When someone does a search for Property Management, or Restaurant or Real Estate Agent for your local city on Google, a list of “Local Business Results” pops up at the beginning of the search results with a map.

Our property management division, Liberty Property Management, is high on the list for the Modesto area, and I wanted to find out how to get it high on the list for some of the other areas we do business in.

I did a search to get some tips and stumbled accross the article, How to Rank Higher in Google Local, on WebProNews.com

Here are some tips I think will be helpful for you:

• Get links from as many websites as you can.  Google Local results seem to rank results the same way Google Search results do.  The more links you have to your site, the more credible and the higher rank you will have.
• If you don’t have a website for your business, get one!  If you still refuse, you will be missing out on a lot of potential business. If you are stubborn, or just don’t have the resources, submit your business to different online yellow pages like Super Pages and Insider Pages.

These should get you started.

Agents, I know many of you have your own websites that you promote.  It might have happened to you already too; you get that call from an unknown number that is trying to sell you an Search Engine Optimization(SEO) package.  Claiming they can get you onto the first page of Google within a week.

Be wary. Many of these SEO experts don’t help optimize your website for search engines, but instead want you to spend money on Pay Per Click(PPC) advertising.  This is the type of advertising you see on the right side of Google when you do a search for real estate or any other hot keyword(s).  While effective, this type of advertising could end up costing you a good chunk of change and might not give you the long term results you are looking for. Actual SEO is the optimizing of your website and it’s structure so that search engines can crawl it easily and the process of adding unique content, to name a few tactics.
The best thing to do is ask questions.  Ask your technology experts at your real estate firm about the credibility of the companies calling you.  It’s likely that they will either know right away, or with a little research will be able to tell you whether or not that SEO company is not only reliable, but delivers results.

Also, ask the SEO experts about your website.  Have they actually been to your website? Do they know how old your website is? Do they know where it currently ranks?

Asking questions and staying informed will help keep you a leader in your industry and also save you from being taken advantage of.

The wildly popular, infinitely useful, online classified ads website, Craigslist, was found not guilty of charges from Chicago based Civil Rights attorney group that claimed Craigslist violated federal housing laws and was responsible for posting ads that excluded potential buyers or tenants on the basis of race, gender or religion.

Since Craigslist allows it’s users to post unedited classified ads, it is protected under the Communications Decency Act. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said this ruling means that, “the soapbox is not liable for what the speaker said.” Keeping Craigslist and sites like it, free from liability when it comes to it’s users’ posted content.

The appeals court didn’t rule out investigating individuals who post discriminatory ads onto Craigslist, which some argue, is a more appropriate approach to dealing with the matter.

To open Microsoft Office Word 2007 .docx or .docm files with Microsoft Office Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000, you need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats and any necessary Office updates. By using the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system, you can open, edit some items, and save Office Word 2007 documents in previous versions of Word.

I know that it’s idiotic to have to install a program to open Microsoft Word documents, even if you already have Microsoft Word, but that’s Microsoft. (upgrade. feed the beast.)

Click here to go to the download page

I just ran across this new website by mistake. It’s called ePerks.com. This site allows customers to find local professionals that offer discounts and incentives on their services. The website covers home improvement, automotive and real estate sectors.

There are already some local agents offering as much as 17% cash back. What that means, I don’t exactly know and ePerks.com doesn’t make it very clear either.

What do you think about this site? Do you think it’s appropriate for agents to offer there services at discounts like 17% cash back?

Or do you think consumers and potential clients look at it as a desperate plea for business?

I would personally use this service for finding a car and home improvement service, but for the relationship I build with my real estate agent, I wouldn’t want it based on a arbitrary discounted rate.

• Find & Compare Agents / Browse Local real estate agents & offers
• Contact A Local Real Estate Agent
• Learn about lowered commissions & current incentives
• Get Cash Back at Closing
• Up to $20,000 in cash back savings to buyers/sellers
• Receive Incentives
• Receive thousands in incentives after closing

This is a handy tool for real estate investors looking towards the bay area for investment opportunities. Now anyone accross the United States can get a street level view of cities like San Francisco, New York, San Diego and other major metropolitan areas.

Have family in the city? Slam that there address into Google Maps and see if you can take a gander at their driveway.

Does this violate privacy laws? Probably not. But in any case, I’m sure the Google legal team can handle whatever lawsuit comes their way.

[Via NuWireInvestor.com]

This posting is somewhat self serving (I’m a hot minute away from getting an iPhone), but it’s also a chance to find out if anyone has taken advantage of their iPhone to assist them in conducting real estate business.

Has the Google Maps on the phone helped you out?  What about visual voice mail? Would you recommend this phone as a business phone?  Can it stand up to your Blackberry (crackberry) or Treo?

New to the real estate business?  Want to find some information for your clients regarding the “livability” of a certain street or neighborhood in Modesto or any other street in the U.S.?

Visit: http://streetadvisor.com

This site allows people to rate  or post street level reviews of neighborhoods based on criteria such us:

“Cost of living”
“Clean and Green”
“Peaceful”

and even “Cell phone reception” and “Internet speed.”

So cool! Check it out!

Kelly just posted an article regarding the sale of virtual real estate on SecondLife (the online, virtual reality world).

I just found another article on MediaPost’s Marketing Daily that announced the first broker to market an ACTUAL home through virtual reality. The broker, located in Washington, hired an outside company to build a duplicate of the real house into the virtual realty world.

Prospective buyers, or just the curious, can go to the virtual home on SecondLife and “walk” through the 5,702 square-foot house to get a 3D view of every room in the house.

Read the full article here.

I was searching around for some good real estate technology news. Something uber geek.

I ran across this article about a video production company in New York City who set up shop to service Realtors full-time. However, their job is not to go in with a camera to spin it around for a 360 view, but to go through every part of the property to give an “intimate” and personal view of the house’s features.

The footage is taken with the listing Realtor narrating each feature. After production, the video is uploaded to YouTube immediately for distribution.

A few New York Realtors sold their listings the NEXT DAY beause someone saw the “home video” on YouTube.

Do you think a fully narrated, nicely arranged video would help market your listings?