Spring has officially sprung, which means the busy buying and selling season is about to hit Realtors in most markets. We're confident you want to make this the best year ever, so it's time to ensure you're fully prepared to take on the seasonal crowds. Today, we're sharing a checklist to help you get started. Attract buyers & sellers to your site Now that people are going to start looking for properties in a serious way, you need to ensure you're the one they want to work with. This is where having lead generation strategies are going to help in a big way, as it gives you the opportunity to get in front of potential clients right from the get-go. To get started, set up digital lead generation campaigns that will drive traffic to your…

One of the coolest things we've ever made at Real Estate Webmasters is the REW Leads app. Full disclosure, I'm the lead developer of REW Leads for iOS, but that just means I know how powerful it really is in helping real estate teams conquer their lead follow up. REW Leads was built with one goal: to make lead follow up faster and easier. That's it. That's all it's meant to do. But that simple goal is a ridiculously huge advantage for real estate teams that use the app properly. It means your team is connecting with people before your competition and staying in touch with significantly less effort. That's a beautiful thing. If that alone is convincing enough, let's talk about 5 more reasons your team should be using the REW Leads app: 5. Get push…

Disclaimer: Real Estate Webmasters is sharing these opinions based on our interpretation of WCAG 2.0 compliance guidelines. This does not constitute legal advice in any manner. We've dedicated this week of our blog to talk about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and how they apply to our clients' websites. So far, we've covered the two largest principles: Perceivable and Operable. Today we're going to talk about the last two principles, Understandable and Robust. The WCAG 2.0 guidelines help developers and content creators craft a web experience that is accessible for people with disabilities and beneficial for everyone else. In many ways, WCAG 2.0 follows the common-sense best practices we already see employed across the web. In…

Disclaimer: Real Estate Webmasters is sharing these opinions based on our interpretation of WCAG 2.0 compliance guidelines. This does not constitute legal advice in any manner. This week we're going to be talking about each of the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) principles in further detail, to help you create websites that are friendly for everyone. We started talking about WCAG 2.0 last month in our ADA Compliance for Real Estate Webmasters clients post. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, it's a good time to go back and take a peek. We talk about the American Disability Act's role in website compliance, go through a quick overview of each principle with some examples, and ultimately conclude why an accessible website is in…

Disclaimer: Real Estate Webmasters is sharing these opinions based on our interpretation of WCAG 2.0 compliance guidelines. This does not constitute legal advice in any manner. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 is a series of recommendations that help make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. There is a wide range of conditions that impact a person's ability to use a website, including physical, visual, speech, and neurological disabilities. On Monday, we went into detail about the Perceivable principle from WCAG 2.0. Today, we're going to dive into the Operable principle and talk about how it helps make websites that are better for everyone. What does Operable mean? W3.org explains the Operable principle as, "User…

Images have a big impact on your website and sometimes you need to give them a little love to get the look just right. But before you start paying photographers to shoot and edit your photos, take a peek at the options already available to you on the World Wide Web. I talked to several marketing experts and graphic designers at REW to find out what their favorite no-cost imagery tools are. Without further ado, let's talk about our top 9 free imagery tools you can use to take your site to the next level! Stock photography resources As a busy real estate agent, you probably don't have a lot of time to take photos. Luckily, there are myriad stock photo sites out there, and some of them don't cost a thing. (These sites tend to make their money through…

We're moving in a direction where big data is not only a big advantage but also a requirement to stay competitive. The companies that find smart ways to apply and intermingle data are going to be the most successful moving forward, because one of the best ways to improve user experience is to take complex information from numerous sources and present it in a way that's quick and easy to understand. You've already seen countless examples of this in action. Zillow is one obvious example, where the site has managed to source data from third-party companies, listing agents and property owners to create tools--like Zestimates--that consumers want to use. But that's only just the beginning. Sites like Trivago and Kanetix mine numerous sources of data to become…

For those of you who don't know, one of REW's smaller competitors in the enterprise space, Booj, has just recently been announced as acquired by RE/MAX.   I've actually known about this deal for quite a while, but I didn't want to publish as, honestly, the founder of Booj, Ido, is someone I actually think is a good guy and he deserves his exit.   Now that it's out there though, I think it's time to talk about it.   I mean, it's an obvious win for Real Estate Webmasters as we are their much larger competitor, and they have literally just sold a platform that was promised to be 100% market exclusive to independent brokerages (one per area) to the largest, most capable competitor they have.   It was their most important…

Actions Plans are an awesome way to get organized and stay on top of lead follow up. They are essentially quick reminders to get in touch or perform a specific action, and can keep Realtors connected even when things get busy. In today's post, we're going to outline some example campaigns based on marketing and sales best practices. But it's absolutely critical that you test and revise these campaigns as needed. What works for one business won't resonate with another, so it's important you use these Action Plans as a starting point to build your own tried and true strategies. An Action Plan should mimic the overall lead follow up strategy you've defined for your agents or yourself, and serve as a series of reminders. If you've already put together a…

Disclaimer: Real Estate Webmasters is sharing these opinions based on our interpretation of website compliance for the American Disabilities Act. This does not constitute legal advice of any manner. Companies or individuals who have questions or concerns about ADA compliance should contact a lawyer directly. ADA's Role in Website Compliance The American Disabilities Act (ADA) has been around since the 1990's, but it's been revised a few times throughout history and proposals for change are frequently submitted to the House of Representatives. As the world moves online and people rely on technology for information and connection, it makes sense that many of these new proposals focus on websites and technology. The spirit of the ADA is simple: everyone…