Spring is officially here. Depending on where you are it may or may not seem like it yet, but it is time to talk about one of the more maintenance-oriented traditions of this time of year, Spring Cleaning… for your online marketing efforts. Many REALTORS® spend a moment every once in a while to take stock of their various offline marketing materials to make sure nothing needs to be updated. The same concept applies to online materials, but most agents don’t keep track of them nearly as well. Wouldn’t you be frustrated to learn that you were missing out on leads because some piece of contact information like your email address is listed incorrectly online? Seems basic, right? Basic is, of course, another word for “very important.” Spring cleaning may not be the most exhilarating thing you do in the spring, but it is worth it to have a fresh start for the rest of the year.

Steps for Spring Cleaning Your Online Presence
Step 1: Identify the contact information for your business you would like to have appear online… More

New iHOUSE Price Me Now! Game is now Live
iHOUSE Web Solutions has released a new Online game for Real Estate Agents in Arizona, North Carolina and Illinois. The game lets you see real homes on the market and guess their price. The iHOUSE Price Me Now Game is both a good way to polish your appraisal skills and learn your local market, all at no cost. Prizes are available to the 2 top scorers each month. Play the iHOUSE Price Me Now game!

IDXPro® 3.0 Update Coming Soon!
Good News is coming for our IDXPro customers. A major version update of IDXPro will soon be released that adds some great new features to the IDX back end. This update will be complimentary to our current IDXPro customers as part of our continuing commitment to improving our products. As a Blueprint Subscriber you can get half of your IDXPro start up fees waived if you sign up before the end of the month. Learn more about IDXPro.

New White Paper – Real Estate Marketing Spend Survey
We have done some more analysis of the 2008 Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey and packaged it as a white paper available at our website. Download the White Paper “Real Estate Marketing Spend Survey.”

Congratulations Website Winners!
Have you visited us at recent conventions? Jeff Kimble of RE/MAX® Peninsula in Newport News, VA won a free iHOUSE® website at the recent RE/MAX International Convention in Las Vegas. We also attended the Realty Executives International Convention in San Diego where Victoria Helvey of Madison Wisconsin won a Spotlight® Single Property website.

This month’s Customer Close-Up features Lori Lange and her website www.soldonkc.com.

Lori Lange is an Associate Broker for the Lange-Yartz Home Team at Prudential Kansas City Realty along with her business partner and long time friend Lee Ann Yartz. Their team tag line is “We’re Sold on KC!” and it is clear from how she describes the Kansas City Metro Area and her own town of Overland Park why they feel that way. “Kansas City is a very family oriented community, with great public schools and lots of recreational opportunities. Overland Park is definitely growing in both population and business and Johnson County is probably the most affluent county in our Metro Area. If you look at Money Magazine, Overland Park and Olathe, which is a neighboring community are always in the…” More

Did you know that you can set a vacation message for your iHOUSE email? Inform people when you are going to be unplugged for awhile automatically. Learn More about Vacation Messages.

Last month’s survey question was “When business is slower, do you increase the time or the money you spend on lead generation?” 31% of respondents said they increased the time they spend on Marketing, 15% said they increase the money the spend and 52% said they increase both.

This month’s survey question is “How many websites, not counting Mirror websites and redirects, do you currently have?”

Take the March Blueprint Poll Now!