Archive for Content – Sites/Blogs
Putting a calendar on your website could have a number of uses. You could note open houses, community events, seminars you sponsor, and I’m sure the list goes on. So, how do you go about that? I looked into two alternatives.
Google Calendar
If you’re a big Google Apps user, this would be a free alternative for you. I’ve never been a Google Apps fan. I’ve never found their applications to be intuitive to use, or even user-friendly. And, there is no easy support for the Apps, so it makes getting answers very difficult. But, that’s just me. If you like Google Apps, you’d probably have no problem. Here is an example I set up of an embedded Google calendar.
Keep and Share Calendar
I wasn’t familiar with the Keep and Share applications until I started looking into web calendars. I found their calendar to be very easy to use. In fact, it is so intuitive, that I didn’t need to spend much time at all to get a calendar created, add a couple events (with links to a Google map, even) and publish it on a web page. Check out this example of an embedded Keep and Share calendar.
Share the Knowledge
Have you ever used a web-based calendar? Do you know of another good alternative for creating one? Do you have any tips or can you share how you’ve used a calendar?
Let’s hear about it!
Everyone knows that foreclosures and short sales are continuing to hit the real estate industry. But, does every homeowner that you talk to need to do a short sale to avoid foreclosure? Not according to the real estate professionals I talk to.
Actually, one of the biggest challenges for many agents and brokers is educating the homeowners they come in contact with. If short sales are a good chunk of your business, providing resources that help homeowners is a good way to reinforce your expertise in the area.
Provide A Resource for Homeowners in Trouble
If you haven’t seen it, check out the KnowYourOptions website from Fannie Mae. They have put together an outstanding (in my opinion) interactive video to help homeowners clarify their situation, and learn about their options for avoiding foreclosure.
I was impressed with the video. It starts out with a one-question quiz that guides the visitor to start a role play as one of three homeowners. I’d encourage people to take the quiz – it is optional, but knowing where the visitor stands in terms of their mortgage ensures that the visitor starts out with the best scenario in the video.
Each of the three homeowners is in a different situation. The video is well-done, and puts the visitor in the shoes of one of the three characters. I found the video very realistic and not at all condescending.
At different points during the video, the visitor is asked to name a course of action that the characters should take. There follows a different scenario for each of the options chosen.
If providing resources is one of your objectives, a link to this interactive video might be an excellent to your real estate website or blog.
A Bonanza of Credit Score Information
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How much do you know about Credit Scores? How about your customers/clients? If you haven’t been there, check out ScoreInfo.org.
The site is copyrighted by Fair, Isaac & Co. The CEO of that organization is Mark Greene, who created and cares for the FICO score. According to information on the website:
“ScoreInfo was created by FICO, the company that invented the FICO® Score, to help consumers understand and benefit from the risk-based pricing and credit score disclosure notices they receive in the mail from U.S. lenders in accordance with federal regulations (Risk-Based Pricing Rule) effective January 1, 2011.”
And, you’ll find information, not only about those disclosures, but also about FICO Scores, credit basics, and a number of other topics. From what I can tell, the site is purely informational. I don’t see any promotions, offers, etc.
I can see ScoreInfo.org being useful in several ways:
- Learn more about consumer credit to increase your knowledge
- Direct customers or clients to the site to learn more about credit
- Use the knowledge you gain there as a basis for providing expanded credit information on your own website.
Check it out! Do you think it is a useful resource? Is there another resource you use for credit information written in a clear and easily understandable way?
This guest post was contributed by Sam Chapman, Austin Texas
Over the last year I have built many Austin neighborhood pages. I did this to create more content for the site, and also to break listings down by neighborhood. I really had no idea what kind of traffic they would get, but after just going over some stats, I think I will be adding more.
Setting Up Neighborhood Pages
Many people searching for Austin homes do so from outside of the city or the state of Texas. As such, my thinking was that many of them will not search neighborhood pages because they didn’t know their way around neighborhoods. I really thought the neighborhood pages would be used by locals to check out activity in their neighborhoods. Was I wrong?
I have an Austin Homes by Neighborhood link as one of the tabs that is seen when any page is open. That takes people to a page with a short description of what the page is about, an area MLS map and then blocks breaking down the Austin area into sections.
Within each section is a description of the area, and then there are links to neighborhoods and the MLS areas they are in. Most of the neighborhoods go to pages on my website that have a description of the neighborhood followed by framed listings.
For an example of a neighborhood page added yesterday, take a look at my Round Rock Ranch page. As you will see, there isn’t much of a description, but it is enough to get the page indexed. Some of my other neighborhood pages have more of a description simply because they are huge and are loaded with amenities.
Neighborhood Pages Work!
Looking at my statistics today I found that the Austin Homes by Neighborhood page is the 5th most highly trafficked page on the entire website. Over the past 7 days, which have been relatively quiet in terms of visitors, the page has had just 4% of the total page views, a 35% bounce rate and an exit rate of just 21%. Visitors average less than a minute on the page and most click through to neighborhood pages.
The amazing thing to me is that the clickthroughs to neighborhood pages amount to 20% of total page views on the site. Another thing that amazes me is how many of my neighborhood pages rank very highly on page 1 when the subdivision name is searched.
How Neighborhood Pages Benefit Me
So what are the benefits to me? More content, which Google loves, and more visitors. I also research the neighborhoods before creating pages and that helps me understand that particular segment of the Austin real estate market.
So if you’ve got a website and some time, dig in and create neighborhood pages.
Notes from Kathleen
I just had to jump in here! Another benefit to consider is that neighborhood pages are an outstanding way to present yourself as an area expert. If you take a look at Sam’s Austin Homes by Neighborhood page, you’ll notice that he writes in the first person. For example: “When I think of central Austin, I tend to think of neighborhoods close to downtown and the University of Texas.“
It sounds just like he’s talking to his visitors, and that is so much more effective than writing something like: “When one thinks of central Austin, one tends to think of neighborhoods…”
And, Sam provides REAL insider insight on the areas. He notes that some neighborhoods are special because they are located at the edge of Hill Country and have great views. And, he includes market information, pointing out an area that is a strong seller’s market and advising buyers to act quickly if they find a home they like.
That type of information isn’t easily found on the Internet. It makes Sam’s site very welcoming, personal and informative. It also motivates visitors to want to stay longer and come back often!
When Will Remodeling Pay For Itself?
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As you know, sometimes homeowners remodel to make their existing home meet their changing needs, and sometimes they remodel to help a sale along. As a real estate professional, if one of your clients is thinking of updating something in their home, or to reinforce your real estate marketing expertise, you can provide information about which types of remodeling will pay for itself in a home sale.
Actually, the term “pay for itself” is a bit optimistic. Unfortunately, the national average return on home improvements has dropped every year since 2006. That could be one reason why the TV shows explaining how a home can be made more marketable for very little money are so popular!
Remodeling magazine has conducted an annual review of Cost vs Value for a variety of home improvements. The results are presented from a national perspective, and for different regions of the US, so the home market in New Jersey isn’t being lumped in with California, for example.
This type of information can be useful to you in working with real estate clients, and it is the kind of thing you can blog about to provide useful information to your readers.
Interestingly enough, the national averages show that the more glamorous updates aren’t the ones that represent the most value. The three highest value updates are 1) an attic bedroom, 2) a wooden deck and 3) vinyl siding.
So the advice for remodelers these days seems to be: stick to the basics unless you plan to stay in the home for some period of time!
