Sean Cutright's blog on Delta Media Group, real estate website, lead management technology

Google, Bing reps speak out on today's 'copying search results' claims

2011-02-01T21:50:00.007-05:00

Earlier today I posted about the Search Engine Land article that outed Bing as allegedly copying Google's search engine results.

Now, representatives from Google have spoken out on the topic. Most notably, Google Fellow Amit Singhal, who wrote the blog entry "Microsoft's Bing uses Google search results--and denies it," posted to The Official Google Blog here.

Singhal's claims echo those noted by Danny Sullivan in the Search Engine Land article, namely that Google, sensing Bing might be copying some of its results, planted false, unrelated search results for obscure search phrases to see if Bing's results would follow suit. Only weeks later many did, pushing Singhal to note: "However you define copying, the bottom line is, these Bing results came directly from Google."

Bing has said little about the claim, initially dodging the question with an overtly politically correct answer, then a more contrite one: "We do not copy Google’s results," as noted in a ZD Net article by Mary Jo Foley.

Bing Corporate Vice President Harry Shum later added some comments in a Bing Community Search Blog entry:

"We use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm. A small piece of that is clickstream data we get from some of our customers, who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users.

To be clear, we learn from all of our customers. What we saw in today’s story was a spy-novelesque stunt to generate extreme outliers in tail query ranking. It was a creative tactic by a competitor, and we’ll take it as a back-handed compliment. But it doesn’t accurately portray how we use opt-in customer data as one of many inputs to help improve our user experience."

So who's right? It's tough to deny Google's evidence and, for those paying attention, Bing certainly has a PR issue on its hands, as exploited by Singhal himself:

"So to all the users out there looking for the most authentic, relevant search results, we encourage you to come directly to Google. And to those who have asked what we want out of all this, the answer is simple: we'd like for this practice to stop."

hiybbprqag. mbzrxpgjys...Google accuses Bing of cheating

2011-02-01T09:56:00.007-05:00

hiybbprqag. mbzrxpgjys.

These are search phrases, planted by Google, designed to see if Bing would copy its search results. Neither phrase showed results on Google or Bing prior to the plant. Google adjusted its code to show a manual ranking for the phrases, and found that Bing's results followed suit soon after, as noted in a ground-breaking Search Engine Land article this morning:

"For the first time in its history, Google crafted one-time code that would allow it to manually rank a page for a certain term (code that will soon be removed, as described further below). It then created about 100 of what it calls “synthetic” searches, queries that few people, if anyone, would ever enter into Google...
This all happened in December. When the experiment was ready, about 20 Google engineers were told to run the test queries from laptops at home, using Internet Explorer, with Suggested Sites and the Bing Toolbar both enabled. They were also told to click on the top results. They started on December 17. By December 31, some of the results started appearing on Bing."

Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan did an excellent job on the research and article, which you can find here. As noted in the article, Google has accused Bing of cheating by copying its results, and takes offense to the move. Bing has yet to deny the claim, offering instead a response that would make a politician proud.

It will be interesting to hear Bing's response to the accusations and if/how this will affect Bing's results going forward.

Coldwell Banker Riviera releases New Jersey real estate and community page

2010-11-21T22:01:00.007-05:00

Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty, Inc. has a new Web page that might help its New Jersey real estate customers more easily find information on the markets they have interest in.

The new New Jersey Communities page offers information on dozens of Ocean County NJ real estate markets Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty services, including Barnegat, Bayville, Beachwood, Berkeley, Brick, Colts Neck, Forked River, Freehold, Howell, Jackson, Lakewood, Manahawkin, Manchester, Millstone, Plumsted, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, Toms River, Upper Freehold and Wall, New Jersey.

Each New Jersey community is highlighted with information on the community, a link to a community page with more information on the market and a link to a page to search NJ homes for sale in the market.

Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty is a real estate brokerage with eight offices and nearly 200 real estate agents throughout Ocean County and Monmouth County, New Jersey. Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty real estate agents specialize in Bayville homes for sale, Brick homes for sale, Berkeley homes for sale, Point Pleasant homes for sale, Toms River homes for sale, Wall homes for sale and more.

Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty, Inc. is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Google Instant: What it is, trends it will change and how it will affect the real estate industry

2010-09-10T10:19:00.010-04:00

If you use Google regularly, you might have noticed a change this week. Google launched "Google Instant," which it calls "a new search enhancement that shows results as you type" (read Google's official blog entry on Google Instant).

Now, for the first time, Google is delivering search results as a visitor types out their query. Google said the change won't affect search results and my tests verified that, showing no apparent adjustments to Google's algorithm (sample search keywords I tested Tuesday show about the same results today).

But even without changes in search results, the release of Google Instant will certainly spark questions among users--the most likely of which is how the implementation of Google Instant will alter search patterns.

Google Instant was created to develop instant results. In order for it to work correctly, Google Instant attempts to predict your search phrase, thus providing results for the predicted phrase. Not the right phrase? Google Instant offers additional suggested phrases below. Scanning through them shows the search results of each. Still can't find what you're looking for? Keep typing and "Google" your phrase as you normally would.

While this may certainly save a few seconds from a visitor's search (Google claims Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search), it may also affect how visitors search.

How will Google Instant change search trends?

Perhaps the most important question is how Google Instant will change the way people search.

Previously, those using search engines typed in a phrase, looked at their results, and if they didn't see what they were looking for they typed in another phrase and trouble-shot again. Now, those results are served up instantaneously while the searcher is typing them. Therefore, searchers can begin by searching very broad phrases and continue narrowing them as Google's results are populating. This gives me reason to believe two major search trends might change.

First, visitors will likely type in more long-tail phrases because they'll see while typing that the short-tail variation of their search is not bringing the results they're looking for.

Second, I can see search moving forward in reverse. Google visitors are typically more inclined to search by region first, then by keywords. In the case of real estate, using the city/state/region in front of the term "real estate" or "homes for sale" tends to produce more searches in any market than phrasing it the other way around. In August, Google had 60,500 searches for "Akron homes for sale" and another 33,100 searches for "Akron real estate." It only received 2,900 searches for "homes for sale in Akron" and 1,000 searches for "real estate in Akron," however.

With Google instant, the key is finding your search as quickly as possible. As visitors become used to using Google Instant, they may begin searching by primary keyword first and region second; IE: they may type in "real estate," then, having not found what they're looking for, continue with "in Akron," add the state if they still don't see results, and eventually create a long-tail search phrase that they might not have typed had they not been privy to Google's results while typing the phrase.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot more "real estate in Akron, Ohio in Firestone Park" searches than "Firestone Park real estate" searches as users adjust to Google Instant.

How is Google Instant affecting real estate websites?

Looking at the accounts of all real estate websites Delta Media Group facilitates SEO for, we're seeing very little, if any change in overall website traffic since Google Instant went live September 8. For most websites, there was a slight bump in traffic (though it's too early to tell if that resulted from the Google Instant go-live). In a handful of websites, there was a slight traffic decline from similar days over the past two months, and in the remainder of websites there appeared to be no change in traffic.

To analyze results more closely, we also looked at search engine traffic direct from Google. Of the 18 sites we analyzed, half of them saw traffic increases, a few saw slight decreases and the remainder saw no true change. All in all, it appears that Google Instant may have produced a slight bump in our websites' search engine traffic, though it's far too early to truly say that.

Conclusions on Google Instant

Google Instant is an innovative new service that appears to do exactly what it claims: save you time searching. While some searchers will likely adapt to and thrive with it, others will opt to use Google's traditional search instead (an option Google provides to the right of its search bar after a search has been conducted).

But the most important issue is how Google Instant will impact search trends. Search engine rankings are only as significant as the amount of people searching for the phrases you're ranked on. We'll keep a close eye on the trends we're seeing at Delta Media Group, and our SEO department will be working to best improve traffic and rankings from those trends.

Yahoo! now showing Bing's search results

2010-09-02T12:09:00.003-04:00

Yahoo! began displaying Bing's search results over the last two weeks, marking the official kick-off of a relationship a year in the making.

Yahoo! search results will now vary from those you might be used to seeing, and a "Powered by Bing™" indicator has been added to the bottom of Yahoo search results pages, showing that those search results have now come from Microsoft.

Yahoo! and Bing teamed up last year to take on Google, which still had more than 65 percent of the search engine market share in July, according to comScore (Chitika Research showed even more impressive Google market share numbers).

Yahoo! had a 17.1 percent share in July, while Bing had an 11 percent share. Even if Yahoo! and Bing each keep their percentage shares with the merger, combined they will only hold 43 percent of Google's market share.

Bing was launched May 28, 2009 as noted in Microsoft's press release, with a rumored marketing budget between $80 and $100 million. Just over 15 months in, Bing has grown its market share from 8 percent in May 2009 to 11 percent in July 2010.

Despite the .2 monthly percentage point increase, Bing has failed to surpass Yahoo!, and Google has even gained market share since Bing's launch (from 64 percent in April 2009 to 66 percent in June 2010).

Bing should continue to gain some ground, as it just launched a new app for Verizon Android phones. But the question is, will those 17 percent of searchers previously using Yahoo! now switch over to Google as their primary search engine, or continue using Yahoo! to search since it's convenient when logged into their E-mail accounts, checking out news, playing games and utilizing Yahoo!'s other features?

In the meantime this story also has relevance to those real estate companies looking to improve their search engine optimization. Yahoo!'s algorithm was much different than Bing's, and Google's certainly is. Suddenly, those websites that ranked high on Yahoo! may not be showing up quite as high anymore.

Delta Media Group will post more on its SEO clients and Yahoo!/Bing rankings soon. Make sure to check out blog.deltagroup.com for more info.

Google adjusts algorithm to show more results from a single domain

2010-08-30T14:39:00.009-04:00

Google recently adjusted its ranking algorithm, allowing it to display more results from the same website if it appears a searcher is trying to find information from that domain.

Detailed in Google's Webmaster Central Blog entry August 20, the change is of particular importance for real estate brokerages and agents looking to fully develop content and landing pages for the services they provide and markets they service.

Real estate website owners obviously want to provide their visitors with robust market and listing info for all markets and listings in them. They also want to be known as having the "go-to" website in their respective markets. The algorithmic adjustments make it easier for those websites to now display multiple results when visitors use Google to search markets on a real estate website.

In the example above, I searched "prudentialhomesale.com real estate markets," since Prudential Homesale has several listed on its website. As you can see, Google's top six results include four from PrudentialHomesale.com and a press release on StreetInsider.com and PRWeb.com that Delta Media Group published about PrudentialHomesale.com's real estate market landing pages. Before Google adjusted its algorithm, this search would have only returned two results from PrudentialHomesale.com.

Previously, Google's algorithm only allowed for up to two search results per domain. While this kept things fair for other domains to get SEO rankings, it unfairly prevented searchers to see more than two search results from a particular domain, even if that searcher appeared to be using Google to search the page results throughout that domain.

"We’re always reassessing our ranking and user interface, making hundreds of changes each year. We expect today’s improvement will help users find deeper results from a single site, while still providing diversity on the results page," Software engineer Samarth Keshava noted in the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for more info on search engine optimization techniques, social media practices and other online marketing applications in real estate.

Prudential Homesale Services Group is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Who REALLY killed the real estate blog? (and is it even dead?)

2010-08-27T09:19:00.010-04:00

For years you've heard about the importance of social media.

"You have to blog!"

"You have to be on Facebook!"

"You have to get a Twitter account!"

"You need a profile on ActiveRain/Trulia/LinkedIn/insertstartuprealestatesocialnetworkingsitehere!"

And now, you hear the opposite.

"Agents killed the real estate blog," a recent story on Inman News proclaimed in its headline.

After years of real estate conferences being driven solely on the self-proclaimed prophesies that you, by attending, will learn the best way to improve your business and profits from social media and blogging practices, now you're being told that you killed that industry.

The worst part of it is it's true. Kind of...

Real estate agents have been told what they need to do to improve their social media footprint repeatedly in one-hour conference sessions that amount to about 35 minutes of real speaking after introductions, questions, bad jokes, inadvertent sales tactics, etc. But they might not have really been told the importance of how they need to do it.

Blogging sounds great when someone is explaining to you at a conference you or your company probably paid too much money to attend how much it will improve your business. But then you attend the post-seminar luncheon. You chat with some old friends. You sit in the other hour-long afternoon seminars that also consist of 35 minutes of true engagement where you are told of all the other important things your real estate brokerage has to do to make money, possibly (depending on the conference) by a representative of a company that sells a product helping you do just that and also just so happens to have sponsored that conference.

Then you attend the cocktail hours (also sponsored by a company). You sit in on the next day's worth of seminars, where you see a repeated theme. You take diligent notes, but even those begin to fade away along with the energy and vibrancy you walked into the conference with. You hurry to catch your flight. You return home just in time to crash for the weekend while the notes and seminars and tips and tricks and talking points and sales tactics and all the other "have tos" begin to melt into one big mess that you try and push away by Monday morning so you can get back to your energetic, vibrant self.

You return to the office. You remember a few key points. You re-read your notes, wondering why you took some of them. You see the stars you drew next to the key points.

We have to blog!"

"We have to be on Facebook!"

"We have to get a Twitter account!"

"We need a profile on ActiveRain/Trulia/LinkedIn/insertstartuprealestatesocialnetworkingsitehere!"

You start hashing away at accomplishing those things without remembering why you have to do all of them, and how, exactly, they translate to business.

Soon enough, you've started blogging. You have a Facebook and Twitter account. You set up all your social networking profiles. And you start filling those blogs/updates/profiles with, well, filler because you don't know how else to use them.

And now you killed the real estate blog.

Well, the real estate blog is more than alive. But -- let's be perfectly honest -- it's terribly misused by several, several agents. So is Facebook. So is Twitter. So are all the other social networks.

But, you know what? They're also terribly misused by a majority of the population. It's just that it matters when they're misused by the real estate industry because members of the real estate industry have a vested interest in prospering from their use.

Like networking at a community event, social networking takes time to perfect. Like writing essays and term papers, blogging takes time to get a grasp on your writing style, flow and subject matter.

Social media incorporation comes more naturally to those Generation Yers who were raised using it, and presents a learning curve to those Baby Boomers and late Gen Xers who make up a majority of the real estate industry. IE: adapting an effective social media strategy requires more time and practice than a one-hour session at a session-loaded real estate conference.

If you don't get it now, don't give up. And certainly don't take the blame for its failure. Instead, stop blogging about only listings. Stop Facebooking to sell. Stop tweeting only price changes.

Start thinking about social media as you would any media, and social networking as you would business networking. Use social media to spread interesting stories of interesting places, businesses, restaurants and events in the community. Use social networking to build rapport with people; to spark interesting conversation and provide info for their region, not to sell homes or advertise your business.

Keep practicing and honing your techniques. Blog about any items of interest in the community. Seriously. Open this morning's newspaper, find an interesting story that applies to your market and blog about it.

Soon, you'll find that you're thinking through how to use social media instead of only why to use social media. Because, regardless of what you heard at that business conference, social media is not going to improve your business and make you more sales anytime soon. But, when used correctly, it will help you get your name out, help you earn more Web visitors, help you help people learn about the community they live in or might move to. And soon enough, those people will start realizing that your site/blog/social networking account is providing the information they are interested in, but aren't finding elsewhere online.

And I think we can agree that all those items will, in turn, help your professional brand...and stop killing the real estate blog.

Google's Wonder Wheel: A closer look

2010-08-26T11:10:00.005-04:00

Ever heard of the Google Wonder Wheel? Ever used it?

If you have any vested interest in improving the search engine optimization of your website, you might want to at least know about Wonder Wheel. But I'll bet you don't.

Google's Wonder Wheel was mentioned in an Inman News article by Bernice Ross this morning as a "hot tech tip" to help improve your real estate website search engine optimization. It's nice that Wonder Wheel is finally getting a little bit of attention in the real estate world, albeit 16 months after its release.

For whatever reason, Wonder Wheel appears to be one of the few Google developments to enter the SEO arena without a whole lot of fanfare. Just Google "Google Wonder Wheel." The phrase shows 313,000 results, compared to "Google AdWords," which shows 9.8 million results, and "Google AdWords Keyword Tool," which shows 1.1 million results.

Part of this could be attributed to Wonder Wheel's simplicity. While it serves a purpose among SEO keyword research, it also tends to be direct, without much complexity. Essentially, it's a tool to show related terms that lead to search results. That's pretty much it. But it's designed in a user-friendly format, offering the ability to really dig deeper in related search terms than other tools allow for.

Seeing related search terms is nothing new. The functionality has long been a staple of Google's AdWords Keyword Tool, and other search engines offer similar capabilities. But Wonder Wheel makes it easy to see these search terms graphically, and click through to see second and third-tier related search terms, and more.

To use Wonder Wheel, search any phrase on Google, then click the 'More Search Tools' link in the left navigation. You'll see a link titled 'Wonder Wheel' under the 'Standard View' column. Upon clicking that, the graphical Wonder Wheel will display, bumping your search results to the right of the screen.

The Wonder Wheel shows the term you searched in the center and related terms branching out from it. Upon clicking the related terms, you can view their own 'Wonder Wheels.'

The Wonder Wheel can be a helpful tool to demonstrate related terms consumers are searching to find the search results of the term you are focused on. By improving the SEO of those related terms, you improve the chances that visitors will find you by searching the original or related terms.

While it's not the only tool available to help with this, it's graphical representation and easy interactivity make for a nice addition to your SEO tool belt.

Have you used Wonder Wheel? Please let us know your experience and success stories. Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for more social media, online marketing and SEO-related tools, tips and practices.

If you're looking to improve your real estate search engine optimization, Delta Media Group's new SEO department can help.

Existing home sales drop 27.2 percent in July

2010-08-24T10:39:00.006-04:00

Existing home sales plunged by 27.2 percent in July, according to breaking news reports released moments ago.

The drop is the third straight monthly decline, bringing the seasonally adjusted annual rate of home sales to 3.83 million units. This is a drastic decrease from the 5.26 million unit rate in June.

CNNMoney.com has more on the July home sales drop, noting: "The sales pace of all homes -- single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops -- is at the lowest since NAR began tracking the figure in 1999. Sales of single-family homes, which account for a bulk of the transactions, are at the lowest level since May 1995."

Analysts point to the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit as reason for the sales decline. The tax credit required home purchases to be signed by April 30, and closed on by June 30. Congress later passed a bill extending the closing date to September 30, though only for buyers who had already signed to purchase the home by April 30. CNNMoney.com reported at the time that approximately 200,000 home purchasers would have missed out on the tax credit if not for the extension of the closing date.

Despite the home sales decrease, Delta Media Group has seen different trends for its Search Engine Optimization customers. We'll soon post more info on these trends at Delta Media Group's News Blog.

Pennsylvania real estate brokerage website generating significant interest

2010-07-20T15:28:00.011-04:00

As part of its new real estate search engine optimization efforts, PrudentialHomesale.com received some major attention last week.

The Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Reading-area real estate brokerage's press release detailed its new Pennsylvania real estate website, market search options and other new features.

A quick search shows the magnitude of the press release's outreach. The release has already been featured on several hundred websites, generating significant traffic and interest to the new PrudentialHomesale.com and its Harrisburg homes for sale, York homes for sale, Reading homes for sale and Lancaster homes for sale market pages.

View the Prudential Homesale Services Group press release in its entirety below.

PrudentialHomesale.com Improving Market Presence, Exposure, Search Engine Results

Prudential Homesale Services Group launches new real estate website with improved Harrisburg, York, Reading, Lancaster, PA presence
Lancaster, PA July 16, 2010
If you’re searching for homes in the Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster or York areas of Pennsylvania, you might notice a new face in town.

Prudential Homesale Services Group launched a ground breaking new real estate website and lead management system, designed to provide home searchers the best user experience.

“Buyers and sellers today require a more robust user experience,” said Rod Messick, CFO at Prudential Homesale Services Group. “Buyers want to find listings quickly and easily, find market information, see the listing on a map, and receive a near-instant response from an agent when he or she decides to request more information on that listing.

“Sellers want to know their listing is getting the most exposure, through the website, mobile devices and search engines. They want to search for their listing by address and find it on your website with full details without digging through pages of search results.”

Though Prudential Homesale Services Group’s www.PrudentialHomesale.com officially launched nearly one year ago, the site has undergone several recent changes to help boost performance for home searchers and sellers.

Among those are new market landing pages for York, Reading, Lancaster, Harrisburg and surrounding markets, easy drill-down property search options, a calendar system showing new listings by date and more.

Perhaps the most significant change to the website, however, is its placement among search engines. Prudential Homesale Services Group listings are easy to find through search engines with first page placement when searching by address. Pair with that the improved search engine presence for market-based searches, and PrudentialHomesale.com has seen a spike in search engine activity. In fact, the website has had a 250 percent increase in search engine visitors in a recent three-month span.

“The search engine traffic has been great,” Messick said. “It’s nice knowing buyers not previously familiar with us are finding our website through search engines, and sellers are confident in their listings’ presence and exposure on search engines.”

Visit www.PrudentialHomesale.com to view the Prudential Homesale Services Group real estate website or to search for homes in York, Reading, Harrisburg, Lancaster and surrounding Pennsylvania areas.

About Prudential Homesale
Prudential Homesale offers customers a menu of services including realty, mortgage, settlement, insurance, warranty, relocation, builder/developer services, career services, and a complete customer care center. The only regional real estate company with headquarters in the area, Prudential Homesale offers its services to 11 contiguous south central and southeastern Pennsylvania counties. According to REALTrends, Prudential Homesale Services Group, Inc. is the #16th most successful real estate brokerage in the country in the combined delivery of home services: real estate sales, mortgage closings, title closings and home warranty sales. “We help people achieve their dreams” is the core purpose of its associates as they strive each day to help others achieve the American dream of homeownership.

Contact Prudential Homesale at 1-800-383-3535 or visit www.PrudentialHomesale.com for more information.

About Delta Media Group
Canton, Ohio-based Delta Media Group is a national real estate technology developer. Serving more than 32,000 broker and agent real estate professionals, Delta Media Group builds one of the most profitable tools for major brokers in the real estate industry. Delta Media Group has been in business since 1994 and works with independent and franchise brokerages across the country. Delta Media Group specializes in real estate Web sites, real estate lead management, mobile applications, IDX property search, and real estate search engine optimization (SEO). Visit www.DeltaGroup.com for more info.

Prudential Homesale Services Group is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Colorado Springs real estate website gets an upgrade

2010-07-16T10:17:00.005-04:00

RE/MAX Alliance was the first Colorado real estate brokerage to take part in Delta Media Group's real estate search engine optimization services.

Now, RE/MAX Advantage has joined them.

RE/MAX Advantage, online at ColoradoAdvantage.com, is a Colorado Springs real estate company that also works in the markets of Black Forest, Calhan, Cascade, Castle Rock, Chipita Park, Cripple Creek, Denver, Divide, Ellicott, Falcon, Fountain, Green Mountain Falls, Manitou Springs, Monument, Peyton, Pueblo, Security, Widefield and Woodland Park.

Delta Media Group approached ColoradoAdvantage.com from a unique stance. The brokerage has long been a pillar of the Colorado Springs real estate community, but its website hasn't changed often in recent years. As websites don't change, search engines often begin indexing them less often.

In order to off-set this trend, Delta Media Group has built featured Colorado Homes for Sale, Colorado real estate market landing pages and a daily Colorado properties calendar on the home page of RE/MAX Advantage's real estate website.

Now, consumers can easily search Colorado Springs homes for sale, Black Forest homes for sale, Calhan homes for sale, Cascade homes for sale, Manitou Springs homes for sale, Monument homes for sale, Peyton homes for sale, Widefield homes for sale and more.

Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for more information on RE/MAX Advantage's website and SEO progress, and Delta Media Group's new SEO developments.

RE/MAX Advantage is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Home buyer tax credit closing deadline officially extended

2010-07-02T11:24:00.004-04:00

The home buyer tax credit closing deadline has officially been extended from June 30, 2010 to September 30, 2010.

According to WhiteHouse.gov, President Obama signed H.R. 5623 this morning, officially putting the bill into law.

As previously noted, the bill only affects qualifying buyers who signed to purchase a home prior to the April 30, 2010 tax credit deadline, but were unable to close by the previously set June 30 deadline.

Home buyer credit extension passes Senate, on way to Obama

2010-07-01T11:27:00.006-04:00

Earlier today it was reported that the home buyer tax credit closing extension had passed the House and moved on to the Senate.

It appears the Senate voted late Wednesday to pass the proposed extension of the closing deadline on the home buyer tax credit, almost guaranteeing the bill will be enacted with President Obama's likely signature.

The bill gives buyers until September 30, 2010 to receive the home buyer tax credit for homes they signed to purchase no later than April 30, but have not yet closed on. The previous bill required those homes had to be closed no later than June 30, 2010.

While the bill will come as good news to anyone who has been trying to close on their home purchase for the past two or more months, it will not help any new home buyers, or those who signed to purchase after April 30.

The home buyer tax credit gave up to $8,000 in tax credit to new home buyers and up to $6,500 to home buyers who had lived in their previous residence for five or more years. The tax credit was initially passed last year with the economic stimulus package, but only for first-time home buyers. That bill was extended from its December 1, 2009 deadline with an added benefit--a smaller tax credit available for home buyers who currently owned a home.

The closing extension has been in the works throughout the past month, but was repeatedly attached to jobs and economic stimulus bills that would increase government spending, thus prompting Senate Republicans to shoot the bills down. The bill finally passed last night when separated from other cost-increasing bills. CNNMoney.com reported that the extension "will lower the deficit by $9 million over a decade since it is offset by certain other provisions."

Had the bill not passed, an estimated 200,000 people would have not received the tax credit because they did not close on their purchase by the June 30 deadline, CNNMoney.com reported. Many of those purchases are short sales, which don't often close quickly.

Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for any further developments with the extension of the home buyer tax credit closing date.

Home buyer tax credit closing extension passes House, on to Senate

2010-07-01T07:02:00.000-04:00

One week ago, it appeared that the bill to extend the closing date of the existing home buyer tax credit was dead in the water.

But it now appears the home buyer tax credit closing date may be extended, in the waning hours before its expiration.

According to a RISMedia.com report, "The House of Representatives introduced and passed a proposal to extend the original June 30 closing deadline for home buyers who want to get up to $8,000 in tax credits. The Home Buyers Assistance Act of 2010 would push the deadline to midnight September 30, 2010 on contracts that were signed by the midnight April 30 deadline. The vote was 409 to 5, with 18 not voting."

After the House vote the bill is forwarded to the Senate. The proposal was previously attached to versions of an economic stimulus and jobs bill, which failed twice in June due to lack of support of the proposed increases in spending the bill would enact. Now that the proposal has been removed from that bill, it appears that it has a better chance of passing the Senate vote.

The proposed bill only extends the closing deadline of the home buyer tax credit. The tax credit offered up to $8,000 for qualifying home purchases signed by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010. The proposal will only extend the deadline for those who already signed to purchase homes prior to the April 30 deadline, but did not close by last night's midnight deadline.

Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for further updates on the proposal to extend the home buyer tax credit closing deadline.

Homebuyer tax credit extension? It doesn't appear so

2010-06-29T10:47:00.004-04:00

Since we've talked about the homebuyer tax credit quite a bit in the past, including here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, I should probably mention a few widely-discussed recent items in relation to it.

There has been much discussion that the homebuyer tax credit may receive an extension. I'm not sure if this is fueled more by unrealistic hope or misleading premonitions, like the tax credit extension in California that some believed was a national extension. Either way, the homebuyer tax credit has not been extended past its April 30, 2010 signing/June 30, 2010 closing dates, and it doesn't appear it will be.

Some of the misconception may have spurned off an amendment to a bill in Congress that would have extended the closing deadline for the homebuyer tax credit. H.R. 4213 would have extended the closing date from tomorrow, June 30, 2010, to September 30, 2010. Had this passed, it would have only helped those who were eligible for the homebuyer tax credit and signed to purchase a home before April 30, 2010, but were having trouble closing on the home before June 30, 2010. I wouldn't imagine that would be a very large percentage of those using the tax credit.

Jay Thompson, better known as 'The Phoenix Real Estate Guy,' had more info on H.R. 4213 in his blog entry last week. If any new news comes up, I'll be sure to post it at dripmarketingblog.com.

New Pennsylvania real estate market pages added to PrudentialHomesale.com

2010-06-22T10:48:00.006-04:00

Searching for real estate in the Harrisburg, York, Reading and Hershey areas of Pennsylvania?

Delta Media Group has now made your search easier by adding new market landing pages to PrudentialHomesale.com for real estate regions in southern and Southeast Pennsylvania.

Prudential Homesale Services Group's new landing pages include (click below to view):

Blossom Hill Homes for Sale
Elizabethville Homes for Sale
Honeybrook Homes for Sale
Landisburg Homes for Sale
Laureldale Homes for Sale
Mifflintown Homes for Sale
Minersville Homes for Sale
Mount Holly Homes for Sale
Myerstown Homes for Sale
New Bloomfield Homes for Sale
New Oxford Homes for Sale
Parkville Homes for Sale
Sinking Springs Homes for Sale
Stonybrook Homes for Sale
Weigelstown Homes for Sale
Womelsdorf Homes for Sale
York Springs Homes for Sale

The new real estate market landing pages join several others on PrudentialHomesale.com, including Harrisburg real estate, York real estate, Reading real estate, Lancaster real estate and more.

These landing pages offer website visitors featured Pennsylvania homes for sale, information about the Pennsylvania real estate market they are viewing, the ability to view Pennsylvania homes by price, bathrooms, bedrooms or square footage, the ability to search Pennsylvania real estate by subdivision, the ability to receive new Pennsylvania homes for sale daily by E-mail, and more.

Prudential Homesale Services Group is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Delta Media Group launches new real estate website for Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty

2010-06-21T16:07:00.005-04:00

Delta Media Group recently launched a new real estate website for Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty, an eight-office real estate brokerage in Orange County, New Jersey.

Coldwell Banker Riviera specializes in Orange County homes for sale, especially in the New Jersey real estate markets of Berkeley, Bricks, Colts Neck, Freehold, Howell, Jackson, Lakewood, Manchester, Millstone, Plumsted, Upper Freehold and Wall.

With its new real estate website and lead management system, Coldwell Banker Riviera gives prospective buyers the abilities to easily search Berkeley homes for sale, Bricks homes for sale, Colts Neck homes for sale, Freehold homes for sale, Howell homes for sale, Jackson homes for sale, Lakewood homes for sale, Manchester homes for sale, Millstone homes for sale, Plumsted Township homes for sale, Upper Freehold homes for sale and Wall homes for sale.

RivieraRealty.com's new home page features an interactive New Jersey map that allows visitors to search homes by map for each area of Ocean County, NJ, or other New Jersey counties. Upon clicking the New Jersey area to search homes in, the site goes to an interactive map displaying listings for sale in that area.

Coldwell Banker Riviera is one of the newest real estate website clients of Delta Media Group, and also is utilizing Delta Media Group's new Real Estate Search Engine Optimization services.

Coldwell Banker Riviera Realty is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

'Now more than ever' real estate brokerages need the right marketing

2010-05-26T08:52:00.017-04:00

I can't stand the "now more than ever" talk.

It comes across as a cheap alternative for marketing, advertising and PR types to sound like they're doing their jobs when they really haven't thought through their product well enough to promote it correctly.

I can envision the marketing meetings now.

Corporate type: "We need to sell more widgets and increase our market share. Any thoughts on how to do that?"

Marketing guru: "Well, the economy's in bad shape and consumers are cautious."

Corporate type: "How can we play that to our advantage?"

Marketing guru: "We need to emphasize how our widget helps people save money and live better. People are having a tough time. Our widget will help make life a little easier."

Corporate type: "Good. Put together the story boards/press release/etc. and let's talk Friday."

The marketing guru goes back to his office to rethink his conversation, looking for an angle to approach the story he just sold. He considers the economic news, unemployment numbers and shrinking consumer spending, and begins assembling his pitch.

And that's when it comes up.

"Now more than ever..."

"In times like these..."

Heck, just Google the phrase. You'll see 155 MILLION results. "Now more than ever" was a Nixon campaign slogan. It was the name of an album by Jim Guthrie. "Now more than ever" even appeared in the headline of a recent article about the Lakers on NBA.com.

Sadly, "Now more than ever" and "In times like these" are two of the most cliche lines in advertising over the past two years.

The truth is, these lines are used intentionally to reiterate the financial struggles many families are going through and tell them the company is there to place a theoretical arm around them.

Is it true? Well, it's advertising. So take that as you may. Plus, it sounds good...at least until the 50th time you've heard it from 47 different companies over four different advertising mediums in the same week.

Companies are desperate to gain market share "in times like these." Often, the market as a whole is shrinking, so increasing overall sales is tough. Instead, companies need to take a larger percentage of the total market at the cost of their competitors. This is especially true in real estate. But cliched lingo won't do it.

How can a real estate brokerage grow market share?

While there's no shortage of poorly written and researched advertisements out there, there is a shortage of effective marketing. But two marketing mediums are actually growing, while the traditional mediums are not. Those are online and mobile, and they're both absolutely necessary to continue to compete as the real estate industry and consumers evolve.

Online Marketing in real estate.

Online, the most effective marketing strategy is in way of search engine optimization. With continued declines in newspaper and other print medium subscriptions, more and more consumers are turning to search engines to find what they're looking for.

Having a good ranking among search engines is now essential for real estate brokerages looking to increase their market share. Brokerages have been able to get by in the past with a strong brand or reputable name. This will continue to be true, but without a search engine presence, those companies will lose a constantly increasing stream of new business to real estate brokerage and agent websites that are ranked higher in search results and provide their visitors with a more robust, user-friendly experience online.

Marketing real estate via Mobile.

Part of the ever-increasing growth in searches on search engines has come from mobile use. Smartphone users are growing by the day, and many of those utilize their mobile Web browser to find everything they're looking for. Upon finding that on Google or Bing, mobile users want to access a mobile website that is built to operate quickly, efficiently and cleanly, giving them the answers they want in the quickest possible time.

Apps are definitely a popular fad, but they're not supported on all mobile phones and don't tend to have the same retention rate as good mobile websites. Plus, apps can't be found via a quick Google search. Mobile websites can.

I know this isn't the most detailed blog post on mobile and SEO applications (I'll go into more detail on future posts), but the message is clear:

Now more than ever, real estate brokerages need a strong search engine and mobile presence in order to increase their market share.

Sorry...couldn't help myself.

Harrisburg, PA real estate firm enhances website

2010-05-25T09:33:00.003-04:00

In recent blog posts, I've highlighted details of a few real estate brokerages that have recently signed on to take advantage of Delta Media Group's new real estate search engine optimization services.

One such company is Lawyers Realty LLC. Lawyers Realty is a full-service Harrisburg, Pennsylvania real estate brokerage firm that offers conjoining real estate and legal services.

Delta Media Group recently redesigned Lawyers Realty's www.lawyersrealtypa.com, adding market landing pages for each of its Harrisburg real estate markets on the East Shore and West Shore, easy drill-down Harrisburg-area property search options, enhanced pages, Harrisburg-area real estate content, and more.

Along with Harrisburg real estate, Lawyers Realty specializes in the markets of Camp Hill real estate, Carlisle real estate, Dauphin real estate, Etters real estate, Hershey real estate, Lemoyne real estate, Linglestown real estate, Mechanicsburg real estate, Middletown real estate, New Cumberland real estate, Shiremanstown real estate, Steelton real estate and others.

Lawyers Realty also offers new easy property search options to view Harrisburg homes for sale, Hershey homes for sale, Mechanicsburg homes for sale, and more.

Visit LawyersRealtyPA.com to search all Harrisburg-area homes, or contact Delta Media Group for more information on our Real Estate SEO services.

Lawyers Realty LLC is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Several brokerages adopt DMG's real estate SEO program

2010-05-20T16:40:00.001-04:00

A few other real estate brokerages have recently signed on to Delta Media Group's real estate search engine optimization services from around the country. Some recent additions are listed below:

Bob Parks Realty
Serving the greater Nashville, Tennessee real estate area, Bob Parks Realty has about 400 real estate agents and is a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. Bob Parks Realty specializes in Brentwood homes for sale, Franklin homes for sale, Murfreesboro homes for sale, Nashville homes for sale, and other real estate around Nashville, TN.

Prudential Homesale Services Group
Prudential Homesale Services Group serves southern and southeastern Pennsylvania, primarily in the real estate markets of York homes for sale, Harrisburg homes for sale and Reading homes for sale.

Prudential Zack Shore
Prudential Zack Shore serves the New Jersey coastline consisting of Ocean County and Monmouth County. Real estate markets include Asbury Park real estate, Toms River real estate, Barnegat real estate and more.

RE/MAX Alliance
A Denver real estate brokerage, RE/MAX Alliance also serves Boulder homes for sale, Castle Rock homes for sale, Aurora homes for sale, Arvada homes for sale and more.

Russell Real Estate Services
Russell Real Estate serves the Greater Cleveland area and Northern Ohio real estate. Primary cities Russell Real Estate serves include Cleveland real estate, Amherst real estate, Brecksville real estate, Sandusky real estate and more. Russell Real Estate is also a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.

Delta Media Group has added several new SEO clients in addition to those real estate brokerages listed above. Check back to dripmarketingblog.com for more information on each.

Bob Parks Realty, Prudential Homesale Services Group, Prudential Zack Shore, RE/MAX Alliance and Russell Real Estate Services are paying real estate websites and SEO customers of Delta Media Group.

DMG begins SEO for Columbus real estate

2010-05-20T13:54:00.005-04:00

Delta Media Group welcomed a new client to its Real Estate Search Engine Optimization services this week.

Realty Ohio Real Estate is a Columbus, Ohio real estate brokerage with a new real estate brokerage website built by Delta Media Group.

Realty Ohio's www.realtyohio.com offers Columbus homes for sale, Westerville homes for sale, Dublin homes for sale, Marysville homes for sale, Powell homes for sale, Hilliard homes for sale, Canal Winchester homes for sale, Pickerington homes for sale, Gahanna homes for sale, Galloway homes for sale, Reynoldsburg homes for sale, Whitehall homes for sale, Worthington homes for sale, Sunbury homes for sale, Upper Arlington homes for sale and more.

Realty Ohio was also built with a search of all homes in Columbus subdivisions, as well as directory to search all homes for sale, lots and land in Columbus and all surrounding real estate communities.

Realty Ohio Real Estate joins several other real estate companies to utilize Delta Media Group's real estate SEO services since Delta Media Group first launched its SEO department late 2009, including one specializing in Denver and Boulder Colorado real estate, one specializing in Harrisburg, York and Reading Pennsylvania real estate, one specializing in Ocean Acres, Toms River and Brick Township New Jersey real estate, and more.

Realty Ohio Real Estate is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

Now, search Colorado homes by subdivision

2010-05-19T16:26:00.009-04:00

It's been a while since I detailed some of Delta Media Group's new SEO developments, so I wanted to touch on those for a few blog posts.

Some of the more notable changes have come on RE/MAX Alliance's Denver and Boulder real estate website, www.HomesinColorado.com.

HomesinColorado.com was the first site to truly go live on Delta Media Group's SEO platform, so it has served as somewhat of a beta grounds for new SEO programming and development catered around the Arvada real estate, Littleton real estate, Castle Rock real estate, Fort Collins real estate, Aurora real estate and surrounding real estate markets.

One of the recent developments is Colorado property searches by subdivision. HomesinColorado.com now features Colorado subdivision property searches for each city, directly from that city's market landing page.

To view Colorado real estate subdivision results, click on any Colorado city from HomesinColorado.com, then click its respective subdivision tab near the top-left of the page.

From the Denver real estate page, the link directs you to view Denver Colorado Real Estate Subdivisions. From the Boulder real estate page, Boulder Colorado Real Estate Subdivisions, and so on.

If you'd like more information on Delta Media Group's Real Estate Search Engine Optimization services, contact us at 330-491-2014 or view our SEO services online.

RE/MAX Alliance is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.

'Travis Crane SEO' still prompting inquiries

2010-05-18T11:09:00.006-04:00

Going on a year ago, I wrote a blog entry on a phony SEO marketing pitch submitted as a lead to a real estate website under the pseudonym "Travis Crane" (read the 'Travis Crane SEO' blog entry here).

To date, the phrase "Travis Crane SEO" has been the highest source of search engine traffic to DripMarketingBlog.com.

That fact is both sad and reassuring. Sad in that it appears many real estate agents and brokerages and other websites are getting scammed by a phony lead. And reassuring that these people are at least doing their homework before 1/ falling prey to the scam, or 2/ simply deleting the message without paying attention.

Real estate brokerages have obviously seen that SEO is becoming more and more of a necessity to compete in the world of online real estate, and they have seen that many SEO companies prove to be less than ethical in their practices.

In short, make sure to check out companies offering SEO to your website, particularly if you're not familiar with them, or if you receive information from them via a website lead.

Delta Media Group has begun offering SEO services for brokerage websites it builds. We recently added info on our real estate SEO services and our new SEO platform at DeltaGroup.com. And, we promise, we won't offer SEO services via a lead to your real estate website...

View more details on Delta Media Group's Real Estate Search Engine Optimization services.

Real Estate Website: What NOT to do

2010-03-19T09:29:00.004-04:00

In looking for one real estate website this morning, I stumbled across another of a company with a similar name. But I found a lot more.

I suppose I stayed on the site so long simply because I wanted to see if it was the former website of the company I was searching for. And let me tell you, that wasn't easy. The site was built primarily in Flash, with items S-L-O-W-L-Y unveiling themselves on the home page. It took eight seconds before the company's name appeared. It took another three seconds before the main website picture showed up. And I have a fast Internet connection.

Once the name did appear, I found the company was located in New Jersey. Yet, the first photo I saw was a faint backdrop of running horses, followed by Flash graphics of grass, and then a large picture of a rolling pasture, complete with a laptop and picture of a sunflower on it.

For those of you who have been to New Jersey, can you please explain to me where to find the free, running horses, fields of grass, large, sprawling pastures and vibrant summer sunflowers? Needless to say, all of this caught my attention, but not for any good reasons (read: no company branding, and a complete disconnect with the area the company services).

I proceeded to search for homes...only the website's property search was difficult to locate as the fourth tab from the left in a line of six tabs. The first three, which were obviously FAR more important than the property search: "Our Company," "Our Agents" and "Featured Properties."

Usability tests have shown time and again that consumers visit real estate websites to search for listings, NOT to read about your company. You are in business to provide a service, not to tell people about your rich history. If you went through a drive-thru at McDonald's and found you were being overwhelmed with billboards of the store's history prior to being able to order a cheeseburger, you'd likely keep on driving straight to a competing restaurant. Only, the Internet provides instant gratification MUCH more quickly than a car, meaning your consumers will leave even faster.

Upon finally locating the property search tab, I found the property search was framed from the MLS. Not only is this (and the excessive Flash) awful for SEO, but it's also less than user-friendly.

I don't have many compliments for the website, but one of those was for the listing results page. It had an interactive map at the top showing the listings listed below. But upon clicking a listing, I found the primary call-to-action button, "Schedule a Showing," was located above the listing photo, which was located above the listing details. The visitor's eye typically goes first to the listing photo/s, then below it/them to listing details. By the time the visitor might decide she wants to request a showing, she's too far down the page to see the showing request tab, and has to conduct another search through the page she just looked at to locate it. This may only take seconds, but seconds are a lifetime when trying to capture a customer on a website as quick as possible.

In short, the website was visually compelling. The Flash looked nice, it caught your eye, and it was vibrant. But the features on the site add up to poor usability for consumers, poor placement for search engines, and poor company branding. Those are three of the most vital elements of any real estate website. Missing on all three accounts is inexcusable. I'd love to see the company's Web statistics, because I am confident they're less than desirable.

All this leads to one question: What is a real estate website if it can't capture the kind of business you're aiming to achieve online? Websites are built to function. They're created to give consumers the ability to search for homes. Real estate brokerages and agents would not pay for real estate magazine and newspaper ads convoluted with information about their company and no listings. Why create a website that gives the visitor the same feel?

In your search for a real estate website developer, make sure you're investing in a website that is usable, easy to search, has effective calls to action, and focuses on what visitors come to the website to see--listings. If you're not putting these elements first, you're spending money on a site that won't take full advantage of your online profitability potential.

HomesinColorado.com features new 'Browse Colorado Real Estate' feature

2010-03-17T14:44:00.005-04:00

You might have searched for homes for sale. But have you seen this property search?

Delta Media Group recently built an easy property search drill-down option as part of our real estate SEO platform. This feature is currently testing on RE/MAX Alliance's HomesinColorado.com, a leading real estate website serving Denver homes for sale and Boulder homes for sale.

The link to the Colorado property search drill-down can be found in the left navigation of HomesinColorado.com, titled "Browse Real Estate." It directs Colorado home shoppers to a landing page featuring all Colorado counties RE/MAX Alliance has listings in, complete with direct links to property search results in each respective real estate market in those counties.

The first column of links goes to landing pages of Colorado real estate markets. The second links directly to Colorado homes for sale in the respective markets, and the third links to Colorado lots and land for sale in that market.

The real estate drill-down link is part of an SEO platform Delta Media Group began building last year to help real estate brokerages improve their online performance and search engine standings. It is aimed at Web usability, helping consumers best find the homes they are searching for and the markets they are interested in.

For more information, contact Delta Media Group.

RE/MAX Alliance is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.