by Kris Cone | Nov 18, 2009 | What's New
MRED Photo Upload and Automated Tour Linking. Hey ChicagoLand customers – we now are automatically linking your tour to MRED upon your tour approval. So no need to go to your MLS and add the unbranded tour link manually! In addition, we are now uploading 9 photos into MRED for you automatically. The first 9 photos selected for the flyer on your tour at the photos we will automatically upload. In order to enable the automated linking and photo upload, just select MRED and MRED Photos under Edit Profile>Edit Linking Details and add your Agent ID from MRED in the applicable field. Then approve your tours, and the tour will be posted. We will upload the photos as soon as we produce the tour. Please note we do need a valid MLS number for your listing and your Agent ID as supplied by the MLS.
by Kris Cone | Nov 17, 2009 | Real Estate Info
I listened to the virtual rebar camp that is going on today. Some good points…
1. Create a Post, not an email. Each time you have a question or issue, create a blog post…because it adds more content to your site, helps answer other people’s questions, and increases your search engine status! So write the post and then email the person the link to the post. Tell them it was a great question and I thought others would benefit from seeing the answer, so here is the link to the blog post.
2. Hyperlocalizm….focusing in on one area. Your local town, neighborhood, or development, not your entire metro area…it is too big and hard to get to the top.
3. Spacial Match – 2010 technology coming…When people search, they search by city, street and zip code….Lifestyle variables will be added with Spacial match, so add lifestyle content to your site. Example: what is it like to live in your community, pictures, etc…show the lifestyle and how you live it…..
4. Later Music! Get rid of music on website. Google has new tool on search that translates video into text…so music will impact that….
4. Get a zipcode based URL, like livein64152.com or WeatherbyLakeLifestyle.com and sub domain of zip code….google does not care what order it is in.
5. Facebook – 24% of all web traffic is Facebook. 32 minutes on site, 14 page views. Do not put your birth date online….Create a fan page using zip code. Note – realtor.com has a nice little widget that you can add to your Facebook profile page and sidebar. It is free. See more at seemylistings.com.
6. Topics for a blog post. Set up a google alert on a topic. Google will email you the alert. go to www.google.com/alerts to create the alert. Select comprehensive info. Select a daily alert option. Set the alert up for the city you live in. Include the words real estate. Include your name. Create a calendar event to review the alert and write a post. Save them into a Blog Topic folder or Label. Use local keywords.
- Use Local Keywords for your posts-Use [City] Real Estate in your blog post. If you service multiple cities, rotate the city among your blog posts.
- [City] homes
- Add on to the basics for longer keywords, like [city] real estate agents
Where to put the keywords? Place keywords 3 times in a 350 word post. Once in the title, once in the first paragraph (preferably the first sentence), and one more anywhere in the blog post. Also include links in your posts. You can even link to other pages in your website or other blog posts you might have previously posted, so the search engines look through all of your site. Adding authoritative links also helps.You can get a free ebook on the topic at www.Leadbosterclub.com free ebook on the topic of blogging….
7. Posterous. What is it? A really simple blogging platform. Lets you completely customize the look and feel of the site. You can also get your own domain name for the posterous site. You can set up a Posterous site for a buyer or seller. Create an online diary. Use the street address.yourdomain to create it for the house on a seller, which then could be given to the buyer. You can also set up additional contributors.
8. Free Tools. Jing, Gimp (photoshop like), Audacity (sound files), NVU (html editing program), Dropbox (Back-up of large files), Yousendit (email large files), Filwfilla, Alltop (info), Popurl (what is popular), Post Templates (for blog), PDF995, FreeMind, Google (lots of free stuff), email? Mass awebber is not free but works good. Get more at www.steverosenbaum.com/million including wordpress plugins.
by Kris Cone | Nov 11, 2009 | Real Estate News
It looks like Real Living is the latest to get gobbled up by the market turmoil, as they were sold to Toronto based Brookfield Asset Management. They purchased GMAC Real Estate in September of 2008 and own the Royal LePage brand in Canada. You can read more about it in the Vancouver Sun article.
by Kris Cone | Oct 21, 2009 | Real Estate Info
For those of you that have not attended a REBar Camp before, you should give this a try. It is a national online session…so travel costs are $0…just takes your time. You can read more about it and sign upby clicking here.
Complete Event Details:
Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Location: Online Webinars
Time: 9AM – 4PM PST
Registration: Online
Twitter Hashtag: #VREBC
Cost: Free!
You can get full details on the RE BarCamp Website or become a fan of the official Facebook page.
by Kris Cone | Oct 7, 2009 | Common FAQs, Listing Tools
Based on a recent survey, we received several comments about the video. So, I thought I would share some ideas on how to make a really effective video. We will also work to change how we do some things in production so what you get as a draft has some of these things taken into account. So please look at the tips below and try to incorporate them into your next video. You can see an example of a video by clicking here.
Edit Transition tool
1. Try to keep the video under 2 minutes. 1-2 minutes is ideal. This means if you have a video with 5 seconds for each photo, a 2 minute video will be 24 photos. Most people will not sit through a 4 minute video.
2. Adjust the time sequence of photos. Did you know you can change how long a photo shows during the video? Just go to Edit Video from the Tour Editor menu (Manage orders>Tour Editor>Edit Video) and then select Edit Transition on a photo. The default time period is 5 seconds per photo. If you want a faster, more upbeat video, change it to 2 or 3 seconds. You can even apply the time sequence to All Photos and then adjust a few more important photos to show for a longer period (see screen shot at right). For an example of a video that speeds it up, click here.
3. Add text to each photo to help explain the scene. Just select the Edit Text button at the bottom of each photo to add a photo name and add a text description. The name shows in the photo gallery view, the description shows on the video itself.
4. Select Different Music. We have over 200 song choices across different genres. We are working to add more music with some vocals/more Indie type feel. You can change the music under the Music Selection section on the Edit Video page. Stay tuned for more music …
Can I use my own music from CDs I own? Short Answer: NO. Long Answer: We currently do not allow you to upload your own music – the reason is copyright issues. All songs are copyright protected. ANY use of a song in a real estate “For Sale” tour would be considered for a “commercial purpose” and therefore subject to copyright laws. If you have not properly licensed music, then you would be in violation. EACH violation can have both actual and statutory damages….statutory damages run $750 PER occurrence. Read more at the US Copyright Office. So, it is not worth the legal risk…to you or us. Also, to license a top artist’s song is prohibitively expensive – thousands of dollars. Therefore, we have to license music from stock music libraries and royalty free sites. ALL of our music on the tours has been properly licensed. At some point we may allow you to find and license your own music and upload it to your account…but we will require proof of a valid license.
We are working to add more improvements to the video part of the tour, including larger/crisper photos, ways to create a real video file with uploads to YouTube, and some new music. We welcome any comments you have by sending us an email using the form below.
Thanks for reading…
Kris Cone
by Kris Cone | Oct 2, 2009 | Listing Tools, Real Estate Info
There has been a lot of discussion about virtual tour companies syndicating tours to companies like Google, Yahoo, Trulia, Zillow, etc. When it comes down to it, the real estate broker/company really should be doing this work for you, the agent. According to Spencer Rascoff of Zillow, they put a hierarchy on listing syndication, in the following priority:
- Agent Posted Listings
- Office (Broker) Posted Listings
- National Office Posted Listings
- MLS Posted Listings
- Virtual Tour Company/Other Syndicator of Listings
So, as a virtual tour company, we are put at the bottom, and rightfully so. The Office (Broker) or national company should have the most up to date listings along with your branding information (name, logo, contact info, etc). If an MLS posts a listing to one of these national real estate sites, it will likely not have your info. PLUS, if they do include a virtual tour link, it is likely the unbranded virtual tour that does not have your info on it. If we as a virtual tour company post the linking, it is not synchronized with the MLS, which can cause problems.
We can help. If your broker or company needs help doing listing syndication to various sites, we have a team of technical experts that can help. We could even do some of the development for you. Also, it is important to include as much information as possible in your feed, including any virtual tour links. I know in talking with Zillow, you can include virtual tour links into the data feed to them. Ditto for Google Base.
-Cheers,
Kris Cone
