Rewind! 5 Educational Webinars for Agents from 2022
What a wild ride the real estate market has been this year! From increasing mortgage rates and a slowing down of demand, many real estate professionals were left wondering how to keep their sales pipeline full and their business thriving. To help, RE Technology hosted a series of live webinars that took an in-depth look at the top strategies and technologies agents can use to adapt to a changing market. With the holiday craziness finally dying down, now's a great time to take a breather and start formulating a plan of action for 2023. This list of our top webinars can help you do just that. So curl up with your laptop (and maybe some leftover eggnog), play a webinar or two, and take notes on your favorite strategies for success in the new year! 1. Social Media Essentials: Secrets to Thriving in a Low Inventory Market Date aired: February 17, 2022 In a low inventory market, real estate agents need to do a little something extra to stand out from the competition. Fortunately, that something doesn't have to be too stressful to execute. In fact, when it comes to marketing, it's most important that agents be consistent. But consistent at what? Watch this webinar to learn a systematic approach to marketing your real estate business on social media and online. 2. The Secrets to Securing Listings: Learn Ways to Stand Out and Market Yourself Like a Pro Date aired: May 17, 2022 It's tough out there in today's housing market. Buyers are struggling to find houses, and Realtors are struggling to find listings. While little can be done about low inventory, there are strategies you can use to find seller leads. Watch this masterclass on how to generate high-intent seller leads and convert them into clients. Learn tips, tricks, and strategies for bringing in leads both organically and via advertising, and how to win the listing presentation. 3. How to Build Lifelong Client Relationships Date aired: June 15, 2022 The signs of a market downturn have made themselves known: soaring interest rates and falling home sales. But there's no need to panic, especially if you've taken care to build long-term relationships with your clients. It's all about building genuine, human relationships with your database, as we explore in this webinar. Josh Flo, real estate team lead at eXp Realty, shared his strategies for doing just that, as well as the technology that gives him a leg up on his competition. 4. How to Get More Referrals (Even in a Tough Market) Date aired: September 13, 2022 Referrals are some of the best leads a real estate agent can get. In fact, 89% of agents say that referrals are their most successful marketing tactic. And while 70% of sellers say they would use the same agent, only 25% do. Fortunately, there's a way to improve the latter statistic. In this webinar, OutboundEngine explores the ins and outs of referrals—including asking for them, cultivating them, and staying top of mind so past clients are more likely to refer you. 5. Lead Gen Boot Camp: Strategies to Keep Your Pipeline Full Date aired: November 9, 2022 It's a changing market, and like many agents, you may be wondering what the future of your business will look like. How can you invest in your business, and in serious lead generation, during a shifting market? "You can't be a one-trick pony," says Dylan Handy of Elm Street Technology. "You can't rely on one source of lead generation. In a market like this, you have to be really creative." In this webinar, Dylan walks us through lead generation strategies across multiple platforms: social media, your website, online ads, organic traffic and more. Learn how to keep your pipeline full and thriving even during a fluctuating housing market.

Friday Freebie: Guide to Homebuyer Personality Types (and How to Get Them to the Closing Table)
Ever have a buyer client that you struggled to connect with? Maybe you had different styles of communication, or maybe there was just something you didn't "get" that you couldn't quite put your finger on. Personality clashes happen, especially in a career as public-facing as real estate. However, the more you know about personality types, the better you'll know about what each type needs in a real estate agent. That's why in this week's Friday Freebie, we're highlighting a free guide to understanding and managing the different types of buyer personalities. Free Guide: The Four Personality Types of Homebuyers, courtesy of BoomTown BoomTown tapped into the knowledge of real estate coach Debbie Holloway for insight into different buyer personality types and the best ways to engage with each one. This free guide identifies four major personality types: Driver, Expressive, Analytica, and Amiable. From there, you'll learn: The traits of each type How to identify which personality your buyer has Tips for working with each type, including do's and don'ts Once you know which type of personality your buyer has, you'll be able to serve them better—and move them close to a closed transaction. Ready to learn more about your buyers? Download your FREE copy of The Four Personality Types of Homebuyers now!

Friday Freebie: Get 150 'Just Listed' and 'Just Sold' Postcards
The news may be dire right now, so here's a little something to cheer you up. RE Technology readers can get 150 free "Just Listed" and "Just Sold" postcards to send to homeowners surrounding their listings. And here's a plus in this time of Coronavirus: these postcards are 100% no-contact because they're 100% automated. Translation? You won't have to risk exposing yourself to illness in line at the Post Office. Ready to claim your own set of postcards? Read on to find out how! Get 150 FREE 'Just Listed' and 'Just Sold' postcards, courtesy of MLSMailings.com When we say these postcards are automated, what do we mean? Well, because MLSMailings taps into your MLS's listing data, it's able to tell when you list or sell a home. When one of those events occurs, MLSMailings automatically sends out the appropriate postcard to verified addresses around your listing—all within 48 hours. You select the design templates you want for your Just Listed and Just Sold postcards upfront, so that when you list or sell a home, postcards in your chosen design are sent out automatically. We've partnered with MLSMailings.com to offer RE Technology readers a chance to try this service for themselves. Get 150 FREE postcards (you pay only for shipping) with promo code RETECH2020. Ready to try a hands-off way to reach your geographic farm area? Claim your free postcards today!

What does Gary Keller have to say about "focusing" on success? This #1 Team Leader tells you.
The no. 1 high-end, luxury real estate team leader in South Carolina, according The Wall Street Journal, shares the secrets to his success. Once a year, Matt O'Neill of the Matt O'Neill Team evaluates the seven elements in his life that require his attention in order to strive for personal growth, professional growth, and self-improvement. Surprisingly, they aren't what you might expect! In the brief video below, Matt shares those seven elements and leads you through your own personal self-evaluation. When you are done, be sure to sign up for his one-hour webinar on December 17th where he'll deep dive into the idea of "Goal Setting," how it's changed his life, and how it's helped him achieve over $225M in business in 2019. Key Discussion Points 6:14 - Business and Career6:51 - Health and Fitness7:08 - Family, Friendships and Relationships7:55 - Lifestyle and Adventure8:20 - Financial and Investment8:32 - Personal Growth and Intellectual Development9:02 - Practicing Appreciation and Gratitude10:00 - Final "Focusing" Question (Courtesy of Gary Keller) Register for Matt's Upcoming Webinar on December 17th Have you ever practiced the art of goal setting? It's an amazing, holistic way to evaluate the seven key elements that make up your life, practice gratitude for your successes, and set goals for self-improvement over the coming year. Over the course of this one-hour webinar, top-producing agent Matt O'Neill and Elevate's VP of Marketing, Bondilyn Jolly, will work attendees through the self-evaluation, offering tips, tricks and insight from their own personal and professional stories. Attendees will exit the webinar with an ACTION PLAN to help tackle their 2020 goals and make it their best year yet! Webinar attendees will receive a FREE DOWNLOAD of the "Life Wheel" self-evaluation sheet, as well as Matt's "magic" document from this popular Goal Setting Workshop. Register today!

Friday Freebie: Downloadable Report for Home Buyers and Sellers
If you've heard us say it once, you've heard us say it a thousand times: quality content is one of the most effective ways to reach buyer and seller leads. But rather than putting you through the rigmarole of creating your own content, today we're going to introduce you to a top-notch source of professionally created real estate reports. And, bonus, RE Technology readers get to download the report of their choice for free. Read on to find out how to claim your free report today. Free lead generating report, courtesy of ProspectsPLUS! Before we get started, here's a friendly reminder that today's offer is the fourth in a series of Friday Freebies that we're producing with ProspectsPLUS! Check out these links to claim more free real estate content, like a property flyer, 100 postcards, and a gift certificate for creating a new account. Today's offer is a free real estate report professionally designed to generate buyer and seller leads. How? By providing information that is valuable to real estate consumers. Choose your favorite from 60 reports like: 5 Powerful Ways to Build Equity in Your Home Common Mortgage Missteps Home Staging Checklist Six Tips for Selling in a Shifting Market What Every FSBO Should Know And more! Each report is customizable and prominently features your name, contact information, and even your headshot and logo. Your report is delivered digitally as a PDF that you can download and share online, print yourself, or at a local print shop. ProspectsPLUS! offers reports for a wide variety of real estate leads: current homeowners, cash buyers, FSBOs, and more. Ready to start warming up new real estate leads in your market? Claim your FREE report here (use promo code FREEREPORT at checkout)!

Friday Freebie: Property Flyer to Download and Print
In honor of back to school season, we're giving you homework this weekend. But don't worry--we promise it'll be fun and that you'll walk away with an upgraded real estate marketing toolkit. Ready? Let's get started! Expand your marketing mix with a free property flyer from ProspectsPLUS! Today's assignment has one purpose: to expand your real estate marketing horizons by upgrading or adding a new lead generation piece to your repertoire. That piece? A property flyer of your choice. We've teamed up with ProspectsPLUS! to offer RE Technology readers a free property flyer (with promo code FREEFLYER) that you can customize, download and print right from your computer. Your homework is to choose a flyer that either upgrades a property flyer that you're currently using, or is a type of flyer that you've never used before. There are multiple designs to choose from, and various flyer types like: Single property flyers Multiple property flyers Multiple property 'Just Listed' flyers 'Just Listed' lead generation letter to neighbors 'Just Sold' lead generation letter to neighbors Once you choose a flyer, you can customize it on the ProspectsPLUS! digital platform. Next, you'll download the flyer as a PDF and either print it at your office or take it to a local print shop. (Homework cheat: Before you get started, read our last Friday Freebie to learn how to get a $25 gift certificate just for creating a free ProspectsPLUS! account.) Use your flyer to create A+ marketing campaigns that target buyers, build your brand awareness, and attract seller leads. Download your free property flyer now! Use promo code FREEFLYER at checkout.

Trends in Online Marketing and Lead Generation
Online marketing and lead generation is a constantly evolving science. In the early days of the internet, simply putting a property online with text was a big chore that required agents (or their development partners) to have HTML programming skills. The next big evolution happened around 1999 when the industry launched the first Internet Display program called IDX. This allowed agents and brokers to publish all of the listings from the multiple listing service on their websites and enable consumers to search. This was quickly followed by the emergence of national property advertising portals like Realtor.com, MSN, Yahoo! and others. IDX and listing portals delivered a great savings to the real estate industry, which was focused on newspaper and magazine advertising at the time. It was not uncommon for listing agents or brokerages to spend between as little as $300 or well over $1,500 in the marketing of a property. Online home search grew in popularity among homebuyers as access to internet connected computers grew. The next huge growth in this category came along with the consumer adoption of internet connected mobile phones and tablets. Today, more than 50 percent of all property searches happens on a mobile device. Nearly concurrent with the adoption of mobile, popular social media sites have became conduits for accessing real estate information including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and now Instagram and Snapchat. The options consumers have today for looking at property is almost absurd. There are millions of agent websites, hundreds of thousands of brokerage websites, and hundreds of property portals. The abundance of these options has created some interesting consolidation. It is estimated that the top 10 real estate portals in America are visited more than 500 million times a month. Given that there are only about 5.5 million transactions a year in America, it makes you wonder what all of those people are doing. Agents and brokerages are recognizing that digital marketing and advertising is changing from "spray and pray" to highly focused and localized marketing. To accomplish this, solutions have emerged that support real estate marketers with geotargeting to a particular house, neighborhood, polygon, or Zip Code. Within those geographies, real estate marketers can tune their marketing for attributes like age, renter vs. homeowner, or any number of filters that narrow the audience. Another major development is the connection between customer management solutions and online marketing. There is an appreciation that one goal of online marketing is to help build a database of potential customers. This famous sales strategy of collecting contacts and staying in touch was famously dramatized in The Wolf of Wall Street where Leonardo DiCaprio encourages his sales team to stay in touch with the customer until they buy or die. Some research has emerged that provides some good guidelines for real estate agents who hope to develop a digital marketing farm. A good target is to focus your efforts on a group of 2,000 to 2,500 households. With a steady focus of targeted digital marketing, agents should be able to develop a sales funnel that will yield about two trades a month. The important ingredient to developing this volume of units from this number of transactions is the frequency and quality of your marketing and lead conversion efforts. Always remember that digital marketing only works if you respond inside of five minutes to an inquiry—or ideally inside of one minute. Consumers expect you to be ready to serve them right away. Want to learn more about online marketing and lead generation? Download our latest Success Guide today!    

The realtor.com Results Summit
September 19 & 20, 2016, Encore Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada There's no better time to capitalize on the market's momentum than at the Realtor.com® Results Summit, taking place this September in Las Vegas, where real estate professionals have the opportunity to learn from industry innovators, knowledge-share with peers, and understand the latest trends and technologies impacting real estate. This event will feature several notable sessions: Social Influencer Breakfast Panels – Panel participants will share success strategies for social media lead generation and cultivation, with panels streamed on Facebook Live. Economic Outlook – Realtor.com® Chief Economist, Jonathan Smoke, will share the fundamental drivers in the market in the year ahead, including demographic and economic trends. Technology Innovators – Matterport CEO, Bill Brown, will share the technology behind the 3D immersive marketing experience revolutionizing real estate. Success Factors for Millennials – Million Dollar Listing San Francisco star Andrew Greenwell, founder of Venture Sotheby's International Realty, will share his journey, as well as how to attract, serve and delight millennials. The Power of Prediction and Lifetime Leads – Eric Siegel, author of Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie or Die, will share insight on predictive analytics for real estate, touching on the hyper-personalized home search experience and lead follow-up. Wait, there's more...to view the entire agenda, learn more and register for this event, visit realtor.com/summit.

2015 Technology Guide: Find Tools that Profit Your Business
RE Technology's fifth annual Technology Guide is fresh off the presses! Released in time for NAR Midyear, this free resource helps agents and brokers find the right technology solutions for their business. Trying to navigate the crowded sea of available tech tools can be a daunting task for real estate professionals. With so many options to choose from, things can get confusing fast. By providing detailed information and points of contact for dozens of products in multiple categories, the 2015 Technology Guide is a valuable reference during your research process. Use it as your starting point whenever you're considering a new tech purchase. How to Use the Guide The guide is simple to use. You can download the entire guide as a PDF or thumb through it right from your browser. Below are a few tips for navigating the web-based version. Choose whatever method is most comfortable for you. Turn pages like a book: Love the feel of turning pages in a book? You can do that with the guide, too! Just click and drag the top or bottom page corners to move forward or back. Use the arrows: Click the arrows on either side of the guide to move forward or back. Click to turn: Double click the top or bottom of any page to go to the next. Jump to a specific page: Know exactly where you want to go? Just type the page number in the input field to view it instantly. Use the Table of Contents: If you're looking for a specific product or category of products, use our table of contents to find it. From there, just click on the page you're looking for and you'll be sent there immediately.

Hurry! Register now for the REALTORS® Conference & Expo and receive an MVP Reward!
Two weeks only! When you act with the Member Value Plus (MVP) Program and register for a Premier Access pass to the 2013 REALTORS® Conference and Expo you'll get rewarded with bonus education PLUS a chance to win a $250 gift card! No other real estate event can compare to the education you'll get at the 2013 REALTORS® Conference and Expo: 100 education sessions, 400 industry exhibitors and unlimited networking opportunities with 22,000 REALTORS® and friends from all over the world. A Premier Access pass is your best value to the 2013 REALTORS® Conference and Expo. Not only can you choose from 100 education sessions in San Francisco, but after the event is over, you can download all session audio recordings free for a full year – a $400 value!

Will Your Clients Remember You?
The REALTOR Benefits® Program, the official member benefits program of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) has the solution to help you stand out from the crowd. The Lowe's Program for REALTORS® is an innovative emarketing tool that lets you send personalized offers, including 10% off eCoupons, to your clients on your behalf. This program was designed exclusively for REALTORS® to give you a creative way to demonstrate your value. New benefits, system upgrades and unique offers for REALTORS® make this an offer that fits any agent's marketing plan. NAR members are also eligible for a 5% discount on Lowe's gift cards, when purchased on LowesRealtorBenefits.com, that you can use for yourself or as a great client gift. As an added bonus, the more you use the program the more you can save with special offers customized specifically for your use! Find complete program details or purchase gift cards at LowesRealtorBenefits.com. The REALTOR Benefits® Program is NAR's official member benefits program. Together with over thirty industry-leading partners such as Chrysler Group LLC, REALTORS® Health Insurance Marketplace, and Sprint, NAR members can take advantage of preferred pricing and a host of special offers to help you save time and money, gain a competitive edge and grow your business. Visit www.LowesRealtorBenefits.com often for the most current information, including limited time offers and new partners. Live support is also available Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. -5:00 p.m., Central at 1-800-NAR-5233.

Act Now with MVP and Earn Rewards from NAR
The Member Value Plus (MVP) program passed its first anniversary in April 2013 relatively unnoticed by a few. And yet, it is the program that tens of thousands of REALTORS® anxiously await to receive their newsletter that details the next "action" to be completed and the new "reward" to be earned. New "actions" and "rewards" are showcased every two weeks on the 1st and 16th of every month and can be found at mvp.REALTOR.org. The MVP program was created to reward members for engaging with NAR and taking a simple "action." The "actions" are intended to remind REALTORS® of the programs, services and other opportunities offered by their Association, plus it rewards them with products and resources that can strengthen their business. "Actions" include anything from customizing REALTOR.org, subscribing to the MVP program newsletter, taking a survey, or commenting on the NAR Commercial blog.

Friday Freebie: Branded Mobile App from realtor.com®
According to a recent NAR study, 68% of new home shoppers use mobile apps throughout their research for a home. That's a huge segment of the market, and if you don't have an active mobile strategy, you're could be missing out on significant business. Fortunately, this week's Friday Freebie offers agents a great way to capture mobile consumers. Free Branded Mobile App from realtor.com® Stay top-of-mind with your clients on the go. Realtor.com®'s free mobile app is branded with your photo and contact info, allowing you to confer with your customers as they search and discover homes on their mobile devices. All primary inquiries will be routed to you, and you will receive immediate notifications on your iPhone®, iPad® or Android™ device. The application's Collaborative Search feature lets you easily suggest listings to your clients. In turn, when your clients find something they like, they can share this with you and you can provide commentary and follow-up, all through the application. Your clients can request showings, and you can both have instant messaging conversations right in the app on each listing. Realtor.com®'s mobile app is easy to set up, and simple to send to clients. You can even connect with buyers through Top Producer® CRM! Learn more about and download your mobile app today!

Friday Freebie: EZ Coordinator
Our latest Friday Freebie couldn't have come at a better time. Just this week, Sequent Systems announced that their lead-to-close transaction management solution, EZ Coordinator, now integrates with Google Calendar/Contacts, MailChimp, and Infusionsoft CRM. No more double data entry! See how your favorite tools work with EZ Coordinator, risk free, with a free two-week trial membership. Read on to learn more. Free 14-day Trial of EZ Coordinator Real estate transactions begin far before it's time to sign a document. EZ Coordinator recognizes this, and that's why this transaction management solution is designed to manage the entire lifecycle of your clients from lead to close. With EZ Coordinator, you can add leads, flag them for follow-up, track showing and offers, share documents, sign, close, and more--all in one place. Additionally, EZ Coordinator works with best-in-class solutions that you already use, like DocuSign. Other features include: Unlimited Transactions, document storage and uploads Task Manager CRM (Client Relationship Manager) Calendar Integration with DocuSign, Mailchimp, Google Apps, and Infusionsoft Advanced task functions Link documents to a task In addition to their free trial, EZ Coordinator is also offering a 20% discount off the monthly charge when you use the code FREEBIE at checkout (price adjusted after you complete the sign up process). Click here to get started today!

How to Boost Referrals - Part Two
Yesterday, in Part One of this article, we learned the "who, what and how," of boosting referrals. Today, we'll discover additional ways to drum up referrals. Drip Campaigns One of the best ways to grow your farm and stay top of mind with your network is by reaching out to each person, consistently, over time. Many agents swear by drip email campaigns, where automated emails go out to selected contacts in their CRM database. How frequently you contact these people, however, sits on a fine line between reaching out and spamming. Some experts claim that dripping on these folks once a week is going to eventually get your emails tossed in the trash or blocked from delivery to your contacts entirely – especially if they don't plan on moving for a year or so. A monthly email is more appropriate – even longer is fine. Just making the contact without annoying people is what's most important. I live in a city that is home to a certain local home-oriented magazine. The first time I received one of the glossy publications, I read it cover to cover only to learn that it is completely void of relevant content and full of advertising. Now, every time I receive one, it goes directly into the trash. You have one chance to lure your email recipients into actually reading your drip campaign, and that occurs with your first email.

Friday Freebie: Mountain of Agents Online Directory
Can consumers find you online, or are they finding your competition instead? In this week's Friday Freebie, we're introducing you to a great online directory where consumers go to find real estate agents they can trust. Free Profile in the Mountain of Agents Directory Mountain of Agents was created for consumers by a consumer frustrated with the process of finding a reputable real estate agent. This online agent directory lets prospects search for real estate professionals in their area by zip code and view ratings by current and former clients. Participation in the directory boosts your online visibility and gives you a great new source for leads. Every rater is authenticated through Facebook, and each new rating is posted to the rater's Facebook wall--providing you with exposure to their network of contacts! Other benefits of claiming your Mountain of Agents profile include: 1-click agent ratings - Ratings equal leads, and Mountain of Agents makes it simple for clients to leave ratings with the click of a mouse--no written recommendation required. Video greeting - Welcome prospects to your profile by introducing yourself and your services via an integrated YouTube video. This give your profile a personal touch and lets potential clients 'meet' you virtually. Instant SEO - Each Mountain of Agents profile is a single, concentrated source of information about YOU that search engines love. Your website benefits from the SEO love, too, when you link to it from your profile. Click here to claim your free profile today!

Friday Freebie: Lead Conversion Guide from realtor.com
In this week's Friday Freebie, the good people from realtor.com® are sharing their expertise and helping agents solve the problems of lost leads. The company administers thousands of buyer and seller lead generation programs and, as a result, spends hours each day on the phone listening to the stories – both good and bad – of agents and brokers. They've discovered some techniques that crack the code on lead conversion, and are sharing them in a free online guide. Free Online Lead Conversion Guide from realtor.com It seems obvious that picking up the phone, answering the email or text, and being timely in replying to consumers should be the easiest step in lead conversion. But there are circumstances like being occupied with another customer, or having to reserve at least some time for the family that make it impossible to be 100% responsive. Realtor.com®'s newly updated guide to internet lead conversion deals with this problem and shares ideas real agents have put in place to get around this issue and several more. The guide provides answers on how to re-open a conversation with a non-responsive customer, how to add personality to autoresponders, and many more ideas that actually helped agents close more of their leads. The guide runs the gamut of technology solutions, good dialogue and simple common sense and is available for free from realtor.com® Learn how to get a copy of realtor.com®'s FREE Lead Conversion Plan!

Throw An Open House Party!
Open houses: some real estate professionals love 'em, other think they're a hassle. Ideally, your open house will draw a steady stream of potential buyers, producing offers and expanding your prospect list. But what if no one shows up? Or people do show up, but you don't get a single bid? We think it's time to change the game a little. Consider throwing an open house party. An open house party is, essentially, just an open house with better marketing (and probably better snacks). An open house party creates an event around your open house that highlights the listing's best features and draws the right crowd. It also opens you up to new prospects. Here's what you need to do to orchestrate the hippest home sale on the block: Identify your listing's key selling points. You already do this anyway, right? Now pick one you can build an event around. Does it have a nice backyard deck? That's perfect for a BBQ or sunset happy hour. Great family room? All the better for watching the game and serving up some snacks. The idea is to figure out who would want to buy this house and then select an open house party theme that will appeal to that particular market. Now we're not suggesting you throw a pool party with a DJ and designer alcohol, but it is an option!

Holiday Deal: Showing Suite HD IDX Search
The year may almost be over, but we're still finding great deals on tech products for your real estate business. Our latest deal comes from Showing Suite, who is offering HD IDX free for 60 days and waiving the setup fee when you sign before December 31st. HD IDX is a turnkey IDX search solution that comes ready to fit right into your website. HD IDX packages include: Customizable color schemes Map search interface Save listings and searches User social sharing options See which listings prospects are viewing with Lead Manager Draw your own search area Estimated commute time on all listings Embedded Google street view window Constant free updates directly from your MLS Intuitive Easy to use interface Learn more at Showing Suite's website.

Holiday Deal: WolfNet Property Search
Property search functionality is a crucial part of any real estate website. In fact, it should be the backbone of your entire site. Without it, visitors won't hesitate to head for a competitor's site to find what they're looking for--homes for sale. If your website is lacking a search feature, we've got great news. With our latest Holiday Deal, you can get three months free and 50% off setup costs on WolfNet IDX property search and available upgrades when you sign up before the end of the year. WolfNet IDX is a simple, yet powerful, search solution that lets visitors save searches and favorite listings, among many other features. It also gives you, the agent, lead capture tools and the ability to add bigger photos, virtual tours, and enhanced listings. Other features include: Service in 400 MLSs nationwide Lead Capture tools Mobile Optimized Lifestyle Search Neighborhood and School Reports Live customer service Visit WolfNet's website to learn more.

Promotion is Key to a Successful Original Content Strategy
I have repeated this statement so many times, I feel many of you are sick of hearing it. I'm going to say it again though: "Creating a blog is 20% of the work you need to do when promoting your services online. Actually promoting that blog post is what 80% of your time should account for." Easier said than done, right? Well, today my friends, you're in luck. As promised in my last post, I'm going to give you a few proven, realistic ways you can promote your online content, and get that exposure your great material so richly deserves. 1) Your WordPress blog is GREAT, but don't ignore other blog options Even if your website is set up on the very best WordPress set up, with the most killer theme, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider other blogging platforms. There are two, very easy to use platforms that can supplement your blogging efforts that will bring you great exposure. ActiveRain and Tumblr are great examples of this. ActiveRain is a Real Estate community blog that gets lots of eyeballs (both industry people and homeowners). The platform has an HTML authoring option, so it's super to post to your ActiveRain blog quickly, right after you create your blog in Wordpress. Simply copy the HTML of your post and paste it into the window. Set your keywords and then save it. As a last step, select "Edit Post" and then add a link to your original WordPress blog post. That's it!

What’s a “Promoted Post” and which one is right for you?
With three social networks each debuting their own variation, 2012 has become the year of the Promoted Post. An alternative to traditional online advertising, these programs are less formal, more engaging, and give potential and existing followers a glimpse into your personality. Not all may be right for your real estate business, however. Our comparison of four major promotional programs can help you decide where your marketing budget is best spent. Facebook Facebook debuted their new "Promoted Posts" feature early this summer to help Pages increase engagement among followers they already have. Administrators just select "Promote" in the bottom right-hand corner of the post they want to promote, select how much they want to spend, and Facebook will display the update in the newsfeeds of more of their fans. Is it useful for agents? Because the average Facebook post is seen by only 16 percent of a Page's followers, this is a great way to re-introduce your business to fans who may have forgotten about you. Is there an open house coming up, or a new property that you want generate interest in? Promote your posts to maximize awareness of important events or listings. Twitter While similar to Facebook's Promoted Posts, Twitter's new "Promoted Tweets" feature is more automated, giving users less control over what tweets are promoted and to whom. Instead of choosing which posts to promote, Twitter analyzes your tweets and automatically promotes the ones with the highest engagement levels. You can choose to exclude certain tweets from promotion, but that's the extent of your control. Is it useful for agents? If you find Facebook advertising overwhelming, Twitter's promotional features may be a better choice. All you need to do is choose the geographic area you want to advertise in, set your daily budget, and your campaign will essentially operate on autopilot. Twitter will analyze the tweet content of users within your chosen area and automatically display your top updates to those with similar interests. Unlike Facebook's Promoted Posts, Promoted Tweets are based on cost-per-click, meaning you are only charged when users click on your post. This means that you are only paying for people who explicitly interact with your content, ensuring that your marketing budget is spent on those who are highly engaged.

Did You Miss our iPad Webinar?
Our webinar "How to Wow Clients with Your iPad" was so popular that we unfortunately ran out of space! If you missed the webinar, we have good news for you: We're planning another! We have tentatively scheduled our next iPad webinar for September 4th. Stay tuned as we will soon release additional details. You can view a recording of the webinar now! Webinar Recording and Slide Deck The webinar recording and slide deck are now available at RETechnology.com. View Webinar Recording or Slide Deck

How to Write a Press Release
Several months ago, I wrote an article that detailed the many reasons you should write press releases. However, I recently realized that I #failed in one important way – I left out how to write press releases. Today, I’m going to remedy that situation! ExampleAre you a visual learner? Here’s an example to help you picture all of this. Keep in mind that I’ll be talking about each of the components in more detail below.

+1 Is Not the Loneliest Number
Guest Contributor Chris Brogan says: I was just reading about the Plus One button from Google. Essentially, it’s going to be a way to vote up things you want to share in search and on sites that implement the button. It’s “like” for Google. Here’s a quick video:

Looking for a Lead Generation Tool for 50% Off?
RETechnology.com subscribers have an opportunity to purchase ReachFactor at a 50% discount this month! This is a great opportunity to start 2011 off with a new solution offered at a low cost. Haven’t heard of ReachFactor? ReachFactor helps real estate professionals reach more buyers and sellers. It is a lead generation and online marketing tool designed to help real estate professionals reach prospects in search engines and social media who are looking specifically for a real estate agent. ReachFactor's core features include a Web Survey technology that allows agents to automatically survey past clients and collect feedback, and an online syndication engine that helps the agent spread their reviews and listings across search engines, real estate portals, Craig's List, Facebook, and Twitter with just a few clicks. A search engine optimized online profile at ReachFactor.com displays all of the agent's assets and sends new customer inquiries directly to the agent. Agents using ReachFactor require no technical expertise and spend as little as 20 minutes to set up a profile.   Google Eliminates Real Estate How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Missed the Boat: Six Sad Reasons Most Agents Fail

Top 10 Reasons to Go Paperless
What sets an agent apart from all other agents? It isn’t always that easy to break from the mold and stand out in the crowd. In our market today, clients are looking for something more, something different, something to give them a reason to pick that perfect agent and refer them to friends and family. Real estate agents can bring value to their clients by using the technology that we all have at our fingertips. Some people may find today’s technology a bit overwhelming and shy away from it and those are the people that may be missing out on potential clients, commissions and a much smoother transaction. Imagine you are sitting in front of a potential client, trying to get that listing. Your potential clients have also interviewed two other agents right before you. You pull out your Tablet PC or iPad and fire up your Real Estate Dashboard™ electronic signature software, allowing them view and securely sign all the required documents right on the screen with the digital pen…no paper, no fax machines, no worries. Then you just email or e-fax it off right from the software. They are so impressed that it was so easy. After you have developed a relationship with your client, you can use eSignOnline™ to send them documents for digital signature without them having to print, scan or fax and without you having to wait for them to get documents back to you. It all happens automatically and within minutes, everyone gets a signed copy. Clients love it and appreciate your use of technology to their benefit.

MRIS and RBI Announce the Launch of the Data Analytics Company
MRIS and RBI are pleased to announce the launch of the data analytics company, RealEstate Business Intelligence, and its new website, www.rbintel.com.  RBI is a wholly owned subsidiary of MRIS, the nation’s largest MLS provider to agents and brokers. Agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals can now receive the most reliable housing market data in the Mid-Atlantic region via www.rbintel.com - empowering them to make more educated decisions for their clients.   Update: Showingtime Acquires Real Estate Business Intelligence

New Social Media Enhancements
HomeActions' above slide show outlines their newest social media enhancements to their e-Marketing Service. Social media marketing is now a major focus in real estate. Many real estate professionals lack a strategy to promote their social platforms or have access to re-postable relevant content for their platforms. To meet this need, HomeActions has created enhancements to their e-newsletter that acts as a conduit for social media messages/marketing. It provides a delivery vehicle that is sent out bi-weekly an agent’s sphere of influence. The e-newsletter is a great way to follow and promote social media channels.

There's a Report for That!
Brainchild of Greg Robertson and Dan Woolley, Cloud CMA is an innovative and quick comparative market analysis report generator.  Recently, nominated by Inman for Most Innovative Web Service, Cloud CMA is one CMA technology in the limelight. Reports from Cloud CMA blend data from your MLS, and top websites, Google, Zillow, Education.com, Walkscore and Yelp. If you have a listing presentation in 15 minutes and want a report, generate one in minutes. If you have a meeting with buyers, and are putting together a buyer tour, a report can be easily generated. If you’re at a party and someone wants to know about your newest listing, you can generate them by simply sending an email from your smart phone. Don’t meet your client empty handed. Continue to see the promotional Cloud CMA video, to learn more...