Cyberhomes & Keller Williams Partner On Listings

Keller Williams announced this week that they are providing listings from their new KWLS system to Cyberhomes, a valuation site operated by Fidelity National Financial. A snippet from their agent announcement:

“Keller Williams Realty is an agent-centric organization and FNRES’s Cyberhomes business model supports this focus, making it a good fit for us and our associates,” says Keller Williams Chief Technology Officer, David Therrien.

“We wouldn't be able to provide this to our associates if we hadn't launched the KWLS last year,” he adds. "We will continue to build partnerships that will help our associates reach more consumers without spending a dime of their money."

I am very impressed with KW's commitment to listing distribution and some of the new tools they are empowering agents with. For those not familiar with KWLS, RisMedia has a great interview with KW's CTO, David Therrien about the system and KW's goals.

Back in 2000/2001 I worked with a company that was a trail-blazer regarding the concept of data control and listing distribution, our tag line was "Take Control". That seems to be the central theme of KWLS. It's a smart play.

New Featured Realtor® Blog

I went on a quest yesterday for a new featured Realtor® blog. My travels didn't need to take me much further than the MyBlogLog widget on this site. Hailing from the sunshine state is a Keller Williams team with the moniker, "Every Kid Deserves A Yard". I clicked through to their blog and it met all of the criteria for our new winner.

1.Local content that is "narrowcasted" to a specific audience. This establishes credibility and experience.
2. Clean, easy to navigate design. The blog isn't cluttered by useless elements and widgets.
3. Brand integration. The blog should blend into the overall web experience. It should do a good job of delivering relevant blogging content without self-promotion, with an easy way to get to access to listings or generate leads.

This blog does an exceptional job of establishing community credibility, fits well into the overall web presence and brand and is super simple to navigate. Congratulations to the team at EKDAY for a job well done. ~MP

Featured Real Estate Blog

I've decided to start featuring what I think are good examples of good Realtor® Blogs. Great local content is the primary feature that I believe sets the standard. My first feature is The Harper Team, a Keller Williams team in Danville, CA. Here are 3 things that set this blog apart from the pack:

1. Local content that is "narrowcasted" to a specific audience. This establishes credibility and experience.
2. Clean, easy to navigate design. The blog isn't cluttered by useless elements and they have done an excellent job of integrating the design into the feed links. I wish we had time to re-design our blog to integrate with our brand better, which brings me to number:
3. Brand integration. This site blends into the overall web presence of The Harper Team. They have done an excellent job of delivering relevant blogging content without self-promotion, however, in the the likely event that someone is a prospect, they are only a click away from the content they need.

Pat Kitano of Transparent RE is working with John Harper to begin training their counterparts on the world of Real Estate blogging. I think they will be very capable educators indeed. If you're a Realtor® struggling with your blogging efforts, the Harper Team blog is a shining example of what to strive for.