Real Estate Marketing SEO Blog

Is Google a well oiled spin machine?

Is Google a well oiled spin machine? Much like a White House Press Secretary they put out the message as they want it said. Yes they have their own Karl Roves and James Carville types.

A recent article at the official Google Blog illustrates the disconnect of a beheamoth trying to spread the word.

The author here says that Google is about their algo :

"Does Google manually edit its results?" (The Answer):Let me just answer that with our third philosophy: no manual intervention. In our view, the web is built by people. You are the ones creating pages and linking to pages. We are using all this human contribution through our algorithms. The final ordering of the results is decided by our algorithms using the contributions of the greater Internet community, not manually by us. We believe that the subjective judgment of any individual is, well ... subjective, and information distilled by our algorithms from the vast amount of human knowledge encoded in the web pages and their links is better than individual subjectivity. The second reason we have a principle against manually adjusting our results is that often a broken query is just a symptom of a potential improvement to be made to our ranking algorithm. Improving the underlying algorithm not only improves that one query, it improves an entire class of queries, and often for all languages. I should add, however, that there are clear written policies for websites recommended by Google, and we do take action on sites that are in violation of our policies or for a small number of other reasons (e.g. legal requirements, child porn, viruses/malware, etc).

Um what? I thought there was a team of overseas Politburo that went thru all our websites looking for quality (whatever that means). Or is that propogandist hype meant to keep the weobple in line? Also ,is this the geek version of the "wisdom of crowds"? Some would argue that crowds are in fact not very smart. Others can argue the "voice of the people are the voice of god".

Think about it. Google hires genuises to do their work. Having to resort to manual checkups is an insult to their intellectual superiority complex.

Always question the logic of the spin vs. the reality. You will find that in the end it all makes pretty simple sense.

The complexity is made by those looking to sell the newest SEO manual. And by Google looking to find an even bigger profit.

Subliminal Selling

The efficacy of the "subliminal seduction" as was put forth in the book of the same name and "Clambake Orgy" has been questioned over the years.

Dave Lakhani and yours truly at his Renegades of
Persuasion event last month. If you have not heard my
interview with him, you are missing out. He is the Author of
new book, "Subliminal Persuasion".

However, the use of these subliminal embeddings in advertising has not. As the two books above show very clearly in many cases, and sort of stretch the imagination in others, the film below shows mostly very clear attempts by advertisers to embed words and images. These are mostly surrounded by sex. Don't watch if you are easily offended.

Blog Meme or Virus of the Mind?

This is about memes. Not the blog meme as we are all used to getting. But to fill this discussion out lets first define a blog meme:

Chris Garrett: Blog Memes have become synonymous with internet quizzes, surveys, and novelties that people link to and pass around on their blogs, forums and via email, things like the “which superhero are you most like” test.

Wikipedia says:
At its most basic, an Internet meme is simply the propagation of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet (for example, email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, etc.). The content often consists of a saying or joke, a rumor, an altered or original image, a complete website, a video clip or animation, or an offbeat news story, among many other possibilities.

You of course have heard the idea of "going viral"?

What gets people to buy?

There has been some great books of late on the science of how our brains work so that we are compelled to buy.

Journal of Consumer Research titled “Bikinis Instigate Generalized Impatience in Intertemporal Choice,” suggests that guys studying bikini-clad girls make worse decisions. (Go figure) .For example, while a man who looked at landscapes might have demanded an extra payment of 10 euros a month later (totaling 25), the bikini-gazer might have been willing to settle for five extra (totaling 20).

A 2006 paper, “Heat of the Moment: The Effect of Sexual Arousal on Sexual Decision Making.” George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University and Dan Ariely of MIT, found that sexually aroused men would do all sorts of things they might not otherwise do. Bikinis, Babes, and Buying

      

Cialdinis new book is how to use the secrets of influence tacticly.His work is a must on every sales professionals shelf.

More interesting research:
Angry men deserved more status and a higher salary and were expected to be better at the job than angry women. I am sure you ladies are not shocked by this.

On Options
If consumers are exposed to multiple options that differ only in global aesthetic aspects, they tend to evaluate each option spontaneously at the time they first encounter it. On the other hand, if consumers are exposed to multiple options that differ in important descriptive features, they may withhold their evaluation until they have seen all the options available and evaluate the last presented (most recent) option first. I am sure you have been thru this one while showing homes. Altogether, these findings suggest that the influence of mood on comparison depends on which alternative in a choice set is the one being evaluated first.

Twitter

I am preparing what is becoming a report on what some call the new media as it applies to micro blogging. Twitter is the big buzz and this video covers the absolutely ridiculous side of tweeting. BTW Follow me at http://twitter.com/timokeefe

This is the non profitable side of Tweeting. My forthcoming reports explore the downside and the profit potential for Realtors and Mortgage Pros. I believe there is definitely possibility for the more general markets.

Not so sure for Realtors and Mortgage Pros. Watcha think?

Although I suppose if you engage the fictional character in this video into a conversation you might be able to sell her a house.

I am deeply conflicted on this as my biggest concern is if your targeted market is actually on Twitter, and if they are, are they interested in real estate? I have not seen anything to prove to me that it works. I have some interesting relevations forthcoming.

Some Great Real Estate Advice

Most people are usually too busy making money, to make money.

I just got back from an intense few days in Las Vegas. I attended Dave Lakhani's Renegades of Persuasion seminar.

I should have known it was going to be outstanding just from the flight over from Long Beach to Las Vegas. Not the flight itself which was a typical bumpy ride as you approach the last 20 minutes dropping into the greater Vegas basin.I swear the older I get the less I enjoy those bumps. But my friend and fellow persuasion enthusiast Jeff reminded me that "we can work on that". Jeff makes people lose their fears and negative emotions by tapping on them. Hey, we are from Southern California.

I will talk more about the event later. Let me report about the conversation that went on behind me. Turns out I was sitting in front of two players that are profiting form the real estate market. ( I had to eavesdrop).

One fellow was buying paper at a discount and then renegotiating or reselling for very sweet margins. Mind you I did not see their face so their voice is what took me in and my mind was left to create whatever pictures I wanted. I was taken by this chaps youthful voice and based on his home location,I imagined him a sun tanned sail boating type.

The other fellow had a distinguished voice that signified a lifetime of experience at making money. He made the youthful fellows achievements seem academic. And the younger chap realized he was next to genius and pulled out of him the wisdom of his years. The older, more experienced man described the many businesses that he has run over the years. It seems he has always been involved in either real estate or leveraging money.

Two things he said that stuck.

Most people are usually too busy making money, to make money. And talking about the real estate market, he said that ...

....there has never been a greater time than NOW to buy Las Vegas Real Estate.

And I guess that's how the rich get richer.While the sheep follow the herd. Perhaps most Realtors should create a new herd?