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

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.

New: Denver Real Estate, Denver Homes blog

2010-02-04T11:43:00.004-05:00

In my last blog entry, I mentioned the new Boulder Real Estate and Boulder homes for sale blog.

Now, make sure to check out the latest Denver Real Estate and Denver homes for sale blog, DenverRealEstateHomes.blogspot.com.

Like the Boulder Real Estate blog, DenverRealEstateHomes is built to provide up-to-date Denver homes and Denver real estate information, including info on Denver communities, Denver neighborhoods, and more.

RE/MAX Alliance is a leading Denver Real Estate brokerage specializing in Denver homes for sale. Use HomesinColorado.com to search homes in Denver, read more Denver info, and more.

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

Check out the new Boulder Real Estate blog

2010-02-04T11:27:00.004-05:00

Now, there's a new blog for Boulder homes for sale and Boulder real estate information.

Check out BoulderRealEstateHomes.blogspot.com, a Boulder real estate information blog specifically built to cater to real estate information in and around the Boulder area and Boulder neighborhoods and subdivisions.

RE/MAX Alliance is the premier real estate brokerage in Boulder, Colorado, and they have assembled several real estate blogs to help cover the up-to-date Boulder homes and Boulder real estate news, as well as to keep consumers updated with their Boulder real estate developments.

Visit HomesinColorado.com to search Boulder Homes for sale, view Boulder properties, and see Boulder news and information. And visit BoulderRealEstateHomes.blogspot.com for further Boulder real estate updates.

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

How will the Apple conference affect the real estate industry?

2010-01-27T12:52:00.002-05:00

The Apple media conference is scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes, at 1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific.

How does this relate to real estate? Well, it really doesn't...except that many of Apple's products have created avenues for several savvy real estate agents and brokerages, and forward-thinking real estate technology developers to provide a better real estate experience.

The big news of the Apple conference has already been leaked for weeks. The much-anticipated announcement of the Apple Tablet is stirring excessive chatter on social networks and blogs (like this one). That shouldn't be a surprise. Everything Apple does produces online chatter, and many of the products and innovations it has developed have helped drive the real estate industry.

Will the Tablet live up to the hype? Will it change how we work online? Will it offer advancements that can help propel the real estate industry? Will Apple introduce more products/features/software that will be applied in the real estate industry? Will the iPhone get a software upgrade that is relevant to many of the popular real estate iPhone apps?

Those questions are yet to be answered, but I'll make sure to write about them if we do find some relative real estate products. Until then, I think we can all admire the hype Steve Jobs has helped build about the conference.

New Downtown Denver Real Estate Market pages on HomesinColorado.com

2010-01-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

Last week I wrote about RE/MAX Alliance's new Downtown Denver Real Estate markets page.

Since that time, the Denver real estate company has added several new Downtown Denver real estate market pages to their Downtown Denver neighborhoods, with Denver real estate details, Denver homes for sale, history, and other unique information about Denver's varied downtown real estate markets.

Make sure to check out the Downtown Denver Real Estate Market page, or visit HomesinColorado.com for more Denver Homes for sale, Boulder homes for sale, and additional Colorado real estate information.

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

Don't forget about LeadingRE Annual Conference 2010

2010-01-21T23:36:00.000-05:00

Considering your real estate conference options for 2010?

If you're an owner, broker, relocation director, or manager of a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™, make sure to reserve March 9-11.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World™ is holding their annual real estate conference at the Encore at the Wynn in Las Vegas this year. The conference regularly proves to be among the best and most informative in the real estate industry, and features top speakers, companies and brokers from around the nation.

Check out events.leadingre.com for more details on the LeadingRE Annual Conference.

Real estate website developer Delta Media Group is a preferred vendor Associate of Leading Real Estate Solutions™.

HomesinColorado.com launches Downtown Denver Real Estate Market pages

2010-01-18T11:16:00.005-05:00

Downtown Denver offers several neighborhoods that each have their own unique elements.

In order to best understand these neighborhoods, RE/MAX Alliance has just launched its Downtown Denver Real Estate Markets/Neighborhoods page.

The Downtown Denver Real Estate Markets/Neighborhoods page details each of the respective Downtown Denver Real Estate markets--Auraria Campus, Ballpark District, Belcaro, Bonnie Brae, Capitol Hill, Central Business District, Central Platte Valley, Cherry Creek, Curtis Park, Five Points, Golden Triangle, Highland, Jefferson Park, La Alma/Lincoln Park, Lower Downtown (Lodo), Observatory Park, Park Hill, Riverfront Park, Uptown and Washington Park--and links to pages that provide more Denver homes and real estate information, neighborhood info, community info, etc. for each.

Currently, the Downtown Denver Real Estate Markets/Neighborhoods page links to Auraria Campus, Ballpark District and Belcaro real estate pages. But RE/MAX Alliance's Denver real estate website will soon feature several additional pages for each Downtown Denver Real Estate market. Check back to HomesinColorado.com for more details, or to search all Denver real estate, Boulder real estate, and more.

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

Delta Media Group releases several new system advancements

2010-01-12T12:02:00.004-05:00

It's only a couple weeks in to the new year, but real estate website developer Delta Media Group has been busy with several recent advancements to its real estate website and lead management systems.

First, Delta Media Group added search filters so consumers could choose to view all IDX open houses, or only those of the respective real estate brokerage whose website he was on. The real estate website developer detailed the open house search filter on its company blog last week.

Then, Delta Media Group added an admin zip code setting, allowing franchises to lock agent and market zip code settings to prevent office overlap in separate real estate markets.

Delta Media Group also added more options for its existing Google Analytics incorporation, allowing brokerage website users to incorporate Google Analytics codes to track only the Web activity of their brokerage website, or that of the brokerage and all agent websites as one entity.

Delta Media Group also added the ability for franchise real estate brokerages to enter franchise agent IDs in the system, along with their MLS agent IDs, for better website communication between the brokerage and franchise Web systems.

Finally, Delta Media Group added a group column in the CSV export of the CRM/drip marketing system, so brokers and agents can filter their exported spreadsheets by groups, allowing for easier coordination between external lead and contact management systems.

These are just a few of the system developments Delta Media Group has updated between the end of 2009 and early 2010. Stay tuned for several additional real estate website updates from Delta Media Group.

RE/MAX Alliance adds new Castle Rock Real Estate Info pages to HomesinColorado.com real estate website

2010-01-11T18:17:00.004-05:00

In our ongoing efforts to help RE/MAX Alliance capitalize on their Denver Real Estate and Boulder Real Estate website, www.HomesinColorado.com, Delta Media Group has added several new Colorado Real Estate landing pages.

Now, when searching for Castle Rock Real Estate information, visitors to HomesinColorado.com will find market landing pages to each of the major Colorado real estate markets. In addition, RE/MAX Alliance just added a page featuring important Castle Rock Real Estate links.

The Castle Rock Real Estate links page is coordinated with RE/MAX Alliance's existing Castle Rock Homes and Real Estate Information page, which is built to feature Castle Rock Homes for Sale, Castle Rock Real Estate information, Castle Rock Real Estate agent information, additional helpful Castle Rock Real Estate links, and other helpful pages on Denver Real Estate, Boulder Real Estate, Arvada Real Estate, and other Colorado Real Estate information.

Visit www.HomesinColorado.com to search RE/MAX Alliance, a paying website customer of real estate website developer Delta Media Group.

Delta Media Group builds new Arvada Real Estate Info page

2009-12-22T00:11:00.004-05:00

Searching for Arvada, Colorado homes for sale?

Delta Media Group has been working with RE/MAX Alliance to build the best available website to search Arvada homes for sale, and find all other Arvada real estate needs.

The new Arvada Real Estate Market page on RE/MAX Alliance's HomesinColorado.com is built to provide Arvada homes for sale, Arvada Real Estate information, the Arvada Real Estate location, help consumers browse Arvada real estate, search Arvada homes for sale, view Arvada real estate agents, and more.

In addition, HomesinColorado.com's new "Arvada, Colorado Real Estate" location page is built to help consumers locate Arvada, Colorado, see its proximity to other Colorado real estate markets, and view additional Colorado homes for sale around the Arvada real estate market.

Check out HomesinColorado.com for more information on Arvada real estate, to search homes for sale in Arvada, and all other Denver real estate, Boulder real estate and Colorado real estate information.

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