Technology

Posted by Kevin Doell

We had dinner with the guys from Domus Consulting the other night. Kevin Boer and Pat Kitano dropped in from California to talk shop on social media. Smart guys. They were talking social media and Twitter, the social media micro-blogging tool that has been the rage of late. Many people are beginning to tinker on how to make it work for themselves. Even news media such as Reuters and the BBC are exploring ways to incorporate the tool into their news gathering activities.

For my part, I realize I have to get my “twitter fingers” on. It’s not that simple and there’s a learning curve involved. But so far so good. I’m set up on Twitter at “kvdoell.” And I even set it up to drive the “tweets” automatically to a page on our blog. Watching it work was pretty cool! I felt 10 years younger. Maybe twenty. Ok, 25.

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Posted by Kevin Doell

Catching up on my podcasts this morning, I pulled down the PRI Studio 360 show “Creative Minds Go Green.” It was a great program full of crazy stuff to make one think about the many shades of green.

This show had it all: solar powered street vendor carts, “Eco Art” featuring deformed frogs and songs generated from hurricane data, the solar powered subway terminal at Coney Island that generates 250,000 kilowatt hours per year (40 houses worth) and of note, “Superadobe” homes originally prototyped for a NASA lunar colony that maximize space, light and interior ventilation.

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Posted by Wendy Forsythe 

Last week was a very exciting week for us as we rapidly move towards our launch in July. What made last week more exciting than most? Our consumer website and brand intranet came one step closer to coming to life!

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Posted by Kevin Doell

I found a great web site called “TechPresident.com” where I read that “the Internet is the dial tone of the 21st Century.” (not sure who gets credit for that gem of a quote: either Andrew Rasiej and Micah L. Sifry, or David Weinberger. Read platform.) This site outlines a platform of all the good things that can arise if the U.S. develops a top tier Internet infrastructure.The site’s outstanding little hook is to provide a dazzling array of social media tracking charts and graphs on the narrowing field of presidential candidates. For example:

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Posted by Wendy Forsythe

There’s a lot of technology talk in the real estate world these days. Deciding which of the latest technology trains to jump on is a quandary.

Like any investment of time and money, the decision should be made on the potential return in investment. One of the benefits of the online world is it is easily tracked. But many of the tracking mechanisms can be misleading. Hits, page views, and unique visitors are all well and good but they don’t pay the bills at the end of the month. What you really need to monitor is conversion ratios. How many leads are you receiving from your online endeavors and how many of them are turning into closings?

But maybe I’ve put the cart before the horse, because the real question is what online technology trends are the most beneficial to growing a sales associates or brokers business? Online tools are really just prospecting strategies. The success of any prospecting technique depends on the individual. In the offline world, not everyone achieves success by prospecting For Sale By Owners or doing open houses. Your personality and skill set will ultimately dictate your success and we don’t all have to do this business the same way.

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Posted by Kevin Doell

No, I’m not writing about the demographic born between the years 1964 and 1980. I’m sharing the news that we’ve chosen LA Web Dev firm “Genex” to build our site. You can read the press release on their site, www.genex.com. I have to admit, it’s pretty cool to be working with the L.A. set, especially after taking in some of the glam at the Oscars. I’m up for making some Hollywood connections. Why not?

Who is Genex? They’ve been named among the Top 50 Interactive Agencies by MEDIA Magazine, Ad Age, and Ad Week, and we found them as a result of our relationship with BHG.com’s parent, Meredith. Genex has done Web development on sites including:

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