Zillow has an API that returns reviews for a specified screen name. They clearly want agents and brokers to use those reviews on their own websites (see their widget here). We all know a big percentage of agent and broker websites are built with WordPress….

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an important aspect of online marketing. It’s especially true in the competitive world of maintenance professionals where bid prices for keywords on Google are extremely expensive. This has an impact on small businesses, real estate investors, and homeowners. When I…

There’s a new technology vendor worth taking a look at if you’re a boutique brokerage/team, and searching for a new website/IDX provider. RealSavvy. They’re based in Austin, and look to have a fairly slick offering. It’s a full website, IDX, and CRM in one, teamed…

Is it just me, or is there not much innovation occurring with IDX these days? Diverse Solutions long had the reputation for being the most innovative IDX vendor, but then sold to Zillow, saw product problems (documented here), and were just recently unloaded to Market Leader. Displet…

Everyone wants to see an example of someone using your product/service in a way they should be using it. StreetAdvisor is no different. The value proposition for sellers is clear, and the agent/broker value proposition is the ability engage with buyers and sellers who have self…

Want real, honest feedback on the user experience of your real estate website? Go inside Starbucks (or any other busy coffee shop), and offer to buy someone in line a coffee in exchange for spending 10 minutes browsing your website and providing honest feedback. Many people will…

If you’ve followed my posts here on Geek Estate, you know I’ve had a long history as a customer of Diverse Solutions. I’m not sure exactly when I started with them, probably sometime in 2008, but I was using their dsSearchAgent (Mapping IDX) well before they launched dsIDXpress…

SRE Matrix has $200 million in funding from Takeshi Sekiguchi, operating a discount model in Hawaii and San Diego, and looking to expand (see Inman). What are they doing with all that money? Building another national portal… The brokerage planned to have set up shop in…

Can you still build a real estate search portal? Yes, absolutely. Anything is possible. That said, if you plan to build a portal and compete – you need to win the consumer (buyers), somehow. Without buyers, no one in the industry makes any money. So,…

Brian Boero from 1000Watt has alluded to a theme in previous writing (I can’t remember the exact post though to link to): The post-internet-enabled real estate experience is worse than before. He mentioned that again on an Inman Connect panel I saw last week in San…