HomeGain has released the results of their survey regarding the marketing preferences and plans for real estate professionals, the complete results of which are listed below.

The leading effective marketing strategy, referrals, is also the one in which most are devoting their time and plans for 2010. While social media is becoming more popular and used, traditional mailers and email campaigns are holding more weight.

The results are based on two surveys, conducted in December 2009 and February 2010, with responses from about 1,300 real estate agents and brokers. Respondents also indicated that they will be less likely to invest their marketing dollars and time on Twitter (3.4), outdoor advertising (2.7), banner ads (2.5), pay-per-click advertising (2.5) and MySpace (2.5).

Top 10 Effective Marketing Strategies for Realtors
(Cumulative Average Scores, 1 = Least Effective / 10 = Most Effective)

• Referrals (8.7)
• Featured Listings (4.8)
• Email Campaigns (4.7)
• Postcards/Mailers (4.6)
• Blogging (4.1)
• Online Lead Generation Services (4.0)
• Facebook (4.0) * LinkedIn (3.6)
• Outdoor Ads (3.6)
• Print Ads (3.6)

Top 10 Marketing Objectives for Realtors in 2010
(Cumulative Average Scores, 1 = Least Likely to Use / 10 = Most Likely to Use)

• Referrals (8.9)
• Email Campaigns (5.7)
• Postcards/Mailers (5.4)
• Featured Listings (5.2)
• Facebook (4.9)
• Print Ads (4.3)
• Blogging (4.2)
• LinkedIn (4.1)
• Online Lead Generation Services (4.0)
• YouTube (3.5)

Read more on the HomeGain Blog and Inman News.

Posted in Internet Marketing, Traditional Marketing, Blogging, Real Estate Industry, Real Estate Industry Trends, Lead Generation, Web 2.0 Marketing, National News

If you have a great blog in place, it's no good if you're not promoting it.

In this post on Online Marketing Blog, gain five sure-fire ways to promote your blog, including:

• Involve influential industry bloggers
• Promotion with social media
• Promotion using your corporate site

Read more at TopRankBlog.com.

Posted in Internet Marketing, Blogging

Stream/download the MP3 of an interview with Stephane Grenier, the author of Blog Blazers. Among Grenier's tips:

• Headlines are important
• Value your community, offer something of value, give them a reason to come back to the site
• Blogs create authority, and reputation. So they find you
• His take on Twitter and Social Media

Get the MP3 interview at Houseblogger.com.

Posted in Internet Marketing, Blogging, Real Estate Industry Trends, Technology And YOU, Web 2.0 Marketing

We all have the best of intentions when it comes to developing a blog, but sometimes finding the time to actually write it, the time seems to disappear.

Travis Broadwater on YPN Lounge makes his apologies and then gives some tips for ideas on where the time may be, and also asks fellow bloggers to chime in with their ideas as a comment.

Read and contribute to the discussion at YPN Lounge.

Posted in Blogging

Kris Berg, a San Diego-based Prudential real estate broker and blogger, shares insight into how blogging has worked for her in this video interview by Inman News.

Posted in Blogging, Web 2.0 Marketing