One of the blogs I enjoy reading, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in on line marketing and social media, is that written by Chris Brogan. Not sure if Chris is hunting for a house these days or maybe just helping some one in real estate to marketed their website, the title of his latest his latest post certainly jumped at me- If I Were A Realtor.

If any real estate agent would set up to do only first three things from Chris’ list they, without a doubt, can dominate in their market:

• I’d write a blog about the location where I was selling.
• I’d take tons of pictures and post them on the blog.
• I’d shoot walking tour videos all the time with a Flip camera and post them.

You can read Chris’ entire list at his blog, make sure to subscribe to his latest posts while you there.

I think it is always refreshing to hear a different perspective from someone who is not necessarily in our “niche” or industry. Yeah, I hear you. Any one could write a list like that, right?.. Wrong! While Chris is a marketing genius he also represents the mindset of today’s home buyer or seller. Home buyers and sellers no longer have little choice where to go. Plus, you are no longer the guy or the gall with “the book” in town.

On this note I would like to wish all the readers of this blog Happy Holidays and may the next year be the best year you have ever had!

Yesterday, Google announced that they are testing new ad formats that among other things will include video. This is how they explained:

Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information. For example, if you want to learn a magic trick, a video showing you how to perform the trick is likely the best result. So over the past few years, we’ve blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on Google.com.

While I have seen many Google video ads on different websites and blog I have yet to see one of these ads in the search results. But according to Official Google Blog US residents have seen these ads:

AdWords advertisers had an option to create video ad for quiet some times. It would be however difficult for real estate agents to benefit from these video ads in the search results because the longest ad that you can create for your AdWords campaign cannot exceed 120 seconds. Hardly enough time to make a quick video tour of your listing! I am sure however that many creative and innovative real estate agents can use these video ads to promote their real estate business.

Having tried a dozen of different ad managing systems, ranging from WordPress Plugins to Google Ad Manager I am giving BuySellAds.com a spin.

BuySellAds.com is an advertising marketplace for small to medium sized website owners and publishers. Once approved, which takes about 24 hours, you can create adzones for your website or blog and add them to your website by simply copying and pasting code. If you blog or website is powered by WordPress, you may also consider using BuySellAds WordPress Plugin by Thaya Kareeson of Omninoggin.com. I personally have not tried the plugin myself yet, however I am considering using it in the future. The plugin includes ati-adblock measures to prevent AdBlock as well as other similar software from blocking advertisements from Buy Sell Ads.

The user interface on BuySellAds.com is rather straight forward and it took me no more than 20 minutes to create and implements ad zones for this blog. Visit Go Beyond MLS ad listing page on BuySellAds.com to see more details about ads available on this blog. The listing page provides some useful information for potential advertisers, such as Alexa Traffic Rank, Compete Rank, Twitter Subscribers etc.

One of the reasons I have decided to try BuySellAds.com is that they have decent marketplace which is very easy to use by potential advertisers to find and purchase ads on desired websites and blogs.

Should you decide to give BuySellAds.com your payout will be 75%. For example if the cost of your ad is $10 ($10 is the minimum you can price your ads by the way) your pay out will be $7.50. You can choose the payment option to be PayPal, Check or Wire Transfer.

If you have used the BuySellAds.com for your website as well I would love to know your experience with them, so don’t be shy – leave a comment!

Not so long ago Janet Meiners Thaeler graciously agreed to write a guest post for my blog. She was extremely busy writing her book and I would understand if she declined my invitation to write a blog post for Go Beyond MLS.

Today I am happy to let you know that Janet’s Book is now available on Amazon.com and it is available in print and in digital format for Kindle users- I Need a Killer Press Release–Now What???: A Guide to Online PR

Who may be interested in Janet’s Book?

If you are the owner of small to mid-size business and would like to learn the power of online press releases you need this book. This book will teach you how to capture attention of news publications and deliver online visibility your business needs.

Janet has written hundreds of press releases for businesses across spectrum of niches, you can follow her work at http://www.newspapergrl.com/ and I hope you seriously consider using her services the next time you are ready to write a press release.

While some of my friends are using Entrecard for networking, I am still very sceptical about the service…

The mechanics of the Entrecard are quiet simple. After your blog is approved, other blog owners can “drop” their card on you or purchase an ad on your blog with Entrecard credits.

I presume if you have plenty of time on your hands, you can drop your card on other blog owners all the day long. It may increase a chance that that a blog owner, on whom you dropped your card, may pay you a visit back, and this where Entrecard reminds me of a traffic exchange scheme.

You can however “purchase” advertising on blogs that use and Entrecard widget with the credits you and your blog earns, or the credits you can purchase from Entrecard.

Unfortunately, in the Real Estate category there are very few blogs that I would like to exchange traffic and/or banners. And so far the banners “bought” on my blog are from the blogs that are not quiet relevant to my own blog.

It is interesting to see that in order to advertise on my blog it will cost other Entrecard members 4 credits per day. If one was to buy the credits, he or she can advertise on my blog for 250 days for only $6.00. Quiet a difference from the rate I offer currently to my potential sponsors.

Of course these figures may change in the future, and I would like to know how does Entrecard determine their rates. But to be completely honest, I don’t see myself staying with Entrecard. I am taking it for a spin (no more than 3 months), so I can say I tried it. Let see if Entrecard will change my mind.

If you are using Entracard please share what do you think is the best practice when using that system.