Foursquare just surpassed the 10 million user mark. Facebook Places has become extremely popular quickly. Whether you “get” it or not people like checking in. A lot.

Quora has recently exploded onto the scene as a new breed of Q and A site with a social and transparent approach. People go to the web with questions, Quora has answers, from real people.

What if you wanted to ask a Quora type question to someone who is checked in at a specific location RIGHT NOW?

Possibilities abound.

Thinking of going to the DMV and want to know how long the wait is? Heading to Applebee’s on a Friday night but don’t want to even think about stopping by if the wait is over an hour? Have a plane to catch and wondering how traffic will be along your path?

Localmind has created an app for that. There is an iPhone/iPad version as well as a web app [iPad version is AMAZING]. By accessing the location based data available via check in sites like Foursquare and Facebook, Localmind can actually connect you with people who are currently at a venue so that you can ask them a question in the moment. Questions can also be left at locations and will be pushed to the next patron to check in where the question is waiting. The video below gives a great visual explanation of the practical uses of Localmind in under 40 seconds. The quote below is by Localmind’s co-founder and upcoming Inman Connect San Francisco speaker Lenny Rachitsky:

Anytime I come across a new technology like this I immediately try to wrap my mind around the possibilites within the real estate space. Shiny object or viable platform moving forward?

My first thought is that the early adopters in the real estate industry on Foursquare/Gowalla/Facebook Places may see some reward here. Being checked in all over town is great, but many would argue that just isn’t enough to generate legitimate business. Especially in a relationship business like real estate.

Where Localmind can be of additional value to the already geo location savvy is that it REALLY encourages engagement with strangers (some would call those leads/prospects/etc). By asking and answering questions you are not only interacting with potential new clients and being helpful, you are also doing it in the moment they need it most while at the same time sharing your local expertise. There are a lot of unanswered questions on the map in Localmind right now in most metro markets.

I can see some genuine connections being made through Localmind and I know that I for one would be much more inclined to want to be connected on the social graph with those that bring value versus those who simply shout about where they are all the time.

A Foursquare check in is talking, Localmind shows that you are listening.

Seems to me that the listeners are winning at the social media game right now, even though most folks are just blabbing away.

Would love your thoughts on Localmind below and the possible uses for the real estate industry.

Written by: Chris Smith, Chief Evangelist, Inman News, @chris_smth

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It is simply impossible to avoid. Buyers remorse seems to be ever more cruel when it comes to technology.

Picture this. You have made up your mind that it is finally time to buy a new camera/phone/laptop. You are done photographing your listings with your 5 megapixel point and shoot. Fed up with taking the battery out of your Blackberry four times a day? Once and for all you are going to get rid of that spam and virus filled PC you have been chugging along with for many too many months.

Often when we buy new hardware it is an emotional and rash decision. It shouldn’t be. Yes, you may be ready for that new tool for your business, but what if the newest, hottest, shiniest model is coming out in two weeks? A model that will surely be smaller and faster and maybe even worst of all cheaper?

Enter Decide.com.

Decide.com has created an algorithm based on 1′000’s of data points to make sure that you not so much buy the right device, but more so that you buy it at the right time!

As someone who has purchased far too many Apple products in the last 3 years I can tell you that having a service and information like this can literally be priceless.

Upgrades are happening so quickly with hardware as are price reductions on older models. Normally you would never see in a Best Buy ad “Great model, but you should wait four weeks until we mark it down or for the new one to come out”.

Decide.com even has a great mobile site so that you can access suggestions like “wait for new model” or “wait for price to drop” while at the store. Talk about transparency and giving the sales guy a truly difficult objection to overcome.

From what I can tell Decide is currently focused on cameras and laptops, both of which many real estate agents are either in the market for or will be soon. If you decide, pun intended, to browse around Decide.com and happen to find an item that should not be purchased due to the data they have complied you can set alerts as to be notified when the time is right.

My first reaction? Super cool site worth spending a few minutes on and remembering for your next purchase.

My second is that what if a site like Trulia or Zillow decided to add a similar algorithm to homes consumers were browsing on the web? Can you picture a buyer standing in front of a home with their phone out getting a “Wait 3 months to buy” recommendation? I can…

Written by: Chris Smith, Chief Evangelist, Inman News,@chris_smth

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I had an opportunity recently to speak with Jeff Bernheisel (@JBern) who is the the Marketing Director for M Realty in Portland. Jeff has a proven track record for Search Engine Optimization results for his company when it comes to VERY competitive search terms like “Portland Real Estate”.

Jeff has built several websites that dominate Google including one that was dedicated to the ever popular Angry Birds game! In less than 5 months he ranked the site in the top 5 results of Google for the search term “Angry Birds”, in the process generating 20,000-30,000 hits a day!

I wanted Jeff to share in our interview some of his best SEO tips and how agents can achieve comparable results in their own market.

(Can’t view the video? Click here)

My takeaway? Content and links are king.

Angry Birds, Viagra and real estate SEO all in one interview. Surely worthy of 3 golden eggs.

I hope you enjoy our chat and if you have any specific questions for Jeff after watching feel free to leave those in the comments below.

Chris Smith, Chief Evangelist, Inman News, @chris_smth

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Guest blog post by Nathaniel Broughton

For the last 2 years, Google and Bing (the only search engines that matter) have become more aggressive in “suggesting” what keywords a user should search.

Picture this scenario.  You’re sitting with the cursor in your favorite search engine’s search bar.  You begin to type . . . and within a few characters, up pops a short list of suggested, bolded keywords to complete your query.  That’s Google or Bing guessing what it is they think you’re likely searching.

What are these suggest terms based on?  What does it mean for your business?

Google’s suggest terms are influenced by the popularity of keyword search phrases.  They aggregate this data and deliver the most common terms used.  For example, if you start typing “r-e-a” into the search bar, there are a few keywords that most people tend to complete their search phrase with.

“realtor.com” is a top suggest keyword in Bing.  “real estate” is a top suggest keyword in Google.

For businesses, brands, and even individual people, it gets more interesting.  It’s important to first be aware of the suggested keywords that searchers are seeing.  Search suggest is creating a new search environment for any business or professional online.

If you ignore it, you’re missing out on opportunities to drive new traffic, position yourself as an authority, and ultimately make more money.

Search Suggest Changes What People Search

First, consider how it can drastically change what people search.  When this was introduced in 2009, my mortgage bank saw some keyword searches explode.  Others completely fell off.  This happened for both generic searches around our services, and for searches on our company name specifically.

With all agents and brokers generating business from the web these days, you understand the value of both types of searches.  Say you are an agent in Newport Beach.  With search suggest, “Newport beach hom” typed into the search bar brings up the following suggest terms in Google.

Notice “Newport beach home tour” listed there.  Certainly, this keyword saw a spike in the number of times it was searched once it made the suggest list.

This is an immediate opportunity for an agent in that area to begin proactively marketing for that keyword.  Whereas in the past, hosting a page and ranking for “Newport beach home tour” might drive marginal traffic, with it as a suggested keyword it might now be worth thousands more visitors each month.

Marketing Your Brand in New Ways
Let’s look at another example.  This time one centered on an individual agent’s name.  I recently worked with an agent in La Jolla to find my home.  Her name is Meg Lebastchi.  When I go to Google and type in her name, here’s what I get in suggest:

Notice the 3rd keyword on the list: “meg lebastchi la jolla”.

If I’ve just heard about Meg from a friend, I’m going to look her up.  Since I know I’m looking to live in La Jolla, when I see that keyword suggested as I start typing her name I’m likely to click on it.  (If nothing else, I’m much more likely to use that as my search phrase than I was previously).

While Meg has a decent set of results when you search this exact phrase, as a marketer I see this as a ripe opportunity for her to do something even more.  She could register meglebastchilajolla.com for $8, and put up a simple website with her brand, picture, and her listings.

“meg lebastchi la jolla” is not a competitive keyword.  Many agents are out there competing on very hard keywords like “san diego homes for sale”.  This is low hanging fruit!  Hosting a website on meglebastchilajolla.com and doing some simple SEO will earn her a top ranking in a short time.  

Doing so would allow Meg to have more control over what a user sees when they go searching for her name.  Instead of a profile page on a national or company website, imagine what she could have an entire site dedicated to her.  It’s a chance to show a potential client like me how she’s the best agent in La Jolla.  Testimonials, pictures of her listings, and maybe some blog posts she’s written lately.

I think there are an unlimited number of opportunities like this for agents across the country.  Google and Bing are changing what people search for around your name, and your service area.  If you pay attention to it, you’ll find cheap, uncompetitive marketing opportunities to grab more business.

How Search Suggest Defines Your “Internet Reputation”
Another interesting aspect that has arisen from the introduction of search suggest relates to reputation management.  You should monitor this not only for opportunities to promote yourself, but also to recognize what customers might see about your reputation.

Truly, what are the suggest terms for your company name?  What are they for your individual name?  Do you know?

You might be surprised to learn that some common suggested terms are “reviews” and “complaints”.  As in, “yourcompany.com complaints”.  Hmm, as a business owner I’m not too excited about that.  But I also understand that you can’t please every customer.  If you’re in business, someone’s probably got a complaint right?
What you can do is be proactive about it.  Just the likelihood of someone searching “yourcompany.com complaint” jumps exponentially when that term gets suggested.

Imagine you’ve heard about a company from a friend.  Or you’ve seen an ad on them.  Or you’ve already started doing business with them, and the next time you go to find their site, you start typing the company name into the Google search bar.

On the list of suggested keywords is “company complaints”.  Wait, what?  People have had complaints?  I want to read them.  I want to see if working with them is still a good idea.  Whereas 10 seconds ago this would not have been my search, now it is.  This is why it matters so much.

Step one is to do these searches on your own and see what’s ranking in the results.  Usually it is a mashup of your own website, some third party review sites like a Yelp.com or the BBB, and maybe a blog or two.

Are you happy with what comes up?  There certainly are a lot of things you can do to proactively manage these search results.

For your own website, you might start incorporating these keywords into new or existing pages.  I’m sure you have a testimonials page.  But a complaint page?  By housing a page on your site about complaints – that has “complaints” in the URL and in the title tag – you’ll likely rank highly for a search on “yourcompany.com complaint”.

It’s better to participate in the conversation than be outside it.  On your own site, you can have a comment box that allows visitors or customers to leave a complaint.  And you can be right there to respond to them to see how it can be rectified.  The whole conversation is published right there for future visitors to see.

While no one likes complaints on their business, most people understand that they do happen.  Seeing a company honestly responding to, and trying to rectify, complaints, is a good sign in my book.

Another easy action to take is to try and monitor the 3rd party sites and be active on them.  If someone is bashing you on Yelp, get on there and have a voice.  Deflate the situation.  Let them know you care.

You might also reach back to the Meg example, and register domain names that match the search suggest terms.  We did that with our mortgage bank.  After seeing ‘vamortgagecenter reviews’ added to the search suggest box (and the # of searches for it going up 14x), we registered vamortgagecenterreviews.com.  We built a simple website that allowed people to leave reviews of our services.  It’s worked out great – and ranks #5 for that search.

There’s no question that search suggest is a powerful determinant of what users search each time they head to Google or Bing.  As a professional, you are well-served to be aware of these terms as they change over time.  The steps required to both take advantage of new marketing opportunities and to monitor your reputation in the search results are not difficult.  Just stay aware, and stay ahead of the game.  You’ll find ongoing opportunities to better your business from search engines that others will miss.

About the author: Nathaniel Broughton @natebro is a veteran internet marketer who’s helped produce three Inc 500 winning companies.  He is the owner of Growth Partner Capital, a venture fund with services in SEO consulting, online reputation management, and premium link building.

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Guest Blogger, Kevin Lisota, is CEO & Co-founder of findwell, a real estate brokerage helping people buy and sell Seattle real estate. Kevin left a career at Microsoft to put his tech skills to use in real estate and can be found regularly on his Seattle real estate blog.

Every real estate agent wants to be popular on the web. If you are easily found by consumers searching for an agent or a home, your pipeline of prospective business grows. Last week, Facebook and Microsoft made an interesting announcement that integrates Facebook data with the Bing search engine. Their announcement is a fundamental shift in how results can be found in a search engine, and will impact how buyers and sellers find you on the web in the future.

How search engines work today

For the last decade or more, search engines have functioned in pretty much the same way. They crawl around on all the websites they can find and create a massive index of pages and content. When a user types in a phrase in the search box, they match up that phrase with the pages that they think are most relevant to the query. With billions of pages out there, many with similar content, how do they choose which results to show? Well, for the most part it is a popularity contest based on how many other sites have linked to your page. The idea is if lots of people create “backlinks” to a particular page, it must be relevant and important for a topic, so those results are shown first. The more backlinks you have, the higher your results will appear in the search engines. They also give more authority to popular sites, so a backlink to your site from www.cnn.com carries a lot more weight than one from frankslocalcarrepairshop.com.

What did Facebook and Bing announce?

By now, you have certainly seen the Facebook Like button across many websites. You and your friends have probably been clicking on it to say that you like a particular web page, article, restaurant or product. What Bing and Facebook announced last week is that Bing will use Facebook “Like” data to enhance your search results with things that your friends on Facebook have liked. This is probably easiest to see in an example. Say your friend Adam has liked a particular steak restaurant in San Francisco. On your travels there, you type in “San Francisco steakhouse” looking for somewhere good to eat. Now with Facebook personalization, Bing can show you a list of steakhouses that your friends have said that they like.

How this changes the search game

Clearly web search results are better when you get recommendations directly from your friends, and I would certainly be more likely to click on them. This appears to be the first step in changing how web pages are ranked in search results, stepping away from the generic popularity contest that exists today and towards search results that are popular with people you actually know. The future of this partnership also looks interesting, as they see an opportunity to surface people in search results who are experts on specific subjects.

How is this going to change my real estate business?

When you search for a restaurant, you are looking for a specific type of food in a specific location. It also helps to know that the restaurant has received good reviews, and even better if those reviews are from people you know. Finding a real estate agent online sure feels similar to that. You want a local agent who has a specific area of expertise, and you want to know that they get great reviews and are recommended by your friends. If lots of people “Like” your real estate services on Facebook, your chances of being found on Bing just went up.

This integration between Facebook and Bing is just beginning, so it remains to be seen exactly how prevalent these “social search results” will become, but I think it will pay to be ahead of the curve on this one. Here are some basic steps to take now to help raise your profile in search results.

1. Have a presence on Facebook – No one can like your real estate expertise if you aren’t on Facebook, so you are going to need a profile there.
2. Implement the Like Button – If you have a blog, adding the Like Button from Facebook is pretty easy. There are lots of Wordpress plugins to help you with that and it gives your readers a chance to highlight your content to other folks that they know.
3. Start liking stuff – If you find real estate content on the web that would be relevant to your potential buyers or sellers, start hitting that Like button to help others in your social network.

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This Easter weekend, if you get tired of chocolate bunnies and easter eggs, check out some of these cool smart phone apps!

Here are my 5 favorite Easter apps:

Dress Eggy (FREE) – Dress up your virtual egg with fun patterns, icing designs, cute backgrounds and fonts. When you’re done, record a message that gets delivered with your Easter postcard.

Easter Scratch (FREE) Make a scratch-off Easter card, similar to a scratch-off lottery card. You can even customize the card with personal photos. Cards can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or even e-mailed to non-iPhone users who can virtually scratch their card with the click of their computer mouse.

Egg Painter ($0.99)
Decorate eggs without the mess. Great app to keep the kids entertained at the Sunday brunch table!

Flip Eggs (FREE)
Remember playing the memory card game as a kid? This is just like it but with eggs!

Easter Quizzle (FREE)
More than 150 questions to test your Easter knowledge!

BONUS: Not Easter related, but have you seen the new App Store Facebook Page – pretty cool!

Do you have a favorite iPhone app? Leave me a comment below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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I am always impressed with a company that has a unique idea and value proposition.

Home improvement is always a hot topic – and usually something that Realtors know a good deal about. As a Realtor, you know how important an upgraded kitchen or bath can be when listing a home, or how it pays to scrape the “popcorn” off your ceiling, or even the power of new lighting throughout the home to make it “light and bright.” When a home is picture perfect it makes it that much easier to sell, and to sell for the best price possible.

Fixr is a home improvement site that I was first introduced to on LinkedIn. Described by the press as an “ebay for contractors”, fixR is a Home Improvement, Renovations & Repair services marketplace.

How Fixr works:

1. Describe your project and post it 100% free
2. Get estimates from qualified pros in your area (love the local feature!)
3. Pick the best based on quality, reputation and price

Pretty cool concept! I really like this for a home owner but also for the agent.

In my past job, working in a residential real estate firm as their marketing manager, I can not tell you how many times I saw emails going out asking for qualified contractors for specific projects for clients. Although most agents have relationships with key local contractors, sometimes you are up against a tight deadline, or have a really uniqe project and aren’t sure who to turn to. I think this site could be a great solution.

In addition, One thing that really caught my eye for Realtors, was this infograph they posted: 2010 Home Buying Guide to Tax Credits. They created a really easy to understand graph and easily supplied the HTML code for you to copy and paste it into your Web site or blog. Is this helpful to you? Is this something you’d use?

Would love your feedback or comments – please post below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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There are a lot of exciting things coming out in the next few weeks – here are my top 3:

1. Like it? Hate it? The iPad which drew a ton of rumors and speculation is ready to make it’s debut. The 1st commercial aired during the Academy Awards (which explains why Steve Jobs was on the red carpet) and is officially going mainstream. The iPad will be on sale on April 3, 2010 and pre-orders begin March 12, 2010.

Here’s the commercial in case you missed it:

2. Better than the iPhone?! The Google Nexus One phone – the phone that had a lot of buzz when it first came out, is a phone that critics are still wondering if it can compete with the iPhone and other touch-pad type smartphones. Google has never made it a secret that they plan to release it to multiple carriers – just WHEN is the question. This phone is rumored to be coming to Verizon on March 23, 2010.

3. Wonder if I could sneak into this? f8 – The Facebook Developer Conference is slated for April 21-22, 2010.

According to the Facebook blog,

“f8 has always been about empowering a community of developers to hack, to build and to delight users. We’re looking forward to continuing this tradition at our third f8 in San Francisco on April 21-22, 2010. Please save the date!”

BONUS: One more thing to add to your calendar this month. Planning on coming to Real Estate Connect SF (#icsf) – Early Bird Registration ends in 11 days! Sign up by 3/19/10 and save over $300!

Would love your comments – please leave feedback below!

Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News

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On the iPhone at least. Android and other smartphone platforms have had livestreaming video apps for a while now. But the tide has finally turned in the favor of iPhone users too – as Ustream has finally had its app approved for distribution in iTunes (app store link).

For me, this release culminates three of the biggest technological trends of 2009; Lifestreaming, Location, and Video.

First up – Lifestreaming. Twitter. Facebook. You’ve probably heard of these sites. It’s now easier than ever to instantly share events to a large distributed audience online – what you’re doing. By sharing information via these networks you are building connections and, by extension, reach.

Location. GPS is nearly omniprescent in most modern smartphones. Your devices now know in an instant where you are in the world. Apps like Google Latitude, Foursquare and my new fav – Gowalla, all exist because they know where you are. So too do augmented reality apps like Layar (see Layar Technology Now Available for iPhone). Location awareness is a true technological paradigm shift.

And finally video. I’ve been on this soapbox long enough. But the web is rapidly becoming about video and video content — witness Comcast’s bid to acquire NBC/Universal; a traditional “pipe” getting into the video content game. Or U2’s massive live concert on Youtube that generated over 10 million streams across 7 continents.

So what does all this mean? The Ustream app has magnificent repercussions for citizen journalism, family ties and yes, even real estate (think of working with a relo client remotely to show them properties, for example). The power to broadcast live, each of us from the palms of our hands, will certainly change the way some of us communicate.

Time to go fire up my phone.

You’ll be able to find me here. Live.

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Coldwell Banker introduced a fresh take on real estate search today with the launch of its new web site at beta.coldwellbanker.com. Besides a tarted-up user interface, the new site offers a couple of intriguing new ideas that I think push the innovation needle in the right direction.

The first of which is the new site now knows where you live. It uses your IP address to figure out where you are searching from and automatically offers up properties from that area. IP address detection itself isn’t particularly new, but I like that the team behind the site are thinking of ways that it can be used to help streamline the real estate search process for consumers. What I’d really love to see however, is for this idea to be taken even one step further by integrating the location awareness built in to the new Firefox browser (see New Firefox Brings Location to the Browser).

Most notable however is CB’s new Bluescape search. Here’s their description from the press release

…allows consumers to give a ‘thumbs up’ or a ‘thumbs down’ to various images that are displayed – similar to how popular music sites learn users’ preferences based on how they rate different songs. After rating various photos, consumers can then submit a query and the BlueScape technology will identify homes that might be a fit. Developed to help consumers actively looking to purchase a home as well as those still in the “dreaming phase,” this visually driven approach to search is new to the real estate category.

The tool works exactly as described. You’re presented a series of seemingly random “lifestyle” and real estate related photos; photos of mountains, pools, different styles of homes etc. You give each photo a thumbs up or thumbs down rating and after a period of time you can ask Bluescape to return your results.

The process is actually kind of fun (although the music got a little annoying after a while). Presumably, the more photos you rate the more accurate your results are. But it would be nice if the site gave you some indication of how many images a user needs to rate before good results are returned. Personally I just kept clicking until I couldn’t take the music anymore.

The results Bluescape returned were definitely intriguing – and at a national level the results were fairly close to the images I’d flagged. When I filtered the results to my local area however, things got a little rougher. For some reason, Bluescape recommended I live in a strip mall. Hardly what I’d call my “dream” home.

I’m not sure this is a problem with the algorithm behind the suggestion engine or if it was just my taste in photos. Very well could be the latter.

In any case, despite a few little glitches like this (and the fact the site doesn’t play nice with Safari web browser), it’s great to see a brand like Coldwell Banker thinking creatively and outside the box when it comes to real estate search.

The goal for any real estate brokerage in the coming months is going to be how to differentiate your real estate search site from the sea of Google Maps and pushpin clones that exist out there. Finding your own unique take, or angle, on search while staying true to your brand will be the most challenging, and rewarding task ahead.

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