I love Posterous.  It’s my new favorite must-have application for the modern Realtor.  If you are a Realtor, and you want to have a personalized, real time web presence for your real estate business, but don’t know how to get started, Posterous is your solution.  Before I get into why, let me introduce what Posterous is.

Posterous describes itself as “The dead simple place to post anything.”  By creating a Posterous account, you instantly create a web presence for yourself that lets you post anything to it – photos, articles, videos, MP3′s, files (such as word documents, pdf’s, etc).  There is no easier way to create a blog for yourself and your real estate business (if you’d like some background as to why this might be valuable for your real estate business, check out my earlier posts on social media, web 2.o, and social networking for real estate).  And posting is EASY, making Posterous the most attractive blogging option to the novice user, while still being an outstanding and powerful resource for the techiest of agents.

Why do I love Posterous so?

First:   It’s easy.  It’s simple.  (You can do this.  Really.  You Can.)

If you can email, you can use Posterous.  In its simplest form, all you have to do is email whatever you want to post to post@posterous.com, and it is done.  Doesn’t get much easier than that.

Simply tell Posterous what your email account is, and it will know that when you send an email to them, the content is to appear on your Posterous blog.  And, if you have multiple email accounts (for example, a brokerage account, a personal account, a gmail account, etc.) you can tell Posterous all your email addresses and it will post to your site no matter which email account you send from.

In addition, there are multiple ways to update your Posterous site from both your PDA cell phone and from your computer.  This makes Posterous easy to use whether you are in the office checking out the MLS, or out in the field working an open house or showing property.  Here are the options for how to update your Posterous Page:

1.  From your PDA cell phone:

• Email whatever you want to post to Posterous and it will automatically post to your site.
• Text in your post via SMS (maximum post size is 110 characters…even a busy Realtor can manage that!)
• PicPosterous:  If you have an iPhone, you can download the free PicPosterous application which further simplifies the process of posting photos to your site, and organizes the pictures on the site into photo-galleries allowing the user to preview multiple thumbnail images and select the one they want to view larger (see an example on my site here).

2.  From your computer:

• At your Posterous.com website:  Simply create a new post and type in what you want to say.
• From your email:  Email whatever you want (including file attachments) to Posterous and it will post to your site.
• Use the Posterous Bookmarklet:  This is a Posterous application that will let you grab photos, video, audio and text right out of the web pages you’re looking at, comment, and post it to your posterous blog.

Second:  Posterous looks good.

Social media is really a brand building opportunity for Realtors.  And, part of that opportunity is the visual design of how you are represented online.  Posterous has a simple, elegant, and clean design that is professional and will display you and your content in an attractive manner that is good for your business image.

Third:  It’s Free.

There is no charge to use Posterous.  By creating a Posterous account, you create a free website for yourself.  And everyone like free, right?!  Over time, Posterous will be adding premium features, but they state in their FAQ “…there will always be a useful free version you can use.”

Fourth:  It’s branded to you.

When you sign up for a Posterous account, you will select a vanity URL that can be branded to you.  So, for example, my Posterous URL is:  staceyharmon.posterous.com.  Assuming it’s available, you can have YourName.posterous.com or PalmDesertProperties.posterous.com or WhateverYouCallYourBusiness.posterous.com.

Fifth:  Posterous integrates with other social media sites.

One of the most powerful features of Posterous is the ability to auto-post to ALL of the social media sites that are most relevant to Realtors, all at the same time.  This includes:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• WordPress
• Blogger

So, for example, if I take a photo of a listing that I am holding open and want to send that to Posterous with a note that says “I’m holding open 123 Main Street from 12-4 today…come on by and say hello!”, I can choose to have that photo and message sent (with one email) to Posterous, and concurrently to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and my WordPress blog.  This is powerful and efficient stuff!

How to Use Posterous For Your Real Estate Business:

Posterous is the best way for Realtors to get started in social media and in blogging.  The possibilities for using Posterous for your business are only limited by your creativity.  The goal is to give people a glimpse inside your life as a working Realtor, in real-time.  Here are a few ideas to get you started.  At the minimum, your Posterous site is an outstanding place to post photos…of your neighborhood, of your listings, of your life as you experience it (why not post photos of your office, or of your team as they are out showing listings?).  Position yourself as a trusted real estate advisor by sharing with people relevant information related to real estate in your market.  Post market reports for your farm (simply scan what you get a hard copy of at your sales meeting and email it to Posterous, or post a PDF of one that is emailed to you).

Check out my Posterous account here (which I use primarily as a photo blog site) and then sign up for your own.  Give it a try.  And let me know what creative ways you come up with to build your real estate business with Posterous.  I want to hear your great ideas!

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

In today’s post, I wanted to bring to your attention one of the most outstanding resources out there for Realtors who are looking to stay informed on all things technology in our industry:  MyTechOpinion.com.

Their tagline says it all “Technology for Real Estate”.  Topics covered range from Blogging, to Hardware, to Marketing, to Software, to Social Media and beyond. In their own words:

At MyTechOpinion we dig through ALL those technology offerings to identify key products and services to benefit your real estate business. Let us be your real estate technology knowledge base.

Some of my favorite posts include (and ones that I think are particularly useful for today’s Realtor):

• 10 Social Media Lifeskills for Real Estate Professionals
• 4 Ways to Access Your Files Remotely (having trouble getting all your files in one spot?)
  
• A Real Estate Presentation in the Palm of Your Hand (highlights small, hand held projectors – digital listing presentation anyone?)
• How Neat Are Your Receipts? (discusses a product called Neat Receipts which helps you stay organized – think write offs!)
• Some Like it Hot [But Your Laptop Doesn't] (think an inexpensive laptop cooling pad might be helpful with that Desert heat?)

They also have a great resource list for those who are ready to get started in social media marketing.  Make life easy on yourself…they’ve already done the hard work for you and presented the best social media sites and technologies in an easy to understand list which sifts through the junk and highlights the best.

The authors of MyTechOpinion (Nicole Nicolay, Reggie Nicolay, and Chad Johnson) are recognized social media pioneers and respected industry professionals.  In my opinion, this is one site that should be on the radar of any Realtor looking to keep up with technology today.

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

Do you have an iPhone, Blackberry, Treo, or other internet enabled cell phone?  If you do (and have a data plan through your cell phone provider), you now have the ability to view the CV Escrow website and blog right from your phone.

Last week, CV Escrow released the mobile version of our site so that you have the ability to surf our site and our blog right from your PDA.  Depending on what phone you have will determine the level of graphic sophistication you see.  So, for example, if you have an iPhone, the site will be very graphically pleasing on your phone.  If you have an older Blackberry, the site isn’t going to render as pretty, but it still will function great and get you access to the information you are looking for.   Simply go to www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com from your PDA’s browser to view the site on your own phone.

Here are some samples of how the CV Escrow home page looks on various PDA phones:

So what can you now do on the CV Escrow website from your web-enabled phone?

• Search and view any article that has been posted on the blog.  (Are you with a client who has a question about escrow that we answered in a post?  Now you can search for the post right from your phone.)
• Get our address, phone number, and email (Trying to tell a client where the escrow office is, or need to call us with a question?)
• Get contact information for your Sales Representative, Escrow Officer, or Escrow Assistant (In the field and need a check delivered to escrow, or are you with a client and have a question about your deal?  Find the contact information for the person you need to reach)
• View our Twitter stream and follow us (CV Escrow is on Twitter – you can access our profile from the home page of our mobile website and see what we are talking about)

And, if you have an iPhone, you have this additional functionality:

• View a video introduction for each of our escrow officers (show your client who they are dealing with by watching a video of their escrow officer and team members.
• Google Map directions to our office from your current location

So, check out our site on your PDA.  Our goal is to give you the information you want, where you are, and when you need it.  Let us know what you think!  We’d love to hear stories about how you use this new functionality in the field.

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

Are you looking for an international buyer for your listing which would make a fabulous second home?  Interested in getting your listings exposed to those potential foreign buyers?  Although sites like Realtor.com do a great job of reaching a national audience, wouldn’t it be better if your listing was appearing in the currency of the country that it is appearing in?  How about having your listing translated into the language of the country you are targeting?  Or maybe you just want to make sure your listings are appearing on sites that rank well with Google in foreign countries.  Although still fairly new and evolving, a growing area of online real estate marketing is in international listing websites and portals.  Some are specific to a country, while others are trying to develop a global listing database.  It is still too early to determine who the winner of this latest phase of real estate website positioning is going to be, but here are a few sites to watch, and check out for your current and future listings:

GlobalEdge:

Billing themselves as “The Business Portal for Overseas Properties” this site is based in the UK is “an award-winning trade portal designed to help real estate agents and property developers do business overseas”.  In order to participate on this site, you need to create an account.  They have several pricing models which range from free to £250/month.  For £15/month you can showcase 3 of your best listings.  In addition, this site has a property portal section which is an “independent analysis of the best overseas property portals” presented by region and by country.  This is an excellent resource if you are trying to target a specific country for your listing.

Enormo:

With the tagline “Every Property, Everywhere”, this site aims to be an international listing portal and translates your listing into approximately 30 languages for a moderate monthly fee.  Realtors can list their properties on the website, provided they have a website of their own.  Specific details and pricing information is available by filling out their interest/inquiry form here.

Property Showrooms:

Based in Spain and a respected site amongst the European investor community, this site allows agents to post unlimited listings for 75 EURO/month with a 3 month minimum sign up period.  Their site describes itself as:

Winner of CNBC Best Portal, frequently mentioned in the worlds press such as The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, and The South China Morning Post. As a result we appear at the top of Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines providing extensive background information, up to date news and services for both the public and industry alike.

Point2Homes:

A listings syndication service based in Canada, Point2Homes has a free 3 month trial membership where you can upload your listings and choose where they are distributed.  After 3 months, the price is $9.95/month.  Point2Homes is a great way to exposure your listings to many sources at once, including leading national, and international websites.  The process is manual and requires you to create an account and upload your listing data.

All Global Properties:

As of the time of this post, the ability to upload listings in the United States is not possible, but the team behind this site (the REA Group) has a lot of visibility and credibility, so it is one to watch.  Currently they feature listings in Australia, Belgium, Dubai, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and the UK.  The site offers consumers advice on buying properties oversees and until they offer US listings, might be a good place for buyers agents to consider advertising their US Services to international buyers (via banner ads, for example).

Interested in what you are reading? To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (www.CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.

If you are a Realtor that wants a leg up on the competition, you are off to a good start.  By reading this weekly technology tip series, you will be introduced to an array of tools that will help you be informed and stay a step ahead.  And, one of my goals with this series is to introduce you to other great websites that will help you continue your education about the industry and allow you to evolve with it.

This week, I’m bringing to your attention to AgentGenius.com – a online real estate industry magazine that discusses “what’s hot in technology, new and inventive real estate business models, the nature of the real estate industry, hot topics that impact consumers and so much more…”

The site has great contributors including a host of agents who are actually making money by applying social media techniques to their real estate business.  You will also find content related to real estate coaching, ethics, marketing, tech & new media, mortgage, and more.  The days of the Realtor magazine delivered via snail mail have evolved.  You can now get up to the minute articles and discussions about what is happening in the industry right now.  It is a great site!

And I’m not the only one who thinks so.  Inman News awarded them an Innovator Award for 2008.  So, AgentGenius.com is definitely a site to watch, one to bookmark, and if you are so inclined, one to subscribe to (just like you can or have subscribed to this one – why not have the information come straight to your email?! – if you have no idea how to do this, just send an email to stacey@staceyharmon.com and I’ll be happy to help you).

Happy reading!

Interested in what you are reading?  To automatically receive these Tuesday Technology Tips in your email box, subscribe to these articles at the top right corner of this site (CoachellaValleyEscrow.com) in the box titled “Subscribe via Email”.