From Imperial Valley News.

San Diego, California – United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that after a one-week trial, a federal jury in San Diego convicted Carlsbad real estate agent Aida Agusti Castro and her son, Orange County attorney Stephen Kenneth Chrysler, of multiple counts of wire fraud for their roles in an $8 million mortgage fraud scheme involving 16 separate homes in Oceanside, Escondido, San Marcos, Lakeside, and Menifee.

After the jury returned its verdict, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller remanded both defendants into federal custody pending their sentencing, which is currently scheduled for July 30, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.

Stephen K. Chrysler, an attorney and loan broker licensed with the California State Bar and California Department of Real Estate, was the owner and CEO of SKC Real Estate in Carlsbad, California. His mother, Aida Agusti Castro, was a licensed salesperson with the California Department of Real Estate, an officer of SKC Real Estate, and worked as a real estate agent for the company. Evidence at trial proved that between 2005 and 2007, the two defendants created 30 separate false loan applications, along with other fraudulent supporting documents, that they submitted to mortgage lenders in order to obtain over $8 million in mortgages to unqualified borrowers, including:

See full post here.

It is indeed a big bust after the Orange County Attorney And Real Estate Agent Coviceted For $8Million Mortgage Fraud just few days ago. With this article, hope that this will serve as a warning to everyone who are planning to engage in the real estate industry.

From St. Louis Today.

Home foreclosures are picking up again in St. Louis, although the rate remains below the levels of a year ago.

Figures from RealtyTrac show that 4,841 homes were in some stage of foreclosure in the first quarter of this year. Homeowners were either declared in default, or their homes were scheduled for auction, or already in the bank’s hands.

That’s up 8.6 percent from last fall, indicating that banks are getting more aggressive at taking back homes, after dealing with last year’s scandals over faked legal documents in foreclosure cases.

“They’re more confident that their paper work will pass muster, so they’re going ahead and foreclosing,” says Karen Wallensak, director of Catholic Charities Housing Resource Center, which counsels people behind on their mortgage payments. “Some people have been hanging on for a year, not making their mortgage payments, but not being asked to leave.”

Read full post here.

If you heard about Foreclosures Up 8.6 % In St Louis then you should also take time to read related articles about real estate matters if you are looking to buy for a new home or invest you money in real estate. You can also leave a comment below this post to start a discussion.

From AoL Real Estate.

The foreclosure crisis, which has caused around 4 million people to lose their homes, has wreaked havoc on many neighborhoods. Foreclosed homes drag down property values when they swell the housing supply and sell at below-market rates. These bank-owned homes also can erode the character of communities by attracting all manner of blight as they sit unoccupied.

The foreclosure scourge is especially acute in minority neighborhoods, according to a recent report by the National Fair Housing Alliance, which found that banks take much better care of their foreclosed properties in predominantly white neighborhoods than those in minority communities.

Some nonprofits are taking robust measures to combat the epidemic of foreclosures, also known as REO (for “real estate owned”) homes. Three of them, Rebuilding Together, NeighborWorks America and the National Community Stabilization Trust, recently announced a new partnership designed to ramp up efforts to revitalize clusters of bank-owned foreclosures, highlighting what appears to be a growing focus on maintenance as a means to mend the housing market.

Full post here.

We all know that there are many citizens looking for a new home. For real estate investors, try to consider Foreclosure Rehabbing – A Great Way To Add Value To Bulk REO Homes as one of your marketing strategies. You can be one of the successful real estate brokers if you try this kind of method.

From Creative Wealth Club.

With all the bank reo property that banks are trying to unload these days, there are ways to position your marketing and investing to pick them up in BULK.

That could mean picking up 2–5 Bank REOs in a package deal…

Or it could mean 5–25 houses or more.

It just depends on the lender and the relationship you have with them.

Generally speaking, as a smaller investor I’m not suggesting you go to Bank of America trying to get them to sell you bulk reo packages.

However it’s important to realize that not all lenders are created equally…

In other words there are lenders that fit into different niches. B of A would be a large lender obviously.

But what about the small to middle sized lenders.

These would be more local and regional lenders.

Full post here.

If you are already familiar with the Quick And Easy Ways To Get Target Banks With Bulk REOs then you will not find any difficulties in finding the right home for you. Try to read more related articles that has something to with bulk reo homes and surely you will find success in the future.

From the Bulk REO Florida.

1143 S Loop Blvd, Lehigh Acres

PROPERTY DETAILS

Price: $23,900
Address: 1143 S. Loop Blvd
City: Lehigh Acres
State: FL
ZIP: 33936
MLS #:
Square Feet: 812
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
Basement:

Go to full post here.

If you are able to read and learn about the real estate latest news then you will not find difficulties in find the right home for you. Take note that there are Some Bulk REOs In Florida For Your Review for you to able to get the information you need to learn.

From UPI.com

Attracted by super affordable prices, buyer walk-in traffic is up and tons of prospective homebuyers are kicking tires across the nation during this spring sales season. Inventories are at record lows, which should strengthen prices if you believe in supply and demand. So why are sales plummeting and prices not rising as hoped?

NAR reported Friday that existing home sales are down 2.1 percent from last month, not necessarily a big deal until you realize those are March numbers when sales are supposed to rise. Prices, however, are not doing what is expected of them. The Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey says they are falling just when optimists had hoped spring sales would boost the housing economy into the black and begin the long awaited recovery. NAR had March prices up 2.5 percent over a year ago.

According to the Campbell survey, home prices for non-distressed properties fell 5.7 percent from March 2011 to March 2012. Prices for damaged REOs fell 5.7 percent and for move-in ready REOs, prices fell 2.5 percent during the same one-year period. And for short sales, prices fell 14.3 percent, year-over-year. The total share of distressed properties in the housing market in March, as represented by the HousingPulse Distressed Property Index (DPI), was 47.7 percent, using a three-month moving average. This was the 25th month in a row that the DPI has been above 40 percent.

Full post here.

With the news that Number Of Walk In Buyers Increasing in the market today, you may have a good timing to buy your new home. All you need to remember is to always be careful and you must study carefully about the home you are going to buy.

From The Daily Progress.

That’s better!

Home sales in Central Virginia were up 9.2 percent in the first quarter, versus the same quarter in 2011. Might this be the start of a sustainable trend? We should hope so, because a healthier housing market signals general economic health, especially in this region. Home sales and housing construction send positive economic ripples out in every direction. Into home furnishings. Into the construction sector. Into landscaping. It’s a healthy list.

Affordability continues to improve overall as well. Both the average sales price (down 7.5 percent year over year) and the median sales prices (down 2.7 percent) are trending lower. The median price did climb a bit in the individual month of March, perhaps another reflection of an increasingly healthy market.

Other good signs from the Q1 market summary of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors:

- The inventory of homes for sale is declining. For months on end, real estate pros have observed that the glut of homes for sale has resulted in an unbalanced market. Good for choosy buyers (few as they may have been), but not so hot for sellers.

- Foreclosures and short sales were down 29.8 percent at the end of the quarter, compared to the end of Q1 in 2011.

Read full post here.

Now that you have learned about real estate venture, you surely have the idea what and when to buy for your own home. According to Central Virginia Home Sales Up 9.2 Percent While Many Other Areas Still Declining, this should be a signal that there is a good demand in the real estate industry.

From Mercury News.

The Bay Area is seeing more improvement than other markets nationwide, but its lack of inventory is a problem, according to Rick Turley, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for the San Francisco Bay Area. Turley recently told Silicon Valley agents they need to educate their clients about the real story behind their local markets.
“We have a dearth of listings everywhere. Inventory is the lowest it’s been in four to five years in every county,” Turley told members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.
Turley said the market is heating up but hampered by very low inventory, which have resulted in numerous multiple offers. Places like San Francisco have a mere three months supply of inventory. A healthy market has at least four to six months supply of inventory, said Turley.
“Inventory is what is going to put a cap on what we do this year,” said Turley.
Turley also observed that the Facebook factor and improved employment picture in Silicon Valley has led to a shift in buying patterns of San Francisco’s younger buyers, who now prefer properties in the Mission District, Potrero Hill areas, places that are closer to their employers in the valley.

Read full post here.

If the latest news says that there is A Housing Shortage Problem In The Bay Area then this should be given attention immediately. The government must have to do something right away to solve this problem.

From Main Street.

A new report out by Fitch Ratings says that short sales, long dreaded by borrowers while much maligned by realtors and lenders, may have a big impact in getting the U.S. real estate market back on its wobbly feet.

The report says short sales of U.S. residential homes is “gaining momentum”.
Short sales are triggered when a piece of real estate – usually a residential home – is worth less than the amount owed on the mortgage. Short sales occur when the borrower and lender agree that selling the home at a loss is better than having the property fall into foreclosure.

The Fitch report says that short sales should pick up speed after a recent Federal Housing Finance Agency proposal to speed up the short sale process (which can take weeks or months longer than a normal home sale, thanks mainly to foot-dragging from reluctant lenders).

That ruling seems to be paying dividends, as Lender Processing Services reports that in January, short sales actually outpaced foreclosures for the first time ever. Taking properties off the market via short sale is highly preferable to having them in foreclosure, which can drive down neighborhood homes values and potentially ruin the homeowner’s credit.

Read full post here.

It is indeed a good sign to see if Short Sales Good For Flushing Debt Out Of The Market. This means to say that the economy is getting better.

From USA Today.

Short sales outnumbered foreclosure sales in 12 states in January, indicating that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loan.

Short sales — which occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what’s owed — were up 33% in January year-over-year, and preliminary February numbers also look strong, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.

Its data underscore lenders’ increased willingness to do short sales, which tend to harm neighborhoods less than foreclosures. Homeowners also may regain eligibility for a new mortgage sooner than those who go through foreclosure.

More short sales “is mostly a good thing,” says Ira Rheingold, of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. One concern is that homeowners may have to short sell after being denied loan modifications that would have enabled them to stay in homes, he says.

Read full post here.

You should take the chance in finding what is best for you since More And More Short Sales With Lower Prices. Take a little time to leave a comment related on this post and let other readers learn more about the topic.

At Dakno, we always strive to provide agents with resources to help them get the most out of their marketing efforts. That’s why when Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet) and Bob Corcoran, of Corcoran Consulting & Coaching, came to us with the idea to offer free weekly webinars to agents, we jumped on board.

Free Weekly Webinars Starting This Tuesday

Tuesday, February 7th at 5pm (eastern) will be the official launch of REdominance – A free weekly coaching and training webinar to help you stay ahead of your competition. I’ll be kicking things off with a session on Online Lead Generation. In this webinar, I’ll lay out a clear road map that you can immediately implement to find the low-hanging fruit that so many agents overlook in their quest for “more leads.” So, go ahead and take a moment to register for the webinar. I’ll wait here until you get back.

Each week, either I, Michael Russer or Bob Corcoran will personally lead the webinar based upon our respective expertise.  This means you continually get new ideas, tools and strategies that you can apply immediately to your business –whether online, offline, systems, teams, VAs, SEO and more.

Our Promise: A No Pitch Zone

Don’t worry, these webinars will be jam packed with free strategies and information but devoid of pushy sales pitches. Our goal is to simply be a resource to help you succeed.

The Companies Behind REdominance

REDominance (for Real Estate Dominance) is made up of a Strategic Alliance of the top three leading-edge coaching and marketing firms in the industry. I’m sure you are already familiar with them but, just in case, here’s a quick overview:

• Dakno Marketing – Led by yours truly, our marketing strategies help agents and brokerages leverage the internet to grow their business.
• Corcoran Coaching & Consulting – Led by CEO Bob Corcoran, the company focuses on turning high-performance Realtors into CEO’s of their own team through systems, offline marketing and team building.
• Online Dominance – Led by CEO Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®) is the industry’s only online niche marketing, online lead conversion and Virtual Assistant coaching company.

The Details

The weekly webinar will take place every Tuesday from 5pm-6pm (eastern). Note that you must register to get access to these free webinars. So go ahead and sign up. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

As always, we want to hear from you. If you have any ideas on topics or just want to give us some feedback, feel free to chime in below in the comments.

To Your Success,

Brad Carroll

New No-Cost Weekly Coaching Series was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

We are excited to announce a beta release of our new AgentBackdoor Toolbar. This toolbar gives you easy access to edit and update content directly from the front end of your website. Simply go to a page of your website and click the “Edit this page” button on the toolbar. From here you will be taken to your content editor. It’s as simple as that.

There’s nothing to install on your computer. To enable the toolbar, simply login to your AgentBackdoor Control Panel and then visit your website.

FAQs

Will other visitors be able to see this toolbar?

No. Only you and your other site admins can see this toolbar. Everyone else will see your standard website without the toolbar.

Wow, this makes it so much easier to edit content. What else can the toolbar do?

This is just the beta release of the toolbar. We have big plans for it including the ability to give you real time feedback on how well your pages are optimized, easy integration with our DaknoIDX product and the ability to give you up-to-date server status and announcements. Stay tuned for new releases and updates.

New AgentBackdoor Toolbar Launched – Editing Your Website has Never Been Easier! was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

Summer is over and the holiday’s are quickly approaching. This is a great time to stop and be thankful for what we have and consider how we can help others. With this in mind, Dakno Marketing has decided to partner with The Triangle Spokes Group, a non profit, whose goal is to provide brand new bicycles and helmets to kids that can’t afford them.

For every SwiftSite, SwiftBlog or Hybrid website purchased now through Thanksgiving Day, Dakno Marketing will donate a new bike and helmet to be given to a need-worthy child.

If you’re like me, you can still remember that special Christmas morning running down stairs to see a brand new bike by the tree – racing out the door still in my PJs wanting to test out my new bike.

I was reminded of that feeling, more than ever, just last week when we took the training wheels off my son’s bike. A few scrapes and bruises later, he is now enjoying the fun and freedom that two wheels can bring.

With today’s high rates of childhood obesity and exercise consisting of walking from the couch to the Xbox to swap out a game, getting outside and taking a ride is paramount. This, combined with the simple joy and fun a bike can bring to a child, is why we have decided to join Triangle Spokes Group to help meet their goal of donating 500 bicycles this Christmas.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in a dynamic, lead generating website, now is a great time to do it. You will not only improve your marketing and business, you will also help surprise a child this holiday season with a brand new bike.

Websites for Bikes – For Each Real Estate Website Purchased, We’ll Donate a Shiny New Bike to a Need-Worthy Child was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

By the way, the genesis of this post came after leaving a comment on a Facebook friend’s profile offering tips for uploading a YouTube video. It dawned on me this information would be useful for all real estate professionals. Don’t you find comments can make an easy transition to blog posts?

YouTube is a Pretty Deal When It Comes to Search!

If you own a Flip video camera, never perform a direct upload from Flip camera to your YouTube channel. Doing that shortcuts many features and details that would provide your video greater exposure! Remember, YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. If you want your video to “get seen” it’s imperative you pay strict attention to these details.

1. Save your video file to your computer’s hard drive
2. Before uploading the video file to YouTube rename the file name so it is keyword-rich and Googelious (example: your-last-Hilton-head-real-estate-agent.mov). Now you can upload your video to YouTube.
3. Next, write a brief description placing at the beginning of the description a “full path” hyperlink to a related page on your website that contains related, more robust information that is relevant to the video.
4. Using your targeted keywords, describe the video.
5. Now add tags that are relevant to the video

Finally, the point of YouTube (and any other social media portal) is to gently nudge your friends, fans, followers, visitors back to your website, blog and IDX which form the foundation of your online marketing efforts. Hence the reason for offering the hyperlink to a related resource on your real estate website or blog.

2 Bonus Video Tips!

1. Always, always give your web address in your videos. You can even have your real estate marketing partner design a “slide” with all your contact info and position it at the beginning of the video and at the close of the video during the editing process.

2. You gain “authority” at YouTube if you will leave genuine comments on other videos. Plus, this helps the video gain more exposure as the comments typically validates with Google what the content of the video is all about. Remember the video with the baby biting Charlie’s finger? Take a look at the bazillion comments. Most tell something about the video. “The baby biting Charlie’s finger is sooo cute.” Now go leave comments at videos by members of your referral network.

How About Other YouTube Tips?

If you have a YouTube video tip, please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Related Post – 10 Tips to Creating Real Estate Videos!

Become a Facebook Fan of Dakno!

Until next time,

Bobby

5 Easy Tips to Uploading Optimized Real Estate Videos to YouTube! was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

Fair Housing Law!

The words I’m referring to all revolve around Fair Housing Act laws. It makes no difference what state you practice real estate in we are all governed by the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Just in case you have forgotten, here is what Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) states:

As amended, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and handicap (disability).

Dirty Words You Should Never Use in Online and Offline Real Estate Marketing

Below is a list of “unacceptable words and phrases” your web copy and ad copy should avoid!

• able-bodied
• adult-only/living/community
• near churches
• no hearing, sight, mobility impaired
• executive
• married couples, singles-only, couples-only, male or female only
• no children
• empty nesters
• active
• exclusive
• private
• mature individuals

Acceptable Keywords You Can Use

Here is a “safe” list of “acceptable keyword terms” you can use in your online and offline real estate marketing:

• great for families (yes, you can use this term!)
• near golf courses, near bus transportation, parks nearby, houses of worship nearby
• luxury condo
• luxury home
• quiet residential neighborhood
• fixer upper
• gated community
• family room
• den
• credit check required

Don’t Forget About Your Website/Blog Images!

Does this Happen to You?

Now that Brad and I have completed our post licensing classes we have tons of blog post ideas to share with our clients and our blog subscribers. It’s amazing how often during pre-license and post-license classes Brad and I would make eye contact the moment the instructors shared important information that we knew would make great blog posts topics.

Do you experience similar moments when you take CE classes? Do you listen for ideas for website content and blog topics? If not, maybe you should. Leave a comment and tell us what topics you wrote about as a result of attending a RE CE class.

Bobby

P.S. Stay tuned for more posts to follow that deal with pre and post real estate licensing  and real estate marketing.

Dirty Words You Should Never Mention in Real Estate! was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

Obviously you want people to see your website (organic traffic) – the key is to build a portal to get home buyers and sellers to your site and then show so much value that they come back. Content building may sound a bit daunting, but it’s very similar to building a relationship. While the content speaks to your site visitors, it’ll also be speaking to Google.

Your Valuable Web Content Builds Relationships!

When you start out, you can’t expect Google to instantly fall in love with a portal that lacks credible information and leave it at that. Your content over time (along with link building) establishes the necessary trust for Google to display your website as a true real estate resource. In time, that trust will also transfer over to your website visitors too.

With that said, your content is “evergreen” meaning once it’s created, it’s there forever. You’ll want to put in the time, effort and resources to ensure that content represents your website as a valued source in your real estate market.

In a nutshell: If you want your website to feed you, feed your real estate website with quality content.

Here are some great ideas to get you on your way to creating outstanding valuable content in the eyes of your prospects and search engines too.

Hyper Local Content is The Ticket!

1. The foundation of your real estate website is your IDX property search solution. Next, from a content perspective is your hyper local content! One of the best ways to be seen as a knowledgeable local real estate expert is to offer awesome, detailed neighborhood and condo building information! When generating this content, think like a home buyer. What information about a neighborhood would benefit them? How about details like lifestyle amenities? What about available listings for sale in the neighborhood? When the local neighborhood HOA meets. Where kids can play, swim, or ride their bikes? Offering this empowering information will also help you attract more qualified engagements to your site as well. You might want to use these examples of condo building details pages and neighborhood pages when you create your neighborhood and condo building details pages!

Maintain Your Real Estate Blog!

2. Keep your WordPress real estate blog up to date! Speaking from experience, maintaining a blog is hard work, especially if you are busy! Old, inaccurate information won’t bode well with your website visitors. Don’t forget to back link from your blog posts to your internal hyper local pages in your area section and and condo and neighborhood pages. Checkout Diane Orak’s Palm Coast Real Estate Blog and how she wrote an excellent post on a market update for one of her targeted Palm Coast condo buildings!

Encourage Your Visitors to Hang Around!

3. Create a Sold Data landing web page for each area and a subsequent Sold Data pages for all your neighborhoods and condos. For an example, see this Sold Data landing page for Hudson River condos. (This section almost doubled Walter’s Hoboken real estate condo site visitor time onsite!) Since implementing her sold data landing page and drill down pages for her local Palm Coast condos, Diane Orak’s site traffic is blowing up!

It’s All About Offering Choices!

4. Make a comparison page of your neighborhoods and condos. Check out this awesome Hudson River condo comparison resource!

Just Map It!

5. Use Google’s MyMaps to create unique maps that cure a pain. Identify the type of map your visitors would find extremely helpful. This is an excellent example.

Add Sizzle to Your Real Estate Web Site!

6. Real Estate Video is “HOT!” Make an area real estate video landing page and create custom YouTube players based on your YouTube play list.  Dakno clients Stephanie Young and Marie Sue Parsons did a nice job integrating a Santa Barbara real estate video landing page with custom YouTube player.

Breaking News!

7. Want to be validated as an “area expert?”  Gain news media credibility and create an online newsroom for your press releases.  LA Real Estate Agent Valerie Fitzgerald offers a terrific example as does Raleigh REALTOR Linda Craft!

Get Social – But Be Targeted!

8. Create targeted your social media landing pages. For an example, look at @REATOR_Vickie’s Twitter landing page for her All Access Realty’s website!

Dakno Introduces Iframed Facebook Fan Page Custom Tabs!

9.We recently rolled out a new Facebook App feature to allow Dakno site owners to create pages on their site that can be easily iframed on their Facebook fan page. Option #1- Create a welcome tab for non-fans inviting non-fans to become fans and Option #2- Create a custom real estate tab on your Facebook fan page to offer your calls to action to nudge traffic from your Facebook fan page to your website. If you are a Dakno client, you can implement this incredible enhancement. Contact us to let us know what type of custom tab you would like us to design.

Turn Static Pages Into Dynamic Pages With RSS Feeds!

10. Last but not least, make sure to update hyper-local content to cover events and market updates in your area by putting the power of your blog to use. With your Dakno Agent Backdoor system you can easily RSS feed dynamic hyper local content from your blog into your neighborhood and condo details pages.

With these options, you’re on your way to having expansive, quality content!

Now It’s Your Turn to Brag!

Feel free to leave a comment and let everyone know what unique content you have created on your real estate website that you are proud of. Don’t forget to leave us a link to the content.

Bobby

You’ve Launched Your Real Estate Website, Now What? was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

That’s right. When it comes to converting visitors into fans, the wall ranks dead last in effectiveness. Why? If you think about it, the answer is pretty logical. Web visitors are always thinking, “What’s in it for me?” With your wall as a constant stream of updates, you can’t really address that main concern. That’s where an Incentivized Welcome Page comes into play.

Are You Giving Your Visitors a Reason to Like You?

We actually did some research of our own and decided to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question. We started asking everyone we know (and a bunch of people we didn’t know) what would make someone “like” a Facebook Business Page. Here are the top responses…

1. Free Stuff or Coupons – People want “deals.” They love contests, giveaways and coupons.
2. Events – People want to know what’s going on in the community. One respondent actually went so far to say “If I knew a local agent was going to keep me updated on all the cool things to do in my area, I would even put up with their spam!”
3. Social Connectivity – people love to connect with others who share the same interests.

Now that we have this insight, it’s just a matter of creating a “Welcome” tab that addresses these items. There are a few ways to accomplish this.

Creating an Incentivized Landing Page

Reggie, over at My Tech Opinion, put together a great tutorial on how to add a custom tab to your Facebook Page. However, there are 2 problems with this approach.

1. Facebook makes it labor intensive. As you can tell, there are quite a few technical steps involved.
2. Users who are using Facebook’s new “secure browsing” won’t see your page but will instead see a warning message. Talk about killing your conversion rates! You can purchase a SSL Certificate but that can cost you over $100 a year.

If you don't have a SSL Certificate, your visitors will see this.

I wanted a simpler way to easily pull in content from external pages directly into a custom tab. So when we saw there really wasn’t anything available, we decided to create a Facebook App to do just that. The result is our Custom Tab Creator. The approach is simple. Install the app on your page, point to the landing content you want non-fans to see when they arrive at your page, and click done. It’s as simple as that. The app pulls the content from your site and integrates it into Facebook. No worrying about Developer Apps, Secure SSL Certificates, FBML, etc. It just works.

Configuring The App

The Settings Configuration Page is dead simple. You’ll probably want to show different content depending upon if the visitor to your Facebook Page is a fan or not. After all, there’s no point in showing a page that says “Click Like” if they have already liked your page. With this in mind, we have given you the ability to pull in content from two different sources – one to show Fans and one to show Soon to be Fans. And don’t worry about the App pulling in the wrapper of your site (after all, it would look weird if your entire site – header, menu and all were pulled into Facebook). The app gives you the ability to tell it to only pull in the main content and not all the other design.

What If You Can’t Design a Facebook Page?

If your website doesn’t allow you to create additional pages or you’re not up for laying out your own content, we still have you covered. In fact, we’ve created prebuilt Welcome Tab templates that you can use for your Facebook Page. This means that you can literally be up and running with a Welcome Landing Tab on your Facebook page in about 60 seconds.

Free to Clients with AgentBackdoor

If you’re a Dakno client with an AgentBackdoor site, you already have this Facebook app available to you at no charge. Check out the instructions on how AgentBackdoor site owners can install the app for free.

Don’t Have an AgentBackdoor Site?

If you don’t have an AgentBackdoor site, you can still take advantage of the handy tool. The cost is just $9 setup and $5/month. Yup, that’s it – No contracts or commitment. Remember, by using this app, you eliminate the need to spend the $100/year for the security certificate as we take care of that for you.

Ready to get started?

Visit the Facebook Custom Tab Creator Page for more information and to purchase the app.

Are You A Fan of Dakno?

We recently installed the Custom Tab Creator on the Dakno Facebook Page so you can see an example of what is possible. Check it out – And be sure to become a fan!

Have a Facebook Fan Page? Make Sure You’re NOT Doing This… was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

The Posterous Community – An Eclectic Mashup!

If you have never heard of Posterous, we ask you please crawl out from under your rock and discover one of the most diverse and robust content sharing portals on the interwebs. The social nature of Posterous with subscribers is very vibrant! One of my fav emails I receive each morning is my subscription list of  Posterous blogs. It’s a wonderful stream of the practical to the absurd and everything in between! It never fails to deliver insight and hilarity. Warning! One shouldn’t view Posterous on an empty stomach. Posterous is heavily used for the purpose of displaying #foodporn!

Example of the Power of Posterous!

After receiving a Tweet from a friend at Twitter to review one of their recent real estate blog posts, I decided to create a quick screen capture on the Anatomy of a Real Estate Blog to share with Tweople.  Below is the image of the Posterous post with the embedded screen capture. While I’ve published posts that have received far more page views, take a look at the number of views this particular Posterous post received. Not to shabby.

Like to Learn More About Posterous? Checkout Dakno.TV

If you’re new to Posterous, we invite you cruise on over to view this 45 minute webinar at our Real Estate Video Training Blog Dakno.TV.

If you have a Posterous Blog, feel free to share your link with the rest of us by leaving a comment below!

By the way, we even customize Posterous Blogs for real estate agents.

Feel free to follow the author of this post – Bobby Carroll @rewebcoach

Related Posterous Post – How to Optimize Your Posterous Blog!

Flickr Photo credit: Valentine’s Photo compliments of Nils Geylens

Dakno Real Estate Web Design Loves Posterous! was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

Use Posterous and Create a Real Estate Network for Tech Savvy Agents!

So the latest stroke of genius from Chris and one of his side kicks, Benjamin Bach is this referral network these guys have set up to showcase techie real estate agents at Posterous! This is just one more reason why I’ve got serious man-love for Posterous! The simplicity of emailing your profile, with your photo is just caveman easy as we like to say at Dakno! Brad and I have been big time advocates for agents to take advantage of Posterous. This is one more shining example how agents can set up Posterous sites for your clients the same way Chris established this community for web-savvy agents.

Real Estate Agents Have a Golden Opportunity – Now What?

I was chatting with several Dakno clients telling them they needed to really take full advantage of this strategy when it dawned on me real estate agents might benefit from a simple how to guide to optimizing your Tech Savvy Agent profile. Below is an image of an email with a macked-out, SEO-bustin‘ Tech Savvy Agent Profile served up on a silver platter. Because of all the detail, I encourage you to click on the image to view the larger version.

Step by Step Instructions to Optimizing Your Tech Savvy Agent Profile

By the way, these instructions can be pretty much used for any profile. There are some nuances to these instructions that are germane exclusively to Posterous  and those will be noted below:

1. The subject line of your email is actually your Tech Savvy Agent Profile Title (H1 Tag). This is very important to Google so make sure you include your area keywords in your profile title. (All profiles titles need your keywords. With Posterous, your subject line is your post title).
2. If you really want to go for the SEO gusto for your profile, add your tags to the Posterous post. This is accomplished by adding your tags inside double opening and closing parentheses in the subject line of your email. Simply separate the tags with a comma. (Exclusive to Posterous)
3. When Benjamin says you can add your link to your homepage, I say make the most of this opportunity. Plus, it will make your profile SEO-sticky. Adding links to interior pages deep inside your site is important. All email clients allow you to highlight keywords and add hyperlinks. Don’t go overboard with this but adding links is an awesome way to enhance SEO and make navigation for the consumer easier so they wind up on your online hub of your real estate website and blog.
4. If you call yourself a tech savvy agent, no doubt your online marketing strategy includes social media engagement. Be sure to link to all the places you play on the social media landscape. This will make it easier for consumers to find and connect with you. (Valid for all profiles)
5. One of the most overlooked opportunities for adding SEO-pop to your profiles is create sub headlines and tag those with the H3 tag. It’s equally important to take advantage of these sub headlines to crank out your targeted keywords. (UPDATE: Your Tech Savvy Agent Profile needs to be written in the HTML based version in your email client to retain your H3 tags and NOT in the Text Based version.)
6. When you create your tech savvy agent profile (or any profile for that matter), always strive to convey to the consumer how a relationship with you benefits THEM!! That means telling your buyers or sellers being a solid agent first and a tech savvy agent second helps the consumer in their home buying and selling transaction. Remember, all the techie tools in the world are worthless unless you can leverage them to the ultimate benefit of your client. If you lack the rudimentary agent skills of managing relationships, offering superior client services, lack proper negotiating skills and fail to adhere to your fiduciary responsibility to do all possible to protect your client from financial harm and keep them safe from legal peril, I say lose the tech tools and gain a fresh perspective on the fundamentals of being a “real” real estate agent.
7. Make it easy for the consumer to “connect with you”. I say offer a subtle “call to action” at the conclusion to your profile to connect with you by offering every way imaginable for the consumer to contact you.

What Did I Miss?

Feel free to leave a comment and tell everyone other ways to gain SEO-pop for your Tech Savvy Agent profile.

Helping you connect more effectively!

Bobby

Optimizing Your Tech Savvy Agent Profile was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

Automated Blog Promotion

Everyone loves the Ron Popeil – “Set it and forget it” approach. After all, being able to setup tools to automatically promote your blog is attractive. Once you setup these automated channels, you don’t have to worry about them any more. The only problem is that these automated channels typically do not drive a ton of traffic your way. Why? Because publishers abuse these channels and therefore people quickly begin to see this as noise.

But, that’s not to say that automation doesn’t have its place. Choosing the right forms of automation can be advantageous.

Recommended Blog Automation Channels

Feedburner - Giving people the ability to “subscribe” to your blog and receive blog posts directly in their email inbox is a great way to stay connected with people. Once you set this up, they simply enter their email address and every time you blog, it is delivered as an email. For example, if you haven’t already subscribed, why not see how Feedburner works by subscribing to the dakno blog! 

RSS Feeds – RSS feeds give you the ability to place your blog content almost anywhere on the web. And the best part is, because RSS is a dynamic feed, it’s always up-to-date. If you have an AgentBackdoor site, you can easily add RSS feeds to your site using short codes. This is a great way to keep pages fresh that wouldn’t otherwise be updated very often. For example, a condo  page can include an RSS feed of the latest blog content tagged with that condo name.

Twitter – Depending upon your market (and how active people are on Twitter in your area), you may want to manually submit your blog post to Twitter. Using a plugin like TwitterTools allows you to automatically send a tweet when you publish new blog content.

Outside.in – This hyperlocal news site automatically pulls in your blog content and thanks to their relationship with CNN.com, your content can even appear on the home page of CNN. All by simply spending a few minutes adding your blog to their site.

There are a number of other ways to automatically promote your blog but this should give you an idea.

Recommended Manual Channels

While automated channels are convenient because they require no day to day work, there are times when manually promoting your blog content can have much more of an impact. Below are a few places where you can manually promote your blog.

Facebook – There are applications that allow you to automate your promotion to Facebook. However, taking a few minutes to manually submit can produce much better results. This is because you have the ability to customize the message.

Teaser Post – There are numerous places on the web that allow you to submit blog content.  Most people make the mistake of simply copying and pasting their original blog post to these sites. While you are not going to be penalized for duplicate content, you won’t get any benefit from a search engine perspective. Additionally, if a user can read the entire blog post on the other site, there is no need for them to click to your site. Writing teaser posts on these sites allows you to not only pull traffic, but also helps build search engine credibility. With this in mind, let’s look at what makes a well formatted teaser post.

• Original Content - Make sure your teaser post is a summary rewrite of your original blog post. Don’t simply pull in the first paragraph. You want to give Google something fresh to spider.
• Tease Them – If you’re blog post contains 7 ways to… then list two of the seven in your teaser post. In other words, give them a reason to click over to your site.
• Link, Link, Link – The two main reasons for the teaser post is to drive people to your site and to build credibility with search engines. Linking accomplishes both.

Now that you have the structure down, here are a few places to tease your blog.

• Trulia Blogs – Here is a great example of a teaser post.
• Topix – Becoming an editor in your geographic area allows you to add content to the 3rd largest newspaper site on the internet.
• ActiveRain – If you are “grandfathered in” or have a paid account, ActiveRain can be another great place to tease your blog post.
• BusinessWeek – Getting links and traffic from popular sites like BusinessWeek is easy by teasing your blog post on their business exchange social network.
• These are just a few places. Chances are, your geographic area has many more places to tease your blog.

Taking just a few minutes to follow these steps can dramatically increase the traffic to your site!

Easy Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Real Estate Blog was originally published on the Dakno Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog