{"id":1278,"date":"2007-04-09T00:31:52","date_gmt":"2007-04-09T07:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2007-04-09T00:32:42","modified_gmt":"2007-04-09T07:32:42","slug":"more-random-notes-on-zillowcom-conquering-fear-uncertainty-and-doubt-to-become-the-neighborhood-superhero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1278\/more-random-notes-on-zillowcom-conquering-fear-uncertainty-and-doubt-to-become-the-neighborhood-superhero\/","title":{"rendered":"More random notes on Zillow.com: Conquering fear, uncertainty and doubt to become the neighborhood superhero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Wurzer<\/a> and others are tying themselves up in knots trying to prove that they understand what Zillow is doing wrong. My take is that they don’t even understand what Zillow is doing, so, necessarily, it’s going to look wrong to them from their frame of reference.<\/p>\n

I said this the other day<\/a>, and I thought I did a nice job, twenty-five words on the nose:<\/p>\n

Web 2.0 creates an ongoing community of active users by integrating a user-modifiable database through an interactive, as opposed to static, web-based interface.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The important word is “community.” Wikipedia.org is not building a database of encyclopedia articles. Ebay.com is not building a database of merchandise.<\/p>\n

Criticizing — or praising — Zillow about its databases is all but completely beside the point. They’re not building databases. They’re using databases — and incentives to user-initiated database maintenance — to create a self-sustaining community of users.<\/p>\n

Ebay.com is not a reproducible phenomenon. Wikipedia.org is not a reproducible phenomenon. The technology is easy. Venture capital abounds. But the niches are already occupied, and neither of those two communities can be replaced as long as they are serving the needs of their members. It does not matter how much money you throw at the problem, they cannot<\/i> be supplanted.<\/p>\n

This<\/i> is what Zillow.com is aiming for, in my opinion. The listing.bot traffic is nothing. It doesn’t amount to a fart in a gale of wind. Zillow’s own very impressive traffic is nothing, as we’ll see in a moment. What they want is a community of users as loyal as the Wikipedians, and potentially as profitable to its professional users as Ebay is.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at the numbers: Zillow is getting four million hits a month, it says — with others saying otherwise. If each of those four million users is visiting three pages on average — which seems like a lot to me — then we’re looking at twelve million pageviews a month. It’s possible they do better than this, but it doesn’t much matter, as we’ll see. Assume three EZ Ads per page — where the average for now is probably closer to one. That boils Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Wurzer and others are tying themselves up in knots trying to prove that they understand what Zillow is doing wrong. My take is that they don’t even understand what Zillow is doing, so, necessarily, it’s going to look wrong to them from their frame of reference. I said this the other day, and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,5,19,25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","9":"category-technology","10":"category-zillowcom","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":754,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/754\/zillowcom-versus-realtorcom-nothing-grows-in-the-shade-of-great-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":0},"title":"Zillow.com versus Realtor.com: Nothing grows in the shade of great tree . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I think part of the problem, in understanding the radical nature of what Zillow.com did this week, is that we are conflating unlike things. As an example, when I speak of a National MLS, I am not talking about local MLS systems. For one thing, the sine qua non purpose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":356,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/356\/zillowcom-bites-the-wrong-bullet-in-preference-to-telling-one-simple-truth-it-will-propagate-thousands-of-tiny-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":1},"title":"Zillow.com bites the wrong bullet: In preference to telling one simple truth, it will propagate thousands of tiny lies . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a simple fact, one of the most important reasons why homeowners need professional representation to market their houses: Diogenes himself could not find an objective seller. It's not enough to detail everything that's wrong with the neighbor's homes, the more important job, in a listing appointment, is to tell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2664,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2664\/zillowcom-announces-its-sponsorship-of-bloodhoundblog-unchained\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":2},"title":"Zillow.com announces its sponsorship of BloodhoundBlog Unchained","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"BloodhoundBlog has grown up with Zillow.com. We're consistently second or third on a Google search for Zillow.com, and Debunking Zillow.com is one percent or more of our traffic every day. On the other hand, we've also been big boosters of the tools Zillow has built to help sellers, buyers and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2121,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2121\/zillowcom-upgrades-its-advertising-arsenal-allowing-you-to-target-market-the-joneses-you-want-to-keep-up-with\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":3},"title":"Zillow.com upgrades its advertising arsenal, allowing you to target-market the Joneses you want to keep up with","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been saying this for a long time: Buyers are temporarily interested in listings. Owners are always interested in their homes. Zillow.com wants buyers, hence the move to accept listings feeds. But what they really want are owners, people who will come back to the site again and again, potentially\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":739,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/739\/2006-is-the-year-of-zillow-the-900-pound-avm-has-been-upgraded-to-be-a-free-listing-platform-and-the-presumptive-national-mls-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":4},"title":"2006 is the Year of Zillow: The 900 pound AVM has been upgraded to be a free listing platform and the presumptive national MLS system . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The News An upgrade made tonight to Zillow.com's on-line home evaluation system will add the following new functionality:Owners or listing agents for any of the 67 million homes in Zillow's database will be able to list those homes for sale at no cost.Owners of any Zestimable homes will be able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Enduring Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1257,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1257\/greg-peeing-on-the-tree-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":1278,"position":5},"title":"Planet Zillow.com: Burgeoning Realty.bot grows, potentially, to become a self-sustaining residential real estate eco-system","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the news. We'll circle back for details and implications. Zillow.com, the national Realty.bot growing out of the popular automated home valuation service, is releasing a new version of its popular web-based real estate portal tonight. Dubbed Zillow 5, the new functionality comes in three broad categories:Any user of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Enduring Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}