Real Estate Marketing Blog

Marketing Book Winner

Brian Block has won the book Internet Marketing for his comment about Social Networks.

We are offering a new book for this weeks giveaway. You can win by tracking back. Writing a comment or linking to the post (you will have to let us know when you link).

The book giveaway for this week is:

Super Crunchers

If you like Freakonomics you gotta read this. Although I think it falls a bit short of what is seemingly its inspiration. It is worthy of a read. The author claims he found the books namesake name by using the AdWords keyword tool. That alone is worth the read.

This book illustrates why todays technology is a better scout of talent for football or baseball, and simple human intuition in all things like business decison making.

Frankly, I have a hard time with this but because of these types of claims this book is a must read. As you have now a generation that buys into this concept of data completely driving decisions.

2007 Real Estate in Review

It is that time of year again where we reflect and plan. I offer my very short review of 2007 while giving you a list of real estate reviews as well as reviews from throughout the Internet culture and beyond.

The story of real estate in 2007 has got to be receding real estate sales and values that involves foreclosures and credit freezes. We saw blogging come into full stride in private as well as multi user aps like Active Rain. Social anything and WEB 2.0 have been shoved down our throats along with video.

We began the year with Map mashes being the next great thing, while maps are ending 2007 with a big yawn. Wow three paragraphs equal a whole year. eeek. I guess that's why I offer you a big list of other reviews:

Ruby Red Ajax won't launder the 2.0

Is there a new Bubble gurgling online?

Not real estate, technology.

The first Internet bubble burst from an overabundance of estimated value.

Ruby Red Ajax won't launder the 2.0

Today, the promises of old has been repackaged for those that weren't around or easily forgot. The recent run up in online tech has seen a real estate valuation site go public on a Registration Form! Behind that veil was a telemarketing operation and good publicity. Ries and Trout would say they benefited from being first.

However, as the real estate market has adjusted,online advertising revenues have followed suit. And fundamentals at some point force upon a webmaster an inevitable recognition of facts. This has recently taken hold of.a 2.0 company called Edgeio, Which just recently closed its doors.

For every YouTube there has been 1,000 others that won't make it.Where is the business model? Eyeballs they say. No money there unless you get bought out by Google.

Technology replaces itself and renders its past incarnation less valuable, and sometimes valueless.

After the buzz is stripped away, Web 2.0 is just another website. And marketers will do their level best to make it seem new. That is called marketing.

So reading my blog may make one think I am anti-everything inernet. And that would be the wrong impression. I am against making investments of money and time that are based on an overestimation of returns.

In the end I use all of the tools one might think I harp on. I just do not get enamored by the next big thing. If it has a URL, it is a website. How do you make money with it?  That's what we do for our clients.

Who Bounces Least Wins?

This in by Nielsen//NetRatings

Who is getting the least bounce? The Big Apple wins. 11.4 million visitors from N.Y. hit websites and churn thru 30.2 billion page views. These New Yorkers are spending  almost 22 hours a month online.To find the second most activity we have to go to Los Angeles. The 7.8 million Angelenos (uniques) spend almost the same in hours a month churning thru 23.9 billion pages. Yikes. Is there a corelation to city traffic and Net use?

Tims Summer Reading List

Okay I have not recommended a book in a awhile. So please allow me to share some of my faves with you.

Tim's Summer Reading :

PERSUASION
Dave Lakhani is a master of persuasion. I love Tony Robbins but his stuff can be light. This book is meaty. I don't know about you, but I am tired of the sales techniques that border on Con. Dave does a great job of looking at real Persuasion VS. Manipulation. He also helps the reader discover the greatest sales generator of all time. Story.

WORDS THAT WORK
Bill Maher said, "Single words control the debate.Pro-Life, for example, make the other side, Pro-Death". Of course that became Pro-Choice..

Whatever your politics, there is no denying that the Republicans until lately have dominated this Nations big offices. Frank Luntz is one of their secret weapons. He goes into depth in discussing how phrasing is everything. Phrasing like Contract With America, Is Better than Plan For America; Energy Exploration is Better than Oil Drilling;Personalizing Social Security is more persuasive than Privatizing Social Security. John Kerry asks on the book's cover, "..Where is our Frank Luntz".

THE FOUR HOUR WORK WEEK
This book changed the way I think about business forever.

The 4 Hour Work week is in my opinion really a secondary eduction for you after you read the E Myth. Many of the ideas that Timothy Ferris puts out there, can only really be accomplished thru principles installed by the E-Myth.

The book is about enjoying life now. Most wait until theyare too old to accept the fruits of their labor. He paints (albeit a very generalized) broad strokes on how you can make your self, less important in your business.

The e-myth shows us how to become less important in the day to day of our business.

So we can work on our business and not in our business.Most Small Business people get into business only to realize that they are working more than they did at their Job. This will help you get you life back.

This comes at a perfect time as I am interviewing a client that has transformed her business so that now she is able to truely enjoy the fruits of her labor. It all comes down to where you spend your time on tactics or strategy.

NO ONE CARES
WHAT YOU HAD FOR LUNCH
100 Ideas For Your Blog
And what good would I be to you if I did not hand you 100 Ideas for your next blog posts.

10 sides from a 40 hour work week?

I just posted about my most recent killer interview / podcast:

“How Regular Guy Puts In A 40 Hr. Week and Walks Away with Ten Sold Homes per Month” ……month after month after month.

How to generate business from a real estate website that only costs you about $15 a month to maintain

Out of all the hundreds of bogus real estate templates, choosing an additional website that will generate leads like you will not believe

Choosing the one referral website company that really works.  There are plenty of scammers out there.

Why a great website isn’t enough: How to respond to leads that you get from that website so you don’t lose them!

And more

                           Get it here

Newspapers Are the Preferred Medium for Affluent Empty Nesters

This reminds me of the conflicting health information that is out there. Eggs are bad, then they are good for you type thing. More importantly, I think it shows the diversity of niches that an agent can target. However, before you  jump back into that cholesterol rich newspaper ad campaign, the subhead of the report says:

Newspapers & Internet Dominate Media Interests Of Empty Nesters

From Media Audit:

The seventeen million empty nesters in the 87 markets surveyed regularly by The Media Audit are 45 or older and very affluent, indexing about 100 points above the market average of 100 in almost every income category beyond $50,000.

Annual household income categories and indexes are:

• $50,000 - $74,999, index 221
• $75,000 - $99,999, index 202
• $100,000 - $149,999, index 196
• $150,000 or more, index 179

Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, Inc., notes that "The media habits of the affluent empty nesters are dominated by newspapers and the Internet." According to the report, more than 27 percent spend an hour or more each day reading a newspaper (index 159) and 38.7 percent spend 430 minutes or more each week on the Internet (index 107). Radio, television and direct mail all index at less than 100 with the affluent empty nesters.

Almost one fifth of the people who plan on spending more than $30,000 for their next automobile are affluent empty nesters, 50% more than the average. And those who ate out at least four times during the last two weeks (at a sit-down restaurant) also index at 152.

Other findings from the report include:

• 35% (index 123) of the affluent empty nesters plan to take an ocean cruise during the next 2-3 years
• 33.9% (index 130) visited a gambling casino at least once during the past year
• More than 37% (index 114) made five or more purchases on the Internet during the past year
• 20.1% (index 114) made 12 or more purchases on the Internet.
• Approximately 62.8% (index 104) spend $100 or more weekly at the supermarket
• 33.6 percent (index 100) spend $150 or more there.

The Heist

I recently posted about the Heist. A documentary where the host basically brainswashed normal everyday people to Rob a bank.

Dave Lakhani of Bold Approach wrote about the show and discusses The Heist was a great example of how persuasion and influence can work when you follow very specific principles and properly identify and influence your audience.

In every talk I have heard him give, Dave draws the contrast of Influence and Manipulation. He knows definitely knows how influence works. Check out his interpretation of the show, and how the presenter brainswashed these people.

Traffics Dirty Secret

Are you aiding and abetting in a Crime?

Sorry to be so dramatic but have you ever thought about what the search engines do as their core business?

They provide results because of the content from your website.

Have you ever told them that they could do this? Of course not. But just like a crack whore on a Saturday night we want more of what they got. Gimme some Google traffic please. And I will give you some links and more content baby. "I'll link you really good for that traffic. YEAH!" lol

But think about it. What other company could take another persons publishing's and publish it for their own profit? They are using yours and my website for their content. Heck they even cache it.

But for those precious visitors we have turned a blind eye towards any accusations of our Copyrights being Infringed.

Death of a Spider?

But now a Belgium Court is now forbidding Google from indexing Belgian newspaper content without paying each newspaper for the use of their content. Kinda fries the whole system don't it?

The ruling requires Google to remove newspaper content from its search engine database . They must also publish “in a visible and clear manner and without any commentary ....the entire intervening judgment on the home pages of ‘google.be’ and of ‘news.google.be’ .

I think this is only the beginning. So what happens when the newspapers sue Google, and then find they no longer exist in the Google database at all! Is it their Divine Right to be in the Google Index?

We will see how this logic takes shape. Many up and coming content providers are sure to face these challenges. A case in point are the new Propsmart/Trulia type engines. They are using MLS content that they may scrape, get uploaded by agents, or they possibly upload themselves.

At some point we must ask where are the feeds coming from? Who owns it?

And won't it be interesting when Google scrapes the "scrapers" and not only de-positions the Real Estate Search engines in their normal Organic results. But also takes their data for Google Base?

Clearly these engines cannot exist based on brand name alone..After millions in seed Capital, I think I just gave some Angels a devilish reminder of what can very well happen in this Wild West we call the internet.

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.