Real Estate Marketing SEO Blog

Five Trends That Have Changed the Internet

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

This year has seen a bevy of big time changes on the web. What is mentioned below may not have been born of this year, but they certainly have come into their own in 2011.

1. Facebook has changed the world with their social network with everything from toppling dictators,  revealing criminals, to changing how surfing the web is done.
2. Google it seems was moving away from the one that brought them to the dance. That is search. Their product line up was at times a virtual mess of products, many without much relevance to one another. They ranged from  various technical time wasters, to super sophisticated analytical wares for the ecommerce specialist. Until lately that is. As the giant is seemingly putting everything under one banner called their +1 social network. This should help to make things look less disorganized by them. And will perhaps be a better product offering than what Facebook does.
   
3. Group / Coupon / Daily deals advertising/buying.  Groupon has spawned a number of copycat group buying services and offshoots. Even Facebook and Google have gotten into the game. Forcing the commoditization of the webs products and services. Further bringing  more consumers to expect everything to be closer and closer to free. But I digress.
4. Mobile. By the end of this year the only phones sold will be smart phones. Since 33% of Facebook users use mobile to post. This number should grow as more people own phones and do with them what their older brother did with laptops. Is your website mobile friendly? If not call us and we can take care of that for you.
5. Reviews. Online marketing has become a reputation management activity. People can effect your reputation by links, likes, reviews, comments, posts and a number of other dastardly actions that I care not to reveal. Suffice it to say the consumer is in command. Choosing to treat your reputation online with less than serious attention can be a devastating endeavor.
   

 



What Can Be More Important Than The Housing Crisis?

David Walker, Comptroller General, (THe U.S. tops Accountant), says that our Country is broke. I know that this is not really about real estate or marketing, but it is in a way as it affects markets, and that affects mortgages. This is an important topic that noone from either side of the aile is talking about this election year. Make them!

When Ideology and The Bottom Line Clash

Redfin was going to prove to the world that you don't need a Realtor, you can just buy off the web for a mere pittance of what a traditional Realtor would charge.

Now it seems that the young maverick may tick off a few of its purists. It seems that Redfin is offering some "hand holding" just in case you do in fact need a Realtor.After, ummm, you did not need one.

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.

"2008 Real Estate predictions"

Predictions and advice to succeed in 2008

2008 will no doubt mean huge shifts in the real estate industry and henceforth the online community. Words that come to mind are some of the obvious ones. The following may be experienced by the public and certainly agents:

• Foreclosures
• Bankruptcy
• Office Closures
• Massive Attrition from the industry
• And a possible recession beyond real estate
• Information Overwhelm and Confusion
• Misplaced energy
• Demand for publishing
• Near Death of the MLS
• The Renewed art of Creative Financing

Some of these are self evident while I will explore the others thru this post.

We are getting what could be seen as attacked online. There is so much information being thrown at us that choice is becoming less empowering and more inhibiting. The online world will become even crazier as the advice being thrown about out there is getting more and more complex, and in many cases just plain bad.

Guard Your Information Flow

Sifting thru information is an expense. How you manage that expenditure will determine your profits.

Have you ever got online without a specific goal and found yourself stuck in reading every email that of course leads you onto the web? And the end of the day comes and you basically have surfed some really "interesting" sites all day. Not doing anything to bring you closer to your goals?

If feels justified, but with honest introspection, you know the day was a wash. And 8 hours of non sense at $100 an hour is an $800 loss. But of course if that is habitual then one can probably make more money hourly at the local Super Market. The best way to beat this is to surf the web with specific goals and outcomes.

Expenditures can include:

• Email
• Bad online marketing strategies
• Reading low value information

Remedies:

• Unsubscribe from non profitable advice.
• Start timing your online activities.
• Separate email from must have email, subscriptions, and family, friends, and jokes. Separate them into unique email accounts that don't beg you to look. Gmail or Yahoo is a great solution.
• Schedule email and online reading time. Leave when you have to leave. Get an egg timer, and live by it.
• Have rules for what you will read and not read.
• Read business items on a business computer and fun items on a separate fun or family computer.

Zillow Grows While Realtors Moan

Zillow.com is partnering with over 280 newspapers to provide local classified information such as for-sale listings and open house information. An obvious move to become a real estate classified vortal.

"Together with Zillow, we bring a unique and compelling set of online marketing tools to enable local brokers and agents to distinguish their listings and abilities," Gregory Schermer, vice president of interactive media at Lee Enterprises, said in a statement. "The result will be a compelling value proposition for advertisers and online users, which we believe will provide long-term opportunities for revenue growth."

Meanwhile the real estate bloggerazzi point out the innacuracies of Zillow despite a valiant attempt by Zillow to defend its evaluations.

The Great Equalizer

Compare Title Insurance Rates

The CLTA the California Land Title Association has finally launched the obvious.

A title insurance comparison tool. Here it is.

This is not likely to make our Title Agents happy. Especially if the end user, the homeowners get wind. However, it might be some secret relief for the real estate agency as it will help empower the consumer to make their own title choices.

Robert Bruss

A few years ago I met Bob Bruss thru a client named Brian Yui. Bob was contributing to Brian's Home Buying book, and Brian thought we should meet.

I was eager for the introduction as I knew Bob to be a real estate legend. I remember reading his advise 20 years ago  in the San Francisco Chronicle back in my college days. He is the Dear Abby of real estate. So I was absolutely thrilled to meet him when he came into town attending a conference in L.A.

We had lunch and I found him to be an incredibly sharp and a passionate man. He was at an Internet Marketing conference for goodness sake.

I had heard he was sick of late and was saddened to learn a few moments ago that the great Bob Bruss had passed away. He will be remembered as the sage of real estate. And hopefully those that were able to meet him, even for a moment in time, will be inspired as I was by his wit and passion.

He leaves behind him a body of work that any real estate professional and/or investor should embrace.

Parking by Association

The power of a professional association knows no bounds. It is like a Union for White Collar workers. I am no fan of the most Board of Realtors as I liken them to the worst of DMV stereotypes.  But the following brings up very funny images to mind.

Apprently the Chicago City Clerks office is giving priority parking permits for individuals that have paid off the city...I mean fit a certain professional profile. Like Doctors, Nurses, and Realtors!

I get images of Dano throwing the siren on top of his 1976 Buick as they whisk away to save another citizen.

Thanks to real estate ninja for this find.

Pain and Pleasure

If you have read my stuff at all you know that I love football.

I also love USC Football. Understand that I have some bias as I have had many friends that are tied to the program over the years and currently.

However, the reason I am most impressed is that their Head Coach, Pete Caroll is a very unique person. And as far as I can tell, so is much of his staff.

Something that I have witnessed over the years that always kind of seemed antithetical to the "positive thinking" mantras, is that great players will tell you that they are afraid of losing. I first read this years ago when Terry Bradshaw was winning Superbowls with the Steelers.

That is why I took note during the College Bowl season as Carrol was quoted in response to his only recent losses over the years to Texas, Washington State, Oregon State, & Cal.

"They don't go away and I don't want them to go away. I want to feel the sting."

I know that humans will do more to avoid pain and pleasure. In fact, Tony Robbins has a strategy he uses when changing people called the "Dickens Pattern" where he induces the pain of not having to propel one forward towards the pleasure of their objective.

I mention this only as fodder for thought as I know that you as a Realtor are bombarded with the positivity thinking mantra that comes with the tough position of running a real estate business.

I will note in future blogs some attributes that I have noticed from the way SC's program  is run that can help you run your business with even more success.