Nick Roth

Homebuyers Spend More Time on Facebook than Google

So you think having your website at the number one page rank on Google is enough? Think again. According to Nielsen Media Research, the people who are looking for you are spending three times as long chatting, reading, and posting on Facebook than they are searching on Google. If you're not on Facebook, to those users, you won't exist.

The days of spending thousands of dollars to have your website optimized are coming to an end. Today, having a strong presence on popular social networking sites is the key to being a super star real estate broker and agent.

Productive Realty Franchise owners often ask me how to take advantage of the marketing potential on Facebook, and still have time to run a business. My answer is that you have to embrace social networking strategically. Still today many real estate brokers only put up a Facebook fan page and think that is enough to spur business. There is a vast array of free services in cyberspace to help you market your business and services. One way to keep on top of these services is to keep track of my blog. I post helpful articles at least twice a week on the subject of social networking.

I am the Social Media Resource Specialist for Area Pro Realty. I'm dedicated to ensuring our Real Estate Franchise owners have the technology and support necessary to be on the forefront of Strategic Social Networking. With technology taking leaps and bounds forward on an hourly basis, Real Estate Brokerage Franchise owners need a full-time support staff to keep up with the ever-changing technological demands.

Take a look at how our system and support can transform your business into the powerhouse you know it can be.

www.areaprorealty.com/franchise

Facebook Lite for Real Estate Brokers

Facebook has come out with a new version of their social networking site called Facebook Lite. It's a less cluttered version of the original, which has received complaints about usability.

Facebook Lite reads more like Twitter, and has more screen space (i.e. less clutter and less advertising) This new version makes it easier to send out Twitter-like messages without all of the distractions.

This version can be useful in the Real Estate world for several reasons:

• It works great on a mobile platform, so you can update your followers and customers on the go

• You can, quickly and easily, post a link to a listing or website that may be urgent (i.e. timely news)

• It requires less bandwidth, so you can have several applications running.

The site appears much more professional without apps and ads focused on a younger demographic. There seems to be a big buzz surrounding the new site because of the lack of applications. Some argue that Facebook was propelled into the top spot because of the entrepreneurs behind the some quarter million external apps, and blocking them from what may become a more popular site may be counterproductive. For our purposes, I say it's almost perfect. The only aspect that I see missing from Facebook Lite useful in Real Estate is the groups feature. There is talk of a separate platform for applications, but doesn't that defeat the purpose? Internet users are finding simple, useful sites more attractive these days, so why clutter it all over again?

I will be working on integrating Facebook Lite into our Real Estate Franchise Strategic Social Networking plan in the coming weeks. I'm excited to see how our Realty Franchise owners will find new and innovative ways to use this technology. I'm responsible for ensuring that Real Estate Brokerage Franchise owners at Area Pro Realty are armed with the latest technology for supercharging their exposure on the web. Come find out why so many brokers have made the switch to Area Pro Realty, the most technologically advanced Real Estate Company in the world.

http://areaprorealty.com/franchise

How to Use Facebook for Real Estate

How to Use Facebook for Real Estate

If you operate a real estate brokerage franchise or are an agent working for a real estate broker, you will appreciate the below advice.

A few days ago, I posted a blog called How to Use Social Networking for Real Estate. I received some great comments, and started corresponding with a nice couple from across the country. My post had raised their curiosity, but their use of Social Networking for real estate was limited. They had some doubts about joining Facebook for business purposes.

They were having trouble seeing beyond the casual, social aspect of the site, and hadn't seen the business applications that Facebook had yet to offer.

I wrote them back, and equated Facebook to television. I explained that there are many different channels, networks, and forms of entertainment on TV, some of which could be very useful in business,

FaceBook has groups ranging from casual meeting places to nationwide Real Estate groups, and the largest of them has 40,132 members at this moment.

Here is the advice I offer to you to maximize your Facebook effectiveness:

• Create a Facebook page strictly for business

• Join local or national groups that are relevant to what you are trying to accomplish

• Keep personal contacts(ie friends and family)separate from your business profile

• Link your Social Networking sites to each other via widgets (small buttons that can be added to your website or blog that take the reader to another page that you have posted content on).

Our Real Estate Franchise owners at Area Pro Realty are well trained on how to use Facebook to enhance their business. Strategic Social Networking is just one of the many technological advances that I'm spearheading. If you're interested in learning more about our Realty Franchise, then check us out at www.AreaProRealty.com/franchise.

"There are a lot of real estate franchises for sale, choose wisely, as the most innovative franchise might have been one you haven't considered"

How Real Estate Agents Can Obtain Clients Using Twitter

Since working for Area Pro Realty (a new national real estate brokerage franchise) I've come across a number of people wanting to know everything from how Twitter works in theory, to how Twitter could possibly apply to helping a Real Estate agent.

The concept of Twitter is simple. It resembles a text message sent via a website to update people. Some people are fascinated by the mundane tasks that make up our world outside of cyberspace. This especially applies to celebrities and other public figures. It can also be used for getting important information out to people who care about you when you're not near your computer thanks to the mobile Twitter feature for your cell phone. You have 140 typed characters to say what you want to say, so brevity and strategizing your words is important.

Here are some tips us real estate professionals can use to help our careers:

•· TinyURL-Visit Tinyurl.com to shorten even the longest of links . This comes in handy when you want to tweet about something you saw online and the web URL is very long.

•· HashTags-Put a # symbol before a keyword. Some topics get tens of thousands of hits. Go to hashtags.org to learn more about popular hashtags.

•· Marketing- Attach a "Follow me on Twitter" link on your website, your blogs and emails. The more people you get to follow you, the more exposure you get for your listing.

Our Real Estate Franchise owners at Area Pro Realty are well trained at how to use Twitter to enhance their business. Strategic Social Networking is just one of the many technological advances that I'm spearheading. If you're interested in learning more about our Realty Franchise, then check us out at www.AreaProRealty.com/franchise.

"There are a lot of real estate franchises for sale, choose wisely, as the most innovative franchise might have been one you haven't considered"

Use FriendFeed to Find a Ton of Clients

Username: MVolkin, connnect with me on FriendFeed.com!

FriendFeed.com is a website that in one place aggregates your friend's (or potential cleints's) streams from across different social sites. In other words, from one user, you can view real-time updates from Twitter posts, Facebook updates and tons of other websites. FriendFeed can be an extremely useful website for getting to know your local community and marketing to clients, but be careful of its addictive nature. FriendFeed can easily give you information overload and you could get lost for hours clicking away at the vast amount of information.

To find people on FriendFeed, simply create an account (I'll be your first friend; connnect with me on FriendFeed.com, username: MVolkin). Once your account has been created, log in and click Browse/edit groups (bottom right side of the page). Here, you can search for groups where your target audience may be. For example, if your looking for real estate clients, search for your city or town name. Or better, yet find people with similar interests in your area. So if you play Tennis in Sacramento California, look for a tennis group in Sacramento Join the group and start communicating with potential clients instantly.

Link up with me on FriendFeed and I'll show you how to network strategically online. Log in, click "browse/edit friends" in the middle of the page on the right hand side. Then, click "find/invite friends", and in the text box type mvolkin. Once my picture pops up, simply click "subscribe". These are the kind of ideas you will get for free if you join Area Pro Realty, a new real estate franchise focusing on leveraging technology. With our realty franchise, you can start and maintain a brokerage at a shockingly low cost.

Michael Volkin is the President of the most innovative real estate franchise in the US, inventors of strategic social networking, Area Pro Realty. Brokers, come and check out what a new realty franchise can do for you. There are many real estate franchises for sale, choose wisely as the most attractive one is right under your nose. If you think social networking is a great way to expose yourself online, check out our real estate franchise opportunties.