Real Estate Web Marketing

I’ve been meaning to write about some of my favorite tools for a while.  This article got me motivated “Carnival of Real Estate”.

The end game in commercial real estate, from a listing agent perspective, is to get the space leased for your client.  In Toronto, (and from what I’ve found around the web) most commercial agents do the same thing and use the same tools.  The standard approach is to either list it on MLS.ca or put together a PDF / HTML email to get it out to the brokers with some standard photo’s and floor plans.  I believe the more eyes that see your space, the more likely you are to have someone lease it and for a higher price.

What do I do differently?  I started a Blog… not very common in the commercial real estate industry, particularly in Toronto.  This site currently averages 100 – 150 hits a day for my listings and clients… I’m only 3 weeks old so give me a break, but there’s definitely a demand out there.  What’s next?  Do something unique and noticeable.  I’ve done a lot of blogging on the new real estate or related sites I use, but here are the tools I have found myself coming back to.

Ript.com – A great tool to quickly create a unique ad you can embed in your HTML emails, or simply post on your blog / website.  Here’s an example.

If you have a larger listing with more information and want something less static, here’s a site I’ve used to create something a little more interesting, from a presentation standpoint.
Issuu.com

What’s the next level?  My favorite is Animoto.com.  If you haven’t seen this site yet you don’t know what you’re missing, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere.  Here are two examples of what I have done… although one’s for a new condo I just purchased.

What else do I do?  I’ve done significant research on classified websites around the net.  Obviously Craigslist.com and Kijiji.com are the big ones.  With a little browsing you can find a bunch of other similar sites.  Or you can call me for recommendations based on the space you are trying to lease / sublease / share.

That’s the increased exposure and unique marketing part… but this post is about blogging too.  Here’s a list of the other programs I use on a regular basis that have made my life a lot easier.

PicPick.com – a great little program that lets you take a print screen but then it gets unique.  I added a link to downloadsquad.com which is where I found it in the first place.  It opens a fantastically easy program to use to edit that jpg.  Think about that… take a picture of anything on your screen and save it as a jpg.  Fantastic for creating new posts.

PDFTK Builder – I became very frustrated, very quickly, having to upload individual listings to my website.  Now I use this program to combine 5 or 6 of them into one file.  A big time saver if you upload multiple files in a single post.  You can see examples of this all over my website (Available Space).

Live Maps – Some of my clients are directionally challenged.  Sometimes I use this (I love the new bird’s eye view) to show them where we’re meeting, or as a map on my marketing material.  I just snag a copy from the PicPick.com tool above.

Shrink2One.com – takes a long list of the sites in a post and converts them to a single link.  To review all the website I have posted here, just click here to see it in action.

That’s it, that’s all.  Hope this helps you out!  I have a distinct lack of comments on my site (and linkbacks ) so if you can help a guy out, that’d be much appreciated!  The snow just started here in Toronto, so it’s time to buckle down and get some serious hibernation blogging in!

Please note I’m an employee at Colliers International, one of the best and largest commercial real estate brokerages in the world (my opinion).  So if you have space outside of Toronto, I can certainly refer your requirement to other agents across the world… and of course I will teach your local expert all the secrets included herein to help you find, lease or sublease your office space.

Best in life and good luck!

P.S.  This one is for fun… and I’m trying to take it viral!

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