People love pictures.

Homebuyers REALLY love pictures of homes and buildings and parks and waterways and anything that will help them gain a better feel for the place they will be moving. (I’m assuming an out-of-town buyer who is unfamiliar with the area.)

If you have a website with a photo album function and the ability to write text below the pictures, I suggest you utilize it, and if you don’t, then I suggest you set something up you can link to.

Photos are a great way of making your site useful and worth coming back to. But photos are only one part of it, the power of the photo idea goes beyond just the picture, plus Google doesn’t do photos, so it won’t help with search engine placement just to have pictures.

Having the ability to place text below the image serves two purposes—

The most important is it allows you to tell the story of the city to the potential buyer and to inform them of important facts about the city (or neighborhood, or area, or particular house), and it helps with search engine placement so you can be found online.

I suggest having the albums categorized into different areas or neighborhoods or Continue reading this post

I’m a research person. I love having lots and lots of research to back up my statements and decisions.

So, let’s first take a look at the blogosphere as a whole, how it began, how it grew and where it is going.

According to Dave Sirfry’s April 2007 report on the blogosphere, Technorati currently tracks 70 million weblogs. The report shows that 120,000 blogs are created each day with 1.4 blogs created every second.

Since October 2006, there a slight slowing in the growth of the blogosphere which was expected as its previous growth rates were staggering having grown 60 times what it was in 2004.

In 2006, the blogosphere saw 1.3 million postings per day or 15 posts per second, whereas in 2007 it grew to 17 posts per second. Interestingly, the percentage of blogs in the top 100 reached approximately 25% (22 blogs). Also, interesting is the consumer perception that blogs are just as good a news outlet as main stream media sites like the New York Times.

The breakdown: Continue reading this post

OK OK, only a retarded monkey would think SEO doesn’t matter. (Sorry to call out your mentally challenged peeps, Max).

But being on top of Google’s first page totally matters. In fact, I can prove it.

I write a lot about SEO, but what I don’t write about a lot are the results people get by using simple search engine optimization techniques. ROI on SEO is very easy to measure. You measure it in terms of positioning in Google for your prime terms and on the increase in traffic.

And, by virtue of those two simple things you WILL see more leads and if you are a good Realtor you will be able to convert those leads into dollars.

Read also: How to select the best possible keywords for real estate blogs

Remedial Learning: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic“) search results for targeted keywords. Continue reading this post

Dear Matt,

I currently pay for driving visits to my web site (with the BuyerLink program), but have a limited budget. Are there any free ways I can get more visits to my web site in addition to what I do with HomeGain?

- Sally Dalhgren, Minnesota (real estate agent)

Dear Sally,

What you’re referring to is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the art of making your site more findable by the search engines (and therefore getting free traffic!).

While you could get a 4-year degree in SEO and still not know everything there it to know, one of the easiest things to do is improve your site HTML tags. Continue reading this post

A decade ago, technology had very little to do with a Realtor’s® business. Today, however, technology is essential to an agent or broker’s success.

How does one go about choosing the right technology tools?

Without over-paying for the latest trendy gadget, below is a list of 10 devices that all 21st century real estate professionals should use. Based on feedback from HomeGain agents, these devices will help increase your business’ effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness.

Top 10 Technology Tools for REALTORS®

1. Website

Website is one of the most important marketing tools an agent can have. It’s not just a way to tell potential homebuyers and sellers who you are and what you offer, but it essential for lead generation. How so? If you set up a form on our site, most likely on your home page, the more motivated consumers will provide you with their contact information. And voila, you have a new lead. Set up auto-responder emails to thank a person for visiting your site, give your contact info, and tell them a realistic amount of time when they should expect a return call or email from you. Continue reading this post