Virtual Views - The View From Here : August 2009

The newest marketing tool is video and a great time management tool for distributing your video is TubeMogul.com.  TubeMogul is a service similar Ping.fm, only for video.
 
Just upload your video(s) to TubeMogul and it will be syndicated to all of the most popular video sharing sites.  Currently, that is about 25 sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
 
TubeMogul.com offers some great statistical reports for your viral video marketing.  You can set up your account so that the statistical charts and reports are sent to your inbox.
 
TubeMogul is the same service that the "big guns" such as NASA, PBS and even the Obama campaign use so you know that the service can deliver all that it promises.
 
TubeMogul is a free service, but also offers some upgraded plans.  For the real estate professional, the free service should meet your needs.

Pamela Cendejas, Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!

    
 

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A new tool for learning about what is happening in your industry is Google Insights Search.

is not another search engine upgrade.  It is a tool for learning about what people are searching for.  Google Insights gives you a lot of versatility for your research.  You can check out any search term by region and/or category, you can even specify a time frame.  Doing research is really as simple as 1 - 2 - 3 - GO! and results are almost instantaneous.

Here are the results for the volume of activity for the search term "Arizona real estate 2004 - 2010".

Interest over time - volume

Note: There is even a forecast of what Google expects to happen in the future for the top searches - most popular searches.

Rising Searches - what searches are increasing

Embed Feature - allows you to embed results on your website

Here is the volume report for the search term "virtual assistant in the US":

Check out Google Insights to see what is happening in real estate in your area.

Google has provided other examples of Google Insights Search: examples.

Pamela Cendejas - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!

    
 

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Google Wave may change the way you communicate on the web.  Google Wave combines email and instant messaging into one application, but that is only a small part of what a Google Wave can do.

I am not going to try to reinvent the wheel in this blog by trying to give you all the highlights of Google Wave.  However, I will give you a few reasons why you may want to learn more about Google Wave and sign up for alerts.

Innovative Google Wave:

• Works in real time: you can interact with your recipient instantly while writing your email.
• Ongoing conversations: no need to email back and forth.  The wave allows you to have an ongoing conversation.
• File sharing is easy: just click the document or file, drag it to your Wave and drop it in.
• Real time spell check: which will automatically correct misspelled words.  More than that, Google recognizes when common words have been misused, such as to and too.
• Rewind: there is a feature that will let you "rewind" or "playback" any part of a wave.

Google Wave as defined by Google:

• A wave is equal parts conversation and document.

People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more.

• A wave is shared.

Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process.  Then, playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

• A wave is live.

With live transmission, as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

At present, Google Wave is still in development.  But, on September 30th, Google will begin to send out invitations to be part of the wave experience.

View Google Wave Screen Shots

View the Google Wave Video Presentation

Sign Up For Google Wave

Google Wave: A Complete Guide - Mashable The Social Media Guide

Pamela Cendejas - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!

If you're curious to find out more about Google Wave, please click on the video below.  Be aware, though, that the video is 1 hour and 20 minutes long.  If video doesn't play, please click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ.

    
 

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I thought I had heard it all until I read that now you can schedule appointments online.  After the initial shock, I thought "What a cool idea!"  So, I began looking for a scheduling service that would be easy-to-use and easy-on-the-budget for the busy real estate professional.

Scheuling appointment online means:

• Never lose another prospect because they couldn't get a hold of you.
• No more phone tag or waiting for an email response.
• Your prospects set up an appointment on your website.
• You prospects can schedule an appointment with you anytime, day or night, with the click of a button.

The latest research data shows that 87% of all buyers begin their search for a home online.  Now, your prospects can enter the address of the properties they have found on the web and would like to preview along with the time and day they want to see them.

Your prospects will love the convenience of clicking a "Book Now" button to make an appointment.  Not only is it easy, but it is available any time night or day.  Prospects will be impressed with the convenience of the service that you are offering them.  Happy prospects make happy customers for life.

I found two services that offer both a basic plan which is free and paid programs with enhanced features.

• BookFresh - I love this service and use it myself (as you can see from the icon in my blog nav bar to the right).  When someone fills out the BookFresh form, it sends me an email with all the details of who is requesting an appointment, the time the appointment has been requested and all contact information so I can easily get a hold of the potential customer.  I have only been using this service for a brief time, but have already had several people use it to book appointments with me.  It's great!
• GenBook - GenBook is another online scheduling tool that works in a similar manner to BookFresh.   Please visit their website to learn more about what they have to offer and if this is the service for you.

As a virtual assistant for busy real estate professionals such as yourselves, I know the value of being organized and staying on top of any leads.  These are a couple of great ways to do that.  Try them out and let me know what you think!

Pamela Cendejas - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn't Enough of You to Go Around!

    
 

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