1)      HTML Flyer

• The system has a point and click Listing Flyer creator. Use the “Marketing Wizard” to create the flyer and send it to your seller and all your SOI Database.

2)      Craigslist Posting Tool (Manual Syndication ~ We send Auto Syndications)

• You have a point and click Craigslist Posting tool in your “My Website” à “Listings and Gallery” à “Manage Syndications” that creates a really nice Craigslist Flyer for you.
• Just click the drop down menu and select the listing you want to post to Craigslist. It will generate the code for you, and all you do is copy and paste into Craigslist.

3)      Reverse Prospector

• Run a reverse prospector search. This will give you a list of all agents who have a client that match your new listings, and you can send an email to all those agents who have potential buyers for that property.

4)      Social Media Posts

• Post your new listings to your social media platforms
• Social Media Rule of Thumb ~ 90% Community / 10% Your Listings

5)      eFlyer Brochure (Additional Cost ~ Based on Number of Recipients Selected – Min. $12.95)

• This is a great service to market your new listing to other Real Estate Agents.
• Great to market any services to other agents.

6)      Single Property Showcase Site (Additional Cost ~ $27.00 per year)

This is definitely something many of you have requested. So in an effort to make your website management as easy as possible, we have released 2 upgrades/features.
An easier way to order your links and an easier way to see your “link actions” box.

Check out our how-to video below (requires Flash player) for full details!

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO!

Finally! The guide is available to all e-agents.com users!

So, I created this user’s guide for e-agents to replace the user un-friendly PDF version that I put together almost 2 years ago. You asked for it, and we delivered. I hope you’re as excited as I am about this.

New stuff you’ll find:

• How-to videos; this section is small for now, but more will be added SOON. The videos temporarily have no sound or voice (currently have call-outs only).
• HTML based guide (PDF guide no longer available)
• Easy to navigate category menus.
• Enlargeable screen-shot images for each section.
• Mini how-to PDF docs for download.
• Hints & tips throughout the guide.
• Courtesy how-to’s for domain re-pointing from GoDaddy.com to e-agents, posting pre-made fliers on CraigsList.com , etc.

If you have ANY topic requests to add to the guide; PLEASE do not hesitate to e-mail me your requests. Send the e-mail to wendy@baynet.com (subject: users guide request) or give me a ring at the office 408.253.8090.

I like any feedback or comments (positive or negative). If your opinion can help me make this guide better, I’m open to it

THANK YOU FOR BEING A LOYAL E-AGENTS USER!

Here’s a very informative article I stumbled across while browsing www.realtor.org… I think the “10 commandments” is a perfect outline to use with your e-agents IDX solution.

Because sharing your knowledge with others leads to greater things -

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” -George Bernard Shaw, Renowned Irish Author

The Internet is changing the way that Realtors do business and market themselves to such an extent that many will not be around in a few short years. Survival of the fittest is the way of the world, and the fittest in real estate will be those agents and brokers who understand the new Internet consumer and how to engage them from first contact through a commission.

The very first contact that most of you with websites or blogs will have with a consumer will usually be their visit to your site to search for listings. And, you will probably never know that they were there. They come anonymously, and they want to stay that way. They want to find homes or land that meets their requirements and, on this first visit, they do not want to be contacted or to talk to you. If you ever want to talk to these people, ever, then pay heed to the Ten Commandments of IDX.

1. Thou Shalt Not Underestimate IDX.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a buyer or seller visiting your website or blog for the first time. Surveys have shown that 95+% of first time visitors for listing searches want to see all of the listings in the MLS, not just yours. Not having IDX will cost you huge amounts of future web-generated business. Again, no IDX, no leads, no business.

2. Thou Shalt Not Make Assumptions About Your Yisitors.
Successful Web real estate lead generating site owners will all tell you the same thing. They have had clients tell them that the business came to them because other online Realtors dismissed, ignored or underestimated them. They were visiting the sites months before they were ready to talk to anyone, and the site owner didn’t serve them well in this phase. Though they aren’t ready to get into the car with you right now, they do not want to be ignored until you think they are a “hot” prospect.

3. Thou Must Take Ownership of Your IDX.
Do you think you’ve diverted a bullet, getting an IDX link for your web presence by linking out to your broker’s site? Would you take every one of your walk-in prospects into your broker’s office, introduce them, and leave them there to be served? Don’t send your prospects off to be served by others by not having an IDX solution ON your site.

4. Thou Shalt Not Secret Away Your IDX.
How does a site visitor get to your IDX search page? Don’t make it a tiny button, or make them go through several clicks to find it. If you’re doing PPC, bring them straight to the search page if that’s the key phrase you’re marketing. Make it a highly visible one-click link from your home page.

5. Thou Shalt Make IDX Easy to Use.
Web visitors are not patient people. They want to locate listings by characteristics, location, price, school systems, and in other ways. Make the search process easy for them to find homes the way they want to find them.

6. Thou Should be Generous with Other Information and Tools.
If you were buying a home in a new area, what would you want to know? Give your visitors interactive maps, calculators for mortgages, gadgets for climate information, shopping and banking locations, and more. Give them easy access to information and tools to determine what it will be like to live in the home on the screen. And, lots of photos!

7. Thou Shalt Deliver.
Once a visitor has decided that your IDX search is a good one for them, don’t lose them to another who makes it even easier to use. Give them the ability to create custom searches with their criteria and have new listings delivered to their email. This is the delivery that will keep them coming back and keep you on the top of their mind when the timing is right.

8. Thou Shalt Promote Your Visitors to Management for Leads.
Once these visitors are using your site and IDX, give them the ability to log in to manage their accounts, including multiple saved searches. This is great for them, but it’s even better for you … now you have that email address lead to market.

9. Thou Shalt Always be Right There.
No matter what screen they are looking at, no matter how many homes they view, always have an easy one-click link to email you. When they are finally ready to ask a question and get personal, don’t make them search around for contact information.

10. Thou shalt Never Sit Still.
The most difficult target to hit is the one that’s moving, and the Internet and your prospects are moving constantly. Use an IDX solution provider who understands this and stays on the leading edge of Internet consumer engagement.

There you are. If you can live by those 10 IDX commandments on your website or blog, success will be yours in online real estate business generation.

www.ShannonWass.com

We do many in-office seminars and trainings on various Social Media & Social Networks such as Facebook, Active Rain, Trulia, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Craigslist. We show our clients how to fully optimize their website and how our solutions give them that edge that they’re looking for whether it’s lead capture they’re looking for, Search Engine Optimization, Organic Traffic, or Social Media management.

A couple months back I met Shannon Wass, a Realtor at Intero Silicon Valley who has Social Media running through her veins. We chatted for a bit and she wanted to greenlight something fresh, bold, and to me – unheard of in real estate.

Shannon Wass Fan Page

Shannon wanted a site that not only did what our solutions normally do, but a site that promoted her social know-how to her networks as well. Her site says, “I understand today’s technology as well as I understand the neighborhood you’re interested in.”

Boldly featured on the homepage of her website, rather then hidden in a separate page are links to her Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Just like RSS feeds, this allows her visitors and/or fans to follow Shannon in a format convenient to them. If they’re habitual Facebook users, they will see Shannon’s update via Facebook – the same with Twitter or Linked In.

Facebook Ad Tiles

Shannon has also gone an extra step, further solidifying her Social Media know-how. We have created Facebook Tiles for her to advertise via Facebook. This not only allows her to actively capture leads from Facebook, but further enhances her internet and social media presence – establishing her as a Silicon Valley Realtor, who understands how to utilize and market her client’s listings using today’s Social Media outlets.

Visit Shannon’s site at www.ShannonWass.com

Follow Shannon at @wassrealty

Fan Shannon by Clicking Here

If you have any questions on building a custom solution such as Shannon’s, please inquire at (650) 924-2631 or Wallace@Baynet.com

-Wallace

Many of our clients have asked if there are benefits to registering an entire cache of domain names, or developing a host of different sites – each addressing a separate market, niche, or purpose. Without going into much detail, there are obviously benefits of having not just a solicitive, business-centric website but putting up an informative site as well. Most website visitors are really after a couple things, and that is what properties/listings do you have to offer via your site, or what’s the value add?

Blayssa Nadir, an agent at Intero Real Estate in Saratoga, Ca has launched a relatively clean and functional website, however she has also purchased and sat on many great domain names for the past decade.

She has owned such domains such as:
- www.greatlosgatoshomes.com
- www.greatsaratogahomes.com
- www.greatcambrianhomes.com
- www.greatwillowglenhomes.com
- etc. you get the idea.

Rather then investing a substantial budget to develop market driven websites, she has utilized e-Agent’s pre-defined property search feature to create straight forward, functional informative sites. Because e-Agent’s IDX solution is fully integrated, and NOT framed – we are able to accomplish this. This creates a huge advantage for our clients who utilize this feature, as these sites do become indexed and ranked via Google and other search engines – giving our clients that edge in their internet marketing goals.

The whole idea of course is to capture the visitor after they find a property they are interested in. Through the many lead capture portals on our property details page, or even search results page – Blayssa is able to capture these leads even though the listings her visitors are interested in belong to other local agents.

She has effectively put the domains she registered the better part of a decade ago to some good use, and for a whole lot less then she would otherwise spend.

Blayssa’s Website
Blayssa’s Saratoga Microsite

-Wallace

I’m asked “What value added services does Twitter.com provide that other social networking and micro blogging sites do not?” I ran across Twitterhawk.com the other day via Guy Kawasaki’s Blog, “How to Change the World“.

Twitterhawk – simply stated – allows its users to do not only automated, but directed marketing via Twitter.com. More on American Express’ Open Forum, as well as examples which you can super impose on your practice.

-Wallace

These days we sling the term “SEO” around as if it were common knowledge, but most of us are still in the dark, so just what is SEO and how does it apply to me?

SEO simply defined is: Search Engine Optimization, or rather, the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.

The more presence or traffic that one’s website gets on the internet has a direct effect on the number of leads or clients that a website attracts – simply stated, understanding SEO has a direct impact on your bottom line. With this said here are 5 quick tips on how to better your website’s SEO.

Tip 1 – Become a Student and Commit yourself to the process : Overnight SEO is a myth, SEO is not a one time event but a process. Many people mistake SEO as a quick and overnight strategy, in reality it takes weeks if not months to secure a proper and functional foundation in SEO, from there one just keeps to keep up. – SEO is a process, be dedicated to it.

Tip 2 – Utilize Web Analytics : There are many analytic programs out there, one of the most popular and cost effective (it’s free), is Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics). These tools will monitor your website’s traffic patterns, incoming links, rss subscriptions, search engine traffic, key words, et cetera. From a real estate perspective they will tell you if your most recent farm had any impact, which cities or towns your visitors are coming from and which part of your website you should ‘beef’ up. e.g. – if I notice that the bulk of my traffic is directed to my pre-defined search of Cupertino, California – I might bump up the placement of the said search, or break it down into it’s own sectionalized search based on neighborhoods, or school districts. This adds value to my website, and will improve my lead conversion. – Be in tune with your market

Tip 3 – Build an Awesome Website : Obtaining traffic, eyeballs, and click throughs mean absolutely nothing if you are not able to effectively capture your visitors. This is one of the great abilities of Baynet’s e-Agents program (www.e-agents.com) – these sites are fully functioning SEO and Lead Capture machines out of the box. It takes very little to utilize its onboard tools to not only develop a fully functioning, lead capturing website, but also easy to manage the necessary SEO aspects of maintaining one’s SEO. – Great SEO is nothing without a Great Website.

Tip 4 – Utilize Site Maps : Include a “Site Map Page” in your web build, Search Engine Spiders can not index pages that can not be crawled. Meaning if your page is not indexed, all the hours, research, and effort you spent on developing amazing content would be wasted. A Site Map will be a directory to Search Engine Spiders, much like your Navigation Bar is a directory for human visitors. Also – take advantage of Google and Yahoo’s site map submission program. If you have an e-Agents site, go into the control panel and under My Website > Site Settings > Site Map, will contain further instruction on how to submit your e-Agent site to the aforemetioned Search Engines. - Be proactive, rather then hoping your SEO is working.

Tip 5 – Utilize HTML Tags : Many web platforms, e-Agents included, allows the user to customize HTML Page Titles & Tags. This allows you not only to differentiate between your web pages, but allows users to actively and effortlessly find and bookmark valuable content. e.g. If my webpage was called “Cupertino Homes” I might label my homepage as “Cupertino Homes – Home”, my IDX Search “Cupertino Homes – MLS Search”, my web bio “Cupertino Homes – About Me” – Title Your Pages

As always if you are a Baynet Client and have any questions or need further instruction please call our customer support department at (408) 738-1111

-Wallace

• Market your Listings to Potentially Thousands of Local & Nationwide Real Estate Professionals!

• eFlyer Dynamically creates a beautiful HTML e-mail ready to send.

• Phenomenal Strategy for your Listing Presentations! Sellers Love it!

• Great Tool for “Just Listed”, “Just Sold”, “Price Reduced”, “Open House”, etc.

• Send by; proximity, zip code, cities, etc.