The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has elected Mitch Levinson, MBA, Broker, MIRM and CSP, as the second vice chairman of the Institute of Residential Marketing’s (IRM) Board of Trustees. Elected to the Board by his peers, he will provide leadership and guidance on the development, enhancement and promotion of IRM products and services.
“I feel privileged to serve as the second vice chairman of the Institute of Residential Marketing and look forward to help continue the great tradition of providing excellence in education for our valued members,” stated Levinson.
Mitch Levinson is the managing partner of Marketing RELEVANCE, a marketing, communication and interactive agency focused on meeting builder and developer needs in a changing marketplace. A multi-million dollar sales producer who earned an MBA in Computer Information Systems and eCommerce, Levinson brings a unique perspective and experience to the field of real estate communications. He combines the two interests in order to help home builders and developers gain a competitive advantage through the Internet and technology. Levinson is also an active broker in Illinois and Georgia and a member of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago, Northern Illinois Home Builders Read More→
Carol Flammer, MIRM, was elected as a Region B Trustee by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Professional Women in Building (PWB) at the International Builders’ Show last month in Orlando, Fla.
“Professional Women in Building represents a wide cross section of the industry. Not only are we diverse because we are women, but we have diverse careers,” stated Flammer. “I look forward to working with this dynamic leadership team as we encourage career development within the industry and promote active involvement in the political and legislative process.”
Flammer is the managing partner of Marketing RELEVANCE, a marketing, communication and interactive agency with offices in Atlanta and Chicago. The agency is focused on meeting builder and developer needs in a changing marketplace. Read More→
In an ever changing social media for business world, nothing stays constant for very long. Facebook is notorious for making changes to their website design on a regular basis with or without their users support. Facebook announced this morning that all Pages will be switched over to the new Timeline layout on March 30.
Timeline for Pages looks very similar to Timeline for user profiles with the layout including a cover photo at the top and a timeline of your pages’ history since its creation. Page admins are able to highlight, hide or delete stories from the pages’ timeline as they wish. Admins are also able to take advantage of a revamped admin panel that shows the latest notifications, newest page likes and the insights graph. Other features of the new admin panel include the new manage section in which admins can edit the page, use the activity log or see banned users; a build audience section in which admins can invite email contacts or friends and share the page with others; and a help section to answer all of your questions.
With the Timeline feature for Pages now available, page administrators should start thinking of how they can take advantage of all of the new layout’s features to Read More→
Image Source: Google Mobile
It’s getting much easier to find things you enjoy in life. For music, there’s Shazam and similar apps to nearly instantly tell you song and artist from just a snippet of music. But what about when you see something that perks your interest, that you can’t put into words? Like a work of art or maybe you’re exploring a city on vacation are curious what a landmark is called.
For that, Google has done it again. This time, Google has created an app for both iDevices and Android machines called Google Goggles. For iDevices, the Goggles app is a module of the greater Google app. There is no separate downloading required. The Goggles app is like adding the intelligence of Google to your device’s camera. All you have to do is turn on the app, take a picture and then the magic happens. The app takes a few seconds to scan the picture before providing you with results, often in the form of a web search, to put things that you see but can’t describe within reach. This works for landmarks, artwork, book covers, product labels and even wine bottles.
If you are using an Android device, Goggles gets even better with additional features. A picture of a business card or similar contact information can be integrated into your phone’s address book. There’s also a translation service Read More→
Have you noticed the new look of Twitter? According to Twitter Blog, the social media site’s design was revamped in order to allow users to easily follow what they care about, connect with others and discover something new. Five new tabs on Twitter instantly bring you closer to everything.
“Home” is where you view Tweets from people you follow. It features the latest news, commentary and information from the people and companies that you care about. Plus, you can access photos, videos and conversations all on the left side. Comments on status updates pile up directly beneath the original post. “Home” keeps everything organized and in one place.
The “Connect” section is where you reply and enter into conversations. You can see who has mentioned, followed or retweeted you.
The “Discover” tab allows you to, well, discover things that interest you. Based on your current location and what you follow, news and content come straight to you. Additionally, you can look for tweets on certain subjects by typing the topic into the search bar. “Discover” will help you learn more. Read More→
Have you ever wondered how social media, special incentives and coupons could help you sell more new homes? At the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show, Carol Flammer, MIRM, author of Social Media for Home Builders 2.0, will hold a presentation with all the best tips to help you successfully market new homes through a variety of ways to engage your customers.
Flammer, the managing partner of mRELEVANCE, will host an hour long interactive presentation beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, February 10. In the presentation, a part of Tech Friday, she will cover how to integrate coupons, contests, promotions and incentives into your social media program.
In a world where LivingSocial deals and Groupons flood our inboxes daily with some fantastic offers, who wouldn’t want to learn more about getting their products spotlighted? Learn how the power of the coupon can be harnessed to get customers talking about the deals on your own great products.
The presentation, like all the events at Sales Central, are free to the International Builders’ Show attendees. The talk will be held in room W311E in the Orange County Convention Center.
For more information about the International Builders’ Show, visit the National Association of Home Builders online.
mRELEVANCE managing partners offer their respective expertise in this ongoing, “He Said. She Said” column. Each post in this series focuses on answering a question about online marketing from two different perspectives.. Carol Flammer answers from the reader’s perspective, where it’s all about content. Mitch Levinson answers from the perspective of a search engine.
Q: Can you explain more about inbound links?
A: Mitch – Inbound links are links on other people’s websites that link back to you. They drive the search engines back to your site when they index the other sites. The more credible the site is that links to you, the more relevant you are in the search engine index. Try to build credibility and get links back to your site from outside credible sources. After all it is all about building RELEVANCE.
A: Carol – To build relevance, don’t only blog on your site, blog wherever you can. Comment and link where possible also. This helps to build brand and build recognition. Not to mention that it is a great way to syndicate your messages. When you repurpose and curate content to different sites, you will want to post a different version of the content to each site. Because duplicate content is bad for search engine optimization, it is important to keep this in mind.You’ll want to change 40 percent of the content by giving it a different lead or a different angle. Sometimes you can just put the words in a different order. Some writers are comfortable with creating varied versions of stories and others find it challenging. If you are taking time to create content, use it as many times as you can. Post it online via online public relations and blogs then link back to your sites with anchor text.
A: Mitch adds – No one knows the exact algorithm that search engines use, but it seems that they give more credibility to the site where the content is published the very first time. If you write a story or post, publish it on your blog first. Then rewrite 40-60 present of it, tease the article and link back to page where the article first appears so that it gets more power from search engine.
mRELEVANCE, LLC is pleased to announce the launch of Georgia Home Foreclosures, GAHomeForeclosures.com. The investor-owned residential foreclosure website is part blog and part foreclosure directory. Savvy home buyers have embraced this online resource for Georgia foreclosures.
“The new website provides homebuyers with a suite of tools to help them get the most for their money in these uncertain economic times. It also helps homebuyers find resources for loans, news about the housing market as it relates to foreclosures and featured articles on some of the best deals on foreclosures available today,” said Carol Flammer, managing partner of mRELEVANCE.
The GA Home Foreclosures site has information on the investor’s buyer incentive programs, from contributing to closing costs to a one-year warranty on any work done by their in-house construction team. Additionally, there is information about preferred lenders, a library of press releases, information about rental opportunities through WEGO Property Management, video home tours through YouTube and a portal to a full directory of online listings. All of this is tied together with social media functionality through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.
Georgia Home Foreclosures has been pleased with the development of the site, which has proved to be an effective tool for delivering relevant information to homebuyers. “We saw tremendous traffic the first month the site launched,” said Tara White, Sales Manager for Rialto Capital Management.
mRELEVANCE would love to create your new website design. Just give us a call!
New search option for Central Florida homebuyers
mRELEVANCE, LLC is pleased to announce the launch of the new Highland Homes mobile site, www.HighlandHomes.org. Created to accommodate an increasing number of users who access the website from mobile devices, the new site allows homebuyers and real estate agents to access information on the builder’s product on the go from smartphones and tablets.
“More and more, our buyers and agents are using their mobile devices to view Highland Homes’ information, and we are excited to be able to meet their needs by offering a user-friendly, mobile alternative to our main website,” said Kathie McDaniel, vice president of sales and marketing for Highland Homes. “Whether searching for Highland Homes’ information from home or onsite at one of our communities, smartphone and tablet users can find what they need quickly.”
The Highland Homes mobile site is a compact and comprehensive version of the Lakeland-based builder’s main website. It provides general information about Highland Homes’ communities, floor plan descriptions, pricing, contact information and virtual tours when available, and is integrated with the builder’s social media sites including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
There are several benefits to the mobile site including:
- Fast load time on mobile devices
- Easy to view and read due to large fonts and graphics built for mobile
- Finger-friendly – meaning information can be obtained with minimal clicks.
“With 10 to 15-percent of monthly site visitors on the Highland Homes website coming from mobile devices, it is the perfect time to create a site to accommodate those consumers,” said mRELEVANCE managing partner, Mitch Levinson. “In just a couple short months, the new Highland Homes mobile site has already shown an increase in total website traffic to the builder’s website by almost 15-percent. Based on the time viewing pages on the mobile site, these are new high quality buyers.”
Highland Homes has been Central Florida’s value leader for more than a decade. For a complete list of new home communities and more information, visit the Highland Homes website at www.HighlandHomes.org or call 863-619-7103.
Contact mRELEVANCE for a quote on your mobile site today.
