There’s always something to howl about.
I know the entire RE.net will be focused like a laser on its future starting this evening (in case you haven’t Heard).
And we’re all truly wondering about the depth of Trulia’s mendacity (several layers deep apparently).
And who isn’t speculating about the story behind the story behind this story? (I think it may soon be available on DVD).
Just a word of caution before you find yourself all fired up by these relatively minor distractions. Remember what really matters.
I have been trying to think of a way to explain what has been going through my mind in plain english. Here’s my attempt:
When Galen first posted about Trulia’s aggressive no-following of listings links, it was a bit technical for many folks to follow, but it set off alarm bells everywhere. Then Eric Bramlett pointed out the SYSTEMIC, SECRETIVE, USE OF OPT OUT TRULIA WIDGETS ON NUMBER 1 EXPERT SITES.. (Also here.) Let me break it down so that it is more easy to grasp:
SYSTEMIC: Number One Expert applied them all at once (or very quickly) to a number of their templated real estate websites.
SECRETIVE: They put the widgets at the BOTTOM of an internal page (in most cases) BUT on one that usually gets GOOD authority from the front page of the site. This is secretive, because they will attract VERY little traffic and attention. Without checking their backlinks, we would not have known they were there. They are placed IMO where they will do VERY little good in keeping traffic and NO good in attracting traffic.
Also, they were secretive in that they did not let their clients know that they did this! They just took the prerogative and popped them on the templates. How do I know? I have asked several real estate agents who are their clients and NOT ONE of them knew that the widgets were there. PERIOD>
OPT OUT WIDGETS: This means that if you want to take these widgets off of your site you MUST call them and ask them to take them off of your site. This is the FIRST time (that I am aware of) of having a website provider slap THOUSANDS of widget links to another competiting site for the same LOCAL terms and MAKE YOU CALL TO GET IT REMOVED.
Why are MANY people saying that it looks like a paid link? It is because that is the ONLY thing we can think of why Number 1 Expert would do this! It puts their clients sites (In my opinon) at unneeded risk! They put TENS of THOUSANDS of links on their Read more
This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). Watch this space. There should be a lot of Flip video coming out of Unchained.
The Flip digital video camera makes illustrating real estate ideas fast, convenient and fun
I’m becoming a fan of digital video for marketing real estate.
I’ve always hated the video home tour: “This. Is. The. Living. Room. This. Is. The. Dining. Room. The. Family. Dines. In. This. Room.” The images will be small, dark and grainy. The motion will be either jerky, swooping or both. And the tour itself will do nothing that could not be done better with digital photos.
But just lately I got a Flip video camera, and I can’t seem to stop thinking of real estate uses for it.
The Flip uses solid state memory rather than tapes to store its video. It’s a tiny little thing, about the size of a digital still camera, and you can operate it with one hand. It’s really only good for certain kinds of work. It would be useless at a wedding or a basketball game. But for capturing interviews, it is the prefect video camera.
Even better, it comes with a built-in USB connection and software for emailing videos or pumping them directly into YouTube or MySpace. Shooting, storing, editing and sharing videos are all painlessly convenient.
The first real estate application I thought of for the Flip was to collect testimonials from clients. That’s kind of self-serving, but the next idea was all about selling houses. In the past we have done video interviews with sellers or neighbors, but the editing process for normal video is onerous. But with the Flip we can just shoot the interview, upload it to YouTube and then link it from the web site for that property.
If I want to make a quick video to show weather conditions or traffic around a house, it’s easily done. I had a home inspector deliver a short video summary of the repair issues on a home for out-of-town buyers.
The breakthrough for me was thinking of video in the same way I think of still photography, Read more
The following is taken from The Intellectual Heritage Program of Temple.
“The Natural Rights philosophy that we study in Intellectual Heritage reflects the central ideals of the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason (1660-1798). John Locke and Thomas Jefferson are just two of the many notable thinkers and writers who share Enlightenment values.
A basic list of these values would include the following:
In short, the Enlightenment thinkers believed in the powers of humankind and saw themselves as part of a revolutionary development in history that would replace superstition and tired rituals and corrupt traditions with reason and productive energy.”
In many ways, web 2.0 is akin to The Enlightenment, at least the concepts and promises. We have to tweak a bit because I’m not sure many people understand “reason” like the Enlightenment thinkers understood reason, and as for science controlling nature, well, maybe technology controlling cyber-nature . Yet, as an eternal optimist, I believe reason is making a comeback — merely because transparency forces an acceptance of “what is, is”, independent of definitions proffered by presidents before grand juries. Nature is another story, but we learn about what “is” and “isn’t” as we go forward and allow all science to have a voice.
The internet gives voice to reason and presents scientific facts, so the answers are there for those who search, even if you have to wade through gobs of misinformation, which brings us to an “emphasis upon the individual as master of his fate and fortune”.
On a smaller, more mundane scale there is an enlightenment process going on in the real estate industry. I read yesterday where Gen Y (or was it X) is changing everything by questioning traditional methods. This is not particularly new — new generations have been questioning Read more
From the shady courtyard of the Heard Museum, Brian Brady talks about what you can expect on Sunday at the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference.
Or, per the revised forecast, you could hang out at your hotel and play in the pool.
The air will be very dry, so 107 degrees will seem very pleasant. Even so, I’m thinking I should refer you to our relocation page, which details all the interesting ways there are to die in the desert heat.
The Cliff’s Notes: Drink water constantly and wear sunscreen. The weather will be truly perfect, but it’s not like what you’re used to back home.
We’re ready like firemen. Can’t wait to see you Sunday.
Technorati Tags: blogging, BloodhoundBlog Unchained, real estate, real estate marketing
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
All presentations to be held in the Steele Auditorium at the Heard Museum. This schedule for Unchained is subject to change:
Sunday, May 18, 2008:
8-10AM Registration. The conference starts at 10AM and ends at 4PM.
Zillow Workshop
The Power of E-mail Marketing by Ron Cates
Hyper Local Blogging UNPLUGGED by Laurie Manny
Sunday is “Bonus Day” so food will not be served. 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. Presentations on Sunday will not be included in the DVD set.
No evening events planned.
Monday, May 19, 2008
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, May 20, 2008
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. This schedule is subject to change.
Colleen Kulikowski sent me a sweet card wishing us success with Unchained. Enclosed was a packet of Aster seeds. If I can get them to grow, I’ll take pictures.
Tom Royce sent an email note telling us to break a leg.
Kevin Warmath needs a roommate for Unchained. If you haven’t bunked up and want to split costs with a man who swears he’s not a Neanderthal, give him a call (678-438-3041) and work something out.
My post on transparency was picked up by my long-time friend and client, Richard Nikoley. Richard runs Provanta, a debt-reduction company. Partly owing to my influence, they’ve just switched their on-line presence over to a WordPress blogsite, putting them squarely in the warts-and-all Web 2.0 world.
I said this in email to Richard, an Unchained epiphany all its own:
What’s interesting is that everyone in our world shops this way: Full research, full knowledge of the pros and cons of everything. We might be at the right edge of the learning curve, but it’s all the same curve. Everyone is on it, and everyone is moving our way on that curve. Why would we market any way but as a reflection of how we shop?
Think about it, and I mean think about it a lot: Why would we market any way but as a reflection of how we shop?
That post was also picked up by The Innkeeper’s Resource, a blog for Bed ‘n’ Breakfast innkeepers. Their take: Anonymous reviews are a reality of their business. Get used to it. I offered this in a comment:
Brilliant.
Here’s an idea that can work in any industry that can be hit with an off-site review:
“When Mark and Marie Olson complained about our threadbare linens on TripReports.com, we saw red. Not because the charge was false. It was true, alas. We had let ourselves become so distracted by the big picture of providing a great experience for our guests that we forgot that big things are made up of little things. Not only did we add a quality control procedure to our laundry, we built quality control into every aspect of our business. And we gave the Read more
We list homes for sale like nobody’s business. I mean that: No one’s business is built like ours. That’s something I’m doing everything I can to change, by every means I can think of. It’s why I take such pains to describe the things we do, in the hopes that I can induce other Realtors to do those things, or others like them. I don’t think my job is to be a lead-producing machine. I think my job is to be a real estate marketing machine. I think that’s your job, too.
In any case, I have a no-fee referral in Boston (the South End, south and east of Berkeley and Tremont, near Peters Park). It’s yours if you can demonstrate to me that you deliver the goods for your sellers. We’ll even help on our end with a web site and hosting.
The seller sold his last house with us. We’re stronger now than we were then, but he knows how strong we were then. If you can come through for him, I’ll come through for you. That’s a better-than-decent trade, I think.
I should start thinking this way, anyway — compiling a list of listers and buyer’s agents who I think earn and deserve every penny of their commissions.
In any case, if you’re the lister I’m looking for — or if you know that lister — speak up. The seller is smart, experienced and very real estate savvy. He’ll keep the place in showroom condition, and he can help out with the marketing, too.
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing
First and foremost let it be understood by one and all, I’m assuming all guilt until proven innocent.
So I decided to begin orbiting the planet twitter today. It’s simple. Easy as 1 2 3 the mantra goes. Not so fast cult breath.
Seems I’m from the Stoopid Tribe. First I don’t have IM. Hey, I’m 57 in a couple months, so give me some slack. My efforts to obtain IM are laughable, as nobody seems to want to help. By nobody I mean IM online sites. Google Talk apparently hasn’t been introduced to Steve Jobs yet, so those guys are out. You’d think they’d have at least run into each other once by now.
Take a few deep breaths, and email Lani for help. She sends Mathew and Andy — the twitter cavalry. They are both very cool and helpful guys, and along with my new application from Twhirl via Lani, I sent my first twitter. Is that even how you say it?
At this point I’m apathetic.
There’s no online help worth a used Snicker’s Bar. My password is now being denied. I changed it to the original password and they’re still telling me to go jump in the lake. Honest, they told me my new password was way cool.
And it’s not just the password thing. I see a message from someone I don’t know and decide to click on it. A new box comes up, but I can’t figure any way in hell to get back to all the other messages. I tried every icon there was. Go fish.
The first thought entering my addled but appealingly smooth pate, is — All this just to say ‘Buy low, sell high — I’m the real estate investor guy’. Really?
Again, I assume blame for all this. I have no clue whatsoever why it was working and now it isn’t, and until I get belly to belly with somebody who can lend a little hands on assistance, I’m officially putting the whole twitter thing in the rearview mirror.
Thanks again to Lani, Andy, and Mathew for their help. It was working for almost an hour. The Read more
It’s a game of beauty
I would imagine that most writers in this country, urban and rural alike, have at least one good baseball story they like to tell. It is, after all, a near perfect game worthy of a passing glance if not downright close examination by anyone with a penchant for detail and statistics. Sportsman, spectator, or otherwise, there’s got to be one decent yarn in all of us when it comes to this beloved pastime.
Baseball. It’s a beautiful woman walking down the sidewalk in a summer dress. It’s first love at first sight in May, the smell of freshly cut grass in June and puppies in a box for a dollar–‘free’ of course, to a good home, anytime. It is watermelon in July and root beer in August. It’s the September State Fair when you’re eight and knowing God when you’re eighty. It is a million square miles of America.
My first Chicago apartment was three blocks east and 52 stories above the left-center alley bleachers of historic Wrigley Field. Alone and new to the city, there were many evenings during that 1996 season when I would simply gaze out above the cityscape of streets and gangways, elevated rail tracks and brown brick walk-ups that separated my high-rise dwelling from the Friendly Confines, and mentally recreate my own destiny, repairing my past with fantasy and grandeur. I’d stare westward into the lights listening to the bellows of the stadium, imagining the thrill of playing at such a level, in such a venue—that near perfect game of summer. From my soft-lofted perch I’d mentally motor around the base paths like a finely tuned sportscar and fire clothesline ropes from center to home with my rocket gun; above the cutoff man, without a bounce, and just before the collided tag out at the plate…I’d drink til the next morning with the catchers and ignore the pitchers and rookies. I’d negotiate my own contracts and wear my pants down low and hardly ever shave my jaw.
Chicago Cubs pitching coach and veteran Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins lived in the same building that summer as did a handful of players who were always coming up and down from the Minors throughout the roller coaster season. The Fergie I observed was a quiet man; a towering figure, usually in a cowboy hat, jeans and boots who kept a tight smile on his face and a U-Haul trailer in the parking space next to mine Read more
Things have been busy around here lately. This controversy over Trulia’s widget baiting tactics rages on in the internet world. Now Sherry Chris has chimed in as well. (Kudos to you for entering the arena…others should follow). Bottomline is this: Trulia calls us partners. (REALTORS and them) Before someone calls ME partner, there is a fair amount of due diligence needed.
Right now there are FAR more questions than answers. The research that has been going on has been productive, but what we NEED is honesty and transparency. It is what everybody wants from US, now why don’t we get that same transparency from the people raising so much hell about it.
The facts on the table seem very disturbing.
Perhaps Mike Wallace from 60 Minutes could help us get to the bottom of the issue?
This is totally hypothetical, but it would go something like this…
MW: Welcome gentlemen. There has been quite a controversy lately, Trulia, about your aggressive SEO practices.
Trulia:
MW: It seems that according to some bloggers and some search engine marketing professionals out there that you have pulled off quite a feat. You have managed to get tens of thousands of REALTORS to voluntarily ALL use your widgets all at once? How did you do it?
Trulia:
MW: That is how it happened, right? I mean your tools were SO cool that many people just decided that they HAD to use them and put them on their blogs and websites, right?
Trulia:
MW: From the research that a few of these folks have done MANY of these widgets appear at exactly the same place on the same exact pages over and over again on THOUSANDS of Number1Expert Sites all across the country…is that because each of these folks decided to put them there?
Trulia & Number1Expert:
MW: It seems pretty hard to believe that this was not done by Number1Expert… are we to beleive that? How did this come about? Since (according to reports) you have 2 and 3 links on EVERY one of the widgets pointed back to Trulia, it would seem that this is a great benefit to you. In fact, it has been reported Read more
Here’s a hot button for real estate agents and mortgage brokers. You’ll recognize this immediately. Your’re dealing with a problem, searching for a solution with a service provider or a vendor. The person on the other end of the phone says something which clearly and expertly outlines the solution that isn’t a solution. In fact it’s so not the solution, you begin wondering if you’ve missed something. It’s at that precise moment your mind conjures up a vivid picture of the Captain Obvious who just offered this Solomonic pearl of wisdom bursting into flames.
What possesses people to list all the ways something can’t be done? Not being a graduate of PCU (Politically Correct University), I apologize in advance for the following. My intention is not to hurt feelings, but to understand. No really — stop giggling.
In all my years in the real estate business I’ve only used a handful of escrow officers, title companies, lenders, etc. What they share is the ability to look for ways to get things done, instead of replaying the video, looped to the scene explaining how it absolutely can’t be accomplished. Why do people in service industries do this? More to the point — why are they kept on the job after their bosses figure this out?
Here’s an example. I Pinky-Swear this is true. (Brian Brady will back me up.) In fact you’ll know it’s true as nobody would make up something so clearly stolen from the classic Abbot and Costello routine, Who’s On First.
I’m hoping Brian Brady posts on this, as he was the initial mortgage guy victimized by the appraiser’s laziness and incompetence. Countless times I was amazed Brian didn’t resort to asking the appraiser if he was stoopid. Looking back, it was probably ‘cuz he wasn’t sure the guy would understand the question.
A couple clients contracted to buy multiple investment properties in Texas. We began the loan process which of course necessitated appraisals. Apparently the appraiser made a mistake by checking the box stating the subject property was part of a P.U.D. — Planned Unit Development. Bottom line, this Read more
Using Eric Bramlett’s green ribbon and a little bit of PHP, I have built a small widget to keep track of the accumulating body of weblog posts on Trulia.com policy of adding the “nofollow” tag to links back to its listing partners. Shown below is an image of the widget; you can see the real thing in the sidebar.
You can read the articles linked in the widget for clarification, but the issue in its essence is this: Trulia is using the listings you give it to enhance its own search engine performance on long tail search keywords even at is not sharing any search engine authority with you on the link back to your listing. Another way of saying the same thing: You’re buying Trulia.com dinner and it is scarfing down your dessert while you’re away from the table.
If you’ve written a post on this topic, let me know and I’ll add your link to the widget.
If you care about this issue, you should echo this widget. It’s easy to do. The widget itself is not complicated, and I built it to be shared. It’s designed to work flexibly in your sidebar without clashing with your look and feel. In other words, it should take on the characteristics of your Cascading Style Sheet, not mine. If you want to echo this widget, it’s dread simple. Copy this line of code:
<?php
include ("https://bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/TruliaTracking.php");
?>
and paste it on a line of its own in your “sidebar.php” file for your currently active theme. FTP that into the appropriate folder on your file server and you’re done. (Note: These instructions presume WordPress and an FTP connection. If you know how to deploy this code in another blogging platform, or if you know how to edit theme files from within WordPress, speak up in the comments.)
Will BloodhoundBlog get Google “juice” for doing this? Yes, but we don’t need it. Instead, I’m using my code and my hot-rod file server to host this widget for anyone who wants to echo it.
Will the posts linked in the widget get Google “juice” for being there. Big time. Riding on BloodhoundBlog’s sidebar Read more
If You’re That Busy – Then Move Along – There’s Nothing To See Here
One thing is for sure – no matter how good your marketing or your prospecting might be… if you don’t strike while the iron is hot, you’re probably going to shoot yourself in the foot.
I have a friend who lives in another state. She has a good job, and earns a good salary – and is currently renting month-to-month. She found a home near her place of employment that seems to meet all of her needs – so she told me that she sent the listing agent an email inquiring about it… as she is interested in taking a look.
Of course, I told her NOT to go see the property – as she might have a difficult time obtaining representation after-the-fact as a result of procuring cause. I encouraged her to get a buyer’s agent to assist her. I also explained what could happen when someone buys a home without representation.
Well she didn’t know where to find an agent, so I told her I would make a few calls and see what I could do. I wanted to find her an experienced agent – preferably a broker – who could demonstrate their ability to be a shrewd negotiator in this market.
I was able to find a couple of brokers to consider, and a few minutes ago I picked up the phone to call the one I felt might be the best one to represent her.
The agent told me she was getting ready to leave, and didn’t have much time to talk. I told her that I had a referral that I wanted to talk to her about – to which she replied, “Well, you can always send me an email.”
Of course, I was shocked. She is a broker with over thirty years of experience – with seven current listings ( I didn’t want an agent with too many listings). She has her husband and daughter working with her, both licensed ( I checked). I am trying to hand her a ready, willing and able buyer who Read more
Marketing is 1 percent budget, 99 percent execution.
