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Free Blogging Webinar Kicks Off Social Media Month at Secrets of Top Selling Agents

Posted on February 5th, 2010 by Laura Chan  |  No Comments »

Top real estate blogging coach Mariana Wagner will be featured in the next Secrets of Top Selling Agents Webinar:
Breaking Down the Barriers to Blogging” on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT.

About the Webinar:

Blogging may seem like a daunting task, but the refrain you hear from everyone these days is the same: “You have to blog to be successful in real estate.” But you got into real estate to help people find homes, not to write the next novel! Nationally–known trainer and top selling agent Mariana Wagner will show you why you need to do some form of blogging to build your real estate business – even if writing is not your favorite pastime or you think you have no time in your busy schedule!

You can read more about Mariana Wagner and register for this webinar at SecretsWebinars.com.

AND…this is just the first social media webinar this month from Secrets!  Laura Duggan and Patrick Birdsong will be presenting, “Boost Your Bottom Line with Social Media” on February 25th.  They will share their story of how a Baby Boomer and Gen Y team increased their business with social media.  Check out SecretsWebinars.com for more info on this Webinar!

Observations from NAR

Posted on November 19th, 2009 by Ed Kim  |  No Comments »

While it seems every year we see the same vendors and the same players at NAR Expo, upon closer review it’s not the case this year. The real estate industry is changing with the real estate market, a paradigm shift is occurring along with the market and industry – consumer content provided in rich media and/or mobile will rule the coop in the next few years. Three years ago at NAR Expo in Las Vegas (when real estate was heading on a down turn) one of the strongest themes was the preponderance of International real estate companies showcasing their resort properties and the benefits of living in their fantastic country in their attempt to capitalize on the American real estate wealth and boom, this year it’s rich data/media mobile applications. While almost every company had a mobile app version of their full web presence, what was surprising was the number of companies willing to bank their entire business model on a mobile app. Mobile IDX, mobile mortgage info, mobile virtual tours, it goes on and on. Many of these companies and their investors seem to be following the data survey, as eMarketer.com is predicting, “Paid mobile search spend worldwide is forecast to grow from $260 Million in 2009 to $2.9 Billion in 2021.

WIN CASH at the NAR Expo from AgentAdvantage!

Posted on November 12th, 2009 by Laura Chan  |  No Comments »

Visit AgentAdvantage in Booth #1335A at the National Asssociation of Realtors Annual Expo in San Diego during November 13- 16 and WIN CASH!!!!

That’s right… Enter for your chance to grab as much cash as you can in a thrilling, 30-second dueling cash grab! Compete against your fellow show attendees to grab cash—the person who grabs the most cash wins double their money!!!

 

AND…

While you are at the AgentAdvantage booth, check out our money saving, show-only special, $0 setup on Websites and PowerSearch for new clients! 

See you in San Diego!

Can’t make it to NAR this year? You can still take advantage of our show special NOW thru Tuesday, November 17th! Call us at 888-604-0284 and mention “NAR Show Special” or contact us online  for these great savings today!

Cause Marketing at its Finest – Top Agent Stories Shared in Next Secrets Webinar

Posted on November 3rd, 2009 by Laura Chan  |  No Comments »

 

Building Community, Building Business–Top Agent Stories

Three award-winning Realtors® serve their causes and communities

Norfolk, Va., (PRWEB) November 3, 2009 — Homes.com and eNeighborhoods, both divisions of Dominion Enterprises, will present a free online seminar, “Building Community, Building Business,” as part of the Secrets of Top Selling Agents Webinar series. Three of the nation’s leading Realtors®, all past recipients of Realtor Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards, will teach real estate professionals how to serve their communities while succeeding in business.

REALTOR Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards recognize Realtors who have made an extraordinary impact on their communities through volunteer work. The 2009 winners will be announced on Nov. 10. For more information, visit www.Realtor.org/gna.Cause marketing–combining for-profit promotion with a passion for charitable causes and community–is a powerful tool that can separate the top real estate professionals from the rest. On Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1:00 p.m. EST, these top agents will share their secrets for building a successful real estate career while giving back to the community.

The free online seminar will feature three 2008 winners of the Good Neighbor Awards:

Lei Barry from Blue Bell, Penn., founded Inter-Faith Housing Alliance. The organization helps prevent homelessness in low income families. Barry was inspired by her experience as a single mother who was homeless for a year. She has worked to provide temporary housing through a network of more than 20 local churches and synagogues and raised $1.4 million to found Hope Gardens, a transitional apartment complex which helps homeless families get on their feet.

Caroline McCartney of Norfolk, Va., shows that the skills successful Realtors possess also can be applied to exceptional community service. McCartney has raised money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for more than 16 years. St. Jude is a research and treatment facility for pediatric cancer and other life-threatening illnesses, and helps to save children from all over the world regardless of their ability to pay.

Sheila Stevens of Suwanee, Ga., is the founder of The Sport of Giving Inc., which funds breast cancer treatment and prevention. Stevens started The Sport of Giving in honor of her mother who died of colon cancer at the age of 54. The organization has contributed more than $1 million through annual tennis and golf tournaments, running events and other fundraisers.

“It’s been an honor for Homes.com and eNeighborhoods to sponsor Realtor Magazine’s Good Neighbor Awards,” said Charles Warnock, eNeighborhoods director of business development. “We look forward to learning what these inspiring real estate professionals can teach us about the art of cause marketing.”

“Like many others, Realtors® are working harder than ever in this challenging economy, yet many of them, just like these Good Neighbor Awards winners, still find time to volunteer to help those in need,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Dallas-Fort Worth, Tex. “Shining a spotlight on the Good Neighbor Awards winners will hopefully inspire others to volunteer and get more involved, which is so important to the quality of life in our communities.”

To register for the free Webinar and for more information, visit SecretsOfTopSellingAgents.com.
About eNeighborhoods
eNeighborhoods, a division of Dominion Enterprises, is the nation’s premier compiler of real estate related home and neighborhood information, providing the real estate and marketing services industries with a comprehensive set of marketing and analytical tools. In 2002, eNeighborhoods became a partner in the National Association of REALTORS REALTOR Benefits Program. The company provides MLS data sharing and marketing tools to top MLS organizations in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The company maintains strategic alliances with major real estate franchisers, including CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, EXIT Realty, GMAC, Keller Williams, Prudential, Realty Executives and RE/MAX International as well as many of the major independent brokerages. eNeighborhoods is the proud founding sponsor of NARs Good Neighbor Awards. For more information on the company, visit www.eneighborhoods.com.

About Homes.com
Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation. Over 4 million homebuyers visit Homes.com each month to search more than 3 million homes for sale, locate real estate agents in their area and find useful homebuying tips. Homes.com provides premier advertising solutions for real estate professionals reaching active homebuyers. For more information, visit www.Homes.com.

About Dominion Enterprises
Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.DominionEnterprises.com.

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Homes.com joins Threewide’s ListHub network

Posted on October 7th, 2009 by Laura Chan  |  No Comments »

Real estate portal gains access to more than 1 million additional listings

NORFOLK, Va., October 7th, 2009 – Threewide Corporation and Homes.com (www.homes.com), a division of Dominion Enterprises, announced today that Homes.com is now available through ListHub, Threewide’s broker- and MLS-controlled listing distribution and management platform. ListHub’s national network of brokers and MLSs will now have the option of placing their available listings for display on Homes.com.

Homes.com is a leading real estate portal, with over 3 million homes for sale. ListHub customers include more than 200 MLSs, representing about 85 percent of the national listing inventory and agents.

As one of the listing syndication choices available through the ListHub platform, brokers across the country can post their listing inventory to Homes.com using ListHub at no cost. More than 4 million consumers search for property information on Homes.com each month and can contact the listing broker or agent directly.

“Homes.com has spent the last 10 years driving consumer traffic and leads to our real estate clients. We renew this effort through new partners such as ListHub,” said Jason Doyle, Homes.com vice president and general manager. “This agreement is a great example of our continued commitment to our customers by expanding opportunities not only for the brokers but for the home buyers and sellers that drive their business.”

“We are excited about the partnership with Homes.com. Homes.com brings another premier Internet marketing opportunity to the ListHub network. Threewide is committed to continually increasing the number of exposure opportunities through ListHub while promoting best practices and attention to quality through the partners we select. Homes.com reflects these high standards and we are pleased to be working together,” said Luke Glass, president of Threewide Corporation.

All listings exported from ListHub to Homes.com are also featured on Homes.com’s iPhone application, previously ranked the #2 Free Lifestyle App by Apple. For more information, or to download the Homes.com iPhone application, visit: http://www.homes.com/iphone

About Homes.com

New Mobile Apps Make for Even More Ways to Find Your Listings on Homes.com!

Posted on September 30th, 2009 by Andrea Atkins  |  No Comments »

Homes.com has released a mobile application allowing consumers to search for your listings on the go! Forrester Research recently reported that 67 percent of smartphone owners browse the mobile Internet at least once per week, and 30 percent do so daily. By releasing mobile apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Blackberry Storm alongside a new mobile website, Homes.com has become the FIRST real estate portal to reach consumers through all major mobile marketing channels. Now home buyers and sellers can easily search over 3 million homes for sale and rent, right from their mobile phones!
Your listings will appear on mobile phones complete with rich property details, Google maps, color photos, driving directions, and agent contact information. Featured listings on Homes.com will also apply to the mobile applications allowing your listings to be highlighted in search results.

The Blackberry Storm application is available from Blackberry World, the iPhone application can be found in the iTunes App Store, and the mobile site can be accessed from any web-enabled phone at mobile.homes.com.

Rental Listings Appear on Homes.com!

Posted on September 22nd, 2009 by Andrea Atkins  |  No Comments »

Did you know that your rental listings appear on Homes.com? Consumers can search for rental properties on Homes.com and save the property details just like a traditional home search. Homes.com is optimized to appear prominently in search engine results for rental searches. Your rental listings can also be used with Featured Listing and Premier Listing settings. This is just another great benefit of your AgentAdvantage membership!

Buyers can search for your rentals on Homes.com
Buyers can find your rentals on Homes.com

If your rental listings are being pulled from your MLS, and your board allows listings to be displayed on the Homes.com website, all of your rentals will automatically appear in the Homes for Rent section. If your listings are hand-entered you can make them appear as rentals by logging into the Control Panel and editing your listing in the Listings Manager. Simply change the property type to either “Home for Rent” or “Resort Rental” and your listing will appear on Homes.com as a rental property.

Next “Secrets” Webinar Speaker Michael Hellickson on the Dave Ramsey Show

Posted on August 26th, 2009 by Laura Chan  |  No Comments »

Many of you are probably already registered for the next Secrets of Top Selling Agents Webinar sponsored by AgentAdvantage, “Short Sales, Real Results: How to Survive and Thrive in Any Real Estate Climate,” with Verl Workman and Michael Hellickson on August 27th at 1:00pm ET.

But if you haven’t registered yet for this FREE webinar (or even if you have), and you are a fan of The Dave Ramsey Show on Fox Business, you may want to take a look at this clip of Michael Hellickson talking about short sales on the show found on Michael’s website, theshortsalecompany.com.

If you attend the Webinar, you have the opportunity to have your questions answered LIVE by Michael and Verl. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask your short sale questions to one of the nation’s leading short sale experts…as seen on The Dave Ramsey Show!

Register for this FREE webinar at SecretsWebinars.com! 

Add Social Media Badges to Your Site

Posted on August 24th, 2009 by Andrea Atkins  |  No Comments »

Do you use social media like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to market your services and listings? You can add social media badges to your web pages so prospects and clients have several ways to contact you online. These badges (which consist of an image and an HTML link to your profile) can help users find you online and follow your activity. To download social media badges, visit the following sites (you must provide your login information first):

Twitter

www.twitter.com/badges

Facebook

www.facebook.com/badges.php

LinkedIn

See your account settings, under ‘Edit Public Profile’

Badges and widgets can be added to any online document where you can edit your HTML code such as your website, blog, profile pages, and more. Use them often and promote yourself online!

Branch out your SEO efforts with Twitter and other off-page areas

Posted on August 12th, 2009 by Corie Zielins  |  No Comments »

SEO – we seem to hear the term so often nowadays, but do we really understand what it involves?

Truth be told, SEO, short for search engine optimization, involves a vast internet landscape.  It begins with on-page content (content on your website) and branches out widely to off-page areas, such as a blogs, relevant real estate directories, and presence in such places as Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter. 

SEO works at getting your website high on the search engine results pages SERP’s, so that you are easy to find where most people search.  As mentioned, it begins with your website content, which should be relevant, clear and focused.  Without that healthy beginning, the off-page factors will falter as contributors to your position in the search engines.

Let’s just assume your website is SEO’d well.  Now, why not ask what is one of the most prominent off-page environments today?  I’d suggest Twitter. 

 While Twitter is often associated with a casual, chat environment, and often referred to as a micro-blog, it is quite adaptable to business-focused use.  Once you set up an account, (which is pretty simple), you can use Tweetlister.com.  Tweetlister allows you to advertise listings through the Twitter platform.  Suddenly now, you have another, very popular environment you can promote real estate in.  Wow, Twitter just became a lot more interesting, and think of the exposure!