It’s become fashionable for Real Estate IDX Companies to create WordPress- ready plugins. Mostly, this is, to automate property listing driven pages. It makes sense as WordPress is not only acknowledged by Google to have some of the best markup for search engine spidering, but it’s also highly extensible software [i.e. easily modified, including by the addition of useful features.]

While we never recommend one IDX provider over another, and many aren’t available in all markets anyway, we came across this great bit of advice from Diverse Solutions the other day and felt it important to repeat,

“Every dsIDXpress page on your site is index-able content, but it’s content that Google will find on thousands of other real estate websites that use an index-able IDX solution.It’s the original content you add to your site that supports all the dsIDXpress content that will help get your site placement. Simply linking to dozens of dsIDXpress pages can lead to a heavy reliance on dsIDXpress without any supporting original content; which ultimately can lead to huge drops in Google.” - Robert Larson, Official Rep, Diverse Solutions Community Forum, 04/11/11

The quote is fashioned around their own dsIDXPress plugin, and we stand by it! Folks, in the long run and other than good original content there is no silver bullet! IDX driven content activity will help get your site more indexing placement and this has been proven by many of our own clients, but no matter how many index-able pages you can generate always REMEMBER that each page competes individually [think: it's '*page* rank', not 'site rank'] for placement. If everyone else in your marketplace has the same [IDX- driven] indexed content, your competitive rank, visibility and human like- ability is always going to fall back to what ‘on page content’ [and measurable off page reaction = like links, bookmarks, likes, subscribes, etc., etc.] you have.

Ultimately, what differentiates you from a competitor with that same content?

If the dsIDXPress plugin is available in your market, we’re experienced with WordPress integration and would love to answer any questions you may have – please do not hesitate to get in touch! AND AGAIN PLEASE REMEMBER that while these plugins can be a great resource, it’s the original content that wins the long term sustainable war!

PS: 3rd party applications can influence the health of your site! Do your due diligence before adding any 3rd party plugins!

Related Information:

1. What Do Agents And Brokers Need From Their Site?
2. Kinetic Sites Now Incorporating ds IDXPress for MLS Listings!
3. IDX Broker Now Offering a WordPress Real Estate Plugin!

Ever heard of  Google Fusion Tables? While Google announced it was dropping their ‘real estate listings database to mapping service’, it doesn’t mean they don’t provide real estate professionals with great tools to map listings.

A FREE data management and publishing application, Fusion tables makes it easy to present any data you have, say in CSV files or spreadsheets, visually online. If you’re looking for better ways to present data in posts, Fusions Tables will enhance you ability to do it!

What can you do with Google Fusion?

• Upload your data sets from spreadsheets or CSV files
• Host your data, and then easily embed it on other sites
• Visualize your data on maps, in timelines and on charts
• Pick who can access your data; hide parts of the data if needed
• Merge data from multiple tables
• Collaborate on data with others, track changes and discussions

Three simple steps: import, display, publish.

For real estate posts a Google Fusion Map, with data applied, can display where featured real estate listings are located. It can map where you have sold homes recently, as well as charts and tables for historical sales volume and values.  In addition these tables and maps can be set to be  interactive, allowing both visitor commenting and also just more information for visitors who want it. 

Other real estate pros have utilized market data and reports from sites like Zillow to create valuation maps.  There can be specific values of homes for sale or sold, as well as locations of homes that are for sale within a certain price point.  The tool is virtually limitless, allowing real estate professionals to maximize the information they want their sites to convey. 

You can display school locations in an area, as well as specific information on schools, including performance, ranking and more.

You can show hospital locations, including pop ups to display in-depth information about each hospital.

Even important local businesses you endorse… and the list goes on – go check out Fusion Tables!

That’s right!  Popular online MLS web search provider, IDX Broker, recently released a new WordPress plug-in that allows you to easily blog listings direct from the MLS by data type. You can also incorporate property lead capture on your blog and increase your visibility in the search engines.  This plugin appears to be very a similar competitor to the dsIDXPress WordPress Plugin from Diverse Solutions that we previously blogged about.

With the new IDX Broker WordPress plug-in you can:

• Display IDX search forms, widgets, and links on your Kinetic Blog
• Choose one design for all of your IDX results and details pages
• Use the IDX Broker WordPress plugin to add IDX lead capture and indexable idx page links to your Kinetic Blog

For those of you already using IDX Broker, the plug-in appears to be included with your existing IDX search service.  Take a look at the real estate demo site with the IDX plugin activated.  Give them a call to find out how you can access the power today (your MLS may need to be on a participating list in order for you to utilize this tool)!  If you have this service, we can easily install and configure the plugin for you within your Kinetic real estate blogs!  Just give us a call.

So what are you waiting for?  Email the Kinetic sales team to get your real estate blog with auto generated MLS listings started today!  We couldn’t be more excited for you.

Social Gears Launches Digital Business Card – Follr.com

Per our last post, this is going to be a useful tool for folks with many different web identities. Per Follr.com,

“A card for the world we live in today – a FREE Website combining all your online social activity streams and contact information into one easy contact solution. A connected Social Card is important for individuals and businesses alike.”

Jump in for your FREE Digital Business Card here

Per Fran Thorsen of  Real Estate Social Media Policies,

“Now, a real estate agent displays a listing syndication map illustrating dozens of destinations where the seller’s property is displayed and a social business card containing all her listings and links to her profiles on the social Web.”

For More, See: Finally! Paint Your Social Media Portrait with a Business Card

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:

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Mortgage and Loan Calculator (www.mlcalc.com) – Nice UNBRANDED mortgage and loan calculator.  FREE.
9. 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.
10. 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.)
11. 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.

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.

Adding any application to your Facebook business page is not always the easiest of things to do.  Ideally you should make a connection between your blog and your Business Fan page and then “fan yourself” to get blog news to your personal Facebook profile page.  Facebook does not shine upon commercialization within your personal profile pages.

According the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities:

• You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.
• You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).
• You will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on Facebook.

While somewhat vague, these points suggest you should really keep business news on your Facebook business fan page.  Here’s part one and two of a video that will help you figure out how to do just that!  You can use an application called NetworkedBlogs to get the job done.

Videos require the most recent version of Adobe Flash to view.

- Adding Your Blog News to a Facebook Business Page (Part 1)

- Adding Your Blog News to a Facebook Business Page (Part 2)

Good luck!

No time to hook up your own news?  Take a look at our blogging social media package or contact Kinetic Knowledge for more information today!

This is a very new application introduced by Google called Goggles that may become immensely supportive to your real estate business.

Ben Rosales over at Agent Genius strikes again suggesting, “…it is a tangible way for consumers to get up to the minute property data, but even more importantly, an even better way to preview property listings that are from other brokers. Say you’re in the car touring property, and a client asks about a sign not belonging to you, simply snap a photo of the property, or even the yard sign and view the agent and property details instantly providing you with a warm on the fly opportunity to present a property the buyers are interested in. Imagine a client driving by your bus bench (I know, lame, but now made cool by Goggles) who snaps a photo and instantly obtaining your contact details along with everything you want them to know about you is now right there at their fingertips. The same principle applies to billboards or anywhere else you’ve plastered your logo (or face). The post cards you’re mailing are no longer useless to consumers in the sense that they throw away things they don’t want to store, they can now snap a photo and register your data right there in their phone, and the same could apply to a photo snapped of the front page of your website- hey, it’s you on the go!”

Our esteemed client and top real estate technology speaker/ trainer Allen Hainge stands out nationally when it comes to showing real estate sales associates and their companies how to make money using today’s technology.

Now he’s released Volume I of the CyberStar® Success Series: ‘Digital Essentials For Today’s Agent’

If you’re looking for immediate or improved success in the business,’Digital Essentials For Today’s Agent’ offers Tech Tips, Techniques & Strategies from 128 of real estate’s top agents.

This is an on-target, in-depth look at what top technology agents use…and how they use it! 225 specific tech tips, techniques and strategies direct from 128 of the CyberStars®

Get your copy of ‘Digital Essentials For Today’s Agent’ here!