Jonathan's Blog

Fun with Google Maps from PinpointAgent.com

Jonathan Hoover (Pinpoint Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:38:33 -0500

Tonight I wanted to get a feel for how much of the United States is covered with profiles from agents like you. So, I took the data in the database and worked with the Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface). It gave me a nice representation of which areas the agents are covering, and I thought I'd share it. Take a look at http://www.pinpointagent.com/maps/getzips_v1.cgi and definitely drop by the main site at www.PinpointAgent.com to list your profile free for six months.

I want to work on a "coverage area" next, with nice intersecting circles to show where agents cover. I had fun customizing the PinpointAgent logo for this - so I didn't have to use the standard Google "marker". Double click to zoom in, click on a logo to bring up that agent's zip code (I could also link to an agent profile in a separate window or even display names, photos, etc in that "info window" - but i'm still deciding what to do with this).

If you find this interesting, and you want to talk about it, let me know - I can go into some detail and we can certainly help with these kinds of projects.

If you had this technology in your hands, what would you map? Your own listings on your website? Maybe local relocation companies (moving companies, grocery stores, fire stations, schools, etc)? Maybe both "mashed up" into the same map to show how close your homes are to local services?

Thanks ActiveRain Users! PinpointAgent.com National Release Today

Jonathan Hoover (Pinpoint Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:57:39 -0500

Just a quick note to thank everyone who stopped by the website and registered over the past weeks. The ActiveRain community helped us grow with agents in 22 states for today's nation-wide expansion launch. If you haven't taken advantage of the FREE 6 month trial, help us make that 23... 24... 50 states even. We're looking forward to some great coverage on the launch, and hope to continue to see our numbers and search volume grow.

Post your agent profile online now for free, at http://www.PinpointAgent.com/

Thanks again,

Jonathan D. Hoover, CEO

Ugh - Dime a Dozen Websites for Finding an Agent

Jonathan Hoover (Pinpoint Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:52:48 -0500

I was in the midst of replying to Rob Graham's comment on my first blog post, and it got me thinking about these dime a dozen websites out there that are supposedly aimed at helping buyers and sellers find an agent, but end up being 1) a giant useless contact list or 2) a way to charge agents a lot for little value or 3) a nice way to bring in ad revenue via cost per click advertising.

When I was in the midst of developing my website at www.PinpointAgent.com (sorry, shameless plug), I kept doing Google searches almost daily on the keywords that people seem to use to find real estate agents with (i.e. the obvious "find a real estate agent"). Have you typed that phrase in to Google and taken a look at what comes up? Go ahead and try it now, I'll wait... www.Google.com.

I won't list them here, but you'll find that several of the top results are just big contact lists, preloaded with agent contact information - presumably through a round-up of state by state data on realtors. You go to the site, enter in a zip code and up comes every agent with an office address in that zip code. What's wrong with that? Well, 1) you're listed even if you don't want to be (and I wouldn't want to be associated with some of these sites), 2) it doesn't tell the consumer which zip codes you serve (only where your office is), and 3) I don't know about you, but I don't choose a real estate agent based on a phone number or office zip code.

One thing's for sure, they sure do get top listing in Google. At least one even gets "Sitelinks" (those additional links within your website to key pages, listed under your main site). I've done a lot of work on search engine optimization (SEO), and it sure can help your website out in inching towards the top of search results. But you also have to have traffic, otherwise SEO only gets you so far. Of course, to get traffic, people have to know about you (i.e, be high up in a search engine result, right). A little catch-22 there.

Wow, my posts get long. I have to watch that, so let me wrap up here. My lesson for agents in this post - do everything you can to get into the right profile websites online. But make sure they are not just nameless drones meant only to attract shamelessly high ad revenue (or shamelessly high revenue from agents for that matter). I want to see more agents focusing less on their personal websites, and getting in front of high volume websites that provide equal value to agents and consumers.

I would like to suggest, as in my first entry, that you check out my website at www.PinpointAgent.com and use the promotional code 'activerain' to set up a 6 month free trial. I think it's a pretty sharp system, and if you read my first entry you can learn a bit about what makes it unique. But mainly I am posting here to get some feedback and introduce myself to the community - I have been involved in real estate technology and marketing for quite some time now, and want to know what tools you need to succeed (or to even exist) in our online world.

I'm sure I'll have more to say, and I hope to hear from you too.

Jonathan

What's Wrong with How Clients find You

Jonathan Hoover (Pinpoint Agent, Inc.) — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:12:45 -0500

Over the past several years, through real estate purchases of my own, referral of friends/families to agents, and with the knowledge I've gained directing the technology operations of a 300+ agent brokerage an idea came to me:

Clients DON'T have a good way to find agents.

Look at everything you're doing as an agent. 95% of it revolves around your current listings. What do you put in the Real Estate Book? Listings. Newspaper (if you still do that)? Listings. Even in your online marketing, it's listings everywhere. Think about it: your website, your brokerage website, your franchise website, Google Housing, Trulia, the list goes on and on. It's your listings.

But everyone has access to those same tools. So, as a buyer - I can find that house with any agent. As a seller, I can choose any agent to put my house up for sale, because they all put them in the same place (or at least have equal opportunity to do so).

We need to personally connect with potential clients.

It's a bit hard to connect with someone personally if we don't know them yet, though - isn't it? After all, I did say "potential" clients. We could tell people about ourselves on our website - but even my brother is a real estate agent, and I won't read all that text (heck, this post is even getting too long). Plus, I'd have to know that the agent exists before I know to go to their website. The same goes for brokerage websites, and to a lesser extent exists even with franchise websites. There are web marketing tools out there, and plenty of places online have your contact info already posted, but they don't provide any service to buyers and sellers - so they aren't used.

Here's how you connect with clients on a personal basis.

It starts with matching buyers and sellers to an agent who means something to them. Shares the same ideals, speaks the same language, has kids the same age, has a deep cultural tie to them. That's what I have created at Pinpoint Agent (www.PinpointAgent.com). It is a unique patent-pending search application that's free for the consumer and (for at least the next 6 months) free for agents that use the promotional code 'activerain' when they register.

I really want your feedback on this system. I want you to sign up, look around the website, and tell me if I'm on the right track with how buyers and sellers can find you. I want to know what other technology knowledge you need to be effective, so that I can help you with that too.

Thanks for reading...

Jonathan