The latest US-based figures from Hitwise show Twitter is the fourth most popular online social network with a tiny market share of just over one percent.

According to the Hitwise statistics, Facebook is firmly established as the leading social website with a market share of 53 percent, followed by YouTube with 15 percent. Third place is currently occupied by MySpace, which has a 13 percent share of the market.

Yet despite its relatively small audience, a recent report from socialmediaexaminer.com shows online marketers still have a good deal of faith in Twitter. Amongst the almost 1,900 social media marketers surveyed, 88 percent use Twitter, while 87 percent are reaching out to their audience via Facebook.

LinkedIn is the third most popular online marketing channel, used by 78 percent of respondents. This is despite the fact that Hitwise’s figures place it 13th on the list of popular US social networks. 70 percent of the respondents said they use blogs for online marketing, while 46 percent use YouTube, and only 11 percent use MySpace.

So what conclusions can we draw from these contrasting findings? Clearly, Facebook still needs to be a priority for those marketing via social media. As for Twitter and LinkedIn, their smaller audiences sizes mean focus and planning are all the more important to create some level of return on your time investment. In other words, don’t waste your updates - tailor them to ensure you connect with your audience every time.

US real estate agents are leaning heavily on email and many are taking up the social media challenge, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest survey.

The NAR says more than six in 10 of its members have a personal website, while 89 percent say their firm has an online presence. 94 percent use email daily or nearly every day, 91 percent use computers, and 56 percent use smart phones with wireless email and Internet capabilities.

Perhaps the most significant change in US agents’ online marketing habits found by the NAR is the increasing use of social media. The survey found that more than half of NAR members now use online social networks, up from 35 percent in 2009.

Do you fit the profile of the typical NAR agent? If so, check out these articles to help you with your online marketing strategies:

Essential Inclusions for Your Website

Email Newsletters: Awareness, Loyalty, Leads

Golden Rules for Social Media ROI

Top 10 Tips for Online Branding

Here at Property Ad Guru, we have plenty of advice on how to make your website the best it can possibly be. There’s a lot you can do on your own, but for UK agents still looking for an out-of-the-box solution, UltraIT could be worth checking out.

UltraIT is a European company that has just set up shop in the UK. They offer website packages for agents working in both sales and rentals, along with an SEO service. While their service isn’t free – package prices start from £1395 – UltraIT promises extras such as its “Application Match” feature, which automatically matches listings to customer requirements, make it worth the investment.

Meanwhile, Australian property data supplier PriceFinder is about to launch “Share” – a service that allows agents to give their clients access to information from PriceFinder’s database for free.

PriceFinder says the information available through Share includes property price history, estimated sales price, a map searching tool, property photos, and the potential yield of a property within the current market or any time in recent history.

At this stage, Share is only available to PriceFinder’s “pro” subscribers, who pay AUD$255 per month.

Those interested in finding out more about Classified Ad Ventures – the online classifieds company founded by propertyadguru.com owner Simon Baker – can gain an insight from today’s article in The Australian.

In the article, Baker discusses everything from his time as CEO of realestate.com.au to the creation of nestoria.com.au, the state of online businesses in Australia, and what he has learned from early mistakes.

The annual Webby Awards are on again and this year’s real estate nominees are hungry for your votes to land them the coveted People’s Voice award.

Before making your decision, you might want to consider some recent developments at the five nominated websites:

zillow.com: The US real estate marketplace has had plenty to crow about recently, with the release of its rentals search, Android application, and iPad app amongst its achievements. The website, which turned four in February, has also held on to second place in the US market for the past few months. With all these bases covered, does zillow.com deserve your vote?

trulia.com: As last year’s Webby Award winner, trulia.com comes to the competition with a standard to uphold. Like zillow.com, this real estate search engine also added rental listings recently, and while it’s not quite as strong in the marketplace, it is getting plenty of attention from potential investors. The question is, has trulia.com done enough lately to win the public vote in 2010?

hotpads.com: hotpads.com was last year’s People’s Voice winner, and says just being nominated again this year is a huge honour (before adding that, of course, it wants to win again). So far this year, the map-based real estate search engine has added an Android app to its offerings. With maps becoming such an important part of property search, could hotpads.com be set to take out the People’s Voice award two years running?

nytimes.com/realestate: The New York Times’ real estate search section was nominated for a Webby last year, but didn’t end up making the cut. A new set of user features – more search options and market data – have recently been added to the website. Could 2010 be the year nytimes.com/realestate comes out on top?

nakedapartments.com: Established in the competitive New York market in September 2009, nakedapartments.com is relying on more than just an attention-grabbing name to get noticed. It works by registering anonymous profiles for users, then allowing brokers and landlords send through listings that match users’ criteria. While the website says it isn’t trying to cut brokers out, its focus on consumers might just be enough to gather those all-important People’s Voice votes.

Online voting closes 29 April, so get along to webby.aol.com and let your voice be heard.

a la mode, the US-based company behind the TourNarrator iPhone app for home tours, is expanding its “SureDocs” e-signature system to offer a version designed specifically for real estate agents.

a la mode explains that many users of SureDocs are real estate agents who are using it for contracts and disclosures. “Making a dedicated agent version was a natural next step,” the company states.

The new version of SureDocs, which will be available in the second quarter of this year, will allow agents to “print” any type of document, regardless of industry or source, so it can be displayed on screen ready for signing or transmission.

a la mode says that as documents are printed to SureDocs, the program learns the formats and recognises them on subsequent uses. So a contract from a given board or a particular state disclosure form only has to be set up for signature tags once. The next time the same type of document is sent to SureDocs, the program knows where all the signature tags need to be.

The creation of SureDocs for agents comes after the Federal Housing Administration confirmed that it now considers e-signatures on third party non-lender documents to be just as valid as “wet ink” paper signatures.

“Many of the supposedly paperless loan files out there are full of scanned copies of traditional paper documents,” says a la mode chairman Dave Biggers. “That’s both environmentally and financially expensive. With SureDocs, signatures are applied on screen to purely digital documents, which don’t need to be printed unless the user needs it. It’s better all around.”

The current version of SureDocs for disclosure documents costs US$299 per year.

US online marketing service vFlyer has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon this week with the release of a new listings promotion application.

The application offers two configuration options. Both options display thumbnail images and summary information associated with the active listings in a vFlyer account. One also includes profile information about the business or individual:

vFlyer explains that the new application is available to any vFlyer member with a business subscription. Business subscriptions start at US$12.95 per month.

“Businesses have been asking us for a simple way to promote their active listings on Facebook,” says Aaron Sperling, CEO and president of vFlyer. “This solution is a simple and effective way to create more exposure of real estate, auto, and general service listings.”

This release comes after roost.com’s free “social real estate” Facebook application launched last month. With Facebook’s popularity skyrocketing, it seems likely more companies in the online real estate sphere will soon follow suit.

If you’re not a US resident, but are still keen make Facebook part of your marketing plan, check out our articles on how to make the most of your Facebook fans, and our golden rules for social media return-on-investment.

If you’re a regular visitorto propertyadguru.com, chances are you understand the importance of a well designed website in enticing potential clients. You’re probably also aware of the many options available, from customised WordPress themes to single property website tools.

Now, a new UK-based website creation service has been launched with real estate agents specifically in mind. The name says it all: propertywebsitedesigners.com.

The company hopes to provide agents with a “powerful” template website system to help them sell property locally and internationally. The package, which starts at £199 with a monthly fee of £19.99, includes the ability to update all copy on the website, a search system, country, region and city control, currency conversion, email, hosting, and statistics. Agents also have the option to feed their properties to over 30 property portals around the world.

propertywebsitedesigners.com says what makes their service special is the fact that they do not expect agents to become “web experts”, but aim to provide a professional, fully managed web presence that empowers agents to update their web content and manage their property listings easily.

Next time you’re shopping around for a website design team, don’t forget to have a read through our advice on what to look for in a good web designer, along with our Top 10 Tips for Your Agency Website.

Mobile’s momentum continues to build this month with the release of another search application and a collection of new app creation options emerging for smaller players.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Executive, a real estate firm in Western Washington, is covering all bases with its new smartphone application. The app is available on standard cell phones and smartphones across all mobile carriers including the iPhone, BlackBerry devices, Android devices, and Palm Pre and Pixi. According to the company, that’s 95 percent of cell phones across all mobile carriers.

The app was created in partnership with Smarter Agent, a company that made a splash with the release of its Homes for Sale app back in May last year. As well as working with real estate firms, Smarter Agent does offer single agent accounts from US$49.95 per month. But what if you’re not keen to invest quite that much in a mobile application? Are there any cheaper options available?

We’ve talked before about free mobile website creation options, but when it comes to apps, things haven’t been quite so accessible. Luckily for app enthusiasts, it looks like that’s starting to change. A couple of startups at this year’s DEMO Spring 2010 event are attracting attention for their fresh approach to apps.

Let’s start with AppWhirl. This very new service – currently in invite-only mode – promises to let anyone make their own iPhone app for free in “about five minutes”. The creators told venturebeat.com they hope to make app creation “virtually free” for everyone.

Co-founder Richard Jordan went so far as to compare app creation now to website creation in the mid-1990s. Back then, only a skilled few could create websites, but now almost anyone can set one up in minutes. Jordan sees app development going down the same path.

AppWhirl isn’t the only company looking to make app building easier. SwebApps promises the ability to make an app in minutes, and hosts it for a monthly fee of $25. For an extra $10, SwebApps can also track data related to the usage of your app. AppMakr is another possibility, however their prices are higher. They charge $199 to publish your app for you, or $499 to let you publish under your own brand.

Those looking to try out app creation without paying anything to start with might consider BuildAnApp, which lets you build your own app for multiple platforms on a 30 day free trial.

Still wondering whether a mobile app is worth the trouble? clickz.com’s Rob Weber offers some compelling arguments for apps, explaining that iPhone and iPod touch users are engaged with their apps for an average of 79 to 80 minutes per day. Weber also points to the success of movie website Flixster, which more than doubled its mobile user base in 2009 through the use of mobile apps.

As always, we’re keen to hear from any agents who have experience creating their own app. Let us know what the challenges were, and whether the app brought in more business.

Over the past few months, it’s become clear that Google Maps isn’t just about directions. With the release of Place Pages, the Favourite Places program, and a set of tools aimed specifically at real estate agents, we now know Google Maps wants to become as important to businesses as it is to people figuring out how to get from A to B.

So it should come as no surprise that Google Maps is now giving businesses the option of adding their logo to their location, making it visible to users as they zoom in. Of course, Australian real estate agency chain and Google Maps partner LJ Hooker is on board.

But the scheme isn’t as straightforward as it might first appear. According to a report from The Sydney Morning Herald, this isn’t just a matter of a business paying to see their logo on Google Maps. Google must first determine if the business is “relevant” to Maps users, and the logo will only remain on Maps if enough people are clicking on it for more information.

“[J]ust because a particular business has paid for their location, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily show,” Google product manager Matt Leske told digital-media.net.au. “If a bank wants to put a logo on all its ATM locations, those inside a shopping centre won’t show because the shopping centre is more prominent on the Map. Though a brand will only be charged for the logos displayed.”

So far, the logos are only available in Australia and New Zealand, but digital-media.net.au reports there are plans to offer the option in other markets in future.