Sara Bonert's Real Estate Internet Marketing Blog (Zillow Industry Relations Manager))

Top FREE Image and Photo Editing Sites

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:17:55 -0800

I am sad to see Picnik shut down, it is a great site. They are offering all of their premium services for free until closing day, so take advantage while you can. But big thanks to Brad for pulling all of these other resources together. I will definitely be trying them out.

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

There is so much concern and “Buzz” about Google shutting down Picnik.com, I decided to provide you with some alternative tools for editing and customizing your graphics, photos, and images. While Picnik.com will be shutting down in April 2012, here are some other options you have available immediately.

FotoFlexer – Create some dazzling photo and image effects in your browser for FREE. Use Animations, resizing, coloring, contrast and more. Take a look at These 5 Demo’s for a quick tour of what FotoFlexer has to offer, you’ll love some of these cool features. Smart Scissor is a favorite feature.

Pixlr – and for Picnik users, try Pixlr Express. You’ll love the Editor, the Pixlr-o-matic, the Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome browsers, and the Pixlr Imm.io hosting, all of which are very robust and user friendly cool features.

LunaPic – This site will rock your world! Lunapic offers more choices and options for photo editing and custom effects than some of the paid software applications I’ve purchased and used in the past. Use vignettes, color bars, animated imaging, picture frames, retro color, collages, custom text, reflection animations, slide shows, and a ton more. One of the most feature rich FREE online editors available. You’re gonna love this site.

FreeOnlinePhotoEditor – A really simple and easy to use photo and image editor for those “quick fix and gotta go” graphics. Very basic but simple and fast. Some of the other online photo and image tools include: OnlinePhotoTool.com: Online photo editor, Automatically resize your images when sending it by email, Create an Image from your RSS feed, Create Image from your Tweet and Twitter account, and Create, save and email screenshots.

BeFunky - Be Funky lets you do some pretty amazing things with your photos and graphics. Most of the features and tools are focused on creating cool, fun, and funky effects and artwork. The site’s name says it. Some of the effects available would take hours to create in Photoshop or other high end and costly photo/image editors.

Definitely worthy of a visit and tour.

Photoshop.com – That’s right, you can use Photoshop online and for FREE. You’ll need to register, but I promise it will be worth it. The Photoshop tools are powerful and very easy to use. Be prepared to spend a little time here, you’ll be amazed at what they have to offer and allow you to do online for free. I’m not going to lie, this is one of my favorites and my personal replacement for Picnik.com closing down.

GIMP – GIMP is very similar to Adobe Photoshop except that GIMP is FREE. It does require you to download the software but one huge benefit to that is it will never be bought and shut down on you. It is a very powerful and feature intense program so unless you’re really experienced with editing and graphic design, or you have more time than it takes to close a short sale, you may want to stick with one of the others.

I personally like to use GIMP for graphic design more than image or photo editing.

Combine all these together and you’ll have more FREE editing tools and features than you’ll ever need or use and absolutely FREE. Take a few moments to review each site, bookmark them, then give each one a try to see which one(s) best meet your photo and image editing needs. Enjoy!

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The Importance of Strategic Distribution

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:40:07 -0800

Syndication is a topic that is heating up in 2012 and one that I am personally passionate about.

I've been to a lot of conferences this year where the topic was discussed and was amazed by some of the misinformation being disseminated. Hopefully this post from Spencer, Zillow's CEO, will clear a lot up about how Zillow operates in this capacity. It's important to note that every site operates differently, which is why it is nearly impossible to brush syndication with a broad stroke, as I see a lot of people do.

If you have any further syndication questions, please feel free to email me or leave a comment and I will respond.

Via Spencer Rascoff (Zillow):

It’s a new year, so what better time to take on a controversial topic: listings syndication. There is a lot of discussion about this in our industry, and I thought it was time to give Zillow's thoughts on this important topic. My comments below will also be the basis of my speech at this week's Inman Connect in New York.

First, let me emphasize that Zillow has a lot of usage. In December 2011, more than 23 million unique visitors used our websites and mobile applications. The primary reason they use Zillow is because of Zestimates, and the other unique content we have on our website. It is because of this traffic that nearly every major real estate brokerage in the nation puts their listings onto Zillow, for free.

Because the number of real estate websites has dramatically proliferated, real estate brokers and MLSs are now giving a more careful review of what sites they send listings to. I applaud this, as I think it is important to carefully evaluate which sites make the most sense. This trend towards "strategic distribution" is different from the more shotgun-like approach that characterized listings syndication for the last few years.

Strategic distribution is all about making the right decision on where to put listings based on criteria that makes sense for your business. Brokers own their listings, and can put them on whichever sites they choose. But in my opinion, brokers should carefully consider several important criteria when making these decisions:

1. Which sites are most likely to provide my listings with exposure to the most buyers. After all, that's what the listing agents and their brokers have been hired to do by their home sellers: get the house sold quickly, at the best possible price.

2. Which sites have business rules which are most acceptable to my brokerage.

Listings on Zillow receive exposure across Zillow.com, Zillow Mobile - the most popular suite of real estate apps across all major mobile platforms - and the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Real Estate Network the largest real estate network on the Web (according to comScore Media Metrix, 1), so clearly we have many millions of buyers visiting our website and using our mobile apps. Sellers benefit from their listing receiving as much exposure as possible.

Some in our industry have commented that although Zillow has more than 23 million unique monthly visitors to our websites and mobile apps, perhaps Zillow and other national media sites "don't have very much traffic in my area". That's incorrect. Zillow reviewed November 2011 data from comScore Media Metrix, the leading third-party source of website traffic information. Note that this data does not include traffic on mobile applications, where Zillow and other national brands have overwhelmingly more usage than others. Just looking at website statistics though, the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network is the #1 or #2 real estate entity in all 20 of the top 20 local markets in the United States (2). The data simply does not support the argument that "those sites aren't big in my area." [If you'd like to learn more about Zillow's traffic in your area, please email me; we will happily share Zillow's internal traffic statistics for your region.]

To emphasize the mobile point further, let me stress that not putting listings on Zillow, REALTOR.com and Trulia is tantamount to abandoning any hope of finding a buyer who is using a mobile device. In December 2011, Zillow had more than 36 homes viewed every second of every day on a mobile device. Zillow has leading real estate apps on iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Android tablets, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and Kindle Fire. Mobile usage accounts for about a quarter of all of Zillow's usage -- it's too important a channel for a seller or their listing agent/broker to ignore.

Brokers and MLSs should not only consider a website's traffic when making syndication decisions. But they should also consider how each website gets its traffic. At Zillow, most of our traffic comes directly to Zillow.com or Zillow's mobile apps, rather than coming to us through SEO. Our tens of millions of users are attracted to Zillow's unique content, including over 100 million Zestimates and 100,000 consumer reviews of real estate agents. We bring this traffic to the table in these syndication discussions; it's not like we showed up at the potluck with just a fork.

Putting listings onto top real estate sites is what sellers want, because it helps sell their homes. But don't take my word for it -- let's look at the data. Zillow data shows that homes which receive the top 10% of page views sell more than a month faster than their counterparts in the bottom 10% of views. Similarly, these highly viewed listings achieve sale prices closer to their asking price than those with less exposure. The difference is especially pronounced among homes priced less than $250,000. It's obvious, but if you give your listing exposure to lots of buyers, it will sell faster and at a higher price. The data proves it.

The Objections

I've already addressed one objection to sending listings to leading media sites: the local traffic stats.

The second objection I sometimes hear is that "the media site is selling my leads". Most major media sites (including Zillow) have free models which pass buyer contacts to the listing agent -- all they have to do to be presented as the first choice for buyers on their own listings is set up a free account and free profile on the site (which ensures that the buyer contact will get through to them).

In addition, some listings syndication services such as ListHub, owned by Move, Inc. (operator of REALTOR.com), have recently introduced dashboards to help brokers and MLSs understand different media sites' business rules, and decide which sites to send listings to. This allows the MLS to facilitate the efficient distribution of listings under the direction of the broker who owns the listings.

Diverse Solutions

No discussion of listings syndication would be complete without mentioning Zillow's acquisition of Diverse Solutions, the leading tech provider of IDX for websites. Many of you have told us what a great company, staff and products they have. But there are some conspiracy theorists who have speculated that Zillow will simply flip a switch and take all of the IDX listings through Diverse and put them up on Zillow.com.

It won’t happen and can’t ---due to contractual and legal reasons.

However, from the day the acquisition was announced, we started hearing from brokers that asked why they needed to continue to send Zillow a direct feed, when it was already coming to Diverse through their MLS. Therefore, if a broker wants us to use their listings from IDX, and their MLS agrees, then we will do this. We are in the midst of conversations with many brokerages and many MLSs about this, since it significantly reduces the complexity for the brokerage and it improves accuracy of listings on Zillow, which benefits brokers, agents and their MLS.

Speaking of listings accuracy ... Zillow invests massive resources in making our listings as accurate as possible, and it all starts with what’s provided to us by our partners. Complaining about accuracy while providing us with a less than stellar feed or no feed at all does none of us or our industry any favors. Those who decide to pull listings from sites like ours due to their own business reasons have the right to do so. But to take that step and then say a key reason was listing accuracy feels disingenuous when they have removed the very direct feed that is the most accurate, often leaving their agents to rely on less reliable options.

Conclusion

Strategic Distribution is an important part of a broker's marketing strategy. It is very important for brokers to put their listings where buyers will find them -- this is critical for agent recruitment and retention, and to help sell clients' houses.

It is for these reasons that nearly every major brokerage in the country has chosen to put their listings onto Zillow. We are very proud of our partnerships with companies like RE/MAX International, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Windermere, Halstead, Prudential Fox & Roach and hundreds more.

I look forward to further discussion of this important issue, and I hope to see you at Inman Connect later this week.

Data Sources:

(1) comScore Media Metrix Real Estate Category Ranking by Unique Visitors, November 2011, US Data.

(2) comScore Local Market Key Measures, November 2011, Real Estate Category by Unique Visitors

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Real Estate Marketing Plans: Most Effective Marketing of 2011

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:06:46 -0800

Good time to start planning for 2012 and this post from the Active Rain staff gives some good guideposts.

I think as long as the real estate model exists in its current form, referrals will always be number one. However, the way referrals are given or generated can shift -i.e. peer-to-peer referrals on Facebook or through reviews on social media sites.

To me it seems that what is the most effective marketing channel is the one you work. If you only do one blog post a month, the results won't be the same as if you are doing one a week or day. If you haven't even activated your free profile on Zillow, your results won't be nearly the same as someone who has and who has 10 reviews attached to their name. I was surprised to see Facebook so high on this list, but if you are omnipresent on the site, that can certainly work too!

A marketing plan all comes down to how you choose to spend your two most valable resources, time and money. Hopefully this post can lead you in the right direction! Best in 2012!

Via ActiveRain Corp.:

Real Estate Marketing Plans

Do you have your real estate marketing plans for 2012 ready?

With SO MANY alternatives for real estate marketing plans, are you confused on what to do in 2012?

So as you develop your 2012 real estate marketing plans, here is some great food for thought:

ActiveRain, the largest blogging platform and professional social network in real estate, conducted a survey of 1,910 real estate professionals asking the simple question of "what is the most effective real estate marketing or advertising that you do?"

The results:

Referrals (including word of mouth and sphere of influence) were overwhelming the most preferred marketing with 26% of responses.

Blogging was #2 with 13% of responses. (Keep in mind that the survey was conducted on ActiveRain, so these results may naturally be skewed to blogging).

Direct Mail continues to be incredibly popular. Direct Mail includes post cards, mailers, and newsletters. Direct Mail also received 13% of responses.

Internet Marketing as a general category received 12% of responses. Our assumption is that Internet marketing is generally speaking pay per click marketing on Google, Yahoo or Bing or lead generation from a number of different sources.

Networking Networking includes partner referrals and face-to-face meetings. Face-to-face networking received 8% of the responses.

(Share these stats - link to this article: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2641172/real-estate-marketing-plans-most-effective-marketing-of-2011)

As you can see based on 2011 real estate marketing plans, real estate professionals continue to favor more traditional offline, "tried & true" hand to hand real estate marketing techniques. Though the general bucket of Internet marketing & blogging are equivalent to direct mail, the top marketing techniques tend to be more offline - referrals, direct mail, networking, working with past clients, open houses, door knocking and cold calling. Hard to know if ActiveRain is the same as blogging and if Zillow or Google are the same as Internet marketing, but interesting to see that from a response perspective, that Open Houses are more popular than any one web site AND Door Knocking is more preferred than CraigsList and FaceBook.

When real estate professionals were asked, "What is the most effective real estate marketing or advertising that you do?" only a small number of real estate web sites were mentioned in reasonable frequency: ActiveRain, CraigsList, FaceBook, Zillow and Google. Of course, blogging and Internet marketing are large categories with a lot of different companies. But there were very few mentions of Wordpress or other ways to market online. Noticeably absent were Trulia and Realtor.com Though we believe ActiveRain is a very powerful blogging platform, fans of ActiveRain are likely over-represented in the survey. Kudos to Zillow to have name recognition equivalent to Google in the real estate industry.

For 2012, here are the key questions to ask:

How important is developing your REFERRAL BASE? How are you going to do it?

Are Blogging and SEO part of your 2012? If so, what to do - ActiveRain, Wordpress, Blogger, or other?

Direct Mail continues to be an important part of the real estate professional's marketing mix. It is amazing, but true. Direct Mail allow neighborhood targeting unlike online marketing. What kinds of direct mail campaigns will you be using?

Internet Marketing needs to be part of your 2012 marketing mix, but there are a lot of options from pay-per-click advertising to lead generation to Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com

ActiveRain is great place to start the learning process to figure out the best Internet marketing strategies to achieve your personal and financial goals in 2012!

Share this blog post! Either blog about it or share on your social networks. Link to and reference this blog if you use this content: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2641172/real-estate-marketing-plans-most-effective-marketing-of-2011

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Postlets Pro Now Free for Everyone!

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:31:34 -0700

I am VERY excited about this one! First to get you up to speed... Last April Zillow acquired Postlets. Our first big upgrade was to offer the ability for agent to post for-sale and for-rent listings directly from Zillow to Craigslist (for free).

But now the BIG one.....Today, we're thrilled to announce that the Postlets Pro program is now free. That's right - we are opening up this program, which was previously a paid, subscription-only program, to everyone, for free!

That means that starting today, all new for-rent and for-sale listings on Postlets are free and will include:

up to 18 large photos at a higher resolution
a rich listings template with multiple tabs
the ability to embed community information (i.e. Walk Score, school data)
video capabilities

Previously, these enhanced listing features were only available to paying Postlets Pro subscribers. And, of course, Postlets is still committed to listing syndication, which distributes your listings across 13 real estate and social media websites.

Tabs on the new, upgraded Postlet and the ability to showcase up to 18 photos:

As a Landlord and Postlets Pro user, I hope you are as excited about this announcement as I am! Start uploading your for-rent and for-sale listings to Postletstoday, and continue to look to Zillow for innovative tools and resources to market your listings and grow your business!

If you want additional training on to use the Postlet product, the one and only Brad Andersohn will be doing a training webinar on August 4th for further explain the program.

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New - Posting To Craigslist Just Got Easier!

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:35:42 -0700

Zillow has just launched another free tool for real estate agents to help you gain more exposure for their listings. Thanks to technology from Postlets, you can now post your for-sale or for-rent listings to Craigslist directly from Zillow. I don't think anyone needs convincing on how many people are visiting Craigslist every day, so I'll just move right on to explaining how to use this new marketing tool from Zillow!

How to Post to Craigslist From a Listing on Zillow:

1) First find the property detail page on Zillow. Under the photos, mouse over the Edit button and select Post To Craigslist.

2) A screen will appear with the Craigslist code. If you don't already have a Craigslist posting page open (where you've selected the city and catagory in which you'd like the ad to appear) you can click the Go To Posting Area link provided. Then simply paste the code generated.

3) Once you go through the Saving process on Craigslist, an ad will be created with all of your property information, links to your photos, and contact information.

And you're done!

You can also find these Craigslist code embed links in the My Listings section of your account page:

I know how much exposure Craigslist offers real estate agents for the properties you represent, so I hope this new functionality helps make the process of getting your properties on Craigslist that much easier!

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Mobile IS Global - A Cool New Mortgage App for iPhone

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:40:48 -0700

This is a great write up about the new Zillow Mortgage Marketplace iPhone app. But if you want to see in action, check out the video embedded in the post.

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

It's been a while since I've posted about Real Estate technology for the mortgage side of the business, so this one is for all you lenders, mortgage brokers, and bankers out there. Actually, it will also be very useful if you are a borrower, an agent, or even a renter looking to buy and own a home of your own one day.

There's a new app in town and it's already making quite an impression in the lending community, with consumers, and at the Apple iTunes store. We launched a new Zillow Mortgage Marketplace app for the iPhone last week and it ROCKS! I've had the chance to run a few of the mobile features, and already I can see why it's being called one of the best FREE mortgage, finance, and calculator apps.

"The Zillow Mortgage Marketplace App combines personalized loans, live rates and advanced calculators and tools to give home buyers an instant financial reality check while out touring homes."

What's so cool about a mortgage calculator app?

The new app offers some really easy to use features and calculators. The payment calculator is pretty common on most of these types of apps but the user-interface is what makes it easy and unique.

The affordability calculator is a unique one-of-a-kind tool that I was drawn to instantly for obvious reasons, and I think this will be a popular and commonly used tool in this app.

The refinance calculator and current rates features are perfect for someone on the go like me who is always looking for data and information that can help me lower my payments, get a more suitable loan, possibly refinance, and do it all from the local coffee shop while checking my email and between text messaging my clients and kids.

Some features and benefits for lenders:

Allows you to get in front of a whole new set of users you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

Lenders are now able to connect with highly qualified borrowers who are likely ready to transact, since they’ve already compared quotes, profiles, and lender ratings and have decided to proactively reach out to a selected lender.

Some features and benefits for agents:

Great tool for agents because it makes them more efficient in two specific ways: 1- It allows agents to show homes their clients can actually afford; 2 - It helps move their clients through the purchase process and secure financing.

Allows agents and professionals to track mortgage rates in real time. Knowing what's happening with mortgage rates is an important way to enhance their credibility as real estate advisers and to make informed recommendations to their clients when rates drop and when it might be a better time to buy.

Streamlines the process of getting your customers pre-approved and have their offers taken seriously by borrowers as contacting a lender is just a click away.

Since we know that "Mobile is Global" and those "on the go" always need tools and info at their fingertips, the new Mortgage Marketplace App will be perfect for anyone and everyone who needs instant access to information, data, and calculators that will be beneficial to their financial freedom and peace of mind.

Keeping up with all the technology, tools, and apps out there is a full time job for guys like me. You can be rest assured that I'll be sharing whatever I find, like, use, and think will benefit you or your clients!

Related Articles:
Zillow Unveils Mortgage Marketplace App - DSNews
Tech tools that make home buying easier - Mercury News
Zillow® Launches Zillow Mortgage Marketplace iPhone® App - Financial News
Review: Zillow releases mortgage app for iPhone - San Diego News
Zillow rolls out mobile mortgage app - The Seattle Times

Training | Mobile | Content | Widgets | Agents

"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

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Hump Day Humor - FUNNY Video For Media And Technology Lovers

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Wed, 18 May 2011 08:26:24 -0700

This is one of the funnest videos I have seen in awhile - I was crying the first time I watched it!

It is perfect for anyone in the media space or who is sick of hearing about 'the cloud on 5square that you download onto your smartphone app written in HTML8 for content creators that gives SEO rich trend tracking which is tablet based targeting alpha consumers with radical transparency"... you get the picture.

Favorite line - "No Brand Cuffs!"

The Hardly Working Start Up Guys - Enjoy!

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Zillow Launches Facebook Tabs for Business Pages

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:36:59 -0700

The launch of Zillow's Facebook is one of the most powerful free agent tools we've launched at Zillow. It provides an easy (seriously a few clicks of a mouse) way for agents to add non-intrusive, but highly relevant real estate content, to their Facebook professionals page.

Brad did a great job explaining how and why to install it below. But if you want to see the pages in action, here are some examples (look in the left hand column for links):

The Corcoran Group Prestigious NYC Brokerage

Richard Schulman - Los Angeles Real Estate Expert

Please note that these tabs are for Professional Facebook pages. They can't be implemented on personal pages.

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

Powerful Facebook Tabs Now Available for Your Business Pages

You already know how important and powerful social media engagement and participation is, especially on a site like Facebook. We now have some awesome additional tools available that will provide more great content helping you connect, capture, and convert more contacts to clients.

Today, I get the privilege of making the announcement that we've launched Facebook tabs for Business pages. I also get to debut my first article and announcement on the Corporate Zillow Blog in the NEW real estate professionals section. I hope you'll stop by, check it out, and give it a LIKE.

As part of our FREE Webtools and services, I think you're going to really like the new Facebook tabs. They look great, they're easy to setup and install, and best of all, they'll compliment your existing Facebook Business and community pages. They show and sell the information and content so you won't have to.

There are currently four Facebook tabs available:

The Listings Facebook Tab

The Local Information Tab

The Ratings and Reviews Tab

The Contact Information Tab

The new Facebook tabs will only work on Business pages, they will not work on your personal profile pages. You can install one or all and it's easy. No programming, no designing, no headaches, and in no time at all. Just go to our site and click on the Webtools link, select Facebook Apps, then follow the easy instructions to add the tab(s) you want to your Facebook business page.

Need a Facebook Business page? Get one here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Here's a sample of my local Business page with Facebook tabs: http://facebook.com/SanFranciscoBay

How Can We Help Drive Traffic to Your Facebook Business Pages?

Let me know when you install any of these tabs on your business pages, if you tweet about it, I'll get the @Zillow team to retweet it which will help drive even more traffic and exposure to your pages and tabs. Just include @Zillow in your tweet. Leave me a comment here with a link to your tab(s) and I'll be tweeting them over the next few days to show-off your tabs and pages as well.

Any tools that can help increase your potential business on sites like Facebook are definitely worth looking into. I think you'll like these new tabs and I think your Facebbok friends and fans will like them too.

Training | Mobile | Content | Widgets | Agents

"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

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If You Have (Or Want) An iPad - Awesome Resource For How Realtors Can Use It

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:37:50 -0700

If you have an iPad (or are thinking of getting one) and you are a practicing real estate agent, this is one of the best sessions I've heard on practical ways agents can use this new tablet technology for business.

Matt Dollinger, a performance coach for the Chicago brokerage@Properties recently presented the webinar Tablet Use For Real Estatefor Realtor magazine. What made this webinar different from others I've listened is that Matt doesn't just go through a list of cool apps, but rather he goes through them and then says how and why you can use them to assist in business operation.

Yes, it is an hour long. But I promise that the hour will go fast and you will get a TON out of it. This is not just a presentation about the iPad. It is a presentation about the iPad for real estate agents.

You can download Matt's presentation here on slideshare. Enjoy!

Tidbits, how to use:

Dropbox
Evernote
Dragon Diction
QuickOffice
Open Home Pro
Analytics App

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Integrating Facebook To Your Site - It's Time To Plug-in

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:45:09 -0700

Good information to get your social media and blogging mojo all jiving by plugging them into each other. Thanks to Brad for this very thorough Facebook tools round up!

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

Integrating Facebook Into Your Site - It's Time To "Plug-in"

Today I'm sharing one of the more powerful ways I know of to drive traffic, increase growth, and encourage engagement on your site. Using Facebook's new social and personalized feature plug-ins can without a doubt be an asset to your social outreach and marketing efforts.

When you see company's like The Wall Street Journal, Yelp, ABC, TIME, CNN, The Huffington Post, and the New York Times using this method, your motivation to adopt something like this will most likely increase.

Why? Because it works!

Facebook offers some great plug-ins that can make your site more socially engaging and help you grow your existing traffic, returning visitors, and in no time at all, build more relationships and business. Look how some of these sites are using Facebook Plug-ins to not only grow and socially connect their sites and businesses, some of the creative ways in which they're being used are setting some new social trends.

I believe many companies are doing this in order to stay in business and to continue building, managing, and improving their client and potential client relationships. They can't rely on their previous marketing tactics any longer.

The Huffington Post uses - A "Facebook Plug-in" Instant Pop-up

Wall Street Journal CNN

The New York Times

Even Yelp is now personalizing their site using Facebook Plug-in options.

Let me show you a few of these plug-ins and how to add them to your site, but first you should take a moment to understand how they work so you'll be motivated enough to take the next steps to "plug-in."

1. When you land on any website and see that many of your social friends and connections have already been there before you and liked or participated on that site, there's a tendency for you to want to be a part of it too.

2. Many will like and return to your site simply because others they are influenced by have been there.

It's hard to resist investigating a site that has 46,021 likes and most the faces you see are friends you know.

3. Making your site more socially engaging to others without having to leave to interact is powerful.

4. Knowing content and activity gets shared on others' Facebook walls will definitely create a viral advertising affect and opportunity that is almost guaranteed to drive more traffic and interest to your site.

5. This theory and idea alone should make Facebook plug-ins pretty hard to resist.

There are some great examples of this out there, here's a couple samples of what this looks like.

Inter-active Facebook Comment Box

Live Streaming Inter-active Facebook Plug-in

Activities will appear on Facebook walls

Facebook plug-ins are not widgets, they are "Social plug-ins letting you see what your friends have liked, commented on or shared on sites across the web." One of the greatest recommendations I can give you is to follow what's happening on the Facebook developers Blog, these are the folks behind the scenes of the largest social network sharing information, tips, and tools for those interested. They've actually been blogging there since August of 2006.

How to Integrate Facebook Plug-ins?
I'll walk you through the steps:

Register your domain name and site with the Facebook:
http://developers.facebook.com/setup/

Select the Social Plug-in you'd like to add to your site:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/

Customize your plug-in width, height, fonts, and colors.

Copy and paste the custom code to your website.

If you get stuck or need a step-by-step tutorial, use the Facebook Guide:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/web/

More Facebook Plug-ins:

Activity - "Displays most recent Interesting Activity on your site"

Comments - "Enables users to leave comments on your site"

Facepile - "Only Displays Friends Faces"

Like Box - "Attracts and gains "Likes" to your Facebook Pages"

Like Button

Live Stream - "Share activity and comments in real-time"

Login Button - "Users Login to your site with FB credentials"

Recommendations - "Personalized recommendations to users"

Since Facebook is the largest and most powerful Social Network on the planet right now (and doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon), how can YOU harness some of that power? Making your site's experience a little more socially engaging could increase growth and connectivity. Going to Facebook.com to engage with others is great and I recommend it. However, if Facebook developers are now providing Plug-in tools like this, why not take advantage of this opportunity to put your site on the forefront using their social media power?

Facebook has ALL the faces for sure, and now they're offering YOU a way to get "plugged-in!"

Training | Mobile | Content | Widgets | Agents

"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

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Top 10 Tools On Zillow For Real Estate Professionals

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:19:18 -0700

A few years ago I wrote a post on the 10 things professionals could do on Zillow and it still gets a lot of traffic. So I thought it was time to update the list! It is amazing how much better and more dynamic the tools for agent have gotten on the site.

With more than 19 million people visiting the Zillow website and Zillow Mobile applications each month*, this is a huge audience for you to grow your business. Here are my favorite 10 tips to get started.

1. Create a profile. Want links back to your site? Great visibility to millions who visit Zillow every month? It all starts with creating a free account on Zillow. Start by clicking "Register" in the upper right-hand corner of the the site. Be sure to register using the same email address that you use as the contact address on your listings. Check out this video for more information on how and why to activate your account.

2. Get Reviews. Agent Ratings and Reviews (see screenshot) are a powerful way to help potential clients understand the high service levels an agent is able to provide. A Zillow Premier Agent with just 5 reviews tends to get about 150% more leads than one with 0 reviews. We offer great tools to help you get more reviews.

3. Zillow Advice. This is a question-and-answer forum that brings home buyers, sellers, owners, rent, landlords, lenders, and other real estate professionals together in a very helpful way. Answering questions helps build your online reputation of being knowledgeable about a particular region or subject matter. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds or get email alerts for any topic and specify your geographic location.

4. Zestimate Accuracy Chart. How many clients have said, "..But Zillow says...?" Equip yourself with the Zestimate Accuracy Chart so you can describe to your clients - using data - how accurate the Zestimate® home valuation is in your specific county.

5. Comment publicly on a Zestimate . As the homeowner or the listing agent, you can leave public comments on a listing on Zillow when the Zestimate is too high, too low, or just right on a particular home. It is yet another marketing opportunity to publicly demonstrate your expertise and explain how the Zestimate relates to the home's listing price.

6. Local market data: Zillow has data on more than 100 million homes in the U.S. We aggregate all this data and package it up under the Local Info tab. Here you can easily create powerful trend graphs and use the import feature to place this information on your site or blog. Remember - content is king!

7. Zillow Widgets. Want free, relevant, interesting and dynamic real estate data for your website or blog - for free? Then, look no further than the Zillow Widget page (see screenshot). We feature many great widgets such as Most Expensive Local Homes, Local Mortgage Rates, Recently Sold, Agent Review Widgets and more!

8. Zillow Mobile Apps Download one of our free, popular iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry or Windows Mobile applications. They are all GPS- enabled, meaning that as you are out driving around with clients, you can easily see the estimated values of homes around you.

9. Zillow Profile. Yes, back to this one. Now that you've created the account, make sure to fully deck out your profile. This includes adding things like links to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts; including a video; adding marketing text; and of course uploading a photo. Here is a great example of a complete profile.

10. Zillow Academy This is a lot isn't it? And there is much more! If you want to keep on top of all the ways to use Zillow AND learn about other online marketing techniques, please bookmark www.ZillowAcademy.com. We have awesome classes every week!

*Source: Internal tracking by Omniture, March 2011.

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FREE Training and Support Calendar Is Ready for April

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 12:07:16 -0700

Brad has lined up some great training content for the month of April. I hope you can find the time to join one of his webinars!

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

Here's some classes, trainings, and special guests I've scheduled for April. There are still a few more to add but hopefully this will be a good start to get some of you going and on-track this month. Many of these have been either suggested, requested, or are back by popular demand.
I hope you can find some time in your busy schedules to come join us.

If the class you're wanting or needing is not on this calendar, please let me know so I get it created and added to the schedule. Our most popular and most attended classes have been suggested by ActiveRain and Zillow members.

Training | Mobile | Content | Widgets | Agents

"Build your castles and mansions on people and relationships, they are the strongest foundations on earth."
May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!

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Zillow Mobile App Now On BlackBerry!

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:25:28 -0700

When I talk to agents about Zillow's mobile apps- it is inevitable that the question comes up... "What about an app for the Blackberry?". I know a lot of agents use a Blackbery, I myself only recently switchedover to Droid.

Now with the launch of the Zillow Blackberry App, we have 90% smartphone user coverage to assist people with home shopping anytime, and anywhere when utilizing the GPS capablities on the app.

Zillow Mobile apps are used 6.5 million times each month, with more than 23 million visits to home detail pages. That's nearly 9 home views every single second! Want to know how fast mobile is exploding? In January of this year, we were tracking at 6 homes viewed every second. This growth amazes me! And it isn't slowing down anytime soon.

The location-based Zillow BlackBerry App uses GPS technology to find and follow users on an aerial map, homes for sale, homes for rent, Make Me Move listingsand recently sold data on the homes around them. Additional features on the Zillow BlackBerry App include:

Multiple search filters that include price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and other valuable home-related information.
Homes viewable on a map with high-resolution satellite and street view.
Home search by location or by typing in a city, ZIP code or address.
Full-screen color photos of homes.

Zillow for Android

Zillow for iPhone

Zillow for iPad

Zillow for Blackberry

Zillow for Windows Mobile

Take a quick tour of the app:

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Free Webinar With Stefan Swanepoel Tomorrow!

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:53:50 -0700

Stefan gets paid to keynote all over the country and help people 'discover their Serengeti' - and tomorrow you can listen to him for free!

Brad Andersohn is hosting a call with Stefan tomorrow about business practices and achieving a quality life. The webinar is entitled"7 Skills To Master Your Business and Life". He is articulating a lot of these concepts in his new book Surviving Your Serengeti, which he'll also be discussing (82 five star reviews already on Amazon!)

** Click to register for the webinar with Brad and Stefan - Thursday, March 24th from 10am-11am PST **

If you want to do a little 'homework' before the call, you can visit Stefan's website for the book, take the quiz and find out what Serengeti animal you are! I am a cheetah!!! QUIZ

To see other upcoming webinars, please visit www.ZillowAcademy.com.

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What I Learned From Attending Conference All Month ... It's A Lot!

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:28:34 -0700

I am finishing up a very long month of being on the road at conventions. I've talked to hundreds of agents and sat through many education sessions this month. As I listened to agents, other vendors and presenters, one thing was very clear to me... whew, there is A LOT to think about when it comes to marketing!

I thought back to when I first started in the real estate marketing space and the biggest question a marketer had to answer was whether you wanted to pay the up charge for your ad to be color. Then websites hit the scene and out of that morphed the conversation of optimizing SEO and thinking about how to advertise a website. Five years later social media hit the scene, and that in itself is a big nut to process. Then came syndication. Now it is extremely important to layer a mobile strategy on top of everything.

And gone are the days that you just have to return your clients' phone calls! Now we have return the calls, answer emails, watch for texts, monitoring reputations and keywords with Google alerts, DM and RT tweets, respond to blog comments, post on Facebook - and oh yeah, check the snail mail from time to time.

No wonder we are tired at the end of the day! It's a lot.

To be all these things to everyone is overwhelming and leaves very little time in the day to actually sell real estate.

While I learned about a lot of great websites and apps this month, and got some great tips from other professionals, here is my big take away to be successful:

1) Make a plan. Pick a few things that are going to work well for you. Maybe it is only 2 things like blogging and Facebook to start.

2) Do them well and do them regularly.

3) Be present in the medium you choose.

I believe an agent would get a lot more bang for their minute (because most of this is an investment of time and not money, which is a shift) if they just did blogging and did it very well, rather than if they participated on 15 social media platforms in a half baked way.

Once you master your starter platform, layer in the next thing. Ramp up methodically and with a purpose. Soon you'll be doing all of these things as second nature, but don't try to do them all right out of the gate.

So go grab a pen, or your computer, or maybe even your ipad - and plan out how you are going to build an actual strategy. Without a plan and a purpose, one risks wasting the valuable resource of time and overwhelming oneself to the point of doing nothing.

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The Potential Cost Of Waiting For 'The Bottom"

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:55:19 -0800

I love this chart that the Zillow research team put together which illustrates how it could actually cost money to wait for another small decrease in home prices, based on the projected interest rate increases.

You can read the full article here, entitled, To Wait or Not to Wait: Financing versus Purchase Costs.

The article uses the example of buying a $200,000 home now, verses waiting a year. In the first week of February 2011, the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace was showing a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 4.7%. For someone with good credit, who is able to put 20% down, and locks a 4.7% rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, the monthly payment would be $830.

Say this same person waits, believing values may fall another 6% in a year (so paying $188,000 for this same home). It is projected that the 30-year fixed mortgage will be at 5.2% by Freddie Mac's forecasted average for 2011. Now the actual monthly payment goes to $826 with a 20% down payment. That $12,000 savings achieved by waiting to buy later at a lower price translates to just $4 a month less in a mortgage payment, as much of the savings is offset by higher mortgage rates. Also, this doesn't take into account tax saving that would have been realized over the year with the mortgage interest deduction.

Here is the full chart to play with what it may cost to wait, depending on what you believe the market is going to do in the next year:

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Real Estate Top 10 Lists

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:17:19 -0800

Valentines Day is over. But if your sweet tooth is still aching, check out this real estate eye candy! There are some beautiful design and staging ideas here (along with some hefty real estate price tags to go with it!). But hey, a girl can dream!

Enjoy! I picked my favorite from each category.

> 10 Bedrooms That Whisper Romance

> 10 High-End Man Caves

> 10 Spectacular Ski Homes for Sale

> 10 Tantalizing Indoor Swimming Pools

> 10 Ultra-Modern Homes for Sale

> 10 Homes You Won't Find in Your Neighborhood

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Google Maps Exiting The Real Estate Listing Game

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:25:28 -0800

This week Google announced that as of Feb 10, 2011, it will no longer display real estate listings on its Google Map pages. In case you weren't familiar with what this looks like today, here is a screen shot:

In the blog post making this annoucement Google said, "In part due to low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API (used by listing providers to submit listings), we've decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps...".

Of course people can still type normal real estate search terms into Google and be presented with helpful website options, so SEO and sponsored search are still important marketing strategies.

But what this says to me is just taking real estate listings and putting them on a map isn't interesting enough to generate a substantial audience - even for Google! This means a lot of different things to different groups of people.

To agents, is the highlight or only functionalitiy on your website an IDX search? While it is clearly important to have listing search capabilities on your site, what color or other interesting and UNIQUE content can you add around this? (hint: maybe you have a blog with interesting perspectives on what is happening locally...)

As someone who works for a national website, we need to think about the same thing. Just taking listing feeds isn't how you attract and sustain new viewers or grow an audience. We need to keep thinking of unique ways to help consumers through the real estate process, like offering Agents Reviews or an interactive Mortgage Marketplace.

Lastly, there are so many APIs and widgets to help build out your site with really cool data at little to no cost.

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Milestone: Zillow Hits 10,000 Reviews Online

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:04:08 -0800

Zillow Agent Reviews and Endorsements. The ultimate goal in adding this social media aspect to Zillow, was to aide consumers in the agent selection process based on past client endorsements and reviews.

The system was launched in late December, and agents could ask their clients to review them through an invitation system built into the platform.

Once we had a couple of thousand reviews, the review system launched publicly all over the site. Now reviews can be found in places like ajacent to property search results or you can sort by them in the Directory. This immediately tilted more contacts in the direction of those who had past client endorsements. This also bought the review system to the attention of our users, so non-solicited reviews of agents started pouring in - and an overwhelming majority of reviews were very positive and informative!

We've recently hit another milestone with system and now have over10,000 reviews on the site! This means it is becoming an incredibly rich system in helping people with the agent selection process.

If this is the first time hearing of the system, this post will get you up to speed.

Or even better, the one and only Brad Andersohn will be doing a LIVE WEBINAR on JANUARY 28th to walk you through the system!! Visit www.ZillowAcademy.com to register and get more information.

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Agent Ratings and Reviews Go Public on Zillow

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:33:59 -0800

This first step in launching this product was to build the functionality and allow agents to invite their past clients to reveiw them.

Now that we have thousands of reviews in the system, it gets more interesting and the cream will really rise to the top. Now we can surface agents who have high marks from their clients more prominently on the site. This is a huge service to consumers who are trying to pick the best agents to work with in the real estate process.

Via Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager):

Your Reviews Are Now Front 'n Center on Zillow

It was announced last week to the general public that "Zillow surfaces thousands of Real Estate agent ratings and reviews. Consumers can now search and find local agents based on Client feedback" The responses and results from adding this new feature have been very positive and successful thus far.

Agent reviews will now be featured on the Buyer's Agent List. (see screenshot below) This means if you want contacts from Zillow customers, it will be to your advantage to have reviews and ratings on your profile.

Want a competitive edge? Get great reviews from your clients.

To get started, simply copy and paste your customized link (see sample below) and email it to your clients. You'll find your custom link on your Zillow profile. On click, your clients will go directly to your Zillow profile, where they can begin the review process.* Consumers can also just search the Directory to find their agent.

http://www.zillow.com/reviews/write?s=X1-ZUz0nxke9x2a6h_a3ta0

Share your own custom link as many ways as possible - post it on Facebook, tweet it, and add it to your website. Include it on your email signature. Tell folks about it every opportunity you get. Before you know it, multiple reviews will be coming your way.

You're welcome to join me for an open FAQ session about Ratings and Reviews on Jan. 28th, at 10:00am (PST) where you'll hear and learn more about how and why ratings and reviews are the next best thing to a word-of-mouth referral.

Thousands of agents have been reviewed, so it's more important than ever to have reviews added to your profile. Make sure you stand out.

*Your client will need to create a Zillow account (if they don't have one already) in order to submit the review. Don't worry, it's painless and requires just an email address and password and they can immediately opt-out of Zillow emails. Zillow requires an account for review moderation and verification.

May the info contained in this blog be just one more seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom.

Zillow Academy | Zillow On Twitter or Facebook | Advertising Solutions

Mobile Apps | Free Content and Free Widgets | Buyer Agent List

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Dear BlackBerry Users - I Get It, But It's Time To Switch

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:12:09 -0800

I get it, you love your Blackberry. So did I. I had the first one ever made and upgraded models almost every year. I looked so cool boarding planes with that thing strapped to my belt loop. I was a whiz at typing on it and could dominate BrickBreaker.

So what happened? I got app envy. I finally went for it and switched to a Droid. Here is my story.

Day 1 - How fun is downloading apps! I actually don't know how to use any of them, but saving that for another day. Right now, all I care about is downloading all the things I've seen my iPhone friends use over the last year.

Day 2 - OMG, what did I do!! I am never going to be able to figure this thing out. Quick, put my SIM card back into my Blackberry. Darn, it doesn't work anymore. Stayed up for hours trying to figure out how to navigate this darn thing, yearning for the simplier days of my Blackberry.

Day 3 - I'm going to throw this thing out the window. It doesn't work at all like my old Blackberry. I'll never get this...

Day 4 - Actually swipe typing isn't that bad, I still make a lot of mistakes, but as I learn the shortcuts, it may even be faster. Maybe I can get this. A fellow Droid user spent 15 minutes with me and my phone- huge help. It is starting to make sense.

Day 5 - Learned a few more tricks. Got my screen organized, so I feel a little better about what this phone can actually do. Called Droid friend again for some more help (took him 5 minutes to explain what would have taken me 5 hours to figure out on my own). Starting to understand the power of this device.

Day 6 - Bad day. Droid usage regression. Deep breathes....

Day 7 - Okay, back at it. I'm determined to conquer this thing.

Day 8 - I used the talking navigation app, it was awesome! Also, tonight for dinner found a restaurant, made a reservation, and got directions - all in under 5 mintues. My Blackberry could have never done that!

Day 9 - Ok, this thing is seriously cool.

Day 10 - Mad dash to the airport, in the car rental bus - I'm going to miss my flight. If only I could check in right now.. wait I can! Done. Droid just saved me from missing my flight - just paid for itself.

Day 11 - My old Blackberry is staring at me on my desk. Man, that things looks old and not cool. Now I get why Droid and iPhone owners are such fanatics. They know what they can do and Blackberry users can't. Glad I made the switch. I still have a lot to learn, but I'll get there.

Bottom line - the transition is painful. Stick with it though, it is totally worth it.

My new phone: the T-Mobile 4G MyTouch.

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Zillow Launches A Free Online Agent Endorsement System

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:30:27 -0800

Zillow Launches A Free Online Agent Endorsement System

Today, Zillow launched Zillow Ratings and Reviews - or basically an endorsement system on the site for real estate professionals. It is a way for consumers to review real estate agents they've worked with in the past to assist other consumers in the agent selection process. But want to know the other big winner here? Great agents! They are the ones that will flourish and rise to the top.

How can I easily collect reviews from past clients?

Email individual clients and ask them to fill out a review form on Zillow. To streamline this process, you can pre-populate the form with the address of the home you helped them buy or sell, and fill in the service you provided (buyer's agent, seller's agent, etc).
Email up to 50 clients a day with a standard form asking them to review you on Zillow.
If a past client is viewing your Zillow profile, they can click the ‘write a review' button and will be directed to the ratings and reviews form.

Who can review me?

Any client, past or present, can review you regardless of when the transaction closed.
The reviewer must have an active profile on Zillow.
Agents cannot review other agents.

How are reviews moderated?

Zillow's customer service team personally looks at every single review before it is published, to ensure that it adheres to Zillow's Good Neighbor Policy and is respectful and appropriate. If we feel a review does not comply with our Guidelines and Policies, or is generally inappropriate or off-topic, we won't post it.

Can I respond to reviews?

Yes. Agents will be notified when a review has been written about them and have the opportunity to publically respond to all reviews. Additionally, agents can flag reviews they feel are inaccurate or unjust for further review by Zillow's moderators.

What I really want to highlight is that Zillow understands the power of reviews for both consumers and agents, and has a dedicated customer service team in place that will personally look at EVERY SINGLE REVIEW before it is published.

As I said in the beginning, this new endorsement system is going to be an excellent opportunity for great agents--similar to how great restaurants thrive on Yelp. In the NAR 2010 Home Buyer and Seller survey that just came out, it said that 87% of consumers would recommend or use their agent again in the future. Now these past clients can tell your future clients why!

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Top 10 Cool Tools to Share - A Zillow Update and Review

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:55:04 -0800

About two and a half years ago (man, has it been that long!) I wrote a similar post called 10 things to do on Zillow. It is a trip to read this post now and see how far we've come. The two things that really stick out to me is that mobile apps hadn't even been invented back then and our ad platform is light years better!

Via Brad Andersohn (Industry Outreach Manager - Zillow.com):

When I joined Zillow about 6-7 weeks ago, many friends and associates here asked me to keep them posted about my new position over at Zillow. So far, it's been an incredible blast and the time has simply flown by. I'm really enjoying the priviledge of getting to be in both places, Zillow and here on ActiveRain. So what's been going on and what have I been doing?

In my recent adventures and explorations of Zillow.com, I've come across some really cool tools (10 to be exact) that some of you may not even know exist. I didn't. I'm sure I'm missing quite a few others, but I wanted to at least update you and mention these. In my sincere and honest opinion, these are some of the most exciting and easy to use, and will deliver the most value.

Here you go, take a moment to look into these, I think you'll find them to be really cool tools.

1. Zestimates

What is a Zestimate? I remember when the Zestimate was launched many years ago. Since then, many questions have been asked. Is a Zestimate an appraisal? My Zestimate is too low or too high, what gives? How does Zillow come up with a Zestimate? How accurate is the Zestimate overall? Here's the answer to all these questions and more. Once you view and understand the Zestimate and how to use and discuss it with your clients and prospects, you'll see why I added it here.

2. Zillow Advice and Discussions

Whether you get or give "Pro-to-Pro" advice or local "Consumer Direct" advice, Zillow advice is one of the best places you can spend some time on the site. Got a question? How about contributing to a discussion or starting a discussion of your own? All Zillow asks is that you follow the Good Neighbor Policy when engaging with other real estate professionals and consumers.

3. Real Estate and Mortgage Widgets

This is one of the more exciting tools since I'm a real widget and gadget kinda guy. Using some of these widgets and incorporating them into your sites and blogs can increase your traffic, bring more value to your readers, and provide you with co-branding on the Zillow site. There's quite a few Real Estate and Mortgage widgets, take a look and see which ones will be right for your website or Blog.

4. Premier Agent

The Premier Agent membership on Zillow is exactly that. PREMIER. Now that I've had some time to really investigate the program, evaluate the process, and witness first hand the results that members are experiencing, I stand behind the program 110%. How can putting willing and able buyers agents in front of thousands millions of contacts that are looking at Real Estate and Loans ever be a bad thing?

Basically, Zillow's Premier Agent Program connects buyers and sellers to agents. Flat out, bottom line!

5. Industry Directory

The Zillow Directory is the place for every face in the industry. If you are not a member of Zillow and not in the Directory, it could be the single most grave mistake you'd ever make in real estate. It takes 30 seconds to join, it's easier than checking your email, and it is absolutely free. If you haven't joined the directory, GO HERE TO JOIN. Then come back after...

6. Zillow API data

Zillow API is a powerful tool that allows you an endless amount of possible data providing opportunities. Here's one of my recent posts about API. It empowers both the provider and the receiver with a great deal of value and on many levels. Explore what you can do with any API, then think of the potential of what accessing and delivering Zillow API data might do for your business.

7. Zillow Academy

Zillow Academy is ALL ABOUT real estate training and having a learning and support campus available to the industry. To be honest, this is where I have been spending a great deal of my time, but don't tell Sara or Spencer that. Seriously, they have helped and supported me in my efforts to put this all together. It's starting to come along nicely. It's going to become one of the finest learning centers on the web.

8. The Zillow Profile

Like any site or network out on the web, (at least any worth their salt), you should need to have a decent profile setup. That includes right here on ActiveRain. (hint hint) Profiles on any site should always be evolving and changing, just like you do with the times. Take advantage of the tools and options that come with many of these free opportunities and especially, make sure your Zillow profile has "Got It Goin On!"

Mine needs work too but it's not a shadow-face. lol Seriously, with no profile there's a lot to be missed...YOU!

9. Mortgage Market Place

What are today's rates? Can I qualify for a loan? My area is not like yours, that loan isn't available...is it? Wonder if we can afford that house or not? Come check out the Mortgage Marketplace, it's kinda like a farmers market. You can walk around and check out all the fruits, vegetables and goodies that will feed the needs of your specific appetite. Plus you can get help.

There's nothing you won't find and if there is, let me know and I'll make sure it gets to the right ears.

10. The Zillow Blog

Did you know that Nicole Kidman... well, maybe I should just let you read for yourself. Where do they come up with this stuff? I have to admit that Diane Tuman is one of my favorite bloggers over there. The stuff she comes up with and with Whitney and Lauren's contributions, there's never a boring or dull moment on the "Z" Blog. You'll get the insides and the outside scoops when you RSS feed the Zillow Blog.

That's it for now. If you have any questions or comments, just ask or call me anytime. I'll report and update you on more later but until then, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Real Estate Marketing Summit and Town Hall meeting in San Diego at the end of the month. :-)

Zillow On Twitter or Friend Us On Facebook | Zillow® Academy | Advertising Solutions

Zillow Mobile Apps | Free Content and Free Widgets | Premier Agents

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An Update On Brad Andersohn - Wow, Wow, Wow

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 09:12:29 -0800

A little while ago we announced that Brad Andersohnwas going to be joining the Zillow team (insert woot, woots here). In just a few short weeks he has really done an amazing job pulling together training programs, and they keep evolving with each day.

His biggest contribution to date has been establishing Zillow Academy. This site will serve as a library of training topics, and at the same a bulletin-board of upcoming events. Check out www.zillowacademy.com if you want to see how much Brad has already done in a short amount of time. But bookmark the URL, because he has a lot of plans on how it is going to become even richer in the upcoming months.

Make sure to sign up for one of his webinars while you are there! Also, if there is a specific topic you'd like more training on, leave it in the comments here or let Brad know.

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Focus Rally America

Sara Bonert {Real Estate Internet Marketing} (Zillow) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:26:36 -0700

Whitney, who works in ZIllow's PR department, and her boyfriend (an Active Rain employee!) are trying to win a spot on this reality TV show. It is similar to The Amazing Race. Being that I am a huge fan of reality TV, Whitney and Active Rain - I had to reBlog this and ask that you help them win! Please read Will's post below. Simply 'liking' their fan page is a big help!

Via Will Curry (ActiveRain):

Focus Rally America

Friends- Ford is teaming up with the creators of The Amazing Race to create a new web series -- Focus Rally America. Basically, it's the ultimate interactive cross-country road trip.

Seeing as my girlfriend and I are both reality TV and social media junkies, we decided throw inhibitions to the wind and try out for the show.

Well, guess what----we’re national finalists (whoot whoot)! To catapult ourselves to the top of the finalist list, we need some serious help expanding our social media networks.

5 quick things you can do to help get Will and Whit on Focus Rally America:

1.   Follow us on Facebook

a.   Will http://www.facebook.com/whitney.tyner#!/

b.   Whit http://www.facebook.com/williecurry

2.   Like our personal Focus Rally America Facebook page

a. Facebook Fan Page

3.   Follow us on Twitter

a.   Whit http://twitter.com/#!/whitneyt

b.   Will http://twitter.com/#!/willurban

4.   Subscribe to our YouTube Channels

a.   Will http://www.youtube.com/urbanbeachfox

b.   Whit http://www.youtube.com/user/WhitneyT333

5.   Donate your status to us on Facebook

a.   “My friends Will Curry and Whitney Tyner are trying out for a reality TV show! “like” their Facebook page for a chance to win a car!

A ‘lil something something about us:

Whit and I (or Willitney as our friends like to tease) met at a house party on a rainy Seattle night nearly two years ago. Our shared interest in fashionable footwear, faith, giving back, real estate, and anything device starting with the letter “i” quickly lead to love.

How we plan to “pay it forward”:

As participants on Focus Rally America, we’d strut our stuff to raise money (and new 2012 Ford Focus wheels) for the following causes:

-     Our hypothetical future as a couple J

-     Our favorite non-profits (specifically, the YWCA, Young Life, and Alzheimer's Foundation of America)

More About the Ford 2012 and Focus Rally America:

#1Feature: Focus Rally America: Power Shift

“Part of what makes Focus so satisfying to drive is its fully engaging available six-speed PowerShift automatic transmission, which delivers seamless gear changes and excellent responsiveness. And because it’s also designed to be fuel-smart, you can have plenty of fun, without paying the price at the pump. Select models also include SelectShift technology which allow you to change gears at the touch of a button.”

Benefit to Will and Whit while on the Focus Rally America challenge: We’re cheap. This will save us money.

#2 Feature: Focus Rally America: Power Shift

“The available SYNC® entertainment and communications system allows you to easily operate most popular MP3 players and Bluetooth®-enabled phones with simple voice commands.* SYNC® even gives you peace of mind with 911 Assist™ and Vehicle Health Report. “

Benefit to Will and Whit while on the Focus Rally America challenge: When we get sick of talking to each other, we can talk to SYNC.

#3 Feature: Focus Rally America: MyKey™ technology

“MyKey™ technology is a feature designed to help parents encourage teenagers to drive safely. It allows owners to designate a key that will operate special features. For example, MyKey™ can restrict the vehicle’s top speed to 80 mph and limit the entertainment system’s audio volume to 44 percent of maximum volume. It also provides a warning when the fuel tank reaches 75 miles to empty.”

Benefit to Will and Whit while on the Focus Rally America challenge: Running out of gas will certainly give the “others” a competitive lead. This can NOT happen. Plus, if a teen somehow takes the wheel, we’ll be able to monitor their tunes.

#4 Feature: Focus Rally America: My Ford Touch

“Introducing available MyFord Touch technology. It will do for the Focus what touch screens did for the phone. A simple, intuitive eight-inch touch screen you can customize puts the controls at your fingertips.Many functions are voice-activated. Meanwhile, steering wheel-mounted controls let you use the system and keep your hands on the wheel. “

Benefit to Will and Whit while on the Focus Rally America challenge: So…essentially, this is an iPad in the car. Take that, Steve Jobs!

#5 Feature: Focus Rally America: Rain Sensing Wipers

“Our available rain-sensing wipers are all-new for the 2012 Focus. When activated, they use an advanced optical sensor to detect the intensity of rain and/or snowfall to adjust wiper speed. They automatically go on when moisture is sensed.”

Benefit to Will and Whit while on the Focus Rally America challenge: We’re from Seattle, and can handle the rain, but snow is another beast!

Read more about the 2012 Ford Focus and Focus Rally America here: http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/focus/2012/features/?gnav=foot:ford%20focus:features#page=Feature16

Will@ActiveRain.com

206 . 295 . 8123

Twitter.com/willurban

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