News

Leading RE will be hosting its conference February 24-28th and we are excited to announce that our very own Internet Marketing Authority, Jim Marks will be the Social Media and Inbound Marketing speaker at their event!

Preparing for the more than 1,500 real estate professionals expected to attend the conference is not something Marks takes lightly, knowing that the his insight into technology and consumer habits is critical to real estate agents, whether they be individual agents, brokers or relocation specialists.

Jim Marks seeks to drive traffic and conversion to real estate professionals by inspiring them with techniques based on proven research gained from millions of clicks and strategies that will cause their clients to engage, call, click, interact, and subscribe.

Jim firmly believes that, “Agents don’t just need more tools, they need knowledge and a road map to success.” In his speaking, Jim’s goal is to get attendees to be “inspired and to leave with that grand ‘Aha!’ moment that will cause change in the way they run their real estate business and really, their lives.”

Jim Marks will be speaking alongside industry greats and conference keynote speakers who include Pulitzer Prize columnist and author Dave Barry, television personality and author Joan Lunden and Shawn Achor, author of the international bestseller, “The Happiness Advantage.”

We hope you enjoy his fun, no-nonsense approach and solid takeaways. Come back after the conference and share with us what you learned either in the comment section or by contacting Virtual Results directly. We’d love to hear what you think!

Real estate professionals will hear directly from the consumer – the people who want to buy and sell homes – at a unique forum, “Hear It Direct” in Dallas, Texas on May 21^st, 2012 at the Dallas Marriott at Legacy Town Center.  Hear It Direct is designed to create the consumer as the keynote speaker of the event –unlike most events in the real estate industry.  Featuring panels of real home buyers and sellers from all over the U.S., Hear It Direct targets what consumers want and expect from agents.  The unfiltered discussion is set up to discover how to really focus and best address the needs of consumers in today’s housing market.

Hear It Direct’s concept reshapes the real estate business, creating a consumer-centric, consumer driven approach to home buying and selling.  Agents and market forecasters can gain insight and learn how to create value and trust through attending this groundbreaking one-day experience.

Developed by real estate leaders Sue Adler and Robert Hahn, Hear It Direct, was created to share the new consumer-driven real estate model with the industry.  Hear It Direct, Texas is the second in a series of events delivering the message of what people want from real estate tools, the agent they work with, and the home searches they conduct on their mobile devices.

Sue Adler was recently recognized as one of the leading women in the real estate industry by the Women’s Council of Realtors® and has been one of the top selling Realtors in New Jersey since 2005.

Tickets and an informative custom research report plus a DVD series recapping the event will be made available through the Hear It Direct website at http://www.hearitdirect.com/events/. To learn more about Hear It Direct, please contact 973.869.9357.  The Hear It Direct conference is scheduled for May 21^st, 2012 in Plano, Texas at the Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center located at 7121 Bishop Road, Plano, Texas 75024.  The event runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and will include a networking Happy Hour afterwards.  The cost for the entire day is $99.

At  Virtual Results, LLC, we are constantly pushing the technology envelope, striving to create a level of function and service that WOWs our clients… on a regular basis.

Well, we’ve done it again.

We understand that your TWO major challenges are LEADS and TIME.   We have created something that will make a difference in your life by freeing up TIME for you to engage clients.  Oh, and we are giving it to you FOR FREE.

Starting today, you can subscribe to be a part of the new Virtual Results PubSub Network. “VRPubSub” is our innovative blogging syndication service delivering extremely high quality real estate blog posts to your website twice weekly, AUTOMATICALLY.

Once subscribed, you will have the opportunity to not only get fantastic content for your website (with YOU as the author), but you can also edit, link, and share the posts as you like.  This is NOT just more regurgitated content.  Every VRPubSub blog post is written by our top Virtual Results’ real estate blogger, a professional journalist with over 20 years national writing experience, ensuring you the quality that your clients  appreciate and WANT in their inbox.

All you need to do is choose WHAT delivery method you would like.  You have 3 choices.

1) The automatic option, which will automagically just post the VR post to your blog.  No Muss, No Fuss and you get to choose who the author is.

2) The draft option, which places the post in draft mode so you can edit it, make it YOURS, and manually publish it to your blog.

3) The “I dont need no stinking blog posts” option which allows you to turn off posting completely, although why you would choose this is beyond us.

However in the interest of vacations, (wouldn’t you prefer auto posting while you were away) or a need for less readership (you are overwhelmed by positive comments on your blog), we needed to give you that choice.

If you would like to receive your posts in Draft Mode, you dont have to do anything.  We have you handled.

However, If you would like NOT to receive posts OR Receive them Automagically?  Its just 3 easy steps..

So, look for the notification emails that signify we have sent a new post..  and watch your VR Blog grow!

What did I learn from Steve Jobs? That building great products (such as Apple’s) comes down to being obsessive about every last detail of the entire user experience. It makes me realize why I came to work at Virtual Results. In an industry cluttered with antiquated solutions that don’t work built by people who don’t care how they make a buck, we build the best damn real estate websites on the planet and we care about giving our clients value for their money. There are enough people in this industry (and the world) delivering crap — there’s no sense being another one of those.

Jobs’ thoughts on Microsoft & Bill Gates were interesting to say the least. One concept that was discussed at length throughout the book was closed versus open systems — Apple versus Microsoft. Apple is an example of a closed system, since Apple controls the hardware, operating system, software, and user interface. Compare that to the most notable example of an open system approach, Microsoft, which controls the operating system, but nothing else. I don’t think there is any question which user experience is better. Is Apple’s more expensive? Sure. But quality costs money. Will open systems reach a broader audience? Yes. Margins are higher on closed systems, but open systems have historically made up, and surpassed, that with volume.

I used to be pretty firmly in the camp of open systems but have shifted a few notches toward closed systems after reading the Jobs biography. Don’t get me wrong, I still think open systems have a place — and it’s clear based on the volume of Android’s being purchased that many agree with me. Microsoft has proved that with Windows. But I’ve come to appreciate the power of great products — and great products require a more controlled environment. Individuals don’t know what they want, until you show it to them. The Model T, iPhone and iPad proved that. At Virtual Results, we’re not shy about telling agents and brokers we understand websites and consumer web behavior better than they do. We have millions of clicks of analytics behind what we do. Frankly, if an agent or broker thinks they can build better websites than us — they should probably go start a website design company rather than sell real estate.

Reading the book made me better understand Jim’s perfectionist nature when it comes to products. There are times where we’ll show him something, and his immediate reaction is “that’s crap” (not unlike Steve Jobs’ reaction to many early products shown to him by the Apple team). He doesn’t mean it’s literally crap, he means it can be better…and that we need to spend the time it takes to make it perfect. There are certainly tradeoffs; operating to perfection takes longer to ship and costs more money. But we believe it’s worth it.

What’s the take away from all of this? If you want the cheapest website solution on the market and/or want to spend a ton of your own time figuring out how to build a website that works? That’s your choice.

But if you want a product that just WORKS without the hassle? Contact us so we can get you up and running for 2012.

Contact Us

Those that know us personally know we don’t do press releases very often, but we thought our brand new Broker/Agent Website Platform and Partnership was worth it…

Introducing VR Broker’s Choice, THE Website Choice for Brokers who value their agents’ success.

Leading real estate Internet marketing firm Virtual Results, LLC is pleased to announce a new, strategic broker/agent website platform and partnership. The newly released VR Broker’s Choice is a powerful real estate WordPress website solution built for Brokers to provide to their agents as part of their technology package. Agents can choose from a variety of beautifully designed themes and Virtual Results designers will customize their choice to produce a personal, stunning, finished website that will reflect their brand.

M Squared Real Estate, a leading Washington, DC brokerage, known for cutting edge technology, was selected to pilot the program.

“With the growing percentage of consumers searching for property on-line, it’s more important than ever for brokers to guide or provide to their agents, the best designed and best converting websites on the planet. Websites are an agents “curb appeal.” said Jim Marks, Virtual Results founder and President. “We’re thrilled to have M Squared as our initial VR Broker’s Choice partner. They are leaders in Internet marketing we are proud to bring our world class design and conversion to their agents at the most affordable price imaginable.”

Unlike traditional broker-offered website solutions, VR Broker’s Choice doesn’t “lock” an agent to their brokerage solution. While branded and enhanced with brokerage provided content, the agent always has the ability to migrate their website without losing content… or momentum.

“At M Squared our top priority is to provide agents with theVR tools they need to succeed in today’s marketplace. VR Broker’s Choice gives our agents a first-rate website themed for their individual brand, and customized for their target market areas.” Says Dominic Morrocco, M Squared Co-Founder and Partner, “When making the decision to offer WordPress websites to our agents, we evaluated vendors extremely carefully. We needed a scalable solution to incorporate our existing technological offerings with that in-development and planned. It was evidently clear the team at Virtual Results understands the needs of today’s agent better than anyone. Their Broker’s Choice program provides industry-leading IDX with world class design to create a complete, easy-to-use solution for both the agent and client alike. Moreover, Virtual Results’ management of plugins, hosting and general website upkeep, allows our marketing department the time and freedom to work one-on-one with our agents to truly maximize their online potential.”

The first two example VR Broker’s Choice websites are MyDupontCircle.com andDCRealtorCapitolHill.com. M Squared Real Estate chose to base their Broker’s Choice websites on the latest theme developed by Virtual Results, LLC, called Moondance. According to Jim Marks, “Moondance is the culmination of the best of class design and accessibility for clients seeking a classy, simple and effective website.”

Virtual Results, LLC

To learn more about opportunities, call a Virtual Results sales representative at 888-99-RESULTS, or visit VirtualResults.net/vr-brokers-choice/.

About Virtual Results, LLC
Virtual Results is the leading provider of real estate WordPress websites that convert traffic into leads. In addition to websites that work, Virtual Results provides world class Internet Marketing Consutling to Brokers utilizing real estate SEO, traffic and lead acquisition, Google Analytics consulting, and social media branding packages. The company operates Virtual Results.net, GeekEstateBlog.com and is headquartered in beautiful Laguna Beach, CA . Learn more at http://virtualresults.net

About M Squared Real Estate
M Squared is a Washington, DC, independent real estate brokerage focusing on technology, marketing and agent offerings. M Squared has been recognized within the industry and received national attention for its unique, non-traditional brokerage model and service offerings. Learn more at http://msqrealty.com

On Thursday, we’re conducting our third weekly webinar on how to utilize a Virtual Results Predesigned Website that Works in a way that produces results for your business. Our conversion specialist, CJ Hays, will walk through the ins and outs of our predesigned WordPress platform as well as answer any and all questions from participants.

When: Thursday December 1st – 1:00-1:30 PM PST

Sign Up Now

What we’ll cover:

• Your WordPress Dashboard and all its functions
• Showcasing your listings using the VR Listing Management plugin (hint: it’s REALLY easy)
• Producing content within WordPress
• Conversion strategies
• 5 Content Ideas for Your Blog
• Question and Answer

Register Now

Whether you are a current client looking to better understand how to use your site, an agent currently evaluating real estate WordPress website vendors, or just an agent looking for a few blogging tips — this is your chance to learn what Virtual Results products and strategies are all about.

Of course, there is No Obligation — so you might as well register right now..

For those of you who are tired of your antiquated website that doesn’t work and committed to investing in your online marketing for 2012, there’s no better time to purchase one of our predesigned websites than Black Friday. Why? Because we are running a special giveaway to celebrate the occasion that’s too good to pass up.

Whether you are looking to invest full-time or just have it on the side as passive income it is important that you get help from a reliable source once you are ready. There are plenty of websites with blogs and videos out there that explain different types of investing and how to get started, they can even help you take you first steps in the investing world, however make sure to do some investigation about the company you want to get started with. There are lots of scammers out there on the internet looking for people who don’t know what they’re doing and end up disappearing after taking their money, that’s why you should look into the company as well as the satisfaction from previous customers.

Taking your first steps isn’t that complicated with the right help, but if you want to get started as soon as possible then you should set up an investment portfolio, but for those who don’t know how to do that then you can easily start with Conservative Investing Mobile Apps, they have the step-by-step process on how to create one. Once you have this complete then you can get a mentor on how to start your journey. 

In the near future we will be providing seminars with a full explanation about the basics of investing

We look forward to speaking to you soon…

Contact Us for Details

For those Virtual Results clients who have already used WordPress for a few years, our web sites are EXTREMELY intuitive. But for those who have no prior exposure to WordPress, there is certainly a learning curve involved to learn the ins and outs of WordPress — and we’re constantly working on ways to help improve the learning process. Starting today, whether you are a WordPress master or novice, you now have a full array of video tutorials that explain everyday tasks such as changing your password, adding new pages, pasting from Word, replacing an image, managing widgets and adding paragraphs. From the Dashboard of your site, just click on “Video Tutorials” in the upper left corner — and you’ll see the full list of available video tutorials.

Uploaded with Skitch!

With that, watch some videos and master WordPress!

If you have questions, please leave them either here in the comments or on the Geek Estate Pro forum.

Here are 5 content ideas we covered on our Virtual Results webinar today:

1. The next time you visit your favorite coffee spot, interview your local Barista, and feature them and their coffee shop on your blog.
2. Local events. Concerts. Festivals. Sporting events. Be the source of local events for your areas of expertise.
3. “My Favorite Hole in the Wall Thai Food in Seattle” (if you like Thai food like I do)
4. The 5 newest real estate listings in [city name] for the week of [date range]
5. Recruit local business owners to produce content for your site. However, remember, it’s hard work to convince others to write for your site — but it’s worth the effort over the long term.

On Thursday, we’re conducting our second weekly webinar on how to utilize a Virtual Results Predesigned Website that Works in a way that produces results for your business. Our conversion specialist, CJ Hays, will walk through the ins and outs of our predesigned WordPress platform as well as answer any and all questions from participants.

When: Thursday November 17th – 1:00-1:30 PM PST

Sign Up Now

What we’ll cover:

• Your WordPress Dashboard and all its functions
• Showcasing your listings using the VR Listing Management plugin (hint: it’s REALLY easy)
• Producing content within WordPress
• Conversion strategies
• 5 Content Ideas for Your Blog
• Question and Answer

Register Now

Whether you are a current client looking to better understand how to use your site, an agent currently evaluating real estate WordPress website vendors, or just an agent looking for a few blogging tips — this is your chance to learn what Virtual Results products and strategies are all about.

Of course, there is No Obligation — so you might as well register right now..