Real Estate Marketing SEO Blog

Wisdom From A Top Blogger

Ariana Huffington recently spoke to a group of students about the Internet. Whether you agree with her politics or not I like watching her because in no time at all she has built one of the largest web portals on the net.

"Everybody's so overloaded," she said, explaining that our "inner lives" are failing to be nourished in this digital age. Also, added Huffington, "we are an incredibly sleep-deprived society and we're paying an incredible price for it."

I thought this next quote particularly interesting in selling real estate today:

"Fear trumps everything," she insisted. "If people are afraid and you make them feel safe, they'll buy anything."

Tracking Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click

Pay per Click does not mix well with real estate websites. The reason is small budgets and technical expertise to properly track the campaign. And step one in this tracking process is measurement. And the best way to measure is by creating landing pages. Which also will help in conversions.

The reason you want landing pages is because you want to be able to track that traffic coming from the ad, to the page. Then you can play with your ad copy and your page copy for best results. Eventually establishing a control.

Most agents and brokers are limited by time, money and expertise to properly do this testing and building.

Well, there is something else to consider that may make it easier to track your Pay per Click or banner ad numbers.

Unique Phone numbers. By making your visitors response a phone call into a unique number, you may be able to tell what page, and or what copy is working.

A company that has emerged offering you the ability to do this is http://www.mongoosemetrics.com/. I have no idea if they are any good. I only offer you this as a possibility as I have not tried them out. I am sure there must be others out there.

Google Changes

From Froogle to Googlebase to ?

Have you noticed that Google has replaced video for products? And a search for san diego real estate gives me a list of related products -not homes:

So I went to the old Google Base link and it gives me something just as lame.
http://www.google.com/base/search?q=san+diego+real+estate&btnG=Search+Base

I have looked for the traditional Google Base real estate search form in the web results and found it. So who knows what Google is doing?.

My Stats are Better Than Your Stats

It is wonderful to see the industry fighting back against all the negatively spun real estate news.

But please allow me to give you some tips to help you make a more persuasive appeal.

It is very easy to fall into the "my stats" are better than "your stats" trap. That is where we as the real estate industry quote the terrific news going on down in various parts of the country, or reframe what sounds bad into good news. Like saying that the vast majority of loans are performing vs the commonly quoted number of repos.

Meanwhile the Bubblistas will quote their God called Schiller and talk about irrational exuberance and such. It is like arguing religion. The only people who care are the ones already convinced.

I was happy to see Christina Ethridge of North Idaho Real Estate blog write about how real estate is a better investment than stocks. Which I was afraid would get into stat quoting arguments. Instead, I was delighted to read Christina say that:

"real estate is the safest and strongest investment for the average American. It’s the best place to put $10,000 to $50,000 with the ability to use the full value of the investment ($100,000 - $500,000) by either living in it as your main residence or renting it out and having tenants pay the mortgage payments."

I particularly like that part about where people can use the full value of their investment by actually getting utility from the investment in its use as a home. That really is the point I have been trying to make over the last few weeks.

You see people buy homes  for emotional reasons and justify with logic. The statistical quoting only works after they have been convinced emotionally.

Top Blogs and Social Networking Sites

Top 10 Social Networking Sites for October 2007 from Nielsen Online

Site	Oct-06(000)	Oct-07(000)	Percent Change |
Myspace.com	49,516	58,843	19%
Facebook	8,682	19,519	125%
Classmates Online	13,564	13,278	-2%
Windows Live Spaces	7,795	10,261	32%
AOL Hometown	9,298	7,923	-15%
LinkedIn	1,705	4,919	189%
AOL People Connection	5,849	4,084	-30%
Reunion.com	4,723	4,082	-14%
Club Penguin	1,512	3,880	157%
Buzznet.com	1,104	2,397	117%

Top 10 Blogs for October 2007 from Nielsen Online

Site	Oct-06 (000)	Oct-07(000)	Percent Change |
Blogger	21,572	34,104	58%
WordPress.com	2,104	11,440	444%
Six Apart TypePad	8,813	10,601	20%
tmz.com	7,107	7,805	10%
LiveJournal	3,366	4,260	27%
Xanga.com	4,760	2,741	-42%
Thatsfit	534*	2,613	389%
Gizmodo	941*	2,135	127%
Autoblog	920	1,949	112%
StyleDash	1,319	1,947	48%

What does this have to do with anything? Not much except it is a delve into the top players. Much like a wink one might take at Alexa. The information isn't really useful, and in fact it is often false. Much like the blog list which as far as I can tell lists blog hosting sites with  site that are blogs like TMZ. Maybe a starting point for some good links?

Newspaper Advertising

What is Saving Offline Advertising? Online....

Newspaper Association of America show that advertising expenditures for newspaper Web sites increased by 21.1 % to $773 million in the 3rd quarter versus the same period a year ago. This is the 14th straight quarter of double digit growth for online newspaper advertising since 2004.

Although,total print ads spends in newspapers are down 9% year over year.

Last quarter classified ads fell 17% and Real estate advertising fell 24.4% to $1 billion   

NAA President and CEO, John F. Sturm, blames the economy for the declines:

"Newspaper Web sites continue to generate substantial revenue by offering advertisers access to the nation's most desirable group of consumers... (while) broader economic issues are (negatively) impacting... real estate, recruitment and retail advertising..."

Umm Real Estate was not always slowing and in case you have not noticed unemployment is at record levels and retail sales keep breaking records. Listen closely and you might just hear the last gasp before the door slams shut on the old media. Can you recall this kind of lame spin coming from this space.... ever?

Forcasting a Great Neigborhood to Buy

I have become a huge fan of Barbara Corcoran over the past several months. I love her vibe and advise. I have seen her speak in a number of places from the Today Show on Home Staging and a Millionaire maker show with The Rich Dad Author Robert Kiyosaki, Loral  Langemeier, David Bach and more.  Anyway, she has a terrific methodology to find great up and coming neighborhoods for investment.