Archive for Real Estate Website Tips
Free Source for Online and Print Content
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I was just introduced to a free service offered by US Inspect. It’s definitely worth taking a look. They have Print Content that you can use as a flyer or online content and Video Content.
The third offering is Web Content. You may find some of the web pages interesting, but that does take people off of your website. The widgets that are offered as Web Content can be used to good advantage. You’ll see an example of one below. The links in the widget open in new windows, so you can safely assume that your visitors can easily return to your website.
I looked at several of the offerings on the US Inspect website, and I found the information to be current, interesting and well-presented. Of course, US Inspect also gets links back to their website. But, that only makes sense since the content is free.
Give it a try – let me know what you think!
U.S. Inspect Home Inspections
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You want your website to be sticky, right? You know what sticky is – it means that the tools and information you have on your website is so good that visitors are encouraged to stay on the site once they land there, and they’re encouraged to return. Hopefully often!
I’ve talked to a lot of clients who have told the same story. At least one of their clients mentioned that they’d been visiting the agent’s website for months before making contact.
That type of thing only happens if you give visitors reasons to come back to your website. And, using maps could just be one of those ways. How could you use a map? Here are two ways to consider.
Map Your Military Town
If you live in a military town, you know that there are lots of military folks who are transferring in and out. For those who are coming to your town, it’s a pretty safe bet that they don’t know much, if anything, about the area. Here’s an example of a map used in San Antonio. There are more than a few locations where a soldier could be stationed in San Antonio. This map is a big help for soldiers who are going to do a military relocation to San Antonio.
The map identifies where the military locations are in the area. It also shows the medical facilities where many of the military transferees work. Using that map, a soldier can familiarize themselves with how the town is laid out, they can visit the websites for the various locations, and if they are considering a particular home for sale, they can get directions and gauge commute time.
For Lesser Known Locations
If you live in an area that doesn’t have a big city close by, visitors to your website won’t know how the location of towns relate to one another. But, with an interactive map, people looking for Marianna FL or Chipley FL Real Estate, for example, will find their way easily on this website.
For Niche Markets
If you are marketing to luxury buyers, you might want to provide a map that shows where the luxury neighborhoods are. You could also help visitors figure out where the neighborhoods are in relation to local attractions – like the symphony or the best country clubs.
Actually, regardless of your niche, there is probably some type of an interactive map that would be applicable. If you’re near a lake that is a big draw, for example, your visitors could determine what area they might want to consider to be close enough to work and to lake activities. I think you get the idea.
There are many alternatives for providing maps. We can custom-design maps for you, and they’d be very pretty. But, as far as usefulness and stickiness, I don’t think you can beat an interactive map.
What has been your experience?
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Is Flash Obsolete in the Mobile World?
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Flash – you love it, but you hate it. How can you get into such a pickle? Lots of real estate website owners like flash headers. Those headers do a great job of showing multiple views of a geographic area, or illustrating various services. But, with the advent of so many mobile devices, do you need to avoid using flash?
First, just so we’re all on the same page, I need to point out that when I’m talking about flash, I don’t mean an entire page or website created using flash. Hopefully, designers and website owners stopped doing that type of design a long time ago. The big issue, of course, is SEO. The search engines don’t read flash, so an entire page of flash images is just a blank page where the search engines are concerned.
The other thing that needs to be pointed out is that a flash element on a page, like a flash header, doesn’t stop a website from being crawled by the search engines or from obtaining a good ranking on search engine result pages. You will hear people disagree with that statement, but that’s been my experience.
Getting back to the flash and mobile device issue. . . One of my more clever clients has come up with a way to have his flash and see it, too. He wrote a script that does the following: it identifies the type of browser that is being used to view the site, then it either displays the flash header, or a static header.
The static header is nothing more than a JPG file that contains one of the flash “slides”. It isn’t a flash file, so devices such as the iPad can display it easily.
Here’s an example. If you are curious, follow the link below to view the website with your iPad. You should see the website displayed with a non-flash header. If you look at it with a browser such as Internet Explorer, you’ll see the flash.
We installed the script on this website. Please! Do not contact the owner of the site! They won’t be able to tell you anything about how it was done!
If you are interested in knowing more about the script, please contact me using the form below. Thank you for your cooperation.
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We know that the search engines want original content on all websites, including real estate websites. That means you need pages of content that can’t be found anywhere else on the Internet.
But, there are times when you want some real estate related content and you don’t care if it is providing an SEO benefit or not. HouseLogic is a resource you need to check out. You can do that easily enough by scrolling down this blog page.
HouseLogic – A Free & Safe Way to Provide Real Estate Information
The first thing you’ll see is a widget that comes in various sizes – it allows your visitors to scroll through 309 articles on HouseLogic. Of course, no one will actually do that. But, when a visitor clicks on one story, they will land on the HouseLogic website, where they can choose to read information by topic or keyword search.
Another offering from the site is the capability for visitors to create an account and to set up a “binder” that contains the articles they have read. They can also take quizes about the content and track their progress.
As far as I can tell, there are no links to any agent or broker websites, and the information collected from people setting up an account are not shared with anyone else. So, it looks like a pretty safe place to send people. Once on the HouseLogic site, visitors won’t be exposed to other agents.
The second example you’ll find below is a list of articles that you can select to display on a blog, website, in an email or newsletter. You can also print the articles and add them to a listing presentation, for example, to explain how to set a sales price. It’s one thing to hear it from you, but professional-looking backup never hurts!
You can see the consumer-side of HouseLogic. If you want to know more about how you can use the site, visit the agent/broker side of the site.
By the way, did I mention that use of the site is free. . . for both you and your contacts!
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4 Ways to Rescue Your Plants From the Heat Wave
Summer’s triple-digit heat is threatening to fry the trees and shrubs you’ve spent all year tending. Read
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7 Hot Home Improvement Trends that Make Your Home Work for You
Home improvement trends embrace energy efficiency, low maintenance exteriors, and double-duty space. Read
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Why Your Green Home Improvements Aren’t Paying Off
Forget big savings on your energy bills if you make green home improvements. Instead, choose green retrofits and home improvements that offset rising energy prices. Read
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7 Mortgage Interest Deduction Myths
Think losing the mortgage interest deduction would be no big deal? We bust seven myths to show why the cost is bigger than you think. Read
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Home Security Check
The first step toward protecting your home from break-ins is to conduct a home security check that will show where your property is most vulnerable. Read
Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.
Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
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What possible good news could there be from the IRS? How about an increase in the mileage rate for the second half of 2011.
In case you haven’t come across it, the IRS raised the mileage rate for the period of 7/1/11 through 12/31/11 to 55.5 cents per mile. Get the official word here.
An increase of 4.5 cents isn’t bad. And, imagine a governmental agency actually responding mid-year to a situation like the rising gas prices.
Way to go.










