Internet marketing for real estate: a practical tactical blog

Twitter + Meetup = Tweetup

November 2nd, 2009 by admin

Filed Under Internet Marketing, Local, Social Media, Technology | Leave a Comment

I recently came across another powerful use that Twitter provides people with last week. It not only provided an awesome place to network, but it supported a new local business. Last month, I began to see a trend start to rise with something along the lines of this: #btvfall2009tweetup. Curiosity got the best of me, and I started researching what this was all about. Turns out, a new local bakery, August First was hosting a “tweetup”. A tweetup is a gathering of people who use the social-networking tool, Twitter. The event was organized through Twitter by using a third party app, twtvite. This application allows you to organize an event by giving details such as directions to the event and a yes/no/maybe RSVP option. This had been the second invite I had seen in about a month and I was ready to join in on the fun.

The event was organized by John Connors (@JohnCVermont) who specializes in Information Technology at Saint Michael’s College. Upon arrival, I was handed a badge with my real name and twitter user name on it so people would know if we had crossed paths on Twitter previously. Surprisingly, most of the faces in the cozy bakery were familiar. Everyone seemed very content with their coffee in-hand and talking technology. August First was a great location to have this event with their welcoming environment and their variety of tasty treats.

I will now be making an effort to attend every tweetup I can, not only for the geek-talk, but for great time all around.

If you’re on Twitter and want to see what’s going on with the team, you can find us on our Twitter List here. Also, you can follow August First here.

Cheers,

Matt Sisson

Twitter: Using Social Media to Increase Business Success

October 21st, 2009 by dkaralis

Filed Under Data, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment

According to Mashable, The Social Media Guide, Twitter saw a 752% growth in 2008. It’s no wonder everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon.

There are many benefits that come with proper Twitter usage:

• Reinforce your brand and increase awareness by linking your Twitter account with all of your other web outlets.

• Check your Google Analytics; Twitter is a direct source of traffic.

• Network with like minded professionals, potential customers, and other local businesses.

• Tweets are now indexed in Google; we smell potential for organic Google traffic!

What a lot of people don’t realize are the practical uses of this valuable tool. Many businesses recognize the potential with this platform and yet after creating an account, have no clue what to do. It’s important to know about Twitter etiquette, hashtags, practical applications, and more.

Before getting started, there are a few things to remember.

Read more

Another Round of Site Launches!

October 13th, 2009 by admin

Filed Under Website Launches | Leave a Comment

First off we have a redesign for Sox to Go. You can pick up any type of socks from your favorite NBA team to socks with Moose on them! We provided them with  a re-designed site to better reflect the more intuitive e-commerce flow that customers are looking for with a fresh new color palette.

From skiing to real estate Tamara McKinney focuses her business on Squaw Valley, North Lake Tahoe and Truckee areas. Tamara is a former Olympic skier and has intimate knowledge of the Squaw Valley having grown up there.

Children of Fallen Patriots is an excellent foundation based on helping children who have lost loved ones get the money they need for a college eduction. This organization needed a more secure site to accept donations and a more interactive way for visitors to share experiences and thoughts through the site and social media platforms. Union Street Media was delighted to be able to make this possible.

Tourterelle brings some French charm to New Haven VT. They belong to the Vermont Fresh Network and work with area farms to bring the freshest ingredients from the field to the plate. They were looking for an innovative design with great usability and search engine optimization to establish a presence in a competitive market.

Prestige Real Estate of Killington They specialize in listing and selling Killington condominiums, town homes, single-family homes, multi-family homes and land. Ted and Heidi at Prestige Killington are long standing clients and we were excited to take their existing site to the next level of functionality using the latest real estate tools available including seamless MLS integration.

The Corvus Group are a full-service real estate brokerage firm servicing the Dartmouth – Lake Sunapee region of New Hampshire. The designer went for a clean, crisp approach, which helps visitors locate exactly what they are looking and are able to learn about the area through fresh blog content and knowledgeable area information.

At Brookside Gynecology , skilled and caring physicians offer up-to-date information, thorough evaluation methods, and excellence in treatment options for women from adolescence through adulthood. We updated the look of their site, made it easier to navigate, and added additional information that was missing from the current sites.  The new look is more feminine, soft, and up-to-date, while still looking professional and a touch clinical in nature.

We are proud to add these websites to Union Street Media’s ever-growing portfolio!

Video is the New Photo – WellcomeMat Video App

October 1st, 2009 by tomcull

Filed Under Mobile Tech, Technology, Video | 1 Comment

I’ve been a fan of WellcomeMat for a while now for it’s effortless ease of use, attractive interface and the fact it’s a dedicated real estate platform for video. The latest offering from them is an iPhone app that allows you to post  geo-coded real estate videos to WellcomeMat, Twitter, Facebook, Posterous and YouTube for FREE.

The news was rolled out by their founder here and you can learn more about what WellcomeMat does here and even see a few of our in house offerings on our Union Street Media channel.

We would be interested to hear from anyone that has used this application and their thoughts on its effectiveness, however  the app is currently usable only on the iPhone 3G.

Featured Workspace of Burlington’s Favorite Web Developer

September 29th, 2009 by admin

Filed Under USM News | Leave a Comment

This is exciting!  My first blog post for Union Street Media.  For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a Support Specialist and Junior Web Developer here at our cozy Burlington, Vermont office.  I’ve been here for less than six months and it already feels like I’ve known my colleagues for years.  We work well as a team and it shows, and one of those things that helps fuel our fire is our sweet workspace.

Recently, I came up with the crazy idea to take some pictures around the office.  This was a bold step on my part because it would truly expose how geeky we are with our Star Wars figurines on the shelves to the stick-figure post-it notes all over my desk.  My idea wasn’t completely random though; I not only wanted to show my peers where I worked, but upload the pictures into the Flickr pool for Lifehacker.com’s Featured Workspaces.  The idea of this image pool is to share your workspace with others and show how you remain comfortable, but at the same time allow yourself to push your workload from your inbox to the out.

Every so often, Lifehacker.com pulls some pictures from the pool and features them on their site.  This week, we happen to be the lucky group that was shown on the front page and it displayed our stellar work area.  This was a huge honor and we’re so thankful for Lifehacker taking the time of day to not only check out our office, but to write a story about it as well. This has been quite the Summer/Fall for Union Street Media with our previous Seven Daysies Award for Best Web Developer.

The article can be found here ,and we would love to hear your feedback in the comments about the article or the pictures.

If you would like to connect with me, you can find me on twitter or flickr.

Cheers,

Matt Sisson

Changing Media Landscape

September 22nd, 2009 by Ted Adler

Filed Under Real Estate Consumers, Social Media, Video, Web 2.0, Web Strategy | Leave a Comment

I had an interesting phone call from a longtime client yesterday who decided to stop advertising in his local print real estate monthly for the next four months and will instead be engaging our report, recommend, revise process.  “RRR” helps our clients improve the search engine placement of their web site and generate more leads from the web.  This client understands the shifting media landscape and I was pleased to see him make his marketing investments accordingly.

The upcoming Media Convergence Conference in New York City, put on by The Economist, launched a video called Shift Happens, that helps put these changes in context.  They posted a fascinating video about the event here:

My favorite statistic: The average American teen sends 2272 text messages a month.

With numbers like that, and the often quoted 2008 NAR study that shows 87% of home buyers use the internet when making a purchase, I wonder how much longer people will continue to disproportionately spend money offline?

Real Estate Videos Work for Brian Boardman, Burlington Vermont

September 16th, 2009 by spencer taylor

Filed Under Real Estate Web Design, Video | Leave a Comment

Union Street Media presented at the Coldwell Banker Agent Real Estate Trends & Social Media Seminar on the 16th at the Ethan Allen Club in Burlington, Vermont. Our presentation focused on utilizing real estate videos.

The presentation went very well. We received a great deal of positive feedback from participants from all over the region. Our friend and client Brian Boardman, a REALTOR® here in Burlington, Vermont chimed in to talk  about how a particular listing video help him get one of his high-end properties under contract.  It was a fun, engaging conversation!

Please contact us if you attended the session and would like a copy of our notes (or if you couldn’t make it, and would like a copy of our notes).

New Site Launches by Union Street Media

September 11th, 2009 by spencer taylor

Filed Under USM News, Website Launches | Leave a Comment

Another month has passed and we have launched four great new websites!

The first new website that we are pleased to present to the public is that of ACRE Strategies which is a real estate consulting firm focused on empowering buyers in Massachusetts. The ACRE site is a perfect example of a clean brand-building site for a new business.

The second site that we would like to introduce is that of the Burlington Legacy Project. The Burlington Legacy Project is a city government organization focused on promoting sustainable municipal growth strategies for Burlington as it grows into the future.  This is a wonderful organization that works to provide a framework for Burlington to help it maintain its vibrant urban nature and wonderful character far into the future.

Sneakers Bistro has been a Union Street Media client for many years now, so when they wanted an updated look for their website they came back to us. For those of you aren’t local and thus don’t know about this local legend, Sneakers is a fantastic breakfast and lunch spot in the heart of Winooski, Vermont. It is a fun, energetic place and that is just the thing we went for in our new design of the site. Have a look  – we dare you to look at their site and not want Cheese Grits.

The last Website that we would like to introduce is Atlantic Barn and Timber – a wonderful custom timber framing company in North Carolina. For artisans such as the people at Atlantic Barn, a website needs to support the images of their work – not distract from them. Their new site is subtly designed to be a digital extension of their truly fantastic craft.

We here at Union Street Media are please to add these sites to our ever-growing, diverse website portfolio!

Two Union Street Media Clients Win MAR Website Awards!

September 8th, 2009 by spencer taylor

Filed Under Real Estate Web Design, USM News | Leave a Comment

We here at Union Street Media are proud to announce that the results of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors annual Website Competition are in and two Union Street Media clients have received first and second runner up in the Office Website Category!

We would like to congratulate Lomenzo Properties of Dennis Village on Cape Cod who won for first runner up! This is doubly impressive as they are a two-agent office and beat out countless larger offices in their category. Their prominence is largely do to the wealth of information that they have on their website. They are  prime example of how powerful expansive, high quality content can be. Congratulations to Peter & Elaine for all of their hard work and focus!

We would also like to congratulate Northrup Realtors of Lynnfeild, Ma who won for second runner up! Their achievement is even more impressive as they only launched their new website this past spring. The fact that they have been able to add enough information and resources in that short time period is an impressive effort.

If you read the comments on why these two offices finished in the top of the pack it is clear that it is a combination of the design and functionality that we provide but mostly that our system gives them the  supporting structure to showcase their knowledge and vision of their market area. Again Congratulations to our clients for all of their hard work!

Union Street Media Client Wins Award

September 2nd, 2009 by spencer taylor

Filed Under USM News | Leave a Comment

Union Street Media would like to congratulate Suzanne Johnson of Tilley’s Café in Burlington who has been named the winner of the Restaurateur of the Year award from the Vermont Chamber Hospitality Council. If you have not been to Tilley’s cafe we highly recommend you visit and see the amazing seafood that they cook up daily. Our favorite would have to be the Coconut Prawns!

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