So, What’s the Solution?

The same article goes on to say that most everyone at the conference agreed that the future is mobile websites based on open Internet standards. It’s logical, as every mobile device, iPhone, iPad, Palm, Android, etc. access the same Internet. So, if a website, such as Mobicentric Pro’s branded Mobile MLS Application, works on all of these phones and mobile devices via the Internet, it will be available to many times more users.

Getting your information, marketing and a real estate property search onto a mobile site is the way to reach all of these devices, and the number is growing even faster than analysts predicted just months ago.  Nielsen just reported that in the second quarter of 2010, 25% of mobile customers used a smartphone device.  That’s up from 23% just three months earlier, and from 16% for the same period a year ago.  eMarketer is adjusting their previous estimates upward, stating that by 2014 the audience on the mobile web in the U.S. should reach 142.1 million people.  That’s a whopping 44% of  of the population.

Notice that “mobile search” reference.  People are finding information they want on the Web, and now moving to finding it on the Mobile Web.  When the analysts are struggling to revise estimates upward every few months, it’s obvious that the mobile Web is here to stay.

Okay, So What Do I Do About It – Affordably?

Understand that for the price of a single quarter-page print ad in a Homes Magazine can get you multiple months of a custom mobile Web search and lead generation system.  Then, just get to it!  Mobicentric’s solutions can have your custom mobile site up in short order.  It will be branded, and provide instant access to site visitors when they’re in front of the house.

Early adopters of successful marketing methods usually end up “owning” their markets on the new media.  Don’t sit around while your competitors are providing the mobile access to local real estate information and listings that these millions of people want.  See how it works, and get started in moving your business into this expanding mobile marketplace.

Why Bother With an eBook?

If you’ve read any of the many hundreds of thousands of web articles and blog posts about getting and keeping leads from your real estate website, you have seen over and over again that “special reports” about your market area help.  It is usually recommended that you offer them in PDF file format so they can be opened by just about anyone.  Then you offer your reports as email attachments or a link for delivery to the site visitor by email.

Of course, once you have that very valuable prospect email address, you follow up with some type of drip email system, or with periodic informative emails about the local real estate market.  By keeping your name, website and email address in front of the prospect, you have a much greater chance of being their real estate professional of choice.

Why an eBook Instead of Reports?

Simply, more credibility.  eBooks are being ordered by the millions for reading on desktop computers, iPads, Kindles, and other electronic readers.  Amazon announced that in June, for the first time ever, eBooks sold more copies than hard cover books on the site.  That’s a huge market.  And, just reading that you’ve authored an eBook will give you a credibility edge over the many sites and agents who are providing reports.

It doesn’t even have to be anything huge.  An eBook of 20 to 50 pages is quite sufficient if it offers interesting and useful information about your real estate market.  Sold property and listing statistics are really popular as well.  You can even have photos of the area or homes you’ve sold.  Of course, you’re offering it free to those who will provide their email address, so you can just keep it on your hard drive in PDF format for emailing to them when requested.  You can also host it on your site and just email them a link to keep the size of the email down.

Okay, How Do I Get This Done?

First, decide what you will be placing in your eBook, starting with a description of the market area.  It is always interesting to people if you’ll explain similarities and differences of different MLS areas and neighborhoods.  Put in some charts and statistics to show sold price trends over the last few years.  Give your opinions and advice about your market, what’s different there, and how the transaction process works.

**Bonus – If you’re a blogger, you may be able to cut short this entire process and create your Ebook from the posts in your blog using a free service like BlogBooker.  Check it out if you have the type of blog posts that would make a good resource for a buyer or seller prospect.

But, for those of us who want to write our eBook, we still need to get it into PDF format.  You can write it in your word processor of choice, and then you just need PDF creator software.  Here are some sources, from free to inexpensive:

• pdfforge.org
• http://cutepdf.com
• http://pdf995.com
• http://primopdf.com

Once you have your PDF formatted eBook saved, you can then offer it on your website or blog to be delivered by email to the visitor.  You get that valuable email address, and they get the report.

What About Mobile Users?

The iPhone, iPad, and most smart phones can download and read PDF files.  If you host it on your site as well, they can read it there without downloading it.  There are some services that can convert a PDF to the Kindle format, but it’s a bit expensive and can result in a poorly formatted eBook.  All of these readers belong to people who have computers, so they’ll be able to read it on something.

The satisfaction of getting the Internet lead process figured out and implemented quickly fades with the latest dramatic tech development – the mobile web.  Now, we have to figure out how to get all of that wonderful website and blog content to display well and be functional for use on tiny screens, iPhones, Android, and other operating systems.

Can We Ignore It? – Hardly, as Here Are the Facts

comScore May 2010 Mobile Content Usage Analysis – using the browser for Web access was second only to text messaging, with 31.9% of users spending time in browsing the Web.

CNBC Mobile Web - In June, 2010, CNBC mobile web received 55 million page views, an increase of 41% over June 2009.

Pew Research Mobile Access 2010 Report - 38% of adults who use a mobile device use it as a web browser.  This ia a 13% increase over the same period in 2009.  The same report indicated that 82% of adults own a mobile device.  Almost a third of all adults are using a mobile device for Web browsing, and the trend is for more growth as providers compete and offer more affordable access plans.

OK – So What Do We Do?

Statistics on many websites show that visitors are using home and office computer screens with a resolution of at least 1024 x 900 in most cases, so they’re used to high resolution.  Then they walk out and get on the same Web, but with much smaller smartphone and mobile device screen area.  We can’t just say, “go to my website or blog,” as it may look terrible and be very difficult or impossible to navigate on these small screens.

The good news is that there are ways to make our content available to the mobile user in formats that are easy to navigate and pleasing to use.  For the real estate professional, obviously the first concern is to provide some form of usable MLS property search.  It would be difficult to find a web-savvy person in real estate who would argue with the much higher page view counts for search pages than the other areas of their sites.

One popular local real estate site reports that consistently their search pages garner 40% of the total page views on the site.  While your other content is important, is found in searches, and will be viewed by visitors, your priority should be on getting property search capability up on the Web in a mobile-friendly format.

It’s only going to become more important, so waiting around is just going to put you behind the competition.  People are browsing on mobile devices while they’re watching TV, riding in cars and buses, sitting in restaurants, and while they’re at work.  You want to be in front of them when they want to buy or sell real estate, and you want it to be in a format that is easy to use and navigate.

Mobile Comes Home

If you don’t have teenagers in your home, go visit a friend who does.  Or, just pay attention to your own habits, and a surprise may be coming your way.  Sitting around the television watching the latest reality TV series, there’s something else going on in today’s world.  If there are three or four family members or visitors watching, at least half of them are browsing the mobile Web at the same time.  No, that’s not a prediction or a guess … it’s a survey result.

Bringing It Home

The media agency Initiative recently completed a survey finding that 60% of mobile Web usage is now taking place at home.  Mobile devices are rapidly fulfilling the prediction of being “always on.”  And, if you think that it’s just teenagers playing games on their mobile devices, think again.  The breakdown of usage is only 8% for gaming, with 37% voice calls, and a whopping 49% data usage!

Multi-tasking is all the rage, with half of smartphone users saying they browse the mobile Web while watching TV, listening to the radio, or traveling.  Talk about Web-dependent, 39% browse on their mobile device while they’re on the Internet on a PC.  34% do so while they’re reading a newspaper or magazine.

It’s Like Pulling Them Through The Door!

How many times have you been in a popular tourist town, with lots of shops, bars and places to have fun, and been stopped in front of one of them by someone trying to pull you in the door?  They’ll tell you about the fun inside, or the bargains, and coax you to “go right in!”  It’s a common practice because it works.

In a really huge example of understatement, this survey says:  “Through mobile, marketers can provide consumers with a way of immediately engaging with the brand …” You don’t say!?  Think about it.  Your regular ad in the homes section of the newspaper has a QR code or gives a link to your mobile website.  They’re browsing the paper for homes, but within a few seconds, they’re browsing your site for a whole lot more information and better photos or video of your listings and services.

They Want It – But They Want It Free

While more than 80% of smartphone users have downloaded at least one app, 70% have more free apps than those they had to pay for.  While 60% of smartphone users in the U.S. have paid at least $5 for an app, the vast majority say that they would much rather get apps for free.  And, that’s even if the trade-off is accepting advertising.

“More for less” has never taken on more meaning than in today’s Internet and mobile world.  Look at apps that do the very same things for the user that software does for them on their PC.  The PC software costs $50, while the app costs $5.  There is an expectation of value at little or no out-of-pocket cost, and that expectation is being met in the mobile app world.  The consumer is clearly telling the marketer that they want information and value wherever they happen to be located, and they want it immediately.

Are We Listening?

How’s your Web presence performing for you in generating real solid buyer and seller leads?  While many real estate professionals have embraced websites and others are also blogging, the necessary evolution to the mobile device is not happening fast enough.  Don’t be satisfied to try and get the consumer off of the couch and at the desk in front of their PC to access your Web presence.

The next time an active home buyer is having their breakfast and coffee in the kitchen, what will they find in the homes for sale section of the paper?  If it’s a link to your mobile website, that smartphone that’s there with them will be bringing you business.

It’s certainly no secret that the world is going mobile at an ever-increasing pace.  Whether it’s a Blackberry, Palm, Motorola, LG or iPhone product, there’s a smart phone or other mobile device in the hands of someone new at a rate of several every second.  As features and access speed improve, upgraded devices are purchased, and numbers aren’t easy to come by for how many of any type of phone are out there in use.

The iPhone is Gaining Speed

Apple is said to have sold more than 50 million iPhones since their introduction.  More than 1.7 million iPhone 4 units went out the first three days they were released in June.  It’s almost been fun watching the TV advertising wars between AT&T and Verizon.  You know the ones, with the maps over users’ heads and 3G coverage statistics flying around.  AT&T certainly made a good decision in locking up the iPhone for an exclusive period, but they have had problems with their network from the huge increases in Web use that came with the iPhone’s massive popularity.

Well, those wars may be a thing of the past soon, as well as AT&T’s lock on the iPhone.  The word is out that Verizon will be marketing the iPhone within the next six months or so, some say in January 2011, ending AT&T’s monopoly.  With Verizon’s more expansive 3G network coverage, demand will be great from current customers, and Verizon could pick up a significant number of defectors from AT&T as well.  Verizon had about 94 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010, and some say that the company could end up selling around 3 million iPhones every quarter.

The iPhone helped AT&T to add customers during a tough market, with about 3 million new customers for the carrier for the iPhone in the first quarter of this year.  But, “the more the merrier” hasn’t been the result, with a lot of complaining about AT&T’s network failures and problems with service.  While they’re planning to spend $2 billion to upgrade, it’s late considering the rumored Verizon move into the iPhone market.

If that 3 million/quarter estimate holds true, Verizon will add at least 12 million iPhones next year.  It is likely a conservative estimate, as there are a LOT of Verizon phone users out there who wish they owned an iPhone.  There will be a lot of contract extensions when the iPhone hits Verizon stores.

And Then – There’s the iPad!

It’s a retailer’s dream … sales that outpace demand.  Apple has made a huge splash with the iPad:

• It took 28 days to sell the first million.
• The second million went out the door in 31 days.
• 21 days was all it took to move the third million.

Recently Apple announced that it was opening up the iBooks Store to independent authors, and provided a list of aggregator companies that can produce an ePub formatted iBook for an independent author for as little as $49.  Amazon is feeling the bite out of their Kindle sales, and is also going to open up their book store to smaller authors and publishers.

But, with the iPad’s awesome color graphics, many have said the reading experience is much better on the iPad than on the Kindle.  And, that’s even considering the better readability of the Kindle in high light conditions or outdoors.  This move to the iPad for reading books is important, as it will bring more iPad users who initially get it for the book store, but move on to using it as a tablet PC with a huge choice of apps for just about any task or entertainment they desire.

Who Cares if Apple is Winning?

Obviously, a lot of people involved in mobile marketing and in the products involved care.  But, as real estate professionals, we need to be as platform-independent as possible, with our mobile offerings and property searches staying Web-based for access from them all.  While some may rush to develop their new iPad app, it may not look as great on the iPhone, and won’t run at all on a Blackberry or Palm phone.  While all of this competitive development boils around us, we’ll just make sure our property searches and contact forms will run on every Web-enabled device.

Taking Home Search Mobile

Where are your home buyers?

If you haven’t seen the National Association of Realtors® annual “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” statistics given for home buyers’ use of the Internet here’s a hint - It’s increasing every year:

• 2007 – 84%, with 32% making it their first step in the process.
• 2008 – 87%, with the first step figure at 33%.
• 2009 – 90%, and 36% made it their first step in the search process.

Not only are most people now using the Web to find a home, more of them are making it their first step in the process.

Enterprising real estate professionals are aware that the earlier in the home search process they can make substantive contact with a buyer, the better the chance of converting that buyer to a commission and repeat business.  With more people making Web search their first property location activity, that’s where the smart marketing is taking place.

What’s the Catch?

Increasing broadband Internet access and faster computers make the Web the most feature-rich home location resource.

But, change is the very essence of the Web, and the change is now in how it’s being accessed.  Society as a whole is growing more mobile every day, and a great deal more business is being transacted from mobile phones, smart phones, and other mobile devices.

Internet home searches are moving from the home computer to the mobile device, and the real estate companies and agents with a presence that’s mobile-friendly are in a position to skim those leads from the top.  Get into today’s consumer’s shoes and you’ll see why.

• Life is busier than ever before, and we’re moving around all day every day.
• More two-household families than ever before are communicating via cell phones and texting.  The phone has become the center of the family’s interaction.  There are now more cell phone only homes than homes with land line phones.
• The hardware and systems have progressed to the point of being able to present home search results with graphics and full property information in a useful format for the consumer.
• While home buyers will use desktop computers for preliminary home searches, they’re much more comfortable now with mobile browsing, and want information immediately delivered to them wherever they are.
• In driving around, home buyers will find neighborhoods they like but haven’t considered before.  Using mapping to deliver nearby homes for sale is one of the abilities most valued.

So, what should I do?

With all of this in mind, what do we need to deliver to these consumers in order to be one of those first-contact resources when they hit the Web?  And, once we’ve been given an opportunity by receiving a site visit, what must be done in order not to waste it?  How do we get and keep the mobile Internet home searcher?

Of course, we want to continue to improve on our normal website and search engine optimization.  But, once they get up from the desk and go to the car, it’s necessary to continue to meet their home search needs in a seamless transition to a mobile environment.  And, it needs to be platform-independent, in that it can’t just be an iPhone or an Android App.

If they were on the Web in the home, then we should keep them on the Web when they leave. Then, we need to make it fast and easy to contact us “on-the-spot” with a question or for more information.  It’s that first actual personal contact that provides the conversion opportunity.

How are you meeting consumer home search requirements on the fly?  Contact us for solutions that will bring you to the top of the pile when that 90% are searching the Web for homes, but they’re doing it on the road.

iPhone and Google on Collision Course for Most Mobile Web Traffic

The Ad serving company Admob just released its Mobile Metrics Report and here’s the scoop.

• Overall Year-over-Year Mobile Web Traffic is up, way up – 193% to be exact
• Smartphones like the iPhone, Google Droid line, Blackberry and Palm Pre increased their market share of the total mobile web traffic to north of 50%
• Admob served over 10 Billion ads last year on over 15,000 sites
• Google’s Android OS is poised to overtake the iPhone operating system NEXT MONTH
• Together the iPhone OS and the Android OS make up most of all of the mobile web traffic out there, with Blackberry coming in a distant 3rd

What does this all mean? Well, it means that while the iPhone may appear to be dropping in percentage of usage, the reality is that since total traffic in the US is up 193% (I don’t get tired of writing that number) the iPhone is merely not winning at the same pace as Google.

We’ve seen the massive uptick of mobile web traffic caused by the adoption of 3G and and the smartphones like the iPhone which take advantage of it.  But at this year’s CTIA wireless conference Sprint announce the release of two incredible new feature-rich phones.

The most impressive of the two, the Android HTC Evo 4G sports 30% more screen space than the iPhone, an 8 megapixel camera on the back for photos and video and a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front for video-chatting.  Plus it acts as its own mobile wifi hot spot which can connect up to 8 devices to Sprint’s new “WiMax” network.  This is a prince among phones.

PC World says the phone “absolutely crushes.” Engadget calls it an “Android-powered knight in superphone armor… easily the best specced phone we’ve ever witnessed.”

Pair this with the current pace of the shipment of smartphones scheduled to outstrip the shipment of notebook and netbook computers by the end of this year (yes, the end of 2010) and I’m starting to see a massive wave of mobile devices which you need to deal with in your marketing and branding.

With phones and services like this expanding exponentially your customers both current and future are interacting with your business on a mobile phone. If you haven’t converted and optimized your website to work on a mobile device, or if you don’t have a plan for making this happen now is the time to start.

Contact us today to find out how to quickly convert your existing website into a website which is optimized to work on any mobile phone, not just the iPhone.

Out of the Gates and Running

Well, it’s official – we have just launched our Real Estate Agent Mobile Website tool – Mobicentric Pro!  To see it in action use your phone (any phone will work as long as you can access the internet with it) and go to http://keithdobbsteam.com.

Smart Scripts for Mobile Real Estate Websites

Here’s a piece of advice though – don’t go there on your laptop (or desktop) because you won’t see the mobile version.  Why’s that you ask? Well, we have a smart script which can tell whether you are accessing his website from a mobile device or from a PC.  Then based on whichever platform you are using it will deliver the appropriate content for that platform.

So, a PC user sees the full website for their “Research Phase”.  Whereas a potential home buyer will see the optimized mobile website which pulls directly from Dallas’ MLS feeds because they are in the Active Search™ phase of their buying process.

My Top 7 Favorite Features

What are my favorite features of our Mobile Real Estate website tool, MobiCentric Pro?  Well, I’ve been heading up the team which built this product for the past 7 months, so there’s a lot which I really like.  But if I had to boil it down to my favorite features, meaning those features of which I am most proud – they are these:

1. It syncs directly with MLS so the Real Estate Agent doesn’t have to keep multiple websites updated.  All the agent has to do is put in their MLS ID# and we automatically pull in their featured listings as well as all of the properties which are currently active in their MLS.
2. A potential home buyer can search immediately from the first screen.  No wading through different pages to find a home.  They can search right there on the homepage and get results almost instantly.
3. Speaking of searching – probably the coolest feature we implemented is the ability for people to search not just by complete address, but by partial address, street name, or even search by intersection (yes, like Main & Teel), just a city name, etc.  Go see for yourself, it’s an incredibly robust feature.
4. GPS location – we integrated geo-spatial location searching into the product so that it turns every address or intersection into an actual physical location complete with Latitude and Longitude.  Why is this useful?  Well, when you search for a property if we don’t find an exact match we will return the properties which comes closest to matching your search based on their physical location to place you searched for.  This is especially powerful when searching by intersection because we can return properties that are literally within a 1-5 mile radius from that intersection.
5. Send this property listing to a friend by email - we gave everyone the ability to view a property within 2-3 clicks on your mobile site and then if they like what they see they can forward that listing on to their spouse, significant other, themselves, etc. just by entering their email address and the person’s email address to whom they want to send the listing.
6. Lead generation and tracking – Probably our most significant Return on Investment piece for our Real Estate Agents, we literally track everything that happens on their mobile site.  From how many people have viewed the site in general, to how many people have viewed the an individual listing, to how many people emailed a property to how many people contacted the Agent directly from the site.  Plus we send leads in real-time to Agents.  So, when a potential home buyer contacts an Agent from their mobile site we immediately send that contact by email to the Agent.  This means you can be out in the field and still receiving leads without any lag time.
7. It’s not just an App – It’s a mobile website! This means that there are no obstacles for people finding you with their phones.  With just an App you have to spend precious marketing dollars telling people that your App is out there (amongst the hundreds of thousands available in the App store).  Then people have to go to the App store, find your App, download it and remember to use it. Plus, if you just have an App it only works on 1 phone! That’s a lot of obstacles to put between yourself and the customer.  On the other hand – Our mobile website product works on all phone which can access the internet.  It doesn’t require a user to find it or download it.  All they have to do is go to your regular website on their mobile phone and voila – they’re seeing a website which is delivered almost immediately and contains all of the current MLS information in an easily accessible and mobile optimized format.

But don’t just take my word for how good of a product it is – go see for yourself. Use your phone (any phone will work as long as you can access the internet with it) and go to http://keithdobbsteam.com.

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Want your own Mobicentric Pro Mobile Real Estate Website – contact sales directly either by calling us at (832) 241-9554 ext. 1  or just contact us via the website here!

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Note: if you’re not from the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area this handy little guideline might help you understand the area a little better -

1.  Address Search
Scenario: Buyers driving through community & pull up curbside in front of the home.
(enter an address below in the search box then click the magnifying glass icon)
2983 Bainbridge Lane
3415 Beverly Drive
49 Pristine Pond Drive

Intersection Search
Scenario: Buyers cannot remember the address of a property but know the nearest intersection.
(enter the intersections below in the search box then click the magnifying glass icon)
Lebanon Rd & Teel Pkwy

2.  Advanced Search
Scenario: Buyer may search in the same manner as #1 & #2 above but also have the ability to enter home criteria.
(enter the criteria below to see how Advanced Search operates)
Frisco 75034
350000 – 425000
5 bedrooms
4 baths
or
W Park Blvd & Coit Rd
250000 – 350000
4 bedrooms
3 baths

3.  Featured Listings
Only pulls the Listings for this particular agent.

4.  Contact
Contact Information for this particular agent.

5.  About Us
Provides the home shopper general information about the agent & brokerage.

Want your own Mobicentric Pro Mobile Real Estate Website – contact sales directly either by calling us at (832) 241-9554 ext. 1  or just contact us via the website here!

Future of Web Apps

The consensus is that the future of Web Apps is the Mobile Web, not the downloaded App. With things like Webkit + Snowstack and WebGL couple with Palm declaring that the mobile web is the platform the capabilities are only growing for the Mobile Web.

We are leveraging the accessibility of the mobile web and the growing capabilities of the updated browsers on all phones to create great tools for Real Estate Agents to reach their clients and potential homebuyers through their mobile phones!