Alberta Business Marketing

This post is written for Calgary Real Estate Professionals however it applies to every business model

Each week Ulistic, your local Calgary Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization team hosts a series of webinars to help Calgary business understand online marketing, social media, Internet Technologies and help debunk some of the myths associated with social media and general online marketing.

This week, our team at Ulistic hosted a webinar for a number of Calgary-based REALTORS® on the power of social media and Internet marketing to help them market their listings more efficiently online.  This was not a hyped up social media discussion and actually social media was just a sliver of what we discussed during the 60 minute REALTOR® webinar.

Here are some of the highlights and what you can do as a REALTOR® to help place your Real Estate business online.

Success online takes commitment, this is the first crucial step towards success in anything we do.  REALTORS® who demonstrate commitment in applying the principles of effective online marketing make great success stories versus those who pay it “lip service”.  This is not something you simply set and forget.  Online Marketing success takes effort, it takes commitment and it takes time. Set up a schedule and commit to keeping that schedule.  For those who were on the webinar, remember F + V = C.

Does your REALTOR® website welcome and convert visitors to potential qualified buyers and sellers?  You don’t need another virtual billboard on the Internet highway.  Personally, I would rather have 10 solid buyers and sellers visit my site each week versus having thousands of visitors who never engage with me.  Does this concept make sense? Your marketing online must attract qualified prospects to your business or why are you doing it?  Numbers don’t matter if no one engages with you.

Experiment with new ways of doing the old things.  We discussed services like Microsoft Tags and other new technologies can offer the same information to a new audience.  Consider attaching tags or bar codes for those interested in learning more about your listings.  With smart phones, a potential buyer can easily research your listings with a click of their camera.  Microsoft Tag is a great way for you to showcase your listings.  Almost everyone today has a smart phone, let’s leverage this for our benefit.

And finally, don’t forget about video.  If a picture says a thousand words, then video must say millions.  Start using video now in your business and use it for your advantage.

These are just a few of the items we covered during our REALTOR® webinar this week.  If you would like to learn more about Social Media for REALTORS® give me a shout at 403.775.2205 and our team at Ulistic would be more than happy to work with you or you can click here to contact me directly online.

Tags: 403.775.2205, Business/Finance, Calgary, Calgary Realtors, Internet hightway, Internet Marketing, Internet Technologies, media discussion, Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Tags, National Association of Realtors, online marketing make great success stories, other new technologies, Real estate broker, Real Estate Calgary, realtors calgary, search engine, smart phone, smart phones, Social Media Ventures Inc, stuart crawford, Technology/Internet
Posted in Marketing, Online Marketing | | Comments Off

The best in new business technology

by Gunnar Blodgett

Join the Smart Set

Smart phone technology – wireless telephones that do more than simply provide mobile voice calling – has evolved significantly since IBM launched the Simon in 1992. What was fundamentally a business communications tool has evolved into a mobile data device with extensive multimedia capacity and a range of applications that go far beyond stock prices and email.

Most major carriers now offer the capacity to “tether” your phone to your laptop (if you can call into the office from the lake, then you can log into your company’s Virtual Private Network and finish that overdue proposal). Full (if small) keyboards have replaced number pads. Given the battery life, you can plug in your earphones and play that movie you’ve been wanting to watch or just listen to your favourite music.

Choices may now be limited on a corporate level by intended use, but at $30 a month for six-gigabyte data packages, there’s no denying the power of sizzle on a personal phone upgrade.

New on the Market

This past June, Rogers released the HTC Magic and HTC Dream, two of the newest entries into the evolving smart phone market. The Magic, with its touchscreen keyboard and slick, Internet-savvy interface is somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone. The Dream features a slide-out keyboard for users not comfortable with the touch version. Both models come with a trackball nub.

Both devices are based on Google’s Android operating system (at least via Rogers; Telus does not convert completely to 3G, so-called third-generation networking, until spring of 2010), which offers a range of commercial services built around Google Maps and a global positioning system (GPS), including searches for shopping, travel and social activities. HTC also has full media capacity for music and video playing, including built-in video and audio recorders. While tinny, the HTC speakers are at least audible beyond two metres.

Some of the GPS-driven applications are spectacular (the astronomical map which orients to the sky around you is very impressive). The bar code scanner gives quick access to prices and reviews, which might stop some impulse holiday buying. However, there are, as of this writing, only 3,500 programs available for download. On the upside, most of those applications are free.

Finally, on a practical level, you no longer need a removable USB stick: the HTC battery-charging port will also connect to your personal computer’s USB drive and can be treated as a mobile data drive for Excel, Word, Acrobat and, of course, MP3 files.

Both phones are now available, priced from $50 (with a three-year contract).

Tags: 3G network, Sales & Marketing, smart phones, Tech Essentials
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off