Using ASP to Display RSS Feeds

As an RTV dealer one of our main goals is to keep up with our website’s content, but as we all know, we seldom make updates to its content unless we change or add a promotional item. Two days ago our company,Virtual Vista, made major structural and content changes. During this conversion, we decided to make the commitment to keep its content fresh, thus increasing traffic and improving search engine ranking.

As a result of this commitment we decided to use the Real Tour Vision’s Blogs to keep it fresh. While researching the best way to incorporate this feature into our website, we stumbled up on this web page (http://www.rss-specifications.com/displaying-rss-feeds.htm); this article is all about RSS Specifications.

The article explains the different ways and technologies we can use to accomplish this task.  The easiest way to accomplish this is to use JavaScript, but this option would defeat our purpose. Why? Because search engines DO NOT actually “see” the content of the RSS Feed, thus the content of the feed within our website would not be indexed (bummer).

Another option was to use a PHP to display the RSS Feeds. The beauty of this option is that the content will be displayed as HTML and thus Search-Engine-Friendly! This is what we were looking for! But wait a minute; we really are not comfortable with PHP Scripting, so we kept on reading.

Finally, an ASP solution, just like the PHP one, but using ASP Scripting! Please don’t take us wrong, PHP is great, but we are ASP people since ASP was conceived.

We proceeded to download the FREE code from the website and after learning how it works, we decided to make some adjustments to suit our needs.

We made some small changes and converted the code to work as a function; this function accepts parameters and can restrict the output to display a specific number of blogs and whether we want to display just the titles or the entire content.

We just wanted to share this with you all, you can see a working sample by clicking the following links:

http://www.virtualvista.net (this shows the title feeds)

http://www.virtualvista.net/Virtual-Tour-Blogs.asp (Shows the full feed)

If interested, the next link contains the page where you can download the zip file with the code modified by Virtual Vista, http://www.virtualvista.net/SHARE_CODE/RSS2HTML.zip

Keep in touch,

Ric Castro

Virtual Vista

610-429-0288

ricc[@]virtualvista.net

Remember your first lesson about sales?  If you're like the vast majority of people in the Real Estate industry or any sales business for that matter, your first lesson was entirely about "Staying Positive" and "Good things will happen". 

"Yesterday" many of us rarely read the news, because of the negativity that it showed. "Today" we can't get enough of it!  The fact of the matter is that the news is always going to get you down!  Why is it that? Even though we all know bad news sells and most news is inherently "bad", we are compelled to it as if we need an excuse why we aren't making any money.

From the vast majority of the Realtors that I speak with, I hear all about how homes aren't selling; Jumbo Loans this or Escrow that, FSBO's are taking over.  WHAT!  I can't believe what I'm hearing.  I understand that while it's very important to know your Current Industry News, many are using the so-called "State of the Market" as a platform for failure.    

I am not a Realtor, in fact I am a 360 Virtual Tour Photographer, but my success relies greatly on my fellow Realtors' success.  I keep up on my current events and as I do, I keep an open mind for the "TRUTH", and I sift out all opinion.  For instance:

Sales ARE down from last year---BUT---Call me when people no longer need housing, and we're all searching for the perfect 2 Story Tent with a dog run. 

Credit IS tight--- BUT---The banks are still open!  Call me when we all start trading in seashells.

FSBO's ARE many---BUT--- the average Real Estate I.Q. of Joe Public is bordering on "Duh."  Call me when he gets his "Masters".  (Better yet, call him and make a lasting impression!  Then call me!)

I'm not blind to the fact that there may be fewer buyers---BUT--- We ARE salespeople, when did we actually start thinking that we only sell to people who call us? 

Does anyone remember the 2nd sales lesson?  "People always make purchases on emotion!"  If you are down, what do you really think that does to your buyer..... and worse yet, your ability to keep that buyer interested? 

All that I can say is that unless there is a deadly rattlesnake latched onto your leg,  "Do not shoot yourself in the foot!" (Try to get the snake first though)  

Once again, I am not a Real Estate Agent.  Although, other than all of that fun legal stuff that a Realtor does, I am in many ways doing the same thing that people want from a listing agent.  As the owner of a small Virtual Tour Business in Colorado, I can tell you that my business is through the roof right now, mostly with FSBO's.  The only real reason is because I don't sell Virtual Tours.  I sell exposure for homes and try to get listings on the first page of google.(with a tour of course) 

There is absolutely no reason why I can get all of this business and agents can't.  However, my clients give me reasons all of the time.  The top two reasons are:

1.   We were listed with _______ , but our home wasn't getting any traffic and we couldn't see the benefit.

The problem with this is EXPOSURE!  There are millions of people in Colorado, and their agent couldn't get 3 or 4 qualified buyers to even see this listing?  While I can't give out my secrets, I can say that there are literally thousands of "FREE" platforms to get this done.  All that it takes is a little bit of work!  (I marketed a "Bill of Sale" property for one day and it was gone)

2.  We can't afford to pay 3-7% by listing with an agent.

YES they can!  Home sellers read the news too, and they really think that their house is worth "X" amount of dollars.  The solution to this is that you simply become what you were born to do, become a salesperson.  Sell them the benefit, and follow through with your promises of, here it is again...... "EXPOSURE".

In conclusion, your business is only what you make of it.  Success is out there for everyone, but only for those who go after change and do it with a great attitude will attain it.  I truly hope that this has helped someone.  I understand that I am no "Zig Zeigler", but what comes around-goes around!  (I love Cliche's)

Good Luck!

Nathan Strauch
Hot Shots Digital

My Colorado Virtual Tours
www.hotshotpros.com

Order a Virtual Tour (877) 447-6326

Its no secret that the customer base for many businesses has moved online.  This is especially true of the real estate market.  The number of  buyers shopping online has steadily increased yearly for several years.  Now, that number has reached 87% according to the 2008 National Association of Realtors(R) Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, making an effective online marketing campaign essential if you want your business to continue to grow.

So, how do you get noticed on the world wide web?

One essential is SEO.  Just what is SEO? Do I need one? Where do I get one? Is it easy to use? Does it come with instructions or , even better, a hotline? If you are one of the many who ask yourself questions like this, then read on…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential if you want your website and online marketing to be found on the internet. It is based on a couple of things - one is what people search for on the web, the other is how relevant your information is to that search.

Here is how it works:

You are a real estate agent marketing your listings online.  You are located in Shreveport, La.  Your website should include information about real estate in your city, your listings, information on your local market and so on.  When a homebuyer sits down at their computer to learn more about what is available they will search for something like “homes for sale with virtual tours in Shreveport”.  The results they will receive will include websites that have virtual tours of homes for sale in Shreveport.  Whether or not your marketing will appear in the results depends on how relevant your content is to this search.

Google Search Results

Viewers will look at those sites that appear on the first or maybe second page of the search results.  Rarely do they view information found on page 10 of the results.    Therefore, placing content on the web that is directly related to your business or product is essential to being found.  But it is also essential to establish that information as being relevant to the topic.  This is done many ways such as linking to other related information from your website, having other information linking back to you, visits to your website by interested people, etc.

SEO is a driving force in effective online marketing.

Creating a volume of relevant content on the web can be a time consuming effort; however, the effort is well worth it when you consider the market share available to be reached.

If your time is already spread thin, then you may want to consider hiring someone to help.  Ark-La-Tex Virtual Tours has optimized all of our online marketing on behalf of our clients in order to help drive them to the top of the search results and to create related relevant content on the web.  Contact us today to learn more.

Rebecca Bolda

Ark-La-Tex Virtual Tours

Shreveport Virtual Tours

www.TheVirtualTourPeople.com

Order a Virtual Tour (318) 572-1779