Niagara Falls Real Estate & Homes : September 2006

Kristal Kraft wrote a most informative Blog Bloging for fun or profit and made a very important statement about push vs pull marketing and how Blogging is very much there and ready for the consumer when they are ready to discover it.  That by us BLOGGING we are putting information out there that the consumer wants when they want it. 

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I had a customer call me and say I checked out Active Rain and although it is great for a Realtor what benefit does it have for me?  (Some of my agent marketing is pointing to Active Rain including postcards, and my email signature...)  I wanted to know what they meant so I asked a few more questions.   This on the heels of one of my listings checking out my AR profile a couple of days ago and yelling at me for not putting their listing on the site...  I spoke with Kristal yesterday and someone had discovered one of her BLOGs and he wanted to work with her as a result.  What resulted was an aha. 

There really needs to be two sides to this wonderful community.   One for the Realtors and one for the end user community.  There has been a lot of rumbling about points and how difficult it is to find stuff suddenly.  The first users started joining on May 25th of this year --- today September 29th we are over 6,000 users of a free service.  I think it is the same few guys who started this that are supporting it.  And from their blog silence, I bet they are busier than a one armed paper hanger.  I am not sure what direction they are planning but in my effort to make this a place that pulls the consumer  -- here are a few suggestions:

• Consumer login and ability to get summary reports of BLOGS from areas that they choose
• Give them the ability to  search for Real Estate professionals (Realtors, Stagers, Mortgage Brokers, etc).
• Sell an advertising banners and skyscrapers on the Consumer side, but for companies like Lowes, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond
  • not Real Estate Related or Active Rain members
• Rotate through members in a Featured Agent
  • Those with photos and certain level of points and a certain level of Blogging
  • Featured Agents are only featured for a week and then rotated out, and say they can't be the featured agent for x amount of months.
  • Perhaps The Active Rain Staff Picks three and we as a community vote on them  "Agent of the Month" (once a year) then Agent of the Year, Rookie of the week...  So much fun could be had with this....
• Just have the Listings there and create a method for Mortgage, Attorney etc to advertise to that area
• Never sell their email addresses, and if they communicate with one of us they are filtered through the system
• Great search function on the BLOGS
• On that side of Active Rain, for each city (I smell a way to award points and you know this would be chock full of resources we Rainers are motivated by points) :
  • Photos of the area posted by members
  • Links section - broken into a couple of sections
    • Active Rain Member Websites
    • Community Webistes
      • Chamber of Commerce
      • City Site/County
      • Schools
      • Utility Companies
      • Local Restaurants, Entertainment 
      • companies that AR members feel are a great resource to the community
      • Recreation
    • Community Calendar

And for our fellow Rainers, here are a few suggestions that we would like to see (I am sure your list is very long already....):

• A summary of the 10 Best non-gold star blogs of the week - one a month per member
• A way we could award points to someone that posts a great comment that leads to a great discussion on one of our BLOGS (with rules of course!!!!!!)  
• Ability to see a list of First Blogs (a way for us to check out new members)
• A way to see when someone hits a milestone.   We are all so proud when we do that it would be great to congratulate them as they achieve them.
• Each day we are allowed to award points to a commenter on our BLOG -- just one commenter a day and you can only allow them to that person once in 45 days
• Better search function
• A resource section on how to at AR, there have been some great posts
• A way to tag a Blog for reading later
• A way to create polls...

I have to give credit, but I can't remember where I came up with some of these things...  So some of these ideas came from conversations I have been having with "The Lovely Wife", Karen Hurst, Kristal Kraft, Pam Hofmann, and Karen Villa Schweinfurth.  They all have been wonderful encouraging me to BLOG about this and so I have.  I hope I have done them proud! 

Colleen Kulikowski is your Western New York Real Estate Expert focusing on Buffalo and Niagara Falls neighborhoods of Western New York.  If you are on Twitter, please follow me... If you enjoyed this post by your Buffalo & Niagara Falls Home Sales Expert, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

Email Colleen Kulikowski | All posts by Colleen Kulikowski 
(716) 743-5297 Voicemail

Home  About  Buffalo NY  Niagara Falls NY  Contact Us Sellers  What's My Home Worth?  Buyers  Relocation Guide  Archives  Categories  Glossary  Blogroll

Angler's Cove Building N #504

Listed at $399,000 Furnished 

2 Bedroom/1baths

Weekly Rentals allowed at this community!

Community has two pools, three spas, tennis courts and boat dock rentals!

Visual Tour

Delightful Island getaway with weekly rentals on Marco Island! Updated in 2003 and beautifully turn-key furnished unit with living room extended for extra living space. 18" tile, glass front cabinets in kitchen tinted windows and doors, and wrap around kitchen counter. Angler's Cove has common docks, tennis courts 2 pools & 3 spas! Not interested in cooking -- there is a waterside bar & grill!  To view more details of this listing, please visit my website at:  www.ParadiseReport.com/anglers504

For more information on the community, please see my posts on Active Rain. 

If you would like more information regarding this terrific condo with weekly rentals, please call me at (239) 821-3063 or email me at colleen@minre.com.

Here are the some of realities of being a Realtor today:

• You better like the phone, because you will be spending a lot of time on it
• Real Estate is not a 9-5 job and to be successful at it you cannot do it half way
• For every excellent resource there are 1,000 scams
• Websites, BLOGS, email, and technology will be a big part of your business - embrace it or hire someone to handle it for you
• You don't have to do everything all at once, baby steps well planned work well
• Don't be threatened by how others do their business, review it and see how you can improve yours
• Learn the basics and in doing that you will do well, no matter the market
• Your education does not stop when you obtain your license, in fact it never ends
• Not everyone wants you to be successful, but those that do are worth their weight in gold - surround yourself with them
• There are good and bad people out there, and you will experience the best and the worst of each
• You are information central -- if someone needs it they will call you asking where they can find it (cleaning people, directions, free stuff)
• It is all about attitude not all the bells and whistles
• This business is about networking - so get out there and NETWORK
• Agent Marketing can be fun - but don't get lost in the details
• You are part therapist, part handyman, part decorator, part marriage counselor, and Real Estate Expert
• Just when you think you have heard it all, you hear something else that totally blows your mind
• For every fun & creative thing you do, there are 15 mundane, plain out boring tasks to be accomplished
• YOU can't do it all - remember that and get help when you need it

Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful profession, full of creativity and challenges and it is my passion.  If it is your passion, you will do well in Real Estate!  Anyone else have a few points to ponder?

For all of you that might have Agent Xsites as your website, I would love to share listings with you...  My site is www.ParadiseReport.com... I am slowly working on customizing it.  For the most part I am happy with it, but it was an excellent choice based on how much time I was going to have to devote to that aspect.  

If you are using the site how are you finding some of the enhancements.  I have had several issues including one that has them confused and working to resolve, but they have been most responsive.  

February 1, 2008 I dropped Agent Xsites for my blog which was ranking higher than the website.

 

Colleen Kulikowski Real Estate Professional DeFrancoRealEstate.com 481 19th Street Niagara Falls, NY, 14303 US	Work: 716-990-7384 Mobile: 407-288-0017  paradisereport@gmail.com http://www.buffaloniagararealestatehomesales.com/wnyrealtor Celebration Florida Homes BLOG      Marco Island Homes BLOG
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

  Email Colleen Kulikowski | All posts by Colleen Kulikowski 

Colleen Kulikowski is your Western New York Real Estate Expert focusing on Buffalo and Niagara Falls neighborhoods of Western New York.  If you are on Twitter, please follow me... If you enjoyed this post by your Buffalo & Niagara Falls Home Sales Expert, make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided by Colleen Kulikowski, Realtor.  Colleen writes about the Florida lifestyle along with writing about the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Region of Western New York.   Read her Buffalo Niagara Real Estate & Home Sales report.  Colleen continues to maintain her two Florida blogs as well:  Celebration Florida Homes &  Marco Island Homes.

An avid writer and photographer Colleen Kulikowski utilizes these talents to assist her clients in achieving their Real Estate goals.   She grew up in Western NY and moved to the Metro NYC area in 1984 where she was a successful consultant in the technology field.   She has a diverse background including event management, corporate training and a wealth of computer knowledge focuses in the latest marketing strategies, statistical analysis and logistics for her clients.  She has worked for several companies including Radio City Music Hall, Reed Reference Publishing, Nabisco Foods, Key Bank and Marsh & McClennan   In 2001 Colleen made Marco Island home until 2007 when she made the Celebration Florida area home before returning to her hometown in January 2008.