GlennBatten.com http://glennbatten.com My personal blog and collection of articles Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:45:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Real Estate Group Blocks Syndication to National Property Portals http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/oyxs122mOdw/ http://glennbatten.com/real-estate-group-blocks-syndication-to-national-property-portals/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:45:48 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/real-estate-group-blocks-syndication-to-national-property-portals/ Could you cancel your realestate.com.au and domain.com.au subscriptions in 2012?

You would be forgiven for thinking real estate is all online these days  it dominates the landscape that much and online the search engines are the first port of call for property related traffic.  Just after leaving Simon Baker confirmed that even realestate.com.au received massive traffic, somewhere over 30% from Google which is just one search engine.

Portals and particularly the top two paid portals absolutely saturate the search engine results by investing heavilly in SEO teams. They take the listings data of real estate agents and combine it with questionable tactics to create millions and millions of pages across multiple domains. This tactic effectively blocks real estate agent websites from search engine results thus starving us from direct enquiry.

These tactics by the portals is highly questionable and is evidence of the power they have developed in our industry. We are charged to display our listings on the portals and in return we are restricted to what we can display. We are not allowed to link back to our own website on each listing. We cant put contact details or phone numbers in the body text of the ad. Breach the rules and they will remove the property, do it too many times and they threaten to kick you off.  Any links they do give you and the portals insert ‘no-follow tags’ on the links back to the agent websites which tells the search engines to ignore our websites and that they have no value.

They justify that enquiry by charging higher and higher monthly fees but the problem in this relationships are more than the monthly subscription charges. also a death of thousand cuts it goes further than that with the portals undertaking lead generation schemes whereby they intercept sellers on the site and sell those leads back to agents at inflated rates. The traffic that agents have helped create is being used to promote private listings on Domain and now even realestate.com.au.

I believe that Realestate.com.au would generate more traffic than all the large national real estate groups combined. Agents have effectively given control of their listing enquiries to the portals and now seller leads to two large media companies who have taken every opportunity and they will not give up that control easily.

Real estate groups are also suffering as agents around the country have rather cut their ties with head office rather than their realestate.com.au and/or domain.com.au subscriptions. Joining a large real estate franchise or marketing group once respresented a great differentiator from other agencies in your area. If you listen to the portal sales team the only way to differentiate your agency now is to pay more and more for feature properties, feature all, brochure all and all the other add on products. Real Estate groups are seen to be providing an ever diminishing value to their franchisees and members.

As real estate agents we have given them our listing data and our money willingly for years but the level of antipathy from agents seems to rise year on year at pace equal to the price rise.

With the 2012 realestate.com.au price rise just about to be released rumours are rife that its going to be the biggest one yet. So more and more real estate agents are going to be asking themselves the magical question more than ever — Can I survive without a realestate.com.au subscription?

Cutting the umbilical cord to the subscription based portals is always going to be difficult especially since we have essentially been starved of enquiry on our own websites by the SEO teams at the portals. Cutting that link would be extremely difficult and disasterous without an extremely effective e-marketing strategy in place covering SEO, PPC, Social Media and Email Marketing.

Australian real estate agents are not alone in asking if they can survive without syndicating their content to a national portal. In the USA agents have been cutting that cord from syndicating to their national portals. Edina Realty and Shorewest Realty in Wisconsin were among the first but the one group that has recently got the USA market buzzing is ARG. Abbott Realty Group (ARG) recently announced that they will no longer syndicate listings to third-party aggregators like Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com.

Watch this video from ARG as they justify their decision to cut the umbilical cord. I think they do a great job in explaining their decision.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/real-estate-group-blocks-syndication-to-national-property-portals/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/real-estate-group-blocks-syndication-to-national-property-portals/ The Hottest Toys For Christmas 2011 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/OF-oTUW3FVs/ http://glennbatten.com/the-hottest-toys-for-christmas-2011/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:22:12 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/the-hottest-toys-for-christmas-2011/ With Christmas 2011 fast approaching parents around Australia are looking for the hottest toys this year to fill the stockings.

By purchasing your toys online from the USA you can often save 40%, 50%, 60%  and  sometimes even more by importing your toys from the USA.  This means you can get your kids TWICE as many toys for xmas this year…

Here are some of the hottest  toys for the year including how much you can save by importing from the USA.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/the-hottest-toys-for-christmas-2011/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/the-hottest-toys-for-christmas-2011/ Save Big on Christmas Toy Shopping Online for Xmas 2011 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/KwpmRi8TGu0/ http://glennbatten.com/save-big-on-christmas-toy-shopping-online-for-xmas-2011/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:04:01 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/save-big-on-christmas-toy-shopping-online-for-xmas-2011/ Online Toy Store - Save By Shopping onlineIt’s time to start doing your christmas shopping for toys again but with a little planning you can save massively by not just shopping online but shopping online overseas.

Australian online toy stores still have to pay huge wholesale costs like their bricks and mortar competitors and thus their savings are not as good as they could be.  In contrast when shopping at overseas toy stores you can often import toys for a fraction of the price of buying it locally.

Using Importusa.com.au you can shop for toys at Amazon.com that can be shipped here to Australia from the worlds largest online store.

So How Much Can You Save Buying Toys Online

Christmas Toy SaleHere is a collection of the different toys purchased over recent weeks through this site complete with the price paid in US Dollars at that time. In many cases the toys have been purchased by multiple people at the same price.

Even though many of these items cannot be bought here in Australia many of them can be.  On a handful of toys across different price ranges I have grabbed the best price (click to visit links) I could find in an Australian online toy store to give you a good comparison and an idea of just how much you can save.

Just remember that many bricks and mortars stores here in Australia will be even higher.

Originally posted at the : Importusa Blog

]]> http://glennbatten.com/save-big-on-christmas-toy-shopping-online-for-xmas-2011/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/save-big-on-christmas-toy-shopping-online-for-xmas-2011/ REBarCamp Concept Takes Off in Australia! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/FDbV84Fajyo/ http://glennbatten.com/rebarcamp-concept-takes-off-in-australia/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:35:54 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/rebarcamp-concept-takes-off-in-australia/ With a name like BarCamp it’s no wonder Aussie’s have taken strongly to the concept but an REBarCamp is not really about a bunch of real estate agents hanging out in the bar.

A BarCamp is a user-generated conferences that is full of open participatory workshop-events, the content of which is provided by participants.  A REBarCamp is a barcamp for real estate agents.

One of the most often words to describe a barcamp is an unconference.

A typical real estate conference has a lineup of paid speakers and a strict agenda to follow whereas with an unconference there are no scheduled presentations or paid speakers. The day’s agenda is actually decided during the morning registration period by attendees submitting possible sessions that they’d like to participate in or lead.

The sessions are divided up into different groups, and organized by skill level, relevance and potential popularity. Typical subjects for a REBarCamp might include Blogging, WordPress Plugins, Video Blogging, iPad Presentations, SEO, Cloud Computing, Social Media 101 for Agents and making the most of your Smartphone.

REBarCamp Agenda

Organising the days agenda

Just as the “social” experience has taken over much of what we do on the internet an unconference is a conference with big injection of social into it.  The attendees not only create the conference and participate it.

I love a quote from Mike Meuller in the states on the REBarCamp concept when he said:-

“In purist terms, a REBarCamp experience should be the single biggest learning event you attend all year (assuming you attend only one).  Yes, there are exceptions to the rule and every REBC is different, but if you attend a REBC and think it wasn’t worth every minute of your time there’s only one person to blame.”

The first BarCamp was created and organized in one week in 2005 in the US and the first REBarCamp was held in San Fransisco just 3 years ago. Since then over 300 events have been held throughout the US and this year the concept moved to Australia. Sydney was the first Australian REBarCamp, followed recently by Perth and on November 30th  the first Queensland event at Brisbane will be held at the Pineapple Hotel.

REBarCamp Sydney

REBarCamp Sydney held earlier this year

I am one of the organisers for REBarCamp Brisbane so if you are going to be in BrisVegas at the end of November we would love you to join in on the discussion but you better be quick and register.  You can read more information about the Brisbane event on its’s Facebook Page and Peter Brewer’s recent blog post.

Other REBarcamps are in the planning stages so if you did not make it to Sydney or Perth and cant get to Brisbane keep an eye out for the next event in your area at www.rebarcamp.com.au

Did you attend REBarCamp Sydney or REBarCamp Perth??  Let us know your experience!

Originally posted at the : Business2 Blog. Please visit Business2 to read all comments to the original article.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/rebarcamp-concept-takes-off-in-australia/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/rebarcamp-concept-takes-off-in-australia/ USA Shipping Address for Mail and Parcel Forwarding http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/SavHUNb0mJ4/ http://glennbatten.com/usa-shipping-address-for-mail-and-parcel-forwarding/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:40:35 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/?p=596 Mail and Parcel Forwarding ServiceWith the Australian dollar so strong at the moment more and more Australian’s  are purchasing overseas to save a buck. Very few USA retailers will ship to Australia and many others like Amazon will only ship select items to Australia.

Importusa.com.au is an Australian website that shows you only items that Amazon has included as part of the Amazon Global Programme and should be able to be shipped to Australia.

But there are millions of other products that cant be shipped to Australia so what do you do if you want to ship to Australia one of these products or something from another store?

The way around this is to have your own USA Shipping Address  complete with Package and Parcel Forwarding from USA to Australia.

Getting a USA Address is actually quite easy using services like Shipito which charge casual rates of $8.50 per parcel and even cheaper for bulk users.

How Does USA Parcel Forwarding Actually Work?

INDIVIDUAL PACKAGE – $8.50 FEE PER PACKAGE – NO MONTHLY FEE

USA Package Forwarding to AustraliaShop online and have the package(s) sent to our address. We will forward individual packages to you. Each package is sent to you exactly as they come. 

  • You pay for each individual package they receive and forward to you. The cost is $8.50 per package plus postage.
  • You can select the shipping method for each package. Actual postage will be recalculated instantly.
  • Your account will show you the actual amount of your deposit. This is where you can also fill out the customs declaration for each package (value, description of goods, etc.).
  • Whenever they get a new package, you will get an email notification.
  • Whenever they send you a package you will get an email with notification and tracking number.
  • Extra surcharge for heavy packages over 30 pounds is $10, over 70 pounds – $20, over 100 pounds (freight manipulation fee) – $30 and over 150 pounds – $50. Overweight fee is charged even if the package is trashed.
  • You need have enough deposit on your account so they can forward a package within 7 days after we receive it in our warehouse. Otherwise we charge storage fee $1-$5 (depending on the package weight) every day.

Parcel Forwarding Consolidation

If you are going to be shipping multiple parcels to Australia then Shipito have other plans providing more features such as consolidation of packages to save on shipping charges.   This allows you to combine multiple packages from the same or different stores

Here is some live examples of just how consolidation savings works.

 

 

So what USA Stores Can Your Purchase From?

Here is the top 5 shops Australians use through Shipito

 

Are there other Parcel Forwarders?

Another service E would recommend is MyUS.com
Have Your Very Own U.S. Mailing Address

]]> http://glennbatten.com/usa-shipping-address-for-mail-and-parcel-forwarding/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/usa-shipping-address-for-mail-and-parcel-forwarding/ Masters Nerang – Masters Home Improvement Store http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/DghAYuwl5Xw/ http://glennbatten.com/masters-nerang-%e2%80%93-masters-home-improvement-store/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:24:55 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/masters-nerang-%e2%80%93-masters-home-improvement-store/ The brand new $30 million dollar Masters Home Improvement store in Nerang is one of the first of 150 Masters stores in the country and 34 planned for Queensland.

Masters Nerang Masters Home Improvement StoreMasters Home Improvement is  operated by a joint venture between Australian Retailer Woolworths Limited and U.S. Based hardware chain, Lowe’s. The Nerang Masters store is located just a few hundred metres from it’s arch rival Bunnings which is owned by the Wesfarmers group.

Construction on the brand new 14,000 m2 Masters Nerang store has been completed and Masters local staff are preparing for the store opening in mid to late October 2011. The store features a Trade Area, Large Retail Area, Nursery Area, McDonalds and Administrative Offices on the second level.

As the Nerang Masters stores readies for its opening Australia’s first  Masters store in Braybrook, Victoria, opened just two weeks ago to the public.

The new Masters Nerang store differentiates itself from Bunnings in a few different ways:

  • Staff will be trained for at least 100 hours
  • Stores will offer over 35,000 products.
  • Stores which are more brightly lit, more colourful with polished concrete, large colour signage and store displays
  • Stores aim to place more emphases on attracting female shoppers
  • Buzzers scattered around the store which when pressed, will send a nearby staff member to that location to help out a customer’
  • Stores will sell more ‘non hardware’ lines such as whitegoods
  • Stores will feature a McDonald’s restaurants.
The Nerang Masters store has brought significant employment opportunities to the local district during the construction, the current fitout and then the operation phases.
Masters Nerang Masters Home Improvement Store

Originally posted at the : Nerang First National Blog

]]> http://glennbatten.com/masters-nerang-%e2%80%93-masters-home-improvement-store/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/masters-nerang-%e2%80%93-masters-home-improvement-store/ LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Tablet and Game System http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/LotbsYe5m8A/ http://glennbatten.com/leapfrog-leappad-explorer-learning-tablet-and-game-system/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:38:23 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/leapfrog-leappad-explorer-learning-tablet-and-game-system/ The LeapFrog company designs, develops and markets technology-based learning products for the education of infant through to primary school children throughout the world. Unfortunately here in Australia the price of LeapFrog products are hugely inflated and we are asked to pay double and even higher than the same product in the USA.

By importing LeapFrog products from the USA you can save substantially.  Lets look at two of the very latest LeapFrog Products on the market in the USA, the LeapPad Explorer Learning Game System and the LeapPad Explorer Tablet.

For the following price comparisons we have used the prices at the Australian Online Toy Store Toysparadise.com.au. Prices at traditional bricks and mortar stores will be much higher again.

LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Game System

The LeapPad Explorer Learning Game System is available now at ToysParadise.com.au for $139.95 which does not include shipping but they do provide free shipping for orders over $150.

The Game System is available from Amazon for $65 ($USD69 = $AUD65) including shipping which is a saving of $74.95 and equates to paying 115% more for buying in Australia.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/leapfrog-leappad-explorer-learning-tablet-and-game-system/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/leapfrog-leappad-explorer-learning-tablet-and-game-system/ Cheap Android Tablets – Motorola Xoom, Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer and More http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/njueg_qs7pQ/ http://glennbatten.com/cheap-android-tablets-%e2%80%93-motorola-xoom-acer-iconia-asus-eee-pad-transformer-and-more/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:16:32 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/cheap-android-tablets-%e2%80%93-motorola-xoom-acer-iconia-asus-eee-pad-transformer-and-more/ Android Tablets are some of the hottest consumer electronics available today providing more power, customisation and flexibility than the Apple iPad. Unfortunately Australians are subjected to some of the highest costs in the world for the very same hardware.  Why should Australians pay more?

By importing them to Australia from the USA you can save substantially. Lets have a look at the price comparison between buying in Australia and importing from the USA. For the Australian prices we will use JB Hifi which I have found is far cheaper than many other retailers like Harvey Norman. The savings against the Australian RRP and prices at other stores are even higher.

Motorola Xoom — 32gb Wifi

Available at JB Wifi for $658 including shipping.

Available from Amazon for $464 ($USD493 = $AUD464) including shipping which is a saving of $194 which is 41% more for buying in Australia.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/cheap-android-tablets-%e2%80%93-motorola-xoom-acer-iconia-asus-eee-pad-transformer-and-more/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/cheap-android-tablets-%e2%80%93-motorola-xoom-acer-iconia-asus-eee-pad-transformer-and-more/ How To Identify the Best Real Estate Agent In Your Area http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/MoSc6Bvy6bc/ http://glennbatten.com/how-to-identify-the-best-real-estate-agent-in-your-area/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:50:58 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/how-to-identify-the-best-real-estate-agent-in-your-area/ How To Identify the Best Real Estate Agent In Your AreaSpring is only days away and the busiest selling season is about to start so how can you find the best real estate agent in your area. The biggest mistake sellers make when hiring a Real Estate agent is that they do not do their homework before appointing their agent.

Here  are some of the best ways to find the best real estate agent in your area to sell your property”

For Sale Signs

The amount of for sale signs in your immediate area that any particular agent is no guarantee of a successful agent at all.  In fact in the current market conditions there are plenty of agents not making any sales at all in any given month.  Consider that every property offered for sale with an agent that does not sell is actually a failed marketing campaign.  In short, you should not care at all if an agent has more “for sale” signs in your immediate area as there are better indicators of the best real estate agent.

Good Agents Educate You on the Market and Don’t Beg For Listings

Many agents will stuff your mailboxes with flyers, recipe cards, calendars or business cards all begging for your business.  The best real estate agent in your area will keep you up to date with real estate market including relevant news, property for sale and recent sales but they wont constantly beg for your  listing.  They get listings because of their success rather than dropping a flyer in your letterbox every week.

You Want an Agent that Sells Houses

You only need to be interested in what they sell so when you need to start paying particular attention to the sold signs. A sold sign is the best proof you need in a real estate agent and many successful sales over recent months and years is exactly what you are looking for .

Check Out Their Trophy Cabinet

Success leaves clues and often that translates into stocked trophy cabinet of awards.   When you are comparing two or more agents there are a few simple rules to remember

  • Industry awards are across all real estate groups and franchises and are much more superior than an award from just one real estate group.
  • Real Estate Awards for a real estate group are better from larger groups with hundreds of members than smaller groups.
  • National Awards are better than state awards which are better than regional or city awards.
  • Agency awards are better than awards for just one salesperson.
  • An award that covers a whole year is better than one that covers a quarter which is again better than an award for a single month.
  • Recent Awards are more relevent that old awards that may no longer be indicative.

Checkout their Website and Online Presence

A great agent will have a great website, one that provides more than just property for sale and property for rent. You could hardly expect an agent that has a stock standard template website provided by their franchise group to go that extra mile for you if they havent bothered to invest in their own website.

With online e-marketing playing an enormous role you can expect the  best real estate agent in your area to be maintaining a blog, an e-newsletter and to have a presence on Twitter and Facebook.

Quality Assurance

Many agents have documented policies and procedures but very few take it further and get those policies audited and approved to International ISO 9001 standards.

Visit Their Office

 To really get a feel for the office sometimes the only way is to visit the office. Interviewing agents in your home can only ever give you part of the picture.  An office visit can highlight vast differences in the location, size and professionalism of an office that is not so apparent in your lounge room.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/how-to-identify-the-best-real-estate-agent-in-your-area/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/how-to-identify-the-best-real-estate-agent-in-your-area/ Hootsuite for Real Estate Agents http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlennBatten/~3/0JC7KI7xC2k/ http://glennbatten.com/hootsuite-for-real-estate-agents/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:22:30 +0000 Glenn http://glennbatten.com/?p=563 Hootsuite is an excellent social media dashboard that allows you to manage social media accounts including multiple Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages, Linkedin, Foursquare accounts and much much more.

They have recently released a industry guide for real estate agents on how to make the most of using Hootsuite.

]]> http://glennbatten.com/hootsuite-for-real-estate-agents/feed/ 0 http://glennbatten.com/hootsuite-for-real-estate-agents/