Success is Timeless.

IN 1901 THIS AUTHOR WROTE ABOUT HOW THEY SUCCEEDED: LIFE STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL MEN TOLD BY THEMSELVES (PUBLIC LIBRARY; PUBLIC DOMAIN) THIS WONDERFUL ESSAY BY BRITISH NOVELIST AMELIA E. BARR (1831-1919) WHO,  DESPITE DEVASTATING LOSS OF HER HUSBAND AND THREE OF THEIR SIX CHILDREN TO YELLOW FEVER IN 1867, WENT ON TO BECOME A SUCCESS.  DESCRIBES 9 BASIC PRACTICES TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL AT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO TAKE-ON.

The avenue to success is timeless…..

1. Men and women succeed because they take pains to succeed. Industry and patience are almost genius; and successful people are often more distinguished for resolution and perseverance than for unusual gifts. They make determination and unity of purpose supply the place of ability.
2. Success is the reward of those who “spurn delights and live laborious days.” We learn to do things by doing them. One of the great secrets of success is “pegging away.”  No disappointment must discourage, and a run back must often be allowed, in order to take a longer leap forward.
3. No opposition must be taken to heart. Our enemies often help us more than our friends. Besides, a head-wind is better than no wind. Who ever got anywhere in a dead calm?
4. A fatal mistake is to imagine that success is some stroke of luck. This world is run with far too tight a rein for luck to interfere. Fortune sells her wares; she never gives them. In some form or other, we pay for her favors; or we go empty away.
5. We have been told, for centuries, to watch for opportunities, and to strike while the iron is hot. Very good; but I think better of Oliver Cromwell’s amendment — “make the iron hot by striking it.”
6. Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry. Go into details; it pays in every way. Time means power for your work. Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.
7. Be orderly. Slatternly work is never good work. It is either affectation, or there is some radical defect in the intellect. I would distrust even the spiritual life of one whose methods and work were dirty, untidy, and without clearness and order.
8. Never be above your profession. I have had many letters from people who wanted all the emoluments and honors of literature, and who yet said, “Literature is the accident of my life; I am a lawyer, or a doctor, or a lady, or a gentleman.” Literature is no accident. She is a mistress who demands the whole heart, the whole intellect, and the whole time of a devotee.
9. Don’t fail through defects of temper and over-sensitiveness at moments of trial. One of the great helps to success is to be cheerful; to go to work with a full sense of life; to be determined to put hindrances out of the way; to prevail over them and to get the mastery. Above all things else, be cheerful; there is no beatitude for the despairing.

• Apparent success may be reached by sheer impudence, in defiance of offensive demerit. But men who get what they are manifestly unfit for, are made to feel what people think of them. Charlatanry may flourish; but when its bay tree is greenest, it is held far lower than genuine effort. The world is just; it may, it does, patronize quacks; but it never puts them on a level with true men.    

• It is better to have the opportunity of victory, than to be spared the struggle; for success comes but as the result of arduous experience. The foundations of my success were laid before I can well remember; it was after at least forty-five years of conscious labor that I reached the object of my hope. Many a time my head failed me, my hands failed me, my feet failed me, but, thank God, my heart never failed me.

SOCIAL PLATFORMS GWI.8 UPDATE: Decline of Local Social Media Platforms

GlobalWebIndex

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Brett11

Brett

Data collected in GWI.8 (Q4 2012) demonstrates the continued shift in usage from localised social platforms to global ones with huge growth for Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. The fastest growing network in 2013 in terms of “Active Usage” (defined as “Used or contributed to in the past month”) was Twitter which grew 40% to 288m across our 31 markets (approximately 90% of global internet population). 21% of the global internet population now use Twitter actively on a monthly basis. This compares to 21% actively using YouTube, 25% actively using Google+ and a staggering 51% using Facebook on a monthly basis.

For those who follow the GlobalWebIndex regularly, it is important to note that between Q2 and Q4 2012 we revised our universe figures, based on newly available public data on country level internet population aged 16 to 64. This revision has also been applied to historical numbers and has lowered the figures slightly down, but proportionally, the numbers remain the same as in previous iterations of the research. The trends we’ve seen remain and are becoming ever clearer as we move forward.

Facebook battles back against “Facebook fatigue”

Something we’re seeing in our initial findings is an return to growth for Facebook. We now estimate that Facebook has 903m accounts across 31 markets among 16-65 year olds. If we scale this up to the remaining 10% of global internet users we do not yet survey and factor in accounts for under-16s and over-65s our estimates fall in line with Facebook’s claimed 1 billion user figure.

2012 saw Facebook shrug off the potential for Facebook fatigue and saturation in a spectacular way with active users growing 33% to 693m users globally. Watch out for an in-depth post on this later this week where we’ll dig deeper into the numbers.

Google+ grows to become 2nd largest social platform globally

Google+, who despite being branded a failure or ghost town by large portions of the media, grew in terms of active usage by 27% to 343m users to become the number 2 social platform. Interestingly for Google, YouTube (not previously tracked by us as a social platform) comes in at number 3, demonstrating the immense opportunity of linking Google’s services through the G+ social layer. This is also a key indication of why Google+ integrated with the Google product set is so key to the future of search and the internet. We’ve got more coming on Google+ later this week as well.

Local social platforms in marked decline

The growth in the large, global social platforms is coming broadly at the expense of local services like MeinVz, Hyves, Copains d’Avant. Even more interestingly, we are seeing a large decline across the board in local Chinese services with Tencent Weibo, Kaixin, Sina Weibo and QZone all declining substantially, up to 57% in the case of Tencent Weibo.

The case of China is interesting, but not unexpected. Social networks / services grew massively from 2009 to 2012 and some saturation is expected despite China being the world’s most socially active market. There are, however, some other reasons for declines in active usage that we have identified:

• There are many networks, and it’s inevitable, despite China’s huge population and growing internet penetration that such a large number of mass market networks cannot be maintained;
• Growing government clamp down with real names and phone number becoming the required standard for signing up;
• Shifting of usage to more informal social media including blogs and forums, where privacy is easier to maintain;
• Growth of apps and mobile;
• Growth of international networks through proxy servers, VPNs, access through multi-national company networks and mobile apps.

Real Estate Marketing on the Internet

EDUARDO MARQUES, VALIANT CAPITAL PARTNERS ANALYST STATES, “INTERNET WILL SHORTLY BECOME THE MAIN DESTINATION FOR REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING BUSINESS.”  VALIANT CAPITAL PARTNERS IS A $2.7 BILLION SAN FRANCISCO-BASED HEDGE FUND CREATED BY CHRISTOPHER HANSEN. ITS PORTFOLIO INCLUDES APPLE, GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK.

The internet has become the REALTOR‘s digital for sale sign.  Per The Digital House Hunt, a Joint Study from National Association of REALTORS® and Google,

• Home shoppers using search engines are actively engaged, raising their hands asking for more information or assistance.
• Real estate consumers who use the internet while researching a home are more likely to use multiple sources.
• REALTORS® using offline marketing and sales channels should incorporate digital to complement those efforts.

The study outlines every demographic group’s increasing use of the internet, internet searches and social media channels and its application to each housing segment.

With the digital for sale sign real estate is global, as proven by the National Association of REALTORS®.study 2012 Profile of International Home Buying Activity ,

• International Sales are 9 Percent of Total Residential Market.
• International Sales Grew in U.S. at 24 Percent in Past Year.
• International Sales–A Specialized Market, Facilitated by Language Skills, Cultural Awareness, and Visibility.

Previsite’s product and services provide the REALTORS® with the tolls and services necessary to meet today’s digital sales requirements.

SOCIAL MEDIA AGENT OFFERING: The package allows the agent to create video tour and publish their listings to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, the agent website and share on other social sites including LinkedIn, Dailymotion, Delicious, Digg, Stumble Upon, Craigslist and more.   The agent simply input their Facebook, YouTube and Twitter social account URL’s into the offering for this syndication to occur.  All agents utilizing this Previsite Offering will be able to create their own tours and use all the features and services of the Previsite solution on a unlimited basis including but not limited to: floor plans, music and narration, local area maps, syndication to major portals, auto-post to social media sites, lead capture, and statistics.

The agent offering comes in two sizes
1-25 current active listings at $299.95 per year.
26-50 current active listings at $499.95 per year.

Enrollment is done via our store, here.

Social Media Broker/Company Offering: : The base package includes complete integration of the real estate companies: Website / Listings / IDX, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Video Tour.  Previsite will import 100% of Customer’s active listing inventory using different methods most suitable to the Customer (RETS, XML, Web service and ftp). Utilizing Previsite’s Rich Media Content conversion algorithms, Previsite will import those listings data into the latest Previsite viewer, animating still images.  The solution will automatically and daily drive the listings into Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, with additional options for Pinterest, Google plus and Unique URL.   The listings are key word enriched to increase SEO.  All of broker’s agents will be provided an agent tool box cascading the same tools to each agents social channels. 

For information on this product please contact previsitesales@previsite.com.

WorldPosting:  The unique solution “ WorldPosting ” allows your real estate listing to be seen by over 70 million potential buyers and investors with a global network of leading real estate portals.  Previsite will import, process and automatically distribute your listings across a wide range of property portals around the world. Listings are translated to the language specific to that respective portal location.

For information on this product please contact previsitesales@previsite.com.

Virtual Tour, our heritage product is used by tens of thousand agent/brokers and real estate companies world wide. Previsite has developed multiple panoramic viewer (JAVA, Flash, HTML5, etc..) in order to render the best experience for all customers. We also provide customization for Brokers, Franchises and Groups. Pricing for the Previsite VT is $199.95 per year.

Enrollment is done via our store, here.

Training on all products is provided by Previsite’s professional staff and  via webinar, video library & continued support through phone and email.

Realtors: Home-Buyers “Zero Moment of Truth”!

Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is defined by Google as the idea that home shopping is no longer about showing up at a REALTORs office or an open house, seeking advice or counsel on what to buy or how much they should pay.   Google’s ZMOT handbook explains, “the sales funnel isn’t really a funnel anymore.” Consumers are empowered, by the internet, allowing them to conduct research prior to this critical ZMOT.

Jim Lecinski, Google’s ZMOT expert states, “at the Zero Moment of Truth, today’s shoppers bounce back and forth at their own speed in a multi-channel marketplace. They switch devices to suit their needs at any given moment. They search; go off to look at reviews, ratings, styles and prices; and then search again. They see ads on TV and in newspapers and online. They walk into local stores to look at products. They talk to friends, over the back fence and on social media. Then it’s back to ZMOT for more information.”

Home buyers are using the web in record numbers;*

• 9 out of 10 rely on the internet for primary research
• 52% use the web as 1^st choice
• Google real estate searches increased 22% year to year, plus 1/5 of these searches occurred mobile growing 120% from 2011 to 2012

Video satisfies multiple house hunting needs;*

• 70% of homebuyers tour the inside of a home
• 86% of homebuyers search specific community info
• 54% of homebuyers obtain general property info
• 44% of homebuyers compare multiple company features

*Per The Digital House Hunt, joint study by NAR and Google

Home buyers place YouTube as the number 1 video search site

“Increasingly, online technologies are driving offline behaviors, and home buying is no exception.  With 90 percent of home-buyers searching online during their home buying process, the real estate industry is smart to target these people where they look for and consume information.”  Said, Patrick Grandinetti, Google’s head of real estate, in a statement.

REALTOR’s that are winning the listing battle and selling homes grasp the trend of consumers use of the internet to research brokers/agents, homes, communities, prices and more.  Previsite’s real estate marketing services for both brokers and agents create multi-media formats like video and virtual tours and distributes  listings to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other sites primarily used by the consumer.   Contact Previsite today to learn more previsitesales@previsite.com.

Real Estate Marketing Presence

Real estate brokers and agents must own their on line presence and control their listing inventory.  Kelly Phelan, team member at RE Technology  has defined the six critical sites of presence;

• Website
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Single Property Sites
• Blog

The Previsite solution Social Media Broker and Social Media Agent provides the user the ability to meet 5 of the 6 critical sites she outlines.  The solution is easy to use, daily and cost effective.

Read the full article here.

For a free marketing consultation contact Haney Sweda at  hsweda@previsite.com.

Brokers confident, but concerned about attracting agents.

In a recent survey of 850 executive's from brokers across the country, it was found that over 70% are confident or highly confident that the real estate market will improve over the next 12 months.  In addition, 42% of these same executives listed recruiting as the biggest challenge over the same period.

Survey question: How confident are you that the housing market will continue to improve in the next 12 months?
Selections	Percentage of respondents
Confident	64.6%
Less than confident	30.8%
Highly confident	6.2%
Not confident at all	1.5%

Survey question: What is your company's biggest business challenge?
Selections	Percentage of respondents
Recruiting	42%
Profitability	19%
Competition	14%

Source: Imprev Inc. "Thought Survey" conducted September 2012.

Previsite's solution includes an agent tool box, that provides an easy manipulation of the listing/virtual tour, to expand the social marketing of listings, beyond the broker's social accounts.  Agent's insert their social account URL's, one time and the Previsite solution then pumps the virtual tour through the agents accounts, thus expanding the social influence of that respective listing.  In addition, the tool box will publish the listing to Craigslist or a email-able, printable or mobile flyer by pushing a button.

Outline of the Agent Tool Box.

Robert Gawel, broker/owner of Alexa Realty (Tampa/Clearwater/St. Pete, Fl market) stated,  "the agent tool box is a fantastic tool for agents to use for business development and communication with current buyers/sellers, thus the recruitment potential is tremendous."

According to the US Department of Labor, employment of real estate sales agents is expected to grow 11 percent in the next 5 years, with agents in high demand are you using Technology to attract the best agent talent?

Brokers Strategy Key Leveraging Social into Buyers/Sellers/Listings.

Assisting brokers globally we realize that too many brokers have no idea how social media impacts there website traffic.  Social strategy is vital to driving traffic to your website.  The definition of "Social Media Marketing"  the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites,   it does not state to gain friends, likes, followers, comments, etc.,  etc., it is all about drawing a direct line of traffic into your website.  

 

How?  The Previsite solution!

 

The Previsite solution is unmatched by any other provider!  Affordable, Daily & Automatic, Previsite takes the Listing Feed, creates a virtual tour video posted onto your YouTube Channel and simultaneously pushing that content through all social media channels - Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest - with Direct "BackLinks" to the brokers website.  In addition, our solution provides these same tools to each and every agent in the firm, creating a maze of "backlinks" to the brokers website.