W-O-W! A DOLL HOUSE! HURRY! CUTE!

This is post is about what consumers think of the descriptions that are written for MLS listings. After all these years, it's still like nails on a chalkboard when I see some of the copy in ads and on web sites. I've often wondered what consumers think when they are subjected to the same goofy tag lines and incomplete sentences that seem to proliferate the inventory of any MLS. Tonight I stumbled across a thread on Garden Web that proves my point. Here is my personal favorite from the list of annoyed consumers:

"Homeowner says sell." Well, what is the alternative? Homeowner has listed the property and refuses to sell? Might as well write "all offers will be rejected."

If I were a broker I would make this post required reading for all agents.

Best Practice - Web 2.0

Believe it or not, I'm going to give my first Best Web 2.0 Practice award to a branch of the federal government. The U.S. Patent and Trade Office. Anyone who's ever been involved in a patent issue knows what a mess the process is and it hasn't been getting any better. I'm not a big proponent of software patents. I personally think it's ridiculous to award a patent on a process or an application of other technologies. In the end it does nothing but stifle innovation. The patents that have been issued for software over the last 10 to 15 years are entirely too broad and have allowed people with the resources to cover up the USPTO with filings to get away with murder. Add to that the number of patent troll corporations that are willing to snatch up the intellectual property and add it to their portfolio for the purpose of wrenching licensing fees or large settlements out of well intentioned companies and you have a recipe for disaster and apathy on the part of creative people who just want to build a good product and get it to market. The problem at the USPTO has been resources. They just don't have the warm bodies it takes to really investigate prior art or really dig into a complicated filing to see if it has merit. A NY Law School professor posted an idea on blog that grew legs and some pretty serious endorsements really fast. Beth Noveck proposed the idea of using a Wiki to allow people to comment on patent filings and help uncover the research necessary to make good decisions. IBM and Microsoft quickly recognized the benefit of endorsing the idea and jumped on board. According to a recent Fortune magazine article the USPTO put about 250 to 400 filings into a test program and is very close to green lighting a full roll out of the program. What a concept! Let the people who really know about a particular issue help decide if a patent has merit. Kudos to the first Mike's Corner Best Web 2.0 Practice Award, the USPTO. I'm sure their just as pleased as punch and will call a press conference to announce their acceptance. :)

Interview: Scott Ginsberg - The Name Tag Guy

One of our area's great real estate leaders and one of the nicest guys you'll ever met is Ken Brand. Ken manages a large Prudential affiliate office and is a voracious reader. Whenever I pick up a new book on technology or business, I always think of Ken and wonder if he is reading the same stuff. Ken has a blog that he writes to communicate with his clients, which in his case are his agents. I noticed a post on Ken's blog recently about an author named Scott Ginsberg. His story intrigued me. Here's Scott's bio:

Scott Ginsberg is the only person in the world who wears a nametag 24-7-365 (since November 2, 2000) to encourage people to become friendlier and more approachable.

While only 26 years old, Scott is:

* The author of three books
* An international professional speaker
* A regular columnist for several online and print publications
* Recognized as "The Authority on Approachability" & "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags"
* Featured in Ripley's Believe it Or Not

Scott has been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, The Associated Press, Headline News and USA Today, to name a few. He's been quoted as an expert in Cosmopolitan and The Wall Street Journal; and his materials have been adopted in publications for Coca-Cola International.

While reading Scott's blog I noticed a post that referred to Web 2.0 and start to dig deeper through his site and find out more about how and why a guy who is 26 years young has had so much success. Scott was kind enough to answer a few questions for us:

MP: The Real Estate industry is probably one of the most recognized for the
use of name tags, but I've noticed that the practice has slowed in recent
years. What advice do you have for Realtors regarding the use of name tags?

1) Wear the nametag every single day. Even if you feel silly,
remember - it's not about you. In fact, it's about everyone in the
world BUT you. You need to make other people feel more comfortable
approaching you,

2) Wear it above your breastbone.

3) Nametags = fun. Enjoy them!


MP: What experience do you have with folks putting web addresses on name
tags? I've never seen it, but it seems obvious to me. Would you recommend
it?

I've seen it done, but let's face it: it's hard enough to remember
someone's name, let alone their website. You're only making it more
difficult. Put your website on your business card and make your
business card unforgettable. Then they won't have to worry about
remembering more information. Nametags are for your name. Save the
website for something else.

MP: I saw that you celebrated your 5th anniversary by having your name tag
permanently tattooed on your chest, which begs the question, "What the &%$##
were you thinking?"

Basically I was thinking three things:

1) I'm tired of sticking a real nametag on my bare chest at the beach
because I'm a hairy guy.

2) Chicks dig it.

3) There's no better sign of commitment than a tattoo.

MP: There are more and more young people entering the industry today. As a
young man giving advice to seasoned veterans, what is the most important
counsel you can give to young real estate professionals that are amongst
older competition?


1) When someone says, "You're old enough to be my kid!" take it as a
compliment.

2) Remind people that it's not the years, it's the mileage.

3) Tiger Woods won the PGA when he was 21. Lesson learned: if you're
amazing at what you do, people won't care how old you are.

MP: You recently had a blog post regarding Web 2.0. What ideas come to mind
when you think about Web 2.0 and real estate?

4) House tours on websites, realtors blogging with tips on the
industry, Google ad words and sponsored links


MP: Do you own a house? If so, did you use the Internet as part of the
process and what was your experience with it? If not, what would be the
first 3 steps you plan to take to start the process?

I just bought a condo and checked out listings online, but my realtor
emailed them to me. If someone is about to do that, I'd suggest:

1) Call friends and get names of realtors they used.
2) Email all of them and introduce yourself and your needs
3) Work with the realtor who CALLS, not emails, you back FIRST

MP: Have you ever had a mentor? If so, briefly tell us of the experience. If
not, what person or event in your life guided you to become who you are
today?

I had (and still have) at least 3 mentors that I see personally, and I
have several mentors that I never met, i.e., famous authors. Best
thing I ever did for my career. If you want a mentor, here's how you
do it:

1) Call or email and introduce yourself.
2) Ask if you could pick their brain over lunch, coffee, etc.
3) Have your goals ready to share with them
4) Send a thank you card
5) Ask if they'd consider mentoring you
6) Either way they answer, still keep them updated on your progress

Zillow & Prudential

Prudential California has announced they will implement the Zillow application programming interface in their site to provide "zestimates" to their web prospects. Remember last month when I pondered the relationship that would come as a result of Yahoo & Zillow partnering up? Looks like we have the beginnings of an answer. I'm still confused as to how all of this is going to play out. If the valuations are as bad as the Realtor community purports, how will the Pru California agents respond to their prospects using "Zestimates" before the agent makes contact with them. Will they be at a disadvantage if they have to bridge gaps between perception and reality? One thing is for sure, Reply.com and Zillow are shaping up to be interesting spectator sports. I wouldn't be surprised to see a large aggregator with better data and a bucket load of cash enter this competition real soon.

A couple of noteworthy articles to read: MarketWatch

"Many sellers have come to realize they're better off with the services of agents armed with the best possible marketing schemes they can find, either online or off. Sellers also benefit from neighborhood expertise agents bring when pricing their homes.
Buyers use the local expertise to find the right home, and they depend on an expert's skills at the negotiation table." I found this quote interesting and I hope our clients are paying attention. Building good community video podcast tours that are unique to you and your market can go a long way toward establishing you as a "local expertise" resource.

Red Herring on The Silicon Valley real estate market had this as a pull quote in their article,

‘Sellers just do not want to lose money when they sell a house.’

-Richard Calhoun,

Creekside Realty

It cracked me up. Not only is Mr. Calhoun's grasp of the obvious astounding, the writer saw fit to use it as a noteworthy quote.

FTC Chair Weighs In on Net Neutrality

Deborah Platt Majoras, the current FTC chair made some interesting comments regarding Net Neutrality recently. Her take on Google's position regarding the issue was refreshing.

Majoras also took a swipe at Google and other Internet companies that support extensive FCC regulation, saying she was surprised "at how quickly so many of our nation's successful firms have jumped in to urge the government to regulate." Business executives, she said, tend to talk a lot about the "free market" but then "turn to government to seek protection" when they're afraid of a marketplace disadvantage.

I've read a great deal in the real estate press lately about divisive issues with regard to data control etc. etc. Unless I've missed it, I haven't seen anything regarding Net Neutrality. It could have a huge impact on brokers and agents that want to squeeze all they can out of their Internet strategies. If there's no incentive for small companies to be creative and provide the industry with the new tools to create their own marketplace advantages, what will the landscape of the industry look like 5 or 10 years from now? It's a scary thought. I hope the real estate blogosphere will join me in trying to draw more attention to this issue. Does anyone know what NAR's official stand on Net Neutrality is?

Carnival of Real Estate

This Week's Carnival of Real Estate is at "The Pine Needle Lawn"

Taking A Blogging Break

My grandaugher is coming to visit! I haven't seen her since she was a newborn. She's now 7 months old and Grandpa is going to be spending the next few days doting over her. As a result, it's highly unlikely that I will posting between now and early next week. I'll still be on the lookout for good topics. Cheers, MP

E-Mail Marketing Tools

Once again my favorite real estate blogger, Joel over at The Future of Real Estate Marketing has created an outstanding post. This one covers a topic that I am questioned about with great frequency from my clients, E-Mail marketing. While the tools Joel references are great for developing campaigns, please, please make sure you're working with an opt-in list. The Real Talk list-serv had a heated debate recently about agents spamming one another with new listing announcements etc. Just because you're part of a cooperative, (MLS), doesn't mean you have carte-blanche to send them unsolicited e-mail. If I were an agent and started to receive hundreds of html e-mails without having given permission to the sender, I wouldn't be too happy about it. E-Mail marketing is an effective tool, but only if it's done within the confines of net etiquette. Great work Joel, I know quite a few people who will benefit from it.

SEO Follow Up

Inman has a great article on lead generation and search engines. If you don't have an Inman subscription, grab the article today while it's still available. If you're considering buying keywords, do yourself a favor and seek expert opinions. Talk to people who have had an active campaign and know how it works, otherwise you'll throw your hard earned cash down a rabbit hole.

"But smaller companies can still make cost-effective use of paid search by using more specific keywords that are less in demand, and more affordable. For the best results, describe the product you are marketing -- a red Victorian house, for example -- and the state, city or even neighborhood where you do business."

Using more specific key phrases can be very effective and it's one of the reasons that podcasting is so effective. When MLPodcast creates a new feed for a client, there are keywords associated witht the overall feed embedded in the RSS file. When and podcast video episode is added to that feed, we place keywords specific to that listing in the RSS as well. This has been VERY effective in generating quality traffic to our client's listings. In fact, the overall improvement in search engine traffic to our client's sites in many cases has been more effective than previous keyword purchase campaigns.

Real Esate Blogging Update

Be sure to visit the Bloodhound Blog and get Greg's take on my interview with Russ Cofano and real estate blogging in general. This is the kind of commentary I was hoping to spark with the issue. Thanks Greg.

Inman on Technology

Inman has started a 3 part series on the future of real estate and the impact new technology will have on the transaction. Notable was a quote from Redfin's CEO

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Seattle-based Redfin, said, ""It seems like the industry is becoming more open and consumer-oriented." He thinks that agents will act more like partners with consumers and they'll need to be proficient in things like optimizing listings for search-engine indexing to give clients a marketing edge.
Kelman, whose company offers discounts to consumers who use its online services, said that he is seeing "shockingly small brokerages doing big things on the Internet."

This is a timely statement given the previous conversations We've had regarding SEO. RSS is going to be the catalyst of this new push to improve individual listing exposure and there are new tools coming on line every day that will facilitate an agent or broker's ability to do this on behalf of their clients. The early adopters and the "shockingly small brokerages" with nimble business plans and the ability to shift business models to consumer driven market conditions are going to end up being the "shockingly large brokerages" of the future.

Any Ideas On This?

Found a link today for a site called Viewr, Their tag line is a "A global view on real estate" Coming Soon. My guess? I think it will be an international mashup of real estate for sale with a Zillow style spin on valuations. What do you think it will be? UPDATE: Not much of a mystery to it. I registered at their site and got an immediate response. Here's a link to their press release. Looks interesting. I am going to dig a bit deeper into it and see if we can get an interview with the CEO.

SEO: Seek Expert Opinions

A little historical perspective before I start this post. In 1997 I registered the domain name Sitetraffic.Com. It was little sideline business that my wife operated. She amassed a great database of Real Estate related search engines (remember ired.com?) and added those to the crop of Yahoo's and other directories that were available at the time, and for a nominal fee, she would help with keywords and submit my client's sites to the database. I guess you could say she was a pioneer in the world of what is now called, SEO, search engine optimization. Because the landscape of that business changed so drastically, so quickly, the need for her services diminished into the world of bots and crawlers, automated processes. She still uses the domain today, same clients, different business.

The Real Estate Tomato blog did an excellent post on SEO recently. It was followed up by Dustin at the Rain City Guide with some equally excellent commentary. This is a subject near and dear to me because I am constantly bombarded with the issue from Realtors and Brokers. It's hard to come up with an answer that they really want to hear and there's usually no time to go into the intricacies and nuances of the subject. I really wish there was a good single source to point them to that would approach the subject with point blank honesty.

I subscribe to one of the oldest Realtor list servs on the web and this topic comes up with great frequency. A recent thread was from a Realtor that was going through her second "SEO Company" and she was very upset at the lack of results she was receiving and one of them had actually skipped with her cash. My guess is that she had no idea what she was buying and no idea why, she probably just got sucked into a couple scams. Understanding search engines, click throughs, conversions, organic versus direct and dozens of other search related issues are something a real estate pro rarely has the time to research and understand. I would guess that most of them jump in without even analyzing the traffic to their sites ahead of the effort. Luckily the product I sell does an outstanding job of creating direct web traffic and improves organic search results tremendously. Our clients don't really care how it happens, they're just happy that it happens at all. We recently had the opportunity to view the analytics of a podcasting client's web site. Of the top ten referrers to their site, 2 were from podcasting specific directories and that's just the tip of the iceberg. So, from a web 2.0 perspective, it's a little easier to explain how blogs and podcasts are beneficial, but the issue is bigger than that.

I like to point people to searchenginewatch.com. It can be a bit confusing for someone that doesn't spend the bulk of their time immersed in the topic, but I haven't really located a great alternative. The real heart of the problem is web traffic in general, not just from search engines. It's a quality over quantity issue and that seems to be lost on so many people in the business. I guess its an emotional thing sometimes. Why isn't my site coming up in the search engines like XYZ company? Chances are that may not be doing XYZ any good at all. There's no way to know what the click through rates are for XYZ, there's no way to know if they are converting those clicks to leads. My next post is going to cover what happens with those leads once they are generated, it's was inspired by a "What the Heck?" moment I had when reading an article in a Realtor magazine. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: SEO, search engine marketing

Interview: Russ Cofano - Realtors & Blogging

Russ Cofano of Realty Objectives from the Seattle area answers questions regarding real estate blogging. He's a contributor to the Rain City Guide real estate blog and along with Dustin Luther at RCG have been conducting what they've dubbed "Bloginars". Bloginars are seminars designed to introduce Realtors to the world of blogging.

Background: Russ Cofano is a real estate and technology attorney. Russ has represented state and local REALTOR associations in Washington state as well as Multiple Listing Services across the nation. As Washington REALTORS legal hotline attorney, Russ has answered thousands of questions on all aspects of real estate and brokerage. Russ has extensive experience with technology and currently operates a consultancy, Realty Objectives that provides advice to real estate companies moving to the next level with real estate technology.

MP: Why Should A Real Estate Pro Start A Blog?

RC: Two major forces are converging on the Web. First, real estate "data"
is becoming more and more available and ubiquitous. Second, buyers and
seller are migrating to the Web as their initial search tool for
brokerage services and homes to purchase, thereby increasing the
importance of developing an online relationship with that prospective
buyer or seller. Agent web sites cannot compete with their own
brokerage company web site nor with large players in the real estate
data space. Not gonna happen. So, how can they compete? By providing
information and content (not data) that cannot be provided by larger
organizations. Blogs are the vehicle to providing this information and
content.
MP: How Much Time Should Be Dedicated To The Effort?
RC: The benefit that agent bloggers have is that they "experience" their
blog content every day. As they do their job, they find out interesting
information about local areas, events, trends, etc. So spending time to
research things to blog about is not where you need to spend a lot of
time.

I think the more regular you can be (e.g. daily), the better. However,
by no means is a daily post required. I think a half-hour a day is
probably a great place to start.

MP: What is Your Idea of Good Realtor Blog? (Examples)

RC: I like to think of good or bad based on the types of posts. Here is a
list of 10 posts that make for great blog content:

Stories
Data (Charts, Tables, Maps)
Book Reviews
Current Events
Neighborhood Descriptions
Local Events (Fun Stuff!)
Links
Interviews
Advice for Buyers/Sellers
Advice for other Agents

MP:Bad Realtor Blogs? (Examples)

RC: In line with the above answer, the following make for less effective
blog posts:

Bubble Articles
Attacks
Cut-and-Paste
Automated Content
Obvious Self-Promotion
Questions
Link-less
Listings
"Brochure" Type Information (leave that to the web site)
Incoherent Rambles

MP: What Are The Benchmarks For Blogging Success?

MP: Great question. Some bloggers blog just because it provides them a
"voice." Others do so because it leads to business. The individual
blogger needs to decide why they blog and then make the outcome meet
that objective. For those wanting more business, real estate bloggers
can build trusted online "relationships" with their blog that will
generate better leads. Put another way, it is building the personal
brand with unique content and perspective.

MP: Should a Realtor Promote Listings in Their Blog?

NO! Unless you take a very unique listing (like a famous person's
house) and obviously with the consent of the seller.

MP: What Are The Best/Worst Platforms (Tools) For Blogging?

RC: You must first answer whether you want a "hosted" blog or you want to
arrange the hosting yourself. If you are less technical, a hosted blog
(e.g. Blogger) may be the trick. The major downside is the domain
because it will be "(name).blogger.com." I chose Yahoo to host my blog
and they don't force the Yahoo domain on me. They have a great one
click Wordpress blog which I prefer because it is (relatively) free and
because there is a gigantic open source community building on the
Wordpress platform every day.

MP: What is a "Bloginar" and Where/When Will The Next One Take Place?

RC: The Bloginar is a "Seminar" about Blogs for Realtors, hence Bloginar.
It is really a how to course where we empower each attendee with the
information and skill to create a blog right after they leave the class.
Of course, we also provide some background information on blogging as
well as why we think blogging can be a great tool for building a
Realtor's business.

We just finished a Bloginar in LA and are about to finalize a date in
San Diego for late September. We will be in Seattle in early October.
More dates will follow. We are very open to working with companies and
Realtor associations to put on a Bloginar in their local area.

MP: What Are The Top 3 Questions Asked In Your "Bloginars"?

RC: Why should I blog?

How do I drive web traffic to my blog?

How much does it cost?

If you're interested in attending a bloginar, click here to contact Russ.

Technorati Tags: realtors, blogging

On The Radar: My Opinion on Net Neutrality

If you haven't been following the hot issue of net neutrality, it's time to start. In my opinion it is going to effect how competitive U.S. companies can remain in the world of web commerce. I've been reading an article about Web 2.0 companies around the world in this month's issue of Business 2.0. It's incredible how many business models are sprouting up in places like Athens, Moscow, Praque, Israel, Chile and dozens more. If the big telcos have their way, we will need to pony up a bigger piece of the action to compete with these guys. It would seem that the big guns aren't content with the amount of cash flowing through their pipes and they want their cut of the revenue that is created by the content flowing through them. I experienced a similar issue years ago in the ISP business. Back then, anyone with good business acumen and a solid understanding of the telephony infrastructure could buy a pipe to Internet, build a bank of modems and servers and sell internet access, at a respectable profit. Your ability to compete was based on the time honored traditions of good customer service, and a quality product. Because it was unregulated, anyone with experience and investment capital could play ball, but we all had to use the same ball park to do it, (the telco's pipes to the net). As small providers started to prosper and grow into regional ISP's the SBC's, (AT&T) of the world started making it harder and harder to eke out a profit. When consumer demand for faster access grew, they made it almost impossible to access their system in a profitable way and the small ISP's faded into oblivion or were acquired at dirt cheap prices. With that battle won they now have their sites on every garage start up on the planet and they want a bigger piece of whatever e-commerce pie they are baking. If some people have their way, there are going to be tiers of service and bandwidth meters that could pour cold water on the entrepreneurial spirit and rip up whatever is left of an level playing field. If you conduct business on the web, you owe it to yourself to become educated on this issue and take some sort of action on it. I was happy to see that at the upcoming NAR trade show, The Center for Real Estate Technology has a tract for Net Neutrality. I don't know exactly what their position is on the issue, but the fact they are bringing it to the attention of the Realtor community is a good start.

Technorati Tags: net neutrality