Goingbigger: Real Estate

A contest within the real estate community...check it out.

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:27:45 GMT

Even though I have been looking at new jobs I still have a love for the real estate industry and the comings and going in it, especially when it comes the SEO side. There is a contest, and to us Spacers this is no new thing, to rank #1 on Google for the keyword Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World.

A little history about this contest. It was the brain child of Eric Blackwell (EricOnSearch) and REW (Real Estate Webmasters). The first post I seen was on RealEstate.Propeller.com, a site similar to Digg.com, and then I started back tracing it to the original posts. Now the contest has some worth to it in my opinion but has to be taken with a grain of salt. It is highly unlikely that the term would be used by a potential client to search for a real estate agent but it is proving to be a great challenge for people in the real estate industry to test their sites authority, SEO skills and resource availability against a larger community.

So what does the winner of the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest get? I believe a featured listing on a website as well as the personal recognition that they are skilled at what they do. So if you wondering who is the current leader just go to Google and type in the keyword, minus the quotes, Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World. Let us see who is the best, contest ends May 1, 2008. Check it out if you got a few spare moments while working, that is what I am doing.

Real estate marketing

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:07:00 GMT

Well last month I finally did it, completion of our Snohomish County real estate website. A lot of time went into research and writing the etire site, read full recap. Work has been hectic and it is something new from day to day. Our broker, Mickie, has been recieving many listing appointments due the market changes, more inventory than sells.

Some may disagree but having standing inventory is a good thing. Why is that? Because all that inventory has to be blogged about on the website and expanding our the number of Snohomish County specific keywords on the website. We have seen a tremendous results with the the blogsite when it comes to ranking high for strong keywords as well as long tail search terms.

I have also be doing some really strong link work which will reinforce the strong seo of the blogsite. The links I have been working on have been in the Best of the Web, US Real Estate Directory, Now Seen It Web Directory. To compliemtn these new links I have been submitting articles to Netscape, Bumpzee and Real Estate Voices in order to generate more links from many sources.

My current work goal is to get a Seattle real estate comparison page to rank really high for ut keywords. That way I can pull some traffic from a huge keyword and hopefully convert people to live a bit farterh North. There has been so much going on that it is cahllenging to stay focused and get everything done in a timely manner.

Sometimes it seems that I am behind but in all reality I am not behind at all; its just the pressure I put on myself inducing those feelings. Ah well that is life and I will have just to work through or take another vacation, vacations are good!

Well that is all from me today and I am off to work on some other items of promotion.

Everett Mortgage

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:05:01 GMT

With the sub prime market folding up and many families being affected, Everett Mortgage experience and enables the Chris Ward Team to give clients recommendations that will truly benefit them and keep them out of harms way. Everett Mortgage is managed by Chris Ward (mortgage planner) with the support of Lisa Maxey (account executive) and Brie Sidener (mortgage planner assistant).

Knowing Chris Ward for many years, I can attest to his professionalism and thoroughness through the mortgage process. I have seen first hand his attention to detail and knowledge base of the various loan programs and options that can get a family approved for a home loan. Everett Mortgage looks at factors like tax consequences, real estate asset and equity building, and the influence of the economy on life-long financial plans so people know what to expect for the long haul.

If you are in the market for a home loan contact the Chris Ward Team at Everett Mortgage and schedule a consultation and tell him, Goingbigger sent you.

Work is busy

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:15:12 GMT

This week started off slowly but there is one thing about work, it can slowly build into something over whelming. For the past few years I have been working our companies real estate website to shape it into a lead generating tool for the office and its agents. It has been a long tough road because in the early stages no one believed that a website could actually do that for a company in the real estate industry. Faced with a lot of skeptism I continued to work on it until it reached #1 of Google for Marysville real estate, view results. as well as with a host of other keywords and the leads do come in and they're are abundant enough to keep the office busy.

Part of the success has come from building the Marysville real estate page into a valuable resource that has information on the many Marysville neighborhoods. This is where the time and energy comes into play. So far there is roughly 15 neighborhood pages and 4 park pages complete but I went out today to take another round of pictures. All the pictures will translate into 16 new neighborhood and park pages for just this one city alone.

It is quite a chore to take the pictures, resize, upload and the write text to match all those pages. It may sound like no big deal but rest assured, a top of my other office duties it is quite exhausting. The site is growing and has 150+ pages indexed in Google which gives much more authority than our competitors in the area. No other real estate website, well maybe one, has the amount of information our website has.

It pretty sweet and really good feeling when the results are so promenent. Also, in February we crested the 20K hit mark for a single month and we are looking to crest it again this month as well. If we can maintain this average through the whole year then we will have a year that is crazy full of internet leads and no one in our coverage area will be able to compete with us. Well I gotta run and get some the frame work constructed for those new webpages...take care!!

Naples FL Review

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:07:01 GMT

Naples Real Estate - Glenn Ginsburg

I have thought about moving to Florida for a change of scenery and weather for sometime. Upon finding the website I noticed tons of information available about Naples real estate and specific communities like Pelican Bay, Pelican Marsh and the Vineyards (private golf course community). Though some of these communities are far out of my price range it is nice to look through a website that has so much information.

Also, when reading through Glen's site I felt that he would be willing to work with me even though I am not rich. He has a down to Earth feel that I felt could be trusted. So later in the day I contacted him on the phone just to talk about Florida and what it has to offer if one day I decide to move. It was a great conversation and even if I don't decide to move there, but in the neighborhood, I would like to meet up for coffee just to discuss Naples real estate options.

Most Impressive Attributes

A wealth of Information
Many webpage on various communities
There is a blog Naples real estate blog

Agent-Finder.com

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:06:11 GMT

I was looking for some new directories to submit my website real estate website to and I found a new one called Agent-Finder.com, National Relocation Directory. Directories are everywhere on the web and it is getting harder to find a clean constructed directory that has searchable (no character) URLs so here is a brief overview of Agent-Finder.com.

Brief State's Overview

There wasn't a whole lot of action on the pages but that doesn't mean they are no good. Far from, like I mentioned at the top the page URLs are very neat and descriptive. This allows search engines to easily categorized the pages and it helps them rank really well for keywords. It is also noticed that every page has a highly focused title and description. The combination of neat URLs, titles and descriptions gives this directory a leg up on the competition.

I did chat with the creator for a bit regarding the minimal information on the pages and this is what he had to say. The plans are to create a agent friendly directory that is rich with local content. The concept will work well since the pages will have an excellent chance of ranking well in the search engines. The site will be complete with agent website links, descriptions and maybe some images (this is just speculation).

When the creator is ready to move forward I will definitely be submitting my link to the directory.

Kayak Point Real Estate

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 01:58:11 GMT

Kayak Point real estate is one of Snohomish County’s best kept secrets if you ask me. Located just south of Stanwood Washington, Kayak Point real estate offers residents peace and quite with exceptional views of the Puget Sound.

There are many reasons to choose Kayak Point real estate over another area of Snohomish County but the one that I feel is the most important is: private beach front. The Puget Sound is home to the famous Dungeness crab and some of the most extraordinary claming beaches on the West Coast. Having beach access gives homeowners the best of the Northwest not only because of the water but also residents are still near the Cascade Mountains.

Barnett Associates just got a new Kayak Point real estate listing on Wednesday and what a home it is. Nestled on a 1 acre lot, this 5,620 sq/ft home has two kitchens, 4 bedrooms, 2 rec rooms (with a combined 2,000 sq/ft) 3 bathrooms and a 3 car garage. Talk about amazing huh? This home is huge and perfect for large families as well as a vacation home.

The owner of this spectacular residence is going to get lasting joy and pleasure every morning they wake up. The view overlooking the Puget Sound are astounding and it made me stop and take a few deep breadths while taking pictures, totally awe inspiring.

If you are thinking about purchasing a Kayak Point real estate residents in the future then contact Mickie Barnett at (425) 750-9090 or mickie@barnettassociates.net.

Site Reviews

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:27:17 GMT

Las Vegas Real Estate - Jacqulyn Richey

The first thing I noticed that her website ranks #2 on Google for Las Vegas real estate which is very impressive since that is a highly competitive market and key phrase. Jacqulyn is a licensed agent for Prudential and is one of the most successful real estate agents in the Las Vegas area. From her website I have that she has a affinity for multiple types of properties; ranging from condos and lofts to gated and non gated residential communities.

Looking over her website there is large amounts of information on the various communities like Summerlin, Henderson, Boulder City and Green Valley. Most of these community are not what most Washingtonians think about when the name Las Vegas is mentioned. But real estate in Las Vegas is not limited to the strip and Jacqulyn's website is a testament to the richness and diversity of the "City that never sleeps".

The Most Impressive Attributes

Large Amounts of information
Organization from page to page
Color scheme is easy on the eyes

This is a great real estate website that is packed with information for anyone interested in Las Vegas real estate.

Blogging for the PI

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:21:24 GMT

A few weeks ago I was approached by the Seattle PI’s blog moderator of the Seattle Real Estate Professionals to see if I would be interested in blogging on the PI’s site. Being the man with the most free time ever, I said yes and took the step necessary to get my account setup.

It took a little bit of time to get everything setup but now it is official, I am blogging on the Seattle PI’s website in the Seattle Real Estate Professionals section. It is pretty amazing to me since writing has never been my strong point and I’m just over a year being full time in the real estate industry.

It will interesting to see how it goes because right now blogs are getting 0-4 comments which is far from impressive and there doesn’t seem to be a high level of involvement from most the bloggers.

Using the PI’s blog gives authority/credibility to every post even though none of the bloggers are endorsed or represent the views of the Seattle PI and my first one is titled: Real Estate Licensing.

My goals for my participation are:

Increase the level of comments from other bloggers and non-bloggers
Improve my real estate blogging skills using research and calculated thought
Connect with other professionals and residents around the topic of real estate
To build my name professionally

Now this isn’t any easy task to do since I don’t know the readership base but judging from the number of comments there isn’t a lot of activity. A few of the PI’s bloggers comment but the level of involvement isn’t really high.

Another thing about this blog that hit me was that it isn’t a place to be really intuitive and research is required before blanket statements are made. When consumers are asking questions regarding a topic then it would be wise for that article to be factually sound and will make me a better writer, researcher and blogger all at the same time.

Washington Real Estate

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:09:40 GMT

Today I set my first group up on the Squidoo network titled Washington Real Estate. My goal is to look for the best of the best and feature them so consumers can use the site to research quality agents/companies in there city and county. So far there is only one entrant and he has only one lens and the rest are lenses that I have created. So far I have 5 good ones that cover the different cities we service in Snohomish County.

Right now on Washington Real Estate Group the following lenses are featured:

Within the next few months I expect Washington Real Estate Group to grow to include more than 100 lenses. The real estate section of Squidoo is still in its youth stage so once agents really get on the ban wagon it will hopefully exploded.

If you are a Washington real estate agent then you must join and create a lens. Why? Why not? Gaining extra exposure is getting to be harder and harder for everyone and Squidoo is the next big platform to connect with clients. I am enjoying the platform as it is very user friendly, it has modules that range from YouTube, Amazon Plexo, iTunes and many other modules to put information in.

Related Posts: Squidoo: Is it worth your time?

There is so much to do on Squidoo and real estate is only the tip of the iceberg. Stop and check out one of my many profile and talk with you shortly.

Marysville Real Estate

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 21:46:15 GMT

Marysville real estate is still going strong with prices remain competitive and buyers being able to find what they are looking, either resale or new construction.

What is the major factor in a home selling? Most sellers would say it is features in the home like hardwood floors or granite counter tops but the fact remains that price is still the main reason why a home will sell or not sell.

What are buyers looking for? Since the over inflation of prices buyers are looking/waiting for that bargain to come on the market. It maybe sometime before a bargain is on the market there is still some good buys out there from motivated sellers.

The Marysville real estate market is going not going to decline and if it does it will be very slightly. Why is that? Well being a residential housing community, Marysville appeals to people that would like to escape city life for a more home town feel but as more people move to the area it will start to transform into an early era Everett.

In an CCN report regarding national growth trends show Washington real estate market holding many of the top growth areas with Wenatchee holding the second spot with Mount Vernon closely behind in third.

Mount Vernon is the next largest town up the I-5 corridor and it is going to experience the rapid growth that once gripped Marysville. As our area changes people are looking farther and farther north for their escape. That is what has made Marysville real estate so appealing for so long. Being right on I-5 these two towns share distinct similarities and in my opinion will see very similar growth trends and city development.

Would like to read more about Marysville real estate? Just visit the Marysville real estate blog.

Everett Real Estate

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 05:03:32 GMT

I have new project online right now that involves creating exposure for Everett real estate and so far the page is coming along nicely. I am using Squidoo as a platform to generate traffic for my real estate website and it has tons of features that make social networking sites a formidable presence in the online marketing sphere.

Squidoo.com is a site that allows people (lens masters) to create mutliple online profile for a variety of web topics. Lately, only starting in November, I have been using it to grow presence for my real estate website, Marysville real estate, but I have as well created one for Goingbigger.

It is a fun platform because it uses are limitless and the potential is exponential in terms of SEO. Though it is new in the work I am hoping the time it takes to generate a profile pays off in the long run. Set up an account and have some fun with it :) take care...just a short one tonight since I have much work to do before heading into work tomorrow.

Until the next time we speak this is Goingbigger signing off...

ActiveRain.com

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:56:34 GMT

Washington has become a tech hub since the dawn of Microsoft and all the biotech research facilities so know wonder it has become the home of the first professional real estate network.

ActiveRain.com was founded by Matt, Caleb, James and Ben. A while ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matt, Caleb and James to discuss the comings and goings of ActiveRain. It was a real treat and I learned a lot about their vision and reasons for starting AR. It also gave me the opportunity to talk first hand with some very smart people. It was a Kodak moment.

When I joined the network there where roughly 1,800 active members; but now with a membership approaching 8,000 my Washington real estate blog has become one of the older sites on the network. I checked some statistics on my real estate blog and it is receiving roughly 260 visitors a day, not to shabby for being 3 ½ months old, and it has replaced Goingbigger as my primary blog platform.

I look forward to continuing to participate on ActiveRain and watching the community develop. If you are into real estate and would like to join the fastest and best real estate network take a few minutes sign up. Registration is free and only takes a few minutes, click here.

Happy Blogging

I am shaking...

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:30:38 GMT

I am shaking right now. Tonight at 6:20pm I received an email which made scared to read. It was like the time I received my acceptance letter to University of Washington. The email was from my real estate web hosting company, Advanced Access, an you all made the verdict possible. Barnett Associates Real Estate has won the 2006 Best Company Website Award in the Advanced Access network of clients.

2006 Advanced Access Most Impressive Website Contest Winners

Look for the very first category :) Best Company Website. Having a client list over 35K makes it a formidable accomplishment for our little homegrown business. On my evil side <evil grin> we beat out a Century 21 and Coldwell Banker website, not bad for a Maysville Real Estate office :)

A lot friends turned out to show their support and like I said early, "I am eternally grateful".

My heart is racing and I am in awe of this. You know it was a goal for us to win this award and I did feel really confident but never did my doubt disappear. So it was quit a shock and surprise when I read the email tonight. My dad was with me tonight whent he email came in ( I made fajitas). I just briefly check my email and scrolled down and seen it titled, Advanced Access July 2006 Newsletter. I jumped up down, punched dad in the arm and did some Rocky Balboa jabs and went crazy for a bit...It was truely a shock.

Then I called Mom and then Bryan, my brother, to share in the celebration. My brother told me he was really proud of what I have done for the company and I have done a great job. Thanks Bryan, that means so much to me that words can't express how it feels.

If you have ever had an older brother or even sibling you know exactly what I am talking about. I have to get off this subject before I start cry'n.

Even though we won tonight this is something that last forever. We won the 2006 Best Company Website and no one can say differ or argue that fact. From a company, PR, marketing prospective this something that businesses love. Especially when it comes from accredited source. I happy for the same reason GM would be happy to get the JD Power Associates Award.

Again I want to thank everyone who voted and visits me!!

Your Friend in Time,

Toby

Vote For Me...

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 04:49:32 GMT

Greeting everyone and I hope you're having a Marvelous day. When I got home from work and checked my email there was a message from Advanced Access. That may not mean anything to you but it means tons to me. Every year Adavanced Access (AA) has a contest to celebrate the top websites in 9 different categories.

Best Company Website
Best Homepage
Best Lead Generator
Best Use of a Template
Best Use of a Theme
Best Use of an AA Feature
Most Orginal Content
Most User Friendly
Most Impressive

There are a lot of great website in each category and Yours truely has been nominated for two of them. Best Company Website and Most Impressive. So this is where I ask for all of your support, shameless publicity but what the hell :) Our Website is www.BarnettAssociates.net, and the name on the site is Mickie Barnett, my mom :) Mom You Kick ASS!! I should know because she used to kick mine :)

Vote For Me - Best Company Website

Vote For Me - Most Impressive

"Barnett Associates have made their company website into an all around artform." - AA Marketing

Some site history...If you have been reading my blog then you have noticed post talking about my work day and the strides which the website has made since 2002. In 2002, I first got my hands on the site and i totally f***ed it up a few times. I had to call customer support asking them to fix my mistakes...a little humbling...but I think they got used to it :P

Over the past years the site has really taken shape. I have written all the content and made all the pages and since June 2005 we have increased our monthly hits by 10,000. If we keep pace with our traffic we should do 13,000+ plus this month. Pretty good for a little real estate website in country town.

To be fair I did nominate our website for Best Company Website but I was totally shocked to find out we where nominated for Most Impressive. On the most impressive list the site featured below ours is an agent from Illionis. He was my mentor is setting up real estate website and it a spectacular manager/agent/webmaster and his site is boombastic...but don't vote for him...vote for me :P

In the Photo Albumn I have posted a screen shot of our site for your convenience...hehehe...So to all my Spaces buddies I will be enterally greatful if you vote for me, shameless plug, and please leave a comment if you vote or do not vote....thanks a billion and I appreciate your support!!

Your Friend in Time,

Toby

Happy Friday!!

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:24:26 GMT

It seems it has been along time since I posted but things have been busy around here.

Our real estate company just scored an exclusive deal to market and sell a 12 home plat in Lynnwood. This is a great opportunity for our company. It will enable us to get more signs up and to have our agents list and sell the homes. The fun part is I get to do all the marketing :) Horray!! I am totally stoked to try my luck at a project of this size.

This whole week I have been working on the marketing strategy and I think I have it all done. It will be sent to the developers this afternoon for approval. I have been working on it all week but it always feel like I am leaving something out. But if I did then I guess I did :P hehehe

After i get done with lunch here I will head back to the office to crank some stuff out. Anyhoo, it looks that I am done with my lunch so better get back to it.

Toby

Rule 196: Northwest Multiple Listing Service

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:46:29 GMT

On my way into work this morning I received a call from our broker regarding the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. I have to say the following came at a shock for a variety of reasons.

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service is a service in which real estate agents and others subscribe to post and search home listings. This is a paid, opt-service and by no means does a real estate agent have to subscribe too in order to conduct business. Barnett Associates Real Estate is a subscriber and our agents are as well. We also have a written and signed agreement to use there feed, IDX, through Advanced Access, our web hosting company, so our users can search available properties.

With that said, I found out that we cannot use the keywords “multiple listing service”, “MLS”, “Search MLS” or any other variation to describe our property search feature or in our meta keywords, description or website title. These terms can not be on any of our pages unless we were grand-fathered in under there Rule 196. I used these terms to establish validity and credibility with our website but now since they can no longer be used any new customer now does not know if what they are searching is any shape or form legitimate or up-to-date.

Is this a copyright violation or is it a rule that The Northwest Multiple Listing Service came up with after the fact? It looks as if it is the latter. There were no penalties or action that would be taken towards the website/agents for violating the rule. Well it is a rule, not law, so it what is their basis for pushing such a rule? A few things come to mind which have no beneficial outcome for the people who pay for their service.

Now since we are paid subscribers, I have written permission to use there IDX feed but I cannot advertise that on my website? This doesn’t make sense to me.

This has resulted in me loosing one of my best search phrases for our web marketing strategy. I hope this doesn’t hurt or reduce my monthly search results because business revenue will suffer the greatest hit and at this time I am doing everything I can to increase it.

In conclusion why statement is this: So who does the Northwest Multiple Listing Service serve? Is the agents who pay subscription fees? Is the companies who have written permission to use their service? Not as far as I can see. It makes me wonder whois bank rolling the NWMLS to put a stop to the little people from using such a term.

Real Estate: The Changing Industry

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 01:09:45 GMT

Years past the real estate industry players were buyers, sellers, real estate agents, escrow, title and mortgage, the main players. This short will focus on the changing role of a real estate agents and how they can stay ahead of the competition and more importantly the buyers/sellers when information is readily available.

The traditional method was to seek out an agent from a well known agency like Windermere or you knew someone who worked in the industry. The knowledge was kept and protected by the professionals and the buyer/seller had to rely on their expertise to put the deal together and handle all paper work. The internet has changed this and now adays buyers/sellers are more informed and this opens up the question: Why does a person need the help of the professional? People can now go to site and search the Northwest Multiple Listing Service for the housing availabilities in their areas making it the biggest advantages for buyers/sellers and one of the biggest disadvantages for agents. Why?

Informed buyers/sellers can now search homes, research agent and companies as well as a lot more from the comfort of their own house. Then when they need to contact someone they have all the information at their fingers tips. Agents are not as valuable to as the used to be. So what can an agent to keep themselves on top of their game and be percieved as being highly valuable?

Agents have to equipe themselves with more knowledge, increase their professionalism and find ways to increase their percieved value. Here are three ways a agents can accomplish this:

1. Having an Informative Website ~ You will be seen as the online expert and that is same things as being the expert. You want your prospective clients to visit and re-visit your site because it has up-to-date information on the local area, homes, neighbor hoods, schools and other various community information. They are more likely come back and more likely they are to call you when they need to buy/sell a piece of property.

2. Get Visible ~ Attend function in your community like chamber meetings, dinners and/or other social events, walk through neighborhoods and introduce yourself as the local professional. You want to take up space in other people's mind so when they think of buying/selling your name is immediatley associated with the real estate industry

3. Be Postive/Have Enthusiasim ~ Do you want to work with some who is a downer? I didn't think so. Does your experience feel better is your having a postive experience? Buyers/Sellers want to work with someone who is positive and encouraging about the home buying experience not your personal life or issues. Sure you will hear your clients' but they shouldn't hear yours because in the end; It's all about your clients.

Arm yourself with the latest statistics and facts so your are the expert and inspire your clients and you will build what every agent should be looking for: A solid referral network. Take the time to understand the lifetime value of your clients. People buy/sell multiple homes in their lifetime so do your best to retain their business.

May your real estate ventures be pleasurable and profitable.

Toby