Category Archives: web

The Best Mobile Apps for Real Estate Marketers

Posted on by Sarah Eckel

Sara Eckel NDG Director of Account Services

Sarah Eckel,
NDG Director of Account Services

The ever-changing technological landscape has provided the real estate marketers and real estate buyers with several new tools to utilize when searching for a new home. The most popular of those tools today are the iPad and the iPhone because of their many apps, and other smartphone platforms are also in wide use in the Real Estate industry among both agents and buyers, such as Android and Blackberry. There are countless useful apps out there, but only a select few that are affiliated with some of the most effective real estate listing sites.

If you’ve done your homework and you know that your buyer profile is an avid smart phone or tablet user, here are a few apps that connect with some of our preferred real estate listing sites. All of these apps serve the general purpose of allowing potential homebuyers to search for homes, so we’ve outlined some of their other great features that help prospects find homes of interest.

The TRULIA App from Trulia.com

TRULIA MOBILE APP

  • Listings include thorough information, and overall this is the easiest app to utilize when looking for homes based primarily on location.
  • The search function is map-based and powered by Google, making it very easy to use only if you are searching first by location.  Secondary filters allow users to select the price range, square footage, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms.
  • There is a separate map search function that allows users to search only for homes where the price has been recently reduced. When users view the listings they can see when the price was reduced and by how much.
  • Use your Trulia.com account or create one in the app.

The ZILLOW App from Zillow.com

Zillow app

  • Map-based search functionality allows the user to easily find homes in a particular area of interest.
  • Search results also display animated banner ads linking to mobile websites.
  • Zillow’s signature Zestimate® feature is shown on each listing, allowing users to fully understand taxes and any previous sales history of the home.
  • Users do not need to navigate one layer deeper to view photos, as each listing displays photos on the main detail page, making it very easy to navigate the listing content.

The REALTOR.com App from Realtor.com

Realtor.com app

  • Allows you to search the largest amount of homes for sale because their listings are powered by MRIS.
  • The app can automatically sync up to an existing Realtor.com account or a new account can be created directly from the app.
  • Listings are easy to browse and all information is accessible in very few layers.
  • The email and share to Facebook and Twitter features are very easy to use, making sharing more likely.

The HomeFinder App from HomeFinder.com

HomeFinder.com app

  • Great resource for searching open houses on the weekend.
  • Listings are powered from a large, national database of newspaper websites.
  • Many options to filter your search by price range, type of home, location, and features.
  • You can also sort by distance from a specified location or price.
  • Google powers the mobile-friendly driving directions feature, making it useful for navigating to homes.

Homebuilders & the Mobile Revolution

Posted on by Abby See

Abby See,
NDG Senior Marketing Manager

Many of NDG’s marketing managers (often called “account executives” at other agencies) recently attended a seminar presented by BDX Internet Marketing entitled “BDX Roadshow: Internet Marketing Beyond the Basics” where the most frequent question asked by homebuilders was “Do I need a mobile website or a mobile application to reach homebuyers?”

The seminar leaders discussed many topics, but most impressive were the trends and statistics that demonstrate the growing value of mobile marketing to homebuilders:

83% of the U.S. population now connects to the web via a mobile device—a phone, tablet, or e-reader—so having a user-friendly mobile website is imperative in order to reach these shoppers.

30% of the U.S. population owns a smart phone and this number is expected to reach 50% by the end of 2011, which means mobile shopping will exponentially increase over the next year.

As for developing mobile applications, the branded standalone programs that run on mobile devices independent of a web browser, a homebuilder’s first question should be “What is the exact purpose of this application and exactly how will it help our customers?”

You must have a solid answer to this question based on facts or your application will be an expensive and ineffective endeavor, unlikely to be used by your customers and prospects. A mobile application must have a clear purpose and should be a useful tool for homebuyers in the home shopping process, not just advertising.

Homebuilders should be prepared to use this opportunity to capture mobile homebuyer traffic while their competition is still a few steps behind. Most builders will require a mobile-optimized website sooner than later, but your goals for a mobile application must be clearly defined from the beginning of the process before embarking on any development.

Social or Search: Who will be Online Advertising’s King of the Hill?

Posted on by NDG

According to a recent article on Mashable, Facebook has reached the top volume ranking in the United States. Hitwise, the data analytics service from Experian, has found that social networks in general are more popular than search engines in some parts of the world, and that Facebook has now surpassed Google to become the most visited website:

“Facebook recently reached the #1 ranking on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day as well as the weekend of March 6th and 7th. The market share of visits to Facebook increased 185% last week as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google increased 9% during the same time frame. Together Facebook and Google accounted for 14% of all US Internet visits last week [the week ending March 7th, 2010].”

In fact, according to Mashable, networks such as Facebook been pushing hard against the biggest names in web search including Google for several months: “Now, we’ve learned that in the UK, people are visiting social networks more than they’re visiting search engines. Facebook dominates the current crop of social networks, accounting for the majority (55%) of all social site visits. When compared to the wider web, Google gets around 9.3% of all web traffic, while Facebook now captures over 7%.”

And, global page view trends for Facebook and Google show that “while social networks such as Facebook don’t pose an immediate threat to search engines for their core functionality, they do pose a large threat to search engines’ largest revenue source, advertising.”

Click Here to read the entire article on Mashable.

Eyes, Clicks, and Real Results—Online Advertising Basics for the Real Estate Industry

Posted on by NDG

Continuing our series of posts about real estate and homebuilder online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010, this week we’ll discuss the basics of online banner ads and how they fit into your 2010 marketing plan.

“Banner” or “online display” advertising can be found on every search engine, and on many news and portal websites. These ads can be targeted to specific consumers based on their browsing habits and on the demographics associated with each website’s content. And setting a budget is easy: You decide how much to spend and where within a specific timeframe, meaning you can test your ads for a very small cost until you have refined for the most results, and that you can easily control costs.

Best of all, you can not only measure how many impressions—how many people were actually exposed to the ad—but also how many people clicked the ad as well. Most banner advertising is very cost-effective, with the average cost per click (CPC) under $2, and the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) at approximately $10.

For several years, fewer and fewer people have been clicking on banner ads, raising the question of how effective banner ads really are. Current research shows that low number of clicks doesn’t necessarily mean banners don’t work; online culture and consumption habits have changed over the years, and there is a great deal of evidence that regardless of clicks, banner ads contribute greatly to increased visits to websites. According to one report, “Within one week, consumers exposed to a display ad were 65% more likely to visit the advertiser’s site than users who never saw the ad. Even at four weeks, people exposed to displays ads are 45% more likely to visit the brand’s site.”

And, if you still doubt the importance and effectiveness of banner advertising, just look at where other media buyers placed their money in 2009: “TV ad spending fell 10%, magazines dropped 17%, newspapers and radio each dropped 20%, and outdoor fell 13%. The only major growth area: Online ad spending. Internet display ads increased 7% in 2009.”

Remember, you control the budget, so you can test your outreach to ensure the most return on your investment. Like all other digital advertising and marketing tools, banner ads are an effective component of a larger plan, and they too must be linked to real and meaningful content to help prospects on their journey toward becoming your customers.

Next time, we’ll discuss E-Mail Marketing and its role in your online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010.

They Do the Hard Work For You—3rd Party Online Referral Sites

Posted on by NDG

Continuing our series of posts about real estate and homebuilder online advertising and marketing fundamentals for 2010, this week we’ll discuss why and how to integrate your website listings content with 3rd Party Online Referral websites, such as NewHomeSource.com, Trulia.com, or Move.com—automatically—ensuring your listings on these websites are current and accurate, without having to manage the data manually.

An XML feed is a simple way to share your listing information with other websites. An XML feed allows you to publish as frequently as you need to, and modify the relevant fields (price, availability, square footage, etc) as often as you need to.  In order to help provide their users with relevant content, the referral websites will allow you to link your feeds to them, thus propagating your offerings further and creating more frequency and exposure for your listings.

WHY should you share your listings with these websites?

HOW do you share your listings with these websites?

By setting up an XML feed from your website to the 3rd party vendors of your choice. Your website or technology partner can help you organize your listing data into a standardized set so that your information is always represented accurately. This requires that your information utilize the correct fields and structures, as well as content tags. While the intricate details can be complex, the big concept is that you’re making sure your information is set up so that it can be shared effectively with the people who are looking for it—web-savvy homebuyers who are searching for your new homes.

Next week, we’ll discuss Banner Advertising and its role in your Online Advertising and Search Engine Marketing plans.