Tweet or Retweet, That is the Question?

By now if you use Twitter you may have seen the new Beta feature called Retweet.  This new feature works much like the normal reply but has a few key differences.

When you reply to a Tweet, the Tweet has your Avatar, information and gives you a chance to add a commentary.  A Retweet however retains the originator’s Avatar and information.  You do not get to add a comment, you can just post the Tweet.  However you do get the credit on the bottom of the Tweet that this Tweet was Retweeted by you.  The post also contains how many other people Retweeted it.  This may add some credibility to the post if lots of people Retweet it.

New Retweet Feature

So what is the purpose of a Retweet?  Well for one thing it is very quick and convenient to hit the Retweet button and we live in a society of convenience.  On the flip side if you got yourself Retweeted then you have you Avatar and information on the Tweet, so you get the recognition.

Retweeted Post in my Timeline

Twitter’s CEO Evan Williams posted an interesting article on his blog on November 10th where we broke a Retweet down.  He admitted it might be controversial but to me I am not sure of all the panic.  Some people say it might be a bit suprising to find someone’s Avatar on there timeline and perhaps people feel that this person is not vetted because they may not be following them.

I find both of these points a bit extreme.  Most people, including myself have no exact idea of all the people following me or I follow.  And the second part about being a bit surprised by someone else’s Avatar.  Well, come on, this is Social Networking.  This is how the whole thing really works.  Interaction and proliferation of information.  You do have the choice of ignoring it.  But look at it this way, if the Retweeter thought it important enough to Retweet to his followers chances are the Tweet might interest you too.

The only thing I wish the Retweet had, was a chance to add a comment.  Sometimes that would be helpful but in the Twitter tradition, I  guess less is more.

For an Agent Retweeting can lend credibility to your sphere to influence by allowing you to Retweet items that enhance your authority.  Let’s say for example you Tweet about your marketing area.  By adding Retweets around your community you can boost your visibility on your authority in that area, thus re-enforcing to people that want to follow you that you are an authority in that area or topic.  And since Retweeting is so easy, a click of the mouse, it becomes simple to add tweets you come across.

Retweeting is still in limited beta so regardless of what you feel about the feature I am sure it will change before the regular release.  If you are still unhappy after the release you can just use the Reply button and you can just ignore Retweets as they post to your timeline.

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Internet Security 101

Many people think that they know their way around the Internet. They do everything from paying their bills online to even making calls online. Many also store online documents such as financial statements  to photos online and really seem to be organized more than ever with  a wide variety of online applications to streamline our lives.  Yet while people may be cyber savvy and on the cutting edge of Internet technology they may not be what we call cyber secure.

Individuals who do not take precautions are endangering not just their own security but possibly others such as family or friends. A cyber criminal can leave his or her entire network at risk by using an easily guessed password like what is used fro their email.  The innocent person becomes and enabler of cyber crime by not being cautious.

Here are some tips to become cyber savvy and more secure:

1. Create lengthy and complex passwords and change them often.

2. Make it a general practice to back up all important documents, images or anything of value on a regular basis.

3.  Do not use public networks to conduct your private business.

4.  Always fine tune your privacy or safety settings on social networks.

5. Always protect your personal information by knowing who is going to see it and always understand the value of the information you are going to share with another party.

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Why Should You Upgrade to IDX 3.0?

In early 2009 RE/Advantage proposed a newly redesigned listing search for Real Estate professionals to utilize on their websites – IDX 3.0. The new IDX solution came with many updated features as well as a new interface.

Take a look at the new IDX 3.0 interface:
http://www.prominentproperties.com/idx.cfm

Today home buyers are using the internet more and more to search for the home of their dreams, so why not give your clients a service that allows them to search local listings from your website? RE/Advantage’s IDX solution is the most comprehensive and interactive way to allow your clients to use your professional Real Estate services over the internet. Below are a few new features offered to the valued RE/Advantage IDX customers:

Multiple MLS Search

Unified multiple MLS search capabilities – now multiple MLS searches are integrated into one listing search. Your clients can now use your IDX solution more efficiently.

Listing Compare – you can save and compare multiple listings based on price, location, square footage and many other search criteria fields.

Listing Statistics – you are offered listing statistics based on your search criteria which include average number of beds, baths, median price etc.

Enhanced Photo Gallery

Enhanced Photo Gallery – now bigger and better! Photos are displayed through a vivid sideshow presented right on the listing detail page.

Multiple color styles /custom banner – now the IDX interface is customizable to you!

Enhanced exposure – office listings are displayed first in listing searches.

On the fly search criteria – you can use the drop down menu right on the top of the listings search page to change number of beds, baths, location etc.

Mortgage Calculator – a new feature added to make our IDX solutions more user friendly.

REALTORS® from all over New Jersey to Florida and from New York to California are using our IDX solutions to capture leads and close sales – so why shouldn’t you take advantage of this too!

(If you currently have our IDX 2.0 service you can upgrade for a small set-up fee – with no change to your current monthly service!)

RE/Advantage – As experts in Real Estate web site design, we understand what makes Internet technology work for you and your visitors.  We have been developing real estate web sites, IDX Solutions, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997.  No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence.  We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

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Post your REALTOR.com listings on your Facebook page

Now you can post the listings that your MLS sends to REALTOR.com on your Facebook profile.  If you are a Real Estate Agent and a member of NAR you can now easily put your listings on your Facebook profile.

With the SeeMyListings.com Widget you can place your listings on your Facebook profile page.

NAR has created a listing widget to place your listings on your Facebook profile.  The process is very simple.

1:  Go to www.SeeMyListings.com.

2:  Click on “Add My Listings”.

3: If you are not logged into Facebook, you will be asked to login.

4: You will not get the “Allow Access” screen.

5: Click “Allow” to allow seemylistings.com to install the widget to your Facebook profile.

6: Enter your MLS provider and MLS Agent ID#.

7: Click the “Continue” button.

8: If you entered the correct information you will see;

X homes for sale by YOUR NAME

MLS:	MLS Name
MLS ID:	Your ID

9:  Click on “Add to Profile” and your listings will be added to your profile.

10: That’s it, you are done!

In under 10 minutes you can easily display your REALTOR.com listings to your Facebook profile. The best part of it is that your listings are automatically updated.  If someone clicks on a listings they are taken to the listing detail page on REALTOR.com.

For those Agents who are looking for a more branded solution and one that does not click out to REALTOR.com, thus exposing your buyer to other agents, RE/Advantage is working on a widget to allow any Agent Central Max client to have a custom branded widget on their Facebook page which clicks out to your own website.  If you would like more information please contact us and we will keep you posted.

Good luck if you give this a try and let me know how you did.  Send me your Facebook page and maybe I will share your page on my follow-up post.

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10 Tips To A Better Real Estate Blog

Blogging and Social Networking is fast becoming a medium for distributing your voice to a large audience.  Real Estate Agents can be successful but you need to make sure you do it right.  Here are some quick tips on things to consider when your create posts.

Tip #10:  Get The Right Audience

If you have 10,000 Facebook followers and none of them are interested in Real Estate in your market, then you just have 10,000 connections on Facebook.  Try to gather a following of people interested in your product.  If you do no relocation work and have 40% of your audience overseas then do you really have 10,000 worth while followers?

Tip #9:  ROI

Yes we always should be thinking of the return on our investments.  Is what I am writing going to get interest?  Am I putting call to actions in some of my posts?

Tip #8:  Eggs in your basket

I think long-term success of any Social Media campaign is being involved in a few area’s.  For example your Blog may feed your Facebook page.  Your Facebook page may auto post to your Twitter account.  Now I am not a big fan of all of this auto posting but it certainly makes things easier.  But always remember to put some personal posts in there too.  I like to auto-post my blogs but I take the time to post to Twitter and also make comments on my Facebook page as well.  Not all posts are bloggable.

Tip #7:  Good Writing

If you post just to post, your posts become boring and old.  You need to be fresh.  Concepts on community, tips, lifestyle, housing trends, schools are all good Real Estate topics.

Tip #6:  Follow The Niche

Another favorite topic of mine is long-tailed keywords.  When you write a blog or post to a social media site, the more focused your content is the more likely they are to become viral.  Why?  People follow other people with the same or similar interests. Post what people like to read and they are more likely to re-post it elsewhere.  I speak frequently about an Agent blogging about the community.  Taking that a step further and applying a long tail keyword you might take a post like Real Estate in Edgewater, NJ to The Admiral, Edgewater, Bergen County, NJ. While you will get less hits on this, the ones who search phrase are highly targeted and most likely very interested.

Tip #5:  Think Keywords

If the goal of your blog for example  is to increase your visibility, which I hope it is, then include keywords in your title, headlines and lists to draw attention to your post and to also gain some SEO value.  Each post should have a title that will attract attention but still be relevant and keep it under 15 words max.

Tip #4:  Be Original

While you can take inspiration from a variety of sources, ultimately your success is being original.  Get inspired and then write your own works.  You can inspire yourself for months alone just on the community concept.  Lifestyle, schools, trends, solds, tips, events, news, all have a huge potential to blog about.

Tip #3:  Post Often

You need to post and post often, daily if you can but certainly a few times per week.

Tip #2:  Be unique, Stick Out

If you want to get someone to read your posts then you need to give them a reason.  Titles and scannable content is a must.

Tip #1:  And My Number One Tip is…. Content, Content, Content

If you have read any of my previous posts you will know this is what I preach and preach often. Content is the driving force of your blog.  Write good, unique and inspiring content.  Write about things your target audience wants to read, otherwise you are not going to be very successful in getting potential buyers or sellers to read your posts.

Using these tips I hope will assist you in writing good quality posts.  Remember blogging takes time and the more you blog the better your sphere of influence becomes.

So who is  RE/Advantage

Based in Fairfield, New Jersey, RE/Advantage is a leading provider provider of real estate technology tools. RE/Advantage serves Brokerages, Agents, Boards, and MLS’s with web design, back-end management, member services and consulting. RE/Advantage provides easy to manage and fully customizable web sites and IDX solutions that helps real estate professionals with their online presence. RE/Advantage also provides Boards and MLS’s with public website services and member management tools. For more information please, please visit RE/Advantage.com or call us at (877) 791-4825.

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Taking Your Blog from Boring to IRRESISTIBLE in a Few Easy Steps

As active bloggers most of you may know that just simply presented posts, Times New Roman – font size 12, may draw in a few readers but is it really the audience you are striving to reach? Why not give your blog posts a little “face lift”.

Bold your Keywords – this not only helps with the SEO value of your blog but also may keep those impatient readers from leaving your blog within the first minute of opening your site. Recently I read an article that stated, “Online readers will spend around 96 second reading online content before moving on”. By using bolded keywords you can grab the attention of your readers before they decide to move along.

Tagging – by tagging other websites or articles that are applicable to the content of your blog, you not only help with the SEO value of your blog but  also offer your readers more resources than just the content of your post. If you are writing about a community you have listing in why not link that community’s recreation and town sports page. Become a reliable source of information for your readers with compressive content and additional “extras” that will keep your readers coming back for more!

*Read more about tagging and SEO on a previous article from Re/Advantage.

Don’t be Afraid to Use Images or Videos – you can easily increase your sphere or influence by simply adding images or videos to your blog posts. As a Real Estate professional you can use YouTube.com to embed a video into your blog or find cheap/free images that can be cut and paste right next to your content. For example if you write a quick post on an open house you have listed – why not create a virtual tour on YouTube.com? You can use a video camera or make a slideshow of pictures you’ve taken from that home and make a video that would be PERFECT for your blog post. That why you will entice your readers to stay at your blog, spark their interest with a video or presentation of pictures for that open house and boost the SEO of your blog site – three birds with one stone!

Here are some great sites to get cheap/free images:

www.istockphoto.com (paid)

www.fotolia.com (paid)

http://imageafter.com
(free)

http://everystockphoto.com
(free)

http://freepixels.com
(free)

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