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Welcome [[First Name:78]]
to the May / June issue of the Ascendant
Australia Real Estate Software and Technology
Newsletter which provides you with information
to real estate agents and property professionals
with respect to IT changes and news.
This issue we look at a
very hot topic - Google, especially with their
IPO coming out in the USA soon this company and
its famous search engine is our focus together
with search engine optimisation. Next issue we
will continue our focus on Search Engines and
SEO and what you can do to improve your page
rankings in major search engines.
Email Newsletters
Reprise - Real Estate Templates
Last issue's change in
format has certainly generated a great deal of
feedback in respect of style and how it was done
as most real estate professionals are looking to
do a similar thing themselves of course.
In forthcoming issues we
will be advising you of a range of real estate
email templates and newsletter services we will
be releasing in conjunction with a leading real
estate web design team. Watch this space for
more info soon !
Google and Search
Engines - Are they really that important?
You bet it! Per day Google
and a 2 other engines handle this many searches
:
Google 250
million per day
Overture 167
million per day
Inktomi 80
million per day
Not only has the number of
searches on Google's Search Engine grown, but so
has the number of web pages that Google has
indexed. In mid-2000 Google became the largest
index on the Internet with over 1 Billion web
pages indexed. By the beginning of 2004 the
Google Search Engine had racked up over 4
Billion indexed documents, pictures, and Usenet
messages.
How does this all affect
Real Estate though ?
Well of course the major
property listing sites where most properties are
advertised are a major source for people looking
to buy property of course. Generally, most real
estate agents have placed their faith in the
major real estate listing engines to look after
their ( agents ) interests in regard to any kind
of online strategy. Perhaps its time to think
about additional options outside the square to
help break out of the great mass of property
firms all doing the same thing on the internet.
Examining the role of search engines in real
estate and improving your page rank is one way
to achieve this.
In February 2004, for
example, there were over 2000 searches for the
term " real estate sydney" in search engines (
Ascendant Research ). So who was looking and why
? So many searches should be interesting to any
real estate agent as there are also many
searches for all manner of related real estate
terms and services down to a local suburban
level. The fact is Google is now being widely
used as a Yellow or White page resource - but
the trick is it doesn't work exactly like them
and the results you see will be different.
A pretty simple question
to ask yourself is how you use search engines
and then put yourself in the place of the vendor
or buyer looking for an agent and or real estate
services.
Why not do a search in
www.ninemsn.com.au
and
www.google.com.au
and
www.yahoo.com.au
for your particular area using a variety of "key
words" and see how your own site displays and
don't be scared to click down a few pages to
find exactly where you are ( if you can ). We
did some research and consulting work for one
firm and discovered that their office was not
even showing under a search for " real estate
suburb" within the top 10 pages whilst a
competing agent was No.1 and they didn't even
have an office in that locality !!
So before we go into
detail next issue on what you can do to help get
your page rankings up a bit higher why not do
the homework above and think like a buyer or
vendor and see how you go with search engines.
Outlook Email Backups & Tips
Most of you should know
that email is now treated the same way as
written correspondence and is to be kept for 6
years and with the world and Australia becoming
more litigious daily its important to never lose
any correspondence.
However we notice that
email is simply not treated in the same way and
to help here are a few pointers to dealing with
email and making sure you don't lose it:
-
Your Inbox is your In
Tray - deal with the email once, reply to it
and then move it to a sub folder
-
Create sub folders
under your Inbox to store emails to keep
your main Inbox smaller ( we have a client
with 4000 plus emails in his inbox ! )
-
Back up your Outlook
email daily !
Outlook data is either in
a Personal Folder .pst file or an Exchange
Server mailbox. The system administrator is
responsible for backing up the data in an
Exchange mailbox. You could also use File |
Import and Export to make a copy of your
Contacts folder as a .pst file for a backup.
Or try this Free Microsoft
utility to automatically backup your Inbox !
Many people also don't
realise you have setting in Outlook to control
whether the email is sent as HTML ( web page )
or as plain old typed text. To send a HTML
message in Outlook 98 or even to cut and paste a
Web Page into your message your mail format must
first be set to HTML. Change it, if necessary,
with Tools | Options | Mail format.
More related info
on Outlook go to the best site:
Slipstick Outlook Resources
Power Toys for Outlook
Contacts - Pocket PC
Here's a
cool ( FREE ! ) program
that adds some functionality to Contacts, Power
Contacts for Pocket PC adds three useful items
to the shortcut menu (tap and hold) Create
Appointment - creates an appointment with the
contact as the attendee and the subject. Create
Task - creates a task with the contact as the
subject. Open Web Page - opens the web page
associated with the contact. Give it a shot if
you
use a Pocket PC. |
