This post comes to us from the Contactually blog:

At this point, Facebook has more users than China has people. You don't need to be a mathematician to realize just how colossal that number is. If you add in numbers from other popular social media services, like the 500 million Tweeps on Twitter and 200 million professionals connecting on LinkedIn, that's a heck of a lot of people – more than you could ever fathom reaching in your lifetime.

As we've said time and time again, despite the rise of social, you should not let go of email just yet! Statistics show that email and search have a much higher return on your investment for your business than social media efforts. On a personal note, receiving an email that is intended specifically for you has a[...]

Tagged: Communication Social Media Online Marketing

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In recent weeks, there has been substantial buzz around the Web centered around a brute force attack on WordPress sites. These attacks are made by a network of more than 90,000 infected computers. They operate by logging in to the WordPress admin section with the generic login name "Admin", as that's how most WordPress sites are first set up. Those with weak passwords and an "Admin" username are getting hacked.

This is just one method out of hundreds that hackers use to attack WordPress sites around the world. It's even possible to be a hack victim and not even know it, as your site can be used to infect other sites behind the scenes. Some hacking involves spamming activities which has caused sites to be banned by Google, creating an emergency situation and a lot of corrective action to get back into good graces. So, how do you know if your site has been hacked and how do you prevent it in the future?

Wordfence is a very effective plugin, that is highly rated and easy[...]

Tagged: Blogging Security Website Design

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Guest contributor G.M. Filisko of REALTOR®Mag says:

Why I Do.

I generate hundreds of leads each month for my seven sales associates from my company's 12 Web sites. My primary focus is my main site, www.regentpg.com. I require consumers to register after they've viewed a certain number of pages of listing information or if they'd like to inquire about a property. I get at least several hundred registrations per month, which my sales associates and I follow up on. That's where I get the majority of my Internet leads.

I also do pay-per-click campaigns on Yahoo and Google to get exposure with certain search terms, and I funnel all those PPC campaign leads through my main Web site. PPC campaigns aren't a main part of my marketing, but people who are serious about the organic search engine ranking of their Web sites usually also advertise through PPC campaigns because that increases both your Web exposure and the chance people will visit your[...]

Tagged: Lead Generation Online Marketing

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Guest contributor Showing Suite says:

While everyone seems to be busier than ever these days, it's nearly impossible to pull anyone away from their smartphone. The widespread use of smartphones and tablets are especially changing the way agents and home buyers are doing business, and that alone needs to be the focus of a real estate mobile marketing strategy in its own right. Prospective buyers especially want information in a quick, convenient, and timely manner, which is why it's important to be sure you are not missing out on potential business due to an inadequate real estate mobile marketing strategy.

Native branded apps and HTML5 are changing the face of real estate mobile marketing. Here is what you need to know about integrating native branded apps and HTML5 to start amping up your marketing strategy:

Get your own mobile application

Native branded mobile applications give your users an experience[...]

Tagged: Mobile Technology Online Marketing Mobile Applications

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You've planned. Designed. Developed. Tested. QA'd. Retested. Now it's time to launch your mobile app. The last, most important step: chances are, you care more about your app than your visitors.

The proof that most apps don't understand that is in the way the navigation is (unintentionally) riddled with giant UX bumps. Many potentially great concepts get hung up on standing on a soapbox instead of putting the user first.

One of the harsh realities of Mobile 102 is channeling those well-intentioned promotional messages that only your brand cares about into something better and more intuitive. Gizmodo makes a great point today in their piece, No One Wants to Download Your App When They Go to Your Website. Pretty self-explanatory title, but there are a few points to think about here.

[...]

Tagged: Advice Editorial Website Design Mobile Applications

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Instagram is a FREE photo sharing social network that allows users to capture photographs with their mobile devices and share them with fellow Instagram users. Instagram makes photography easy, and is an opportunity to showcase your business and listings in a more inviting way. Continuing with Getting Started with Instagram for Real Estate, let's discuss five ways to use Instagram to enhance your real estate business.

Tagged: Social Media Photography Online Marketing

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We're back with coverage of the second and final day of NAR's Trade Expo (see our coverage of Day One here). It's the fourth full day for the Midyear Legislative Meetings, however, and we took to social media to follow all the sessions, meetings, and events.

Below is a selection of our favorite tweets from hashtag #NARMidyear. We looked for the most informative tweets, which is why you'll see links in many of the entries. Several of these link to posts on NAR's Midyear Live Blog--click to see more in-depth coverage of the event each tweet is referencing.

NAR Midyear
REALTORS Insurance Marketplace gives members a roster of health insurance plans http://live.blogs.realtor.org/2013/05/16/nar-presents-the-realtors …®-insurance-marketplace/ #narmidyear

Todd Carpenter
How NAR and Google can partner to build a member centric real estate “portal”: http://bit.ly/104NUDz #narmidyear #rethink @gahlord

REALTORS®
You asked, we have it! From the Midyear Live blog: NAR 360:[...]

Tagged: Reporting Tech Conference Trade Show

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Video production expert Stephen Schweickart sheds some light on how the rule of thirds in photography can make you a better filmmaker.

The rule of thirds is one of the most basic principles for composing a shot on camera. When the same principle is applied to video production it can help you capture more compelling videos.

Tagged: Advice Photography Video Service

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It was the 26th iteration of the Gathering of Eagles. The conference, a Real Trends 'by invitation only' conclave, is generally recognized as the premiere learning and networking event for those within the top 250 North American real estate brokerages.

Real Trends entrepreneur and "Gathering" impresario Steve Murray set the tone during his opening. "We are here to learn and share together."

Sherry Chris, CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHG), followed up and built on that theme with a creative facilitation of a panel of brokers from Atlanta, Houston, Boulder and Austin on the "New Generation Brokerage Business Model."

The room was packed as Sherry, using the "Are You an Alpha or a Beta Brokerage?" title, carefully wove the comments of both the panel members and a number of brokers in the audience into a profile of what the new business model was going to look like. The discussion provided information[...]

Tagged: Broker Reporting Convention

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Real Estate is a Busy Profession

Real estate agents and brokers have a history of building both meaningful and profitable relationships through community involvement. It's not unusual to see an agent or a broker join civic organizations, sponsor softball teams, and become active in local planning and government. We know all of that works and is rewarding but there is only so much that you can do with the limited amount of time that you have.

The Internet has changed and improved many ways that we do business and go to market. One significant advancement emerging onto the scene is Google+. This provides a new way to be involved and target your community through its community feature.

Example of real estate agent using Google+ for community building

[...]

Tagged: Internet Social Media Online Marketing

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Our social media guru and resident video blogger, Maya Paveza, returns with her perspective on Trulia's recent acquisition of Market Leader.

Tagged: Blogging Editorial Reporting

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The continued rise of social media has given hackers new platforms to exploit. Hackers are making malware that, instead of connecting to traditional C&C servers, which would be easier to detect, connects with social networks or search engines to receive updates.

This is a technique researchers have already seen in recent cyberattacks. A recent piece of malware dubbed Miniduke used fake Twitter accounts to connect to C&C servers.

With this rise in malware and means of spreading malicious software it is further stressed that you make sure that your computer is secure with the use of anti-virus/anti-malware software and that you are being vigilant about what you click on while using the internet.

Another means of protecting yourself while on Facebook is to make sure you have a secure connection. For more on this, watch the video, "Secure Your Facebook," on the next page.

[...]

Tagged: Internet Computers Facebook Security

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Perhaps one of the most valuable assets for a real estate brokerage is a proven history of great customer service and a promise to consumers that they can and will perform to the highest industry standard. Buying or selling a home is one of the most important financial decisions a person will ever make and selecting the right real estate agent will make a significant difference in their experience. While it's assumed brokerages and agents provide maximum effort and professionalism in all of their transactions, is there any way to prove that?

The Quality Service Certification (QSC) was created to protect and educate consumers when selecting a real estate professional. QSC certified brokers and agents make a pledge to clients, which is a description of all services they promise to provide throughout the transaction. In order to receive the QSC certification, real estate professionals must:

• Attend the QSC program
• Pass a written examination
• Sign a commitment to follow prescribed procedure

[...]

Tagged: Broker Service Agent Ratings

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Over the past few years, we have seen a shift in professional technology solutions for real estate that has been mostly characterized by "the move to mobile." Generally speaking, applications that do not work on mobile devices, either using a mobile browser or using a mobile app, are being cast aside. But there are secondary realities about the shift that many software companies seem to have neglected, namely, contact record sync.

Everyone who has a mobile device understands that contact records that are created on any device need to be synchronized across all devices. Having some contacts in one location and not another is paralyzing to any professional who needs to communicate with anyone, anytime. Given the rapid changes in contact records, it is too difficult to manually keep records synchronized, so it is fully automated today.

In the old Palm Pilot days, contact record sync was a challenging and broken experience. Now it happens easily by leveraging the cloud. Understanding this, one would imagine that companies offering software as a service[...]

Tagged: Broker Editorial CRM IDX Mobile Applications

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Are you using your iPad to its fullest potential? Working on the run has become second nature to most real estate pros and mobile devices such as the iPad have made this possible.

Jimmy Mackin, co-founder of Curaytor.com, and guest speaker for Homes.com at the 2012 NAR Conference, presented his recommendations on how real estate professionals can maximize the iPad. If you missed the live presentations at NAR, check out the video to see Mackin's presentation "Mastering the iPad in 15 Minutes" to learn the ins and outs of using the iPad to your advantage!

[...]

Tagged: Education Mobile Technology Mobile Applications

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iLoader for iPhone is the perfect companion for your iPhone/iPod Touch, and it completely changes the experience of uploading content to Facebook from the ground up. The concept of iLoader could not be simpler. It is an upload tool to enable you to quickly and easily share your iPhone pictures and videos with your friends on the go. The thing is, the app is so good, I might start using it when not on the go as well.

What does iLoader offer that the highly popular Facebook app does not? The answer? A lot! For starters, just like on a computer, you can select as many photos as you want to upload, and in one action, upload them all. With iLoader, you can easily tag the photos, give them captions, as well as create an album or add pictures to an existing one.

Not only can you actually upload pictures easily, but using iLoader, you can notify whoever you want that you have uploaded a new album to Facebook. Well, that is not completely accurate... Unfortunately, the Tagged: Social Media Facebook Photography Mobile Applications

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A REALTOR®'s most valuable business asset is their real estate CRM database. In fact, it's the only tangible asset an agent has. Things like experience and track record are intangible assets.

The more quality contacts in your real estate CRM database, the more repeat client transactions and referrals will likely come your way. Of course, you need to keep in touch with these contacts over time and do so in the right ways.

But perhaps you're just starting out in real estate sales and don't have a lot of people in your real estate sphere of influence (SOI). Or, maybe you've been in the business a while, but don't have as many contacts (leads, clients, business-to-business referral sources etc.) as you'd like. If this is the case, this blog post is for you!

4 Ways to Grow Your Real Estate CRM Database

1. Do an inventory of your professional and personal network

If you take the time to think of everyone you know who are not[...]

Tagged: CRM Lead Management

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Some of us are naturally tech savvy. For the rest, we can remember the not-too-distant past, where we were all trying to figure out how to setup our websites and blog efficiently. For those of us in the latter category, it seems like just around the time we began to master how to place content on the Web, understand SEO and even pay for some traffic, along came social sites. That's when things, once again, seemed more complicated.

Your Real Estate Blog Can Be Shared Using Social Media Sites

The good news is that social media actually makes things easier. The even better news is that it is 100% cost-free to its users. This is significant when you consider that social media, through sharing options, facilitates the distribution of your content to a wider audience without costing you a penny. Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Diigo, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon[...]

Tagged: Social Media Website/Blog Plugins

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In a release today, Trulia announced that they are buying Market Leader. As a result, Trulia has taken ownership of a brokerage. That means that they can compete with other online brokerages like Redfin, ZipRealty, Sawbuck, Movoto, and others. However, I do not think that is their strategy.

There is a persistent paradigm emerging in the portal business where these companies combine the portal with technology products and services offered to agents and brokers. Operating a portal that relies on ad spending alone does not seem to be sustainable for the type of growth and stable recurring revenue that investors require. Advertising has, and always will be, a volatile business.

Offering deeper levels of products and services to agents is a classic cross-sell opportunity. Move was the first portal to recognize this strategy, and has a[...]

Tagged: Broker Editorial Reporting Listing Syndication

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This post comes to us from the Contactually blog. Going to Midyear? Visit Contactually at Booth 635!

The Problem with Large Networks

Let's face it: many of us have large networks that violate the principle behind Dunbar's number, which says we can only actively manage 144 relationships. If you, like me, have over 3,000 contacts, you're probably in a bit of a bind because there's no way you can properly manage your group without tools or strategy. One of the most effective concepts is to focus your time on the people that matter most to you. What matters most to you depends on the objectives you're currently pursing. To define your relationship objectives, read this blog post to help you evaluate the things for which your network can help you.

You Know your Relationship Objective: Now What?

Tagged: CRM Lead Management

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