Real Estate Videos Work for Brian Boardman, Burlington Vermont

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

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!

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

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!

Google Explains How to Optimize your Real Estate Site on a Small Budget

We regularly check in on the Google Webmaster Central Channel on YouTube. The primary poster is Matt Cutts, a software engineer at Google and THE voice of search engine optimization from the Google perspective. This is as close to looking into the minds behind Google as you can get. Matt recently answered a question from a Realtor in California about how to optimize a real estate website on a small budget. When you watch, you will see that he is really pushing the long tail theory of optimization as a starting point for any SEO (search engine optimization) effort. This, combined with the need to be unique in the market, falls right in line with the approach we have been taking to SEO and real estate web design for years.

Union Street Media Is Hiring!

Our Internet Marketer’s primary responsibility is to help our clients achieve a greater return on their web site by implementing our continuous improvement process, which we call Report Recommend Revise. Each month, our IM staff completes the “RRR” process for dozens of clients, which includes:

• Doing keyword research in search of the best long tail phrases where our clients have a good opportunity to compete
• Studying site traffic using GA and other metrics tools and using that analysis to help increase site visitor conversions
• Coaching our clients on content creation and blogging strategies
• Identifying ways to integrate video and social media into clients’ internet marketing campaigns. And a whole lot more…

To view the full Job Description please click here.

New Site Launches by Union Street Media

As always, we have been very busy here this summer at Union Street Media building and launching new sites for some great new clients.

We would like to welcome Harbor Light Realty to the Union Street Media family. Harbor Light is a seven-person office specializing in residential and investment properties in the Lake Sunapee Region of New Hampshire. Their new website is a great example of a real estate site that not only sells the agency’s expertize but really sells the market area.

As more people hear about our real estate sites, we find new clients coming from farther and farther afield. To serve this growing segment of our business, we are using third party IDX services and building great lead generation websites for people all over the country. In our last launch update, we featured a new WordPress real estate site for Lina Panza in Montclair New Jersey. This month we are pleased to add two more WordPress real estate clients to our ranks.

Granger Properties specializes in vacation and second homes in the Lake Tahoe area. In building their website, they wanted to really focus on the activities and lifestyle that the Lake Tahoe area offers. Please visit the site and see how Granger Properties can introduce you to living in Tahoe!

In the Washington D.C. area we have just launched a WordPress real estate site for Eve Thompson. Eve Thompson chose to focus her website on the internationally known town of Reston, Virgina. Reston was built to revolutionize post-World War II town planning, and has an incredibly unique and interesting character. Please join Eve and see all that Reston has to offer.

One of the things that we at Union Street Media most value about our clients is that they are constantly coming to us with new ideas and concepts that we can help them realize. A particularly fantastic idea that Burlington VT Real Estate Broker, Brian Boardman, brought to us recently was Agents Driving Hybrids. Brian had purchased a hybrid and realized that with all the miles that Realtors log, this was a chance to make a significant difference in the carbon footprint of the entire industry. Brian wanted to develop web-based resources that would help other Realtors and agents to make the switch to driving hybrids and thus Agents Driving Hybrids was born. Please visit the website and see what Brain is doing to make a difference.

The last site we would like to introduce is the new online face of Massy Quick Wealth Management and Investment Consulting. The Morristown, NJ based firm specializes in management of private funds for wealthy individuals and organizations. They work as fee-only peer investors, viewing each client’s portfolio through the eyes of the investor instead of as a commission-based service provider.

We are very please to add these website to Union Street Media’s portfolio.

Utilizing Google Local For Your Business

Search Engine Optimization is a time-intensive exercise. We regularly tell clients that search Engine Optimization is an endurance race not a sprint. You must work on your site consistently to make sure that you are accurately represented in Google Searches. This is because as we frequently tell people “No one can pull the strings a Google.”

This statement has one notable exception, the Google local listings. You have undoubtedly run across the local listings as you have preformed searched in Google when you search for a term with a location attached. For example lets say you search for “web design 05401″ you get a search page that looks like this:

The local listings are the ones that appear next to the map. You can have direct control over these listings. By utilizing Google Local listings you will give your business great visibility for people searching locally for your services. If you click on Union Street Media’s entry you are taken to a page that we have set up for our business that looks like this:

As you can see, you can literally write your own ticket in Google. You can add pictures, enter hours of operation in addition to many other pieces of information that will give your business visibility and attract attention. A great way to get a better idea of what this feature has to offer is to look at the Google Local Business Center Introductory Video.

Setting up your Google local account takes some work. There is a phone or mail based address verification check that you will need to complete but it is totally worth the investment of time. To get started click here to go to the Google Local Business Center.

Union Street Media Introduces the New Online Face of the Northwestern Vermont Board of Realtors

We here at Union Street Media are pleased to announce the launching of The Northwestern Vermont Board of Realtors new website, NVBR.com. We are very happy to add this new site to our growing list of Realtor board and Association sites which include The New Hampshire Association of Realtors and the Vermont Association of Realtors.

New Site Launches by Union Street Media

As always, we have been busy here at Union Street Media adding new clients and websites to our portfolio. We are pleased to announce the launch of four new websites for four great companies this month. Our Real Estate Department has been very busy and has introduced three new sites in the past month. They are:

Atlantic Bay Sotheby’s International is a great real estate agency serving Outer Cape Cod. They are located in Provincetown and specialize in primary and vacation homes as well as summer vacation rentals. This our second site on the Cape, and a welcome addition to the Union Street Media family.

We are also happy to welcome Kristie Dinsmore’s new site to our portfolio. Kristie Dinsmore is an expert Realtor in Southern New Hampshire Real Estate. Kristie has been a customer of ours for a number of years using our IDX integration on a third party website. We are very pleased that she has decided to build a complete site with Union Street Media.

The last Real Estate Site that we have introduced is a really interesting site for Lina Panza, a Realtor in Montclair, New Jersey. She has chosen to focus on a particular topic which is becoming more and more relevant: walkable suburbs. Partnering with Union Street Media, she as built a site focusing on suburban real estate with walkable commutes to trains and commercial districts. Her site is a great example of an agent seeing an unfilled niche in their market and building a website to take advantage of the opportunity. We are pleased to introduce this as our first real estate site in the state of New Jersey.

In the interactive realm, we launched an extensive travel information and resource site for a client based in Seattle. Know Your Trip is a great travel site that acts as a hub for travelers to share information and stories from their experiences. The site is organized into regions allowing travelers to find the information that they want quickly and easily. We are very pleased to introduce it to the travel community!

The last piece of news that we would like to announce is the first example of Union Street Media’s new video bio services. We are always looking for new ways to break down the barriers between our clients and their online visitors. To this end, we have begun to offer video production services to help our clients showcase their personality and their vision for their market. Our first subject was Burlington Realtor, Brian Boardman. We included testimonials from past clients and showed what makes Brian’s view of the area unique and exiting. Please watch the video here and let us know what you think!

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