Technology for Real Estate

Syndicate your Online Videos for Free + Fun Facts about Video

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:30:08 -0600

The first question you might have is why would I want to syndicate my videos? Syndicating allows you to upload a single video to one site while letting that one site upload your video everywhere else. It will save you hours of time uploading videos. The service I am talking about is TubeMogul.com

TubeMogul is a free service that will automatically syndicate any uploaded videos to the most popular video hosting services all for free. Tubemogul syndicates to AOL, Blip, Break, Brightcove, Crackle, DailyMotion, Google Video, Graspr, Howcast, Tellytopia, iMeem, Metacafe, MySpace, Revver, Sclipo, StupidVideos, WebCastr, Yahoo Video, Veoh, Viddler, Vimeo and 5Min.

You probably will not want your videos syndicated to all the sites above so TubeMogul lets you decide what sites you want your videos uploaded to. I personally have my videos upload automatically to Google Video, Veoh, Viddler, Vimeo and YouTube depending on what type of video it is. In order for TubeMogul to sydicate your videos to these pages you will have to have an account with the sites you're uploading to but once they are created that's all you have to do.

TubeMogul also takes it a step further and gives you great stats on your video views. The easy-to-use TubeMogul interface allows you to see what video sites are giving your videos the greatest exposure and shows you how many views each video gets from each service.

This means I will no longer have to manually upload my videos to all the different video hosting sites and then try and keep up with how many views each site shows. Now I only have to upload and check one site for everything.

If you're not currently using video, here are some reasons you might want to jump on board.

-In 2008, over 120 BILLION videos were streamed in the U.S.
-About 15% of the WORLD watches web videos each day.
-50% of the U.S. population watches web videos each day.
-13 Hours of Web Video get uploaded to YouTube.com EVERY MINUTE
-YouTube.com's bandwidth costs exceed 1 Million dollars EACH DAY
-YouTube.com consumed more bandwidth in 2008 than the ENTIRE INTERNET did in the year 2000
-Certain cable television shows have started broadcasting directly to the Internet because they were getting more viewers.v -For the first time, in 2008 the presidential candidates used the web as their primary campaign medium.
-PuppyCam became the most popular streaming video of all time. It consisted of 6 puppies in a crate?!?
-PuppyCam may sound stupid but in only 3 months 13 million people spent over 4 million hours watching those puppies!
-Of the over 23 billion dollars spent on advertising in 2008, over ONE BILLION dollars went into online video.
Funny stuff. It's amazing how fast the online video revolution has moved.

If you have any questions you can e-mail me at info@retechblog.com or visit my blog at www.RETechBlog.com

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
www.RETechSeminars.com

Giving Away a New Blackberry Storm!

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:48:50 -0600

On January 15th in Miami we will be giving away a FREE Blackberry Storm to one lucky attendant of the Real Estate Technology Specialist Seminar. We are lucky enough to not only have the Blackberry Storm but also tons of accessories to go with it when we raffle it off. We love showing agents how to make money without spending money so much that we're going to raffle off this $750 Blackberry package on the 15th of January at RAMB. The winner will walk away from the seminar with the device + accessories.

If your a real estate professional and you need to learn how to market yourself and your listings online correctly using proven methods that don't cost you a penny you need to register for the Real Estate Technology Seminar on January 15th @ RAMB in Miami. We've already had hundreds of agents go through our seminar and not one single negative evaluation! If you don't believe us and want to hear what other agents are saying about this seminar then see our Testimonials.

Don't miss this course! Very Limited Seating Available!

REGISTER HERE!

Faster, Better, Stronger USB 3.0 Interface!

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:09:22 -0600

WATCH VIDEO HERE http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/165/

Many of you or probably all of you have used a "usb 2.0" device or you've heard "usb 2.0" compatible related to printers, cameras, external hard drives and much more. USB is a wired interface that allows you to connect your computer to an external device for data transfer. The "2.0" in "USB 2.0" refers to the upgraded speed from the original USB 1.1 of the olden days. USB 2 has a max transfer rate of about 30 mega-bytes per seconds max. This means if you take listing pictures that are 1 mega-byte in size and you transfer 60 listing pictures from your camera to your computer it will take 2 seconds. 2 seconds is the speed based off the max transfer rate of USB 2, but in reality there are always bottle necks that take USB 2 down to about 10-15 mega-bytes per second. Don't get me wrong USB 2 was fast enough for most anything the average computer user was doing, but with the bottle necks involved put a restraint on how far the hardware industry could go with new "toys". It's the same thing that happened with the internet. Until recently not everyone had a broadband connection so not everyone felt comfortable using streaming video or flash applications on their websites because they were afraid some people wouldn't be able to see them. Now that (almost) everyone has a broadband connection those bottle necks are gone and streaming video & flash apps are all over the net.

Now enter the new USB 3.0! Transferring data at a MASSIVE 500 mega-bytes per second max. The new USB 3 technology can transfer data almost 17 times faster than the USB 2 everyone is using right now. What does this mean to you? This means we can get rid of a lot of bottle necks that we're holding the industry back. Let's take for example, hard drives. As of right now all commercially available hard drives can transfer data at around 80 mega-bytes per second max no matter what cable they're using. **NERD COMMENT** Even if you're using the newer SATA (300 mb/s) cables in your machine and running a RAPTOR HD, you're not going much over 80mb/s **END NERD COMMENT** Hard drives can't transfer data at speeds over 80 mega-bytes per second mainly because there was no interface that could support anything greater. Now that USB 3 is here hard drive manufactures can start to build hard drives that transfer data at rates of 300-500 mega-bytes per second. Another note is what they can now do with solid state flash storage. Flash storage transfers at around a snails speed (even in the mac air), but now that they have USB 3 to interface with we may see solid state flash drives reach speeds of 250-300 mega-bytes per second!

To put it in perspective, with this new USB 3 technology at max speed you'll be able to copy an entire DVD movie from your hard drive to an external storage device in about 4 seconds. WOW!

I know this was a nerd post but thanks for reading along.
Matt Rains
www.RETechSeminars.com

Those young Whipper Snappers! How can I sell them a home?

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:52:10 -0600

So you want to start working with that younger "internet" crowd, you just don't know where to start. Well trying to work with the younger crowd seems like a good idea to me. I mean the majority of buyers that are going to absorb this market are going to be young renters and first time home buyers. I'm 25 years old and i've been around computers and different forms of technology since I can remeber so it doesn't come as a problem when I need to communicate with a first time home buyer who is 21-30 years old. I know I can always find them on Facebook or MySpace and start up some type of conversation.

So what are you supposed to do if you're not tech savvy, you don't "do" Facebook or MySpace and you actually refer to them as "MyFace" and "SpaceBook" (Mom!)?

I would say the first thing you need to try and understand is the generation itself. You need to know what they are doing and what they are looking for. You need to know how they breathe, eat and sleep. You need to know everything.

It's hard to do but in my experience young buyers are looking for that older responsible adult to help them with such a big decision and you might just be that adult.

I will leave you pondering how you can approach this new "first time home buyer" and walk away with the deal but if you need any help please watch this video by Guy Kawasaki. He interviews the "young" first time home buyer age group and what he finds might literally amaze you. It's about an hour but WELL WORTH YOUR TIME!

http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=wgcqpthubc

Thanks to Guy and Chad Huck for showing me the video.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
www.RETechBlog.com

Video Streaming from your Cell Phone.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:19:00 -0600

Hello Everyone,

Recently a company called Qik.com came onto the scene with a new technology that allowed people to stream live video directly from their cell phone. The idea was genius and the technology worked great. There was only one problem, Qik.com only supported a very limited number of phones. As of January 1st Qik.com now supports over 100 different types on phones so it's more likely you can now pack this great idea into your little bag of tricks.

The first thing you need to do is sign up for a free account at Qik.com then make sure your phone is compliant and your phone has some type of data or internet plan (unlimited is recommended). Once you have an account and your phone passes all the required criteria you can install the free software onto your smartphone or iPhone. Now it's as simple as running the application on your phone and pressing "stream".

Once your streaming anyone who is on your Qik.com webpage can watch the live feed. Privacy controls are also available if you don't want everyone watching.

Go ahead and play with it. I highly recommend you learn how it works and how you can use it in your everyday business.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
RETechBlog.com

SEO Series Part 3

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:20:07 -0600

Before we get into the last step (for this series) I want you to sit down and write several descriptions about what your site is about. Kinda like your keywords but more of a brief summary.

All there is left to do now that we are happy with our site/blog setup is to submit it to the search engines of your choice. Once your website is submitted it will be up to you to keep your website full of good content and keep the search engines coming back.

A good site to use when submitting your website to search engines is http://www.FreeWebSubmission.com This site lets you submit to multiple websites all at once and does a great job of it.

Just remember that because your website is submitted to search engines that doesn't mean people will find it. It is mainly your job to keep your content good and to let people know what your blog is about and where they can find it through commenting on other blogs, emails and general socialization.

Have a great day,
Real Estate Technology Online

SEO Series Part 2

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:18:46 -0600

Part two in our series is going to ensure your website is "search engine compatible". Now that we have discussed the keywords and key phrases you are going to use in part one we can actually go into the guts of the website by discussing how to keep search engines happy with your site.

The first area we have to look at is what are the search engines looking at? What makes a search engine dislike you? Search engines have small programs or "scripts" that run called robots. These robots search through your site looking at your "code" and "content". Things that turn robots off are things like pop-ups, an over usage of pictures instead of text or all flash and no text content.

The key to keeping search engine bots happy is simply valuable easy to navigate content. Just be sure to keep your methods ethical and your content valuable. I tell people all the time that most search engines have gotten to the point where if your website truly deserves to be number one in the search result it will be.

Now for those of you that build your own site or have one built the following is for you. Make sure your "meta" tags are all relevant to your content and keywords. Always make sure your internal pages link back to your homepage so bots do not get lost or hit a dead end. Use external CSS whenever possible. If your using flash have a text version available for people without a flash player (iPhone users).

What this all comes down to in a nutshell is - the most important part of your website is how valuable and relevant your content is to the spectrum of visitors you are trying to appeal to. Like I said in step one the search engine world is a giant popularity contest and even if you have a sure fire way to become the most popular site on the net people will never consistently return if your content is no good and remember returning visitors shows Google that your content was worth coming back to.

PS - Our LIVE Real Estate Technology show will be aired Saturday 8pm instead of Sunday 8pm. We will be out of the country starting Sunday morning.

Have a greay day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Live Video Screen Captures FREE

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:16:57 -0600

So you've seen Jeff Turners instructional videos and you've wondered to your self..."How does he capture his screen into a video like that?" Well, he uses a Mac but for us normal PC folk there's this.

Well we have searched the internet universe up and down to bring you "Debut". Debut is a free screen / video / audio capture software that can create very nice screen capture videos for your website or blog.

The features of Debut are listed below and you can read more and download the software from NCH Software

Records video in many different file formats including .avi, .wmv, .flv, .asf .mpg, .3gp, .mp4, .mov and more
Ability to record from:
- Camera (webcam)
- Video Input Sources with a USB Capture Device see here...
- Screen. Almost anything you can see or play on your PC can be recorded.
Records audio with the video (optional).
Multiple video and audio encoder settings.
Snap-shot saving feature.
Text caption and timestamp features.
Ability to adjust resolution and framerate of the output video.
Color settings and video effects for the output video can be changed.
Lets you record for set specified durations (h:mm:ss).
When recording period is over, you can either stop recording or create a new recording and continue.
Mirror recordings to a network or backup drive to keep your video files safe.
Can be set to automatically send video via email once the recording is completed.
Can automatically transmit video files via the internet using FTP.
Find and play recordings ordered by name, date, format or size
Ability to burn directly to DVD with Express Burn Plus.
System wide hot-key assignment to control recording while working in other programs.
Debut Video Recorder has an incredibly intuitive and easy to use interface.
Compatible with BroadCam Streaming Video server to distribute your recording.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

SEO Series Part 1

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:15:41 -0600

We're going to get into our new series about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The video above is a brief summary from our live show last Sunday night (www.realestatetechnologyonline.com/live).

Before you ever get in front of a computer or meet with a web developer you have to grab a pen and paper to ask yourself a question.

Question 1 - What do I want my website to be found for? or What will people be searching for when they find my website?

That question will lead you into the first step of your SEO plan; "Keywords". Search engines work by using what is called "robots" to search through the text and links of your web page to find certain repetitive keywords. After robots search your site they use your "keywords" to associate what your site is about to what people are looking for from the search engine.

Take your pad and pen and start to write down words or phrases that you want your site associated with. These phrases can be "real estate agents Denver" or "relocation specialist Denver " really whatever you want to associate yourself with.

Now that you have your certain keywords/key phrases you'll want to make sure these key terms are maximized by using the Google Adwords Tool. This tool will show you how to tune your key terms to get the most out of them.

Once you get to the tool type in your first key term such as "real estate agents in Denver". My results show that on average 110 people search for that specific key term each month. Now looking further down at those results I can see that the search term "Denver real estate agent" is searched for on average of 40,500 times each month or "Denver real estate" is searched for on average 165,000 times each month. So just using that one tool I have tuned my key phrase to appeal to 165,000 people instead of only 110. That's a huge difference.

We'll that's it for part one of SEO. Get settled down and find out what keywords / key phrases will work best for your site and maybe next we'll actually start on the website.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Get Text Messages from your website.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:14:19 -0600

Get It Here!

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Your Agent Website Series Part Three

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:13:15 -0600

"What in the world should I put on my website?" I get this question a lot and the first thing I always ask back is "What do you want your website to do for you?". Amazingly this always has a way of puzzling real estate agents. They never seem to sit down and think what their website should so for them.

The first thing I think a website should do for you is generate leads. Generating leads is how you make your money so of course that should be priority one and maybe even the only priority. After that realization we then have to figure out do we want buyers, sellers or a little bit of both? Right now I am in a buyers market like most of the country so I have tuned my website to be more friendly to buyers, but still work well with sellers if needed.

By tuning my website I mean I have made it easier to acquire buyers over sellers. I did this by giving buyers the number one thing they want most - A PROPERTY SEARCH - this is they key to generating traffic to your site. You have to have a way for buyers and even sellers to search the current market. Now since I have that taken care of my next priority would be to pre-qualify these new buyers. This is done with a giant button that says "Get Pre-Qualified Here" and when the potential buyer fills out that short form there info is sent to my preferred lenders and the process begins.

Now for sellers I can provide and quick "Find out what your home is worth form" that will set me up to do a market analysis for them and hopefully lead into a listing if I want it. For the most part I am currently not trying to take on any new listings but I will if they present themselves.

Some quick features you may want to add are Videos, Text Messaging and a fun/open description about yourself. These things can add a lot to your site.

I'll go over more in the video above but for now just remember to make your siute fun and useful while keeping it simple.

-Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Blog

My New Netbook.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:11:09 -0600

Here is my Acer Aspire One 9" NetBook. This thing ROCKS for only $350! The video was shot in the back yard so there is some wind noise. Sorry.

For more info click here

Matt Rains
www.RETechBlog.com

Your Agent Website Series | Part Two

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:52:47 -0600

During this series we are going to talk about many different aspects of your agent website and since we have already covered domain names in the last post we now have to decide what type of site we want? I know your thinking "Well, I want the "web" kind of site".

There are a couple of different types of websites available for you. First you can host the site yourself and control every tiny aspect from creation to editing and so on. The method does have its ups and downs just like all of them. The benefit of hosting & building your own site yourself is the level of customization is limited only by your experience and skill. The downfall of hosting and building your own site if you are not experienced can be greater. It is by far the hardest to get up and running, you must know at least basic html to start and maintain and it takes much more time to keep up to date.

The second method of obtaining a website is buying pre-built. This option is great because you don't need to know HTML, you usually just pick a custom template to get started and you get to choose your own custom color scheme. The downfalls are you have to rely on tech support if there are any problems and it is not as customizable as a custom built page. This is most likely the best option for the average real estate professional that doesn't want to spend the time to try and build their own site.

The third option to obtaining a page is using a free pre-configured site given to you by your brokerage or board or Realtors. This is not my favorite option because it is always so generic and they all look the same. All the sites have a large header on top of some generic picture then on the left it has a "frame" style menu with a picture of the agent. These pages give you control over nothing, they look just like everyone elses, you gain minimal lead generation and there is no WOW! factor. I do use these pages whenever given to me just to have a picture, description and my name on the web but I would never run my business from one.

So it boils down to this... If you are good with web based programming or know someone who is then by all means have a custom site built that is like none other. If you want to get on the web quick with a semi-original page then go with pre-built and if you just don't care and want to just see your picture on the web run your business from the free broker page.

Now the last question. What pre-built website company do I recommend? I am going to leave this up to you the reader to recommend companies in the comments section for everyone to see. Just tell the company name, website and a brief description/experience so we can check them out.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Just testing a new toy.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:51:07 -0600

Hope everyone is doing well. I just got a new toy I wanted test out in the back yard. It is really great and I highly recommend it if a cell phone is to small and your current laptop is to big.

Hope everyone is having a great day and enjoying this great weather.

-Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Your agent website series part 1.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:45:16 -0600

The first part of our series on agent websites covers a very simple procedure on how to purchase a domain name since naturally this is the first step in owning your own website. If you are already a domain name buying pro you can have a hall pass and check back in tomorrow for the next part of our Agent Website series (you will not want to miss that one).

So the first step in the longest & most important journey you'll ever take in your career begins with purchasing a $10/year domain name. I know it's so cheap, that's because everything else from here out is so expensive (j/k).

I always recommend GoDaddy.com for domain name purchases because they own around 80% of all domain registrations around the world and I never have to worry about them going out of business and losing my domain names. The one thing I will say about GoDaddy.com that I don't like is they try and sometimes succeed to up-sell agents on things they don't need.

If you don't own a domain or haven't actually purchased a domain yourself all you need to do is watch the second video above for a step by step tutorial on how to buy a domain name from GoDaddy.com.

Here are a few tips on some domain names:
- always buy www.yourname.com, .net, .org, etc.
- choose keywords you want to be recognized by (your location, homes, real estate, etc.)
- if the domain name you want is taken use GoDaddy's tips to choose one that is available
- Just remember Domain Names are the new "Net Estate" buy as many as you can!
Hope step one gets the ball rolling. I can't wait for step two.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Sorry it's been a while.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:41:07 -0600

I went to Miami last week and right before I got on the plane to come home I ate a slice of pizza w/ mushrooms (big mistake). I got sick during the flight and turns out food poisoning will keep you down for about a week. Well, i'm feeling better now and I've got a new series coming tomorrow about agent websites.

I have to take a long 7hr USPAP course tommorow but I should have time to put the first video in the series up tomorrow.

See everyone soon.

Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online

Great News!

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:39:56 -0600

We got some really great feedback but I need more. I need Jim Whatley, Scott Dilbeck, Pat Williams and John Palmisano to skype me to talk more about your ideas. If your not on the that list and you have some great ideas about what agents need in a website call me on skype so we can talk about it. It's not like i'll be in Vegas at REBlog World :(

-Real Estate Technology Online

I need help! Calling all agents.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:38:13 -0600

Hello everyone,

I need some help with getting a grip on what agents want in a real estate website. I am an agent but i'm kind of disconnected with what everyday successful agents need in a real estate website. I know I have had huge success with my pre-qualification system and my lead generators but I want the little things. Do agents want mapping systems like google earth do they want their listings displayed in a special way? Do they want their clients to have special log in information? Do they want a heavy page or a light page?

I need some help? Just post a comment or e-mail me if you have any ideas.

-Real Estate Technology Online

Going Green w/ Technology

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:37:31 -0600

I have tried and tried to wait for someone to do this post because I just didn't want to. I didn't want to fall into this whole "Go Green" movement but it has been brought to my attention that it just has to be done.

I am going to briefly talk about how to make your real estate career "greener" using free technology available to everyone.

First we have to go over communication. Some people like to have face to face meetings and therefore will not use their cell phone to talk with you. Instead of driving 20-30 minutes to meet them just download Skype and have a video conference with them and that way no one has to waste any gas driving to a meeting point.

The next "green" thing agents can improve on is the time spent driving around showing houses. I really think it is silly to drive all over the place showing 20 different houses when we have the types of technology available to us were we can do all of this from home. Take Google street view for example, this mapping technology allows my clients to literally walk down the street or around the neighborhood of a home they may be interested in. They can evaluate the neighborhood without ever leaving their computer. Then when a client does find a home and location they are interested in I should be able to call the listing agent and have a full interior video sent to me by e-mail so my clients can do a "video-tour" of the home before we set out and waste more gas.

I am trying to keep this short but I guess what I am trying to say is agents need to use the tools that are readily available to them so they can save time and money while also being "green".

Any Questions? Contact me at info@retechblog.com

-Real Estate Technology Online

Facebook.com & First Time Home Buyers

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:36:34 -0600

I know this one's brief but it's dark, raining and i'm tired :( I hope it does give you some quick pointers on Facebook though. Just remember not to be to pushy and take it slow. Establish a relationship with people before you dive into trying to market yourself as a real estate agent.

-Real Estate Technology Online

Leave comments part 2

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:35:42 -0600

Watch the VLOG Here Hello again everyone. 2 days ago I posted a blog talking about the importance of commenting on other blogs to create traffic for yourself. The theory goes that if you comment with a full proper signature people will see that signature and click the links inside thus driving traffic to your site. Let's take a look at how it turned out. The post done 2 days ago has 8 comments and 3 were done by myself so that leaves 5 people commenting on that post. The first comment was Jeff Turner from Real Estate Shows letting me know he was following orders. Real Estate Shows is a well executed marketing website for agents listings. For more info you can visit them Here The second comment was from Manny Otero. His web home is www.MySpace.com/realty21 . Manny will be at our Miami Tech Seminar in September and I look forward to talking with him and showing him some new tricks and tools to market himself online.

The third comment was from Jim Whatley at http://www.uberrealty.com/ . Jim is an innovative agent with a lot of great ideas about how the real estate industry is moving. Although Jim your comment didn't lead me to your site I actually had to Google it.

The fourth comment was from Scott Schmitz at www.RealtyJuggler.com. Scott works on getting agents organized and much more over at their website RealtyJuggler.com

The last and fifth comment was made by Pat Williams over at www.CyberCletch.com and www.RealHomeSense.com. I really enjoyed looking at your Real Home Sense website and I think the graphics & content are great.

Ok, so we had five people that just took a few seconds out of their schedule to post comments. So what does that do for them? SEO SEO SEO SEO!!!!

Now that they have commented with the web addresses and names google with "crawl" this site and pick them up. It gets complicated from their but just letting you know it is a great way to incease search engine optimization for a site. That's why we had vendors do it because they know what happens when they get their names out on the web.

-Real Estate Technology Online

My favorite color is Chrome!

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:33:43 -0600

Download Google Chrome

So Google has just released the beta version of their new web browser "Chrome". My first impression is honestly Google has done it again. They're keeping it sleek and simple with everything you need.

To really put Chrome to the test though I had to compare speeds. So in gate number 1 we have the classic Windows Internet Explorer, in gate number 2 we have Mozilla Firefox, in gate number 3 we have the Apple Safari and in gate number 4 the new Google Chrome. Now I can go ahead and tell you out of 1-2-3 Firefox is the fastest so really this is just a 2 browser race, but i'll give them all their shot.

You asking "How will he test them?". Good question. I will use a stopwatch (very scientific) to time how long each browser takes to load the same page - CNN.com - I figure it has tons of stuff on the front page so it is as good as the next.

So here we go with the load times...

IE - 5.19 seconds
Firefox - 3.5 seconds
Apple Safari - 3.97 seconds
Google Chrome - 2.84 seconds

Google Wins - Google Wins - Google Wins!!!

No surprise. Google usually does it the best. I know there are a lot of variables in my testing so I want you to test them yourselves and get back to me about your results.

For more info about what makes Google Chrome so great, check out the videos here.

Another good article from New York Daily News.

Leave COMMENTS! It's very important to your career!

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:32:22 -0600

Watch the VLOG Here

Ok, so i've noticed a trend among visitors to RETechBlog.com. Vistors aren't leaving comments. You're thinking "why should I leave a comment? I don't have anything to say.".

Who cares if you don't have anything to say! Just use me! I tell agents this repeatedly, you have to leave comments and trails if you want people to find you. It goes something like this..

We get a lot of people that come to this site to read about updates in the technology/real estate industry. So that means you have an audience that you can market yourself to right here. Simply go to the bottom of any of these posts and leave a quick comment. It can be as simple as "Hey man, nice blog today" and then add your contact information.

Matt Rains
www.RETechBlog.com
info@RETechBlog.com

Now when the hundreds of other people come to this site and see your comments they will click on the links in your comments because people are curious about you and want to see more.

This is a must if you want to bring new people to your site and don't only do it here, DO IT EVERYWHERE!

So ill go ahead and leave a comment on this post to get the ball rolling and everyone else follow along. Who knows I may even add a link to everyone that comments on my next blog post??

A little more about comments - Click HERE

Matt Rains
-Real Estate Technology Online

An oldie but a goodie.

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:29:45 -0600

Hello again everyone, I was just sitting here working on some video editing and my broker called me using Skype and after the call I got to thinking "Why don't agents use Skype more often?".

For those of you who don't know Skype is an online video communication software that allows you to video confrence with someone or a group of people for free. The Skype application actually does far more than just free video conferencing so let me share why this oldie is so great.

Skype has grown over the past couple of years mainly due to its purchase by Ebay 3 years ago. Skype started as simply another instant messaging program that has now developed into something that is threatening to take over our home phone lines.

Skypes price guide is as follows. You can communicate skype to skype through video, phone or instant message for FREE with up to 25 people at one time. You can pay as you go and make local and international calls any time of day from skype to any land line for only $0.021 per minute. You can also get rid of your home phone service and replace it with skype by choosing one of their unlimited plans (Unlimited US & Canada - $2.95/mnth) (Unlimited Mexico - 5.95/mnth) (Unlimited WORLD - 9.95/mnth) and communicate through your computer or land line.

Visit Skype for more info.

If you would like to skype me my screen name is "mattrains" and I hope to hear from you soon.

-Real Estate Technology Online

Picnik.com | Online image editor

Matt Rains (Real Estate Technology Online) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:07:53 -0600

Click here for the Vlog

Picnik.com is an online phoo editor that is above and beyond any other I have ever used. In the past I used Google Picasa for quick editing and then Adobe Photoshop CS3 for anything more advanced. That was before I used Picnik.com for the first time.

This online photo editor is very advanced, but easy to use. It goes far beyond the generic cut, crop and resize capabilities of other online editors. Picnik even gives you the ability to e-mail to a friend, print, add to Flickr, insert into your website and you can add to MySpace, Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa directly from Picnik.

Honestly, there are just to many things you can do with this editor to go over each one in this short blog. You’ll just have to go to www.Picnik.com and see for yourself.

-Real Estate Technology Online