Got a question via email from a REALTOR today: “Do you have an opinion on using live chat for a website?
any recommendations?”
Personally, I don’t have an opinion. I tried a bunch of options a few years ago on RCG, but never saw much activity. Jim Duncan has said good things (and not so good things) about Meebo in the past, but I’m not sure any of the chat options are particularly effective.
Your thoughts? Is there a good chat option for real estate websites?
If you’re running a website, did you give your favicon any love? Do you even know what a favicon is?
A favicon is simple a mini-logo (icon?) that shows up next to your URL in most address bars. (Favicons also show up on the tabs of browsers and are often included next to articles you write when being pulled by other news sites, such as this business week page about online real estate that pulled the favicons when linking to articles from Rain City Guide and Inman News). and
Here is the favicon I created for 4realz.net: 
In terms of a icon, I don’t like it as much as the 4realz logo that I generally use on my marketing materials:
but it shows up so much better when displayed at a really small size and kept the site’s color scheme. The idea is that people who know the site will quickly start to relate the favicon to 4realz.net.
Before creating a favicon for a different site (not yet launched), I decided to do a bit of research and look at the favicons for a variety of real estate sites. Here’s a peak at some of the sites I looked at:
There are some really good favicons there in that they are instantly recognizable for the website they represent, but just as many are pretty bad… and without the help of a little text, it’d be hard to know what site they represent.
So what makes for a good favicon?
A good favicon is:
However, as the examples form above show, using your logo is almost never a good idea.
For example, the blue/green “Z” house of the Zillow logo, just doesn’t cut it for me at the small size of a favicon. Ditto for the landscape scenes used by Altos Research and Real Central Virgina.
Something more likely to work is a cute play on the logo, such as the tomato from the Real Estate Tomato, the owl’s eyes of Roost, the explosion from Blown Mortgage, or (I like to think) the rain drop of Rain City Guide. At the same time, the “R” of Realtor is so recognizable that the realtor.com team was smart to keep their favicon that simple.
Looking through the list of favicons from above, it’s also obvious that the “home” metaphor is way overdone. Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Redfin, The Real Estate Bloggers, Move, HotPads, Estately, Altos Research, and Zillow all feature homes in their favicons…
Create your own Favicon!
So, you’re inspired to create a nice looking favicon for your site. Here’s how I created the 4realz favicon in a few minutes using nothing more powerful than Microsoft Word (or in my case, Mac’s Pages app):
Step 1: Using a document processer (Microsoft Word will work), create your image. For the 4realz logo, I create a grey circle and put a blue “4″ in the center. If you feel like you need something more complex than simple graphics and simple text, then you’re probably making your favicon too complicated!
Step 2: Take a screenshot of the image
Step 3: Upload your screenshot to Genfavicon, and follow their simple instructions in order to create an “*.ico” image. (as mentioned in a recent hotlist post!)
Step 4: Rename the file “favicon.ico”and upload it to the root file of your server.
That’s it! Once you’ve created one favicon, I think you’ll see that the entire process can be done in less than 10 minutes.
It’s worth noting that in order to have a personalized favicon, you MUST be using a self-hosted website where you can add files to the server. Folks using blog platforms like ActiveRain and Wordpress.com can’t have their own favicon. 
Of course, if you have photoshop you can get way more advanced and create really killer favicons directly from the app, but if you know what you’re doing in photoshop, then you probably wouldn’t read this far! 
Finally, favicons are important because they show just how much effort you put into the details. They’ll never be a big thing (they’re way too small!) and they’ll never bring success to your website, but with a little effort, it’s not hard to create a fun, recognizable icon that will help you make a better connection with your readers.
Hmmmm, I love details. Am working on new website with Mark Davidson so will have to add this to the mix. Why do I only think of naughty favicons?
Speaking of naughty, here’s a favicon I just created yesterday! 
*Love* RCG’s rain drop.
And you’re right, the house is overdone. But I had mine first damn it! Perhaps change is in order….
Outside of the real estate space, flavors of the RSS icon are also overdone, so I’d avoid that too.
I put a flower on mine, http://www.SeattleDreamHomes.com. My sites theme is “Martha Stewart goes into real estate.”
ooh. I hate to be cliche. But with a compelling name like “Altos Research” at least the logo should imply the market we work in, right?
I love my Favicon! A friend helped me set it up before getting these neat instructions – check it out – http://www.pasadenaviews.com
Irina: You’re way too cute!
Mike: I agree that the logo is good, but I can’t make heads or tails out of your favicon. Just a simple “A” and “R” in the right colors would probably be a bit clearer.
Jay: I love your house! You can keep yours. (as if I had any say over it!).
A little self promotion, but in the Ubertor platform, you can change your favicon. Plus we have most of the major real estate companies favicons already available for use.
I like mine I but I’m open to feedback.
The OC works for me!
Hi,
Would you like to see favicons near search results? There’s a firefox add-on that does the trick.
Looking forward to your comments.
Design Team
Interesting. Thank goodness I don’t have a home for a favicon.
Any thoughts from the masses about my new (draft) favicon? It’s for the soon to be redesigned Icicle Creek Real Estate site and can be seen in the attached avatar.
OK now I have favicon envy, I’ll be adding one to my site, thanks!
a favicon should never be missing. I love these colorful images in my bookmarks.
I would love to have a favicon…I’m just not sure what to use. I’ve sadly used my big “head” shot as a logo on my blog. I do have a snazzy logo that I paid dearly to have created…but it really doesn’t suit me anymore.
You’ve got my wheels spinning again, Dustin.
Besides being cool to look at…what purpose do they have?
Rhonda: even if it’s simple to begin with, I highly recommend getting yourself a favicon!
In terms of their purpose, it’s just an added way to identify your blog on other sites. I’m sometimes surprised to see the random places I’ll see the RCG and 4realz logos. Obviously places include the browser tabs and bookmarks, but more interesting places include google reader, various profiles on social networks and links to articles from social bookmarking sites.
Dustin,
Great sessions at ICNY . Learned more in 3 days than I have in the last year.
FYI You can have a favicon in a wordpress blog.
See mine for a poor example http://williamsburgsrealestate.com/
After reading your post I am re doing it..
Thanks
[UPDATE: This edition of the 4realz Roundtable is now live and you can listen to it at the bottom of this post!]
As part of my hunt for new marketing tools for agents, I’d love to take on a relevant topic similar to how we took on tracking and analytics for agents last week.
With that in mind, I’m planning for Thursday’s discussion to focus on tech tools that help agents serve sellers better…. And here’s where you come in. What types of technologies and/or tools should we cover?
Some thoughts that come to my mind include single property websites and listing syndication services… But I know there is more? What about tools that help agents get sellers to price properties more appropriately like Altos Research Reports?
I’d love to hear from you about the technology tools available to agents that can help them serve sellers better! In particular agents, if there is some tricks or tips you’d be willing to share, I’d love to hear from you and potentially get you on the show!
Also of interest, I’ve started summarizing the relevant websites taken from our previous Roundtables on social networking, home valutions and analytics for agents within the Tool Shed!
UPDATE:
What an awesome crew we had on the call today:
If you’re an agent looking to increase your knowledge on how to use simple technology tools to increase your business, here are just some of the tools that were mentioned in the podcast:
Some great stuff! Thanks again to everyone who took part! For everyone else, you can listen to this edition of the 4realz Roundtable here:
[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-20339/TS-124626.mp3[/podcast]
This doesn’t exist today, but I think sellers would find a lot of value in reports that could track page views on their home listings across ALL sites where their property appears, including MLS sites, single property sites, aggregator sites, etc.
i have yet to meet an agent who says a single property site has helped them close a deal. Its a good listing tool to set yourself apart from other agents to get the listing but I not sure it helps the seller any.
Ed: I hear you! I just had a conversation at lunch today about that very issue!
Andrew: What are some of the tools you think are helping?
Ed & Dustin: What type of actions would/could you take if you could know how often your property appeared across all sites?
@g I’d be less worried about pageviews (i.e. how often they appear) and more interested in lead tracking…
I am getting re-licensed in a few weeks and I have a ton of ideas in this area. One area that people often fail, is in maintaining an open and often used line of communication with their sellers. I’m thinking of using a either a live video service like to qik.com or a service like oovoo or seesmic to record video updates that you could send to your sellers via email. I like the idea of single property websites and I love them as subdomains on your own site. How about YouTube videos of walk throughs of the subject properties or virtual tours on the single property websites?
I’m also not so sure that giving seller access to the page views of the site is all that useful. Page views without knowledge of click through and conversion rates is just data that doesn’t really mean much. Also, unless you have some massive time to market those property site URL’s the page views will be low but if marketed correctly the conversion from page views to appointments to view the home could be high.
>One area that people often fail, is in maintaining an open and often used line of communication with their sellers.
Chris – All good ideas, but sometimes I have to remind myself that the telephone works too. We start to speak in these tech tongues which, while familiar to us, are foreign to our clients. Sometimes the simplest way is the most effective.
Having said that, innovation is great but only if it adds value or streamlines a process.
Ed – Yeah, man! I need that! We send what used to be weekly but are now bi-weekly updates to our selling clients. Parts of these updates are numbers of on-line eyes we are attracting, but with so many site, this is another example of a need for an aggregator aggregator.
Thanks, Dustin, for a place at your table. I enjoyed it.
Chris: So glad you’re finding some inspiration from the roundtable! I get great ideas out of each of these!
Kris: I loved having you at the table! For reasons that seem obvious to me, you are always welcome with a seat at the roundtable!
Dustin,
Your Roundtable yesterday was awesome!!! I don’t know of any agents in my Trade area that are embracing these technologies so it was refreshing to here how others are using it.
Great input from everyone!
Ted mackel
Keller Williams
Simi Valley, CA
Ted: I’ve seen what you’re doing with video, so I have no doubt that you’re way ahead of the game… Thanks for joining us!
Hey, How do I get a custom Avatar?
if you sign up for a wordpress.com account (free) and give yourself an avatar, then it will show up when you leave comments (assuming you’re logged in when you comment!).
Another great roundtable Dustion or is it Mike?
Thanks for having me.
You can also go to Gravatar.com and get a free avatar. WP owns them, or they feed each other, or sumpthin. But it works.
Dustin -
Thanks for having me. That was a great discussion and I learned quite a few things I’d love to make the time to integrate into my business.
I’m looking forward to the next one.
I need a broker that make a contact with the great companies. I invent a revolucionary technology that torn the contruct house, price less into 70%, and torn its more resistent into 150%. can you help me, thanks
I’m just missing http://www.pamfax.com on this list. I just like it more than efax, because there is no subscribtion and no mothly fees. Thanks for the great list!
…PageRank status for websites.
RCG went from a 5 to a 6 (no real surprise there since RCG was at a six a while back)…
More interesting, 4realz.net went from a 4 to a 5. Not bad for a domain that launched at the end of November and includes a bazillion links on it’s sidepanel!
Hey yeah! Congrats. Wow a 5 already. Even my blog went from a 4 to a 5…Woo hoo.
I’m seeing so many different sites from the RE.net get a bounce in this round. It definitely demonstrates the power that we all have to bump each other up!
Dustin: You are no no limits link soldier. I showing you have 1387 links of which 488 are wordpress tags links…..You’ve nofollowed a total of 4 links. You have more links on a page then I’ve ever seen…..
John, 
paulo muller and 9 others are discussing. 
Matt Dollinger 4:01 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
I think that chat on a RE website is sweet IF…
1. There is someone there to handle the chat
2. They know what the hell they are talking about
3. See #1 and #2 above.
I personally LOVE chat on site where I’m buying things but they have to know their stuff. If they don’t and they’re not helpful – #fail
Jeff Bernheisel 4:06 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
It’s a good idea if you have someone that is able to man it. Or set specific hours. But if you put something like that out there to the world, you better be able to follow through.
Knowing MOST agents aren’t sitting around during office hours, it may just be a waste of space.
Dustin 4:16 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
Great insight guys… I agree that unless someone is willing to “man the booth” there really is not point to a chat site… but even if someone is around, I doubt there’s much chat activity on the typical agent’s website, no?
Alex Scoble 4:23 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
It would be way more fun to connect the live chat to a mobile device and transmit it via text messages. That way any agent can stay connected with potential clients on their website…
Dustin 4:29 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
yeah… I think texting is definitely a more compelling option for most agents than a chat box anyway, and if it was built into a chat box (twitter-style!), why not? I like it!
AlexScoble 4:26 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
@tyr You have reply to your Realtor question
http://4realz.net/2010/02/got-a-question-via-email-from-a-realtor/
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Dustin 4:28 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
Here’s a thought…
Is it possible to make any of the chat apps “completely” disappear when you’re not available? That might deal with the “not around” issue. I hate the idea of a big widget on a website that says “I’m not available right now” most of the time, but if the widget completely disappeared when you weren’t available, that would be more compelling.
Ricardo Bueno 4:31 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
Years ago, I participated in a “Virtual Open House”. The idea was simple, we created a landing page for the listing in question and between the Agent and myself, we answered questions via live-chat using meebo (or something similar). I had 8-9 chats running and the agent had just about the same.
How many actual qualified leads did we get? I didn’t get any (bad credit mostly). As for the agent? I don’t quite remember. I think it worked well because of the promotion and the fact that we set specific hours for the chat.
Dustin 4:46 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
ohh… interesting observation and a great use of chat. I agree that chat works pretty darn well when combined with an online “event” (hell, that’s the premise behind spinnio!).
Kevin Kaplan 7:39 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
Dustin, will let you know soon. We will be implementing a centralized chat platform across our brokerage site in the next few months. I think there is enough opportunity to take a good stab at it, if we can do a good job with it will differentiate the experience on our site and we also think may be value in qualifying leads, capturing mortgage business etc vs a flat inquiry form. time will tell….
Kevin Kaplan 7:41 pm on February 12, 2010 Permalink |
will let you know, am implementing a centralized chat program on our brokerage website in a few months. I think there is enough upside potential to make a good stab at it, as a differentiation point and for higher capture reates, mortgage inquiries, etc
Dustin 4:38 am on February 13, 2010 Permalink |
very cool! I would think there’s some interesting lead distribution issues with this approach…
Jeff Bernheisel 9:27 pm on February 15, 2010 Permalink |
Meebo just launched their FREE iPhone app. I would look into something like that if I was going to add chat to a site…
Dustin 9:41 pm on February 15, 2010 Permalink |
I did see some buzz about that and it looks pretty slick. For others, here’s some more background: http://www.meebo.com/iphone/