Matt Cutts of Google who is currently the head of Google’s Webspam team posted this video below of him and other team members dissecting multiple websites including a Real Estate website.

I’ve embeded the video below and crafted the embed code to start at the point where they are talking about the Real Estate Website. This is a must watch for everyone.

Also did you notice what Theme Matt Cutts uses for his Wordpress blog? He uses the Thesis Theme which also is the theme that runs this site, www.yourlocaltech.com, my Yorba Linda site www.landofgraciousliving.com, and a site I finished building last month www.chicagohomepartner.com

You didn’t know I build sites (should say we since I code and my wife designs)? Well that is because we are slowly stepping into this making sure we can meet our clients needs. If you need design / coding work let us know.

You need a professional email address

Why would you want to have an email with your own domain?

Because you are a professional.

Having an email of johnsmithrealestate@gmail.com does not portray a professional. An email address of john.smith@isellrealestate.com and his website is www.isellrealestate.com is more professional. The email domain matches the website.

Now you are asking what should I do? You love your Gmail. It works great. You can access it from anywhere.

Well you can have that same interface but it works for your domain name. I use it myself for loren.nason@yourlocaltech.com

On June 10th 2010 I will be holding a class showing you how to get this setup yourself.

Register for the class here:
http://www.tomatouniversity.com/courses/view/how-to-set-up-and-use-google-apps-for-your-real-estate-business

Why should you register for this class?

Because this class is only $30.00 for an hour and 30 minutes. At the end of this class you will have a new email setup for your domain. We can also take care of this for you but at a cost of more than $30.00.

If you can’t make the class and still want this done then use the contact page and drop us a line.

Zeek Interactive has created plugin that makes it easy to import your Active Rain posts into your wordpress blog.

Check out the video and then below the video is the link to the plugin.

Download here -> Active Rain Wordpress Import Plugin

Ever since the iPhone came out REALTORS around the world (or at least the USA) have been screaming for the eKEY to be made to work on the iPhone.

You’re dreams have not been lost and then may come true very soon.

And also for you Android users eKEY will also be coming to the Android Platform.

The websites announcing the Android and iPhone software is quite sparse but they do have a signup form to be notified of the availability. I would also suggest calling your local board as they will probably will need beta testers and be better able to tell you of the release date.

iPhone Info -> http://www.ekeyprofessional.com/ekeyiphone.html

Android Info -> http://www.ekeyprofessional.com/ekeyandroid.html

What to hear the BUZZ in Real Estate? Who is rocking the RE World with Social Media Tools?

The BuzzRE event is a half-day conference featuring some of the brightest minds in the online Real Estate space. We’re bringing real estate thought leaders to this one-time event in Orange County and you’re invited to join us! You’ll walk away with concrete steps you can take to jump-start your online marketing campaign and start generating real business out of your website and social media activities.

Who is going to be there?

• Dustin Luther – Founder of 4Realz consulting and Seattle’s Rain City Guide
• Jon Lanser – The Orange County Register’s renowned Real Estate Expert & Blogger
• Loren Nason - Your Local Tech – Expert in Social Media, blogging and making technology accessible.
• Garron Selliken – Founder of HomeQuest & M Realty
• Robin Milonakis - top Local agent & Facebook expert
• Dale Chumbley – One of the most sought speakers in the RE.net today by created a unique approach to the Facebook Business Page.
• Gahlord Dewald – President/Janitor of Thoughtfaucet, national recognized expert in web conversion and analytics.
• Linsey Planeta – Broker Owner of the local M Realty – putting internet theory into practice everyday.
• Stacey Harmon – of Harmon Enterprises is an expert in creating online marketing strategies for Realtors and authors Agent Applause.

Registration begins at 8:30 and we’ll be kicking things off at 9am with speaker introductions and then we’ll dive right into the content.

Who should attend: Realtors, lenders, title, escrow, appraisers, inspectors, virtual assistants, home stagers and anyone else in the real estate world who wants to improve their internet exposure.

When it is: Thursday, April 29th, 2010 from 9am to 12pm

Why you should come: To learn, to network, to get encouragement, to encourage others, to challenge yourself, to get better at what you do.

Special Thanks to M Realty for assisting in bringing in the national voices of the RE.net to Orange County.

Signup Here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113006695378601&ref=ts

Buy tickets here:

http://buzzreoc.eventbrite.com/

P.S. … This site will be going through a minor/major change and a new product from Your Local Tech will be released…Stay Tuned

I still get asked this question quite often so I figured I would post this here. Most of the readers know the answer, but if you find someone asking, forward this to them.

What is the difference between a Real Estate Blog and a Real Estate Website?

The short answer:
There isn’t a difference. At least from how your browser displays it to you.

A blog IS a website and a Website can be a blog.

Further explanation:

At it’s core a blog is just a piece of software to manage the content on your website. Simple as that.

Should I build a new website with this software or build a second site?

A good question.

If you currently have a website that isn’t doing any good for you now I would suggest you scrap the current site and then build a new site using “blogging” software. You will end up with a better performing site and may possibly increase the traffic to your site.

If you have a custom built standard built website I would maybe keep it and build a blogsite to accompany it and help drive traffic back to your main website where hopefully you have a quality mapping IDX home search solution with lead capture.

Have questions? Leave a comment.

This Represents Me at this moment

This is an open apology to all my customers/clients/friends.

This year of 2010 has been a whirlwind of work. I am not complaining and I am DEFINITELY not trying to brag. There is probably a lot of you out there who have not heard back from me by email or phone.

For those of you and gave up hope and called someone else I completely understand. I have dropped the ball on trying to get back to everyone. I don’t have any good excuses. Yeah I could say … “Not enough time in the day” …”i need to clone myself” …. “i forgot and then it becomes to late”

But really they are just excuses and their is no excuse.

I want to publicly apologize to anyone of you that I have let down.

I need to REBOOT!

So, what I am going to do about it?

First I have gone through all emails and voicemails that are older than Jan 1 and archived them so I don’t see them. So if you called or emailed me before the first of the year and still would like me to help you. Then please email or call again.

Second
All the emails and vmails Since Jan 1 I have gone through and made a priority list of whom I will call back.

Third
I am looking into getting a VA

So to everyone out there who reads this blog (all 10 of you) Again I apologize and hope to work with you soon.

In case you wanted to know what have I been doing since the beginning of the year:

I have cleaned virus’s from at least 25 PC’s
I have installed at least 10 new PC’s at different offices and homes

This below is for 1 client
I recovered a complete dead server over this past Friday- Sunday
I recovered the same server again Tuesday and Yesterday
I will be probably building them a new Server Starting this week (depending on client choice)
This server was not a server that was under management. Now the client is seeing why I stress
managed services. I could have caught this problem before it became an issue.

Another client:
I have another 2 PC’s to rebuild from Virus infections right now that I am working on

Two more clients called today with Virus infections

Diverse Solutions announced today that they have released a new IDX product called dsIDXpress. The product allows agents and brokers using WordPress to get property listings on their own website and own domain to be indexed by the major search engines.

dsIDXpress is different than traditional IDX solutions in that it has both the standard consumer search capabilities as well as the ability to insert specific listings or groups of listings into any page or blog post with their Live Listings(sm) shortcodes. The plugin also automatically builds in search-engine-friendly city, community, and zip code pages that show available properties in the respective areas. Furthermore, listing detail pages are available for every property in the MLS.

Overall, dsIDXpress is being touted as a low cost alternative to functionality that was previously only available in high-end custom websites.

The development of dsIDXpress came out of the desire for agents and brokers to have search-engine-indexable IDX listings on their website. With the National Association of Realtors recently adopting changes allowing for search engines to index property listings on an agent’s or broker’s website, the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Diverse Solutions recently completed their beta testing period, and the increase in website traffic from search engines was staggering. Active listings were being indexed by Google and ranking higher than results from the big national sites and large brokers. When asked about the new product, Justin LaJoie, CEO of Diverse Solutions, said, “Since WordPress is quickly becoming the platform of choice for real estate websites, it only made sense that we develop a WordPress IDX plugin that provides the functionality that the industry has been asking for.” The plugin is built with flexibility in mind with the goal of placing the creative power back in the agents and brokers hands instead of being at the mercy of their vendors. Additionally,the Live Listings(sm) shortcode functionality provides the ultimate control on where listings show up on pages or posts. Live Listings(sm) allows agents and brokers to create the perfect city, community, or zip-specific pages with listings that are updated in real time for that area. dsIDXpress also include a number of WordPress IDX widgets, including their search and mapping widgets.

For more information about dsIDXpress, visit www.dsIDXpress.com or simply search for “dsIDXpress” in the WordPress plugin directory.

What are others saying?

Here is Jay Thompson on Geek Estate Blog talking about his experience with IDX Press on his site Phoenix Real Estate Guy:

I’ve been fortunate to be an early tester of this plugin, and can sum its potential up in one word:

Awesome. Radical. Kick ass.

OK, that’s four words. Work with me…

What dsIDXpress does, in a nutshell, is create search engine indexable pages of listings. This can be done via widgets for your listings, cities you work in, zip codes, communities, and even specific IDX links you create in the backend of the Diverse Solutions SearchAgent Pro IDX solution. The plugin also has short code support that makes it easy to integrate listings into a blog post or page.

This is powerful stuff people.

There is a new product I heard about this week. It is a Cloud based CMA report program. Yes, I know you’re either thinking “I already have a CMA program” or “oy vey another cloud product with a trendy cloud name”. But no matter your response you will want to have this program (or at least try it).

What is it called?

CloudCMA – www.cloudcma.com

What is it?

In short. It is a modern CMA/Buyer Tour/Property Profile generating program that does not need any installation. It is web based.

What does it do?

It does provides everything you want in a CMA, Buyer Tour or Property Profile and then some.

• Does your CMA have comparison charts from MLS data and Zillow?
• Is it easy to use? The user interface on Cloud CMA is slick and easy.
• Does your CMA have local school data from Education.com?
• Is your CMA perfectly formatted to counter all objections during a Listing Presentation?
• Can you generate a Property Profile by sending an email?
• Does your CMA offer different themes depending on the appointment?
• Does your CMA automatically update in case you wanted to re-send to the client 1 month out? or 2 months or…?
• Does your CMA automatically pull in pictures from the surrounding area using www.panoramio.com ?
• Will your CMA program have the ability to generate reports by Twitter DM? This one will later after initial release.

You might be thinking… I already do those things above or my software might have some of those features. If you do this yourself manually would you like it to be automated. I don’t know of any CMA product that can generate a report just by sending an email.

Do I have any examples to show you?

Not at this time they are still putting on the spit and polish. But here is a picture of some example pages.

When will it be available?

Soon. It may be available to certain markets this Friday. The official release will be at Inman Connect next week in NYC.

Sign Up at:

www.cloudcma.com

Virtual Real Estate Bar Camp is this Monday? Are you joining? It’s free.

Instead of being a loner holed up in your office all by yourself, find a location that will be hosting a live meetup during VREBC. If you are located in Southern California, you are invited to come and join ME, Pango Group, Eric Bryant, and Stacey Harmon in person for Virtual REBarCamp Meetup in Costa Mesa.

If you RSVP on their post about the meetup you will receive lunch. The post is here:
http://pangogroup.com/pango-group-to-host-meetup-for-virtual-rebarcamp-in-orange-county-ca-on-january-4th-2010/

Event Details:

• When:  January 4, 2010.  9:00 am – 4:00 pm PST
• Where:  Costa Mesa, CA, right off the 405.  (Get directions)
  First Team Real Estate Corporate Office
  3150 S. Bristol Street, Suite 500
  Costa Mesa, CA  92626
• Cost:  Free.  Lunch will be provided for you if you RSVP.  Parking charge is $8 for day or $1.25/hour.
• RSVP:  Leave a comment here on this post with your name and number of attendees.
• Questions? Contact Eric Bryant at 714.722.7231, via email or via twitter.

Hope you can come