Agentopolis On Twitter

Like everyone else we've been hearing a lot about Twitter. Like everyone else we are still trying to figure out how to use this for business, more specifically the real estate business. That said, we have launched a Twitter page and will be posting what we hope is relevant information and links to Realtors and listings on Agentopolis. you can checl us out at http://twitter.com/Agentopolis

Real Estate Agent Search Alive and Well on Agentopolis

It's been a slow year in the real estate business as you are probably aware, many popular real estate web sites like Zillow and Redfin have been forced to down size and lay people off because of the huge overhead they built up when business was booming. One popular real estate agent web site, Agentopolis, has been fortunate during these tough times because of their low overhead. As a result Agentopolis was able to generate 4,398,537 realtor impressions from US visitors so far this year. Most of these impressions or views have been focused around real estate agents on the first few pages on Agentopolis so when you really run the numbers, agents on the first few pages have received the lions share of these visitor who are doing a real estate agent search. The good news is that agents can get on the first page of Agentoplis by free simply by having their past clients recommend them. Agentopolis currently lists over 1.2 million agents all with contact information so if you are looking for the easiest place on the Internet to find a Realtor, visit www.agentopolis.com

Another real estate web site that has seen it's traffic growing through these tough times is www.mlsmaps.com. This site provides consumers with free access to mls listings in every state and most metropolitan areas. With MLS Maps visitors can see almost all of the real estate and homes for sale in their area, and use "search saver" features that automatically send them an email alert when a new home comes on the market matching the criteria they have set for a home. The MLS is fast becoming the tool of choice for people looking for a home and only recently have consumers been given access to this comprehensive data base of homes for sale. If you are looking to buy a home, visit www.mlsmaps.com for a complete inventory of homes for sale in your area.

Real Estate Agent Directory Agentopolis Updates

It's been too long since our last post, the real estate and mortgage business has had us on our toes lately. It's nice to hear from agents all over the country who are finding ways to grow their real estate business in light of the fact that the media would have you believe that everyone has gone out of business and walked away from our own homes. That said, Agentopolis is planning some cool stuff in the near future. We will be improving our optimization and traffic over the next 6 months and adding some features that will help Realtors grow their business even more on the internet. We will be making it easier to use our site by creating video tutorials for all the things agents may have been struggling with and also adding webinars on a variety of topics related to internet marketing for real estate agents.

We also have two other sites that have been growing in traffic, www.mlsmaps.com which is a national directory of mls listings, most searchable on local maps, and www.firsthomeguide.com, a web site dedicated to the needs of the first time home buyers.

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MLS and Todays Internet Home Shopper

I was speaking to an agent last week regarding another site I'm involved in called MLS Maps. I was explaining to the agent the benefits of the Map based search technology that is now available to Realtors in most MLS markets and he informed me that map based search was useless and wasn't going anywhere. This seriously caught me by surprise as most of the newer listing sites I visit involve some use of map technology with most sites simply using the Google map API and doing a mash up.

Is it just me or is this agent not keeping up with technology and the needs and wants of Internet home shoppers. What really killed me is that he said he worked mostly with relocation clients and they would have no use for a map based search since they don't know the area. This surprised me even more since that is one of the biggest reasons I give for having map based search on your web site.

Think about, you are moving from Denver to Minneapolis as you have just accepted a job with SuperValu. The HR rep tells you their headquarters and your new office will be located in Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis which you have never heard of. For most relo clients there are at least a few priorities including a short commute, proximity to good schools, if you have kids, and proximity to other interests you have like maybe parks, lakes, the airport if you love to travel or need to travel for work, etc. I can't think of any better way to find a home in a strange city then by a map and the address of where you will be working, going to school, etc.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you are an agent and you have a web site without IDX broker reciprocity MLS listings, you are wasting your Internet marketing dollars and your time. The single most important thing to an Internet home shopper is inventory, God help you if the inventory on your site consists of your current listings. And remember to keep your eyes open for map based search solutions for your web site that will make your site more sticky and get you way more buzz marketing, especially if you are the first in your market.

Agentopolis to Provide Consumer Facing Blogs for Realtors

Agentopolis in conjunction with Blogging Systems will soon be offering our Realtors an incredible blogging platform. This platform will be different than many of the social media sites out there in that our focus will be on the consumer, people interested in buying or selling a home, versus a community of like minded people, like on Activerain. We will make it very easy for our visitors to search through our blog inventory and drill down by state, city, neighborhood and topic so the visitor gets connected to the most qualified agent for their needs.

We hope to have this awesome real estate agent marketing tool up and running by the end of November and we are very excited to be working with the group at Blogging Systems as they have a lot of great experience in this space.

Stay Tuned and if you have any ideas about any features for our blog, please let us know here or by phone or email.