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Category: Marketing (page 74 of 191)

May 5, 2008

The Realty.bot shuffle: Trulia.com’s response to complaints about nofollow tags on partner-supplied content seems truly atrocious

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Galen Ward’s post on Trulia.com’s policy of adding “nofollow” tags to links back to its own listings partners has elicited quite a bit of controversy.

The original post itself excited a great deal of commentary, and this is explored in encyclopedic detail in a fascinating post by Union Street Media’s Gahlord Dewald.

Trulia.com’s Rudy Bachraty participated for a while in that comment thread, then elected to take the respondent’s side of the debate back to Trulia’s home weblog, where head honcho Pete Flint made an effort to put out the fire. Comments there have been noticeably light, which made me wonder if Trulia has learned ahead of the curve why video commenting is a stoopid idea.

The story was picked up by Inman News today.

I am in the perhaps unique position of being just barely smart enough to explain what’s going on within what might well seem to others to be a blizzard of jargon.

Start here: I observed that Trulia is achieving truly amazing long-tail search results.

Galen pointed out that an ancillary reason for this is that Trulia is not allowing search engines to “follow” its links to its listing partners.

In other words, you — or your broker or your brokerage chain — feed Trulia.com a real estate listing, the primary content it uses to sell advertising. That listing will link back to its source (in hierarchical order: brokerage chain, broker, then lowly you if neither of the others is coming between you and your listing). But that link will include a “nofollow” tag, which means that when search engines see that listing page on Trulia, they will not queue your own page for spidering, nor will they in any other way regard that link as lending any strength to your page.

In still other words, Trulia is happy to feast on your crackers, but it’s not about to share any of its Google juice with you.

Trulia’s claims about why it is not doing this are specious and bogus, in my opinion, but you can read their side of the story at their weblog.

Does this actually matter? I think so, for two reasons. First, the Read more

May 5, 2008

The Simple Way To Get Personal Emails From Your Blog’s Readers

by

Mortgage Planner

Author website

Make your email address publicDear real estate agent,

I was reading your blog and wanted to send you a personal note.  I couldn’t find your email address, though.  I followed the link to your Web site and your email wasn’t there, either.  Then, I Googled you.

No dice. 

As a last-ditch effort, I tracked down your broker’s Web site and clicked 12 times to find your agent profile.   I hoped your email address would be published.  It wasn’t.

I eventually picked up the phone to call you.  I asked your assistant for your email address.

Next time, don’t make me jump through hoops to do business with you.

Sincerely,
The guy who was reading your blog

May 4, 2008

Do you want to make sure your home will sell? Little things matter

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). (Incidentally, this kind of previewing is one of the reasons I developed the ideas that led to engenu. You can organize photos and details for a lot of houses into one web site, then you can easily reorganize them by conceptual categories (A-list, possibilities, rejects) as you go along.)

 
Do you want to make sure your home will sell? Little things matter

I tend to do a lot of previewing. I will go into houses alone to take photographs. My buyers and I then use those photos to draft a short-list of homes to view when they’re ready to see for themselves.

Because of this, I get to spend a lot of time alone in homes, looking at absolutely everything, with no distractions.

Here’s what I’ve learned from looking at thousands of homes for sale: Little things matter.

Is the home picked up, or are there clothes, toys and magazines scattered everywhere? Are there dirty breakfast dishes on the kitchen table? Dried up orange juice splotches? Toast crumbs? Are last night’s dirty dishes piled up in the sink?

Is the house clean? Does it look and smell like the cleaning crew just left? If I look for dirt, I can find it. But can I find it easily without having to look?

Is every room of the house packed to the walls with furniture? Are there pictures of every member of the family for three generations tacked all over the walls? Do the kids like dark blue, dark purple, dark black paint?

I can probably guess your religion by the stuff you own and the other stuff you don’t own, but my buyers should never, ever see symbols of your religion in the house. Why? Because it can be subtly off-putting to them without their even knowing why at a conscious level.

Likewise, if they can smell your cat — or the fish you fried for dinner last week — you’ve probably already alienated potential buyers before they have even given your house half a chance. Odors kill sales, so kill those odors now.

Fix any obvious defects. Read more

May 2, 2008

Unchained, unplugged and off the clock…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I can’t think of any better way to make the real estate business rebound than having way too much other work to do. I’ve been writing Unchained content, juggling Unchained details, responding to a bunch of Unchained mail — all while negotiating and planning listings and working with buyers. Next week promises to be enriched with about three weeks’ worth of work, and we top it off with two Unchained preview shows on Friday.

Thus: If you’re in Phoenix on Friday, May 9th, Brian and I will be doing two 2.5 hour Unchained previews at the Mesquite Branch of the Phoenix Public Library (4525 Paradise Village Parkway North, Phoenix, AZ 85032). We’ll be talking to Realtors from 9:30 am to 12 Noon, and to Lenders from 1 pm to 3:30 pm. These two events are free — provided you pay attention — sponsored by Chicago Title and Mortgage Solutions of Arizona. RSVP with Lisa Capes at Chicago Title — 480-695-3136 — if you want to come.

Brian has been flat-out, too, which means he’s been too busy to raise the price for Unchained tickets. We’re still at $199 for all three days, so if you’re coming, you probably ought to commit yourself. Cathy has all the food taken care of, so your lunch and coffee and cookie breaks are on us. She and Brian have a Happy Hour event planned for Monday night, so everyone will have a chance to pick everyone else’s brains. The Radisson Phoenix City Center has a $69/night rack rate for Unchained students, although The Fairfield Inn is the hotel closest to The Heard Museum. Do you crave more details of a practical nature? Click and ye shall find.

Galen Ward owned our minds this week, for good reason, but, if I can, I’d like to turn your attention back to the idea of the unchained epiphany. This has nothing to do with the conference and everything to do with why we’re doing it. Chris Johnson and his wife had a little baby girl named Ruby. I’m sure he’s not busy enough, so I would point him back more than Read more

May 2, 2008

Want to be the greatest real estate agent in the world? You’ll need a solid plan, a lot of hard work, a little luck — and a web site. For the latter, you can compete for the site Eric Blackwell won in the “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” SEO contest.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Eric Blackwell is holding a raffle for the Real Estate Webmasters we site he won in the “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” SEO contest.

Tickets are $35 each, four for $100. Proceeds go to the Eco Preservation Society in Costa Rica.

Click over to Eric’s site for all the details.

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May 1, 2008

Louis Cammarosano to Speak at The BloodhoundBlog Social Media Marketing Conference brought to you by Zillow.com

by

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

Author website

What do you do with a guy who chooses to fight the lions in THEIR den?

You invite him to speak at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference, brought to you by Zillow. That’s what we did and I think you’ll be pleased.

louis cammarosanoLouis Cammarosano, General Manager for Home Gain, has accepted our invitation to be a member of the UNCHAINED faculty. We’ll have him on a panel of “traditional marketing experts”, Tuesday morning for UNCHAINED. Louis will be discussing the evolution of Web marketing and share some of his personal experiences. Louis dipped his toe jumped into the Web 2.0 world earlier this year. In six short months, Louis built Home Gain Blog into a virtual RE.net powerhouse by adding some well-known authors. Google awarded his blog with a Page Rank 7 in its most recent sweep.

Bloodhound readers will recognize Louis from the Bloodhound Blog comments’ threads. He comments about poetry and web marketing. He comments about real estate brokerage . Louis is a bright guy so I’m sure we’ll be impressed with his contribution to UNCHAINED.

I made the comment about Louis walking into the lion’s den but I want to be clear about something; we didn’t invite him so that the Social Media Marketing junkies (like me) can throw tomatoes at the “leads guy”. Quite the contrary. Greg and I recognize that marketing is a mixture of various media. For some, Web 1.0 (or Web 1.5 as they evolve) platforms are VERY effective ways to garner customers. That’s why we’re having this “old skool” panel; it works for many people.

UNCHAINED is about efficacy. It’s an exploration into the evolution of all online marketing platforms to see where they might fit into YOUR personal media mix. We’re honored and grateful to welcome Louis Cammarosano to the UNCHAINED faculty.

P.S.- I was insistent about Louis coming to Phoenix on Monday. I haven’t met the man in person but I’ve had a great phone relationship with him. We’ll be throwing a little happy hour Read more

May 1, 2008

Is The Growth Of Media Good For Realtors?

by

Associate Broker

Author website

New Avenues Of Marketing Exposure Are Exploding In Growth And Cost

Remember when there were only three broadcast television channels? Well, I know some of you – like me – remember. It was a simpler time, back then.

If you wanted to bring a product or service to market, there were limited channels to advertise – and because of this dynamic, the costs to exposure a large part of your audience to your ad was relatively cheap.

Not so, anymore.

Now, when a product or service is brought to market, it almost always has to be targeted to a specific audience – as few entities can afford the blanket coverage of yesteryear. Just take a look at what it costs to market a presidential candidate.

We see this happening in real estate, as well. The avenues where listings can be shown has grown to a visual cacophony. There are virtually thousands of places where buyers can find listings.

Somehow, I don’t see this as a great benefit to Realtors – or the public, in general.

Don’t get me wrong – I do believe that competition is good… and that having more than one way to market listings is good – but at what point does it become more of a hassle than it’s worth?

Would online auctions be better if there were a few dozen Ebay-like sites to buy and sell on? And if so, how would it benefit the people who were trying to buy or sell?

For some reason, I think not.

May 1, 2008

Oh, Canada! Your Zestimates are baking: Zillow.ca is in the oven

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

So: My belief would be that, regardless of Trulia.com’s nofollow policy on the listings it solicits from Realtors, brokers and brokerage chains, if you’re building things right at home, you should be able to beat any out-of-town infiltrators on your own listings.

So I looked up “718 West Moreland Street”, which isn’t even my listing, but which I wrote about in my own Trulia post a couple of weeks ago. My links are coming in in positions 1, 2, 3 and 4 and Trulia is at number 6. Your mileage may vary.

Next up, “12214 West Madison Street”, which we listed 13 days ago. The home’s single-property web site comes in first and second. Trulia isn’t there at all yet, but guess who comes in third? Yes, its underdog victorious Zillow.com. I tweaked David Gibbons a couple of days ago about his uncharacteristic silence, but I knew this meant that Zillow had to be working on SEO. With Zillow, you can learn a lot from the questions they won’t answer.

Here’s a third one: “1322 East Vermont Avenue”, which we’ve had listed for about a month. We definitely believe in networked cross-linking on our own sites, so as I look at my results for that search today (all of which might change at any instant), we’re coming in first, second, third, fifth and sixth out of seven hits on google, with the single-property web site again in the dominant position. Trulia.com is in fourth place, behind a weblog post I wrote about the Vermont house on DistinctivePhoenix.com — a PR4 weblog.

Can I call this established? If you’re building your own web sites properly, Trulia.com should not be able to beat you. Any disputes, disclaimers or caveats?

But here’s what’s really interesting: Position number seven is occupied by Zillow.ca. I don’t know how many houses there are in Canada, but it looks like they’re about to get Zestimated.

If a sphinx-like creature, his gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, should like to offer up some details, I’m all ears.

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April 30, 2008

Who’s the greatest real estate agent in the world? That’s a title I’m willing to compete for. But the winner of the “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” SEO contest is BloodhoundBlog’s Eric Blackwell

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

And BloodhoundBlog’s Eric Bramlett breaks the news:

Drumroll please……

Team Eric!

Eric Blackwell and his merry band of SEO’s/bloggers truly proved the spirit of SEO – it’s all about the relationships.  Jennifer Karlan, Greg Swann, Ken Smith, Wayne Long, Judy Orr, Cal Carter, Mike Damman, Charles & Jacqueline Richey, and Matt Scoggins all need to take a collective bow.  Through the use of teamwork and some very strategic use of assets they individually & collectively own, they were able to control #1 from the second month of the contest to the finish line.

There was a LOT of stiff competition here.  Ardell DellaLoggia ran it tight all the way to the finish line.  Greg Boser was in it, and then disappeared off the map w/ a few weeks to go — everyone was anxiously waiting for the SEO Dark Lord to pop his head back in at 11:59 on April 30th.  The guys at newhomessection.com finished #5, w/ Mike Damman’s site PropertyHogs.com, Ryan Ward, Justin from hismove (ranking well, though he dropped out early,) and then Jay Thompson rounding out the top 10.  Wouldn’t you know it?  My post ended up at the top of page 2 – the story of my life.

I’d like to thank everyone for participating, and especially thank Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters for sponsoring the event.  Team Eric has decided to auction off the prize & donate the money to the Eco Preservation Society of Costa Rica (a favorite of Mike Damman’s.)

Eric Blackwell told you he was going to win. I told you Eric was going to win. But the truth is, Eric won because he assembled a great team of very smart people who were shooting Google juice his way until the very last minute.

Take a moment, if you would, to leave a comment to Eric’s winning post. This is a remarkable achievement, and we all got to be a part of it.

Bravo, Eric! And remember: Nice guys link back! 😉

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April 30, 2008

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine!

by

Real Estate Broadcaster and Investor

Author website

Case Shiller Reort | Real Estate Radio USA

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn – world
serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs.
Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, Ladder
start to clatter with fear fight down height.
Wire in a fire, representing seven games, a government
for hire and a combat site.
Left of west and coming in
a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.

Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.
Look at that low playing! Fine, then.
Uh oh,
overflow, population, common food, but it’ll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself.
World serves its own needs,
listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and
the revered and the right, right.

You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty
psyched.

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

In 1987, Micheal Stipe and REM released a song that many have interpreted in many ways. When REM played the song live they were actually very surprised. In playing a song about the end of the world, the audience actually reacted with great enthusiasm. So much so that the fun vibe threw off the band. They thought the apocalyptic lyrics would create a more subdued response.

What does this have to do with real estate? Well yesterday the newest housing numbers came out and it’s sounding the end of the real estate world…yet I feel fine.

The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks 20 of the largest housing markets, showed prices plummeting by 12.7% in the 12 months ending February. That’s the biggest fall since the index began tracking prices in 2000.

Of those same 20 markets, 17 of them posted their largest declines ever recorded and 50% of the metro areas posted double-digit declines.

“There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers,” S&P spokesman David M. Blitzer, said in a prepared statement. “Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation.”

“This is huge,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Read more

April 29, 2008

HomeGain.com adds a weblogging platform for its clients

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’ve spent quite a few brain cycles tweaking HomeGain General Manager Louis Cammarosano. The head of what is very obviously a Web 1.0 chokepoint-style company, Cammarosano has himself very obviously been on an agitprop mission in the Web 2.0 world.

His goals:

  1. To minimize the Web 2.0 difference in the marketplace
  2. To claim that HomeGain has been a Web 2.0 company all along
  3. All the while, to figure out how to transform HomeGain.com to something like a Web 2.0 business model

That much was funny to me, because Cammarosano is a hale-fellow-well-met, rather more the opposite of a spy.

In any case, his efforts are bearing fruit now: A few months ago Cammarosano started a group weblog to figure out if HomeGain should have a weblog. Starting later tonight, HomeGain’s customers will be abel to start their own client-seeking weblogs on the lead-generating site.

Both Brian Brady and Mike Farmer write on the HomeGain blog, so I hope they’ll keep us informed about how the new blogging platform is working out. Free blogging platforms are not always a slam-dunk success, but I think HomeGain’s offering makes more sense than does ActiveRain, for instance. I have felt that free weblogs would be a better solution than discussion fora on Zillow.com: Weblogging creates a middle-management structure, providing a cadre of volunteers to keep bad behavior from oscillating out of control.

In any case, since I’ve been so churlish to Cammarosano, I want to congratulate him for taking a step in the right direction. Anything that induces consumers to shop harder for better values is a net win in my ledger.

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April 29, 2008

Have You Seen Some Of The Answers On Trulia Voices?

by

Real Estate Broadcaster and Investor

Author website

Trulia Voices | Real Estate Radio USA

As I am constantly in search of constant promotion and link love, I recently ventured over to Trulia Voices.

I love the format. Consumers post questions about real estate and anyone who subscribes to a certain criteria that you choose, will receive the questions via email and then you have the opportunity to post your answer to the consumer…to the consumer!!

Great idea, great concept, and in its simplicity, a great way to interact with the consumer in a honest and open fashion. You are allowed to suggest an answer according to how you would handle a certain situation or dilemma that the consumer may have or be facing in the near future.

Of course, it is to be expected, that with a gazillion Realtors on the planet, that one answer may differ from another’s answer. We all have different life and vocational experiences that we can look to for our answers.

That’s what makes blogging so special. I may have one belief, you may have another and we can truly voice (no pun intended) our opinion as to what we feel is a suitable response to the consumer’s inquiry.

How wrong I was. Why did I ever go over to Trulia Voices? Yes, I probably received some of my sought after link love (no I didn’t check the “no-follow” tag), but I was not prepared for my other bonus.

Vilification as if one was an interloper! I began answering the questions that were being asked directly. I was giving the answers that I felt best solved the consumers problem or inquiry. I did not know that isn’t the way to respond.

Excuse me for speaking my mind and responding openly and honestly to an inquiry from the public. I didn’t see the response guidelines that said there was a specific manner in which to communicate with the consumer according to the amended Code of Realtor Mandated Responses on Trulia Voices. I now realize what I was supposed to do. Now I need a shower.

Most of those who choose to answer over at TV seem to be following some golden oldie real estate agent playbook. Most of the Read more

April 28, 2008

Save a House, Ride a REALTOR®

by

CEO, PA Association of Realtors

Author website

(If you are not a country music fan, you may have a serious character flaw, but that is the subject of another post on another Blog.  For now, here is a video that will help you “get” the title of this post.)

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy

Across the nation, in most markets, we not only have too many listings, we also have too many overpriced listings.  It is true in Charlottesville; it’s true in Atlanta, Austin, and Atlantic City.  I know it is true even without looking at the local statistics for all these markets because “too many listings” and “too many overpriced listings” goes hand in hand.  The basic law of economics – supply and demand – dictates that prices will adjust downward when supply is too high. 

Following that logic, what we need is a good old fashion INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE!  Can you picture this ad as part of the NAR public awareness campaign?

reduction“Hi, I’m Charles McMillan, President-elect of the National Association of REALTORS® and I’m here to announce an across the board 30% reduction in home prices.  That’s right, this is the REALTOR® Spring Spectacular event of a lifetime.  Buy before July 1st and save BIG on any home in any market.”

Okay, that’s not going to happen, nor could it.  The real estate market is not like the market for toilet paper at Wal-Mart.  In real estate, we have something like five million owners (sellers) of the “company” that would have to approve an across the board price reduction.  That’s a lot of decision makers even by Wal-Marts standards.

Some sellers have figured out the economics of the current market and agreed to price their home correctly.  Guess what?  Those are the homes that are selling.  In the CAAR MLS, homes that sold in March sold after and average of 130 days on the market (DOM).  That’s not a particularly good number, but it beats the 149 days (and counting) that the current active inventory is averaging for DOM.  In addition, a closer look at the numbers will show that many of the homes that sold in March, sold quickly; Read more

April 28, 2008

Inside the Liar’s Loan – How the Mortgage Industry Nutured Deceit

by

Marketing Provocateur

Author website

Well-written piece by Mark Gimein in Slate this morning asks an interesting and important question:

In ordinary circumstances, the people and institutions you deal with reinforce social norms. They say it’s not OK to lie. But what happens when the structures and institutions break down and start telling you the opposite?

The answers it portends are unsettling.

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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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