If you haven’t met Sherry yet I encourage you to attend an Agent Reboot she’s presenting at for both the learning experience and to meet Sherry. She is wonderfully graceful and a true visionary who opened my eyes to what a real estate brand should be: a reflection of the lifestyle of the people it serves.

I’ve also had the great fortune of meeting other hard working people while at BHGRE including Doug Stryker, Neville Soares, Jason Williams and PC McCullough (a.k.a. Paulette Costa.) I owe Paulette more than I can ever give back because she taught me everything I know about building and delivering a dynamic presentation to live and web-based audiences. Thank you Paulette; you helped me uncover a passion for sharing and teaching that I didn’t know I had!

Although I’ve learned a lot in my time at BHGRE, I missed being ‘in the trenches’ of real estate where everything you do has an impact on your business. I missed building and growing a website to fruition. I missed studying website analytics, lead conversion and looking for ways to help connect more prospective buyers and sellers with the right agents. I needed to be closer to the day-to-day action of a real estate office.

Today, I’m proud (and beyond excited!) to announce that I have joined The Corcoran Group/Citi Habitats as their Manager of Interactive Marketing for Citi Habitats. I’m honored to join the esteemed ranks of The Corcoran Group and work side by side with great minds like Matthew Shadbolt and Gary Malin, President, Citi Habitats.

This new role will take me to New York City, the greatest city on earth, with some of the most beautiful homes in the world. I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped me achieve this dream and I can’t wait to show you all what we can build together.

Photo Credit: CJ Isherwood

So, then, how do you sell home ownership, ownership of an immobile piece of the planet, to a 76 million strong group of people who don’t follow convention? Stop following conventional wisdom when trying to sell it to them. Conventional wisdom no longer works. We are still people though and we do still have needs.

Here are six ways to attract Gen-Y buyers to your listings and make them lifelong customers:

Appeal to Their Sense of Community

Facebook, Twitter, Google+… The list goes on. Gen-Y is completely hooked on being connected to each other and sharing their life experiences along the way.

What makes the neighborhood around your home different? What can the buyer of this home do to contribute or be a part of their community? Are there start-up workshops where they can collaborate with other small business owners to ideate and work on projects?

Stop The Kitsch, Talk About Real Lifestyle Value

With new homes especially, we write listing descriptions that are usually a laundry list of features attached to a dramatic model nameplate like “Kentshire” below. Here’s an example I received via email from a home builder who is offering an unbelievable deal on their last remaining homes:

Rather than trying to impart value through fancy sounding model names, start by talking about what actually matters. Instead of listing off features, talk about how guests never need to go upstairs because there is a powder room centrally located between entertainment areas.

Is there high-speed internet available for people who work from home? If so, what different plans are offered in this neighborhood?

Can I walk to get takeout on a summer night or is driving always required?

Make The Investment Value of Your Listing More Obvious

“What can this home do for me?” That’s the question your Gen-Y buyers are going to be asking themselves before they buy. It’s no longer enough to be a place to rest our heads. Now that we see home ownership as a long-term engagement, how can this home evolve with me over my lifetime?

The best way to expound on this idea is to include projected home value over the next 5, 10 and 15 years. Altos Research, Zillow and Real Yields all help make this possible.

I really like Real Yields, co-founded by real estate investment extraordinaire Ryan Hinricher, because it makes it effortless to put your buyer in the real estate investment driver’s seat without a huge learning curve.

If your buyers can find a reason to own a home that isn’t just tied to the facade of the American dream, they’ll be much more likely to invest in one.

Become The Lifelong Advisor

The days of the one-time customer are over. Sites like Zillow and Trulia encourage agent reviews so today and tomorrow’s home buyers can make informed decisions about who they use to buy a home.

To earn the business of the next generation, the generation that determines your business trustworthiness based on the opinions of others, you need to elevate your game.

Work with other industry professionals (mortgage, law etc.) to build live, in-person and web-based seminars to help your clients grow their real estate knowledge and make better decisions about their financial investments. Imagine the business growth you’ll experience once you have a network of 15 – 20 homeowners turned savvy investors in your area.

Sell To Your Own Needs

Given the rough real estate market these days, it’s a challenge to sell a home in most markets. It’s significantly harder to sell a lifestyle and home if you don’t believe in it or live it yourself.

If you’re out in suburbia but would rather sell condos in the city, save up and make the move. You’ll have infinitely more success uncovering neighborhoods and selling homes you are passionate about than lugging yourself through rows of suburban center hall colonials that don’t interest you. When you love what you do your passion will shine through and your clients will want to work with you even more because of it.

Take Great Pictures

I left this one for last because it resonates with me most. Gen-Y grew up around and continues to use photo sharing services like Flickr, Instagram, Dribbble and Facebook. We love pictures. We also love to research which means we’re starting our searches online before we reach out to an agent. How do you engage a prospect who is researching and loves great pictures? Great pictures, of course.

The path to quality listing photos is clear: Hire a reputable home stager and a professional home photographer, combined with compelling copy (see point #2) and you’ll have a surefire way of connecting with the next generation of home buyers.

Photos also have the added bonus of being very shareable on social networks. Steph Davis, Corcoran Group NYC, shared a photo of one of her listings as she waited for a client to arrive to show the property (shown below.)

Although I don’t have the means or reason to live in the city, if I did you can bet I would have reached out to Steph to learn more about this property.

What are some ways you have successfully connected with home buyers?

Image Credits: Photo #1 – Robert Scoble | Photo #4 – VancouverFilmSchool

I think Google’s latest foray into social networking holds far more potential in becoming the business social network of choice than it does in killing off Facebook. Here’s why:

Google Circles Will Change The Way We Share With Everyone

I could not count on all my fingers and toes how many friends, family and colleagues have LinkedIn profiles who only have them to “be on LinkedIn.” We use LinkedIn profiles as a professional social network profile/online résumé. We count on it appearing in search engine results when someone with business intentions searches for our name.

Could a Google+ profile replace the need for a LinkedIn profile?

The idea that one network could be used among both personal and business spheres isn’t unheard of. However, up until now, it has never been expected to group your contacts into lists.

With Google Circles, organizing your contacts into groups is a core feature. Now that more people are familiar with the concept of grouping contacts into lists (see: Facebook lists and Twitter lists), Google Circles will make it easy to share with both your professional contacts and your friends/family who use the network.

But Google has far more in their business networking war chest. First, there are Google Places and Google Maps.

Google Places and Maps

How many times have you searched Google for a local restaurant seeking contact information, hours of operation and reviews? I do it all the time.

Google already offers Place pages to local businesses that they can then manage and update with photos. Along with Google Places, Google Maps brings in the StreetView perspective for a business and directions.

Continuing further still, Google also offers their AdWords advertising platform which could produce some very interesting results if it’s integrated with Place pages and Google+ accounts (think Facebook ‘Likes’ for Facebook Pages.)

Take all of the above into consideration: A Google Place page with reviews and details about your business, Google Maps that give directions to your office and list nearby businesses and AdWords where you can advertise your business to Google+ users with relevant interests and searches. You can see how Google would be well positioned to overtake Facebook’s business pages and LinkedIn as the social network for business owners and users.

Looking Ahead: How Google Could Bring It All Together

Image Search and Photo Albums

Google’s recently announced updated image search was mostly overlooked in the real estate industry. The potential that lies within uploading a photo of a locale and having Google return results with other images of the same place and matching website pages is huge.

The power of Google’s image matching search could amplify that by allowing photos tagged as local areas by Google+ users to be shown in Google’s image search results.

Could curating area photos be the next frontier in being seen as a local real estate expert?

Speaking of photos, the 800 lb gorilla in the room is Google’s Android mobile phone platform.

Android Phone Integration

Android is a huge player in the mobile phone market with 49.5% marketshare as of June 2011. Apple’s recent announcement of Twitter integration throughout their next iOS update, iOS 5, makes it all the more obvious why Google created Google+.

With Google+, users can upload photos from their Android phones to Google+ (similar to iCloud’s photo stream service) which is useful to agents wanting to create listing photo albums.

For consumers, imagine being able to take a live photo of a neighborhood and Google’s image matching search identifies and pulls up more information about it right on your phone. It’s a stepping stone between text search and augmented reality.

What Does It All Mean?

It’s still too early to tell where Google+ will ultimately lead but should it take off in a meaningful way, I think we’re in for a redefined “search” experience.

Have you signed up for Google+ yet?

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Update: Google has yet to renew their Twitter deal which allows them to show realtime search results based on what people are talking about on Twitter (example: Twitter chat about the Oscars.) Instead, Google cites Google+ as a possible alternative to Twitter‘s realtime conversation results. Something to watch…

Apple has built a system in iCloud where most media (photos, videos, music, calendar etc.) from your iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) and computers (PC/Mac) is automatically shared and distributed to up to 10 devices that use your Apple ID, for free.

Here are a five ways this will change how real estate teams run their businesses:

iMessage – While you could previously communicate with your team through text message/MMS and third party apps, iMessage makes it easy to send group messages that include text, audio and video. With delivery and read receipts, you’ll know when messages get to the right people, when they’re read and if someone is typing a response to you.

Practical Uses: Communicating showing changes, coordinating open houses and planning events with your team in real-time.

Photo Stream – Part of iCloud’s free service offering is the ability to save photos to your photo stream for 30 days where you can access them from any of your devices. So, in other words, when you take a picture on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad it will automatically be sent to any other devices and computers that use your Apple ID. You can also add photos to your photo stream from a computer and have near instant access to them on your iOS devices.

Practical Uses: Send new listing photos to your team as you take them so you can cut down on the amount of time it takes to create marketing materials for a new listing. You could also ask your team to send listing photos to YOU so you can share samples of your work with a potential listing client, in their home.

Document Sync - If you have Mac computers and iOS devices, the new document sync feature in iCloud will be a huge timesaver. Using the iOS versions of Keynote (presentations; $9.99), Numbers (spreadsheets; $9.99) and Pages (flyer creation and word processor; $9.99), you can create and edit documents from your iOS device or on a computer. No matter where you make the edits, all of your devices will have the latest version automatically.

Practical Uses: Have your marketing person create a new listing flyer with photos you sent from your iPhone and have them save it to iCloud where you can make changes on your iPhone/iPad and send it back; all without having to be in the office or on a computer.

If you have contracts formatted in Pages, you’ll be able to get the latest paperwork sent directly to you. Taking it a step further, you could even collaborate with your marketing team to customize listing presentations and have them sent directly to your iPad.

Airplay Wireless Display – Using an Apple TV ($99) connected to a display, you can mirror your iPad’s screen on a much larger screen to display videos, presentations and more.

Practical Uses: Imagine meeting with prospective buyer clients for the first time and, using Airplay and an Apple TV in your office conference room, showing them videos of the neighborhoods they’re interested in and the homes you’ll be viewing that day. If you’re meeting a homeowner, you may want to bring the Apple TV along to connect it to their HDTV and present a multimedia presentation.

The Apple TV is very easy to use and is small enough to fit in most bags/briefcases. All you have to do is connect it to a power source, get it connected to the tv (HDMI only), internet (this is where a mobile tethering plan becomes useful!) and start your presentation. Now you can have a 50″ HD presentation showcasing videos, photos and your web presence that will help set you apart from your competitors.

Calendar Sync – Keeping your calendar in sync used to be a part of the MobileMe paid service but is now free with iCloud. Using calendar sync, you can add events to your calendar from a Mac or PC and have it automatically update your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch.

Practical Uses: When you’re managing a real estate team, your calendar needs to be up to date with times that your team can schedule appointments for you so you can spend more time working with clients. Using the new calendar sync feature in iCloud, it’s easy for your team to schedule listing and buyer appointments and add events like home inspections and closings to your calendar.

What remains to be seen is how the thousands of iOS developers will take advantage of the APIs in iCloud. I think it’s very possible that we’ll see apps that allow you to send Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint files, create panoramic photos and add them to the cloud and much more.

Do you plan to use iCloud in your business? Any potential uses I missed? Let me know in the comments below!

The Backstory

Last week a conversation erupted on Twitter, initiated by one of our industry’s thought leaders, Matthew Shadbolt of The Corcoran Group, asking: “What is great content?” The question arose from an Agent Reboot session where Darin Persinger suggested that agents should create “great content” to attract buyers and sellers online (which I agree with.)

It set off a terrific conversation between myself, Rob Hahn, Maura Neill, Matthew Shadbolt, Daniel Rothamel and others. Rob Hahn explored what he believes great real estate content should be. In the comments of Rob’s post we discussed how real estate writing needs to be more passionate while I also argued that local content, while generally bland, should be considered great content if done properly. Matthew also offered a game changing point when he suggested that “being passionate” and creating content that you like is only part of the process, not the endgame.

Bringing us to where we are today: Rob has countered Matthew’s point by illustrating how passion can be considered an endgame because even though someone can craft something to look professional and polished, it can still be utterly uninspired and dreadful to watch. Matthew touches on something similar in his linked comment above when he notes how poor lighting and unimpressive sound quality could just as easily be swept under the rug of interest by consumers because it’s not usable given its production quality.

Both Rob and Matthew’s points are valid and valuable. We still haven’t established a sure-fire strategy for online success in our industry. While the outline below will show you how I feel a great real estate content strategy should be created, keep in mind that yours may differ.

Getting Started

In the planning phase, start by asking yourself three questions:

1. What is the goal of my blog/website? – Why are you putting the effort into this site in the first place? For most brokers and agents it’s to build a website that serves as a 24/7 prospecting tool so they can grow their businesses by working with people who are interested in buying or selling in their markets. It’s a wonderful way to meet new people and it’s a far more passive way of prospecting than, say, cold calling.
2. What types of content do I need to create? – If you’re running a one person show and don’t have the resources to hire a team to write, photo and video the local area, you’ll want to outline the different types of content you need to accomplish your goals. I recommend mind mapping to come up with a list of content you want on your site. Check out an example of a mind map I created using MindNode Pro below (click image to see full size version):

   

3. How am I going to use the content I create to generate leads? - Not all of your content needs to be built for the sole purpose of generating leads but when creating local content, you’ll want to focus on aspects of the area that someone new to the area would be most curious about (e.g., commuter transit, shopping, schools, things to do etc.) We’ll talk more about the other types of content (passion-based, branding and community building) in a bit.

Choose Your Medium(s)

In Rob Hahn’s response to Matthew Shadbolt’s comment, he highlights how you should choose your craft. If you’re a great writer, write. If you don’t do well with video, don’t do video. I’m in agreement that you need to play to your strengths when choosing what mediums you’re going to use in your content strategy. Be a critic; if you try recording a video and hate the results, don’t post it. Just try to record it again and practice until it’s at the level of quality that you’re happy with.

When I recorded a 2 minute, 9 seconds long demonstration video for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate® (shown below) it took more than five hours to record the voiceover track, record a video guide on the iPad and put it all together into a final product. Take your time and do it right or don’t bother doing it at all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj7xTVjxL50

After choosing what mediums you want to use in your content strategy (e.g., video, podcast, blog posts, eBooks etc.) it’s time to start flushing out each section of content. Sticking with our mind map example from above, our example content strategy is going to be made up of:

• Local Content
• Content That You’re Passionate About
• Content That Builds Your Brand
• Content That Will Help You Build an Online Community

Before we dig into this further, I want to forewarn you of the potential to overindulge in the tools you post your content to. You don’t need to be signed up for every service under the sun. If hosting your videos on YouTube works best for you then there’s no need to post them on Vimeo and other sites.

Similarly, you don’t have to be on Twitter just because you have a Facebook Page for your business. The worst possible thing you could do while posting your content and trying to build a community is to leave half-hearted breadcrumbs in 300 different directions. Stick with what works best for you (that you also enjoy using) and move on!

You Still Need Local Content

While the idea of writing about the local area may be unattractive to some who have seen it done by hundreds (or even thousands) of agents across the country, local content is still vital. Local content is vital because your prospective buyers and sellers are seeking it out and search engines still reward sites with unique posts and information. It’s still true, you need local content. Build a foundation with local content like neighborhood profiles and share what’s happening in the area.

In real estate we have a tendency to think about things in a very technical way. So often when someone says “write local content” we think “Oh great… Boring market report after boring market report. Half melted cheesy Wikipedia-esque entries about each town. How is that fun to write?!” to which I would say: you’re right! That is completely uneventful. There are no explosions and nothing interesting when you think about it from that perspective.

However, when you change things up a bit and start adding neighborhood videos like the one below, you can see the value of having local content on your site.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuwraaS4b2c

Take a look at the YouTube page for the above video. It has 14 comments, all from people talking about Short Hills, NJ. The video has over 3,000 views. Local content doesn’t need to be boring. Spice it up by writing conversationally about what’s happening locally on your blog and don’t be afraid to touch on real issues affecting the area. Life isn’t rainbows and unicorns so write about what’s happening, both positive and negative.

Joe Spake’s blog offers numerous posts on the Memphis, TN flooding that took place earlier this year which is a fascinating and sad situation brought to life for those of us not in the Memphis area through Joe’s blog. Joe also has a great post on zombies making their way through Memphis which gives an outsider like me a fun look at some of the culture in Memphis.

Discover Your Niche

Once you have a foundation of local content in place, it’s time to move on to discovering your niche. When I was an agent, I knew new homes inside and out including timeframes for each phase of construction, potential issues that could delay the closing date and what needed to be done to make sure everything went smoothly. I love new homes and everything about them from the ability to customize each part to watching families move into a house for the first time. I was passionate about it.

What are you passionate about? Do you love trying new restaurants in the area? Write about it. Grab a camcorder and interview the chef of a local restaurant you adore. Immerse yourself in the local foodie culture by chatting with other food fanatics on sites like Yelp. Were you in the builder or home inspection trade prior to joining real estate? Write about home inspection experiences or, better yet, film bits of a home inspection showing prospective buyers what to look out for.

Do you sell luxury homes? Go deeper than the “big picture” of the home and start focusing on things that really matter to a luxury home buyer: surface textures, security features and zoning laws (can you build a helipad?)

In the end, your passion-based content is whatever excites and comes naturally to you. What do you think about without even trying?

Tell a Story

What is the story of your brand? If you’re an agent, how did you get into the business? What makes you different from every other agent in your office who has access to the same tools and services? Further, what about the real estate business drives you?

Most of the time when I read an “About Me” profile for an agent it reads like a dry résumé. Sweeping words will be thrown around like “visionary”, “leadership”, “number one” etc. This is boasting. If you boast, consumers aren’t going to be interested. We’re humans and one of the caveats to roaming the earth in these fleshy digs is that we’re predisposed to being inwardly focused. Buyers and sellers want to know what you’re going to do for them, not your accomplishments.

Allow your expertise to speak for itself when prospective clients meet with you to discuss their needs. Your brand story should be about what makes you unique and why and how you strive to be the best agent to represent their needs.

To put this into perspective, consider the following profile written by agent #1:

“I’m the #1 real estate agent who can help you find the perfect home. I’m trustworthy and negotiate better than anyone else. Other agents say they’re the best but I mean it and will prove it to you every step of the way. If you’re considering listing your home for sale, I’ll get you top dollar for your home and sell it in the least amount of time! Call me today at 973.555.1234!”

Compare that with agent #2:

“I started my real estate career 15 years ago when my husband and I bought our first home through a very careless agent who didn’t tell us the foundation needed repair in the home we put our wedding and life savings money into. $30,000 and 2 years later, we finally had the home we always wanted but I was determined to never let that happen to anyone again so I got my real estate license. I have read six books on negotiation and studied with one of the nation’s top negotiators to make sure I get the best price for my clients, whether they’re buying or selling a home.

Over the years I’ve been very fortunate to find trustworthy professionals in the legal, mortgage and home inspection fields who help me make your real estate experience as seamless (and pain free!) as possible. I look forward to being of service and can be reached at 973.555.1234.”

See the difference in the tone between the two profiles? Which agent are you more likely to call?

The content you use to build your brand should put emphasis on transparency, honesty and be conveyed in a conversational tone. If you built a Facebook Page (which we’ll talk more about in a moment) you could use it to help grow the business of the other industry professionals in your network. Imagine working with an attorney to answer questions on your Facebook Page about buying or selling a home in the area. What would that be worth to home buyers and sellers? For your brand?

Build Your Community

You know you have great content when you have a growing audience. Let’s take a look at two of the most popular social networks in North America and how you can create content to build a community around your brand.

Facebook

Most of us see Facebook as a way to communicate and stay up to date with friends and family. We post our family photos, vacation pictures, videos of soccer games and everything in between. With something so personal in nature, it’s easy to get mixed signals on what type of content is appropriate for your business on the site. First, be sure to create a Facebook Page for your website or blog. Ideally your website branding will mirror your in-person brand (you) so you can use the page for both client work and promoting your website.

The content question then becomes what do you post on your Facebook page to keep people interested in staying in touch? Here are a few suggestions:

• Connect new neighbors (this tip was inspired by the always amazing Sue Adler who does this beautifully for her clients on Facebook)
• Share local zoning and other quality of life changes
• Hold contests in conjunction with your network of professionals (e.g., free garden nursery certificate ($75) to the first person who knows the answer to the question “How many individual flowers are in a single sunflower?” (It’s typically 1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers according to Wikipedia.)
• Get your team of experts to help answer questions pertaining to their professions in exchange for free exposure to your network of clients, prospects and followers

The key to Facebook is to remain relevant to your brand but to be more engaging. People who are on Facebook want to interact with you and your brand. If you post something they enjoy, they’ll “like” it. If you post a poll posing an intriguing question, chances are they’ll answer it. In between, feel free to share photos of new listings and what you’re doing in your business. Just remember to interact as much as possible and to experiment to see what content (questions, contests, types of news stories) interest your Facebook Page followers most.

Twitter

Twitter is much different from Facebook in that you don’t have a full set of options to build out your brand presence like a photo gallery, videos or other customizations. It’s all about the conversation and topics. Twitter makes it easy to search for specific topics by going to http://search.twitter.com and typing in a keyword. So, for example, if I wanted to see what people were saying about San Francisco on Twitter at this very moment, I could search for it and see what people are talking about.

To connect with consumers on Twitter, I’d recommend following some of these searches about your area and answering any questions someone may have about the area. It’s a good way to meet new people but there is a much greater opportunity within Twitter than connecting with people who are talking about the area and that is by building a referral network.

Twitter is the ultimate way to build a referral network because there is a vibrant real estate community using the service to talk with each other about the real estate industry and other commonalities. Although I had not been using Twitter specifically to build a referral network, I did receive a $499,900 listing referral from an agent friend of mine, @jolenta, whom I had met through Twitter.

Between the two, I’d invest most of my community building efforts (outside of my website) on Facebook because that’s where people are, on average, spending at least 25 minutes of their day, every day.

Use “The Rules” as a Guide, Not Gospel

New York real estate broker J. Philip Faranda nailed it when he recalled advice from dearly missed real estate icon Joseph Ferrara who told him “not to worry about the rules.” Many well intentioned speakers (myself included) will share a list of “ideals” to help you get started with creating your content strategy.

Ideals include:

• Ideal Facebook update length
• Ideal blog post title and length
• Ideal video length for YouTube

and so on…

Unfortunately, bless our souls, we try to follow all of the ideals to a ‘T’ which can, after being inundated with so much new information about blogging and new media at a conference, overwhelm us to the point where we hit the point of inertia and freeze indefinitely. Alongside Daniel Rothamel, the best advice I can give is to get started and to follow Joe’s sage advice: “don’t worry about the rules.”

As you create videos, write blog posts and take photos, you’ll get a sense of what works best for you. The ideals are simply there to serve as a guide to help you get started. If a testimonial video from one of your clients runs over the 2-minute limit you’ve been told to follow, so be it. There is a point where the value of the content supersedes the self-imposed limits we establish as “rules” and it should be allowed to run it’s natural course (even if it takes 4 minutes!)

The Role of Brokers as Media Service Providers

Getting back to Matthew’s point that poorly produced content might as well be invisible, I see the role of brokers being redefined over the next decade. I suspect brokers who will be most successful moving forward are ones that retain the services of professional media producers like videographers, photographers, copywriters and graphic designers.

I’m not referring to the types who create gussied up web versions of the awful tv real estate ads from the 90′s but actual talent like Gebbs who have the ability to capture a real story. Copywriters who can write intriguing listing descriptions and landing pages for listings that make it irresistible for prospective buyers to reach out for more information. Photographers who have a passion for their craft and explore all options when photographing a home including pole aerial photography (shown below):

For many brokers this role may seem like a huge expense and I have no doubt retaining such talented individuals would come at a price. Still, it’s a service I’m sure many agents would be willing to pay their share of because, in the end, it will help them sell more homes and make the broker more successful at the same time.

Matthew Shadbolt said it best when he said:

“We cannot realistically expect agents to be photographers, copywriters, videographers, analytics experts, content strategists or programmers.”

He’s right. Agents affiliate with brokers because the broker provides them with things agents cannot/may not be able to create for themselves like a known national brand and access to services that might otherwise be unattainable on their own. Brokers: Your opportunity awaits.

Before getting into Altos Research here is a refresher on what our monthly experiments are all about:

What Our Monthly Experiments Are Designed To Do

Each month we choose an online service or product that we’re going to try out over the next 28-30 days. These products/services are chosen at random though we are open to suggestions (let us know what you want to see put to the test in the comments below.)

After the experiment has been chosen we keep you up-to-date on how useful the product/service is for our businesses and whether it’s worth trying and/or paying for.

What is Altos Research?

Altos Research is a third party provider of real estate data reports. These reports include market statistics like pricing trends, whether it’s a buyer or seller’s market, recent activity by zip code (i.e. homes absorbed, number of new listings) and automatically updated website inserts that contain valuable market data for homebuyers.

Here’s an example of the automatically updated inserts on my website HouseMeetsOwner.com:

Why It Was Chosen

When RPR was introduced it rocked the real estate data world. There was even (what I consider to be) an exaggerated death knell for data providers like Altos Research because of the premise that RPR would be the all encompassing source for data real estate pros need.

Upon further digging into RPR I discovered this tidbit (emphasis added):

Members who register with a valid NRDS ID can access non-proprietary, non-MLS/CIE sourced data; however, only MLS/CIE Subscribers/Participants will be able to view MLS/CIE sourced information. There will be no public access to the RPR™, and the database and its data cannot be shared through consumer websites.

This reaffirms my belief that data providers still serve a purpose in our industry so I wanted to give exposure to that cause all the while putting one such provider to the test. Be sure to subscribe to OnlineRealEstate101.com by RSS or email to read about our experience with Altos Research over the next month!

Another part of SEO is a link value system search bots use to evaluate the importance of each site on the web. The more links you have to your website from highly trusted websites (like CNN.com or your local newspaper’s site) the more important those bots will think your site is.

If the search bots think your site is of some importance they will place you higher in the search engine result pages (i.e. third result on page 1 instead of result #18 on page 2) than sites with similar information but no sites linking back to them.

Here’s an example:

Website #1 is considered very trustworthy because it has been around for 10 years and has over 25,000 other websites linking to it. If Website #1 links to Website #2 (your site) then the info seeking search bots see your site as more important and trustworthy than Website #3 which has no links from other sites to it.

That leads us into our Monday Q&A question…

Question:

“What is anchor text?”

Answer:

The link text Website #1 uses to describe your website will play a major role in how the search bots use your site. That link text is called “anchor text”. For example, if Website #1 links to your site with the anchor text “Sarasota, FL real estate” your website is more likely to appear near the top of the search results when someone searches for “Sarasota, FL real estate” than competing Website #3 above which still has no links from other sites vouching for its relevance to that topic.

Here’s an example of anchor text in a link courtesy of Wikipedia.org’s definition for anchor text:

<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page”>Wikipedia</a>

The anchor text in this example is “Wikipedia”; the unwieldy URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page displays on the web page as Wikipedia, contributing to clean, easy-to-read text.

How do I use anchor text to rank higher in search engines?

You won’t always be able to control the anchor text used to describe your website but when you can be sure to focus on a set of keywords that you want your site to rank higher for.

Doing keyword research with tools like Google’s Keyword Tool will help guide you on keywords and phrases that are most frequently searched for so you can target the largest possible audience.

Have any questions about anchor text or finding keywords for your site? Feel free to leave a comment below!

What to Expect

Our Facebook fan page will feature all of the posts we feature here at ORE101 in addition to exclusive content and previews of upcoming content for ORE101 before it goes on the site. The fan page will also be a great way to connect with other fans of ORE101 and so much more.

Join our Facebook fan page today by clicking ‘Become a Fan’ below!

Question:

“What is a “One Click WordPress Install”?”

Answer:

Part of what makes WordPress so popular is its famous “one click install” which can be done using your web host’s control panel. In the video below, Eric Bramlett walks you through how to install WordPress in one-click using Dreamhost:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OHS1IO8-ko

Tip: OnlineRealEstate101.com readers can save 20% off a yearly hosting plan with Dreamhost by using promo code ORE20OFF.

Photo Credit: swruler9284

This post contains affiliate links. Find out why we use affiliate links by clicking here.

Heap CRM stood up to our test and delivered on some key points (and a few points we didn’t expect) but there is definitely room for improvement. Check out our full review of Heap CRM, including our recommendation below:

What We Liked:

First, let’s get this out of the way upfront: Heap is a very advanced CRM. Loaded with features not found in competitors like Highrise HQ, Heap gives you a way to manage your entire client database without the hassle of using multiple products. The service’s cost ($9/month per user) is also very reasonable considering what you’re buying into.

Tracking Client Follow-Up Emails

You can BCC Heap on emails to clients using FirstName_LastName+yoursite@crmondemand.biz which will save that email in your client’s file. I prefer this format to Highrise’s dropbox@233082.yourname.highrisehq.com. Because of my mobile lifestyle as a REALTOR I don’t always have access to my Highrise dropbox email address (due to different computers, iPhone etc.) so Heap wins for email address retention on the go.

Event and Email Template Creation

One feature I didn’t expect to find in Heap was the event and email template creation. Right now I pay around $240/year to use Diverse Solutions’ dsAgentReach to follow up with clients using an email drip campaign. That’s in addition to the cost of their contact management and search solution.

Theoretically, dsAgentReach could be replaced by Heap’s email and event template package and save me $240/year. I say theoretically because there are some features missing from Heap that DS covers like ISP spam management and unsubscribe requests that make me think twice about going with the more minimal solution offered by Heap.

Heap’s event and email creation is super simple. Just go into Settings -> Email Templates -> Create a New Email Template. Write your email and click ‘Save’. Then go into Event creation and add those emails to your follow-up event template and you’re good to go!

Each time you create a new contact you have the option to run an event template. This template includes a pre-determined time to make calls and send automated emails to prospects from within Heap.

Other Great Features in Heap

• Google Docs Integration
• Report Tracking – See how many leads, opportunities and customers you have in your pipeline. Goal setting also available.
• Customizable Tabs – Rename your tabs to whatever you like. I didn’t see much value in this but I can see how others might.
• Mobile Website – Heap has a pretty decent mobile website design. I tried it out with my iPhone and was impressed by its ease of use.

What We Didn’t Like:

Unfortunately Heap didn’t pass our test with flying colors. One strong pain point for me was the dashboard interface. Heap’s interface feels like it was created in bits and pieces without any refinement going into making the interface cohesive afterwards.

Much of the dashboard could be improved by way of 37signals’ philosophy on building a really well done product with fewer features initially and then adding new features only after the launch package has been refined.

More Human Proofing Needed

During the first round of testing with Heap I found myself endlessly frustrated because I would send emails to the service but they wouldn’t show up. After almost throwing in the towel, I DM’d fellow ORE101er and Heap user @erionhouston to see if he had experienced similar problems. Through some troubleshooting (and Googling) I realized it was an error on my end.

The error was a simple one: I was attempting to send emails to Heap from an email address that it didn’t recognize so they weren’t added to my client files. This was a dumb mistake and error on my end but here’s the kicker: Heap didn’t tell me that I was making a mistake so I stayed frustrated and puzzled. Highrise HQ, on the other hand, sends out the email you see below informing you of your folly and how to fix it.

Is Heap CRM Worth Using For Real Estate?

Yes, with slight reservation. At $9/month per user, Heap is the biggest bargain among web-based CRMs as of this writing. Combine an affordable monthly cost with advanced features like an easy to use email/event campaign creator, calendar export using the iCalendar format and straightforward reports, Heap is a force to be reckoned with.

Heap’s biggest downfalls are in its presentation. The dashboard (aka user interface/control panel) isn’t intuitive and I spent a good amount of time in the ‘Help’ menu trying to figure out how to do things. Contrast that with 37signals’ Highrise HQ which was very easy for me to pick up with only a small learning curve.

Heap is smart — no doubt about it. But in their quest to create a highly functional CRM I think the developer needs to put some of the feature additions on the back burner to focus on making Heap a smart AND easy to use experience.

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