(Blog what they want to hear about!)

From recent newspaper articles and television broadcasts, many who have been following the “$8000 tax credit” know that President Obama has signed off on the bill approving an extension of the $8,000 New Home Buyer Tax Credit until April 30th 2010. You can read more from this article I found: http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2009/02/15000-first-home-buyer-tax-credit-in.html

Since this is big news in the Real Estate community why not capitalize on this subject and write a quick blog post or Tweet about it to all your followers? Bring your clients to you! Google, Bing, Yahoo, AOL – all the big search engines are being used daily to search for more information on this tax credit by potential buyers and sellers so why not use that to your advantage. This way you can narrow down the traffic to your website or blog to those truly interested in getting more information from you, generating a lead.

**If you have been following the Re/Advantage Blog you should also know that since this topic is getting so many hits, by using the keywords “$8,000 New Home Buyer Tax Credit” in your SEO or blogs you can certainly generate some additional website traffic.

I know I have spoken about Social Networking in several of my posts. But I think I did not follow my own advice and I think I broke my own number 1 rule.  Promote, promote, promote.  To that end, did you know that RE/Advantage is also on Facebook.  Come on over and check us out.  We have been working hard to promote not only our tips and Internet Marketing information but we also spotlight client success stories now.  If you have a good story to tell on how you leveraged the Internet let us know and maybe we’ll Spotlight you.  We also tied our blog and Facebook pages together so the information is shared between the two.  This no only allows our blog articles to automatically post to our Facebook page but it also then in turn will Tweet the information. This ensures we get consistent information out to all our fans and followers.    Take a look at our first Spotlight on Ila Kasofsky.

Happy 5th Birthday Firefox!

Did you know today is Firefox’s 5th birthday?  Yes it has been 5 years since Firefox was released into Cyberspace.  In that time Firefox has steadily increased its marketshare.

Here are some facts;

WordPress says this is the first time that Firefox is more popular than IE.

1. Firefox — 45.7%
2. Internet Explorer — 38.7%
3. Safari — 8.75%
4. Chrome — 5.2%

According to W3Schools, the global use of browsers also sees Firefox out in front.

1. Firefox — 47.5%
2. Internet Explorer — 37.5%
3. Chrome — 8.0%
4. Safari — 3.8%

Mozilla has a nice page that has some fun facts and things you can do to show your Firefox affinity.

Want to wish Firefox a Happy Birthday?  Well go ahead and do it here.

(The WordPress statistics were tabulated from server access logs and include WordPress.com users as well as visitors, as we no longer run Google Analytics across WordPress.com.  The W3schools statistics were tabulated from W3schools.com here.)

It is nice to see good news in the market and I came across this article on CNBC today.

On the way down and on the way up, home prices always lag sales, but they may be beginning to catch up.  A new report from Zillow.com finds home values stabilized in the third quarter of this year,  as sales of new and existing homes grew.

Read full article here.

vs.

I recently read an interesting article by Alex Salkever and Sean Parker. I have added my commentary below their article.

When I read his article he discussed how Facebook could actually hurt Google. He and a tech entrepreneur by the name of Sean Parker believe, in short that businesses that connect people are worth more than businesses that collect data.  Facebook will effectively connect people whereas Google will not.

One of his supporting reasons about Facebook is that a search is increasingly a social act. When he and his wife and were searching for a new pediatrician, they did a Google search and a Facebook inquiry. Google brought up a bunch of links on sites of varying quality that purported to rank physicians. His Facebook query got him some excellent recommendations from people he knew. He was more comfortable with Facebook’s suggestions, because they came from people he knew. A Google search gave no guarantee of whether the information is current, nor of the motivations behind the strangers who provide it.

He believe for the first time, social media has made it convenient to tap the collective wisdom of your crowd, and people who know your crowd, to get recommendations for just about anything. Sure, you could blast friends with an email for advice in the past, but no one would dream of constantly bombarding lesser-known acquaintances for such information. By tapping into this new and powerful form of search, Facebook can also tear off a significant chunk of the value of the act of searching. Past wisdom was that people on Facebook weren’t receptive to ads. When he was looking for a pediatrician, he might’ve bitten on an ad for local practitioners. In searching both Google and Facebook, the latter became more relevant, so he spent less time conducting research on Google. He felt more comfortable that my own network would help me find the right information.

None of this means Google will completely suffer as Alex says.  He often disagrees with the answers he gets back from my social search. And the act of indexing the Internet is hugely valuable for providing a baseline of information. Google beats Facebook in many respects: Google (and other search engines) are insanely valuable for mapping and plotting directions among almost any locations.

And Google clearly gets the social web; Google Wave puts the company squarely into a form of social networking and, by extension, social search. Google is also quietly building up social tools to overlay on top of its search engine. Google has access to millions of desktops using its software toolbar: a potential Trojan horse for a broader social network play. So don’t write Google off.

Nevertheless, Parker’s presentation is compelling and seems to mirror key changes in how people are using and perceiving the Internet. If I go a day without using Google, it doesn’t bother me much. But I can’t go a day without Facebook: the social connections keep me tuned in.

With my eyeballs and my attention come opportunities to make money. Connection, not collection, is the value generator. I will keep using Google a lot to search for information — it’s a powerful and useful tool — but increasingly, it takes a backseat to social media and the wisdom of crowds.

I agree with the value of Social Networking applications such as Facebook as does the authors from the column above and it the importance to marketing. If I am looking for a real estate professional I have always been inclined to get the recommendations from friends versus a list on Google.

RE/Advantage Customer Spotlight

Ila Kasofsky

Broker Associate – Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International of Fort Lee

*******

Ila Kasofsky, more popularly know as Ms. Fort Lee, has been in the Real Estate business for 29 years. She has received many awards and has been recognized as a lifetime member of The Distinguished Sales Club for achieving the Real Estate Million Dollar Sales Club Award for 10 or more years. Ila is a member of the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service, a member of the RPAC Committee as well as a member of the Risk Management Committee within the NJMLS. Ms. Kasofsky is currently a Fort Lee Borough Council Woman and has been since 2001. She was even the acting mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey from August 2007 to the beginning of January 2008. Ila enjoys cooking, going to movies, visiting fresh farmers markets, traveling and emergency management volunteer work. More importantly than those hobbies she enjoys being with her daughter most of all. She loves spending time with Brett, whether it be traveling going to film classes Ila’s joy comes from being with her daughter.

Ila uses her website whenever she meets with a potential client, she says, “it puts me ahead of most agents when I show the clients and even buyers how connected I am to social networking and to business networking”. Ms. Kasofsky also notes that her new clients find her website very useful, because they are so tech savvy and use the internet to start their research on selling or buying a home.

In 2009 she has kept steady sales numbers like the past couple years and currently has 20 active listings. Ila primarily sells homes in Bergen and Hudson counties; specifically in Fort Lee, Edgewater, and the Hudson Riverfront as well as Mahwah, Alpine, River Vale, Oradell and many other communities throughout those two counties. She says her website has increased her popularity because visit her website – then see her videos and blog.

She also markets herself via post cards, calendars and newsletters. Ms. Kasofsky takes internet marketing and social networking very seriously because she knows the impact these avenues has on her business. She has become an “agent of the internet” attending training sessions on how to use social networking sites more efficiently. Learn more about Ila on these marketing/social networking sites:

• Ila’s main website: http://www.ilashomes.com/
• Blog: http://fortleenjbuzz.com/
• Active Rain: http://activerain.com/ilakas
• Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ila-kasofsky/4/178/396
• Facebook:
  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?sid=3f967be286570151fa9b132f357d5eb3&id=1037253485&hiq=kasofsky

With many years of marketing experience in the real estate industry, RE/Advantage has successfully developed many Web sites for brokers, agents, boards and associations.

Our flagship product,  Agent Central Max has been a tremendous marketing tool for anyone wanting a serious internet presence.

Our team will work closely with you to ensure your online marketing success.   A number of third party Web 2.o applications can easily be integrated to your site as well.

With our tools and knowledge of marketing, we can help you obtain the online presence to help build your business.  Please call us to learn more at 877-791-4825 or visit us at www.readvantage.com

” Your success is our success”

7 Lessons learned from site redesign.

Joshua Ferris wrote an interesting article about his experience with his latest site redesign. It details some great guidelines to making a simple intuitive home page design that it tailored to keeping visitors on your site and interested in your business.

Too often, I feel, clients want to overload their visitor with as much information as possible, and lets face it, with only a few short seconds to appeal to each unique visitor to your website, it seems like the most natural course of action to give them as much as you can to try and appeal toward them. Unfortunately, that action couldn’t be further from the reality. Joshua notes:

Keep the homepage clutter free. – This is huge. Cluttering up your homepage with added graphics, widgets and statistics that aren’t relevant to your overall goal (getting a buyer to register or contact you and make a sale) shouldn’t be on your homepage. Visitors are easily distracted and you don’t want them playing with your traffic stats widget or, far worse, not being able to find your real estate search among all the visual mayhem.

Buyers are searching the internet for places to buy real estate, not to know what the weather is like in your area. If you have an extensive inventory of listings on your website (like IDX for example), let potential buyers know by spotlighting it right in the top fold of the website.

In addition to some general tips on site design, Joshua even notes things relating to real estate bloggers who are using blogs such as WordPress.

http://www.geekestateblog.com/7-lessons-i-learned-from-my-real-estate-site-redesign/

RE/Advantage is pleased to announce that will have a booth at the Triple Play REALTOR® Convention & Trade Expo in Atlantic City, N.J.  The Convention runs from December 8th-10th and we will be at booth 627.  We will be showing off our latest products and website services for Brokers, Agents, MLS’s and Boards.  Stop by for a chance to win an Amercan Express Gift Cheque or a free website.

This years Keynote speaker is Ross Shafer.

Discover the keys to succeeding in a volatile and unpredictable economy with Ross Shafer’s “Are You Relevant?”
Wednesday, December 9, 12:15-1:45 pm

It’s not about customer service anymore – that’s transactional. Customer empathy is the real predictor of loyalty and repeat business. Shafer will show you how to keep your practices fresh with innovation and how to engage clients of all ages, including the youngest generation of homebuyers. You’ll learn how to become a trusted advisor, not just a vendor and how to recession-proof your business to assure your long-term career success. Ross Shafer, a six-time Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer who switched gears from comic to trainer, is now one of the nation’s most sought-after speakers on maintaining market prominence. He has written 14 human resource training films and authored Nobody Moved Your Cheese!, The Customer Shouts Back!, Customer Empathy and Are You Relevant?

The Triple Play REALTOR® Convention & Trade Expo, presented by the New Jersey Association of REALTORS®, New York State Association of REALTORS® and Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS®, is the largest annual convention and trade show of its type in the U.S. – the premier event for the real estate industry in the tri-state area.

With many years of marketing experience in the real estate industry, our team has successfully developed many Web sites for brokers, agents, boards and associations.

Our flagship product,  Agent Central Max has been a tremendous marketing tool for all.   It was developed and enhanced by recommendations from consumers and real estate professionals.

As with any Web Site it is important that you consistently update your site with new content and important information. The information contained within your site should target your audience with relevent news and content to the areas you serve.  Our content management system all allows you to easily modify and update your content.   Our product also offers a number of  features such as:

• Advanced Search Technology
• Lead Generation
• Unlimited Agent Profiles
• Advanced IDX Search Solutions
• Auto Responders
• Cell Phone Alerts On Leads
• Support for Virtual Tours
• Complete Listing Maintenance
• Scalable IDX Solutions
• Listing Syndication
• Contact Management
• Backend Productivity tools (IntraNet Calendar, News and Document Management)
• Portfolio Manager – Capture prospects, generate automatic listing alerts, saved searches and favorite listings folders.
• Branded Email
• Custom Designed To Your Specifications
• All Real And Search Engine Friendly Pages
• Calendar
• News
• Blogging
• Office Roster
• Career Capture
• Multi-office Support
• Open House Information
• Mapping Listings

Our team will work closely with you to ensure your online marketing success.   A number of third party Web 2.o applications can easily be integrated to your site as well.

With our tools and knowledge of marketing, we can help you obtain the online presence to help build your business. Please call us to learn more at 877-791-4825 or visit us at www.readvantage.com

” Your success is our success”

JUST WHEN YOU REALLY STARTED TO HATE WINDOWS VISTA….IN COMES WINDOWS 7

In July, Microsoft finally sent the next evolution of the Windows Operating System, Window 7, to manufacturing. It is expected to be available on October 22. Microsoft has high hopes that Windows 7 sets straight all of the problems that Windows Vista had, while at the same time, adding features and improving usability.

In many ways, Microsoft appears to have hit the mark. Boot and load times have improved, especially on systems with multi-core processors. The Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with the ability to pin applications to the taskbar for easy access. And Jump Lists, which organizes your most recently used documents with the applications that they belong to. But, oddly enough, while offering so many user interface improvements, Microsoft has chosen to NOT provide a simple email application with Windows 7. Outlook Express began it’s life way back in Windows 95, and has been with us all the way through Windows XP. Windows Vista introduced us to the next incarnation of email from Microsoft — Windows Mail. But, in Windows 7, Microsoft removed email altogether from the operating system. You can, however, still download Windows Mail, along with Windows Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery, as part of the free Windows Live Essentials download pack.

As with any new Microsoft Operating System, things always seem to go better on a FRESH install of the operating system, instead of an upgrade. Windows 7 will require you to have at least 1 gigabyte of memory, but realistically, you should have at least 2 gigabytes. Memory is cheap. Microsoft has streamlined the many confusing Vista editions, offering Windows 7 in only three available editions — Home, Professional and Ultimate. Most new computer systems purchased today come with a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released.

For more information about Microsoft Windows 7, visit the Microsoft web site at  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx