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Stunning Social Media Statistics, Is Your Blog Auto-Connected?
Do you use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube? Did you know you could set up your blog to auto-populate your content to many of these networks (yes, we can help!)? While these spaces can be overwhelming to manage, it’s pertinent to know some facts. The statistics are astounding (and also changing so fast, they are hard to find!). Take a look at a few facts I collected from around the net:
According to Hitwise, on March 13, 2010 Facebook surpassed Google (yes, Google) as the number one most visited website.
Facebook (From their statistics page which is regularly updated)
- More than 400 million active users
- 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- More than 35 million users update their status each day
- More than 60 million status updates posted each day
- More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
- More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
- More than 3.5 million events created each month
- More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
- More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
- More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
- Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
Facebook Mobile
- There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
- People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.
“Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day—that’s an average of 600 tweets per second.” Twitter Blog
“As of early this morning, LinkedIn has 50 million users worldwide and we’re growing that figure at roughly one new member per second. When LinkedIn launched in 2003, it took 477 days — almost a year and four months — to reach our first million members. This last million took only 12 days.” LinkedIn Blog
YouTube (direct from their fact sheet)
People are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.
Our user base is broad in age range, 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies. Fifty-one percent of our users go to YouTube weekly or more often, and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues. With such a large and diverse user base, YouTube offers something for everyone.
What does all this mean? Well for one thing, the term “viral marketing” has never been more apt. There are ways to manage your social media spaces and ensure that your branded content is reaching these audiences. Call us today for more information about setting up your business blogs to auto-push content to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!
Here are a few astounding videos from Socialnomics on the social media phenomena, worth a watch – enjoy!
Social Media ROI
Social Media Revoltion
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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FREE Google Tools for Real Estate
Our friends at Google are constantly developing new tools for online business use (and new ways to rule the world!). But seriously, these free tools can be an invaluable addition to your online marketing efforts – they are worth your time to setup. Need the power of Google but don’t have time to set up or install the tools? Contact us today and we can help.
Google Analtyics – Free analytics tracker (www.google.com/analytics). While Google analytics is not as robust as VisiStat (we offer this as a paid service, $15/month), it does a pretty good job with the basics. You’ll get access to data such as: visits, page views, bounce rate, avg time on site, pages/visit, visits based on country map, traffic sources, popular pages, and popular keyphrases. All you need is a free Google account to utilize this tool.
Google Webmaster Tools (www.google.com/webmasters) – Another free analytics tool which tells you what the Googlebots think of your sites. You’ll have access to data such as: web crawl errors, top search queries, what Googlebot sees, index stats, crawl stats, link stats, sitemap submittal and more. Again, you’ll need a free Google account and you’ll also need to verify your sites by inserting a meta tag into your header.
Google Custom Search Engine (www.google.com/coop/cse/) – Have you ever wanted your own search engine? This one is super cool – it allows you to create a search box (which can be placed on your sites) that will search your websites and blogs only! For those of you with multiple websites and blogs – this is a great way to bring them all together into one big promotional vehicle. Also – just a mention, Google wants their piece of the action on this one. To get a search engine with no Google Adwords interspersed you’ll have to send them $100 directly each year. This interface also gives you the ability to directly submit a sitemap. The functionality is well worth it! This takes a bit of work to create; we can install this function for you or provide you with the code to have installed on all your sites. Please contact us for more information. See an example: top left tan box – http://blog.topagent.com/
Google Local Business Center (www.google.com/local/add) – Do you recall seeing maps and business listings in the result sets when you’re searching for something in Google? These things are recommended via the Google Local Business Center. It’s free to sign up your business and map your location. Very valuable tool, check it out!
Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) – That’s right, Google has developed a browser. It’s reportedly faster (less of a memory hog) and more efficient. I use it as my default browser these days, the installation file was less than 500k and took no time to install. Check it out!
Gmail (www.google.com/mail) – Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for ages, you already know about Gmail. It’s a free online email interface offering reliability and lots of data storage. A great way to create emails on the fly for use in specialized campaigns.
Google Buzz (www.google.com/buzz) – This is an add on to Gmail that allows you to share photos, videos and conversations publicly or privately with your network. It also allows you to import your content from places like Twitter, Picasa, Google Reader and Flickr. And, you can put it on your phone – neato!
Google Website Translation Tools (translate.google.com) – Did you know that you can get a free language translator placed right on your website or blog? Yep, Google provides that too. Translate to other languages in real time. Highly valuable and again – free!
Google Maps (maps.google.com) – Not only are they fun to play with but you can embed custom generated maps into your websites and blogs. You can also get your business mapped via this interface.
All of these online business tools are free or offer a free version. Some are a bit technical to install but ultimately there is no reason NOT to have them all working for you today! Need the power of Google but don’t have time to set up or install the tools? Contact us today and we can help
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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Real Estate Widgets Revisited
We wrote an article in January of 2008 about real estate widgets for your blog and website. In true fashion the power of blogging has shined via this post – today (more than two years later!) it still resonates on page one of Google for the search term “free real estate widgets” and “real estate widgets free”. As it happens this is a popular search phrase and we get a fair amount of traffic from the one article. Confused about real estate widgets? Take a look at the original article for a general definition.
Although I recently updated the old post I thought it deserved some new attention based on demand. Following please find an updated 2010 version of the 2008 list! Hopefully these tools will add some fresh new ideas to your real estate marketing arsenal. Enjoy.
Real Estate Widgets Revisited:
- Diverse Solutions dsIDXPress for Wordpress (www.dsidxpress.com) – This nifty tool is actually a Wordpress plugin, but if you can figure out how to get it installed (or have your blog provider install it) it provides some great real estate widgets – an MLS quick search, a property search by coverage area, and a property listings widget by MLS data type (for instance foreclosures in a certain area). This one is not free, but it’s easy to install and well worth the listings exposure. Check it out!
- Feedblitz RSS to Email (www.feedblitz.com) – if you have a blog, this is an incredible tool. It allows people to sign up to receive your blog posts by email instead of through RSS. It allows you to use your blog as a direct marketing email news system to keep in touch with your existing sphere of influence. Unfortunately this service is no longer free.
- Feedburner is an alternative to FeedBlitz (www.feedburner.com) – It not only offers you a blog to email subscription tool, but also measures how many subscribers you have via your RSS feed. This Google tool is not nearly as robust as FeedBlitz but it is FREE.
- Altos Research Altos Charts (www.altosresearch.com) – Get live real estate market data on your sites! Over 150 different market measures for each of the thousands of cities and zip codes across the country that they cover. They offer a free version or a paid version with more extensive options.
- Zillow Widgets (www.zillow.com) – Wow, lots of tools here. Everything from real estate statistics to new homes for sale to home value estimates. If you are a fan of Zillow, they offer some great functionality. These are FREE.
- Trulia Map Widget – (www.trulia.com) – Pin point your real estate listings on a Trulia map. When users click on your listings on the TruliaMap widget, they go directly to the property on your own web site. Users can also watch a “slide show” of your properties on the map. Nifty and FREE.
- Real Estate Technology Text Widget (www.realestatetechnologyonline.com) – This widget allows you to be contacted from your website or blog directly by text message. Super Cool, FREE.
- Mortgage and Loan Calculator (www.mlcalc.com) – Nice UNBRANDED mortgage and loan calculator. FREE.
- YouTube Video Gallery (www.youtube.com) – you may or may not be hip to the Youtube craze, but if you have videos on Youtube you also have the ability to create a video gallery widget. The importance of online video is growing quickly so if you’re curious, go take a look.
- Custom widgets “borrowed” from your real estate website for placement on your real estate blog. That’s right, you can make your own widgets. One of my favorite things to do is to take an MLS “Quick Search” and add it directly to the navigation within your blog. A blog helps you gain visibility, turning that visibility into leads is up to you – this is a great way to do that. (not all of you have a quick search, but often times your IDX provider can make one for you! Ask them.)
- RSS Feed widgets for your website – Have you ever wanted to offer your real estate blog news from your website? You can easily do so with an RSS feed widget. Take your blog’s RSS feed and plug it into a widget, customize and then place the code on your website. There are quite a few of these out there but not all totally reliable.
Here are a few for you to check out:
- http://www.widgetbox.com (sometimes unreliable)
- http://www.newsgatorwidgets.com/widgets (large Adwords interface)
- http://www.feedflash.net (discrete company link, not bad)
- http://widgets.cc/rss/scrollbox/ (adwords subtle, but interspersed in your content)
- http://feed.mikle.com/en/ (no adwords, no links as far as I can tell, this one is good!)
That’s a wrap! Clean blog interfaces retain more traffic – make sure you don’t add too many real estate widgets to your sites or you might scare visitors away. Determine what to use based on your business goals – if the widget will help you generate leads and sales then by all means go for it!
Need a branded business blog? Call us today for more information. Don’t have time to connect? Download our FREE Business Blogger’s Bible for some valuable marketing tips.
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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Austin TX Agent Consolidates Entire Online Presence to His Real Estate Blogsite
Jim Morelli is a top Austin TX real estate agent. Recently he consolidated his online presence to a Real Estate Blogsite. Within 60 days he has seen better search engine indexing, ’site stickiness’, Austin TX IDX search & subscription, visibility for his content [automated to various social networks], leads and more new business.
He was happy to share his success in a short interview:
Frerecks: Jim, Why go to a real estate blogsite as your primary online presence?
Morelli: I went to a blogsite as my primary and only site for three reasons: simplicity, reduced cost and better overall visitor engagement. With my website I was tired of paying big bucks to keep the content updated and the look and feel fresh. I also found that the more static the site the less potential traffic and also the higher the bounce rate. This is already proven: in the first 60 days with my dynamic blogsite my bounce rate has decresed by 50%!
Q: Why integrate your local MLS Search / IDX into your blogsite?
A: It’s important for us to build a database of direct subscribers we can continue to send good information too. We need to be on their radar screen for when they’re ‘ready to buy’… or sell. We’ve found that when we blog information on specific areas or properties of Austin we can draw buyers in and funnel them to our IDX search, both quickly and affordably. I think they come for the immediate information, then find the site easy to navigate. Once in, they quickly discover our Austin IDX search. They can subscribe to our blog, but more often than not they also sign up for property update email which is easy and straight forward to use.
Q: You’re in a super forward thinking and competitive area for online. By covering the Austin TX real estate marketplace with the blog have you seen better advertising visibility for targeted key phrases?
A: In the five years prior to having my blogsite I could never get my domain LivingNorthAustin.com on to page one with Google. For instance we target the search phrases North Austin Real Estate, North Austin Texas Real Estate or North Austin TX Real Estate. I’m 60 days into my blogsite now [relocated to LivingNorthAustin.com ] and I’m often # 1 for all three searches out of 12 million, 8 million and 2 million indexed pages. What is funny is my website provider wanted $3,000 dollars to optimize my site, which obviously I never did.
Q: Beyond the search engines, anything else you’re doing to drive overall brand visibility?
A: I am using my blogsite to automate the feed of my posts to accounts I have with Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook [via Fan page]. The goal being to drive leads back to my blogsite where I have all the information they might want. I also promote the site in every email I send, on every piece of paper I print as well linking to all searches [i.e. Realtor.com, local board etc.] so yes I am. Look, this about advertising so I’m leveraging all the opportunities available to make my Austin brand visible. The blogsite makes it easy.
Q: Have you driven any new leads or sales you can speak of with the blogsite yet?
A: We have already signed three new buyers to buyer representation agreements. They all are actively looking and will buy with in 30 days!
Real Estate Blogsites can either be designed as an 1) all encompassing standalone web presence or to 2) support any existing website.
Related Posts:
Top Edmonton AB Business forgoes Website for All Encompassing Blog
Contributed bychris@kineticknowledge.com
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Developing Your Own Real Estate App for the iPhone, Is Easy?
Did I just find a little known real estate technology secret? Perhaps, read on…
In a quick search for real estate apps in iTunes, you get a menu of about 135 available applications (to do this you must have itunes installed locally). Still surprisingly few. By far the most interesting trend comes from enterprising agents racing to the real estate app scene with mobile access to their online IDX property search portals. Simple applications that funnel the “downloader” of the app to those personalized online real estate searches in various geographical regions. Not a bad idea, in fact – why not? A branded presence in the iPhone App Store – pretty darn smart.
So how are they doing it? It seems many are using a service called MobileAppLoader. I have no personal experience with this company so can’t give it a thorough review but a large percentage of the real estate companies listed in the iPhone App Store have used it. This might not mean much other than that the process is easy and attainable. It seems most of the apps they build follow a simple format:
- Contact page with one touch calling
- Info Page with active web links
- About Page with active web links
- Social networking profile pages (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)
- Notifications which send alerts to customers
- Property Feedback function
- Loan calculator
Maybe a little clunky but a way to quickly and easily get in the game while not only branding your company but grabbing your main geographic target phrases for the name of your app – Maui Real Estate Search, Chicago Home Finder, Las Vegas Foreclosures. There are a few different price levels for real estate as well as a fixed cost versus a monthly subscription.
I installed one of these real estate applications on my iphone just to check out the interface. Not bad (nice graphics are important to the overall feel). You will want to make sure that your existing IDX search website works well with mobile browsing before you jump on board. All the app does for real estate search is provide a web link to your existing website’s IDX search page. You will also benefit from having Facebook, Twitter, a YouTube page and a business blog setup before you jump into real estate iPhone app development. This real estate app provides exposure to those mediums so be prepared!
Another real estate app developer visible in the app store is IDX, Inc. These real estate applications seem more robust with potentially better connections to an IDX search interface. They appear to really just be an IDX website search provider and serve the following MLSs. Not too pricey; if you also need an MLS search website tool – might be worth a look.
I started this post with the intention of reviewing a few useful iPhone apps for real estate and ended up with a much different result. Guess we’ll save that one for next time. Perhaps this information can get you started developing your own iphone application for your real estate business, good luck!
If you need help developing your business social networks or creating a branded real estate blog, we can help – call or email us today.
Contributed by Kristen Belschnerkristen@kineticknowledge.com
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