Feature Upgrades for Sequoia Real Estate Websites: 9/28/2010
Always innovating at Boston Logic, we have recently launched a new round of Sequoia real estate website features and upgrades this past month.
Improved Property Details. Sequoia has now improved the details on the Admin access details on a specific property, which will show every piece of information that we get from each MLS on your real estate website design. One the front-end, your leads will now be able to see all absolutely all information details (legally allowed, of course!) on an MLS property!
Upgrades to Town Pages. If you are creating a sales town page, you no longer need to 
enter a MLS ID, Town, or Zip Code if you simply check the "Featured" check box! (This allows you to create pages like "All My Featured Properties Priced over $1 million") You can still enter towns, zips, or MLS ID’s as well to further refine searches. Additionally, you also now have the ability to add Sold / Pending listings to a town page!
System Upgrades. We will now be using the highly reputable Sendgrid as our new email delivery service, which will ensure greater deliverability. Sendgrid will also be able to reduce the amount of emails that are being air marked as spam. We have also upgraded the servers that are responsible for distributing our emails, so we can now send more emails and send them faster.
Lead Import Upgrades. Agents importing leads on their real estate agent website design will now correctly log those leads has being created on the agent site as opposed to the brokerage site. Leads imported by Office Managers are now assigned to that Office Managers office but not to themselves as the agent, so they go in as office only leads. This will allow the Office manager to easily distribute those leads to the correct agents
New MLS's. We now offer a new MLS for our Sequoia Real Estate websites, (MREIS) which is now live for the state of Maine!
New Adherence to Email Marketing vendor rules (iContact and ConstantContact). These vendors do not allow you to automatically subscribe people to email lists. We added settings to the Settings / Configuration / Email Marketing section. There is a "Mailing List Signup checkbox Label" setting which is what you would like the wording next to the checkbox to be on the form. Also, there is also a dropdown of your CMS section to pick the page which has your policy on what you will use the email addresses for. Both are required to be filled out / selected for the mailing list signup functionality to work. We have a link (open in a new tab) to the policy page next to the checkbox to subscribe to the mailing list.
Search Updates. Added "Waterfront Only" checkbox to the advanced search box on all themes!
Property Access. If a lead is not logged in they can now access a companies sold listings without having to log in to your website.
Automatic Password Expiration. This feature is required by MREIS - Passwords for leads only will expire after a set number of days after the last time a password was created (or updated). The number of days is set on the company (MREIS requires 90 days). To disable the feature, make sure this number is 0.
7 days before the password is set to expire the lead will receive an email telling them their password will expire in 7 days and they need to reset the password to continue using their account, it will contain a link to reset the password
If a leads password has expired and they try and log in, they will be redirected to the reset password page (they will also receive an email telling them their password has expired with the link in case they do not choose to reset their password at that time)
Rentals Updates. We have added the type ahead location selection for both LogicRentals and Rentjuice searches. Works just like the sales type ahead search forms.
As always, let us know if you have any questions! Read about Sequoia's realtor web design features.
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Posted on September 28, 2010 Filed Under New Features on Our Websites for Realtors, new sequoia features, Real Estate Agent Website Design, Real Estate Website Design, websites for realtors | Leave a Comment
CEO Roundtable: Making Digital Media Work for Your Business
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Posted on September 27, 2010 Filed Under Facebook, Lead Capture, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Strategy, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | Leave a Comment
WordPress: Great for Prototyping Your Online Business Model
I'm often astonished at the requests that we get from potential clients. They want to build sites that do all sorts of out-of-left-field things. They think they have a novel idea that no one else is doing. Sometimes they're actually right. No one else may have thought of their idea before, or it's only being done in Europe and it's time to bring this concept to the Yankees.
The fact that no one else is doing what you've thought of could be good, or it could be bad. Maybe no one's doing it because it's not going to work. Maybe no one is selling pizza with mustard on top for a reason...
On the other hand, maybe you're the first. The first mover advantage can be formidable. Maybe you're a visionary, a trend setter, the next Bill Gates. I don't claim to be one who can predict whether or not your idea will work, but we can help make good ideas succeed.
When each of these ideas comes across my desk, I first ask whether or not our Sequoia Real Estate Website platform can be used to accomplish what the client is asking for. For many real estate clients, making their wishes a reality are simply a matter of proper configuration and implementation.
For the really unique requests, I'm consistently amazed by how often there exists a WordPress plug-in that can do the job. A friend asked me, just the other day, if we could have auctions happen on our site. I said, "No, but I'm sure there's a WordPress plug-in that we could use." Sure enough there is! http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-auctions/
This got me thinking. Just how many business models can be implemented using WordPress? Or, for how many of the ideas out there could WordPress, with the addition of a few plugins, be used as a prototype? Let's just assume that the answer is: Many! The next logical question is either; That sounds too good to be true? or OK, what's the catch?
Well, the catch is that you have to live with the functionality that the plug-in offers. Odds are, it's going to do some of the things you need, but not all. it's also probably not going to link up to other business systems. For example, the auction plug-in I linked to above isn't going to integrate with your lead management system on your realtor web design. Also, the bidder seems to only have to enter their email, what if I want to require a phone number and street address?
Well, here's a thought, don't get everything you want, get some of it for very cheap, get your online business up and running and see how things go? You might find that the business moves along great, even without these few missing features. You might find other barriers to real estate marketing success that had nothing to do with technology. Suffices to say, you'll learn a lot, cheaply and quickly. If you fail, you didn't risk much, if you succeed, maybe you didn't need those features in the first place. Either way, you'll be better off.
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Posted on September 27, 2010 Filed Under Blogging, Blogs, Lead Capture, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Web Design, Real Estate Web Site, Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate Websites, Sequoia Real Estate Solutions, Wordpress Blog | Leave a Comment
Why Real Estate Agents Need a Web Presence
For those of you who haven't latched on to our amazing new real estate agent sites, you may be wondering why you even need one. After all, you've gotten this far with your successful real estate business, why need an impressive web site for real estate internet marketing purposes at all?
Unfortunately, you may be missing out on potential leads - not only is the internet a prime source for potential buyers to find real estate, according to the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2009, 94% of people looking for a home use the internet for the home-buying process. So you need a website because the internet is where your market is going to find places and people like you!
If you're not convinced yet, here are some more reasons you should push for a new real estate website and engage in real estate SEO:
1) Buyers looking to the internet. As we mentioned, a whopping 94% of buyers are turning to
the internet as their first means of search. Knowing this, will they be able to find you?
2) Real Estate SEO Ranking. It's not enough to just have a website. Users will most likely conduct a search with their search engine of choice, like Google. When they perform a search in your specialty or demographic, does your name pop up? Does it pop up before page 3? The more you optimize your website and blog with fresh content, the greater chance that you have to climb the rankings of search results.
3) You have a split second to make an impression. So a buyer has located your website through a search engine: now what? Do they stay and click around, or "bounce" off of your website? A real estate website design that outlines a company or agent's credentials and has helpful modal search windows is important. Your challenge is to keep viewers engaged and clicking through your website: so make sure you have professional images, a sleek format, and dynamic website content!
4) Advertise your website online. SEO is a great way to get started with your real estate online marketing strategy, but paid advertisements can get you even more exposure to your target market. You can use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, where you can have great control over who sees your ad for what keyword prompts. You also only pay per each click your ad receives, which would ideally be attracting those interested in your real estate services.
5) Generate leads online. The last major selling point is that just because you have a website, does not mean that you can expect qualified leads to come to you. You can liken this to a real estate agent sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring - it just doesn't happen! You need to not only find leads, but also convince the lead that you are the agent for them. You can recruit these leads online, and using a Boston Logic's cutting edge Real Estate Website can give you great efficiency with lead management.
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Posted on September 24, 2010 Filed Under Lead Capture, Lead Generation, Real Estate Internet Marketing, Real Estate Lead Generation, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Search Engine Optimization, Real Estate SEO, Real Estate Software, Real Estate Web Design, Real Estate Website Design, Real Estate Websites, SEO Strategy, Website Design | Leave a Comment
Q + A Tuesday: Email hosting for your website 9/21/2010
The other day, I added an entire page of Q & A about email hosting:
Here are some other questions and answers you may have:
Q: Does Boston Logic provide email hosting?
A: No, we do not provide email hosting in our realtor website features. We do however recommend Google for your email hosting needs.
Q: But I need email hosting and Google sounds great, but how do I set that up? Can you help?
A: We can help you setup Google email hosting on your domain. We charge $250 to setup an office with fewer than 20 agents and $500 for offices with more than 20 agents. This is a 1 time fee and or support staff has helped 100s of companies setup Google email hosting. They're quite good at it.
Q: Is Google email hosting expensive?
A: No, Google email is, in many cases free! If you want more storage or some other bells and whistles, there is a fee, but it's very reasonable.
Q: Will my email address be @google.com? or @gmail.com?
A: No, your email address will be @youdomain.com. If you already own that domain, we'll just transfer the email hosting to Google but the buyers, sellers, and renters you work with will never know the difference.
Q: If Boston Logic produces great real estate websites and provides amazing online marketing services, like SEO and social media, why not get into the email hosting biz too?
A: Email hosting is VERY different from real estate website design, web hosting, real estate seo, or any of the other stuff we do. Email is, in fact, a commodity. It's not a profitable business unless you have an extremely large number of clients or provide other hosting services too. Also, premium email hosting providers might make money, but real estate brokers and agents usually don't ask for premium (read: expensive) email hosting. So, we stay out of that game.
Sign up now:
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Posted on September 21, 2010 Filed Under Q & A, What's New | Leave a Comment
Logic Classroom | Understanding Long Tail Keywords
If you missed last night's LogicClassroom on Understanding Long Tail Keywords, please enjoy the slideshow from our presentation.
In this classroom we discussed the difference between generic 'Head' keywords and 'Long Tail' keywords, and what they mean for your Search Engine Optimization.
We talked about the Google Search Algorithm, and what the recent introduction of Google Instant means for the future of SEO and how searchers use Long Tail Keywords.
We also covered the basics of what a good SEO Keyword Strategy should include, and how to monitor and adjust your campaign as you go!
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Posted on September 15, 2010 Filed Under Blogging, Boston Logic, Lead Capture, Lead Generation, LogicClassroom, Real Estate Internet Marketing, Real Estate Lead Generation, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Search Engine Marketing, Real Estate Search Engine Optimization, Real Estate SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Optimization Classes, SEM, SEO Strategy, Webinar | Leave a Comment
Using Email Features on Sequoia Real Estate Websites: 9/14/2010
Follow up with your leads and convert them into clients with a Sequoia real estate websites' Email Features!
Welcome Emails
When a lead signs up on your website an email is automatically generated and sent out to the associated email address, thanking them for signing up with your website! It also includes their login information and a link to their account on your site.
Additionally, if you manually create a lead, they will receive an email with all of their account and login information with links to your website.
Once a lead clicks the link in their welcome email, they are prompted to sign in and are directed to their account. Here they are able to access and edit the following:
· Contact Information
· Favorite Properties / Searches
· Email Updates
· Personal Notes
· Change Password
Daily Email Updates:
One of our favorite features offered to leads is Daily Email Updates. Both the Lead and Agent can set these up simply by selecting "Email Updates" under the leads detail information.
Once a daily email search is set up, a lead will start receiving emails the next day when they log into their email. A lead will ONLY receive emails if there are any updates to their search criteria.
If you would like to send an email to a lead immediately after setting up their email update, you can select "Send all Searches to lead right now." This will prompt it to send all updates for that particular day.
Email updates can be set up for both sales and rentals. You or a lead may also set up as many searches as you desire!
Email Listing to a Lead:
As a real estate agent you may send a property to a lead via email. This will include all property information, pictures, and descriptions. It will also include your logo and contact information so the lead has everything they could possible need right in front of them!
Once you select the property that you would like to email to your client, select the lead you would like the listing to go to. You may also include a message to go along with the property.
Once you hit 'submit', your listing has been sent to your lead and they will be able to view it directly from their inbox!
Interested in a custom real estate website that includes this feature and more? Contact us to learn more about how to get started, and to take advantage of our Free 30 Day Trial!
Need some tips on email marketing? Check out our posts on effective email marketing strategies on our Real Estate SEO blog.
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Posted on September 14, 2010 Filed Under broker web design, custom real estate website, new sequoia features, property web design, Real Estate Online Marketing, Sequioa Real Estate Website Design, websites for realtors | Leave a Comment
All About Real Estate Website Blogs Q & A Tuesday #1: 9/7/2010
Today will be the first installment of Q & A Tuesday. We'll be posting common questions about the Sequoia platform here each Tuesday. We get A LOT of questions. We know many of you would like to have the same answers. So, here we go:
Q: Can my website include a blog?
A: Yes, the Sequoia platform offers a blog as an optional component to the system. We HIGHLY recommend signing up for this component. Blogging is very helpful for search engine optimization. Blogging is also a great way to educate your customers and generate leads by positioning yourself and/or your company brand as an authority.
Q: How much does the blog cost?
A: The blog costs just $20/month with your Sequoia site.
Q: What should I write about on the blog?
A: Check out this blog and our real estate seo blog for TONS of ideas on what to blog, how to blog, how often, and lost of other useful information.
Q: Does Boston Logic Provide blog content?
A: Yes! We do provide blog content as part of many of our search engine optimization and social media campaigns. Depending on the size and scope of your campaign, we will produce targeted, keyword rich content for your blog. If you'd like to learn more about this, click here: Search Engine Optimization
Q: What about WordPress?
A: We can either launch your blog using our proprietary blogging software or we can develop your blog on top of the wordpress platform.
Q: What's the difference between the WordPress platform and the blogging component that's part of the Sequoia Real Estate Website platform?
A: The blogging component that is part of the Sequoia real estate website platform is an integrated solution. Agents and brokers have 1 account and 1 place to login in order to blog, manage leads, manage their site, access the intranet, and use all of the other features that the Sequoia system offers. If we launch your blog on the WordPress platform, then you're going to be adding another technology to the mix. We often find that clients do not want to train themselves and/or their team to use 2 different pieces of software. Other clients are comfortable with WordPress already and would prefer to stay with what they already know. So, we offer both.
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Posted on September 7, 2010 Filed Under Q & A, real estate blogging, SEO and Social Media, Sequioa Real Estate Website Design, Websites for real estate offices, websites for realtors | Leave a Comment
Drive more traffic to your real estate website with your Sequoia Blog! 9/2/2010
Why Blog?
Blogging is an important aspect of establishing a web presence for you and your website. Not only does it pump your real estate website design with keyword rich content that allows leads to find you through search engines, but it also helps you establish your brand identity and can color your business with a personal touch.
You'll now be writing for potential clients and people interested in real estate, so think about topics that you think they could find useful, or what you'd like to read about. For real estate SEO purposes, it is also helpful to center most of your blog posts around some of your keywords that you've identified with your real estate website.
Lastly, blogging is about being active. Read other blogs within your industry, have guest bloggers, and comment frequently. You'll be surprised how these things can increase your website traffic, and how you will become part of an online community!
Outlined below are some of the basics of your blog's toolbar. Feel free to experiment and explore other tools and capabilities that your blog has!
If you don't already have a blog integrated with your website, contact us and we can set you up with one for only $20 per month!
1. Log in to your website, this will give you the ability to create, edit and delete blogs.
2. Go to Settings > Bloggers in the backend to add the users you would like to have blogging capability
3. To blog, stay logged into your system and go to your blog (www.yourdomain.com/posts)
4. As a blogger, a link will be available at the top of your blog to "Create Post"
6. In the large white section, you will type your blog text.
7. To insert a link into the text of your post, simply highlight the selected text you'd like the link to be. Next, click the globe with the chain (i.e., "link") icon in the toolbar, and a window will pop up and prompt you to enter the URL for link. You can type this out or copy and paste it.
8. To insert an image, click on the yellow icon with the mountain in the foreground. From here, an "Image Properties" window will pop up.
b. Click "Browse", then select the image you'd like to insert into your blog post.
c. Your image is now uploaded to the server. Locate the file name in the list of images, click it, and hit "Upload".
d. Your image is uploaded into the "Image Properties" window. Click "OK", and your image is now inserted into your blog post!
9. You can also adjust the size of the image by double clicking it, and then clicking on any of the corners (which should have a white square) to drag your image to the desired size.
10. To change the image's alignment, (centering an image is recommended) click the image, then click any of the 3 alignment options on the toolbar.
These are the basics of your blog's toolbar. Feel free to experiment and explore other tools and capabilities that your blog has!
Okay, so you have a blog and are ready to start writing: now what do you write about? Or maybe you have been blogging for a while but now you are stumped? Here are some suggestions to get you started!
· Featured property listings. This is a great way to hand-select and talk more about certain apartments that you have, and potential leads love reading additional info on a listing.
· Attend a real estate conference or networking event and write about your experience
· Write a book review that can provide relevant insight to the real estate industry
· Browse through real estate blogs that you find interesting, and think about how you can take the aspects that you like and make them your own.
You can also visit our real estate SEO blog to read more about real estate blog post suggestions. And browse through real estate blogs that you find interesting, and think about how you can take the aspects that you like and make them your own.
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Posted on September 2, 2010 Filed Under Help, Real Estate Website Design, Realtor Web Design, websites for realtors | 1 Comment