Tool Shed
The 4realz Guide to Tools, Technologies and Websites for Real Estate Agent to get savvy with their Internet Marketing
Content Management Systems (CMS)
These are technologies that power the backend of your website! And thanks to the many benefits of blog platforms over standard real estate websites in terms of ease-of-use, cost, consumer engagement, and ease-of-ranking well within search engines, many agents are now opting for blogs and that is the only CMS I’m going to focus on here.
The two most common free platforms for agents are WordPress.com and Blogger. WordPress is my personal favorite and one I recommend for agents who want a DIY solution.
Other blogging options include the free blogs offered by real estate specific communities such as ActiveRain, RealTown, Zolve, Realtor.com Blogs and REW Blog. With active communities on some of the platforms, they can be a great way to get quick feedback on what works and what doesn’t work.
If you really want to pay for a hosted blog platform similar (but arguably less feature rich) to WordPress, some real estate agents use TypePad.
And, of course, if you really want a to have a unique look and feel to your blog, then there are more than a few real estate specific vendors who would be happy to set you up with a customized design around blog and/or website presence:Dakno, Ubertor, Real Estate Tomato, Realivent, Real Estate Blogsites.
Website Analytics and Tracking
Google Analytics is by far the most widely used tool among real estate professionals for analyzing websites… and best of all, the incredibly functionality of the tool is available for free from Google. It is quite easy to install on most websites adn it can be used to track how visitors get to, interact on and take calls-to-action on your website.
Others analytic tools you should consider include: SiteScan, Woopra, CrazyEgg, 4Q, Feedburner, ClickTale, GetClicky, Keyword Envy, SEOQuake
For background on each of these tools (and more), check out this podcast on tracking and analytics for real estate professionals.
Social Networking
There are a number of social networking site developed specifically to engage real estate professionals. Some of the social networks designed to help real estate agents network with other real estate professionals and consumers include: MyDealBook, RealSeekr, PropertyQube, and Zolve.
For a discussion on how agents are using social networks to add value to their business, check out this roundtable discussion.
Tools to Help Sellers
Some of the tools that were mentioned in our conversation of tools that help agents help sellers included Docusign (a religious experience), Point2Agent (Robust listing syndication), Altos (Great reports to engage sellers), Transaction Point (Great tool), eFax (Couldn’t live without), Real Estate Shows (Great tool for demonstrating traffic)
