Anyone that tells you that running a Web site is easy is lying to you. Well, actually that's a lie too, since running a bad Web site is very easy and running a good site is what requires some work. My buddy Jim spent the sunny summer months trying to make the coolest real estate Web site ever. At a great cost to his social life, he finally learned the horrible truth that he would never be a master of the Internet--and about 98% of his customers could care less about the things that he was doing online.

How involved you get with a site depends on two things: Your interest and your clients.

Your Interest:

If you have a high desire to learn all the ins and outs of technology, then you should spend some free time looking into what the web can do for you. On the other hand, if you never stopped your VCR from flashing 12:00, then you should probably learn the high level stuff and have someone else build a site that meets your needs.

You Clients:

Is your average client more apt to be online than answer their phone, or do you live in an area like Seattle where if you don't have a nice Web site you might as well be chiseling on stone tablets? My buddy Jim said with all the cool stuff he added, what he should have done was make a simple site that was nothing more than a good looking welcome mat. Something that gives people a good sense of who you are and what you have to offer.

Now the hard part, how do you get people to even see your welcome mat?

Next week's we will start on the basics of search.

I recently attended a conference called New Media Atlanta. The conference concentrated on social media and its uses in business and I figured there were some really useful takeaways that I could share on this event.

But first, I have to give credit to Matt Fagioli (@mattfagioli) and Brad Nix (@bnix) on putting together a wonderful event. The attendees and the speakers were a great mix of real estate and non-real estate folks that brought a holistic theme to the day.

The topics ranged from 'Engagement is the New Marketing Metric' to 'Are You Ready for Social Media: Prep'ing Your Team,' and all of the speakers were great and very engaging. So while it wasn't focused solely on how the real estate community can utilize social media, certainly anyone in the real estate community could find value in the event and apply the principles to their business. So great job guys.

It was very interesting to hear how companies are beginning to integrate social media as a core piece of their strategy. It isn't just a fill in the gap-get to the table because everyone else is-part of business. It is becoming a core piece to supporting marketing and even customer support strategy.

To that end, I've summarized my takeaways below. I am writing these mostly from a company's perspective, but there is no reason that each of these takeaways couldn't work for an individual real estate agent or broker as well. Enjoy.

There were 10 consistent themes (or rules, I guess) that I was able to pull for the event that pretty much showed up in everyone's presentation regardless of the topic or industry they were in:

1. Look through the chaos that is social media. The data is there you just have to grab it.
2. Get comfortable with letting go of control of your messaging (it is already happening whether you like it or not).
3. The company is just part of a system, a small part at that, it is really all about the customer (make your message about them and the value they get).
4. Consumers/Customers just want Honesty, Transparency and a Voice – Social media has the ability to do these most efficiently.
5. Listen, Listen, Listen some more.
6. For Social Media to work everyone needs to be on board.
7. Don't do it just to do it, have a plan and have it reinforce your company goals. # Social Media is NOT easy; don't mistake the fact that it is relatively free for it being simple.
8. It will take up someone's time and it shouldn't just be a secondary thought.
9. Spend 12x more time talking/listening to and about others than yourself. Social media is the ultimate give, give, give, and then give some more before you get. But it works.
10. Listen, Ask, Reciprocate, Comment, and Comment Back.

It's time to simplify real estate advertising: Advertisers need to focus, publishers need to package

Things were simpler then, more familiar. You knew who to call, what to do and what to expect.

I'm talking about the good old days of real estate advertising.

Back then, you dealt with the sales rep for the local paper over a cup of coffee. Maybe you sponsored a little league team or bought a spot on the back of the church bulletin. And your audience? You could count on them to be in just a few places, at the same times, week in and week out.

Those days are long gone, a fact that has been amply documented. I won't belabor that point.

The more important question is this: Now that the game has changed, how can we make it simpler for real estate advertisers?

Think about it: The average agent, broker or brokerage marketing director is faced with a panoply of media, formats and creative challenges these days.

On the table are:

• SEM/pay-per-click
• Brand display ads
• Direct response display ads
• Syndication
• Video
• Mobile
• Print

And this, mind you, is a growing list.

Video wasn't there three years ago; mobile wasn't there just one year ago. Next year you may need to consider your strategy for Tweet ads, or feel pressure to get into the 'augmented reality' game.

I know, it's a little scary. And most brokers, and darn near all agents, don't have the in-house talent to master all these platforms. Nor do they have the budget needed to hire a digital agency that does.

What to do? Here are a few recommendations, from both the advertiser and publisher side of the business.

For advertisers (brokers and agents)

When Google launched Adwords back in 2002, thousands of brokers and agents jumped on the opportunity. After all, who wouldn't explore performance-based advertising? The problem was few practitioners had the time or skill necessary to optimize an SEM campaign. Results for many were disappointing.

My point: Pick media you are confident you can execute well in.

If your marketing department has a good designer, you may want to focus on display ads. If you have a great headline/call to action writer on your team, SEM may be a good choice. If you or your broker performs well in front of the camera, start syndicating video. Stick to that which you are capable executing well.

Secondly, for digital media, make sure you think beyond the click. By this I mean where the user is taken when they click on your ad. Whether this is a property detail page or a more conventional landing page, you have to make certain you present the user with something that is clear, consistent in message and look with the ad that got them to click, and loaded with a strong call to action. If you can't execute beyond the click, don't bother.

For publishers

We as publishers – those site owners or media channels that sell advertising to brokers and agents – can also do our share to simplify the advertising ecosystem.

For one, we can offer cross-platform buys. At HomeFinder, we offer national exposure through HomeFinder.com combined with local placement on individual newspaper sites. Brokers and agents like this because it allows them to kill two birds with one stone.

Adwords now has a mobile offering. Several companies are marrying listings syndication with distribution to YouTube. We are getting there. But we need to move more quickly to offer integrated packages that streamline the process for our advertisers.

Second, publishers should do more to share best practices with their advertisers. Many sales people take a consultative approach with broker and agent clients as far as structuring an ad buy, but I'm talking about something more.

For example, a strong case can be made that any large publisher would do well to hire an in-house marketing specialist available to help clients evaluate creative, craft messaging and optimize landing pages. If that sounds over the top, consider that newspapers sometimes create ads for smaller clients.

Moving forward

We will never again see a world where advertising is straightforward and audiences are concentrated. Our time is one of multiple, often blended, media channels and atomized audiences.

Our aim should be to make that reality more manageable.