Blogging In The Rain Real Estate Marketing Blog

Week of 11/03/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

2009-11-24T11:52:36Z

Week of 11/23/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Troubling Rise of Facebook's Top Gaming Company

If you're on Facebook you are most likely familiar with Farmville, a popular social networking game on the Facebook platform. What you may not have known is the ways that Farmville is able to make revenue. This article really makes you think about the "phenomenon of free". Eventually free has to cost someone something. Is it better to have free hidden behind the curtains or unleash free
upfront and pay for value in exchange?

If you enjoyed this article, I would ask that you visit an older post that I wrote on the topic of free, "The Internet, Welfare and the Age of Entitlement" and share your thoughts on the subject of free.

Measuring Engagement of the Social Web: '07-'09

Ilya Grigorik blogs about Postrank's analysis of the engagement of blog readers on the worldwide web. The study's findings include statistics that find conversations about content happening "off property" on popular social sharing communities and networks like Twitter, Facebook and Digg which is also allowing a blogger's content to have a more substantial shelf life then back in '07.

It is clear that a blogger should syndicate and leverage the communities that exist online in order to gain traffic and readership. Remember that when you do syndicate your blog's content, to make an effort to become actively involved in the conversation that ensues.

Postrank has a great slideshare presentation that summarizes the study's findings and that I have included here.

Measuring Engagement of the Social Web: 2007-2009

View more presentations from Ilya Grigorik.

Anxiety Index Quartertly: The Best Brand Responses to the Recession

JWT Anxiety Index "Brand Answers for an Anxious World" reports the findings of a year long survey on consumer responses to various brands marketing campaigns during the recession. Fill out a simple form and you will have access to their third Anxiety Index Quarterly Report that lists the top 10 brand findings with explanations on why the brands they've chosen are remarkable in their actions, offerings, and response via marketing during the recession.

One company mentioned is AMEX and the popularity of their social network,OpenForum and their Shine A Light competition aimed to help small business owners.

This is a great read and well worth the few minutes you will spend filling out the form to gain access. It might spark some inspiring thoughts on how you can generate responsible and thoughtful marketing campaigns and online offerings for your real estate business during tough economic times.

The Most Useful Marketing Posts About Facebook November 2009

A really impressive list of blog posts about Facebook gathered from Who's Blogging What. If you are marketing your services on Facebook this is a must read. Who's Blogging What has gathered posts on topics covering enhancements to your Facebook Fan Page, drawing a community to your Facebook Fan Page, and how to configure your Facebook Fan Page among many others.

While there are standard resources in the list like Mashable, All About Facebook, and DuctTape Marketing, I found a few new resources to bookmark and add to my RSS Reader.

What Small Business Website Owners Need to Know About Page Speed

A great post from SearchEngineWatch.com's Carrie Hill on Google's new upcoming Ranking Factor blog post I wrote after, speed, when Google Caffeine is released after the holidays. I mentioned this in after returning from PubCon but felt it did bear repeating.

Hill discusses her findings after using the Google's Speed Checking tool and that in fact some of the analytics were over her current knowledge base and the importance of having a webmaster tweak and test your website and make the necessary adjustments for speedy website surfing.

Testing and improving your site for speed is an important "to do" before the holidays are over.

Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant. If you like what your reading follow Blogging In The Rain on Facebook.

35 Places to List your Real Estate Business Online for Local Search

2009-11-20T12:15:15Z

35 Places to List your Real Estate Business Online for Local Search

BestofCitySearch- Nominate and vote for local businesses. Free
BestoftheWeb Local- Business Listing allows contact information, hours of operation, consumer reviews, about us. Free
CitySearch- Directory of local services. Can create ads and set a budget. Citysearch has a Mobile App for IPhone, a mobile app forBlackberry, and Palm Pre.- PAID Set a Budget.
CitySquares.com- List your Business profile. Free
Dex Knows- Local Search Listing- Paid
DiscoverourTown- Lists local businesses and city facts. Free
elocallisting-Optimized local business search marketing campaigns- Paid subscription fees. Need to register for information.
GenieKnows- Business Directory. Free
Geofollow-Location based twitter directory. Free
GetFave.com- Register your business listing, add maps, video, content. Free
Google Local Business Center- List your business on Google maps and add photos and video- Free
Hotfrog- U.S. Online Business Directory. Free
iBegin.com- Business listings for Canada and the U.S.; Geocoding.- Free
Insider Pages- Register your business listing. Free
Kudzu- Basic profile listing is free includes all contact information, link to website, hours of operation, and can respond to reviews.
Judy's Book- Contact to be part of Beta Group under Partners.
JustRealEstate.org- Contact for a business lising. Paid
Local.com- Local Directory of Businesses.-Free
Local Tweeps- Zipcode Level Twitter Directory. Free
Matchpoint.com- Submit your business listing and respond to RFP's. Receive Leads with Call Tracking and Management.-Free
Merchant Circle- List your business, add a blog, description, create coupons, network with local businesses, answer questions from consumers. Free
Metrobot- Submit a business listing. Free
Mojopages- Business listings for free with notification of user reviews and can also invite customers to review. Free
SeekOn- Submit site for a business listing. Free
Switchboard.com- Powered by Superpages.com. Business listings. Free
Topix- Single city business listings are free. Free
Trulia- Real Estate Listing Directory- List your real estate business, services, listings, local profile. Trulia pro accounts $19-$79/month
Twellowhood- Local Twitter Directory. Free
Tyloon- Business Listings for Free. Free
YellowBot- Local Search Site with user reviews. Free
Weblocal.ca- Canadian local search site with user reviews and video upload. $199 signup fee and $89monthly fee
Yelp- Reputation Management by user reviews. List your business. Recommend other local businesses. Free
Zillow- Register your local business. Free
ZoomInfo- Create your business profile and have people find you for new business opportunities. You can also register here to be notified when you can list your company...an upcoming ZoomInfo feature. Free

If you enjoyed this post then check out,

An Offering for Your Real Estate Marketing Toolkit: 45 Blog Directories

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Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

5 Real Estate Take-Aways from PubCon Vegas 2009- Matt Cutts on "What Has Google Done for Users Lately?"

2009-11-19T12:21:10Z

5 Real Estate Take-Aways from PubCon Vegas 2009- Matt Cutts on "What Has Google Done for Users Lately?"

One of the best sessions I attended at PubCon 2009 Las Vegas was Search Engines and Webmasters-The Smackdown. It was a session featuring Matt Cutts of Google and Nathan Buggia of Bing discussing their views of search and their companies unique offerings in the search space. I was very interested in Buggia's confirmation that Bing is committed to capturing 51% of the search space and the reaction from SEO professionals in the room which seemed happy for the competition.

My main takeaways from the session were from Cutt's presentation on "What Has Google Done For Users Lately?" as it is the search engine that currently has 66.1% share of searches in the U.S.

Matt Cutts ran down a list of at least 10-12 Google offerings, but I am going to pare it down to those tools I believe most pertinent to individual real estate professionals and real estate companies.

Here are my 5 real estate take-aways from Pubcon Vegas 2009- Matt Cutts on What Has Google Done for you Lately?

1. Google Chrome- This is Google's browser offering. I have it installed on my desktop and though I still prefer Firefox, I like Chrome when speed is a necessity.

I use Google Chrome when I need to search through several websites.

2. Google Wave- A new way to collaborate and make better sense of the increasing inefficiency of email by communicating in real time. I am just jumping into Wave now, but Cheryl Johnson has been posting on Wave and is great at giving clear, easy to follow tech tutorials.

3. Google Social Search-Taps into the power of your network to keep track of what they are doing, researching, reading, and posting online. One really cool bonus is if you do opt to try social search you can search by your name or business to find information on the last time Google Indexed your stuff. Cutts recommended this over the popular search using "site:____". I logged into social search and found it be very useful for just this feature alone. If you do not want people to see what websites you have searched at any moment you can log out.

4. Google Speed Test- Please take note this one is important. The update for Google's Algorithms, Caffeine, will be coming after the Holidays. Cutts said in the session at PubCon that the speed of your website might be an important factor in this update (hint,hint) because search users care about speed. Of the 200 factors that Google uses to index and rank for SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) Speed isn't currently a factor. You can test your website's speed with Google's Speed Test.

Don't forget to test the speed of your blog too.

5. Google Dashboard- I'm gonna wrap with this one. When Cutts asked the question "How many people feel concerned about all of the information Google has on them?" a good 50% of the audience's hands went up including mine along with a laugh at the results and the question.

Here is one example. If you've ever used Gmail you will notice that the ads that show up on the right hand side have to do directly with the content in the body of your emails. If you want to know what information Google has been collecting on you Google has created a dashboard. It was more than interesting to see this information and I will be checking out my dashboard weekly now.

As a side note, Chris Olsen's post, "Google Godzilla-Sized Eyeballs Will Soon be 360x360x360" discusses the increasing allure and possible bait of the worldwide web with its leader Google. It's a good read and topic for discussion.

The release of your information on the Internet should at some point give you pause for thought.

Here is a copy of Matt Cutts full presentation from PubCon Vegas 2009.

If you enjoyed this post then check out another PubCon Lesson,

Lessons from PubCon Vegas 2009: It's Time to Think About Local Search and How You Can Make an Impact Online

Subscribe to BloggingInTheRain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog

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Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

Week of 11/16/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

2009-11-17T12:07:42Z

Week of 11/16/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Create and Manage a Team-Authored Blog: 8 Steps to Reap SEO Gains

Subscribe to a free trial to Marketing SHERPA to read this article with great tips on how to create and manage a team authored blog. Team authored blogs make sense for real estate professionals who have time constraints and who want to add a level of depth to their content by adding the written works of ancillary service providers. A team authored blog also provides an opportunity to network with local businesses and offer them the opportunity to contribute local information to your blog.

The article discusses creating an editorial calendar, keyword lists, creating a goal for your blog, and how to set deadlines for blog posts.

13 Ways to Network Beyond Facebook and Linked In

A blog post on Connectodex on OpenForum about taking your social media marketing beyond two of the biggest social networks. Jantsch emphasizes the importance of using social networks that have strong connections and interaction to your advantage. There are five networks listed for small businesses that I believe would be especially valuable to real estate professionals.

Biznik-Online and offline social networking for small businesses.
IncBizNet- Real Estate Broker/Owners for Privately Held Companies can apply for membership to IncBizNet where they can publish blog posts, create free online press releases, write an online business profile, and apply for the Inc 500/5000 fastest growing private companies list.
Sta.rtup.biz- Networking for startup businesses.
BizSugar- A social website to share small business news, tips, videos and strategies.
Entrepreuner Connect- A social site for entrepreneurs to connect and network.

5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter Lists

A blog post from John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing that discusses Twitter Lists. I use a desktop application-Hootsuite- to organize my Twitter handles, streams, and searches, but Jantsch five reasons convinced me of why I should still use lists,

Monitor without following.

One button list follow.

Promote your lists.

Filtered by an expert.

Build a bigger following.

I recommend reading this post in its entirety. It's a quick and easy read and gets to the point of list building with Twitter

The 50 Best Innovations of 2009

Two of these innovations caught my eye on Time Magazine's 50 Best Innovations of 2009 that were in the Web 2.0/Social Media Space

Thru You- Described as "Footage taken on YouTube by amateur musicians and mixed together." Take a listen to Thru You on YouTube It's clear that collaboration, passion, and mashups are valued across industries online.
Tweeting with a Purpose- A project pioneered by University of Wisconsin doctoral student Adam Wilson and adviser Justin Williams in whichWilson tweets by thinking via a cap outfitted with electrodes monitoring changes in his brain activity. For what purpose? Research for those with locked in syndrome- which "which paralyzes the body, except for the eyes, but leaves the mind alert". Slow going now at 8 characters vs. the 140 characters twitter allows but can you imagine with further research if Twitter ends up being a vocal outlet for those with Locked-In Syndrome? Now that's tweeting with a purpose.

Exploring Loyalty Programs and Their Many Benefits

An article by Mike Phillips on Website Magazine about creating loyalty programs. Phillips uses 93XRT Radio Station in Chicago (a radio station I grew up on in High School) as an example of how to create brand loyalty programs and keep visitors on your website through a members only portal. He emphasizes the two key elements of focusing on the user and focusing on the brand as critical in creating a successful loyalty program.

Think about the concept of SOI and referral business and a loyalty program will make sense for your real estate business. Phillips keeps reality in check by emphasizing that loyalty programs are not set and forget marketing strategies. Loyalty programs require maintenance and promotion. 93XRT currently has 12,000 plus Facebook Fans and over 3300 twitter followers.

93XRT Members Only Registration here.

93XRT Facebook Fan Page here.

93XRT Twitter Account here.

Reading this article and touring the links of XRT's digital footprint can't help but make you think about your website offering and digital footprint for past clients who can refer business to you.

Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies is a weekly online newsletter provided by Rebecca D. Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant. If you like what your reading come join my business page on FaceBook.

Subscribe to Blogging In the Rain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog

If you enjoyed this post please check out more freebie online reads and real estate resources,

Week of 11/09/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks-Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Week of 11/03/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies

Week of 10/26/09- Real Skillz Freebie Picks- Free Online Reads and Real Estate Marketing Resources for Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Companies- Issue II

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Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals.

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

How to Use the Power of Social Media and Local Businesses to Fuel a Local Charitable Online Marketing Campaign

2009-11-16T12:17:54Z

How to Use the Power of Social Media and Local Businesses to Fuel a Local Charitable Online Marketing Campaign

It's the time to pay thanks and what better way for real estate professionals to become actively involved in their communities than to put the power of social media marketing to a charitable use online? Today I am going to use the GiveNGoble Campaign to illustrate how you can use the power of social media and your local business connections to power a local charitable online marketing campaign.

The Give'n'Gobble Campaign is Sherwood Oregon's annual 5Krun/walk and 10K run on Thanksgiving. The money and food raised during the run/walk goes to Helping Hands, a local food bank associated with the Oregon Food Bank. This year they have turned to social media to fuel their donations and WOM(Word of Mouth Marketing) and it has served the campaign well.

Here is what they did that you can emmulate to drive a local charitable online marketing campaign,

1. Bought a domain and drove traffic to a designated website for the charity

The website gives all the necessary information about the charity as well as an eye catching left hand side bar with 10 reasons why to participate and photos of the past year's events. It also includes a sponsor list, a map(would've been nice to see a Google Map also), a lists of sponsors (which are logos that link back to the sponsors websites) a form for volunteers, and a press release section.

I would buy a designated domain. Domains are pretty cheap to buy these days because domain dealers are currently holding an excessive inventory. I might even go with a .org instead of a .com. domain. If you are lacking time and resources to host and create a website, I would contact a local website provider and ask for a donation.

2. Used a flickr account to display photos

Consumers like visuals and do image search daily. Adding a flickr account for your charitable online marketing campaign just makes sense. Make sure to tag photos well and mark your distribution rights accordingly. Here are 14 other image search engines to consider for your campaign.

3. Created a Facebook Fan Page to drive online awareness and donations

Some of the most effective advertising through Facebook Fan Pages has been as a result of viral quizzes, contests,giveaways and strategic campaigns. A Facebook Fan Page should be part of any online charitable marketing campaign. It should include updates on campaign activities and behind the scenes action shared through notes. It can include polls on the wall about topics surrounding the campaign. I would include stats on how the contribution will directly help the charity from past experience if you have those stats or in general if you do not.

Tap into the viral marketing power of Facebook by reminding visitors to share the page with a friend. Add the Facebook FanBox to the dedicated website for the charity.

4. Twittering with a Charitable Purpose

Micro blogging the charitable event before, during and after makes sense. Create a separate Twitter handle and list it in local twitter directories like Twellow. Geofollow, and localtweeps. Think about how contributions will serve the goal of the charity and that is how you want to craft your message on your Twitter Page to create an empowering call to action.

The GiveNGobble Twitter Page makes a smart call to action by directing visitors to its Facebook Fan Page.

5. Blog the charitable event before, during, and after it is over

Blog your charitable event before, during, and after it's over. The blog should be built into the designated website to increase search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. Include links to the blog in blog directories and pertinent web pages.

Invite guest bloggers who are either sponsors, volunteers or participants of the event.

Here's a few things I would add to the online marketing campaign mix

Radio-If you have an Internet radio show include 3 spots for the event- Before to build awareness, the day of to kick start the even, and after to discuss the results.
Video-Launch a YouTube channel for the event OR include videos of the event on your YouTube Channel.
Generational Marketing-Advertise the event through online resources where you can get volunteers like college websites.
Document Sharing- Include any marketing brochures or applications on document sharing websites likeDocStoc andScribd.
Business Branding-Give your real estate business some credit by including a link on the charitable website/blog to your website or at the very least a business citation. You will get some natural business branding by writing a press release and in return getting mentions in local and possibly national news.
Savvy Linking- Create buttons for sponsor, volunteers, contributors, to put on their website that will link back to the charitable website.

Don't forget that a key to success of this type of campaign will be to partner up with local businesses. Pop by in person or call them on the phone to get their assistance and their support.

It might be a bit late to ramp up a charitable online marketing plan like this in time for Thanksgiving, but Christmas is still a month away and there are charities all year round. You don't have to wait for a holiday to get buzz going and give thanks by helping others.

You can use the power of social media and local businesses to fuel a local charitable online marketing campaign anytime.

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Lessons from PubCon Vegas 2009: It's Time to Think About Local Search and How You Can Make an Impact Online

2009-11-13T00:34:35Z

One of my favorite sessions at PubCon Vegas 2009 was the Local Search and Mobile Optimization session. I have been following local search for the past five years from a marketing angle. Quite awhile ago I realized that the SEM field would have to address the needs of consumers. Consumers want to research and have a need to find local vendors online.

The local online space is fascinating because it's a space where the national players can be beat. Here's a few tips to getting it done in the local search space courtesy of Pubcon Vegas 2009,

Local business professionals can use national platforms to promote their brands, products, businesses, services and interact with consumers by leveraging their online business profiles,optimizing them, and getting links. Do you have profiles on MerchantCircle, CitySearch,Local.com,TrueLocal,Yellowbot,Yelp,hotfrog.com,, Trulia,your city directory or BBB?