Rain Camp - A Social Networking and Learning Experience

Rain Camp - A Social Networking and Learning Experience

 

I've been wanting to attend Rain Camp since Active Rain announced the first one in Seattle.  So, when they announced the one in San Francisco, I bought a plane ticket the first day.

So, what did I take away from Rain Camp?

• Brad and his family have a great band.

 

This post is a little long, but I attempted to avoid the "wall of words" and think it's well worth the time.

Blogging 101

• Title of post becomes the URL & title of page - use good keywords.
• Multiple articles using different, but similar, keywords.
• 2-4% keyword density on each website page or blog post (2-4% of the words on the page).
• Start and end each page with the keywords for that page/post.
• 300-500 words per page/post.
• 2 to 4 outgoing links.
• Use anchor text for your links - "Costa Mesa Real Estate" not "Click here".
• Insert pictures, video or graphics to make it pleasing to the eye.

Twitter 101

• Microblogging - 140 character or less.
• May give you news before it's even on traditional media.
• Google indexes the past.
• Twitter is indexing things as they are happening, now.
• Post every day - "I found a great deal. . ."
• Twitter is about getting an audience.
• Farm Twitter using www.tweetbeep.com, www.demandspot.com and www.getchirp.com

Facebook

• Create fanpages - they can be used to email many fans at once.
• Facebook ads - can be extremely targeted by area, occupation (ie. REO asset manager, HR), etc.
• Invite all of your clients/ past clients to become fans.
• Create groups and lists.

 

 

Be the Mayor of Your Community

• Be the resource for all things
  • Parks, schools, events, weather, transportation
• Can be a city, neighborhood, subdivision or a group
• Be a connector
• Promote the community

 

Why Should You Be on the Internet? (I think the better question is why not)

• 74.1% of the population is online
• 32.1 hours per week are spent online - double the amount spent watching tv
• 350,000,000 people on Facebook
• 93% of consumers use search engines

Why is the Internet Important for Real Estate?

• 87% of buyers online to search for properties
• 94% of buyers between 25-44 years are using the internet to search for properties
• 32% of buyers found the home they bought online

SEO

80% of all searches are long tail searches.

The best way for a small company or an individual agent to dominate the internet and their area is by using the long tail search.

• This is the difference between searching Orange County homes and Newport Beach Ocean Front Homes

15 Tools for Geeks from Ben Kinney

1. www.runpee.com
2. www.photosynth.com - collects photos and stiches them together - good for virtual tours
3. www.namechk.com - checks social networks to see if your name and brand are available.  Sign up to keep others from using your name.
4. www.wiggio.com - communicate with an entire group, collaborate, group text and email, send polls.
5. www.igetsales.net - productivity tool that keeps track of daily activity, pending deals, closed deals.
6. www.archtelecom.com - call capture tool.
7. www.bing.com and ad words - Bing's less expensive because they're new.
8. www.facebook.com/ads - more on this later.
9. www.xobni.com - takes an email address and goes online to find other profiles and information.
10. www.tr.im and www.su.pr - take long URLs and shrink them.
11. www.mailchimp.com - see how many emails have been opened, forwarded or bounced.
12. www.goldmail.com and www.eyejot.com - for video email.
13. www.logotournment.com and 99designs.com - allows you to run a logo competition for a few hundred dollars.
14. www.google.com/voice
15. www.slydial.com - check it out and see what it does.

 Real Tools for Real Estate from Brad Andersohn

1. www.openoffice.org
2. www.primopdf.com
3. www.screenr.com
4. www.picnik.com
5. www.slide.com - take pictures, add music, create video
6. www.bannerfans.com - create custom headers, buttons, etc.
7. www.feedmingle.com - take multiple RSS feeds and combine them
8. www.steprep.com - to keep track of what's said about you online
9. www.isuu.com - online library - create info and upload
10. www.box.net - upload anything.  Creates a link and anyone can download.
11. www.drop.io - similar to box.net - good for presentations.
12. www.freeconferencecall.com
13. www.yugma.com - free video conferencing
14. www.tokbox.com - free video conferencing and email messaging
15. www.calendars.net - for sharing calendars and events
16. www.eventbrite.com - schedule events, collect fees, create links
17. www.walkscore.com - see what's around a listing and embed in post
18. www.shoutem.com - create your own microblogging community like Twitter
19. www.jimdo.com - free websites - good for individual property websites
20. www.feedblitz.com and www.feedburner.com - for blog subscribing
21. www.wix.com/bandersohn/ativebrad - creates books, turns pages
22. www.retaggr.com - definitive online profile
23. www.avg.com - for anti virus protection

 

If I can add any more to this, or you have any questions, please contact me -714.319.9751.

Do you need to upgrade to a RainMaker acccount so that the public can see your posts and you can get the Google Juice that Active Rain offers, if so, please contact me or click Upgrade to Rainmaker.

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About the author: Christine Donovan is a California Residential Real Estate Broker with experience in assisting clients buy and sell residential real estate.

Are you upside down in your home? Is it worth less than you owe? Are you concerned about making your mortgage payment? For more information see Options to Foreclosures, understanding short sales or contact me at christine@donovanblatt.com to discuss your options.

If you want to buy a home or to list your property for sale, please click Newport Beach homes, Costa Mesa homes, Huntington Beach homes or Orange County homes.  Click the link if you are interested in buying a home at a courthouse auction sale.

Contact me at christine@donovanblatt.com or 714-319-9751 to learn about her system which will make your buying and selling experience easier.

Disclaimer: All information in this blog is deemed reliable but is subject to change at any time and is not guaranteed to be accurate nor are there any warantees either express or implied. This blog is not intended to offer any legal, tax or other advice.

Click Orange County homes for sale to view all OC homes for sale.