Now, whether or not photos and videos are on the same level is up to the customer, but if you look at the stats around video it’s pretty clear that they’re in love with it.

According to comScore 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos in the month of December alone, with the average user watching 187 videos per month in the U.S. Those are pretty powerful numbers, and that data is from 2009! I can only imagine where those numbers are today and hope that comScore releases a new study soon.

When you combine the video viewing habits of Internet users with the explosive growth of Facebook (71.2% of the U.S web audience is on there) and the fact that videos are the most viewed posts on Facebook, using video seems like a no brainer.

Even with those mind-blowing statistics above some agents are still hesitant to use videos in their marketing. I think I have a solution that can ease you into using video in your marketing in 2011: community videos. Instead of doing a video for every listing (this can be time consuming, I know) start by doing community videos. These have a longer shelf life (hopefully!) than listing videos and will still impress your clients. If you’re still worried about the quality of your videos hire a local videographer to shoot your video for you. But honestly, I wouldn’t worry. People are in love with video. Not professional video, just plain video.

What are your thoughts on using video in your marketing? If you’re using it, how are you using it. If you’re not using it, why not, and do you ever plan to?

Disclosure: I’m co-founder of Zipvo, a website that offers real estate video solutions to agents, so I may be a bit biased on this topic. However, I don’t care what type of video you use, I just think you should use it!

[Photo credit: Ugly House Photos]

The iPad 3G came out last week and a few people I know were waiting to buy until the 3G version came out. I assume this was the case for many buyers. Of course the 3G model has a $14.99 per month service fee for 250MB of data transfer or $29.99 for unlimited transfer. Whats nice though is there is no service contract:

“Best of all, there’s no contract. So if you have a business trip or vacation approaching, just sign up for the month you’ll be traveling and cancel when you get back. You don’t need to visit a store to get 3G service. You can sign up, check your data usage, manage your account, or cancel your service — all from your iPad.” – Apple.com

I’ll be honest, I don’t see a need for an iPad in my life. It may be partly because I’m not traveling as much as I used to or that I have a laptop, but somehow I’ve gone without buying one of Apples hot new products. In fact, I haven’t even played with one yet!

So with all the cool features, apps and possibilities the iPad brings to the table I am wondering: How are you using the iPad for real estate?

Mac’s do everything better.
Whether it’s video editing, music, word processing, presentations, checking your mail, or just browsing the web, Mac’s do it faster, safer, and more reliably. With Mac Mail organizing your emails is a breeze. Never lose an email again with their powerful search feature. Organize all your listing photos with iPhoto. Video chat with clients, associates, friends and family.

Ok, so Mac’s are great. We know this. But I know you’re thinking to your self I can’t switch because… (fill in the blank). Well here are some common concerns and the reasons why they shouldn’t be.

Common concerns (and why they shouldn’t be)

I need all my files transferred.
When you buy your new Mac a Mac Genius will transfer all of your files from your old PC to your new Mac free of charge! Simply bring the old computer with you when you buy the new one. All of your old files will work on the new Mac. Word documents, excel files, photos, emails, etc. You won’t lose a thing!

I can’t use a Mac, it will take too long to learn.
Apple offers great training on their products. They have “One to One” training where you can go in once a week for an hour and sit down with an expert and learn anything you want about your Mac. It’s only $99 for a years worth or One to One training!

From the Apple website:

“As a One to One member, enjoy a year’s worth of personal training sessions for just $99. Sit down for in-depth, face-to-face sessions with your very own personal trainer. Experts in all things Apple, our Trainers help you get the most out of your Apple products. Just tell them what you want to be able to do, and they’ll teach you how.”

I can’t afford a Mac.
A common misconception is that all Mac’s are $3,000. Sure, there are some Mac Pro’s that are $3,000+, but for the average user your can get into a MacBook laptop for only $999! This isn’t a stripped down system either. It has all the tools you need to run your life. Whether it’s video, music, word processing, email, this has it all! If you’re more of the desktop type you can get into a Mac Mini for only $599!

I need Windows for…
I know many of you need Windows, and in some cases even Internet Explorer, for your MLS, and until they upgrade and get with the times this will be a common problem. But a little known fact is you can run Windows on a Mac!

Parallels is a program that allows Windows to run while the Mac operating system is running. It can be downloaded at the Parallels website.

My wireless Internet will need to be re-configured.
Mac’s hook up with ease to your wireless network and in most cases easier than your PC would. They also remember your location so if different settings are needed for the office and the house it will remember those settings when you switch from place to place. Like everything else on a Mac, connecting to the internet is just easier.

My computer is fine, I don’t need a new one.
This may be true, but why wouldn’t you want the most powerful technology out there to help you? It’s all about the tools you have, and adding a Mac to your arsenal will help tremendously. Also, your computer may be fine today, but why wait for a catastrophic fail to realize you need a new one?

Are you convinced yet?
I hope this post can help you make the decision to switch to a Mac. They really are the perfect computer for a real estate agent and will make your life so much easier, productive, and fun.

If you’re ready to enter the Mac world check out the Apple Store, pick out your new system, and enjoy!

I missed any of your concerns please let me know and I will tell you why they shouldn’t be one!

Anyone who knows about search engine optimization knows that this is huge! This move will help get your Twitter profile to the top of the search results when someone searches your name.

If my past posts, the recent press, or your friends haven’t convinced you to get on Twitter yet, hopefully this does. Not only will Twitter help you connect with friends, family, associates and customers, it will also add to your Google Juice!

Join the Conversation!

Adding images and photos to your blog posts makes them easier to read, more appealing to the reader, and can even help to illustrate a point or give an example of something.

If you’re currently using images in your blog posts you may be finding them online or taking them from your computer, then putting them into a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop. If you’re not using images in your blog posts it may be because you’re not sure how to, don’t have a good program to edit images, or just haven’t thought about it.

Well, Picnik makes it easy to take a photo you found or have and add rounded corners, a drop shadow, border, make it black and white, and much more! It’s all FREE and very easy to use.

For an easy to follow video tutorial on using Picnik check out my previous post on it.

What that other post does not cover though is the Firefox plugin that allows you to instantly take a photo you’re viewing on a website and import it into Picnik with a single click.

Once you install the plugin you can simply right click any image on a website and select “Edit in Picnik”.

Not only does this plugin allow you to edit images on a website, you can also take a screenshot of that website! So if you’re writing about a website, blog, etc, you can now have a screenshot of that site instantly created using Picnik. You can then take that screenshot and crop it to the exact part of the site you wanted to add to your blog post.

Here’s a quick screenshot I did in less than a minute of the plugin page for the Picnik plugin:

Adding screenshots when you’re talking about a site or product really adds to your blog posts. It helps illustrate a point, give an example, or simply show what a site looks like without your readers having to click a link.

Oh, and if you’re on the fence about switching to Firefox, check out this post by Brad Andersohn: Internet Explorer vs Mozilla Firefox The Mythunderstanding

* All of the above images and screenshots were created using Picnik and the Picnik plugin on Firefox.

A future post will cover all the uses for video in real estate, tips for viral video, etc, but todays post is a simple how-to for embedding videos to your blog. Whether you’re posting videos on YouTube, Viddler, WellcomeMat, ZIPVO, or any other popular video site, this video tutorial will show you how to add them to your blog posts.

Here are some screenshots to show you where to find the embed code on some of the popular video sharing websites:

This video tutorial will show you how to take that embed code and add it to your blog post:

View Video Tutorial

And that’s it! It only takes a minute to add video to your posts so start using video today!

Well, instead of pulling up Parallels every time I needed to test in Internet Explorer on Windows XP, then Vista, then Safari, Chrome, etc, I decided to find an alternative solution.

That’s when I came across Browsershots.

Browsershots is a free website where you can test out your website or blog on 50+ different browsers. They have everything from Internet Explorer to Chrome to browsers you’ve never heard of before.

Simply enter your URL, select which browsers you’d like to test it on, and hit Submit.

After you hit submit the process takes place automatically. Simply sit back and hit refresh every so often to see your new screenshots start to appear.

Once your processing is done you can roll over each to see a larger view. If something looks off you can click that view and see more details.

These details include the browser name, the engine it’s based off of, as well as many other important details including whether or not Java is enabled, what version of Flash it’s running, the operating system it was on, and what the screen dimensions were.

These are all very important details when trying to troubleshoot problems you may see on your screenshot.

When you’re done, go back to the results screen to take a look at another screenshot.

You can also download all of these screenshots in a ZIP file which contains PNG files of each screenshot.

Once you’ve looked at your screenshots, determined, and fixed any problems that you saw, you can then hit “Request new screenshots?” to refresh them and try again.

This certainly saves a great deal of time and ensures that your site looks great in all browsers.

Keep in mind before you spend hours fixing your site for a certain browser you check your site analytics to make sure a decent percentage of your users are using that browser, if any.

If you are, then you’re already taking the right steps towards success. I am of course talking about ActiveRain. From the site: “Our goal is to ‘Empower the real estate professional‘ and as an extension empower the consumer.” So what does this mean for you, the real estate agent, you might ask? Well let me tell you.

ActiveRain is a social network for real estate professionals. Whether you’re a real estate agent, attorney, mortgage broker, appraiser, etc (for a full list and to sign up go here) you can use ActiveRain to connect with local professionals as well as professionals nationwide.

Now instead of telling you why ActiveRain is so powerful, and how it can increase your business, connections, etc, I’m going to share with you some real life success stories I have collected via various conferences, tweets, emails, etc.

Termite Questions to a Listing – While at the NAR conference in Orlando, FL I was speaking with a gentleman from Hawaii who is an avid ActiveRain user. His story starts with blogging about home inspections and termites, which then lead to the questions “what do you think my house is worth?” which then lead to “can you list my property?” So by simply talking about what he knows, and engaging in conversation with consumers, he got a listing off of ActiveRain.

Closed a referral… got my landscaper… got 3 listings – This is what another ActiveRainer shared with me. What more needs to be said about this success story. He uses ActiveRain, is an active member, and has many success stories to show for it.

Closing on Friday… I was teaching a course on social media here in the Boston area and asked the question “Does anyone here use ActiveRain?” and a woman raised her hand and said “I am closing on Friday from buyers who found me coming up here from Virginia Beach.” This right here shows the power of not only connecting on a local level, but on a national level. Fact is people relocate. If you use ActiveRain to show consumers you are THE expect in your area, they will choose you to find them the perfect home.

And if those success stories don’t cause you to immediately join ActiveRain, then you may want to get your head examied! However, maybe this quote from Brad Andersohn, Community Builder at ActiveRain, will put you over the edge: “Just go for it. Always my best words of advice! ” and that’s the truth. You’re not going to break anything by jumping into social media. If anything you’ll meet some new people, learn new things, and increase your online presence. Furthermore, you’ll increase your business. Start 2009 the right way, get involved!

As Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) of WineLibrary.com says “In 2009 it’s not an option to be involved in social media; it’s a necessity.”

If you have any ActiveRain success stories to share please do so in the comments. I’d love to hear how ActiveRain is working for you!

Also, be sure to add me as an associate! – http://activerain.com/zipvo

The latter is what turns most people off from using Facebook to market themselves and their listings online: college students. Many believe that their customers are not on Facebook, or that Facebook is just a place for college kids to share party photos; it is the largest photo-sharing site on the web after all.

However, the following statistics will help put that belief to rest: more than half of Facebook users are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older. This makes Facebook the ideal place to build and maintain your network of customers and associates.

I was having a discussion with a friend and he told me his girlfriend’s grandmother uses Facebook to share photos of the grandchildren with family members. This says something about Facebook users: they’re not just college kids anymore.

Facebook is a great platform to connect with current friends, old friends, and new friends. Adding someone as a friend means they get updates when you post something. Whether it be a new listing, blog post, website, or anything else you want to let your group of friends know about. Below is an example of how I promoted my last blog post on social media:

When I posted that, my hundreds of friends saw it (and hopefully clicked on it). Now, that post wasn’t for everyone, since not all of my friends are in the real estate industry. However, they may know someone who would be interested in it and pass it along. The same goes for a new listing. Post your new listings and hundreds of people will see, comment on it, and pass it along to others. It takes only minutes and will add hundreds if not thousands of otherwise nonexistent views.

Groups and fan pages are another powerful tool on Facebook. I belong to a number of groups and fan pages related to real estate. Whether it be my local Massachusetts Association of REALTORS fan page or the Inman News page, joining groups connects you with hundreds other people in your industry and keeps you up to date with what’s going on. Group administrators can send out updates to group members keeping them informed and engaged. You or your office can form a group or fan page in minutes and invite everyone you know to join. Also, look for local groups to stay up to date with what’s going on in the community.

Events are another great way to let people know what’s going on. If you have an upcoming open house you can create an event for it and invite others to attend. This spreads awareness of the open house because when people RSVP and say they’re attending all of their friends also see that they plan to attend.

If you’re using your Facebook profile for both personal and business be sure to check out the privacy settings to make sure only the people you want to see your content are seeing it. You can create different groups such as Friends, Business, Family, etc. This way if you don’t want your business associates seeing your personal family photographs you can specify in the privacy settings.

If you’ve been hesitant to join Facebook, I hope this post has put your worries at ease. If you’re already on Facebook, I hope this post has taught you a few tips and tricks on how to use this powerful platform to promote yourself and your listings online.

Be sure to add me as a friend and let me know your thoughts and success stories!

If you haven’t heard some or any of the above sites, do not panic. In this series of posts I’m going to teach you how to use each of them to enhance your online presence free and easily.

Today we’re going to cover Twitter – www.twitter.com – a unique site that allows you to let the world and your connections know what’s going on in your life. Twitter allows you to stay connected through 140 characters or less. 140 characters is the maximum amount of characters you can have in a tweet. Much like an AIM away message or Facebook status, a tweet simply updates your followers about what you’re posting.

A follower is similar to a friend on Facebook or associate on LinkedIn. You can search Twitter for people to follow and chances are they will follow you back. You can also tell people to follow you on Twitter to build up your base of followers. The great thing about Twitter is everyone is on the same level. Regardless of how powerful, intelligent, tech savvy, or non-tech savvy, everyone on Twitter has only 140 characters to get a message across. This makes thoughts clearer, and conversations quicker and more to the point.

After you build a good base of followers, you can really start to harness the power of Twitter. Let’s say you have 100 followers. When you get a new listing, blog post, or anything else you want the world to know about, you can simply tweet it and those 100 people will see it. Those 100 people might then tell a person each about a new listing, or tell a friend who is looking for a home, and your tweet instantly becomes viral and reaches hundreds, maybe thousands of people.

I’ve spoken to a number of people about social media and their major reservation is that it’s a lot of work. The truth is, keeping a good social presence does take some work, but the ROI is certainly well worth it. Much like anything else; you get out of social media what you put into it. Just like the gym, you can sign up and say you’re going to go every day. If you do go every day you’ll be in great shape and feel great. In the same respect if you spend some time every day with social media the results will be great. Just sending out a quick tweet is a great way to stay in front of your customers and associates, and it only takes a minute.

Below is a quick and plain English intro about the micro-blogging service Twitter.

Now that you know what Twitter is and how to use it head on over to Twitter.com and create your free account, then follow me, zipvojames, and say hello.

If you’re already using Twitter leave a comment and let everyone know how you’re using it.