Friday, January 4, 2008
It's never been easier or more affordable to create a great website with remarkable lead generation potential. According to Realtor® Magazine, buyers and sellers say that plenty of pictures and descriptions of properties and searchable listings are the two most important things when searching a real estate website. A simple bio and easy-to-locate contact information will take care of selling yourself, but an easy and comprehensive search will get you business.
When you open up the entire MLS to prospective buyers and sellers, you keep them at your site. Therefore when they spot the home of their dreams, your phone number is at their fingertips. What could be more effective?
Keep It Simple and Customers Will Keep You in Mind
Buyers and sellers will click away from your website in droves if they are forced to register before using your search. It may seem like a great way to gather email addresses and other data, but just say no to registration programs! Instead, offer a feature that allows customers to request email updates about their favorite properties. This is actually a more efficient way to get leads, because a forced registration system tempts users to enter phony email addresses and you'll waste your time with bounced-back emails. Requests on a particular property will offer you valuable data as well, allowing you to send information on similar properties. This will show that you're a Realtor® who takes the time to understand your client's needs, and will greatly increase your chances of a sale.
Make Your Website a Home Base
When your site is easy to search, and easy to request information from, your potential customers won't feel the need to look anywhere else for their information. They'll probably recommend it to their friends as well! Make sure you have a system in place to follow up on each and every lead. Your customers will feel taken care of, yet free to search to their hearts' content.
Striking the right balance can be tricky, but the volume of leads that your website can generate for you make it all worthwhile!
Brett Miller is the founder of HoopJumper.com and has created the best lead generating real estate websites in the industry and helped hundreds of real estate professionals make the most of their Internet presence. Call 888-Hoop-Jumper for a complimentary web analysis today or visit www.HoopJumper.com to see how HoopJumper can help you grow your business.
Expert Tips on Home Security
Expert Home Security Tips from www.ineedalocksmith.co.uk
SOME GENERAL HOME SECURITY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
• There is no absolute way to protect your home from break-ins. Locks and other safety devices serve primarily to prevent entry by the amateur thief and to slow or deter the professional.
• Another deterrent is to avoid regular routines that make it obvious you are away from home at specific times of the day or night. This may be unavoidable, but try to vary your routines of departure and arrival when possible.
• Alert your local police if you are leaving for an extended period. Stop the delivery of newspapers, mail and other items that could be telltale signs that you are away from home.
• Work out an arrangement with your neighbors for mutual alertness when anyone in the neighborhood will be away.
IMPROVE HOME SECURITY WITH LOCKS
• A typical lock offers little protection against break-ins. A professional burglar can usually enter the house with no more than a plastic credit card or a thin screwdriver.
• Cylinder deadlocks provide a great deal of extra protection when used as a supplement to the regular locks in your home
• Double tubular deadlocks generally require a key to open the door from either side. This could present a problem exiting the house in an emergency. But some tubular deadlocks can be opened without a key from the inside
• Surface-mounted cylinder deadlocks are easy to mount on any door The deadlock has a bolt in the lock that come down through the holes in the strike. This offers far more protection against jimmying than an ordinary surface-mounted cylinder deadlock.
• Examine the locks in your home carefully. If they are old, worn or fail to give the needed protection, install new or supplementary locks immediately. It is well worth your time and effort.
Home Security Products you can purchase.
• Perimeter lighting
Many burglars prefer the cover of darkness. By keeping your property well lit at night, you take away their anonymity, forcing them to find another target. Make sure your lights illuminate darker areas like back doors and windows, shrubbery, walkways and entrances to your garage and basement.
• Motion sensors
When linked to your outdoor lighting system, motion sensors will startle an intruder by instantly drowning him in light. You can set the sensitivity of most motion sensors so that lights go on when necessary, not when your neighbor's cat walks across the lawn.
• Timers for interior lights
If you're going away on vacation, put timers on your interior lights. From the sidewalk your home will look occupied, encouraging burglars to move on without trying to break in.
• Home Security Cameras
Home Security cameras are usually associated with businesses like banks and convenience stores, but many people use them for their home defense. Cameras can be linked to a VCR in your home or to a security company that will send help immediately.
• Maximum Home Security Deadbolts
For your last line of defense, make sure you install deadbolts on every entry door to your house. As a minimum, your deadbolts should have Grade 2 security features.
EXPERT HOME SECURITY TIPS
There's more you can do. There's more you can do. Part of the fun of owning a home is experimenting with your home's image. While you're making your home as attractive as you can to your friends and neighbors, you can make it equally unattractive to intruders.
• Neighborhood Watch
One of the most effective and inexpensive ways to secure your home at the property line is to turn on the eyes and ears of your neighborhood. Community policing programs, like Neighborhood Watch, have shown great success in reducing property crime around the world. Burglars know when they're being watched. And they don't like it.
• Don't advertise
Put away items like sports equipment, lawn mowers, portable grills and bicycles. If you leave your possessions outside, burglars may start wondering what you have inside.
• If you go on vacation …
…have your mail and newspaper delivery stopped. And arrange to have your yard maintained and your driveway shoveled. Put your interior and exterior lights on timers. When they go on, it will look like someone's home and has just turned on the lights.
Strong perimeter security makes an intruder's job as hard as possible. Use any of the tips above and you'll go a long way toward making your home off limits to criminals.
To get EXPERT HOME SECURITY TIPS visit www.ineedalocksmith.co.uk
Integra Funding Group’s Tom Crivello adds IDX/MLS Search Application to Website
EUGENE, ORE. - Eugene based IDX, Inc. today announced the addition of Integra Funding Group’s Tom Crivello to its suite of real estate based search applications online. Crivello now uses the latest version of IDX Broker to display and completely integrate Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings on his personal website. This allows him to retain leads generated from direct traffic, rather than losing out to the listing broker through the use of traditional framed MLS search tools.
The IDX Broker application provides agents, brokers and other real estate professionals with the tools needed to create a competitive advantage in a growing real estate market.
The objective in developing a website with an integrated MLS data feed was to generate new leads at a low cost for the client. With automatic email announcements, custom client home views, and advanced admin and integration controls, Crivello’s clients now have access to the entire MLS listing database on his website. And as a member of California’s IMRMLS, Crivello’s clients can search that MLS quickly and easily using IDX search tools.
Additional benefits of using IDX Broker include the ability to automatically create featured listing pages, check the status of new MLS listings and generate automatic emails 24/7.
About Tom Crivello
As one of the owners of Integra Funding Group, Tom Crivello takes a synergistic approach to real estate. Tom knows the importance of every real estate transaction and is committed to making that transaction as clear and efficient as possible. From listing, to buying, to investing, to refinancing, Tom is dedicated to achieving all of his clients’ real estate goals.
About IDX, Inc.
Headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, IDX, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based applications for real estate professionals throughout the U.S. IDX, Inc. offers two primary applications: IDX Broker and SLM Pro. IDX Broker allows individual real estate agents and brokers to integrate listings from their Multiple Listing Service (MLS) seamlessly into their own real estate website. This integrated IDX data feed allows agents and brokers to generate and manage leads online from all listings in their respective area of specialty. SLM Pro is a Sponsored Listings Management marketing program that assists businesses with the complex task of creating and managing a dynamic online marketing plan. SLM Pro uses a unique approach to online ad placement that maximizes the overall reach of a user’s website, while delivering relevant and targeted traffic efficiently. For more information about IDX, Inc. services and products, please visit http://www.idxbroker.com or call (800)421-9668.
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