propertyextra.com.au - Blog

After posting about why real estate podcasts can be a good idea on real estate agent websites, I want to follow up with this post on how you can turn your real estate podcasts into a broader marketing tool.

Real estate marketing should be simple. The best way to keep things simple is to squeeze as much juice as possible out of whatever simple techniques you use.

Before I get to the details of how to do that with podcasting, let me say that it will take some work. It is not complex, but nor is it a once-off quick fix. Instead, it’s a strategic solution for the real estate agent or principal who is looking to make solid improvements to their market position in the medium term. (more…)

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Even though podcasts sometimes seem like yesterday’s news, new podcast user data shows that real estate agents should seriously consider offering these portable audio and video shows on their real estate websites.

In Australia, 40% of internet users download podcasts, up from 22% a year ago.

When I was looking for my last home, it seemed natural to me to subscribe to and download some relevant podcasts. On my commutes I would listen to them and learn.

Podcasts are ideal for tightly defined niches. Residential real estate is such a niche. Single family houses in Mosman is a more tightly focused niche.
(more…)

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A few weeks ago the Webware 2008 100 winners were announced. These are the 100 top Web applications, 10 each in 10 categories, according to Webware users and the fans of the products that were finalists in the awards. Yes, like any awards, you do have to nominate yourself, but it really is a great guide as to what sort of software applications are going online and good for your own IT/Marketing departments to keep an eye on for ideas and inspiration. The votes are cast by site users and this year over 1.9 million votes were made.

Google feature prominently in these awards, but there are some great little applications here. I use about 20 of these applications in my everyday working life.

Take a look for yourself - you might find something interesting.

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Every now and then, the internet just starts to seem too damn complicated.

You’ve got XML, search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing, pay per click, pay per action, PPM, social media, semantic web, viral, web2.0, web3.0 and even some talk of web4.0.

Oh wait; Web4.0 is already dead.

For people like real estate agents and professional communicators, people like me, sometimes you just want to go out back and put a bullet in your head rather than have to keep up with all this stuff.

(Then again, there are plenty of people who don’t keep up with it but feel very happy to spout off about it anyway. Maybe I could learn from them. Maybe I already have.)

That’s why I was so relieved to read this post on online and offline marketing, by Jack Trout. The gist of it is that a marketing strategy should above all be obvious and easy to understand.

That simplicity is one reason good online marketing strategies work so well.

(more…)

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I believe the iPhone will be the device to shift real estate onto mobiles in a real way for the first time.

With the iPhone, we’ll see significant numbers of people browsing real estate on phones, even if a computer is nowhere in sight.

Here are a handful of ideas for tools to offer iPhone users to take advantage of this opportunity:

**Give me a widget that plots on a map all the current open for inspections near the spot where I am standing at the moment, or near the postcode I decide to search on. Better yet, use Google Maps to display the easiest route for visiting all of those OFIs from my current location. With this feature, I could go have a coffee in, say, Palm Beach on Saturday morning and then visit a few for-sale homes to see if there’s a vacation property that catches my fancy. (as if!)

Watch this video to see how easily an iPhone could show a route to open for inspections.
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Registering and using multiple domains names was strategy used by many as a great tool for building your business and creating a bigger online presence. Because of the higher costs and strict controls placed on .com.au domain names many agents chose to collect .com domains which are cheap and easy to get.Collecting multiple domains were promoted as a way :

1. Keep your competition from registering a domain name that draws visitors to them instead of you.
2. Increase your exposure in the search engines provide customers more ways to find you when searching the Internet which drives more traffic to your Web sites.
3. Create distinct advertising and promotion strategies that target different markets.
4. Protect your brand and online identity from those who may have unsavoury purpose

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This is a letter from IP Australia in relation to the realestate.com.au trademark application.

April 2008
Statement regarding realestate.com.au‚

There has been considerable interest in the acceptance by IP Australia of the trade mark Œrealestate.com.au‚ for a range of goods and services including real estate affairs and advertising of real estate. The registration has been opposed by at least one party. Other parties have the opportunity to oppose until 17 April 2008.

Background
A trade mark‚s function is to distinguish, in a commercial sense, one person‚s goods or services from the similar goods or services of another.

Applications for trade mark registration are examined. Marks that other traders would ordinarily want to use, including those which are purely descriptive, would not normally be accepted. However, it is possible for an applicant to overcome problems of this nature with substantial evidence of use showing the trade mark has acquired distinctiveness or reputation.

If a trade mark is accepted, whether on the basis of evidence or not, it is advertised to allow others to oppose registration if they wish to do so.

Unlike examination, opposition allows both sides to fully put their case. It typically involves three stages of presentation of evidence which can in total take over 12 months. At the conclusion of the evidence stages, a Hearing Officer will decide whether to register or refuse the trade mark. This decision may be appealed to the Federal Court.

This particular trade mark application went through the normal examination process and as would be expected, evidence of use was required before it was accepted.

As noted above, registration of this trade mark has been opposed. The opposition process will allow opposing parties to express their views about the appropriateness of registration of the mark.

**If the mark were to be registered, registration would provide rights in the mark as a whole and not in specific parts of it. Moreover, where parts of a mark are descriptive, registration would not necessarily stop others from using those terms. The law also provides a range of defences to infringement action, including where the term is used descriptively. This type of conflict would be resolved by determining whether consumers are likely to be confused by the similarity in the respective terms. It would for instance be highly unlikely that the owner could prevent use of the term „real estate‰ by others.

IP Australia has no role in determining infringement matters. These are decided by the courts.

End of letter.

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Realestate.com.au Limited (REA) has applied to register “realestate.com.au” as a trade mark for a very wide range of services relating to real estate, including ‘Real estate affairs’, ‘financial services’ and ‘advertising of real estate in electronic and printed format’. If this proceeds through it will be registered by the Australian Trade Mark Office.

I have received quite a few emails on this very subject. Here is an excerpt from one of these emails.

The Australian Trade Mark Office usually ignores “.com” or “.com.au” in assessing applications. In practical terms, the application for “realestate.com.au” is effectively an attempt to trade mark “realestate”. I currently control the domain name xxxrealestate.com.au. A lawyer working for REA has sent me a letter requiring me to “cease use of the domain name “xxxrealestate.com.au” (or any other name that includes “realestate.com.au”) and arrange for the transfer of that domain name to REA”. I have not responded to the letter. I know of at least 300 other domain names, perhaps your’s, that includes “realestate.com.au”

The email above has been going around the traps and points to a certain website receiving a notice from REA asking them to cease using this domain. I spoke with IP Australia today and not surprisingly they actually told me that they have had a great deal of response and any media enquiries for this Trademark are directed to one person, who has not returned my calls. However, I did get to have a brief conversation with one of their staff members.
(more…)

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Promoting your brand in a positive way in consumers’ minds is an important aspect of growing your business and understandably can stretch your marketing budget. This is a pretty obvious opening statement but, an important one to note, especially for those principles and managers who face the relentless pile of advertising invoices - which I’m certain produce offspring at any given opportunity.

Real Estate Agents obtain business through a variety of ways. Buyers who become sellers, referrals and street smart prospecting are all a part of tapping into the consumer stream and most likely potential business has arrived from your marketing dollars. Given that the majority of (potential) consumers will view your website then it should be a priority to regularly update and manage it effectively to maximise the return to your overall marketing investment. (more…)

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