How it Works
Animoto allows real estate agents to combine high-quality images and short video clips with music to create beautiful slideshows. Best of all, Animoto is inexpensive and easy to use. You start by uploading photos and video clips, or sync Animoto to your Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobook, or SmugMug account. Then, you choose music from Animoto’s large music library, type in the text you want included, and Animoto produces a beautiful video slideshow within minutes. If you aren’t satisfied with the result then Animoto makes it easy to resubmit the video until it meets your expectations. You will find this part somewhat addicting as you resubmit to see what new combination Animoto will come up with.

Create Featured Listing Videos
Imagine using high-quality photos complemented by rhythmic music to showcase a featured listing. Animoto offers an excellent way to make a seller’s listing available to a lot of different people. Agents even have the option of making a branded or unbranded video. An unbranded video is preferred when you want other real estate agents to make it available to their clients. This will increase the number of viewers and sell properties faster. If you choose to include your contact information, Animoto offers a customizable button that can be displayed at the end of the video to give viewers instant access to you.

Create Neighborhood Profile Videos
Animoto videos are the perfect way to introduce a neighborhood or community you serve. They give you the opportunity to show a large number of pictures in a short amount of time.  Writing neighborhood profile pages is a great way to educate your visitors, but taking it a step further and adding video is a  fantastic way to really engage your audience.

View the example Sonoma  neighborhood video at the top of this neighborhood profile page. We specialize in real estate WordPress add-ons and found Animoto to be a perfect fit with the neighborhood profile add-on template. Animoto videos have the potential to make your real estate site more appealing and hands-on than other sites.

Create an Agent Bio Profile Video
What better way to introduce and promote yourself as an agent then to show potential clients a personalized video of all you have to offer. This personal video could include the area you serve in, homes that you have sold, testimonials from clients, family images, hobbies, extracurricular activities, and more. A personalized video will allow potential clients to “connect” with you before they actually meet you in person, making it a great addition to your website. There is no substitute for writing a real estate agent bio, but adding the video touch adds that personal touch. View some of Animoto’s real estate videos and get your creative juices flowing.

Sharing your video with the World
Animoto videos can be viewed in HD from Animoto’s website, posted to a website or blog, shared on Facebook or YouTube, or burned onto a DVD. These videos are unbranded, meaning Animoto does not put their logo in the video or anywhere else, so your clients will never guess how easy it was to create this stunning presentation.

Animoto App
Animoto also lets you share videos on the go. With their Animoto mobile app, you’ll be able to create, share, and watch your videos everywhere you go. The app will easily let you share your videos via email, Facebook, Twitter, text, or save to your Camera Roll. Go Animoto!

With more and more people spending their free time on the Internet, real estate agents have the opportunity to look for creative ways to reach potential clients. Animoto offers real estate agents a creative and simple way to promote featured listings, the area in which they serve, and themselves. All it takes is a few clicks of the mouse and Animoto will add a great deal of spice and creativity to your real estate marketing campaign.

The Apple Card app offers many beautifully crafted letterpress designs to choose from so your card is sure to make a lasting impression. The process is rather simple. After taking the photo select your card design, type out your personal message, choose the recipient and send it on it’s way. Within days your client will have a personalized card in their hands and photo moment to treasure. All this done using your iPhone or iPod touch. The cost of each card is just $2.99 anywhere within the United States and $4.99 when sent to or from anywhere outside the U.S – postage included.

Take a few minutes to review the new Card app from Apple and you might find other great reasons to send a personal photo card to clients, friends and love ones. Remember, it’s the thought that counts. For other great ideas like this, visit our real estate marketing tips.

Option 1

Most Popular – Simply add a graphic or text link that visitors can click on to view your mobile search. Better yet, create a mobile IDX marketing page that explains the benefits of using your solution and how visitors can access it. This will give visitors the option to choose between your normal IDX Search or mobile friendly version. We have provided some graphics below that you are free to use for this very purpose.

Option 2

Add a redirect script to every page on your site that will automatically (as best it can) detect if the visitor is using a mobile device. If a mobile browser is detected, the visitor will be redirected to your Mobile IDX solution. This seems like an ideal solution, but if the visitor wants to view other content / pages on your site, other than the MLS Search, they will not be able to get back to your site. At the time of this writing, this appears to be what Coldwell Banker does (www.coldwellbanker.com).

Option 3

Add a redirect script to your IDX pages only. Visitors will see your normal website when visiting from their mobile device, but when they visit any IDX solution page, they will be redirected to the more mobile friendly version of your search. This allows visitors to still have access to your normal content, but forces them to use the mobile IDX when trying to search for property. A disadvantage to this solution would be that if the visitor wants to access some of the more advanced search features they will not be able to do so since they are redirected to the mobile version.

Option 4

Custom solution. This will require some new designed pages and programming knowledge. It will also be more time consuming / expensive, depending upon what you want. Ideally, when someone visits your site for the first time, they are redirected to a landing page that has very simple options…such as, View Full Website and View Mobile Search. Once they make their selection, your site will remember their preference and take them to the full site or mobile search any time they return. You also incorporate links that allow the visitor to switch between the mobile search and back to the full website.

Mobile Browser Detection Script

A great resource to find open source code that you can use to detect mobile browsers: Detect Mobile Browser.

Need Help?

If you are not comfortable adding code to your site, speak with your web developer for assistance or if we built your site, contact us for suggestions or a quote. IDXCentral.com Support.

Free Mobile IDX Search Images

Below are some images that we have created for our clients to use. Feel free to use these on your site as you see fit. Simply right click the image and select “save picture as…” or “save image as…” > select the location to save the image. Now you can upload the image to your website and link it to your mobile idx solution.

Visitors can search for listings via basic criteria (area, bed, bath and price) or specifically by MLS number, street number or street name. Your contact information will be displayed prominently at the top of every page with your phone number and email address so they can easily contact you directly with questions.

Result pages will display home address, price, bed, bath and square feet. The profile pages will include the property description, more photos, location of the property on Google Maps and more basic information.

Get your link by logging into your IDXCentral Account Manager and going to Account Setup > IDX Solution Links.

Need suggestions / help integrating this new link on your website?
View our post offering free graphics and some suggestions on How to Integrate Your Mobile IDX Solution.

Twitter is a great way to send out short (140 characters or less), timely messages about what you are doing, reading, etc…that others may find interest in. Ideally, these messages will help you gain followers (people that want to read your messages) because they find value in your messages. The more followers you have, the more reach / opportunity you will have.

Examples
Let’s say a mortgage broker you were talking to just mentioned that rates dropped below 4% today…that may be something you want everyone to know, but don’t have time to call, email, and text every person you know. Simply post the message to Twitter and let them read it themselves…if they are interested.

What if you were talking to a potential seller that was in an area where houses rarely become available…you could break the news and tell people to contact you for an inside scoop.

Let’s say you just read an article or heard about something significant going on in a neighborhood you are familiar with…again…spread the word by linking to the article or if it hasn’t been written about, write it on your blog and let everyone know you posted it. Create the “buzz.”

These are just a few examples to get you thinking. Once you have the frame of mind to use Twitter, you will have many more ideas. Just search Google for something like “Twitter for real estate agents” and you can find many more examples.

Sure, you may not see much value in the beginning, but as you build your stream of Twitter messages (tweets) with valuable information, when people do stumble across your account, the likelihood of them “following” you will be increased. You can also increase your exposure by including a link to your Twitter account by placing some sort of Follow me or Twitter icon / link on your website, printed material and email signature. Everyone has their own way of communicating and staying in touch…give them as many options as possible to stay connected.

Twitter is free and it will only take a small effort to give it a try and see if it works for you. So what are you waiting for?
Go to Twitter now and sign up. Let us know if Twitter is working for you.

The following icons are free to use for both personal and commercial websites provided you either link to their site or spread the word about them online…so here you go, enjoy. The designer has a very nice collection. Free Social Media Icons

The California Department of Real Estate (DRE) has recently adopted a new regulation clarifying the law that requires DRE license numbers on business cards and all other solicitation materials intended to be the first point of contact with consumers.  The licensing law came into effect on July 1, 2009.

What this means to you as a REALTOR®
You must list your license number on all marketing correspondence.

• Business cards;
• Stationery;
• Websites owned, controlled, and/or maintained by the soliciting real estate license; and
• Promotional and advertising flyers, brochures, email and regular mail, leaflets, and any other marketing or promotional materials designed to solicit the creation of a professional relationship between the licensee and a consumer, or intended to induce a consumer to contact the licensee about any licensed services.

DRE’s new regulation also states that the following items are not solicitation materials under the license number requirement:

• Advertisements in electronic media, including radio, cinema, and television ads, and the opening section of streaming video and audio;
• Print advertising in any newspaper or periodical; and
• “For Sale” signs placed on or around a property intended to alert the public the property is available for purchase or lease.

If you have a real estate website you need to have your DRE License number displayed on it and it must not be any smaller than the smallest type on your page. You may also want to consider adding it to your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. accounts as well since you never know how someone will first find you on the web.

Some clients have questioned if they should have their DRE number in their email signature that is sent from your IDX solution. I don’t believe this is necessary since it is not technically a first point of contact. The person is receiving your emails because they have already been to your site. You may want to verify this by visiting the CAR website.

Sources: California Business & Professions Code section 10140.6 (filed September 25, 2008); Section 2773 of Title 10 of the California Code of Regulation (filing with the Secretary of State still pending).

First of all, let me explain that to have a ‘mobile friendly’ site, you do not need the .mobi extension. The .mobi extension is ultimately no different than .net, .edu, or .com, except that it is intended to house a mobile friendly site.

There has been a lot of controversy over the advantages and disadvantages of the .mobi domains as well:

The main advantage to .mobi is that the pages under the .mobi domain are expected to be fully customized for the mobile phone’s browser. This means that the site has been built with the mobile phone’s browser in mind and will look good on almost every mobile platform.

However, having two separate domain names for your website creates two separate internets – one for mobile access and one for normal internet viewing, dependent entirely on the device used to access them. Keep in mind, this means maintaining two separate websites/domains, one for standard browsers and one for mobile browsers.

The other thing to consider is that web sites can automatically detect what platform a visitor is accessing the site through. Go to google.com on your phone, you end up at m.google.com. Its hassle-free to the end user. For this reason, you do not need .mobi to have a mobile friendly site!

Also, domain name extensions become successful when lots of people use them and recognize them. There are still many people who are not familiar with .mobi and will not think to type it into their browser.

It seems to me that .mobi is not a domain extension for the typical website owner. Unless you plan on spending some time and money on making your business all about mobile web applications it’s really not worth it!

You may want to spend the extra money and have a professionally produced video that you can use to promote yourself. This is just one more way visitors to your site can ‘connect’ with you before actually meeting with you, helping you stand out from others. See the video below for an example.

There may be some videos on YouTube that you can embed on your site to help showcase an area. There are a few sites I know of that link to this video about Tahoe.

It may take a little time to learn how to do a ‘great job’ at posting your own videos, but this is a trend that is only going to get more popular and can more than likely benefit your overall business. There are several companies that can help you produce your video or even shoot and host it for your. One such popular full service company is Turn Here. If anyone has had a positive experience with a web video company and would like to share them with others, let us know and we will add them here.