A big "Thank You" to each and everyone of you, for supporting us in 2008. We truly appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in 2009. We wish you all a Merry Christmas Season filled with Loving Wishes and Beautiful Thoughts.
 
May 2009 mark the beginning of a fruitful year full of Love, Happiness and Bright Futures. 




Sincerely,
Peyman Aleagha
President
RealtySoft.com

We will perform a scheduled service upgrade on Monday, November 3 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST. During the upgrade, the RealtySoft Control Panel will be unavailable at times. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

Now this is what I call crazy! There is a website called BuyMyDump.com, apparently the owner of this house in Houston, TX needs to sell his investment property which is worth $80K for about $38K. The owner claims that this house was trashed by his tenant and his insurer is not willing to pay for the damages caused! Are you willing to fix it up? I know I wouldn't!

I found this great article by Mariana Wagner in Agent Genius. Its about a National MLS and why it will never happen: http://agentgenius.com/?p=1340

Enjoy!

We have had many inquiries from agents and brokers requesting additional search options for RealtySoft IDX. I am happy to announce that we just launched 2 more ways to search: Search By MLS Number & Search By Address. Here is what the new IDX Search Page looks like:



Enjoy!

We've talked before about getting traffic to your website.  I'm going to assume you're getting traffic.  But traffic means nothing unless you're actually getting contacted by visitors to your site. No contact means no prospect.

So how do you convert a visitor to a contact?

The answer is simple: Sales 101 -- you have to give them a good reason to contact you and you have to ask to be contacted. Most people get the first part correct; it's the second part they forget. There is a big difference between the website that says: "Hi! I'm Bob Smith." and the one that says: "Hi! I'm Bob Smith. Call me today!"  Guess which one gets the calls?

Make sure your content - on every page - includes a "call-me" call to action.  Don't assume because it's a website that this just means an email link. Cover all the bases, include your email link and a phone number, too.

I have a friend who is a long-standing real estate agent in my neighborhood.  This fellow is completely wired!  And I mean literally.  He has a notebook, a blackberry, a Boingo! account (wireless anywhere), a fax-to-email service, and 3 different websites.  He can type 120 wpm and he can thumb text faster than my 18-year old daughter!

As far as real estate goes, he seems to be doing OK (we haven't really talked numbers) -- I mean, he's been an agent now for more than 10 years, so something must be working, he takes a good vacation to a beach spot each year, and he drives an A4 (but it's his only car). 

But the question I have for him (and you readers) is this: Does all the electronics really pay off?  And how do you know it pays off better than other alternatives?

Let's hear some feedback on this -- I'm really interested in YOUR experience on this.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has decided to radically expand the choices of domain names that can be assigned. Two new proposals to the regulatory group were considered that would allow non-Latin characters (e.g. Russian, Chinese, Arabic, etc.) and also allow domains to consist of any letter or number combination up to 64 characters in length.

The proposal to consider non-Latin characters will be tested before final approval.

The proposal to open up domain names was approved. The change was initiated by concerns that all the meaningful domain names in the English language have already been bought up. The new regulations will open up high-level domain names as well.  This will allow a completely open-ended domain name suffices beyond the .com, .biz, .net and so forth that exist now. Potentially, the new rules would allow names like: getanother.ipod, pepsi.cola, and a wide range of expletives – e.g. whatthe.f—k.

Not all words would qualify.  Domains that conflict with trademarks (e.g. .microsoft) or names that are too similar to existing domain terms (e.g. .kom) or country domains (e.g. .finland, .france) would not be allowed. Names that might cause public conflict or are moral threats would be referred to an as-yet-to-be-named board for consideration.

Simply because the naming scheme will be opened up does not mean that it will be easy to get a new high-level name. Getting a top-level domain (e.g. .xxx) would require the applicant to prove they have the ability and staffing to manage the sizable technical task of controlling it.  The fee structure may also change – high level domains may start at 6-figure numbers or be auctioned off.

Keep your eyes open and you may soon find some great new opportunities for domain names.

If you send out a LOT of emails at a time, it might be a good idea to learn more about the new CAN-SPAM laws that govern emailing.  They've been tightened up a bit and, among other things, they specifically require mailers to have uncomplicated opt-out (take me off your list) and to suppress email addresses that have opted-out.

What's the consequence of failing to do that?  Well, the worst case could be that you get sued. But perhaps just as painful is that all your outbound emails might get blocked.  Then what would you do.

It's a good idea, in every email you send out, to do a few things...

1. tell the receiver why they're getting this email (e.g. "...because you requested to be informed about new...")
2. provide a specific email address for them to click on if they want to opt-out.
3. keep your subject line very simple and too the point avoiding the use of hyperbole and excessive exclamation points. (this triggers some filters)

When someone visits your site, you get exactly one chance to grab their attention.  The second or two it takes the visitor to scan the contents of  your home page is all the time you have to do it.  They better find something interesting in those few seconds, or they’re off to the next site.

 What does that mean?  It means first that everything in your site should be somehow visible – if only as a “tease” – on your homepage. It also means, since you have no idea the nature or characteristics of the visitor, that you ought to have something there of interest for a broad selection of possible visitors – buyer, seller, browser, agent or broker.

 Go through your home page – look at it critically through the eyes of a visitor and ask yourself: “Would I click through from here, or click away?”  If the answer you come up with is to click away, make the necessary changes.