Is there only one, or more than one solution?

This latest news from Market Leader speaks of linking Internet Data Exchange (IDX) feeds that list some 1.6 million properties with selected agents within the company’s matrix (network) to take advantage of exclusive leads and customer relationship features. At least this is the report from Inman News we read. That article goes on to reflect however, a much bigger story, one of territorial end-fighting and splitting of hairs even.

The company that bought RealEstate.com versus the other side of the Internet sales aisle, and all those accustomed to MLS listings and the current online listing model on the other. At issue is basically the what the National Association of Realtors allows as far as these feeds are concerned. RealEstate.com basically forces the issue of “how” IDX listings get listed, with ads or without, with lead generation forms or without, and so on. More critically though, the fact that brokers cannot “opt out” of being listed on RealEstate.com as is the case with Trulia and Zillow, this is the real rub.

To break this all down, an agency that has listings in a particular MLS, Multiple Listing Service Property Information Network Inc. (MLSPIN) is the Inman use case, is forced to show their listing via RealEstate.com by virtue of being in the MLS basically. In a very real way what Market Leader accomplishes here is a sort of game changing control dynamic, one that actually polarizes the real estate pro market too.

It all boils down to a somewhat controversial bout between real estate franchisers, who won a bid to the NAR to display the IDX listings of affiliated brokerages that was later rescinded when complaints flourished, and brokerages like HomeServices of America Inc.  When all is said and done Market Leader, or any online real estate player, is in the game to push product. In the case of Market Leader, services like their websites for brokers, positioning and feedback from and on key sites like RealEstate.com, PPC campaigns, and other marketing offerings. Ian Morris’s (video above) company has just about every end covered when it comes to sales leads.

Whether or not agents, buyers, and sellers find Market Leader’s tactics with favor or not is not at issue for the moment, what seems more important is the pulling at straws that takes place within the industry. A technicality here, an uncrossed “t” there, when the housing market is still suffering its most crippling blow ever. One has to marvel at the big game being played for position. But then, that’s what business is about, right? One thing you have to give Market Leader a lot of credit for is bringing RealEstate.com down to the local level. Not many big time players have done this well.

More on real visibility as the story grows. Oh, and Market Leader, if you really want more solutions for leads… mail me.

RealEstate.com Atlanta site – Market Leader has done this right

Oh. One hint too, don’t profess Pinterest, G+, Twitter, Facebook or any expertise you are not entrenched in. Now Inman News? They have Pinterest down.

Rooofus Doofus!- Online Takeover

So, it’s time for a wake up call. Oh ye of tiny listing thumbnails and lip service social engagement, hark! The following is a for real instructional, even a challenge to “would be” investor types. Take it from an old Internet hand, everything I say below can be done. I know, you are a bit curious, and my writing style, while flowing, is wordy, so here is a one minute instructional for taking over real estate online one-market-at-a-time.

First, the SERPs can be pretty much bought. If not outright via a good SEM campaign, then good old premium content and SEO strategy. Throw in some news, cutting edge site design and compliance, and especially some SM and user value, and Bingo! Trulia and Zillow move over. You see, there really is no one else out there. Okay, one or two to compete with for your attention -buyer or seller – but very few. In the startup world, venture capitalists or even my pals at the tech blogs might as for “differentiation” for a real estate startup, let’s call our new “baby” Rooofus – all your property needs under one rooof, with a big R for you know what, and an extra o for good measure! Later on we’ll stack those o’s into a nice pile of smileys for a good logo. But for now.

Imagine a real estate website that does not show off white space and banner ads, but the home you want to sell, to buy. Fast, efficient, no nonsense, but imminently capable of answering your questions. Imagine following the link in the image below, and instead of a classy New York hotel, you find a Grand Rapids Realtor, selling houses, hooked to you via this site, social media, smart devices….

The Library Hotels from Library Collection Hotels – A WIHP Hotels Convert Website

99.999 percent of real estate websites suck. Even the once in a lifetime octagenarian who takes his great grandson#s advice and looks for his retirement fishing cottage online, is apt to leave the web in disgust on venturing to what agents these days call Internet presence. I won’t argue this point, and please don’t be so obtuse as to come argue yourself either. To tackle this aspect we simply engage some friends of ours in the hotel marketing space, WIHP (World Independent Hotel Promotions), work out how to scale their Convert hotel booking strategy for real estate listings, then build out for each of 50 markets in the US. We can start with Atlanta maybe? To get the picture, look at a recent press bit my company Pamil Visions PR helped out WIHP with.

You see, WIHP Hotels was a successful Paris company, content with lapping up all the boutique and exclusive little gems in and about Paris, then outward to Budapest, Prague, Spain, blah blah, and Capri, Sicily, Argentina, and, and New York City! That’s right, good news travels fast and the nicest boutique hotels in Manhattan, re-vamped as the Library Collection, bottom line “intelligently leveraging and executing with tools like WIHP’s Convert marketing suite, will be a virtual tsunami washing over what’s out there now. All you have to do is put a good roof over a leading edge plan, make it safe and warm inside, and.. Let’s move on.

Socialite or Sociopath

Okay, we just bought Roofus.com. Our pals over at WIHP in Paris have converted Convert. to engage perfectly any home seller or buyer, to show off an “experience” of the place being bought or sold, a value so concrete in digital form as to exactly portray what we are selling… Now what? People have to see our new and wondrous landing pages, now don’t they? Enter WIHP Hotels again, along with the rest of our network, our own SEO and SEM capabilities, and WIHP’s landmark adwords and other search engine marketing capabilities, media buy capablilties, and Pamil Visions media outreach capabilities (or Blueglass Interactive, MWW Group, Waggener Edstrom, whoever you choose to do the PR and marketing) Bingo! It is not rocket science once you have a nice storefont.

The same 99.999 percent of Realtors who even venture online to offer up their wares, and engage in social media practices, appear to real web experts as sociopath wanna be’s for the most part. Just having a Twitter and LinkedIn account, tweeting every day about how wonderful you are, this does not make you or your business expert at anything. If it were up to me, anyone still doing hard sell social on Facebook or Twitter for their real estate company, should be forced to hold up a sign like the one below.

As a new friend just commented on a Skype call, “you call these revelations a Stroke of sudden wisdom.” Of course he was not talking about running across some “would be” social media real estate guru, but the wisdom of knowing most don’t get it or are too cheap and lazy to really accept engagement, this is a revelation all home buyers and sellers should take to heart.

If your agent does not take seriously the most powerful selling and communicative conduit since TV, what does that say about you paying he or she a percentage of your hard earned home equity to… to do what? Hope and pray somebody drives by and sees their sign? Uh hum. Back to our instructional. I showed off some genuine social media gurus on Everything PR News just the other day, ask them if I am lying!!!

Let’s put it this way, anyone who knows their business on the social networks stands a million times greater potential for selling your home online, than some agent in Hoboken with a dilapidated website no one sees. Think about it, and start thinking about integrating all the stuff I am putting out here. Be a social media socialite. You can continue reading, try and absorb all this, or go visit Nicole Nicolay at MyTechOpinion, and get the tools to try this for yourself now. Nik Nik basically tells the same story only nicer and more friendly.

Commitment: Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The wise and the wise-cracker out there is saying about now; “Yeah fine, but where do I get the money for all this?” Listen folks, my partner and I, with a very small team, write, edit, and/or publish 6 media outlets, contribute to a dozen more, service more than a dozen PR clients, operate no less than 50 social media accounts, and handle the day to day of running a few business ventures. It’s about commitment, investing time and money. And yes, the rationale that says “if he is so smart, why doesn’t be just take over?”, this old adage is relevant. And there you have it.

For what the average idiotic Silicon Valley startup gets in investment to be a flop, we could take over just about every real estate market in the world,  online, with hardly a whimper. That is unless Trulia and or Zillow, or maybe some Big Daddy property boss decided to hire it done. Even then, there’s not doubt in my mind, not an inkling, that a large segment of real estate visibility online could be had quite easily. There is no one in the way! Imagine a sort of Ask.com meets TechCrunch, meets About.com, linked and interfaced with a near flawless and experiential site in all the major cities, then interlaced with every smaller one.

Impossible is checkmated by execution with intelligence and passion

It sounds interesting, fantastic, to good to be true, impossible, doesn’t it? What if somebody I send to read this is an Angel Investor?  What if sayings like “Content is King” – “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” by Steve Jobs – “The qualities that make Twitter seem inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.” by Jonathan Zittrain – the reaching dogmatic that is Internet jargon, what if it is all true. Is Zillow the best there is? Hmm. Come on, I dare you, investigate how lame some of these markets are.

“The Internet has been the most fundamental change during my lifetime and for hundreds of years.” – Rupert Murdoch

This rant, this appeal, this plug for contemporaries in Paris or New York, it is not about what you may think. If you considered that I would like some VC out there to call me up and say; “Let’s do it!” – you would be right. If you also considered people like me just want to see if done, see if better, then you would be correct too. A lot of us are just sick of seeing mediocre efforts, both for clients and for the businesses that fuel our economy, our lives. It’s about time somebody just led, followed, or got the hell out of the way. All that stands in the way of a multi-million dollar online real estate win is execution.

You are welcome WIHP and all the others I plugged here, and/or gave ideas to. Maybe you have an itch to create the next cool thing, a better way for John and Jane Doe to sell or buy a home. Maybe. Let’s see, I think anybody with a little investment can be the next real estate tycoon.

Watch the video below.

Image credits: Andrius Repsys & Fotolia, BortN66 – Fotolia.com, and Thomas Pajot – Fotolia.com.

From McDonald’s to Nike, Nikon to Lady Gaga, Facebook and Twitter, YouTube and even your lovely Zillow, a two way conversation between professionals and their clients is going on. Are you the last one standing when the music stops? Take the test below to get a hint as to where you stand. Digitally and business wise. If you are not sure, ask experts like Jeff Turner (pictured upper left), about how SM has helped them.

Now have some fun, if you dare!

Now wasn’t that fun? If you sensed a bit of discomfort, felt somehow the questions were too hard. Too easy. This is normal. Not many would figure out the test is loaded. You see… Well, we’ll wait and see how the answers go. BTW, you can develop your own cool tests like this, for your real estate engagement even, using ProProfs time tested Quiz Maker platform. The service is also good for training and other more academic and business purpose. For now tho, wait to see how pros answered those questions.

Any YES! Knowing about Lady Gaga IS a true gauge of your social IQ.

Welcome to Phoenix, or Mediocrity?

For the reader, our methodology here is no nonsense and simplified. Just like any home buyer or seller looking for info on the web, the most logical place will always be Google. Searching for keywords or phrases such as “homes in Phoenix” or “Phoenix real estate” mimics what your everyday buyer or seller might do. These searches, modified to exclude huge aggregator sites like Trulia and others, can really show what the local professionals are up to, at least online. So, without further explanation, let’s look at Phoenix’s top real estate gurus.

Phoenix Real Estate (by Phoenixhomes.com)

Just under the paid positioning of Trulia, Phoenix Real Estate sits at the top position for the search “Phoenix homes for sale.” About the best that can be said for Matt Pellerin’s website is that it is “adequate” for finding some houses in the area. As before, we tend to put some emphasis on social media engagement, site design and navigation, and whether or not the key Realtor shows an effort toward interacting and informing people. As you can see by the screen shot below, even searching for a home results in the visitor being asked to “opt in” for the lead.

For those unfamiliar, opting in means you give permission to be SPAMMED to pieces generally, even called via phone. So far, so bad, for Phoenix home search. (Note: no SM buttons of any kind, let along a prevalent pic of the Broker) RBiz rating of Phoenix Real Estate: 3 on a scale of 10.

Dorathey Duffield

Wow. If Phoenix Real Estate up there is woefully Web 1.0, this Realtor’s big move to take over the Internet for clients and is tantamount to Stone Age marketing madness. In cases like this, I hate to say my I am torn asunder between feeling bad for the agent, and wanting to get glossy photos up of the inconsistency.

This top ten Google SERP wanna be offers not only hard sales techniques like opt in cues, but less than admirable functionality. One thing is clear to this writer, Dorathey Duffield wants you to email or call her, it’s prompted at every turn. The image below of a property search says it all for me. Excuse the lack of SM presence, a one way conversation, even hard sell tactics, the hazy images of a house worth nearly a third of a million dollars? Rating: 2 of 10.

Stone House Realty

Justin A. Lombard should not have chosen a domain name like trust-in-justin.com, but other than this he has his two competitors up there beat hands down where online credibility is concerned. His website is nothing to write to Time Magazine over, it won’t make any web covers, but the Realtor has done some SEO, SM, and marketing classes somewhere. Or else is smart enough (not so cheap as to) to hire somebody who does have a clue. Sorry Justin, I can’t give a glowing review here, but you honestly did what was necessary.

Okay, Stone House does not have a massive engagement quotient, but what is displayed openly is the Broker’s email, picture, phone, and a little tiny “g +” at page top, indicating someone there understands SEO and the social trend. Stone House does venture into the “opt in” space where it seems appropriate, such as the testimonial pages as the company’s competitors do. The difference in this case being there are actual reviews of the services offered next to one call to action to get mail from the Realtor. No Twitter and Facbook, no valid link to the g + profile, an ugly site, and some other missing elements take Stone House’s ratings down tho. Rating: 5 of 10.

Historic Phoenix Dot Com?

If ever there were a smart move (I think) calling your real estate entity by a dual purpose name might be (or might have been) one of the slickest I’ve seen. The owners of Historic Phoenix, Don Mertes and Maureen Rooney, got themselves into the top ten search listings with a lot of content, and what looks like some SEO and linking juice. The site seems very new, Alexa only shows a brief history dating back to three months.

The nicest of the Phoenix real estate sites we visited today, and replete with pics of the principals, some decent tools, and a ton of resources. However, beyond a snappy and effective internal and external linking build (study link building and SEO), and some cool facts and figures about the surrounding Arizona architecture etc, “slick” is about what the online home searcher gets via this portal. Bottom line is, are the agents doing their best to sell and show? No social engagement for their clients, some info loosely scattered about the site, and a Yelp connection of little relevance (save some visibility), none of this spells “BROKER” for me. Of course, the agents are free to argue. Rating: 5 of 10.

Is this enough to sell? Or to make you want to buy or call?

The Drummond Group

Interestingly, or sadly perhaps, Phoenix’s real estate presence online is so poor as to have driven this writer to Zillow to find our next entry. The Drummond Group appears not in our Google SERPs, but at the top of the list of Phoenix Realtors on the Zillow Real Estate Agent Reviews & REALTORS®. Okay, after spitting and coughing like Daffy Duck over this dispicable happenstance, it matters not. Evaluating Ed Drummond’s digital presence for his constituents will do. Oh, but wait? Ed Drummond is all about commercial offerings. Or is he? The Zillow listing shows homes and review about buying homes, yet the company site offers industrial, land, office, and so on?

Wait, Ed has his Drummond Group at Capstone Realty identity on Facebook! But somehow all these presences rebuke the Google search, even the Zillow one? Confused? So am I. There’s a Capstone Realty site, an Ed Drummond one that is exactly the same with Ed’s domain, and at least one domain that no longer exits. While Ed Drummond does sure seem to get around, and his agency(s) show the earmarks of being successful (lots of employees) Ed himself is a bit hard to track down. I did manage to find one pic of him on the company Facebook, with Santa Claus no less. (Evidently he only shows up for Christmas?). Anyhow, Ed and his team will have to excuse me for A – having to hunt them down, and B – being very confused about their offerings for web searching real estate peeps. Rating (just cuz Ed is so tall) 4 of 10.

Summary Judgement: Pitiful

No doubt the reader (and some Phoenix Realtors) are suffering at this point. In all honesty it is no fun revealing such mediocrity, particularly for an area of the US one would think might recover sooner, rather than later. One thing is cemented with this latest review of digital Realty, not many agents spend even a thought considering how people on the web might engage with them.

Maybe all you iPhone toting people out there, you Facebook fans, had better get in your cars and drive to Arizona? Just look for the big ass sign that says; “Home For Sale” by the lazy agent too busy and important to do more than take your money.

Sorry, but this search is getting ridiculous. Next up Dallas.

Photo credit: Mediocrity image courtesy Andy Dean – Fotolia.com

iList courtesy Mashable

Users simply have to add the pretext “#ihave” to list properties for sale, or “#iwant” to describe what they are looking for. By following @microlist on Twitter.com, your tweets will then be paired up with other users who have something you may be interested in, before messaging both parties to let them know there’s a match.

Ilist.com has proved hugely popular since its inception in 2008, and covers everything from home sales and rentals to cars, job listings and random items for sale. The idea behind the site is that it allows users to harness the power of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, craigslist etc in order to get their listing out to as wide an audience as possible.

While it may be a long way off yet, the ilist is certainly an interesting new idea that has the potential to revolutionize the way buyers search for their homes, and it’s already proving to be popular with many Twitter fans. According to one tweet we saw from ‘glassesgeek’:

“iList Micro is a brilliant use of Twitter. #iwant to see iList advance the future of classifieds even more”

With more and more people embracing social media each day, is it only a matter of time before Realtors have to start getting worried?

Author profile: Mike Wheatley is a seasoned real estate blogger who has been providing advice and information about the mortgage industry on any number of popular forums and prominent blogs for several years now.

In the model below, insert your various social channels for a refined gathering and filtering process. In fact, an astute social media guru can enhance their sales funnel even farther, read on.

Insert Facebook, Twitter, and your other channels and turn it on - courtesy ZOHO CRM

The concept of the sales funnel involves the transformation of  a large pool of so called “cold” leads, or unqualified prospects,  into a concentrated stream of actual customers. Social networks are a good fit for this concept, and more and more agents are beginning to see the power of social media in developing the kinds of relationships that transform strangers into loyal customers.

Social media allows agents to establish a more focused and targeted approach to filling the funnel by seeking out, “friending”, or following people that share similar interests or match a desired customer demographic, such as education level, age or specific geographic location.

Get that throng, that funnel, headed in your direction

They Don’t Call It SOCIAL Media for Nothing

For business success in social media, no matter what social platform you find your strengths in,(Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), you must Engage!  Engagement is all about providing relevant content, listening, responding, and in so doing engaging potential customers in two way communication.  Author and new media guru, Brian Solis (below imparting a secret) who researches and writes extensively on interactions within the social networks, brings the point home in his latest book Engage!

Put aside the normal historical approach of push, or interruption marketing for the permission marketing approach described by Seth Godin over 10 years ago.  To put it simply, this general, ongoing stream of “conversation” in social media enhances relationships and makes the agent more real, and approachable to potential customers.

Brian whispers the secret of social engagement - courtesy MediaBistro

Continual client relations can be smoothly carried out via social media, as a positive transaction tends to strengthen the friendship or relationship bond, which is effectively continued and strengthened through  regular social media interaction.  For example, staying in touch with inactive clients through Facebook may be as simple as posting a happy birthday greeting or congratulations on accomplishment or family event on a client’s wall. Something that simple can actually be a very powerful engagement element.

In future posts we will explore more specific social media platforms and techniques that will help bring real estate agents into the world of modern marketing and lead generation. In the mean time, while you wait for that next client call, you may as well tune into the web.