Real Estate Marketing SEO Blog

Crisis of Leadership

Dooming For Votes

The candidates for President, and President Bush are starting to offer their plans to "fix" the economy.

Never mind that the economy might not need so much fixing.

From the Dan Kennedy Letter:

• For all of '07 retail and wholesale revenues of U.S businesses were up vs 2006.
• Black Friday shoppers turned out in bigger numbers and spend more than any prior year.
• American households have more discretionary income than-ever!
• November was the 51st consecutive month of job growth.
• Net wages grew by more than inflation.
• Unemployment remains at historic levels.

How Many Users Watch Video?

48% of All Users Watch or Share Video
Pew Internet and American Life Project says that 48% net users have visited a video-sharing site at least once to watch or post a video. This is an increase over the 33% number in December 2006.

• 15 percent watch or post a video on a typical day
• 53% of Men are more likely to have used a video-sharing site, compared to 43% of women.
• 70% of users under 30 have used the sites, compared to just 16% of those 65 yeas old and over.
• 25%  of Americans have recorded video, and of those 14% have uploaded their videos.

Swanepoel TRENDS Report 2008

Stefan Swanepoel author of the Real Estate Trends Reports 2006 & 2007, is releasing the 2008 report in February. He teases us by releasing one of his special reports from within his new publication.

Swanepoel TRENDS Report 2008 : Newsmakers of the Year

Newsmakers are defined as those people that during the previous calendar year (2007) made headlines as individuals, as a result of their actions and leadership of the companies or associations they are involved with. Newsmakers are more about the people than the company.

December Recap & January Newsletter

Download The January 2007 Spider Juicer newsletter(instead of a newsletter we had a free conference call)

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December Recap

• Active Rain -The current ethos of online marketing is the 'conversation". I think it time to raise the bar.
• "2008 Real Estate predictions"-Besides the obvious, I think we will see a bottom, more Realtor attrition, and we will hear a death toll on the MLS. Online marketing confusion on what to do next will grow. Better learn to create content.
• Perfection-If you read HouseBlogger then you know I can see much of the world thru the lens of football and politics. The Patriots have the longest win streak ever. Seasons like this do not just happen. They are meticuously planned. Every little detail is accounted for. How is your plan for 2008?
• 2007 Real Estate in Review- 2007. A look beyond just real estate with lots of links.
• Predictions of a Future Internet-Someday the kids will take over. A glimpse into what that looks like.
• NEW YEAR looks to be good time to buy a home.-You are starting to hear that the end is near.
• Niches-What is your niche? Do you target or try to be all to all people? Niches in Commercial might be a good target.
• Ruby Red Ajax won't launder the 2.0-Is web 2.0 a real happening or a sexy word made by marketers to sell you more stuff? Social this, networking that. And how does one sell a home from all this? Again, where it matters is the "conversation". A fun video on absudity of todays current 2.0 environment.
• What is a Blog?-A video presentation on a definition of what is a blog.
• Viral-Our Christmas Card that really is a demonstration of how a company allows us to use its technology to get more business.
• The Riches are in the -Rich Niche-The wealthy are always a great niche to target.
• NAR Rosy on the Future
• Shilled Numbers-Real Estate forcasts have reached and stooped down to Vegas standards. How good is the current methodolgy?
• How Do I Get My Vanity Address Property Found?-Messing with your Registrar settings can affect your SEO in a negative fashion.
• The Obfuscation of the truth...The Orgy of Free

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January 2007 Real Estate Blog Posts Below:

Active Rain

Transparent Pat has written his Happy New Year post about Active Rain.

Active Rain is a multi user platform, nothing more, nothing less. Its success is its multiple users. Thousands I would guess. Its failure is because of its success.

Let me explain. The system rewards the conversation. The conversation is the back and forth that can happen from a blog responding to another blog thru commentary, trackback, or a blog post. Or all of the above.

AR rewards you for anything you post. The more you post the more exposure you get. So each post usually gets a ton of comments. Many are obvious attempts at what we in the off AR world would call "comment spamming". It makes for a very retarded conversation.It also makes for a very incestious community of self focused blogging as opposed to consumer focussed blogging.

This is not the only example of a multi-user blog, but AR was the first to come onto the scene (I say scene and not market because a market implies trade of usually dollars) market with its unique ranking system. And true to the predictions of the book "Positioning", being first to market usually wins.

Win what? is my concern. Move.com killed its buyout of AR. Did they figure out that free means no revenues? But I thought free is the new empowerment model that Web 2.0 is all about. I question that one all the time. Its hard to demand restitution from something you never paid for. Pat offers his advice that AR should offer unique blogs as a revenue model.

I agree, and it is wise to have your brand on your own URL as blogs at sites like AR can be used as brand extensions.

The Consumer Asks Why Do You Matter?

When I consult I teach that the web is becoming more and more about proof of your relevance in the marketplace.

click to see larger view

Active Rain has created a nice model to incentive agents to create content. These agents are only too happy to comply and create in many cases (not all), junk content. As the icon of agents online, I can only wonder what the consumer sees in the many posts like the screen capture illustrates. 

Notice when you pop up the graphic to your right, that the first post is far removed from anything real estate, and is more relevant to an IVillage discussion group. The bulk of comments on this graphic are for this first post. The only post that could be at all interesting to a consumer (other than a consumer looking to confirm the cultural view of a Realtor) is the last one. I snapped this graphic from the front page at Active Rain.

This is what the industry as represented here at AR is saying is their relevance to the single largest asset that the consumer/visitor owns. Can you understand why there is a demand for a Redfin in the marketplace?