BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Category: Real Estate (page 79 of 266)

April 3, 2009

SEO Homework for BHB Unchained

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

OK, so I bet you were wondering what you needed to bring and what homework you needed to do before coming to the SEO portion of Bloodhound Blog Unchained.

Well, whether you are coming for the basics of SEO, or the more advanced stuff, the requirements are pretty similar:

PREREQUISITE: Please download the google basic search engine optimization guide. Read it. Study it. Be prepared to ask me questions about it. It is VERY basic and there is much to add, but Google did a GREAT job of explaining the barebones. (They were more tired than I was, if that’s possible, of the misinformation that is out there). I will assume at the start of our lecture and lab that you have already completed this.

1. Have Firefox loaded on your computer. No Internet Explorer. No Safari. No if’s, and’s or but’s, candy or nuts. (You can certainly have those browsers on your computer as well…but you won’t be using them with me.)

2. Have access to your analytics of your site. I don’t really care what kind of analytics you have, we just need to be able to look at them to help you improve. (Advanced class…we are gonna hit these HARD).

3. As well, please have the following numbers ready. #1) the # of deals that came DIRECTLY from your website / blog #2) The # of leads (define that how you will-don’t get hung up on it.) that you received from your site in the past year #3) The number of hours you spent this last year doing online marketing, blogging, social media, etc. (Yes, Virginia! I want you to put a NUMBER to it 😉 ). (HINT: We are going to take ROI into account the Bawld Guy way..counting the skins.)

4. Please write down every question that you have ever had about Search Engine Marketing. Seriously. Write them all down over the next month as you think of them.

I am REALLY looking forward to learning and sharing in Phoenix. I have been waiting for months to get back into the same room with Brian Brady, Greg, Sean, Teri Read more

April 2, 2009

The Eight Hour Day

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Some on these pages, me included, offer various methods, systems if you prefer, to produce a larger and more reliable income in the real estate business. I have my way, others have theirs. The smart ones literally couldn’t care less how the other guy does it as long as the cat skins keep showin’ up on the wall. Oh, they may care enough to adopt others’ techniques, making it their own, but in the end, they care about puttin’ smiles on the faces of their wives and bankers. A lesson I learned from Grandma long ago — one of the most reliable gages of how well you’re doing at any given time is if both your banker and your wife are consistently happy to see you coming.

Let’s skip the M.O. today, and talk more on how your work week is really playing out. There it is, the room is now so quiet, you can’t hear yourself think above the din of the crickets. I’ve given, heard, made fun of, been shamed by, and shaken my head at the explanations given for so called ‘work weeks’ a myriad times.

It’s Thursday as I publish this, so it might be Friday or the weekend as you read it. Look back over your week, and honestly assess how many hours you spent ‘working’ for which you wouldn’t be embarrassed to charge more than $10. It’s my contention most full time real estate agents haven’t worked eight hours in one day doing what Dad used to call ‘actual productive, billable work’. One night at dinner he bluntly declared that the next time I work 40 billable hours in one work week would be the first. Ouch.

What agents do to avoid real nuts and bolts work need not be listed in detail here. I know what you do, because I did it. Constantly getting ready, getting ready to get ready, preparing, waiting for information, setting this or that new project up, blah blah blah. I’m convinced most never fully realize how much their words come out sounding like, ‘My dog ate my Read more

April 2, 2009

I need software advice for BloodhoundBlog Unchained

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We’re getting ready to start handing out homework assignments for the folks coming to BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix.

As has been noted, my piece of the program will entail doing hard-headed stuff at the server level.

To do that work, students will need a web browser, which everyone has, but they’ll also need an FTP client and a text editor — ideally a true programmer’s editor.

I live in the Macintosh world. I’ve been using Fetch for FTP and various editions of BBEdit for text editing since the mid-1980s.

But, obviously, most of the folks coming to Unchained will be running Windows — as will I, for that matter, since I don’t have a Mac laptop.

So: I need advice.

What’s a Windows FTP client worth having? I don’t need security, but the ability to open multiple sessions in multiple windows would be great. Right now I use FileZilla and mostly hate it.

And what’s a worthwhile programmer’s editor? I haven’t looked at eMacs in years, but I remember not loving it much back when DOS was still the boss.

Price range? I’d love free, but cheap is not the end of the world. Flexibility and ease of use matter, too.

So guide me. What should I be looking at?

April 1, 2009

You’re Unique – Just Like Everyone Else

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

What makes you unique?  I’m not referring to your eleventh toe or your ability to recite the Arabic alphabet backwards.  That’s not unique – that’s plain odd.

Why do clients want to work with you?  What makes you better than the rest of the pack?  I ask this question based upon the comments I received in my last past.

Simply because you may rank first or second in a Google search does not make you unique – it makes you visible.   Now that you’re visible, what is the value you bring to the table?

I did a search on an address of a property I’ve listed, sadden to see that my SEO wizardry had failed me – Trulia and a whole host of other sites beat me to the punch – but honestly, I don’t care.  My client’s property is well represented in cyberspace.  It’s visible.  But visibility is not value in and of itself.

Now – say you use the fact that you rank first, maybe second on the list of the Google search you ran, specifically on the property’s address – or maybe even on the property’s characteristics – terrific!

But wait – as a consumer, I see your site and perhaps Trulia, Redfin or another local broker’s site with the same property – and a slew of other sites with the same information.  It’s visible but it is not specifically clear to me as a consumer why I would choose your site versus another.  Perhaps I choose your link because it’s first on the list.  Not a bad choice, but it was relatively arbitrary – it ranked first – not necessarily best.

If you’re marketing yourself as the best professional to sell a client’s home because you own the ranking of their property in a search result, you’re kidding your client – but mostly, you’re kidding yourself.

Greg Swann nailed the value proposition as to why high visibility on the web is a key differentiator:  he’s visible – but he also sells his clients’ listings in less time than comparable properties in his market.  Like almost 50% less.

Your high visibility facilitates your ability to sell Read more

March 31, 2009

It’s Springtime in Madison, Wisconsin. The trees are in blossom, the students are protesting — and I have a no-fee referral for an investment-savvy agent who works like a Bloodhound…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

An old friend, very smart, very good with numbers, has landed in Madison, Wisconsin. He’s sitting on way too much cash, and he realizes he needs to capitalize that dough before it gets inflated away to nothing.

That much is a silver platter. Deep pockets and unlimited future earning power, a client to die for. But: He’s an attorney, non-practicing, and an MBA, also non-practicing. He can handle the truth, no matter how ugly, but you will never slide even the smallest lie past him. You need to know what you’re talking about, and you need to be able to back up what you say.

He’s living in Middleton Hills, but he’s interested in investment opportunities anywhere in the Greater Madison area. He’s never been a landlord, so he’ll need education in that regard — and it’s plausible to me that he’s a better candidate for commercial properties than for rental housing. That’s something you’ll have to work out.

What I’m looking for, in exchange for a no-fee referral, is an agent who works like a Bloodhound. If you’re willing to work hard for a serious, motivated, monied investor, give me a howl. I’ll put you and my friend in touch.

March 31, 2009

Announcing RealSearchUSA.com

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

No, that’s not me with The Hoff and a Google Search Appliance, that’s Google’s UK Sales Mgr.		 RealSearchUSA.com will be a network of Independent brokers connected by a unique function – a natural language Real Estate search engine. Our goal is to create a true consumer benefit: A Google-inspired (and powered) natural language search experience that leads to a good, local independent broker.

The success of our network will be determined by Word of Mouth (or, more accurately, Word of Email, Word of Facebook, Word of IM, Word of Twitter…).

Here’s the thing about that: We, as the technical force behind the network, have no control over what happens after we hand a homebuyer off to a broker, but that is the part of the experience that will drive WOM for both the broker and the network.

Since we work on an exclusive territory basis to preserve the competitive advantage of a unique user experience, we need to be sure that we are working with the right brokers if we want to see that WOM, so we are being selective about who we hook up to the network.

That’s why I am announcing RealSearchUSA here on BHB: If we can network Web-smart brokers together at the Search Result level, not only would we be off to a good start, we would be taking concrete steps to strengthen the independent brokers who are poised to shake up this industry whenever a recovery gets going.

In most cases, we can place a Google-powered Real Estate Search box on an existing Web site, as we have done here for Mike DiMella at Charlesgate Realty in Boston. It is a network based on an upgrade to Search, which is the function that most Real Estate Web site users are looking for in the first place, but here is the kicker: This search function will also make you a node on a network of independent brokers like you.

Allow me to explain the node thing:

We build Real Estate Search Engines using Google’s Enterprise technology. Our goal is to provide the best Real Estate Search experience for people who like the way Read more

March 29, 2009

The mapmaker’s dilemma: What the hell are you doing with your time?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

That’s a screen shot of the user interface of the beta version of the mapping software I talked about on Friday.

This version:

  • Creates a Google Maps KML file from a list of street addresses
  • Assigns a user-selectable map marker to those addresses
  • Optionally creates a folder on the file server for that address — to serve as an engenu folder
  • Optionally creates folders and folder structures, thus to create an engenu hierarchy
  • Optionally builds links from the map markers to the individual street address folders

This is me writing to the Swallow Hill Gang last night, a very brief outline of features and capabilities:

Any valid addresses, one to a line, will produce a KML file that can be imported into Google Maps.

Like this, which is me and my best beloved:

314 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020

You’ll have the map marker you choose. I’ll be adding more.

If you select Folders, a folder will be created for that address:

“314_East_El_Caminito_Drive,_Phoenix,_AZ_85020”

If you select Links, the folder will be linked from the map marker.

If you select Links without Folders, neither one happens, for obvious reasons.

If you precede a line with a tilde — “~” — a folder is created, and subsequent address lines and their respective folders and links are created hierarchically. Like this:

~Top Level Folder

would create a folder at the top level named “Top_Level_Folder”.

This structure:

~Top Level Folder
314 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020

would create a link to a folder from the map marker for my house inside of the “Top_Level_Folder” folder, hence:

“Top_Level_Folder/314_East_El_Caminito_Drive,_Phoenix,_AZ_85020”

If you do this:
~Top Level Folder
~Top Level Folder/Second Level Folder
314 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020

You would get this:

“Top_Level_Folder/Second_Level_Folder/314_East_El_Caminito_Drive,_Phoenix,_AZ_85020”

You have to build each level of the hierarchy as you go. No harm, no foul if you try to create a folder that already exists.

You can do this:

~Love
~Love/Barefoot Boy With Cheek
314 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020
~Love/Barefoot Boy With Cheek/Girl Next Door
322 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020
~Love/Barefoot Boy With Cheek/Girl Next Door/And Baby Makes Three
402 East El Caminito Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85020

and you will have created what I hope will be a by-now obvious hierarchy.

If all you want to do is create a folder hierarchy, Read more

March 27, 2009

Building customized Google Maps and engenu folder structures from lists of addresses

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I have very alpha software that makes a KML file that Google Maps will eat to make something like this:


View Larger Map

It’s kinda-sorta like ZeeMaps, except I get a true Google Maps map, which I can then customize and embed.

I start with a list of addresses, which I can type if I absolutely have to.

There’s more: I’m going to build in the ability to create an engenu folder structure from the list of addresses, so that a site like this essentially builds itself.

For that kind of engenu site, I’ll cut my time from 40 minutes to 20 minutes, on the order of two minutes a page for brand new, original, knock-your-socks-off content.

March 27, 2009

Wheaten Terrier Picks Agent for $150m Listing

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

How long before the “Real Estate Coaches” are advising their clients to walk into listing appointments with a pocketful of snausages?

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The widow of producer Aaron Spelling is placing “The Manor” in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood on the market for a jaw-dropping $150 million, making it by far the most expensive home for sale in the U.S…

…Candy Spelling’s late husband produced hit shows such as “Charlie’s Angels,””Dynasty” and “Beverly Hills 90210.” He died in 2006…

…Candy Spelling told The Associated Press that she let her dog Madison, a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, help pick out the best real estate agent for the task. She had her security bring the dog into the room every time she met one of the candidate agents and watched how the dog reacted. If Madison didn’t like them, Spelling crossed them off the list.

Prospective buyers won’t have to worry about passing such scrutiny, Spelling jokes.

“Not at all,” she says.

Too bad her late husband didn’t have the dog sniff the shows he produced.

What a laugh Candy is having at our expense. She thinks all agents are the same. One of them is going to get let’s say a cool 1% of $150m ($1.5m). That’s probably Madison’s yearly grooming budget, so let’s let the dog decide. What a lark.

I’m not sure what the take-away is, here.

Part of me realizes the problem isn’t that Candy let her dog pick her Real Estate agent. The problem is that Candy, widow of Aaron, mother of Tori, knew it would play.

If she thought for a second that the general public or prospective buyers would think she was an idiot for letting the dog pick a Realtor, she wouldn’t be laughing about it with the AP. It’s not that she made the joke, its that she knew the audience would get it.

On the other hand, it’s Friday. If you have spent the week trying to be the best agent or broker you can be, trying to build your business in this market, and then you find out that a dog decided who got the most expensive listing in the US, it Read more

March 26, 2009

Meet My New BFF: GoToWebinar

by

Database Marketing Expert

Author website

Hate cold calling?  No, not you Chris Johnson.  I mean the rest of us.

Me too.  So I invested a few dollars into GoToMeeting and a few hours promoting a few educational Webinars with Brian Brady on Facebook and LinkedIn.

If you can deal with my goofball face and occasional blabbering, you’ll find a couple of nuggets in the 19 minute video below.

Takeaways:

1)  Pick a hot Webinar topic.  Find an industry expert.  And give the goods.  You don’t need to sell anything.  Just give.

2)  Have your friends, referral sources and counterparts help you promote your webinar.  Return the favor when they ask.

3)  Use the Webinar registration process to build your database and collect valuable data on your attendees.

4)  Record your Webinar, use video editing software like Camtasia to reformat, and post your Webinar onto your blog.

5)  Promote your Webinar on high traffic blogs.  Drive registrants to your blog to fill out the Registration Form.

March 26, 2009

Hey Sunshine! Tell Me About Your Day

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I’ve not only been a broker since January of 1977, but the designated broker since then too. For those not familiar with the term, a designated broker is the one with the dotted line drawn on their neck. The buck stops with the DB. Though not all DB’s are office/company managers, my guess is most are. Ironically, in my first decade as a DB the only thing I was allowed to be in charge of was the coffee room, as Dad pretty much called the shots back then — as he should’ve. Besides, who puts a 25 year old in charge of a real estate investment firm? I generally rated solid reviews as Executive Vice President of coffee room operations.

When Dad finally rode into the real estate sunset, making golf the only line on his daily to-do list, it fell to me to be the DB more than just on paper. Calling Brown and Brown a small firm is the working definition of redundant, as the most folks we’ve ever had working, including me, is four — counting the secretary. However, shortly after Dad’s handicap began it’s downward descent, I was headhunted by a local C/21 owner to create and run a separate and unattached commercial division. I was 35, and ready for a challenge. Creating something from scratch appealed to me.

This post’s title is how Dad used to greet me as I walked into the room, when I was asked to join his cadre of old merciless bastards at the 19th hole. This happened about three times a week, and was literally a graduate course in real estate, management, business in general and performing under pressure. I learned pretty quickly my job was to share my fries, speak when I was spoken to, and most of all, listen. There were about 16 of ’em. They were affectionately known at the club as The Bandits, as they regularly schooled the assistant pros, often leaving the poor guys poorer.

In this group were three former real estate board presidents, land, income property, and leasing specialists — all but one who’d been DB’s Read more

March 25, 2009

Is your business about to take a quantum leap? So is mine, so all I have time for is this: Whip your on-line and off-line marketing message into shape now, to make the most of the business coming your way

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

If you’re looking for the long, newsy pitch, I’ll try to get to it later this week. But for now I am working with and incubating more solid money work than I have in three years. I expect your dance card is starting to fill up, too.

Even given all the turmoil in the economy, BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix could not be coming at a better time. Why? Because you need to get your marketing profile in shape now — first to take advantage of all that new business coming your way, and second because your days of idle blue-sky time are coming to an end.

If you’re ready to rock, all you have to do from here is click a PayPal button to reserve your place at BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix. The event runs from April 28th to May 1st, 2009. Many more details can be found at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix weblog.

CyberProfessionals: $397


















Unchained Alumnus: $597


















Regular Price: $697


















Each of our eight three-hour labs will be taught by an expert, by a working real estate professional balanced on the bleeding edge of hi-tech marketing. We’re building this curriculum for our own self-improvement, too, so we know there is simply no better investment you can make in your career this year.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Phoenix!

March 24, 2009

By applying CDSs to CDOs, did AIG go MIA? Or could the SEC, the OTS and one unhired CFO have kept it from turning up DOA?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

A totally killer run down of the Wall Street mess from — you’ll never guess it — Rolling Stone magazine:

There are plenty of people who have noticed, in recent years, that when they lost their homes to foreclosure or were forced into bankruptcy because of crippling credit-card debt, no one in the government was there to rescue them. But when Goldman Sachs — a company whose average employee still made more than $350,000 last year, even in the midst of a depression — was suddenly faced with the possibility of losing money on the unregulated insurance deals it bought for its insane housing bets, the government was there in an instant to patch the hole. That’s the essence of the bailout: rich bankers bailing out rich bankers, using the taxpayers’ credit card.

The people who have spent their lives cloistered in this Wall Street community aren’t much for sharing information with the great unwashed. Because all of this shit is complicated, because most of us mortals don’t know what the hell LIBOR is or how a REIT works or how to use the word “zero coupon bond” in a sentence without sounding stupid — well, then, the people who do speak this idiotic language cannot under any circumstances be bothered to explain it to us and instead spend a lot of time rolling their eyes and asking us to trust them.

That roll of the eyes is a key part of the psychology of Paulsonism. The state is now being asked not just to call off its regulators or give tax breaks or funnel a few contracts to connected companies; it is intervening directly in the economy, for the sole purpose of preserving the influence of the megafirms. In essence, Paulson used the bailout to transform the government into a giant bureaucracy of entitled assholedom, one that would socialize “toxic” risks but keep both the profits and the management of the bailed-out firms in private hands. Moreover, this whole process would be done in secret, away from the prying eyes of NASCAR dads, broke-ass liberals who read translations of French novels, subprime mortgage Read more

March 24, 2009

Inquiry Bump?

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

Yesterday, after the housing data came out, there was spike in the number of web-generated inquiries we see.

I’d have to take the time to aggregate the data across all clients to put a number on it, but just looking at the inbox we use to keep an eye on “Ask our Agent” questions, the jump was significant.

Obviously, people are influenced by the news. I could look at Q4 traffic graph from last year and show you the day Lehman went down, but I don’t remember a good news bump like this in the five years I’ve been managing Real Estate Web sites.

Are you seeing the same thing?

« Older posts Newer posts »

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.

Media Contacts