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Written by Carson Coots
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Monday, 16 June 2008 |
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For those of you who do not know about AgentGenius.com go ahead and stop reading and click here now . It is one of the coolest and most thriving multi-author real estate communities and pretty much a national real estate sensation. It covers news, opinions, technology, and about every other conceivable real estate topic. And now it has been nominated for the Inman News Innovator Award in blogging for 2008. It is well deserved.
For those of you who are still reading, I wanted to inform you that have had the pleasure of being one of the many fine contributors at Agent Genius. These writers are the cream of the crop... but I would consider myself to be more of the crust than cream. Either way, I am fortunate to be affiliated with them.
I have not written here in quite some time because I have been putting a lot of effort into some local projects...but that is all about to change. I am in the process of rolling out an all new Real Estate Remix. Not only a fresh design, but a fresh concept. This time we will be bringing it with a vengeance. I will still be covering real estate marketing, technology, media, and advertising... but with a new kick. Yes the directory will still exist. Please stay tuned.
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Written by Carson Coots
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Friday, 18 January 2008 |
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People with iPhones love iPhone-ready websites. If you use Wordpress as a platform, here are a couple of ways you can trick-out your site for iPhone users, while keeping your regular non-iPhone visitors unaware of any changes.
The iWPhone Wordpress plugin by ContentRobot will cause your Wordpress (version 2.0.4 - 2.3) sites to be diplayed with a special interface when accessed from an iPhone, allowing your visitors to read content easily with no zooming and quicker loading times. This will not affect normal site visitors or change your blog in any way.
If you are really into the iPhone craze, then you may also want to check out the Wphone admin plugin, which allows you to add/edit/manage your blog with an iPhone-ready administration panel.
But wait, there's more! With the recent firmware update, iPhone users can put shortcuts to favorite sites right on the home screen. By default, when you make a web clip, the iphone displays a screenshot of the page. Future of Real Estate Marketing pointed out that if you create a 45 x 45 pixel png image with your logo, name it "apple-touch-icon.png", and upload it to your root web folder, the iPhone will display that image as an icon (and give it a glassy look). This will work with any site, not just Wordpress.
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Written by Carson Coots
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Tuesday, 20 November 2007 |
 A detailed report released by Borrell
Associates, a media research and consulting firm, concludes that from
2008 through 2012, traditional media spending in areas - especially
newspapers - is expected to plummet due to a decrease in overall
listings and competition from lower-cost new media channels on the
Internet. Meanwhile, online ad spending in real estate is expected to
continue double-digit growth.
2001-2005 showed a 9% per year growth rate in
total real estate ad spending, while online ad spending has grown 26%
just in 2007. The reports predict a lower growth rate in 2008 (12%),
but will not drop the way traditional media is expected to. Total real
estate ad spending is set to drop slightly by 2012.
This summary
suggests a big blow to newspapers and traditional classifieds, With
the attention shifting to online mega-sites such as Yahoo Real Estate
(now the number 2 most trafficked site under realtor.com) and Zillow.
The full report is available for purchase ($995 ouch!), or you may download the free executive summary here.
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Written by Carson Coots
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Friday, 09 November 2007 |
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 Looking for
great design? Hint: Do not look to the real estate industry. No
matter how great your service is, the design of your web site and
collateral will subconsciously sway the visitors perception as to how
"professional" your company really is. As a web designer, there is a
certain ooh or ah that I get when I visit a beautiful site regardless
of load time and ease of navigation. The average Joe is no different,
and will heavily judge professionalism based on looks alone. Here
are some sites that will give you some high design benchmarks (and pure
inspiration) to work with. Prepare to be transported into the deep end
of graphic and web design... and designers, try not to cry.
Logos and Identity
LogoPond - Awe-inspiring logos for you to feast your eyes upon. Try searching for "real estate" to get industry-focused.
FaveUp - Gorgeous stylized logos and business cards with a modern edge.
LogoSauce - Over 7,000 logos to browse as well as a competition section where you can flash cash for designs.
BuzzShout - Popular logos from across the Internet. A nice cross section of designs, good and bad.
Miš i Pile - A Croatian design studio with a huge portfolio showcasing over 200 simple yet creative designs.
Web Design
CSS Remix - Love that name, love that web design showcase even more.
Web Creme - Nice Flash and CSS sites.
CSS Tux - A plethora of well-dressed designs.
Unmatched Style - An aggregate of beautiful sites categorized
Ads, Graphics, and Illustration
Graphic-Exchange - A sophisticated handpicked selection of amazing artist portfolios.
Ads of the World - An archive creative campaigns from around the world that push the envelope.
Design is Kinky - Hard core design and illustrations.
Veer - A stock photography, type, and illustration site with a great ideas section.
Bonus:
Posh'd - This site showcases the best web sites in the real estate industry.
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Written by Carson Coots
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Saturday, 20 October 2007 |
 A
great photo it is the centerpiece of your real estate listing. There
are entire blogs dedicated to bad MLS photos for a reason... Too many
agents have yet to take the time to learn basic photography techniques
in order to present a property in its best light.
When I first
decided to get into real estate photography, I did what anyone else
would do... I searched for "real estate photography" on Google. I was
soon shocked to learn that unlike every other obscure subject in the
world, there were no decent tutorials outlining exactly how to take great house photos. Every resource and article I
found was filled with generalities. No resource tackled what I needed
to know about camera choices, lighting techniques, how to eliminate
blown-out windows, settings, timing, post-editing practices, or
anything specific.
This all changed when I found Larry Lohrman's Photography For Real Estate Blog .
Nowhere online will you find a more comprehensive and detailed log on
the many facets of great real estate photography. In addition to the
great articles, you can also access an underground community of the
greatest real estate photographers on the planet. For inspiration and
guidance, check out Larry's Photography For Real Estate Flickr group .
With this resource, one can literally dive head first into the realm of
real estate and architectural photography.
Now, all of the
wisdom contained in the Photography For Real Estate blog has been compiled and edited
tightly into an invaluable PDF on the subject. With 66 pages of
pure real estate photography goodness, this ebook is well
worth the $15 price. I had a chance to read through it, and it
contains enough information to accelerate your journey in becoming a master the art of
home photography. Of course, every skill takes practice... but having
this resource will eliminate hours of trial by error, experimentation,
and useless equipment purchases. Here is a list of just a few of the
topics covered:
- How to choose a
camera for real estate photography
- The basics of interior lighting
- How to fix
common problems with a Photoshop Elements and Lightroom
- Guidelines
for shooting exteriors
- Guidelines for shooting interiors
- How to
create and use virtual tours effectively
- A detail description
of the 10 Essentials of Real Estate Photography with examples
- Analysis of current trends in real estate photography
Visit PhotographyForRealEstate.net for more about real estate photography or go straight to the order page if you are interested in this awesome eBook. If you would like to check out a professional photographer in your area, visit our real estate and architectural photographer directory .
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