Real Estate Marketing Blog

Guard Your Mind

Many years ago, I went away on what in College Sports they call a "trip". Meaning the school flys you in and puts you up to check out the school and hopefully sign a letter of intent to attend the University.

I tripped to a School in Northen California and met up with one of the players named Terry. Turned out Terry was a High School foe who I played against. . On his desk, in his dorm room was a book that changed my life. It was called Clam Plate Orgy. It started me on a journey of studying other than conscious communication.

It was a study on the subliminal use of symbols that are used in corporate advertising, Government and Religion to influence our behaviors.

I only mention this because I am noticing something going on in local news that is important for your success. Now, to be fair, you and I benefitted from this manipulation. However now it seems the negative underbelly of the market is what sells papers.

The market is clearly shifting. What I would call normalizing, many are labeling with Armegedon like names.Headlines say things like Forclosures are up x%. What does that mean? They are x% compared to what? Over yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last decade?

Case in point is the following headline I got in one of my email subscriptions:

Existing-Home Sales Hit 2 1/2 Year Low

Goodness gracious. In the context of all the other bad news, this must be pretty bad. Do you feel the Fear and Doom?

Except, 2 1/2 years ago the market was cranking wasn't it?

My point is that we have heard that this real estate market  was going to come to a dreadful crash. And if we want to read into this headline it really ain't so bad. I know that was not their intent. But I will choose to be positive.

The fact is that the market is normalizing.

My old friend has been telling me for a year that this market is going to hell. He just had the best month ever in his 20 year career.

Bad  news is like a drug. It takes on a life of its own. I only mention this to say be careful as to what you accept into your mind as fact. It ruined my real estate career while I saw many of my colleagues grow to begin new companies that flourish to this day.

So even though I could make it a valid argument that the early 90's was a REALLY bad market. There is a long list of success stories that I personally know, and know of, that invalidate my statement.

And the secret of their success was to not listen to silly stories and headlines. They were too busy finding new buyers and sellers.

I know your buyers and sellers think they are modern day econiomists. The sellers because they have all this new found equity think they are the next Greenspan, while the buyers are hoilding off because they delude themselves that the market will drop.

Somehow they harken back to 1990 when prices did tank. However, the part they are missing is that in most parts of the country unemployment was approaching catastrophic numbers.

In contrast, unemployment today is lower than ever before in our history.

Will you let them buy into that crap? Then they will lose out. And it will be your fault. Because you bought into the Clam Plate Orgy.

The Dirty Secret of Blogging

It seems, that blogging is getting bigger and bigger buzzworthiness.

In fact, a Pew Internet & American Life Project of 7,102 people says that it is a big part of Americans lives.

• Thirty-nine percent of U.S. Internet users, or about 57 million Americans, read blogs; 8 percent, or about 12 million Americans, write a blog; and more than half of bloggers are under the age of 30.
• Pew found that 37 percent of bloggers cite "my life and experiences" as what they blog about, while only 11 percent cited public issues as typical topics. Sixty percent of bloggers are white, while 74 percent of the country's Web users are, according to the data. Fifty-five percent of bloggers write under a pseudonym.
• Fifty-four percent of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or media creations anywhere else; 44 percent say they have published elsewhere.
• Women represent 46 percent of bloggers and men 54 percent.
• Seventy-six percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others. Sixty-four percent of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.
• Seventy-seven percent of bloggers have shared something online that they created themselves, such as their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos. By comparison, 26 percent of Internet users as a whole have done this.

Now the Dirty Secret about blogs. If you have not read the above with some sort of scrutiny you should. Check the bolded words.

Half are under 30. Almost 40% talk about life experiences. 57 Million people read blogs?

We are running a business right? Ok then. Where is the money in this?

Can we be honest? Most people don't know the diferrence between Internet Explorer and Earthlink. Most people don't care for that matter weather or not they are using AOL or Road Runner.

Are you with me here?

So I have a hard time believing any stats about blog use.

I have people call me all the time that say they are calling off my website. "Oh cool", I say. "Which one my blog or my spiderworkz.com", or one of my many others?

9 times of 10 they will say, "What is a blog". Or, "I am not sure".

People Don't Care About Your Blog!

Your prospect cares about what your information can do for them. They can care less if it is a blog or a website. Because in the end there is not much difference to the viewer.

I have a belief:

The only people that knowingly read blogs are geeks and kids

There is a group of us that look for web logs about not only real estate issues, but political and local ones too. That is cool. But that isn't my client and it is not probably yours.

If you know how much Ram your machine has, and you know your Hardrive speed and size, then you probably fit into our special group.

But realize, this is not the vast marketplace. They won't spend hours upon hours on information hunts. Unlike myself or probably you, the public is watching CSI or Seinfeld re-runs. They aren't looking up the fifth reference to the "long tail", or "real estate seo".

Here is another hint. If you value how smart you are and enjoy making yourself feeling smart. You fit into this group. You probably have Amazon or Barnes and Noble bookmarked right on your desktop. Yah me too.

Now, certainly some of your blog readers will latch onto your "smart writing". And they too may be into blogs. But the vast majority, don't "get" this whole blogging movement, and frankly don't care.

They come to your main page, or your permalink page because they found it from a search on Google, MSN, Yahoo or somewhere else.

Whats In It For Me?

WIIFM. You remember that in sales class right? Your reader only cares about is determining how what you say is going to help them. They are the vast majority. So, with all due respect. I must say that I believe blog readers are larger than stated above,  they just don't know it.

So I come back to, Where is the Money?

How do you make money in this blogging thing? My Real Estate Guerilla's will know. Will you be there?

Mexican Real Estate & NAR

Mexican real estate

My wife & I  took a trip down to Mexico a few weeks back. A funny side note: We originally  were supposed to go to Cabo, but found out last minute that you need a passport now in order to fly. Well sufice it to say I haven't had a passport in years. An it was too late to get one in time for the trip ( I have since found out you can get them really quick. )

So I did some finagling and websurfing which led me to distractions that took me from looking for vacation places in mexico, to looking at real estate in mexico.

What Does My trip have to do with NAR?

Well, because of the distractions of my search, I started looking for real estate for sale. And I found that they really have a screwed up system down in Ole Mexico. And how lucky we are to have the MLS. And perhaps if Mr. Brian Larson (the loudest voice of MLS reform) gets his way,this might be an indicator of what our system of real estate can become. Decentralized and very confusing!

Well it seems your National Organization is crossing the border to lend a helping hand.

For the first time ever, the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR) is embarking on an international joint venture. The cooperative agreement with the agency’s Mexican counterpart, the Asociacion Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios (AMPI, or Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals) seeks to achieve greater uniformity in the U.S. and Mexico real estate industries.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will exchange business standards. AMPI benefits by receiving NAR membership and permission to use the NAR logo and trademark. The union will assure customers that AMPI follows a U.S.-style code of ethics, plus the logo will help the Mexican agency seem familiar to Americans.

NAR members get something out of the deal, too, of course. They are eager to learn about real estate opportunities in Mexico from their peers at the AMPI. NAR recognizes that more and more Americans (and Mexicans living in the U.S.) are making the move to Mexico.

Mexico is particularly attractive to U.S. citizens because, in addition to its proximity, it offers a similar standard of living. All this while still being Mexico…a beautiful, tropical, inexpensive alternative to the U.S.

NAR also wants to get in on the Mexican market, which it says is really growing for the first time. These factors all contribute to creating a primo real estate environment for all involved.

Mexican American Invasion

I told my wife,"Baby we aren't flying, we are driving. And we aren't going to Cabo, we are going to Rosarita!" Well, she was a bit dissapointed. As I was but apparently you can drive across with just a license. Yah those Homeland Security boys have it all figured out don't they?!

Anyway I digress. What hit me in the face was the amount of development going on along the beach towns on down into Ensenada. And it is mostly Americans walking the streets shopping and living in these places. I found this ironic as I listened to L.A. Talk Radio KFI which you can still get all the way to Ensenada.

The hosts were talking about the Mexican Invasion, (Southern Californians love to talk about that), and the costs to California in Social Services. This while I saw the umteenth American walking into the local Bar.

We soon were to become the umteenth and 2 to go into the the local bar(s).

Generation ADD

Your future client finds your advertising boring!

Yep, so says a recent LA TImes poll that covers everything from the next generation thinking  to attitudes on terrorism.

What are the youngens saying?:

With their vast arsenals of electronic gear, they are the most entertained generation of the Information Age. Yet the YouTubing, MySpacing, multi-tasking teens and young adults widely seen as Hollywood's Most Wanted audience are feeling – can it be? – a bit bored with it all. Even in a kajillion-channel universe, there aren't nearly enough options.

It seems our babies have ADD! Guess who these babies are? Your soon to be clients! This is why I keep harping on capture capture capture. You must capture the visitor as they can't remember what they had for lunch let alone your website. And frankly they are not loyal to your website because your website(don't hit me OK?), it looks like all the rest. Same pictures, same content.

Capture them and then court them with your incredible marketing machine.

By the way, that is why a blog can work so well to commoditize your competition, whilst creating perceived value for you and your services.

Get High Rankings In Google!

Sorry for the title I couldn't resist. If you have been online for anytime at all then you have been barraged by Google Hype.

SoI thought I would pass along a cool video that is all about Google. It runs 40 minutes. This video is great as a documentary. I have always been amazed at Google's PR (publicity not page rank) machine more than I have their algo, as great as that is.

But seriously their Publicity machine is monstrous and would make James Carville blush! They can spin baby.

Anyway, check out the video, but don't take anything they say as gospel. I caught a couple things said that is seemingly a very minor part of the algo, if used at all. They have their story and they are sticking to it.

Just remember, there is Zero money in you doing well in your positions in the search engines. If you are an engine you only make money from the ads. Check it out.

Real Estate Productivity

Working long hours is the sure way to burnout. Its great if you are being productive. However, I just read that as Americans, we work more hours than anyone. Woo Hoo. Go USA!

Hold on a minute. (forgive me for not providing the source)Although we work more hours, we are 6th in productivity.

Working Hard isn't necessarily working smart. We have all heard this. But what does it mean? Well after spending a small fortune over the past year getting coached on this very subject, I think it is easier to explain that it is to do.

Systems are the key. But again what the hell does that mean?

Well it means begin with the end in mind. What is your vision? Your business goals and actionable goals/objectives will fall from your vision.

Take your goals and develop them into systems. To do lists will fall from processes. What is a process? Well if you are an online do it yourselfer. How do you blog? If you do your own SEO, how do you get links? How do you create content? Where do you get it from? Simly put, A leads to B which leads to C that leads to the end result. You may even have a spot at point b that is an if then scenario. As an example, if my article writer is not available or too busy with projects, then use the second writer.

For the right brained, ADD laden sales person (which is most-self included), this is a process of hair loss and gnashing of teeth. It will feel like a 4inch wide needle has been attached to your leg artery and is sucking the life out of you.

But this is how to build a business. Can you imagine Ross Perot collecting over in accounts receivables? (In a Ross Perot voice)Ummm yes this is Ross Perot, get that danged bill paid, or you will hear a large sucking sound as you acrue late fees!"

Nor would any CEO get involved in average deals. Some get involved in the huge ones. My point is in order to enjoy your business life it is crucial to have a life. Live to work v work to live kinda thing.

The above outline will help if you just consider it. My ex partner Mike Work originally turned me onto this whole concept which he got from the book The Emyth.

The part he said that stuck in my mind is when described the meaning of the book.

"We quit a J-O-B, so that we can not work for an asshole boss. We then go and start a company and then we end up working for an asshole boss. The problem is the boss is us!"

That quote started me on the path to systemitizing. You can think of it this way. If you (God forbid) passed on, would your business survive without you? Then frankly you are running a promotion and not a business.

The way you can prepare for this is to build your real estate business up so it suitable enough to sell. Even if it is not for sale. Could you sell your business? How is your books? What would the buyer be buying? A bunch of computers or a system to be successful and grow?

If you have ever tried to delegate and it did not work this is why. You can hire an assistant, but if you do not have a job description of processes that he or she does, then they will end up being as crazy as you. ( I am praying none of my people read this!-Do as I say not as I do ;-))

Actually, probably the first guy to turn me onto this concept ( from a selling point of view) was Mike Ferry. He said to always figure out your numbers so that they are duplicatable.

So if it takes you 3000 visitors to your website to get 300 leads. And it takes 100 leads to get to an appointment. Then 3000 visitors is 3 appointments. So if you need 6 appointments then you need 6000 visitors.

If you have any questions use the comments below.

Real Estate and The Long Tail

Have you investigated the concept of what Chris Anderson calls the  long tail?

Simply put, the Long Tail is defined such that low-demand products can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters if the distribution channel is large enough. Online communities and social networks (e.g., MySpace.com, Facebook, TagWorld, etc.) and sites that facilitate creation and sharing of user-generated content (e.g., YouTube, Break.com, JumpCut, Revver, etc.) have created the largest proliferation of amateur auteurs the media industry has ever seen.

Anderson has penned a book about the long tail and was recently interviewed by Six Apart.

I found the interview interesting as I see problems with blogging, as well as opportunities.

I have been taking advantage of the Long Tail for real estate websites for years.

I will be revealing this to the members of my Guerilla Real Estate Members soon.

Need Some Inspiration?

Tough Day?

The changing real estate market got you down?

Well imagine your spouse leaving you with your son. Then saying she does not want him. gives him back to you. Only the divorce has caused you to go broke.

That is the story of Chris Gardner. I watched this inspired man interviewed on Tavis Smiley about a month ago. He spoke of his life story and the Will Smith rendition of it coming in theaters.

This guy went from living in the streets with his child, all the while keeping a great attitude, worked his tail off, & used his charisma to running a brokerage firm and meeting foreign dignitaries.

I believe this will be one of the most important movies you can ever see. Quite frankly, it should be required viewing for anyone suffering from "poor me" syndrome.

It comes out in December, but you can watch the trailer and background info here:

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/

Read and listen to the Tavis Smiley interview:
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200607/20060703.html