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Category: Marketing (page 71 of 191)

May 21, 2008

UNCHAINED: Constructive Criticism

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Mark Eckenrode of Homestomper.com offers constructive criticism of the BloodhoundBlog Social Media Marketing Conference brought to you by Zillow.com:

For being the first Bloodhound Unchained this was nothing but a success. The fact that folks flew across the country to an unproven event to see and meet folks who they’ve only known through the web… a testament to the power of what it is that we’re doing.The flow of the event and even the presentations sometimes felt a bit dis-jointed but let’s face it, this was the first event of it’s kind and these weren’t professional platform speakers.

The time schedule we had was dictated by the event location (had to be out by 4pm). Pretty crappy, in my opinion. Considering that folks came from across the country to drink from a firehose of knowledge, I’d like to see the next Unchained have marathon sessions. With SalesDogs and Rich Dad Poor Dad we’d run from 9am until 11pm.

One major thing I did find missing was a lack of discussion on strategy. There were great tactics covered but without a strategy to unify the tactics and make sure the tactics supported the overall goal then, well, tactics don’t amount to much but busy work.

Of great benefit to all would also be breakout sessions… “You just learned how to XYZ. You’ve got 5 minutes to go online and do this for your website.”

A great companion piece to the breakout sessions would be roundtable discussions. A group of attendees at a table with an expert answering hotseat questions for 15 minutes before attendees switch to another table and another expert.

Mark offers “mindmaps” which are amazing summaries of our sessions. Download them. Print them. Read them.

Bloodhound Unchained Day 2 Mindmap PDF

Bloodhound Unchained Day 3 Mindmap PDF

Thanks for the ride to Ahwatukee and the great feedback, Mark.

May 21, 2008

Black Pearls: Controlling your own destiny in your hi-tech real estate practice: Three simple rules for dealing with technology vendors

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

[This post came up yesterday in a discussion at Unchained, and I’m kicking it back to the top of the blog because the issue of data portability is so important for people who might be coming anew into the world of Web 2.0/Social Media Marketing. –GSS]

 
Would it surprise you to learn that host, hostage and hostility are cognate terms? They come to us by way of French and German, but that hos idea in Latin trips lightly from guest to stranger to foreigner to enemy.

I happen to be thinking of these English words — host, hostage and hostility — because I wanted to come up with a very simple rule for dealing with technology vendors. Alas, I think the best I can do is three simple rules:

  1. Avoid hosted software systems
  2. Avoid proprietary technology
  3. Pursue commodity solutions — and prices

I bought and populated two new domains tonight. We buy all our domains from Godaddy.com — a commodity vendor — to simplify management and renewals. I control all of our hosting through a semi-dedicated server at HostGator.com, which means that I pay nothing extra to propagate a new domain. I have to pay for the domain registration, but I pay no additional charges beyond our regular flat monthly fee for hosting as many domains as I want.

I’m at the far right edge of the Realtor geek curve — as of tonight, we control 79 domains — but, with one exception, we control all of our data, with no need to fear the vicissitudes of vendors. (What’s the exception? Our virtual tours are hosted through VisualTour Obeo.com, which seems to us to be less odious than the other odious virtual tour vendors.)

Why does this matter? If you don’t control your own data, you don’t control your business. You are at the mercy of the vendors who do control your data. If you lose faith in them — or if they look like they might fail the test of the marketplace — you may find out much too late that applying my three rules would have made good sense.

So: Let’s go through them again in detail:

  1. Avoid hosted Read more
May 21, 2008

Satire is an evermore difficult and demanding art. Why? Because the world around us is often so risible as to be beyond parody…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Like this…

Unchained was promoted by Social Media Marketing only, most of it here. No advertising. No affiliate marketing. No ass-kissing. No taking crap from morons. No Inman.

If the lesson of this is lost on you, then you missed out on the biggest piece of what we were doing this week. I might try to convey the point in a satirical post, but how can I top the item linked above?

All of this broke out as I knew it would. We talk all the time about “What would David Gibbons do?” but this sequence of events came straight from the “What would Greg Swann do?” playbook. We’re not revolutionaries, despite the poses we might sometimes seem to strike. We’re all about supplanting what we see as negative forces, not up-ending them or making war on them.

So: What did Inman News do to itself this week — and in the preceding months? It ignored us, which did us no harm at all — but which demonstrated beyond all doubt that it is not devoted to news in the real estate industry.

It’s a dead letter, just like the NAR. In their heart of hearts, Brad Inman and his employees have known this all along. Now you know it, too.

In any case, here’s my great idea: No chokepoints. No bosses. No taking crap from morons. No Inman.

Feel free to add your own great ideas. There’s no “application form,” and you don’t have to kiss anyone’s “community” to win recognition for your brilliance.

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May 21, 2008

What happens when a lion of the industry sticks his head in the lion’s own mouth? Glenn Kelman joins BloodhoundBlog as a contributor

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is one of those completely obvious ideas that only takes about a year to bubble up to the surface: We write about the real estate industry. We are not very shy about advocating change in the real estate industry. Redfin.com CEO Glenn Kelman is one of the key exponents of change in the real estate industry. Ergo: Glenn Kelman should be writing here.

I told the man yesterday that I bear my ignorance as a curse, and this is potent evidence of that fact. I should have seen all this long ago, but it didn’t cross my mind until last week. But all we can do, when we make an error, is put it right and strive to do better in the future. Here’s the putting it right part:

Glenn Kelman has been a lightning rod for controversy since the founding of Redfin.com. What we have all failed to notice is that he owns a gentle soul, a thoughtful mind and a prodigious writing talent.

I think this is admirable and courageous on Glenn’s part. I am never very kind to that nebulous population of folks I deride as “vendors,” but I have been especially rough on Glenn and on Redfin. I’m pleased that he trusts us to treat him with the honor and respect a guest in our home deserves, but I am beyond delighted that he has agreed to share the workings of his incisive mind with us.

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May 20, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Commencement news, and then to bed

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’ve already been to sleep once, briefly. After Unchained broke up this afternoon, we came home to knock out the essential work. Teri Lussier cranked out a solid hour of video clips today, so I started pumping those into the YouTube mill. I’ve got a lot more to talk about, but first I have to go to sleep.

So first: The news.

Glenn Kelman gave a knock-out keynote speech. He spoke about Redfin.com’s recent performance, as compared with the company’s initial assumptions, and we all came away with a better understanding of how more alike our businesses are than they are different.

When Glenn finished speaking, we announced that he will be joining BloodhoundBlog as a contributor. This is a stone obvious idea that should have occurred to me a year ago, but, in fact, it only came to me last week. We’ve talked to other bigfeet in the realty.bot and franchise worlds, but, where the flesh has been willing, the PR department, until now, has always turned out to be weak.

I think Glenn made a lot of friends for Redfin today, and it certainly was an honor to have him with us. Whatever differences we might have had, he’s a fine writer and a thoughtful man, so it will be interesting reading him here.

The other news was Brian Brady’s announcement that we will be doing another Unchained event in Orlando, Florida, at the time of the NAR Convention. We don’t have a date or a location yet, but it will be right around Friday November 7, 2008. We want to be there to catch the Realtors before they rush into the convention center to spend a ton of money on hokey gimmicks that won’t work. This seems like an appropriate mission for a couple of wannabe Jesuits.

Teri’s videos are chugging along, and I’ll get around to tagging them tomorrow or Thursday. Feel free to watch them anyway, as they get uploaded. In the mean time, here is Brad Coy doing what Cathy says is a spot-on imitation of me:

And just to share the love, Brad also gave a parody performance of Brian Brady:


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May 20, 2008

Unchained voices: Video clips from the conference and after-hours events: “It’s been like learning more than my brain can fit”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

BloodhoundBlog’s Geno Petro:

Don Reedy talking about his new venture:

BloodhoundBlog’s Cheryl Johnson:

Brad Coy and Andy Kaufman taught a working lunch session on Twitter. Here’s Brad:

And here’s Andy:

Katherine Whiting talking about her own Web 2.0 epiphany:

Teri Lussier and her posse had dinner Sunday night at Durant’s a famous Phoenix steak house. Here are Jeff Royce and Lenore Wilkas at dinner:

Mark Eibner and Dirk Freeman from BrokerIPTV.com:

And we are all of us Greeks, as Teri demonstrates by interviewing the kitchen crew:

There are dozens of other clips on the BloodhoundBlog Unchained YouTube Channel. Even more at BrokerIPTV.com’s UStream Channel.

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Real Estate Website Makeover…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces will review and suggest improvements to several web sites and weblogs:

  • Mary Burak’s Advanced Access Site
  • JTC Realty Group’s Point2 Site
  • Gulf Coast Associates’s RealEstateWebmasters Site
  • Patti Herrington’s AgentImage Site
  • Karen Borden’s Z57 Site
  • Just for fun: BloodhoundRealty.com’s WordPress Site

Plus a surprise debut of a brand new blogsite for an RE.net mandarin

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Way of the Farmer…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • Listing strong to farm strong
  • Building single-property web sites
  • Using engenu to dominate the long tail
  • Zestifarming to dominate Zillow
  • Blogging your listings – with SEO power
  • Belly-to-belly farming the Web 2.0 way

Applying Web 2.0 technologies to the the traditional real estate marketing idea of the geographic farm. Greg Swann will take you through a set of techniques you can use to establish an online ubiquity more complete than you could ever achieve with postcards and pumpkins.

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Way of the Hunter…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • Two words: Ubiquity works
  • Setting traps on the sites that can expose you to consumers
  • Baiting the traps – providing relevant consumer content to match up with the community
  • Building a community – recruiting eyeballs that keep coming back
  • Getting commitment – how to convert engaged consumers to permission-based marketing participants
  • Channel marketing – building a referral network online

Brian Brady teaches you how to be as hard to miss as he is…

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Unchained Epiphany…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • You are free at last, a free moral agent with no one to order you around — but no one to blame but yourself if you should fail
  • You are free to thrive
  • You are free to starve
  • But you are not free to escape the necessity of making a choice

An introductory convocation from Greg Swann featuring philosophy, history, stirring rhetoric and some really scary homework…

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May 18, 2008

Kevin Wilhelm on the first day of BloodhoundBlog Unchained: “Today was the first day, which was meant to be a bonus day. But if it ended today, it would be worth the money, period.”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We planned these video clips as a way of communicating Web 2.0 ideas by effecting Web 2.0 ideas. Kevin Wilhelm, shown below, seems to make our point for us:

Here’s Bloodhound Teri Lussier, Saturday night, after a long flight and a day in the desert:

Real estate coach Jan O’Brien and Realtor Vance Shutes:

Nick Bastian, who surprised Brian with a real-time Twitter at our event ten days ago:

Kevin Warmath revised his sitemap while Mary McKnight was still speaking:

Bloodhound Geno Petro on the state of his SERPs:

Andy Kaufman and Brad Coy:

Bawldguy Bar-B-Que: Bloodhound Jeff Brown teaches prospecting with Kam Hubbard at Honey Bear’s Bar-B-Que in Central Phoenix:

Russell Shaw spoke for about 45 minutes. Here he is seen answering questions posed by Kevin Warmath:

There are half-a-dozen other Russell Shaw clips, along with three dozen others, on the BloodhoundBlog Unchained YouTube Channel.

Nick Bastian kicks in this clip of Mary McKnight on backlinks:


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May 18, 2008

BloodhoundBlog UNCHAINED Social Media Marketing Conference brought to you by Zillow.com- We start tomorrow

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Today was the “bonus day” of UNCHAINED.  We were delighted by the appearance of two giants: Mary Mc Knight of RSS Pieces and Russell Shaw of Number1HomeAgent.

Jan O’Brien, a RE Coach with  of Prudential Americana, in Las Vegas, outlined today’s “bonus day”.  Read her recap and get caught up.

Monday’s Schedule:

The conference starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 4PM:

Unchained Epiphany- Greg Swann

The Way of the Hunter Brian Brady

Working Lunch- Twitter- @BradCoy & @AndyKaufman

The Way of the Farmer- Greg Swann

Real Estate Website Makeover- Mary McKnight

6PM- No Host Happy Hour at the Radisson  Light Hors D’Oeuvres Complimentary

A Continental breakfast will be available at 8AM; coffee and water are complimetary throughout the day.   Lunch will be complimetary.The Museum Coffee Shop will be open at 9:30AM- 3PM. The Heard Museum will be open until 5PM and admission is complimentary for conference attendees.

Tuesday’s Schedule

The Conference Starts at 8:30 AM and concludes at 4PM

Traditional Marketing For A Web 2.0 World- Steve Hundley, Louis Cammarosano, Jeff Brown

Blogging For Dollars- Laurie Manny, Theresa Lussier

Working Lunch- Zillow Mortgage MarketPlace for Real Estate Agents- David Gibbons

Keynote Presentation- Glenn Kelman

Online Reputation Management- David Gibbons

Black Pearls and Commencement

A Continental breakfast will be available at 8AM; coffee and water throughout the day. Lunch is complimentary. The Museum Coffee Shop will be open at 9:30AM- 3PM. The Heard Museum will be open until 5PM and admission is complimentary for conference attendees.

There is a morning and afternoon break for personal phone calls.

May 18, 2008

More BloodhoundBlog Unchained video: The antediluvian trickle

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

There’s a ton more in Unchained clips to come, but here’s a quick taste from the work done today by BrokerIPTV.com.

To start with, Brian Brady interviews my best-beloved, Cathleen Collins:

Russell Shaw put in an appearance and spoke for about 45 minutes. We’ll have clips of that later tonight. In the mean time, here’s a post-session interview he did with BrokerIPTV.com’s Mark Eibner:

My take is that we delivered a lot of content for the first day. Our plan is to ratchet things up quite a bit over the next two days.

One of the things that I think is totally cool about what we are doing is that we aren’t just talking about it, we’re doing Social Media Marketing for the conference as we’re doing the conference. All this video is just a piece of that.

I’d love to hear from people who are at Unchained about how the first day went for them.

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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