Part II: A Beginner’s Guide to Listing your home on the Web

This is the second part in a three part series.  To read part 1 Click Here

Part Two:  One Great Website is Good, Many good Websites is Great
Unfortunately for those who work in the SEO field, no one website will show up highly in all relevant search fields.  While an individual brokerage can climb search rankings for real estate related searches in their market, like Chautauqua County, competition because much harder if not impossible for larger fields, such as New York, or heaven forbid, simply Real Estate.  Good Brokerages recognize this and develop relationships with larger sites to make sure their listings are displayed there as well.  The technical term for this is syndication.
To explain this, I will use our company, Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate as an example.  Our main websitehttp://www.howardhannaholt.com does very well if someone was going to search a general market term like. “Chautauqua County Real Estate”.  We also run local office and agent websites, such ashttp://www.hhhfredoniahomes.com to cater to individual market searches such as, “Fredonia NY homes for sale”.  However many of our buyers come from outside markets.  Our listings also are displayed on howardhanna.com, which has the largest market share in NY, PA, OH, and WV.  Additionally our listings are displayed on qualified member sites of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, the largest network of brokerages that exists.  That same listing will also be displayed on industry staples such as REALTOR.com, Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo Real Estate, and many more.  While we like to keep some of our cards in hand, a listing with us will not just go up on our local board, office, or agent’s website, but over 500 other sites nationwide.
Simply put, the more places a buyer can find your home, the better.

Nick Holt is a licensed sales associate, member of "The Peak Team", and director of web-based marketing for Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate.  Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. Owned by the Holt family, the local affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

A Beginner’s Guide to Listing your home on the Web

A Beginner’s Guide to Listing your home on the Web.By Nick Holt
Hello to everyone out on the blogosphere.  Fair-warning, today’s post is going to be different from our usual press releases, updates, and announcements. This will be the first of a three-part series on Internet Marketing for Real Estate.


According to NAR’s 2010 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”, 89% of home buyers searched the internet ‘frequently’ for a home in 2010. And the share of home buyers who found their home on the internet jumped from 8% in 2001 to 37% 2010.  In meeting with my clients and other agents, it’s very clear to me that while everyone recognizes the importance of using the internet effectively to sell real estate, many have little to no idea what exactly that entails.  To help answer these questions, advise for sale by owners on how to do this, and to try to explain why a job-title like “Director of Web-Based Marketing exists; I’d like to touch on three important aspects of utilizing the internet as a marketing tool.


Part One:  All Web Listings Are Not Created Equal
Many discount Real Estate Brokerages, Craig’s List Aficionados, and For Sale by Owner Sites, are happy to tell you that they will put your listing up on the internet, and then give you the link so that you can see exactly where it is.  It is important to realize that, while this makes up part of internet marketing, it does not mean that your home is being effectively marketed on the internet.  Remember, possible buyers for your home do not have that direct link to the listing, they have to find it organically.  Try using your favorite search engine to find a home like your buyer does, i.e. search real estate in your county, town, village or neighborhood and see if the broker’s website shows up.  If you are having a hard time finding it, the buyers probably are too.  You wouldn’t advertize in a newspaper nobody reads,  the same goes your listing website.
Good real estate companies and listing services recognize this and employ tech wizards (like this guy), called SEO’s tomonitor the algorithms that search engines use, and tailor their websites so that they show up at or near the top of the search engines’ rankings on relevant searches.  Without doing this, all a company is doing when talking about their “web presence” is giving you lip service.


Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow for Part II "One Great Website is Good, Many Good Websites are Great".
Nick Holt is a licensed sales associate, member of "The Peak Team", and director of web-based marketing for Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate.  Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. Owned by the Holt family, the local affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Holts attend Managers' Advance

George (Pete), Steve, and Nick Holt had the pleasure of attending the Howard Hanna Managers advance in Cleveland this week.  The Holts put their brains together with Howard Hanna's 130+ Office Managers from across PA, OH, NY & WV, Department Heads, Regional and Senior Management in downtown Cleveland for the company’s annual ‘Manager’s Advance’ meetings.
The Hanna Team of 170  were welcomed at the Intercontinental Hotel by Hanna Ohio President, Hoby Hanna along with Cuyahoga County Executive, Ed Fitzgerald.
This afternoon ‘Positively Cleveland’ designed a ‘Discover Cleveland Scavenger Hunt’ for the group to get out and see the sights of Downtown and all it has to offer.
Special guest speakers on the agenda include Dick Finnegan of Finnegan MacKenzie, The Retention Firm and Sandra Pinalto, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
The goal of Howard Hanna’s Manager Advance is to bring all Hanna Managers together for camaraderie, networking, knowledge and enhanced customer service initiatives with emphasis on the traditional values of the 54-year old company as the company moves forward into the new year.
CEO Hoddy Hanna’s presentations include an overview of the real estate market today – both locally and nationally, an update on operations in Cleveland, Erie, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Youngstown regions, along with the company’s mortgage, title and insurance companies.
How many offices does Howard Hanna have? The company has more than 130 offices across the four states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia with more than 4,000 sales associates, management and staff.
How many of the offices are in Ohio? Currently, Howard Hanna has 49 offices in the state of Ohio with approximately 2,000 sales associates.
How does Howard Hanna’s Manager’s Advance Meeting affect local people? The company’s sales associates and management team influence the real estate activity in every market they are in. By being the most knowledgeable and up-to-date, they are able to better serve their clients.
Howard Hanna is pleased to be contributing to the city of Cleveland economy rather that a resort or hotel in a market in which they do not do business. The company will be purchasing approximately 170 rooms at the Intercontinental Hotel, providing meals and entertainment for two days and bringing many people to Cleveland who have never been before --many of which will venture out to the shops and dining establishments on their free time.

HHH Agents Learn From HGTV's Brian Copeland

ERIE PA- Several members of the Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate sales team attended a class in Erie, PA. The event,featuring speaker Brian Copeland, was held by the Greater Erie Board Of REALTORs. Copeland is best known from serving as the featured agent on The Learning Channel's Flip That House and HGTV's House Hunters. Copeland has also been featured on HGTV's Goodbuy/Badbuy and other homebuying oriented HGTV programming.

 “We are pleased that our agents are always looking to better themselves,” said HHH Vice-President Steve Holt. “In a changing real estate climate, it is more important than ever to educate yourself on the latest news and techniques.”

The presentation was focused on helping agents better serve their buyers. It included sections on how to better counsel buyers, work with each generation, and find the right home for the buyer faster.

REALTOR Associate Catherine Brooks was excited after the full-day event.  “I learned more about the newest technology than I thought was possible in a day.  Many older agents fight against the new techniques, but if they don’t change with the times, they’re dead in the water.”

Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, www.HowardHannaHolt.com, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. Owned by the Holt family, the local affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Habitat for Humanity announces Donation

Chautauqua County Habitat for Humanity spokesperson Mike Rickets, announced today that Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate has made another sizeable donation to Habitat. “We have had very strong support from the community for our building efforts. We have over 200 volunteers who have helped in our building efforts. It is extremely nice to see companies such as Howard Hanna Holt stepping up to support us.”

“We believe that everyone deserves to have a home they can call their own,” said Steve Holt, Vice President of Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help Habitat for Humanity in its mission to build homes for the people of Chautauqua County.”

The local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, www.habitatchaut.org, was founded in 1989 and undertakes projects throughout Chautauqua County. To date they have has helped 22 families become homeowners. Anyone interested in volunteering to assist the organization can call 716-269-7772 or send an email to build@habitatchaut.org.

Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, www.HowardHannaHolt.com, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. Owned by the Holt family, the local affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Agent joins Howard Hanna Holt

Mayville (NY) September 1, 2011:

Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate is proud to report they have added a new agent to their staff. Adele Harrington of Westfield has joined Howard Hanna Holt’s Mayville office, located at 79 West Lake Road. 

When asked why she chose Howard Hanna Holt as the company to affiliate Harrington said “When I decided to start my career selling real estate there was only one company I would consider working for and that is Howard Hanna Holt. As a property manager of one of the largest homeowners associations in Chautauqua County for the past 8 years I have had the opportunity to see first hand how different real estate companies conduct business. I wanted to be associated with the company that offers the most to their clients and that hands down is Howard Hanna Holt.”

Steve Holt, Vice President “I am excited about the addition of Adele to our staff of top producing agents. I have known Adele for years and have been impressed with her work ethic and her attention to detail.”  Committed to keeping the company at the top of the Chautauqua County real estate market Howard Hanna Holt has taken steps to boost their market share by recruiting top-producing and results-driven agents.

Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, www.HowardHannaHolt.com, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. 

The locally-owned affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.

Pittsburgh-headquartered Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the 3^rd largest independent real estate company in the United States and the country’s 4^th largest full service real estate company.  The firm serves the Western New York, Western and Central Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Chautauqua County Event June 20-26

The Chautauqua Season is Finally Here!


Over the course of the summer, Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate will be providing a weekly peak into what's going on in the Chautauqua Area this week.


June 21st- June 23

Paddle Tours
Tues: 5:30pm Lake Erie Daddle
Weds: 5:30 PM Chautauqua Lake
Thurs: 7 AM Chautauqua Lake
716.763.2266


June 23
Sunset Celebration
7 PM-11PM
Cabanana Sams - Irving
716.934.9953


June 24


Lily Dale Assembly Season Begins
lilydaleassembly.com


June 25


Chautauqua Institution Season Kicks Off


Mommon Tabernacle Choir Conceert
2PM & 7:30 PM
Chautauaqua Institution
716.357.6250     ciweb.org


June 26


Bemus Bay Pos Concer Series Begins
Billy Volk Memorial Tribute & New Oddesy
2:30 PM  Floating Stage, Bemus Point
bemusbaypops.com


Praise on the Lake
9 AM Floating Stage, Bemus Point
bpumc.com


Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. The locally-owned affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville, Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth-largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Hanna Open Houses App Released for Android

As part of our continuing effort to bring convienience to our clients throughout the homebuying process, we our pleased to announce the release of an app for the Android Market, while reminding you of our other apps and mobile sites. 

With the Hanna Home app now even more smartphone and mobile phone users can satisfy their Open House appetite. Download the Hanna Home app today for your android market mobile phone, the iPhone®, iPad® or iPod Touch®, and Droid Markets and get up-to-the-minute info about every Howard Hanna Open House. 

We also have mobile friendly listing searches on http://www.howardhannaholt.com/mobile and http://www.hhhfredoniahomes.com/mobile.
 

Howard Hanna Holt Releases New Website

As per the Dunkirk Observer
We are also pleased to announce the premier of our Fredonia Real Estate Site

MAYVILLE Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate rolls out its all-new website, offering even faster, easier access to nearly 1,200 homes for sale in the Chautauqua County area. The heart of the website is a robust property search that allows buyers to search for properties that match their needs.
Driven by consumer feedback, the all-new HowardHannaHolt.com offers more direct access to the information homebuyers and sellers want, whether they are searching for a home or looking for advice.
"This is a huge step forward for our customers. Our updated property search will allow the consumer to go to one site and search all the properties available in Chautauqua County," said company vice-president Steve Holt. "Our customers are able to request a personalized property search and will be notified of any new property within 24 hours after it comes on the market."
Howard Hanna Holt's mission is to give our customers the most accurate and up to date information available for Chautauqua County real estate. The combination of our website along with our staff of award winning agents makes Howard Hanna Holt a complete resource for buying or selling.
Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate, www.HowardHannaHolt.com, offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals.
The locally-owned affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville and Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.
Pittsburgh-headquartered Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the 3rd largest independent real estate company in the United States and the country's 4th largest full service real estate company. The firm serves the Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

Laurel Haight Join HHH

Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate (HHH), one of Chautauqua County's leading providers of real estate services, is pleased to announce the recent addition of Laurel Haight as the Coordinator of Rental and Property Management Services. This addition will allow HHH to sustain and build upon the growth it has enjoyed in recent years.
"Joining Howard Hanna is an exciting move for me," Haight said. "I'm happy to be part of a strong and growing company that has such a wide variety of services to offer."
"Adding Laurel to the HHH team further strengthens our ability to meet the diverse needs of our clients," Steve Holt, Vice President of HHH, said. "We're very pleased to welcome her aboard, and we expect that her 19 years of rental and property management experience will be of great benefit to our company and our clients."
Chautauqua County-headquartered Howard Hanna Holt Real Estate offers comprehensive residential and commercial real estate sales, leasing and related services including real property appraisals, property management, development services, vacation property rentals and traditional rentals. The locally-owned affiliate of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has offices in Fredonia, Mayville, Westfield, on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution, at the Bemus Bay condominiums and at Peek'n Peak Resort and Spa.
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the third-largest independent real estate company in the United States, the country's fourth-largest full service real estate company and the sixth-largest mortgage banking company in the nation. The company serves the Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia real estate markets.

The Chautauqua Institution to be Featured on PBS Special

PBS in Buffalo will be premiering Chautauqua: An An American Narrative on January 31st at 10 pm.

										According to the program's website:      "Chautauqua: An American Narrative captures the unique environment and opportunities provided by the       Chautauqua Institution. The program focuses on the contemporary story of Chautauqua today while using       the Institution's rich history to provide context and perspective. It is an exploration of this uniquely American       experience and its pervasive-- yet sometimes forgotten-- place in American culture and history. Check your local listings or visit the PBS site for more details.