While local real estate brokerages in the area have decreased their budget and focus on adding new technology for their agents and consumers, Danberry has done just the opposite in the last year.  I’ve just returned from the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco, held July 13-15, 2010.  I attended along with many other members of the Enterprise Network, a group of brokers across the country who partner with Active Website for their technology needs.  The synergy of being able to compare notes with other like minds in the industry is invaluable.  Read Active Website’s Top Five Takeaways from Real Estate Connect.

The conference was an affirmation for the advancements that Danberry has made with Active Website over the last year.

Some items which were recommended at the conference that Danberry has already implemented are:

1. Individual Property Websites – each property listed with Danberry gets its own site such as 123main.danberry.com.
2. Danberry.com Mobile – No longer can we rely on just websites to deliver listing info.  Danberry Mobile has just been upgraded for the iPhone and Android users, but can be used with ANY web phone.
3. Share this – Allows the agent, seller and potential buyers to Share favorite listings to their Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, etc.  Look for the Share This icon on the details page of any listing.
4. Google Map Search – Use the Point of Interest tab on the map search to turn on all of the schools, coffee shops, restaurants or just about anything you are looking for.  Use the street view to take a “walk” down the street and see the neighboring properties.
5. Greater Search Engine Optimization – Danberry.com’s traffic is up 40% ytd over last year.  This is largely due to increased traffic from search engines.
6. Craigslist – Danberry agents can quickly create flyers with photos and lots of calls to action to post to Craigslist.  Because of this, Craigslist has become the number one referrer of traffic to Danberry.com outside of search engines.

What’s new and upcoming?

“As an industry, we need to move towards the mindset that our customers come first in order to truly embrace the new age customer and build a successful online brand.”  Ido Zucker, Managing Partner at Active Website.

Danberry could not agree more.  Going forward, we will be adding and evaluating several new improvements to Danberry.com such as:

1. Community Information for Every Listing – In the next 30 days, all listings on Danberry.com will have community information available.  This includes a breakdown of age of population, climate and weather, education, median income, crime, comprehensive school reports and mapping of nearby establishments.
2. Facebook – Bigger than Google? Facebook is approaching 500 million fans and has become Danberry’s number three referrer of traffic (a year ago they were not even in the top 50).  Danberry will evaluate advertising to select demographics of Facebookers.
3. “Like” to be added to all listings on Danberry.com – You’ve been doing it on Facebook for years – why not “like’ a property on Danberry.com?  This feature along with others will be discussed at Active Website’s September Conference.  Delivery date to be announced!

Valerie Suelzer, Director of Technology

Danberry Realtors

valerie@danberry.com