CyberSunshine is proud to announce the launch of a new Agent QuickSite, http://www.intownlifeatl.com/. Kevin Polite is an agent with Solid Source Realty, a metro-Atlanta based real estate company. The website is part of Solid Source Realty's Agent Quicksite Program offering agents a suite of custom tools created for the corporate site but custom tailored for an agent's personal website.



The site's features include a custom IDX property search of FMLS & GAMLS data, featured properties, real estate related articles, along with comprehensive school and neighborhood information. The site also features lead capture tools; an automated home search system, "First to Know" that sends daily email updates and logs their activity to a backend database, a content manager and design editing tool all within the backend control panel.

For information on the agent website program or any other products and services available, please contact us!

OK- a slight shift in focus here, but important none the less. Forgive us for straying from our topic, but this IS for a good cause. Does your love for animals cause you to ponder how to help alleviate the suffering of homeless pets in your community? Do you wonder if there is an organization that that can match your enthusiasm and passion to a good cause? The answer is a resounding YES!

CyberSunshine, Inc. is proud to sponsor the Animal Refuge Center (ARC), (http://www.animalrefuge.com/) a non-profit volunteer organization and sanctuary, providing a clean, safe, no-kill environment primarily for cats and dogs within SW Florida. ARC actively seeks their adoption to qualified individuals. Through public education and an active spay and neuter program, ARC strives to reduce the number of unwanted animals in the community. ARC also promotes animal welfare advocacy and cruelty investigations, as well as utilizing education as a major resource to reach pet owners on responsible pet ownership and kindness to all creatures.

In 2000, CyberSunshine donated an entire website with support and hosting at no charge to ARC of Fort Myers. The site allows volunteers of this organization post animals available for adoption to the site any time. It allows them to mark animals as adopted, add events, collect donations and more.

With the recent home mortgage crisis, not only are people losing their homes, animals are too. ARC needs help. In order to accomplish their goals it takes a strong staff complimented by a large network of dedicated volunteers and supporters. ARC is always looking to recruit more volunteers in Southwest Florida. They have many opportunities available; such as, planning and working special events, dog and/or cat care, dog and/or cat socialization, foster care, and maintenance and repairs.

If you live in Southwest Florida, please consider donating your time. If you are not local, and would like to donate to ARC, please visit their website at http://www.animalrefuge.com/ and click on the ‘donate’ link to the left of the page. It's safe and secure.

If you have interest in learning more about ARC and our volunteer program, please don’t hesitate to contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Lisa Morris, at vcarc@animalrefugecenter.net or visit our website at http://www.animalrefuge.com/.

Labels: CyberSunshine, News

Recently the annual Inman Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco took place. If you’re not familiar with this conference, it focuses on real estate trends and news, and technology that can better assist you in your business. Here are some helpful tips from the conference:

• There are 5 million real estate listings in the US and Realtor.com claims to have 4.7 million of them, but people still visit 7 different websites on average when looking for real estate.
• The next wave of real estate consumers are those born between 1980-1995 (they are being called Millenials). They are the largest generation (79 million) and all grew up with computers. That is a good indication as to which direction real estate marketing is headed. This generation is focused on media to get their information, and you should use that to your advantage. Think videos, photos, blogs, etc.
• There is a decline in long form reading on the internet. Up to 50% of readers leave with each click to a new page. So even if you think it’s a clever idea to have “Read More” links and links to see more information about all your communities, you’re actually hurting yourself more than helping.
• Smart Phones are laptop replacements. Maybe now would be a good time to invest in a Blackberry or an iPhone.
• Print is not dead – 1/3 of the current generation (Millenials) still read newspapers and magazines.
• Find out where your buyers come from and market there (you may have to speak their language too).
• Listing sites may not be the best place to market property– behavior and geography targeting suggests otherwise. A Chicago developer went on an international road show to get customers. You may have to think outside the box to maintain a competitive edge.
  The lead generation companies are now in the blog and social media pools. Maybe you should be too.
• There are 11 months of unsold inventory nationwide, according to NAR’s June 2008 study.

Use down times as a chance to prepare. Many people are nervous about the economy. You may be finding you even have more time on your hands. Don’t panic! Do something! Use this time to prepare for when things turn around- because they WILL turn around, and when they do, you need to be ready. Work on your brand, redesign a logo, add features or enhance your website, think of new ways to recruit agents, and make assessments of where you’ve been and where you want to go. The worst thing you can do is sit around and fret about tomorrow. Use the time today to work towards a better future.

One of the very first things you'll need to do when starting a website is write the home page content. That content is the paragraph(s) that describes who you are, what you do, where you sell and why anyone should stay on your site any longer.

When you start a new site with CyberSunshine, we always ask for this content. I am available to read over the content for you and make suggestions if you want. I actually recommend that. There are several things to consider when writing this content, and the most important one is keywords. You need keywords. You see, this content serves dual purposes. Not only is it a cute blurb about you and your company, but it also needs to house your main keywords several times. This is very beneficial to your SEO success. Basically, using your keywords in the main body of content assures the Google spiders that your site really is about what you claim. That's important if you want Google to like your site.

As with anything, there is a downfall to this. Over-using those keywords can make your blurb run together in a big, bland, monotonous run-on sentence. If your blurb sounds like you're fishing for keywords, you're going to lose potential buyers. People are not stupid, and many potential leads are going to be reading your site and they are going to realize that you're just trying to get Google's attention. That's going to lose you some leads.

The key is to come up with a balance. I recommend using your primary keyword phrase 3 times, and additional keyword phrases once each (and try to only use 2-3 of those additional keyword phrases). Your main keyword will be something like, Cincinnati Real Estate, and your secondary keywords will be things like, Cincinnati Realtor or, Cincinnati Properties.

When you feel like you've done the best you can, then email your blurb to all your friends and your family members and ask them to critique it for you. Then email it to me and I'll tell you if it needs any tweaks. The more eyes that see it before it goes on the web, the better.

Related Reading: Real Estate SEO For Beginners: Choosing Domain Names

Labels: CyberSunshine, Real Estate Blog, Real Estate SEO for Beginners

The National Association of REALTORS® will hold its annual conference and expo in Orlando, Florida this November 7-10. CyberSunshine, Inc. will be attending the Expo, located at booth 3367. This event should prove both exciting and helpful to real estate brokers and agents alike who want to get connected with other industry professionals to share ideas in a difficult market place. If you’re ready to take your website to the next level, stop by our booth and let us show you where real estate technology is heading.

Jump start your technology! Register for a chance to win a $500 Gift Certificate towards purchase by visiting our site online at http://www.CyberSunshine.com/500!

DURING THE EXPO: Visit our Booth #3367 to register for a chance to win FREE tickets to see Blue Man Group at Universal Studios, Florida! For a FREE Expo pass, email Sales@CyberSunshine.com or call 239-437-2628.

Labels: Custom IDX, CyberSunshine, Real Estate Web Design

Ask your new clients how they found you! This may seem like a simple task, but you would be amazed at how many people forget! You can't make sound marketing decisions about your business or your website if you don't have true statistics. Was it a magazine ad, internet listing, yellow pages or website? Are you logging this information to an easy to find location? You should make this a standard practice when you make the first contact with a new lead, that way you know which of your marketing dollars were well-spent, and which didn’t warrant any results at all. Once you know that answer, you can start to make more confident marketing decisions.

Labels: CyberSunshine, marketing quick tip

You may have noticed that box on the sidebar that has little square pictures of people along with their names. That's a widget for MyBlogLog. MyBlogLog is a social networking site that allows you to keep track of friends (like Facebook) and it also streams in your newest blog posts. It's like a constant RSS Feed. You can also join communities to meet new friends, and it's a great way for people to stumble on your blog by searching for topics that interest them.

Of all the social sites, I actually find this one to be the most useful. It has a wide range of users, comes with a widget for your site (which is free), and has been more helpful for me when I'm looking for new blogs to discover. One thing I recommend is that you use a photo you want to keep using. People remember you based on that little avatar, so it's like a branding thing. Make sure that whatever you use is something you'll be comfortable with long-term. For more tips on ways to use MyBlogLog, go here.

The widget is by far the best feature for me. It allows you (and everyone else) to see who's been looking at your blog. I like to know who has been reading my blog, so that I can go read theirs and possibly introduce myself. You can never have too many friends! You can also send personal messages to your visitors by clicking on their photo. It takes you to their page and then you can learn about them and contact them.

If you're new to blogging, this should be your very first networking tool!

Labels: CyberSunshine, Stuff You Need, Website Tools

At CyberSunshine, Inc., we're dedicated to helping you understand everything you need to know about your online marketing objectives. Whether you're an individual agent, or a large brokerage, there are still far too many of you who have not committed seriously to your online program. You know who you are- it's been on your "to do" list for a long time, but you just don't know where to start. Or maybe you've had a site but it's just not doing the job. We're here to give you a back-to-basics refresher on how to use online marketing effectively.

1. Get a personal website and BRAND you or your company.

80% of all real estate transactions involve the use of the Internet. Buyers using the Internet end up using a professional real estate person to help them 90% of the time. In order to be successful in this industry, you need to think "Internet," yet also focus on branding. You should work hard as a real estate professional to differentiate yourself from competition in all aspects of your marketing. Building a brand is a critical piece to accomplishing this task, and is something that many real estate agents tend to overlook. You want your brand to mean something specific to the marketplace. Your brand is not just your company name, logo, website, or advertisements. A brand is what your clients think, say, and believe about your company. Your clients should be undoubtedly aware of the benefits you offer them. Your brand identity must work for you on your website and all other marketing materials you use throughout a specific time period. Use your brand identity to describe your services and how you can benefit your clients. It is important to realize that your brand is also deciphered into your logo so that it is easily remembered. When your clients see your logo, they should effortlessly associate it with your distinguished services and benefits.

2. Market your Site

It is extremely important to your continued success as a real estate professional to spend time on a marketing plan. You should work with an online consultant who will help you determine your goals and objectives for your online marketing. You MUST diversify your marketing strategies, much the same way you would with an investment portfolio. After all, the technology you purchase is an investment and it should be working for you at all times. Invest your money into a variety of different marketing platforms (e.g. natural search, pay per click, manual submissions, site adjustments, etc.) so that you get the maximum benefit for your expenditures, and avoid "putting all your eggs in one basket." We recommend participating in data push programs such as GoogleBase and Video portals for maximum exposure.

3. Enhance your listings- videos, photos and more!

In order to truly differentiate and stand out from other more standardized websites, there are many things you can do to enhance your listing and drive traffic to your site. You could add more remarks, photos, brochures and virtual tours. One way to truly stand out from the rest is by creating videos of your properties and the communities in which they are located. Video portals are an easy and convenient way agents can show video from their website and gain additional exposure of their properties. Web videos are a creative way to realistically show a home without physically having to be there. They offer a thorough, realistic view of a home, which allows the listing to become something of significance for buyers who are searching for a more tangible way to experience a particular property.

4. Work Hard and Commit Yourself to the Site

Too often, agents want their website to be simple and "do-it-all for them." The popular saying "If you build it, they will come" doesn't apply to real estate sites. You cannot build a site and then just let it sit there, expecting it to earn you business without doing anything. You should commit at least a couple of hours to your website per month. Two to three hours per week is preferable. Commitment to online advertising is critical. While real estate advertisers continue to cut back expenditures on print ads and direct mail, online advertising continues to grow in popularity and has become essential to the success of real estate agents. It is estimated that in 2007 50% or more of real estate companies spent more on their online advertising than on print. You need to be ready and willing to embrace this technology to stay in the game.

5. Reinvest in Your Technology

If you do have a website, you must continue to reinvest in it in order to keep it fresh, new, and innovative. A website is an investment just like a property. If you care for it and maintenance it, then it will flourish and make money for you. If you let it sit, it will do nothing and degenerate with time.Reinvest about one-third of your technology costs each year for maintenance, replacement, and training purposes. Invest at minimum, 5% to 10% of your revenue in technology. Set aside funds each time you make a sale into a marketing account for this purpose. Cutting corners when it comes to your technology will only hurt your long-term success. When implemented correctly, the savings of technology and return on your investment will far exceed the costs.

Follow these five basic rules and you'll be further on your way to a more successful online marketing approach. Keep in mind, however, that it is never a bad idea to enlist the help of a professional when determining your online marketing goals and objectives. If you sell real estate well, chances are you don't have a lot of time to devote to all of these things so you'll need to delegate. An experience professional can not only help you formulate a plan, but execute it as well.

Labels: CyberSunshine, Internet Marketing

Cassandra Engeldinger, the Vice President and co-founder of CyberSunshine, Inc. was named to the Fort Myers, Florida Animal Refuge Center Board of Directors in August. Cassandra has joined the board to assist them with promotion through technology, an effort she started almost nine years ago for the ARC through the implementation of their website, http://www.animalrefugecenter.com/ The Animal Refuge Center is a non-profit, no-kill shelter dedicated to the life and welfare of homeless and abandoned animals in Southwest Florida. The center is located just off of I-75 in North Fort Myers, FL. For information, please visit their website or call (239) 841-0810.

Labels: CyberSunshine, News

We are proud to announce that CyberSunshine, Inc. has been named amongst the Top 100 South Florida Businesses in the annual South Florida 500 issue by South Florida Business Leader Magazine, formerly South Florida CEO. Qualifying companies are privately held, have been in business for at least five years in Florida with a five year revenue growth of 40% or more. Additional criteria includes 100 employees or less, significant business achievements, honors, awards and community achievement. This is a true honor for CyberSunshine, Inc. and the hard working, dedicated staff. CyberSunshine, Inc. was started in 1998, has grown to service over 90 real estate associations across 28 states nationwide. We have thousands of clients both nationwide and abroad. We thank all of our clients for helping us maintain our growing success and look forward to servicing you in the near future.

Keywords are one of the most important factors for your site, whether you're doing a redesign or starting from scratch. People find your website through search engines, and they use search terms (or keywords) to do their searches. So you need to have relevant keywords that will enhance your searchability while not being too complex. It's a delicate balance, and I'm going to tell you how I do it.

If you're a CyberSunshine client, you really don't need to worry about the technical stuff since we'll do that for you. So the first thing you need to do is figure out what your target market is. I'm going to use one of our clients as an example, because I've been working on her keywords a lot lately and it's fresh in my brain. Her target market is Naples Real Estate. She also sells luxury properties in Naples, but since luxury properties aren't a hot commodity right now, and people just aren't searching for that, we made the Luxury part a secondary keyword. Anyway, her old keywords focused mainly on her name. That's usually not the best idea. This particular agent had her name and several versions of it as her main keywords, and all her domain names consisted of some form of her name. Now, I'm not saying your name shouldn't be a keyword. Actually I think it should be. As a real estate agent, you brand and market yourself based around your name, so it's very possible that people are going to search for you by name sometimes (and if they do, you have an excellent marketing campaign going for you! The client I'm using as an example certainly does).

What I do first is establish what your main keyword should be. The best way to figure this out is to pretend you're searching for properties. So, I'm looking for a property in Naples, Florida. What am I going to search for? Well, most people tend to search for simpler terms, and then narrow them down if they don't get the results they want. With our client, I decided we should use Naples Real Estate as her main keyword phrase. I figure that if I'm going to be searching for Naples real estate, that's exactly what I'm going to type on Google.com. Now, Naples Real Estate is a great search term, but it is also being used by most agents in Naples. So I need to find additional keyword phrases. One of those is her name. She happens to have a name that is easily misspelled, so we also decided to use the misspellings of her name as keywords. Then, of course, since she told me she wants to emphasize that she sells luxury properties, we added Naples Luxury Real Estate. And just to focus on some of her primary markets, we added some other phrases, like Pelican Bay Naples Real Estate and so on.

Most of the time when people do searches, they will do several searches before actually finding what they want. So if a person starts with Naples Real Estate they're going to find a lot of information. They'll browse through whatever appeals to them and then do another search, like Pelican Bay Naples Real Estate (after they decide they want to learn more about Pelican Bay). So if they didn't find your site on the first round, they have another shot at finding you on round 2 (or 3 or 4 and so on). That's why you want to have an assortment of keywords. Plus, the more narrowed down the keywords are, the more likely you are to be in a less targeted market. So there's less competition for top placement on a search.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure that you're using keywords that are actually relevant to your site! We all know of someone, somewhere, who is using irrelevant keywords and getting high rankings for them. So what? If you're not actually selling properties in the South of France, then why do you need to market yourself for that area? Think about it logically. If I were actually searching for properties in France, and in my first page of search results I get a site for properties in Baltimore, Maryland, not only am I going to not click on it, I am also going to be pretty annoyed at that site. So if I do ever happen to be in the Baltimore, Maryland, market, guess which real estate website I'm going to avoid? Not only that, but Google is not stupid. Yes, the sites get crawled by automated spiders, not real people, but those spiders are clever. You can only get away with tricking Google for so long, and once you get caught, you'll regret the false marketing you're doing with your site. Google can and will ban your site, and then when people do a Google search, you won't come up in the results at all. It can take a very long time to recover your website from something like that. And since Google is the largest and most popular search engine out there, I'd recommend playing by their rules.

Now for the purpose of these keywords in relation to the building of your site. We do need keywords before we can finish your site and launch it. The reason for that it that we place them strategically all over the place in the back end of your website. Every image, every page, and every link has to be named, and we use your keywords in as many places as we can so we "embed" the keywords into your site. In addition, you'll need to provide content for your home page. That content should have your main keyword several times. But don't overdo it; people don't like to read sentences like, "Your Naples Real Estate Luxury specialist in Naples, Florida is here to help you with all your Naples Real Estate needs!" That's obviously an attempt at using keywords, and people don't like to feel like they're being sucked into a site with tons of keywords and little relevant information.

Good luck with your keywords, and if you need any help, don't hesitate to ask!

Labels: Custom Websites, CyberSunshine, Real Estate SEO for Beginners

When you want to make cyber-buddies and gain some sort of credibility, you have to get yourself out there and get noticed. One way to do this is by commenting on other blogs. But, as with most things, there are good ways and bad ways of doing this. Today I'm going to give you my set of basic rules for commenting on other blogs.

1. Don't comment unless you're comment is valuable. Meaning, don't just say, "Great post!" and be done. That is not useful. Say you're reading something about how there is a housing market slump in your area, and you have additional information (like your own statistics) to back that up. Posting a comment like, "I agree, my stats indicate that I have sold less properties this month than last month. The solution I have found is _______." I can't fill in the solution, because I'm a blogger and an SEO knowledge-holder, not a real estate expert. Anyway, you get the point.

2. Do not ever answer a question that was not directed at you. If another person leaves a comment asking a question, that question is directed at the person who wrote the post. It is not directed at all of the world. So unless you wrote the post, don't answer the question. The original posted will probably be offended. The only time it would be okay to answer would be if the original poster commented that they do not know the answer and asks if anyone else does.

3. Don't leave rude comments. If you don't like a blog, then don't read it and move on. There is no reason to be rude or nasty to someone, and all you'll end up doing is hurting your own reputation.

4. Make sure you are 100% sure that you're happy with your comment. In most cases, once you submit the comment you can't alter it. So be sure you're saying what you want to say, and be sure you don't sound like a crazy person. Also, make sure you checked the spelling and that the comment makes sense.

5. Check back to see if anyone responded to your comment. That way you know if someone is actually paying attention to you, and you won't seem rude if they ask you a question that you never answer.

6. Always fill out all the boxes that the comment form asks for. I know it's annoying to always type in your email address and your web address, but it serves a purpose. Once your comment is published, your name becomes clickable and if someone clicks on you it takes them to your site. So if you leave a comment, then someone reads it and says to themselves, "Hey, this person might have additional intelligent things to say!", they will click your name and be sent to your site. Look at that, instant traffic!

Okay, that's all I have for you. I hate that there are six rules, because I would feel much better with ten. Ten is a nice, even number. But that's just my OCD talking. If you have an additional four rules, please comment them so I can sleep tonight!

Labels: Commenting, Real Estate Blog, Traffic