Re BarCamp Las Vegas 2011

rebarcamp las vegas 2011 re bar camp

rebarcamp las vegas 2011 re bar campI was signed up to run a 5k run this saturday morning at Santa Clara Swiss Days.  When I went this morning to get my shirt and my number … UGGH!! I realized that I had double-booked my Saturday.

So now the dilemma, do I do the 5k and get in the high 20′s? Getting beat soundly by people twice my age, and younger than 10? or go to RE BarCamp Las Vegas?

I am excited to go to Vegas early Saturday morning and learn and share with all the folks at the REBarCamp.  I’ve got to make sure that my sites are running right and our server for our MLXchange on iPad service is running great so that I can show that to all the great Realtors over in Las Vegas.

I am going to do three specials for this event:

  1. IDX – We are going to have a special promo for adding IDXbroker to your website.  Add IDX to your existing site with  ”theme matching” so that IDXbroker looks sharp on your site.   This is a $199 value.  We are doing it for the rest of the month for just $99.  To get started just go to IDX.RealSocialPros.com and signup today!
  2. iPad – Do you need to use MLXchange on your iPad, iPhone, Mac, or Android mobile device?  We have a fast and cool cloud based service that makes MLXchange and other Windows programs like Internet Explorer “just work” on your iPad.  Get this sweet service for just 29 bucks a month.  (2-3 lunches a month).  Sign up during REBarCamp by clicking here, and we will “gift” you the WYSE PocketCloud Pro app (a $14.99 value)
  3. iWork – One of the biggest requests that we are getting is from agents, brokers and Realtors who just need some help getting their website optimized, setting up and email campaign with MailChimp, Constant Contact, or Aweber.  Sometimes they want coaching with one of our remote-control sessions, setting up MLXchange pages, importing/exporting contacts, or anything else.

     Our rates for our professional services are $50 per hour.  We are offering PPH (Pre-paid hours) at the discounted rate of $35 per hour when purchased in blocks of 10 hours.  These are perfect for projects or yearly budgets.

I have had a few folks ask me what is a REBarCamp? So here is what I took right off the official website:

What happens when 30 people are sitting in a room staring at each other without a presenter?  

This is the magic of REBC.

In my experience, a few discussion leaders rise to the occasion and instigate an amazing 45 minute conversation about what they know, are still trying to figure out or how they see the particular topic taking shape within our industry.

We also have a “Two Feet” rule with REBC, which basically means that you can use your two feet and  find another discussion to participate in if you’re not getting the value you want.

However, I’d like to challenge you to take responsibility for your education within a room if it’s about a topic that you really want to learn about.  Basically, if the conversation gets off topic or isn’t answering your specific questions, jump in and share your voice.

What if everyone submits the same topic for discussion?

The event organizers will anticipate some overlap between different topics and will work hard to ensure there is a great mix of relevant industry related discussions from Web 2.0 to Short Sale marketing in order to give every attendee an awesome experience.

I’m not a tech-savvy agent, so is this event for me?

Most attendees are fairly new to the web, and REBC will give you an opportunity to network with other real estate professionals that are either at your level or willing to show you the ropes.

Why would I want to share my marketing secrets with local competitors? 

If you need an explanation to that question, then REBC is not a place for you.  In all fairness, we’d recommend that you save one of the 200 tickets for the few who actually get it.

We are a tight network of local real estate professionals who are working together to make a positive impact on our industry and economy.

With over 12000 licensed agents, plus another several thousand mortgage, title and marketing professionals all competing for business in Clark County, NV, a small networking group of 200 becomes a powerful mastermind / force that can help change the public’s perception of our industry.

 

The thrill is just not having a super structured environment or even like some of the CE classes I have taken where we are forced to listen to some crusty broker ramble on for 6 hours.

We are all taking cans of food for the Rescue Mission in Las Vegas too.  So what better way to help yourself and help someone else.

I will put some information up about what I learned.  I will take great notes so that I can share with you.  If you want the PDF of my notes, just sign up in the form below.

 

7 Sources for Realtor and Real Estate Website Posts – Part 3

Material for realtor and real estate blog posts

Material for realtor and real estate blog postsWe covered in the first part of this series the importance of new listings for blog posts.  Then in Part 2 we discussed getting market reports from MLXchange (this is one of our most popular posts yet) .  Today we hit part 3:

How to use Realtor.org for great Real Estate Website Posts

Now the first thing we have to do is make sure that we all know the difference between Realtor.com and Realtor.org.  Realtor.com has listings for rentals and sales of residential properties.  It is mainly designed with the consumer in mind.  Realtor.org is a website designed for Realtors and other real estate professionals.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Realtor, mortgage loan officer, title company, appraiser, or other real estate professional, there is tons of good reports and articles on Realtor.org.

Start out on the home page to see videos, news, and statistics.

News Releases

I like taking a peek at the news releases for updates on the real estate market that can be used in a website post or page.  You can even setup a rss feed for these.

Realtor TV or Videos

Be sure to go to http://www.realtor.org/technology/realtortv to check out a ton of videos that you can watch to get great ideas, or just share them on you site for your clients to see.  This is a very powerful tool for driving new website leads to your site.

Research and Statistics

As Realtors and real estate professionals, one of the best things to put on a WordPress site or other site is research and statistics.  Buyers and sellers love to see these and get a quick glimpse at what is happening in the market.

Realtor.org has a whole section at http://www.realtor.org/research/research/reportsstatistics.  You can see market forecasts, economic indicators, and other reports.  Be sure to check these out on a weekly basis.

If you don’t have enough with these three sources, there are podcasts and other info you can only access with your NRDS number.  Check out all of these on realtor.org.

Be sure to check out the first , second, and fourth parts of this series, and share this with Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn buttons below!

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7 Sources for Realtor and Real Estate Website Posts – Part 2

real estate Market report for website or blog for realtors

real estate Market report for website or blog for realtorsWe have had a lot of folks who read the first part, about using listings, of this 7 part series entitled:

Sources for Realtor and Real Estate Website Posts

We assume that you are looking to get Google ranking, so you are using WordPress.  We also hope that you have had us do our magic and make you one of our first page of Google sites.

#2 Monthly market reports from MLXchange, MLS, or Escrow companies

Every MLS software has access to some neat historical reports that can be used by Realtors and real estate professionals for great website post ideas from Las Vegas to Orlando or even in Calgary.

For example, on MLXchange, you can do a search, then from the results screen, you will see a small button on the bottom right hand of the screen that says “statistics”.  Just click on the “statistics” button to get some cool info about your niche market.  I like sorting mine out by status, then I can show some great reports to my sellers or prospective sellers.

Print these reports out as a PDF, then you can upload them to your website or real estate blog.  Then get to your blogging screen and write down the two or three top real estate trends that you see.   For each of these trends, write-up a post about how you feel about the trend, how it will affect sellers, and how buyers are impacted by the real estate trend.

These market reports can be for your county, your city, or even your niche neighborhood.  Again using the example of “Shadow Valley”, you could put a blog post entitled “Shadow Valley Home sales July 2011 – Market Report”.  Then include the data, graphs and other information that you get.  Give your readers a teaser with a place to download the whole enchilada if they want it.

Besides the raw data, you want to include some commentaries about it.  What do the numbers mean for your clients? Are prices rising or falling? Give them a succulent summary of what is happening.

Be sure to include a nice photo at the top of your post.

These market reports are also a great tool for email lead capturing.  Just put a sign-up at the bottom of the page like we have here.  Then tell your real estate blog readers to just fill out their email address to get the report.

If you want a 60 minute training session for just $50, where we walk you through setting up these reports on your MLXchange, just click on the PayPal button below then go to my profile at tungle.me/jamescall.

 
Be sure to check out the first , or third parts of this series, and share this with Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn buttons below!

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Themes and Website Designs :: Over 40 options for just $199 with IDX too!

themes_screenshot great price for lead generation website 199

Search engine optimized IDX flexmls idxbroker websiteWe have had a lot of agents and other professionals asking what options they have in design and themes for their SEO and Social Media Optimized websites. So we have a page with some samples and we are slowly getting the demos running. They are all setup and just need to be filled with new data.

If you are looking for a new site to generate leads for your real estate business, try one of our $199 sites. This price includes IDXbroker or FlexMLS IDX integration. Shoot us an email at info@realsocialpros.com right now to get your new real estate, lead generating website scheduled.

For an additional $49 per month, you have the option to have unlimited email support, 1 hour monthly phone support, and lifetime domain hosting, backups, and upgrades on your site.

See all the demos herethemes_screenshot great price for lead generation website 199

and then click on the paypal button to get your site setup today.

7 Sources for Realtor and Real Estate Website Posts – Part 1

7 Sources of Realtor and Real estate blog posts - new listings

7 Sources of Realtor and Real estate blog posts - new listingsI get a question from Realtors and other real estate professionals who are getting a new WordPress site almost everyday:

Where can I get a constant feed of ideas for quality posts on my real estate website?

I have a few things that I really like and I would recommend using a combination of these.

1. New listings are great for posts

Whenever you get a new listing be sure to include it on your website.  But don’t just put the usual boring listing information.  Put some fun, quirky information about the home that might not be found anywhere else.  You want to be sure that your descriptions and comments are using the keywords you are trying to get google page rankings from.  If you are looking for ranking in a neighborhood like “Shadow Valley”, the be sure to include the phrase “Shadow Valley” as often as you can without it getting spammy.

Be sure and include new listings from other agents.  I have actually contact me fellow agents and told them that I am going to include some information from the MLS listing, and invite your fellow agent to do a guest blog.

What? My competitor?

Absolutely.  Have them write-up a blog post and include some photos that aren’t on the MLS or a link to a video. You don’t want the agent to go on a rampage about how they are the best agent in the world, but do put a link to their website.  You will give a little free publicity to the other agent, but you will help set up YOUR site as THE source for information in your market.

How to use new listings for posts:

  • Setup a search in your MLS software, MLXchange, or IDXbroker to email you with any new listings.
  • Copy the information from the MLS listing and use the photos. (including the proper credits)
  • If it is a fellow agent, call or email and ask them if they would like to write a post for you or at least if they have other photos, videos, etc. that you could include.
  • Make sure that you get the new property on your site within a day or two of the listing becoming active.
  • Post the new information to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and any other social networking sites you use.
  • Lastly, post a comment below this article with a link back to YOUR website!

Be sure to check out the second, or third parts of this series, and share this with Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn buttons below!

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Rent or Own? Why are most Realtors renting?

Wordpress and blogging for realtors and real estate

Wordpress and blogging for realtors and real estateThe National Association of Realtors and Realtors in general are famous for posing the question “Is it better to Rent or Own?” then there are tons of reasons showing why buying is better than renting.  But do they practice what they preach?

What about Internet marketing? Are real estate professionals owning their brand or are they “renting space”.

The secret to successful Internet Marketing is to drive clients to your site through inbound marketing.

I was just on LinkedIn and responding to a question that Frank put out:

I am looking to take advantage of Internet Marketing. Looking for advertisement and Lead Generation. Checked out several: Real Estate Animals (Expensive), Trulia (INTERESTED), and Zillow.
Looking for recommendations and feedback. Wanting the most offered for the price. Just started working with clients that were searchin on Zillow. All the properties they had interest in seeing were off the Market. Please advise

Here is my response to Frank:

I did some internet marketing with some of these sites, Google, and Facebook. Frank, I want to tell you that the secret to making all of this work is to have good inbound marketing.

You want to OWN not RENT space for your clients. When you are paying these folks for ads, the leads stop when you stop paying rent. You want to post on your website.

At http://RealSocialPros.com where I blog 2-3 times a week and I can see the traffic and the google rankings coming in.

If you use us, or someone else, get a good SEO optimized website that YOU control. post about your stuff, or what you are doing, real estate in your city or subdivisions, and let Google do the rest. It will take a little time, but within days or weeks, you will see something happen and you will start getting organic traffic and leads from those folks.

It takes longer, and is more work, but it is cheaper and better.

 

I am going to write a post about the secrets to successful blogging for real estate agents, but for now, there are some basic things you need to keep in mind.

  1. You want all of your marketing to point back to your website/blog.  This is what YOU own.
  2. If you use sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, ActiveRain, RealTown, Zillow, Trulia or even Realtor.com, just be sure all of it comes back to YOUR own real estate website or blog.
  3. Pick a niche.  Don’t try to use the keywords “residential real estate” or “Miami real estate”.  Those are TOO huge.  Get something small that you can defend.  Try “Rogers real estate” or “Shadow Valley homes”.  Those are small enough to own.
  4. When you start your site post often and use keywords so you develop some credibility.
  5. Include a photo in each post.
  6. Use an IDX feed like IDXbroker.  This puts all the homes in your MLS on your site and really drives leads to you. (and gives you marketing materials)
  7. Post a video for at least every 10 posts.

We will stop with those 7, but I am going to make a series about how to get more leads to your real estate website or blog.

Be sure to invest time developing your own site or hire someone to do it.  We can do it for you.  The great thing is that as your site moves up the search engine rankings, you will get more and more traffic and spend less and less money.  You will also get better more focused leads.

If you want to have us setup a great Real Estate lead producing website using an IDX feed just click here.

Sign up here to get your Website with IDX and get valuable leads

just click here at idx.realsocialpros.com and signup today!

 

Get your FREE

customizable Home Buyer Handbook ($19.95 value)

What are your biggest challenges or needs for your real estate website?

We get to talk to agents from all over the United States and Canada on a regular basis who want to develop their real estate business by using the Internet.

We are going to answer these questions right here.
Do you want to know about how to get more leads?
How to showcase your listings?
How to establish yourself as an authority for real estate in a certain town or subdivision?
How to use Craigslist to drive business to your site?
How can I use MLXchange to promote my business?
How can I keep track of the leads that I have?
What is the best option for sending out email newsletters?

Just post your questions below, and we will answer them.  If you can help out with someone’s questions, please post and share your experience too.

If you want to email me your question, just send it to james@realsocialpros.com and I will send you a personal response.

How many real estate leads can I get from having IDX on my real estate website?

February analytics for Social Media Optimized SEO happy real estate website

We have had some people asking:

How many real estate leads can I get from having IDX on my real estate website?

Of course that depends on how you have your IDXbroker configured.  Do you have some cool subdivision pages set up on your IDX site? Are you blogging at least once a day for 30 days?

I have had some people ask about the traffic on our RogersMLS.com site. I am a little nervous about sharing because I haven’t been blogging and nurturing my site, but I thought I would include the graphic below just so you can compare the traffic that we are getting with the traffic you get on your site.  There is another graph from February when we were using our IDX feed for lead generation.

If you liked reading this click on the “+1″ button on the bottom right!

Check out my post about our sweet offer to setup your IDX social media optimized website by clicking here.

IDX and IDXbroker web traffic on your social media real estate website

Here is another little graphic that shows better page views and traffic.  Look at the over 11,000 page views in one month.  That is due to the way we did some cool Search Engine Optimization on our IDXbroker IDX feed.  It makes a HUGE difference in the amount of leads you get from your real estate website.

If you are an agent or broker, a team, or even an entire brokerage and you want to get your business moving and have great Internet presence, just go to IDX.RealSocialPros.com to get started today.  For only $199 we will do the setup on your website and for $39.99 a month for a single agent site, you will have access to IDXbroker’s IDX feed, and our great tips for SEO optimization.

Click here to get started!

February analytics for Social Media Optimized SEO happy real estate website

RealSocialPros and IDXBroker $199 Setup and $39.99 a month – A perfect match for any real estate agent or brokerage

IDXbroker $199 setup and $39.99 month special

IDXbroker and RealSocialPros have the best prices on Social Media Optimized websites for real estataToday we are pleased to announce that RealSocialPros and IDXbroker have joined together to provide the best in Social Media Optimized websites for real estate agents and brokers.  IDXbroker has a huge feature set and we have used it for several years.

Check out our special offer for the week ending July 16th

Just $199 setup and $39.99 a month for your site with IDXbroker.  Our usual setup fee is $199 and we were able to get a special deal.  So you can have us setup a sweet site for you like our demo site at realsocialpros.com/demo or our site at RogersMLS.com.

If you are ready to get your Website with IDX and get valuable leads just click here at idx.realsocialpros.com and signup today!

 

Get your FREE

customizable Home Buyer Handbook ($19.95 value)

IDX Search Forms

  • Map Search 
  • Basic Search
  • Advanced Search
  • Address Search
  • MLS Listing Number Search
  • Custom City List

 

Cool Widgets on your WordPress site

  • IDX Featured Listing Slideshow
  • Custom Search Showcase 
  • Custom Search Slideshow 
  • Custom Quick Search
  • Wild Card Search
  • Agent Showcase Widget
  • Lead Login Widget 

 

Search Engine Friendly

  • Landing Page Management
  • Dynamic Title Tags on Property Detail Pages
  • Domain Control 
  • Custom Subheaders
  • Search Friendly City Links
  • Dynamic Meta Description Tags
  • Dynamic Meta Keyword Tags
  • Offer an IDX Sitemap 

 

Mobile Marketing

  • Mobile IDX MLS for the iPad and iPhone

 

System-wide Maps

  • Results Pages: Map Search 
  • Map Location Button
  • Walk Score Maps 

Capture and Retain Leads

  • Contact Page 
  • Property Info Request
  • Schedule a Showing
  • Property Manager Signup
  • Lead Login Page 
  • Custom Email Updates
  • Email Updates Signup 
  • Saved Searches Management
  • Custom Lead Signup Form
  • Review Saved Properties 
  • Top Producer Integration 
  • Export Leads
  • Prevent Spam
  • Force or Request Registration

 

Featured Listings Management

  • Featured Listing Showcase
  • Home Valuation Request 
  • Syndicate Your Listings
  • Supplemental Properties 
  • Open House Management 
  • Sold and Pending Listings 
  • Automatically Feature Listings for an Agent 
  • Add a Unique Custom Link to Every Featured Listing
  • Choose Which Active Listings to Display
  • Add Virtual Tours

 

Build Your Niche

  • Predefined Property Prices 
  • Predefined Subdivision
  • Keyword Results
  • Predefined Map Search
  • Predefined Address Links
  • Predefined IDX MLS Search Results
  • Social Media Sharing Tools 
  • Custom Labels 
  • Custom Links Results Landing Pages
  • Search Multiple IDX MLS Feeds at Once 

 

Advanced Analytics

  • Lead Traffic Stats
  • Track Conversions
  • Track Your Search Engine Referrals

 

Advanced Customization

  • Back Office Map Controls
  • Built In Mortgage Calculator
  • Select your primary IDX feed 
  • Filtered Search 
  • Choose from Predefined Templates 
  • Many Design Templates 
  • Advanced IDX Customization with CSS

 

Manage an Office (With Team IDX or Office IDX)

  • Round Robin Lead Routing
  • Carbon Copy Email Address
  • Price Based Lead Routing 
  • Branded Agent Login 
  • Manually assign agents to leads in lead management 
  • Show Agent List
  • Assign Agents to an Office
  • Custom Office Pages

 

Attract Agents (With Team IDX or Office IDX)

  • Agent Roster Page
  • Agent Bio Pages
  • Email Update Management
  • Agent Lead Assignment and Subheader
  • Branded iPad and iPhone App for Agents 
  • GIve Your Agents a Login 
  • Add Agent Information to Featured Listing Details 

 

Premium real estate websites available for as little as $29 a month

hosting options for real estate websites social optimized

Social optimized website for real estateWe have a handful of sweet domains that we are hosting and we have offered for sale.  We got a few questions about these real estate websites.  Some of the most common questions we got back in the emails and phone calls were:

Can you design something for me if I already have my own real estate website?

What about you doing some SEO and getting me some traffic on my current website?

I really don’t know what I would do with a real estate domain name.  How about I pay you a monthly fee and you help me run it?

So we have put together a plan that we think will help real estate brokerages and real estate professionals have a world-class real estate website without paying $1500-$7000 to set it up, and you never have to worry about hosting fees or registrations.  All of these sites will have a one time $79 setup fee and the first two months of a 24 month contract will be billed to start your service.

Check out our demo site at http://realsocialpros.com/demo

Basic real estate websites – $29 per month

VisionMLS.com
MaximaMLS.com
GenesisMLS.com
RogersRealEstateNews.com
DowntownRogers.com
RogersCustomHomes.com
ArkansasGreenRealEstate.com
PinnacleHillsHomes.com
BentonvilleMLS.com
NWAKillerDeals.com

or if you have another domain you want, we will buy it and host it for you! Just let us know by sending an email to james@realsocialpros.com

Premium real estate websites – $199 per month

These are websites that have some google juice behind them and will help get leads or listings in the areas that you are looking for.  These are also sites with more valuable domain names.

ShadowValleyHomes.com -This is one of the best sites for getting listings and promoting homes in Shadow Valley.  We have had a lot of interest in this one.
KillerLeases.com - This is the commercial lease version of KillerRents.com. Lots of commercial lease leads. About a month after we started this, we got a $4500 commission from a deal through this site. We can make an online application for prospects to fill out.

 

Pro Plus real estate websites – $299 per month

These are websites that have some google juice behind them and will help get leads or listings in the areas that you are looking for.  These are also sites with more valuable domain names.

KillerRents.com – This is a real estate site that is a lead generation machine.  This is great if you do a lot of property management because you have a constant feed of rental clients and you can use to promote your management services with property owners.  If you want to find rental clients and collect rental commission fees for placing clients, this is a winner.  We have a web-based rental application that helps pre-qualify renters.

More success in real estate from website hosting social optimized

Client quotes:

You developed the technology and are generating the leads and we can do the leg work.

James,  thank you for the leads

I cannot wait to hear how you set this machine up to generate so many leads.  It’s like you figured out the exact wording anybody and everybody types in when searching for a home.

Thank you!  …  I am showing one of yesterday’s leads today at 1:30. Thanks again!

Thank you so much for the leads.  …  We just want to make sure we are responding to the leads.

It was great meeting you. Not sure why, but I had a really good feeling after meeting you. I know technology is key to the future of our business.

In a lot of ways, I wish we had met much sooner. I’ve spent so much time, energy, and money on web and graphic design work (which I don’t begrudge), but it seems like we’re missing something with SEO and/or capitalizing on the outstanding service [we] provide.

I’m assuming there is some sort of secret recipe you have that creates the flurry?

Thank goodness for people like you.  All I know is, you have figured out a way to generate leads.

It’s this kind of technology that can separate the mediocre from the best.

We appreciate you talking with us and even considering working with us to generate some revenue.

We appreciate what you have done for us and we look forward to working with you.

 

If you want to optimize your existing website or do some social media integration, please contact us at 479.633.7775 or email info@realsocialpros.com today.  Click on the Facebook like button on the side!

hosting options for real estate websites social optimized