This Thanksgiving we’d would like to encourage you to make your greeting personal.

We suggested use of stock photos for Thanksgiving greetings in the past. But as we did with this year’s Halloween greeting idea, this thanksgiving we’d like to encourage you to choose a few photos of the things you are thankful for and use them in a short greeting to your friends, family and clients. This is a perfect use for a 30 second Show.

Here is an example:

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Of course, you could always opt to take some photos of your family gathering, or a local Thanskgiving Day event, and send your Real Estate Show greeting out the day after Thanksgiving. Just remember to make it personal.

It’s all about relationships.

Today Beth Morrison and Pam Myatt with Old Colony held a brokers open house. They had a nice cookout and a lot of agents stopped in to see the house. This is a good way to get marketing suggestions if you’re having trouble selling a home, and it’s a quick, effective way to get feedback from other professionals.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a lot of busy agents see the good points in a home. Feed a bunch of real estate agents, help them have a good time in a home and guess what — they’re going to remember it when they talk to clients. It’s not magic, but I bet it does help sell a house.

While I was there, looking at the pretty house and scarfing down a burger, I realized that the best way to make sure people would want to come to the next brokers open house was to show them what a good time they missed at this one.

So of course, I thought of making a Real Estate Show. Why? Because it takes no time at all to create!

The next time Pam and Beth are planning a brokers open house, they can email an invitation along with the Real Estate Show from this one. People will want to join in the party. If you’re a real estate agent, chances are that you have your camera nearby all the time.

Don’t miss these opportunities!

On August 21 23, we will be launching the ability for you to instantly create a flyer from the photos and information already contained in your Real Estate Shows.

Like everything else at RealEstateShows.com, this will be universal and unlimited as part of your yearly subscription and will be backwards compatible with all existing Real Estate Shows. The flyers can act as individual listing web pages and will be distributed to the leading online search portals, like Google Base, Trulia, Edgeio, Vast, and Oodle. In addition, you will be given the code to post the flyers to eBay, Craigslist, or anywhere else you choose – even spice up your posts on ActiveRain. And the Show itself will be embedded in each flyer automatically.

Creating your flyer will be simple and fast.
Select a design, choose the amenities, preview and publish.

Each flyer will also be able to be exported to PDF.
And just like your Shows, you can use your flyers in any way you choose.

Coming August 21 23, 2007

We’re chomping at the bit to get this out the door and into your hands. We will be doing a short, very limited private beta that will require active listings. If you are interested in beta testing this feature with us, please email us and indicate your interest.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to display all of your Neighborhood Shows in the sidebar of your blog or website? Or all of your active listings via a widget of your choosing?

Or maybe you live on the Internet edge. Wouldn’t it be nice to automatically post each new public Real Estate Show you create to Jaiku, Tumblr, Twitter or any other platform that automatically creates posts based on RSS feeds? Wouldn’t it be nice to let everyone in your Facebook network know about new Real Estate Shows instantly using Facebook Notes?

Coming Soon August 23!

Too often the focus of technology is on more being better. Often, more is just more. It’s not better. There are many times when less is more. Here’s a tip for creating a little “drama” and a more emotionally positive first impression in your Real Estate Shows.

Instead of a photo, use a blank image and an clear, evocative title to highlight a feature or add power to a specific thought.

Providing this visual “space’ can focus the viewer on an important message and/or reinforce the image that immediately follows it. It’s as important as white space in your web or print design. I like using black images. The fade in and out of the black image looks great and a centered white title really stands out.

The 60 second example below is a small home. While there were more than enough photos to fill the entire main Show, not all of the photos were flattering. They would not create a great first impression.

First impressions matter. For more than 80% of the population, their first impression of a home may come online. So, we put all of the photos in the “more photos” section, but used only 7 of the photos, not 9, in the main Show. We used the front shot of the home twice, zooming in at the beginning and out at the end. We used a blank black image to highlight “Welcome To Your Next Home.” The Internet viewer can see all of the photos by clicking on the more photos link, but they will now be viewing them with a more emotionally positive first impression.

Here is a link to a blank black image you can download and use in your own Real Estate Shows.
[Click Here]

The next time you’re taking photographs of a new listing, step outside and take a few more pictures. You’re going to make yourself the neighborhood expert!

You’ll want a picture of the neighborhood entrance, of course. Then go through and take some general street scenes, give a real feel for the place. Make sure to include a picture of your listing! ;o)

Now, you want to make sure to send this Show out to your Sphere of Influence in your next newsletter or mailing. Expect people to want links to mail it out and show friends if you’ve made their neighborhood look good! And if it wasn’t their neighborhood … well, maybe they’d like a Show next? (Offer!!)

When you’re doing an Open House, have some CDs of your Neighborhood Show to pass out to any neighbors that stop in — don’t the neighbors always stop in? Make them feel special rather than nosy. You were expecting them and glad to see them, even though they probably won’t buy this house. Eventually they’re going to need a real estate agent, one who really knows and likes their neighborhood. (That would be YOU.) Having this little gift for them sets them at ease and gives you a reason to call them later, “Hi, how did you like the Show?”

With just a few extra minutes taking pictures each time you list a house, you’ll build a pretty nice library of neighborhoods, won’t you? Be sure to update your Shows each time you gain a new listing in one of your neighborhoods! I hope you have to do that many, many times.

Good luck, and let me know how it works out!

This is one beautiful country we live in.

Some of you may know that I drive cross country with my family each year. Personally, I never get tired of the drive. I am mesmerized by the vistas, whether they be mountains or plains. This tribute is made of photos taken during our trip East to West Virginia.

While browsing through posts on Active Rain a couple days ago, I found this one by Becky Troutt of Reynolds Realty.

The pictures were so bright and fun, I couldn’t resist asking, “Do you have a Real Estate Show of this?” She didn’t, but she made one just so I could share it with you! (Thanks, Becky!) Becky’s post and Show are a great way for locals and newcomers to learn about a one-of-a-kind place to shop. Looks like a very fun place!

Now, let’s imaging taking this a step further. How many of these businesses might like their own Real Estate Show to send out to their customer base? (I’m guessing no one would turn down a free ad that makes them look so good!)

Becky could print up a little stack of CDs of this Show and then take a walk through the Village of the Arts. She could introduce herself to the shop owners, give them a business card and a CD and ask if they might like a similar Show of their own business. Think about this, she’s meeting new people, she’s getting her name out as a local real estate agent, and she’s trying to HELP a small business owner to connect with more people. This is ALL GOOD.

She’ll take a few more pictures, link the show to the business’ website and then send her links out to the business owners. Each time they share their Show, they will also be advertising for Becky. They’ll also likely be very pleased with Becky for doing them a favor, and will keep her in mind when they have family and friends in need of an agent.

With one simple walk, a few pictures and a little computer time, Becky can reach HUNDREDS of people.

Can you think of a local walk that could help your business as much as Becky’s? Bet you can! Grab your camera, it’s time to meet some people!

I have a listing presentation coming up next week.

Many times my partner and I don’t have competition. This time we do.

Time to bring out the heavy artillery — I need my Real Estate Shows!

I’ll drive by the house ahead of time and take several pictures of the house and even the neighborhood. Since they are only going to be exterior photos, I’ll have to be a little creative. I can hope for a porch swing or pretty flowers, or maybe a freshly painted front door to focus on. I’ll do my best to get flattering angles of their home.

Then I’ll whip up a Show at RealEstateShows.com. I’ll make a CD with a nice cover (again, with a picture of their home) to give it to them at the presentation.

Next I’ll make up a possible flier and mock up an advertisement. I’ll leave out details I don’t know, but this will make a nice example for my possible clients to look over after I’ve gone.

It makes a strong impression for people to actually SEE their home already associated with your name, as it will be in that Real Estate Show CD. They’re going to see that I can use online advertising to good effect. We’ll talk about how many buyers are using the internet to shop for their next home, and we’ll see how their Show will be incorporated into my website and blog entries about their house. They’ll love imagining how much better their Show will be when I show off the inside, too!

It’s going to look like I’ve put a lot of effort and expense into all this, but I’m not about to tell my future clients how easy it all was! I’ll just let them be wowed right from the beginning, and I’ll be glad again that I found RealEstateShows.com!

It’s time to start planning your Memorial Day messages.

RealEstateShows.com makes it easy to create a memorable Memorial day greeting, one that’s personalized with your message. Use your own photos from Memorial Days past or download stock photos to create a Show you can use as a Memorial Day Greeting card! Here’s a demo.

If you’d like to use the same photos we used in this demo show, click here. This will download the folder of images in a zip file. Or, if you’d like to create something more unique, there are also over 2900 photos in this Flickr Creative Commons search on Memorial Day. To use these photos in a Show, simply give attribution to the photographer in the description field for your Show.

Here’s another idea: Take photos of the American flags waving from the homes in your community and send out an email or include the Show in a blog post about the community activities that took place. An example of how to celebrate your community spirit.