Google Chrome - Great news for Real Estate Agents

If your scratching your head wondering how google can help you sell a home faster, and get more listings, the release of their recent web browser “Chrome” and your content might just be answer.

I was excited to download the new version of Google Chrome on my new Dell 1420 Laptop.  Thought I would test the limits of my new indy car laptop with the latest and greatest browser.  Honestly however, I was oblivious to Googles new web browser until I read Mike Price’s blog post here.

While I was initially enamored with it’s simplicity, I quickly learned that for my day to day use, it was going to be a bit of a struggle to completely get away from Internet Explorer.  Suffice it to say having Google Chrome is sort of like having two cars, but only one you can drive on the weekends.

In case you are wondering, I’ve kept notes on Google Chrome using my facebook page, but here are my thoughts and experience with a bit more editorial.

The download process was super easy.
It imported all of my bookmarks and passwords with a hitch,
Spell check with in the browser is awesome!
Like the incognito feature,
Like the recently visited sites feature,
Like the save password function,
No issues with word press (which is important to bloggers)

A couple of upgrades I hope to see soon are:
Need more right click options for example the ability to refresh,
I can’t figure out how to get to my RSS feed so can’t use it to read my blogs.
About  70% 80% 90% of the sites had a issues with javascript.  I that “V8″ would have been to support java script a bit more thoroughly.
Adding a bookmark is a bit confusing,
Can’t seem to drag anything into the tool bar.  I can’t get my left sided brain to deal with right side buttons.

I was primarily interested with what one can do to monetize the new Google browser market for them self and where Google is going with it.  Seemed that it might be their initial entry into a full blown media platform and as a way to generate more search results based on rich media. Not being sure I rang up Houston’s resident Technology Evangalist Michael Garfield the “High Tech Texan” for a few thoughts during his radio show.  Click here to listen to the conversation.

Despite my infatuation with Google over the years, I am definitely not the worlds foremost expert.  Steve Latham, Founder and CEO of Houston based Spur Interactive is however so tapped him for a little extra insight into what their strategy might be.   It is Steves’ opinion that ”it does make sense for Google, given their objective of becoming “the” medium (engine, browser, software apps, etc.) for everything.”

So the question becomes”If google is becoming the Walmart of content and they aren’t going to charge you a dime for a presence on their shelves, why don’t you have more content for their consumers (traffic) to purchase?”

Most intruiging as it relates to real estate is Googles reach.  Google owns, youtube, picassa, 80% of all of the search traffic in addition to many other properties.  Since they own these properties, Real Estate Agents that are using video, podcasts, and other media to target home buyers will be well rewarded to invest more heavily in those mediums in order to draw on and leverage googles existing traffic.  I’ve already seen many times the power of podcasts in google search results. The release of Chrome just made a much stronger business case for Real Estate companies to make a larger investment in capitalizing on their traffic.

My suggestion for Real Estate Agents would be to test a couple of your listings using ML Broadcast. They are way ahead of the curve with regards to creating google friendly content for the real estate vertical.  Their service is inexpensive, super easy to use, and a powerful way to begin to benefit from googles tremendous reach.  All you have to do is upload a few pictures and they will take care of the rest (including a professional voice over.)