Fresh from a trip to New York to attend the RIS Media Leadership Conference last month, I was disappointed to see how little cohesiveness there seemed to be among industry leaders. Technology really seems to be throwing a curve ball into everyone’s marketing strategies. “Who Moved My Cheese” is a book that was published, what, 8 years ago? Is the industry really that far behind in accepting the inevitable? Let me share a quick story to illustrate what I mean.

The topic of one of the panel discussions I attended was how brokers can help their new agents become successful more quickly. On the panel were two new, very successful Realtors who had been in the business less than a year, along with a seasoned agent/broker who is now training new Realtors. The new Realtors both talked about how new technologies and being plugged-in to the internet through social networks, blogging, virtual tours, etc contributed to their success. They were encouraging brokers and agents to embrace the new frontier (so to speak) and gave wonderful examples of how they had been successful throughout the year.

The seasoned agent then got up and told them he didn’t mean to sound condescending, but he trains agents “the old fashioned way” because what really works is hitting the pavement and working hard. He proceeded to attack everything the newer agents stood for. Yet one of the newer agents had a phenomenal 41 transactions so far this year! That is working hard…just in a different way! I applaud the younger agents who were innovative, involved and responding to how the younger generation operates by providing them with the technologies and services they expect.

I am no spring chicken and definitely not an authority, but I have recognized the need for change in the real estate industry and have wondered why many brokers and agents are having such a hard time adjusting. I have children who are 26, 21 and 19, so my cheese has been moved many times…you just have to choose to find it!

Posted by: Sheila on October 12th, 2007 | Filed under: Conferences, Real Estate, General | No Comments »

Ok, so here we go again. For anyone reading this blog you will notice that there has been a fairly substantial gap between this post and the last…5 months to be exact. No, we have not given up. But boy, did we ever underestimate how much of a commitment is required to be good bloggers! Nevertheless, we have been busy, and while on our blogging hiatus, we have learned some things about how to host a blog which we would like to share with you.

First, we needed to understand why we wanted a blog in the first place and to define a core message. We are a company that has stayed on the cutting edge of Internet technology and saw blogging as a trend that wasn’t going away anytime soon. We wanted to embrace that trend and join the discussion.

Next we had to determine who was going to write it. after a little thought, we decided that EVERYONE should. We discovered that internal time management is huge when delegating who is going to write posts. It became clear that it can’t fall to one or two people, otherwise you will start to see five month gaps like we did. Now this seems obvious, but of course hindsight is always 20/20.

Perhaps one of the biggest things we needed to grasp is that blogging is about engaging in conversation, not just stating facts. In order for this to be a true blog for our customers and those in the real estate industry, we need to write content that is filled with thoughtful writing and opinions.

All in all, we decided that this is our blog, but we want this to be about you. This is about the brokers & agents on the front line and in the trenches of an industry quickly seeing technology changing the way they do business. So, in the future we will do our best to bring you thought provoking posts directly related to the conversations and concerns that we hear each week while we’re out talking to those in the real estate industry. Take a minute to post a comment here to tell the world what you think, or what your experience has been. Hopefully, we will all learn a better way to service our clients and bring value to our industry.

Posted by: Chris Moll, Account Executive on October 4th, 2007 | Filed under: General | No Comments »

Just Snooping.com has been a constant innovator in virtual tour technology since the company’s inception over six years ago. Now we’re raising the bar again.

Today we are pleased to announce the release of our latest product, the High-Def Home Show. We think it is, quite simply, the best virtual tour presentation available. Take a look at the sample on our website and see if you don’t agree. We are thrilled to be the first to bring this exciting technology to the Real Estate industry.

As excited as we are about the launch of this new product, it’s your thoughts we value most. We use your feedback to improve our products and, in fact, many of the improvements that we have made over the years are the direct result of input from our customers. We want to hear from you. Let us know what you think!

Posted by: Sheila on March 30th, 2007 | Filed under: Virtual Tours | 2 Comments »

Like most companies these days, we track various measurements of our website (often referred to as “web analytics” or “metrics”) in order to gauge whether what we’re doing on our site is effective. People ask all the time “how many ‘hits’ do you get day?” (or month, year, etc.). That’s understandable since, from the early days of the web, hits were one of the easiest statistics to track. But what is a “hit” exactly? And are they even important?

All too often, the website measure of “hit” is given too much importance. With today’s analytics software, it’s easy to track a wide variety of data that provide insight on a website’s effectiveness, including more relevant measure of a how many Page Views or Unique Visitors it receives. Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences in these terms:

HIT:
Sometimes called a page hit. A hit is recorded any time any item, such as a web page, a graphic, or any other supporting file is requested from a from a site’s web server. For example, if a visitor to your site calls up a web page with some text and four graphics, five hits are recorded: one for the page (HTML file) and one for each of the four graphics. Since web pages today often contain many graphics and have numerous supporting files, the number of “hits” a site gets is not a good indication of it’s popularity, and certainly not of its usefulness.

PAGE VIEW:
Every time a web page is viewed, one page view is recorded. For example, If someone visits your home page, a home listing page, and a detail page for a listing, three page views would be recorded. Page views are often used in online advertising, where advertisers use the number of page views a site receives to determine where and how to advertise. Essentially, the number of page views you get tells you how many eyeballs are seeing your site. Generally, the higher this number, the more people like what you have to say or sell.

UNIQUE VISITOR:
Different from a site’s hits or page views—which are measured by the number of files that are requested from a site—unique visitors are measured according to their unique IP address on the computer they’re using to browse the Internet. IP addresses are are like online fingerprints that identify a specific computer (but not a specific person…remember that often multiple people will use the same computer!). Once a new IP address is recorded, that visitor is labled as 1 unique visitor, no matter how many pages they go to on the site during their visit that day. For this reason, tracking unique visitors is one of the best ways to measure the popularity of your site.

So why are hits often cited by people trying to tell you how great their website is? Easy! They’re usually a really high number that sounds quite impressive. And since many consumers don’t understand the difference between a hit or a unique visit, crafty salespeople will quote the highest number they can find. So don’t be mislead when companies talk about “hits”. Always ask for the number of unique visitors and page views (and start tracking them on your own site). These are the true determining factors of a popular website. Hits are the snake oil of the Internet!

Posted by: Kurt on March 29th, 2007 | Filed under: General | No Comments »

“Today’s consumer doesn’t care about you. All they care about is what’s in it for me. In fact, research on Web visitor behavior consistently shows that if you put your picture on your Web site up to 50% of your visitors will leave your site. The younger the person is, the more likely he or she is to surf away if they see your face. You can use your picture…just put it on the about us page.” This was posted in a March 12th article by Bernice Ross with Inman News.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you want a choice to not have a place for your photo on your Web site? Have you had experiences where it has made a difference one way or the other?

Posted by: Sheila on March 19th, 2007 | Filed under: Real Estate, General | 4 Comments »

WELCOME to Just Blogg’n by Just Snooping.com!

Are you aware that “Blogging” is considered one of the “Top Ten Trends in 2007″ by RIS Media magazine?
Just Snooping.com has always been committed to staying on the cutting edge of Technology and has a keen sense of bringing the new trends out when the timing is right.

So, if you aren’t blogging now……….you should be……..it’s simple……..ask us how.

This blog is intended to be an open forum to express the importance of Real Estate Marketing Tools as well as the changes facing the Real Estate Industry through embracing the Internet. We may also blend other business-related topics and bring them into focus. We encourage you to leave comments and share your opinions creating an atmosphere for discussion, change and growth. Please return often to get real, honest comments from other Real Estate Professionals.

Think beyond the traditional communication process. We look forward to your participation!

Posted by: Sheila on March 5th, 2007 | Filed under: General | 3 Comments »

That’s right, the latest version of our popular photo stitching software has been released! InStitches allows you to easily create panoramic photos that can be used in our virtual tours.

Since its release in 2005, InStitches has grown in popularity and is now used by over 50,000 people. While offering a simple interface along with exceptional control over adjustments, InStitches is fast becoming the favorite among users of all photography skill levels. Whether you’re taking your first panoramic picture or are a seasoned professional, InStitches makes creating panoramic photos quick and easy. With our latest release, we’ve focused on adding many of the features that our users have asked for.

Features include:

• All new visual look with large icons. NEW!
• Streamlined photo stitching process. NEW!
• New interface that makes photos easier to browse and add for stitching. NEW!
• Preview feature that lets you see what your panoramic photo will look like before uploading it to a virtual tour. NEW!
• Better automatic adjustments of your stitched photos, which leads to better results. (Don’t worry, you can still tweak the stitched photos manually if you want.) NEW!
• Simple 2 step process for creating new panoramas.
• Automatic detection of focal length.
• Detection of camera rotation and tilt.
• Easy rotation of imported images.
• Powerful “auto stitch” feature.
• Manual photo alignment.
• Ability to adjust brightness and contrast on a per picture basis.
• Ability to adjust brightness and contrast on a stitched panorama.
• Free lifetime updates!

How To Get InStiches 2.0

If you already own InStitches, you will be automatically upgraded the next time you start the program while connected to the Internet.

If you don’t have InStitches yet, contact us and we’ll get you set up. At the unbeatable price of $89.95, with free lifetime upgrades, InStitches will become the stitching product you use everyday. It’s also the only photo stitching product that includes lifetime upgrades. You can also receive free copies of InStitches if you sign up for agent or broker Virtual Tour accounts.

Contact us today for more information on InStitches.

Posted by: Sheila on February 5th, 2007 | Filed under: InStitches | No Comments »