopinion.com/2008/01/marketing-your-real-estate-blog.html

Thought you may be interested in the latest research I’ve received from PRD for the month of July. Not surprising to me although some real estate agents who continue to cancel their on line subscriptions should really think again. Also a recent Yahoo survey found in the US that the more experience a real estate agent has the more they will spend in the on line environment. The full result is below for you.

When looking to purchase a property, what search method would you use?

If you would like to see the full report, visit www.prdnationwide.com.au/research.  Membership is free and you will receive a wealth of information from them.

As always good hunting.

Just received this from the Domain.com.au team,

We’re really excited to announce the arrival of Street View on Domain.com.au.

Taking your property search experience to a whole new level, you can now check out a street level view of properties in selected cities and then, walk down the actual street by panning, rotating and zooming using Street View maps.

See what the neighbours place looks like, explore the whole neighbourhood and even see how close a property you’re interested in is to shops, school, parks and more.

To find out more on how to use Street View on Domain.com.au

Given the success of this on real estate sites in the US, this will start to open up a new experience for Australian on line searchers.  Check it out on domain.com.au