In the real estate business, what is the best model for attracting leads to listings? At the Inman Real Estate Connect in San Francisco today, Sami Inkinen, Co-Founder & CEO of Trulia, and Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain, dueled to answer that question.

With a central focus on the agent, Cammarosano spoke of the HomeGain model that has content designed to connect buyers to agents, as well as forms which capture leads. “I don’t think you’re going to hear anyone saying that they closed major sales or sold homes from anwsering questions on a website”, he said, taking a stab at one of the main features on the Trulia site.

In quick defense of Trulia Voices, Inkinen argued, “The mindset of the consumer is moving towards [research] behavior, as they are really doing their homework before making a decision on who to use for services”. He recounted a story that was told to him from an agent who uses Trulia Voices who has received “tons of business” from using the forum.

Both, however, seemed to agree that syndicating real estate listings is a highly effective method. In an open question to the hundreds of real estate professionals in attendance, Inkinen asked how many agents do not syndicate their listings. With only about 1/4 of the room raising their hands, there was a strong indication of how popular and successful this method is for real estate advertising.

Near the end of this intelligent debate, moderator, Brian Boero, Partner at 1000Watt Consulting, asked a thought-provoking question to the combatants when he mused, “How do we get these two models (buyer-centric and agent-centric) to work together?” Suggesting the name “TrueGain” for this merging of models, Boero seemed convinced that this all-encompassing approach could deliver the most powerful real estate marketing of all.

Photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

Many do not realize the power of RSS feeds and are not even aware that most blogs, websites and other online resources have feeds built right in.  Feeds give you the power to easily distribute and share your content on the web.  As you probably know, the more places on the web that your content is, the better.  Fresh content increases the number of visitors to your site and the frequency in which they visit, ultimately leading to more conversions.

When you sign up for a service, look for an option that allows you to add your RSS feed.  When you see this option, you should always take advantage of it.  For example, Facebook  and FriendFeed allow you to add a feed.  The feed content (from your blog, website, Twitter, etc.) is then added to your Facebook and FriendFeed network.  ClassifiedFlyerAds also allows you to add a feed to your profile, which is then picked up by search engines.  So where can you get your own feed?  Let’s start with Twitter.  Located at the bottom right of your Twitter profile is a feed that contains your Twitter stream.

You can place this feed in other online resources that accept feeds, making your Twitter stream content appear in those places too.

WordPress also has feeds built right in.  If you have a WordPress blog you will have a feed that contains your blog posts and your comments. Grab your WordPress blog feed and place that anywhere that accepts a feed.

Okay, so now you know how to get a feed.  Now let me give you some resources where you can share your feed.  I have personally submitted feeds to all of these and as of this date they are all active resources.  I will add and remove from this list as time goes on and I come across other resources. Get out there and spread your content out across the web!

Feed Specific Directories

http://www.feedage.com
http://www.millionrss.com
http://www.icerocket.com
http://www.feedest.com
http://www.rss-spider.com
http://www.feedlisting.com
http://www.feedgy.com
http://www.Feedraider.com
http://www.feedbees.com
http://www.feedagg.com
http://rssmountain.com
http://www.feedsee.com
http://feedfury.com
http://www.rssmicro.com
http://www.feedbase.net
http://outpost-earth.com
http://www.azfeeds.com
http://www.goldenfeed.com

Blog Specific Directories

http://technorati.com
http://www.blogged.com
http://blogville.us
http://www.bloglisting.net
http://www.bloglines.com
http://www.genwi.com

As the rental market becomes saturated with vacant homes and more renters turn to the internet to search for apartments and condos, RentShout launches its online rental marketing service as a cost-effective option for property managers. The service allows property managers to create full-page online advertisements for their rental listings, which are then syndicated across the web to leading rental sites and search directories such as TenantPlus.com, SimpleRent, GoogleBase, and Oodle.

View Full RentShout Press Release

Google has recently added new search options.  There is now a “Show options” link that appears above the Google search results.  Clicking this link opens up a left panel with additional options.  You can display video results, forum results and reviews.  You can even narrow it down by time.  This is something all web marketers should pay attention to when creating and optimizing their online material.  The ability to narrow down search by time (past 24 hours, past week, etc. ) is very powerful and something web masters should take note of.  Many searchers will want to see most recent content first, so it is even more important for websites and blogs to generate fresh and relevant content.  I was happy to see that we place #1 in a video search for one of our target search phrases.  This convinces me that creating videos is important in your online marketing efforts.  Check out Google’s video below explaining these new search options.

Searching for the perfect candidate is a difficult task when there are plenty of prospects on the market. The problem with multiple opportunities is in separating the wheat from the chafe. Today, because of the increase in the unemployment ranks, Job seekers apply for a variety of positions even if the skill set they currently have is off the mark from the description listed in an employment ad. The tight market has made job seekers think about future employment in a more open minded manner. The old confines and constraints that a position would normally hold in a fast paced employment market (i.e. travel, salary, benefits) have become secondary to job seekers. Job seekers who have been out of work for awhile or who have immediate financial constraints are willing to forgo their desires for the immediate need of employment today.

How does an employer sift through applications to find their “glass slippered” candidate? Here are the top three ways to find the employee that fits your employment ad.

1. Circulate

Get back to networking at its most fundamental level. Networking among peers for recommendations is still a top notch way to find qualified prospects for the employment ad you’re looking to fill. Don’t stop with immediate business associates who you come into physical contact with daily or even once in a while. Network online using business social networking sites. LinkedIn allows you to connect with employees, employers and contractors in a social atmosphere. Join groups that cater to your specialties and interests and you will soon be networking with like-minded business professionals. Use the keyword search tool to find contractors and job seekers in the network and peruse their business profiles and recommendations. Post questions to other business owners on how they found top candidates online and put their recommendations to use.

Extend your reach even further by purchasing a premium account so that you can reach out to recruiters and send direct “inmails” (emails) with the normal free account restraints.

2. Permeate

All of a company’s online advertising efforts need to filter through every branch of opportunity. Spread your roots and extend the reach of your employment ad by using simple syndication. The best syndication is the “set it and forget it”, low maintenance approach. Create a branded employment ad with a detailed description of your job specifications and requirements. Go for the gusto. You need to be succinct and to the point without cutting away too quickly from the details. Include your expectations and some of your wish list too. This will help to filter out the meat and potato prospects from the garnish on your application plate.

Choose a cost effective solution that will syndicate your employment ad and do the heavy lifting for you.  Job seekers aren’t just on Monster.com or HotJobs, they are reaching out across niches, job boards and social networks across the Web 2.0 space.  Online advertising companies who continuously ad new websites to their syndication list will provide you with the reach you need for your employment ad.

3. Infiltrate

Who you know is important.  Getting to know the connections of who you know is just as important.  Take some time to create a well with a link to your company and clear contact information.  Invite people you know to connect with you on Twitter and advertise your Twitter account on your website and employment opportunities page.  Seek out potential candidates by using a simple search function of twitter or a more advanced search application created for twitter.

Talk about your company- its perks, its searches, its qualities, its products, its likes, its and dislikes by microblogging online. By using a platform like Twitter to microblog and in 140 characters or less, you can build a branding history behind your company. Who you know will connect you with people whom you might like to know. Associate with these people and they can connect you with even more people.

Suddenly who you know becomes an expansive and endless opportunity for you to find candidates who are ready, willing and able for employers to find them online

A conversion is generally defined as an event that results in a transaction. A “transaction” will be defined differently based on your business model and what your end goal is (ie. information, sign up, subscription, payment, etc.). Regardless of how you define your conversions and transactions, it is important to track where they are coming from.

Maybe you blog on multiple blog platforms such as WordPress. Are you keeping track of leads you get from those platforms and in addition to how many of those leads are converting? Maybe you post videos to different video platforms or syndicate your listings to multiple directories. Maybe you use Twitter or Facebook or focus heavily on your own website. Are you tracking the leads and conversions you receive from all of these sources?

If not, you may be spending valuable time in places that are not giving you a return on your investment. Sure, maybe some of these resources are free but your time is not free; it is an investment. Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at which resources have the highest conversion.

At the bottom of this post is a spreadsheet that can help track your conversions. It includes two sheets; one for keeping track of your daily activity (DailyLog) and the other (MonthlyStats) calculates profit/loss based on your daily log. Feel free to download for your own use. Google spreadsheet is good to use because it allows you to update the spreadsheet on the fly, from the web wherever you are.

Populate this information and you will soon see “how much money” you are actually spending and which platforms have a good return on investment (ROI). If the ROI is negative month after month, you may want to consider dropping that tool and try something else or focusing more on the tools that have a better ROI. I suggest giving a resource at least three months as it is hard to truly evaluate a resource with only a couple weeks of data.