Yesterday, I attended a meeting with one of the reps from realestate.com.au & talked about their new site update which has taken place today.
The new site looks very impressive.
One of the major things I got out of the presentation was how the ‘Local Voices’ section will be adapted into the site and ways that I could possibly use it to help promote me as a local area expert more effectively.
The ‘Local Voices’ site is something launched by realestate.com.au to allow anyone registered to write and respond to reviews on streets and suburbs, which is then shown on the search pages of realestate.com.au.
They have also set the site up to be somewhat like a social networking site. It seems to me that this application which will be nested in the realestate.com.au search pages will quickly become popular with new buyers and potential sellers alike.
Once in the site when analysing suburbs the site displays the ‘top local experts’. This, from what I can see and was told is based on the amount of reviews and responses to a local suburb. My aim (and at this stage I have only registered my profile and explored the site) is to become the local expert within my target areas. I plan to do the following;
- Create a professional profile on the site with contact details.
- Create a professional suburb profile (some of you may already have these) and load it to the system.
- Create an rss feed for my local suburb and respond to any reviews by others in a constructive way.
- Add any person that appears to live within the suburb as a ‘friend’.
With time (and at this stage as its new it doesn’t appear it will be too difficult) I should become the top local expert for my target suburbs. This will hopefully generate leads as local sellers start to investigate their suburb prices and local agents, and are naturally attracted to what others have said about their suburb.
I’d love to hear if anyone has already started using ‘local voices’ and the way in which they are doing so.
April 13, 2010
Great article Chris.
I think this will be an excellent advantage to those agents that know how to use it properly.
April 13, 2010
I attended the REA breakfast in Melbourne this morning about the new changes and was impressed by this area specifically. Great article and all agents should jump on the band wagon…
April 13, 2010
I agree Braden & Rob. Great article Chris.
Whilst some agents have expressed concern about negative comments appearing within the Local Voices section of REA, I see that there is potential for more positive to come out of Local Voices than negative and agents definitely have a great opportunity to appear as the local expert by contributing to the reviews.
One word of warning though. Writing the same positive comment about every street in your area will have the reverse effect & could show that an agent is lazy & doesn’t care about the neighbourhood.
Authenticity is the key. When writing reviews, try to be more specific about how close the street is to facilities,parks,schools,etc & maybe how you felt after doorknocking through the neighbourhood (friendly, quiet, etc) or something that caught your eye while driving down that street (kids playing, etc).
April 14, 2010
Just on a side note, if anyone does sign up to local voices make sure you add me as a friend http://localvoices.realestate.com.au/user/chrisshepherd .
Great tips Greg! I definitely feel that this will be something that requires some attention to detail. Generic comments or even mass posting for the sake of posting (see one of the comments on North Curl Curl) for example will only result in a lack of credibility.
June 4, 2010
I recently tweeted and stumbled upon your post. Really your post is very informative and I enjoyed your opinions. Do you use twitter or stumbleupon? So I can follow you there. I am hoping you post again soon.
June 5, 2010
Hi Austin,
Glad you liked it I do tweet, you can follow me on @chrisashepherd however having said that it’s just as easy to follow this blog by e-mail http://www.genyre.com/subscribe-by-email/
Have a great day.
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