If you’re returning to our blog, you may have noticed that it has undertaken a new design theme. We were previously using Blogger.com to host our blogging platform and it was great. The only problem we had with it was the blog design overall was kind of boring. Knowing the ever increasing need for blogs, we wanted to try something new so we could  stay up-to-date with all of the blogging agents out there.

Our new design was built by BlogDesignBlog.com with a few of my own custom tweaks. There’s still a lot that has to be done with it before we can actually call it the new home of RETechBlog.com and RETechSeminars.com, but it looks good enough for now to release to you, the reader. The picture at the top of the blog (under RETechBlog.com) was taken by my wife in downtown Savannah and is actually the restaurant of the famous cook on Food Network, Paula Dean. If you would like to look at more of her photography she can be found at annerains.blogspot.com .

So let me know what you think about the new blog design by leaving me a comment and if you need to find any of the old blog posts until I can get them put up just visit RETechBlog.com/blogger

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online
www.RETechSeminars.com

Shame on you Steve Jobs!  Sources are mumbling that the retail giant Wal-Mart will be carrying the iPhone right after Christmas. If our sources are correct Wal-Mart will not only be carrying the iPhone, but they will be selling it at a discounted price. Apple is allowing Wal-Mart to sell the iPhone at a limited number of 2,500 stores to start and even Wal-Mart’s little brother Sam’s Club will be getting them at 69 stores at an even deeper discount.

What I want to know is how are the millions of “mac-a-holics” going to take it when they find out their precious iPhone is being sold at Wal-Mart? I know Steve Jobs mentioned something about having to stay competitive with lower priced cellular devices, but Wal-Mart? This recent plea for sales could be because Wal-Mart just recently started selling the G1 (Google Phone) for T-Mobile at a $30 discount and maybe Mr. Jobs realizes that this new Android device from Google could be the one to de-thrown the current king?

All I know is I did not see this coming. As much pride as Apple takes in the iPhone and all the hoops Best Buy had to jump through to start carrying the “Mac” line of products I just didn’t think Wal-Mart would be a retailer Apple would look at seriously. Maybe this is a glimpse of the future with Apple? Maybe their business model is a little too close to the original Gateway plan? Only time can tell?

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to comment.

Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online
www.RETechSeminars.com

Hello everyone,

Last post I talked about how important it is to make sure your property is correctly inserted into your local MLS system because it is syndicated to other national MLS’ within days and that sets the foundation for a successful online marketing plan.

This post I want to take it a step further and talk about where else you can post your listings and what you should do after your MLS syndicates your listings world wide.

Most large national and even world wide listing Websites such as Real Seekr, Trulia and Zillow will allow you to do what is called “claiming your listings.” Claiming your listings will allow you to receive up-to-date statistics on views and clicks, market yourself through those sites and let you edit any information they may have incorrect about your listing. The only way to know if a site allows you to claim your listings is by visiting the site and reading some of the Q&A sections about how and if it’s done.

Once you claim your listings you need to add any additional photos, descriptions etc to them to make sure they are correct and in order so when they are viewed the information is correct. Also, make sure to add information about yourself, a picture and links to your Website and blog so visitors can visit your local site.

As for where else to put your listing on the web I’m going to leave most of that to the comments on this post. I’ll tell you a few that I like and if you have one that you’ve had success with lately post it up so everyone can use it.

External Listing Sites:
RealSeekr.com
Trulia.com
Zillow.com
Craigslist.com
Backpage.com

Ok, so now that you’ve listed your property on MLS correctly and claimed your properties through external listing Websites, it’s time to go around the web and add your listings to other sites that aren’t syndicated to automatically.

PS - Sorry if this post was a little “off”– I’m currently sitting at a Christmas festival and there are elves running around singing songs by the Jackson 5. HAHA.

Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online