Apples, oranges, blackberries, and droids-doesn’t all of this sound like a futuristic fruit salad?  And as if that isn’t confusing enough-everyone is talking about Twitter, Facebook, blogging and SEO -which really sounds like cereal (note to self, don’t write when hungry…)

Are you curious, or possibly more likely, totally confused by what to do and how to use any of these tools in your business?  Wary of people peddling their wares, promising to make things work; catapult you to the top of search engines-for a (often hefty and absurd) price?

Bring your confusion to RE Bar Camp Rye!

What is a bar camp you ask? It is an unconference, an event driven by YOU the attendee, low cost (in this case FREE thanks to our wonderful sponsors and volunteers-full disclosure I am one of the latter). It’s a great way to wet your palette, jam packed with knowledge, from people just like you, other real estate professionals, from the trenches. Its not about sitting in a room having fruit thrown at you, please don’t throw fruit at us, but its about planting seeds, sharing knowledge ,starting and furthering relationships , taking the online offline, so that we may do what we do best even better, serve our clients ! Have something you want to discuss or present on that you are knowledgeable about-doesn’t have to be social media related-DO come and participate too, or if you’re a little shy-send us suggestions too.

Extra special bonus, we in the NYC are lucky to now be home to one of the co-founders of the Tech Savvy Agent blog, which recently was recognized as most innovative blog by Inman News. Chris Smith will be at REBC Rye!!!! Here is a prime opportunity to connect and engage directly, ask questions, learn what may work for you!  Become a tech savvy agent, so you can learn what could work or not for you, and become an informed consumer, learn what is worth investing your time (and money) into or not.

And, by the way, if you don’t believe in the power of  the fruit salad (if its for you, or that it works for anyone) WHEN (not if) you come to REBC Rye, be sure an introduce yourself to me and I will be glad to tell you some of the awesome things I’ve learned, people I have met, and yes, even business too!  At the end of the day, it’s not about social media, it’s about integrating tools to improve your business, that hasn’t changed-it’s just that now we have to “plug in” occasionally…

Don’t miss this event, register at www.rebarcamprye.com, connect and engage on http://facebook.com/rebcrye (and for those of you tweeting, the event hashtag is #rebcrye-if you don’t know what that is,come ,and find out !)

Follow me there !  The event is on Saturday September 11th from 8:30 to 4:30 in Rye, NY at the Hilton.

Nikki Beauchamp is on the planning committee for REBC Rye, an agent at Warburg Realty in NYC,, blogs on the Warburg Realty blog, and at YourNYCRealEstateResource.com …and of course on twitter and facebook!

I had the privilege of interviewing Grant Gould who is the co founder and VP of SpatialMatch.com recently and he sure is onto something here when it comes to redefining how we think about IDX.

SpatialMatch is built differently from any other IDX solution on the market because it takes a consumer centric approach around lifestyle not a house first mentality.  For years and even still now the primary search functions of the various website portals out there have focused on the home specifically.  If you need to find a 2 bed 2 bath in a certain city or zip code and in a certain price range you are not short on options.  However, what if schools, dining, amenities and proximity to public transit are the most important factors on your wish list as a buyer?  Where would you look?

There was not a solution out there, until SpatialMatch, that lets you start with lifestyle and end up on homes!  In our above interview Grant explains why he designed SpatialMatch.com that way and why it just makes sense.

I recently went through a move as did Steve and we both were more concerned initially with safety, schools and amenities than we were with what homes were on the market.  Bottom line is that SpatialMatch allows you to find the right homes for your lifestyle and by offering this to consumers browsing your site you will reach a more emotional connection with the buyer.  SpatialMatch also provides you all of the analytical data showing what parameters, or Decks as they call it, mattered most to that buyer allowing you to really have their emotional needs front and center when contacting leads.

Spatial Match and Grant were recently featured at Inman News Connect in San Francisco in Start Up Alley and have their software plugged into Inman’s Most Innovative Brokerage The Good Life Team’s website now!  Take a spin and see what you think.  You can also attend a live demo here or watch a recent demo.

I am SOLD that this is going to be the way consumers will find properties in the future having just gone through the process and adding SpatialMatch, or a comparable solution, to your website will not be optional!  If you have any questions for Grant feel free to leave those in the comments below.

We all know the importance of Search Engine Optimization and the positive impact it can have on your business (and by all I mean less than 20% of Realtors). Have you stopped to consider what your LCO or Lead Conversion Optimization strategy is or should be?

Darin Persinger of Productivity Junkies and a fellow presenter this week in Seattle at the Inman News Agent Reboot Tour has some great insight into this topic. Darin told me about a real estate client that was thrilled with his 20,000 visits per month, almost a quarter million a year, but if you are closing 100 deals with that volume of traffic your Lead Conversion rate is in reality only .0004% which actually kinda stinks.

Darin shared with us in the video above 3 simple things to think about within each page or post on your website or blog that will spike that number quickly and thus improve your LCO. As Darn put it, “Would you rather have an open house with lots of traffic that led to no new appointments or an open house with 3 visitors that all turned into legit prospects or deals?”. The sooner you take this approach with your website the sooner you will see more clicks becoming more closings!

Thanks to Darin and the Productivity Junkies family for sharing some knowledge over here at Tech Savvy Agent and if you are in the Seattle area and would like to see Darin and myself present be sure to attend Agent Reboot!

I admit it, I find myself being a Foursquare junkie at times.  Ok, all the time. Becoming a mayor is as addicting as chocolate to a pregnant woman.  Not to mention the badges that you can grab and how that will continue to feed my addiction.

Today I’m not getting into the ways to use Foursquare for business or why it is or is not a great place to increase your sphere of influence and grow a business.  Instead I just wanted to share a fun app I found that allows you to track your check-ins on a map.  I think this is a great way to help you promote to others places you feel are great places to visit.  Since I live in a resort area, I have people visiting all the time from out of town looking for a great place to go.  This map will be a great way to share quickly & easily the places I enjoy & frequent the most in my area.  That way they can check it out & see what I love to try out on their own.

In an area like Myrtle Beach, this can be really helpful for picking a restaurant.  Why you may ask?  Well, there are enough places to eat here that you could have 3 meals for a year and a half and never eat at the same restaurant twice. With all those choices, it is hard to know what is good and what may not be.  If someone sees I am a mayor of a local restaurant & have been there 5-10 times then they can easily recognize this must be a great place.  Check out my map above:

You may not be a fan of Foursquare, but at least I see how an application like this connected into my account could be a benefit to others.  Not to mention it gives me great conversations on both my Facebook & Twitter accounts with friends.

Originally Posted at: 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors

Attending so many trade shows it is hard not to run into a vendor or two who would like us to help promote them to our community.  Floor Plan Online didn’t have that problem as I actually approached them after seeing a brief demo of this cutting edge technology.

The concept is pretty simple (most great ones are), take the floor plan of the property and layover both image and video icons so that potential buyers can really get a good idea for the space and layout of the home.  I know the last 2 times I have moved my wife and I have pulled out a pen and paper and tried to make this happen on our own, often trying to figure out if the cribs, changing tables, etc would all fit nicely.

Floor Plan Online even includes a simulator of sorts that allows you to arrange the home and even yard with virtual furniture and landscaping (think The Sims).  This level of interaction with a property is sure to build an emotional attachment from the buyer before they ever walk in the door for a showing.  Also, this will cause your website to become more sticky and you will see time spent on your site increase dramatically.

Chris Drayer, @FPO on Twitter, is the marketing director for Floor Plan Online and spent some time with me at Star Power 2010 discussing his companies features and benefits to some of the top agents in the country.  While you can see our entire conversation in the video above I did want to add that just during the 10-15 minutes I was at the booth with Chris 2 agents stopped by to say how much they loved using Floor Plan Online.  In my experience real estate agents do not speak highly of a paid service until their clients have told them how much they like it!

You can check out Floor Plan Online here and if you have any comments or questions leave them below and I will have Chris respond quickly!