Using Appmii for a Real Estate Marketing App for iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

There are vendors that offer application building services, some especially for real estate professionals. While property search is certainly high on the list, if not at the top, of things you'll want in your app, there are other features that can make your app stand out from the competition.

A great app should present local area information, photos, videos and links to more information. If all it does is allow search and give your contact info, it's not going far enough. There will be other larger sites that can always throw money at their apps to offer equal or better home searches. Stand out with area info.

When I looked for an app-building vendor, I found a couple that specialized in real estate applications. But, the most popular just had three main buttons, and offered basically a search function and ways for the app user to contact the agent or get on their email list.

Appmii, for $19.95/month, was less expensive, and offered a great deal of customization ability. From intro audio and video capability, to photos and video buttons, I was able to build a very nice app about my ski area vacation market. The very first review was a full 5 stars, and very complimentary about the information, audio and links.

Whichever app vendor you choose, make sure that you can create a visual and audio experience for your app users. Also, you'll want to be able to modify it at will. Appmii allows changes that take effect immediately. I can add photos or videos at any time and they go live right away. Using Picasa, I was able to place a full set of photo galleries up with geo-coded images. Videos play from YouTube.

RSS feeds also get a button, and my Twitter feed gets it's own page as well. Local images serve as page backgrounds. With an intro audio and an intro video, the app presents a striking home page.

I use an RSS feed from my Real Estate Statistics category in my WordPress blog to bring up-to-date real estate statistics info to my app users. As I add sold property reports and other real estate news to my blog, it updates the feed, and app users always have the latest real estate news.

If you're not blogging, you can still place a link to real estate reports on your site. The best way to keep an app useful is to update it frequently with new information.

While your competition is using an app service that opens with the franchise or company logo, and offering search and contact info but little else, your app can stand out from the crowd. Instead of loading it, viewing it, and deleting it, your users will use it for an area resource. You can offer RSS feeds for all types of information, links to restaurants, government sites, and much more.

Rich photo and video content can offer up area info. Links to maps and more can make your app a tool for the user to get around and learn about your area. Then, your real estate RSS feed can offer up statistics, sold property reports and all types of information valuable to buyers and sellers. You want your application to be useful, not just a billboard advertisement of how great you are, and how many deals you've done.

It's possible that one of the most valuable marketing tools in our arsenal could be the iPhone, iPod, iPad application in the future. Don't shortchange your app. Make it a dynamic and interesting resource for your users, and it will bring you business.