Accepting that most of the businesses associated with real estate are behind the curve where adopting online and mobile channels are concerned, we think the savvy reader will glean a lot from this infographic from Real Geeks. Please let us know your thoughts, needs, and opinions, as always.

Infographic Courtesy of Real Geeks Lead Generation Company

Not a spanking new development, HotPads launched in 2005 to help users with rentals. The platform expanded to include sales and even vacation offerings subsequently, and with some success. In direct competition with sites like Apartments.com, Craigslist and, even giant Zillow, HotPads is actually the sixth acquisition by Zillow in the last two years. Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, offered this via MarketWatch:

“This acquisition represents a significant step-change for Zillow Rentals, allowing us to dramatically increase the number of leads we send to landlords. HotPads has a younger, complementary and rental-focused audience. Now Zillow will become even more relevant to consumers at the beginning of their real estate life cycle. In addition, by acquiring an amazing engineering team, with a deep understanding of how people search for rentals and become tenants, we expect to accelerate our innovation and monetization of our rental marketplace.”

At close yesterday 26.23 +0.12 (0.46%) Zillow stock tumbled last month on the news of SEC disclosures concerning correspondences between the SEC and Zillow’s CEO Spencer Rascoff. Further stock price tail-off occurred when the company’s quarterly projections failed to meet analyst expectations. Yesterday, despite the news of Zillow’s HotPads buy, The Street downgraded “Z” stock from buy to sell due in large part to weak operating cash flow.

Cheeseheads on the Internet

I must admit, Shorewest’s announcement they launched a TV ad to promote their website at first made me cringe. I mean, unless you are Microsoft and you want to announce something like search engine Bing, bragging about such issuance is a bit of a stretch. As it turned out though, yesterday’s mention of this Wisconsin agency did bear fruit (more on that later). Even though  Shorewest brokers did not stop in here, or even retweet their mention, their online presence is felt. Still, it’s not entirely fair to ignore other agents there.

Here are the Realtors most prevalent for Google searches for Milkawlkee Real Estate. Our methods exclude the aggregators and cookie cutter sites of players such as Zillow, Trulia, Century 21, and so forth. What you see below is a snapshot of what most house hunters would see looking at this city via search.

Shorewest

The aforementioned agent ranks third in the SERPs for Milwaukee Real Estate. Please read the assessment on this firm from yesterday. Clearly though, the Wisconsin sellers do sit atop the heap there in cheese country. Their Alexa score of 140,807 indicates their website actually receives a great deal of traffic when compared to the average realty website, and especially considering Wisconsin’s relative remoteness. As for a rating, Shorewest’s overall online engagement ranks up there with some of the best we have looked at. Rank: 6 of 10

Shorewest Realty landing page

goMilwaukee – City Owned Real Estate?

Like any surfer looking for house online, I was taken not only by Google’s having allowed the big online entities to take over the search results pages, but especially the weakness of a real estate niche online that shows the city selling houses on page one? Web 1.0 design, no social media buttons or engagement of any kind, an pretty much zero value user friendly or aesthetic wise. Just follow the link, you see what I mean. Rank: 1 of 10 (for whoever did the SEO originally)

Milwaukee City home selling – Huh?

First Weber

I mentioned this Wisconsin company in yesterday’s article, which prompted the group’s Marketing Manager to comment here. I must say, her asking how come I found her company’s website to be sub par prompted me to write this post in all honesty. I’ll get to “why” at the end of this post.

First Weber does not have the most awful real estate brand landing in the world, the CondoMan below may vie for that honor in Milwaukee at least. FW does own a site that resembles one of those patchwork homes you may have looked at. You know, added to until it looks like shack of sorts. Tacking on social media buttons, a mention of video contingents, and in general “patching” one’s website as the company goes along – what does this indicate?

One thing I will say before I go on here is that Katie Huebschen is at least more wired than her contemporary at Shorewest, she did note the online mention of her company. On to evaluating this company’s engagement – Facebook (useful and organic growth) 4 of 10, Twitter (limited daily broadcasting – Klout 48) 4 of 10, G+ (200 something pals, relevance) 6 of 10, LinkedIn (upper percentile engaging) 6 of 10, video channel (custom with extensive resource allocation comparative) 4 of 10, and their website is horrible given the company’s obvious abilities (3 of 10). So, given that any business’ landing is twice as crucial as other brand elements online (for now), we have a Rank 4.3 of 10 

Now. You will note I am going more in depth for this profile than for the others. This is what the company’s marketing people asked me to do. It will help the reader to know the same variables were weighed in assessing ALL real estate company digital prowess. Here too, for the Wisconsin market, the relative weakness of the online competition should be factored in as well. Having considered this, let’s just say First Weber and Shorewest can do a lot better in both extending client value onto the digital space, and as far as being more competitive within this market. Let’s move on.

Milwaukee Condo Man

Okay, you have to exit page one of a Google search to find other than the aforementioned “big boys” of national real estate, and to get past some domains like the city one up there that are pretty indescribably and worthless. Then on page two, a site with a domain that is either Milwaukee Condo Man dot com, or Milwaukee Condom An dot com, depending how one looks at it, “arises?” I swear, this city tops Pittsburg for lame – O online visibility for brokers. I feel like somebody turned back the clock to 1999, wear protection when searching homes in this town. Rank: 2 of 10

NancyBMeeks.com

Page two Google, third from the top, find Nancy B. Meeks’ website memorializing the dot com era. Sorry, I think I may have assessed too many real estate websites and marketing mumbo jumbo. Interestingly, it appears Nancy here is one of Shorewest’s top agents! Let me say this for Nancy’s online brand here. She does have a lot of helpful content on the site. There, call me gracious. The fact the site gets zero traffic means Milwalkee’s housing market does not get another black eye. No social, no design, no nuttin here. Rank: 1 of 10 (for all that content under the 50 tabs)

Wisconsin real estate mediocrity at its worst – abandoned web content

Summary

Most of these critique articles make me feel overly critical, even to the point of caustic. Soft soaping the story of real estate’s entry into digital house selling though, how would that help anything? Real estate agents whine about the economy, their little ball of yarn being unwound, the gravy train ending, blah blah. When in fact 80 percent of agents just plain got lazy. Lip service once paid the bills, now it won’t. Do you understand me now?

In cities across America, around the world in fact, companies in and out of the property business try and get a free lunch out of Internet marketing. Our PR company, marketing arm, news aspect, content production team, and our consulting people deal with the excellence and mediocrity businesses reveal online, all day and every day. 80 percent of the people we talk to, even CEOs, they are clueless as to how the web really works. Of the other 20 percent, 8 out of 10 of them are so cheap they squeak when they walk. Why rebuild a website when another cocktail party may do? Cemented in the old way of doing things, once forward thinking and often ingenious people sometimes just become mired in past successes, and so on.

Given all that, I understand why Katie Huebschen wondered how come I did not like her company’s website, minimized their social media engagement. In her world, there in Wisconsin, First Weber is a veritable Hector battling Achilles. Epic is their effort to engage the online customer, comparatively. And therein that company’s problem resides. To be the best any company has an obligation to clients to be better than spot 6 in the SERPs, and barring SEO resources, top dog on Twitter and elsewhere.

There’s my suggestions for improvement. Do more than some website enhancements, you have the resources and sales are up.

Joseph A. Horning & John P. Horning

When first I read about a real estate company doing such, especially one in way up there Wisconsin, I thought, “Uh huh.” Writing this on the fly, You and I can discover the low down on this interesting branding and online engagement move. On landing at Shorewest, my mixed feelings came rushing in.

Site Design Takes Back Seat to Social

Shorewest’s new website is anything but ugly, but by the same token it is not exactly stunning either. The worst I can say for the landing is that 200 cities to scroll to to get to the end of the page, this is not what anyone would call “edgY” design or thinking. Aside this, the look of a decent realty site sinks in. What makes the site nice is what’s underneath, tabs lead to all manner of services and info, filtering types galore, and so on. Complete where function goes puts the Shorewest entry up there with the top ones, at least in Wisconsin.

Joe and John P. Horning are supposed to be Wisconsin’s biggest names in real estate. I guess First Weber’s 50 offices may take a back seat to Shorewest, but not in the online search positioning. What does matter for the latter group is that aesthetics and function wise, the Hornings just handed First Weber’s James R. Imhoff, Jr. (CEO) his hat. Imhoff’s site is bottom tier and his company’s only has a residual engagement in social media. This brings us to the next valuation for Shorewest.

Nice, but nothing out of the ordinary

Lined up across the Wisconin firm’s spanking new website, the developers have strung buttons for just about ever social media network there is. Clicking, and remember we are looking at this real time here, reveals online moves akin to…

• Facebook – Very nice, 1578 likes, nearly daily engagement, relevant and interesting posts, good design
• Twitter . Very good, nice design, daily tweets, relevant, but with only several hundred following
• G+ – Shorewest dropped the ball here, but the profile is there plus not many care about G+ so much
• LinedIn – Advanced, Shorewest has a super nice profile and value proposition here
• Pinterest – Shorewest is one of only a few agencies that seems to understand “Pinning’s” value
• YouTube Channel – Shorewest is not MGM, but they do utilize the channel

Bragging Rights

TV commercials about real estate website and channel resources to sell your home? I doubt Shorewest’s claim that no other agency in the nation has as many resources is exactly true, but it has to be for Wisconsin. And this is a bit of what matters. The video below, yodles the viewer into an acute sense of WTF! I must say, it is one of the most effective such ads I’ve ever seen, a bit like the “Go Compare” ones we all know.

Back to being critical of the website, the company probably needs to put the site on a dedicated server if it is not already, it loads very slowly in Chrome. Also, some of the function does not exactly work flawlessly. I tried to find a mini farm outside of Green Bay via the map search, it hung up in my browser. Add in tiny images of the home listings, and Shorewest could have done better design wise.

Has Shorewest got anything to brag about though? Well, they made Inman and our news, and that says a lot from a brand and visibility aspect. Add in some refinement of adjacent pages, bigger images, and a blogger that knows blogging, and maybe. Point is, Showewest got on the radar, their competitors did not really. So where are you going to house hunt online when you move to Wisconsin?

So the reader knows, real estate pro or property hunter either one, writing and editing for the web in any genre, involves dealing with such creatures as; the grammar police, trolls of all discription, link snatchers, so called “digg-like haters”, you name it, web news has the gambit of human and almost inhuman discourse and interactivity.

On Our Collective Ears

Like most of you, I too get excited and flabberghasted by it all. Even after 20 plus thousand articles or more, it never ceases to amaze me how obtuse and shallow people can be. Constructive criticism is often met with excellence, as is the case in some comments on a post about Grand Rapids real estate online.

Andrew Ingram came by to comment on a scathing bashing of his online social and other engagement, wholly appropriately and professionally. Similarly, another prominent Grand Rapids professional, Rob Young, offered not excuses for his presence lacking, but a real conversational on how fine initial web insertion can be left wallowing when time and other constraints infringe. In short, professionals do quite often show their true colors in accepting just criticism. Not only this, for you see this is not about patronizing me or any writer, but there is literally no way to improve business or personal traits without critiquing.

On to the subject of this editorial. I am talking about the invariability of seeming arrogance and mediocrity creeping in. Into any discussion of merit, even down right arguing, there always seems to be that component of school yard pettiness. An agent, a startup CEO, some big money investor with more money than brains or humility, just has to get their two cents in. In most cases, these people are far too busy and important to actually engage in any conversation. They simply want to lay on the couch, or sit at the bar, out on the veranda sipping mint juleps, writing instructions to agency subordinates on cocktail napkins. Hey, if you don’t want to buy into the next web, fine, just stay off it and leave your SPAMMY comments to your contemporarys’ websites.

Do I sound cynical? Or, can you envision contemporaries of yours doing so? I know this answer. Take the third comment on “When the Market Blows: Grand Rapids Pros Suck”, for instance. Ordinarily any editor would remove a simple link SPAM comment directing to interested party’s own website or affiliated link, but in the case of Remax veteran John Postma, thirty something years of real estate knowledge (one would think) would give insight and intuition to professionals.

Postma (or his agent) evidently decided to just shortcut convention and what pro marketers and PR proclaim “the conversation” – in liue of snatching a link back to his site. Some “juice” as this is terms (take the time to Google who you deal with). And I quote from the Einstein real estate guru’s comment library:

“Top realtors in grand rapids works with many platforms and provide well furnished luxury accomodation with all requirements.”

Now, ordinarily I would just trash such comments as what they are, link SPAM. But this is different. Not only did the commenter not even bother to read the whole article, whoever made it for the company did not even weigh any consequence in my view. This was a little like saying “We don’t give a s___ about engagement, clients questions, even other brokers’ shortcomings, we just want the easy way to notoriety.” And what is that, you ask? Standing on someone else’s shoulders so one can look taller, that’s what. Remember the pencil neck who had a lot of frontal memory, taking advantage of situations in the halls, on the playground? Make no mistake, this Michigan top businessman may be the nicest guy in the world, able to leap tall buildings and then sell them in the traditional ways, like no body’s business. But, anyone can do better.

Prove It! The Potential, I mean

Many platforms, or so the comment says? Well, sure enough, there’s the Grand Rapids Remax platform where you’ll find good ole John listed among the billion others here. There’s JohnPostma dot com, where you’ll find some high dollar property for sale, even some decent pictures. Why you can even read about John being the #15 salesman for Remax in the US in 2011, right after the proclamation he is the Best in Grand Rapids. John even leverages Twitter with about 20 million invisible followers, and the 10 he shows on his profile. LinkedIn, with over 100 connections, the 2004 Circle of Legends (whatever that is), John even has his church linked to his LI profile.

Okay, let’s cut John some slack here. Maybe he or his web persons just don’t know? Face it, you don’t get to be Michigan’s number one Remax salesman for over a decade being a lousy agent. But, this is not the rub here, is it? The lesson, if I am able to teach an online engagement one, is – “How can John Postma be even better, richer, service his constituents with even more vast influence?” Let me lighten up here.

John has even ventured off into the Facebook space. All of those six people that like his profile, the three posts he or his understudy made when creating the presence back in April, those are so engaging too. The nearly one billion people on Facebook cannot wait to discover John has; “Just listed! 5 bedroom, 3 bath in Candlewick estates.” John’s website recieves, according to Compete, on the order of 200 plus visitors a month and climbing. That’s something like 8 people per day wandering in from Google, Bing, dilligently searching out the world’s greatest real estate guru.

I said I would lighten up. But you see, someone had the presence of mind to venture out onto the web. To see news of Grand Rapids real estate, or to hear via office scuttlebutt about some agents getting their grass mowed over here at RBiz. Anyone with an inkling, certainly anyone with decades of business acumen, should have at least considered how come Grand Rapids was the focus of business here. If I am overly fair with one business professional, what of the ten thousand others. That said, being the leader entails rewards and duties. In this case, a wrong interjection, lax marketing practices, and so on, make such opinion pieces mandatory. At least in my view.

You see, people are hurting. America has  taken a gut punch. The biggest majority of the injury was leveled on Mr. & Mrs. John Q, home and American dream owners. Does this sound like some naive altruism? Sue me, I care about not only the proprieties, but people. In my expert view, any business person who has taken the online and mobile channels of communications lightly, is mediocre. This is no matter what their bank statement says. A fool can get lucky, farmers who plow with mules work hard, but the withering crops do not feed the masses. America, nor the world, can no longer afford so called “experts” the run of the pasture.

Now, all criticisms aside. I would be happy to send John and his team best practices for social engagement, help his company skin their social presences properly, even offer the best experts in the world via recommendations and introductions, to take Michigan’s most influential home seller to the people that matter, all for free.

I don’t know who would even suggest such a thing, not really. But there it is. Someone comes to my article, plops down a bit of pluff, and wanders off into LaLa Land where they came from, and they get free upgrades. Of course, even if John does not pay me, there is a price. I quote your favorite from Colin Powell, via your own profile:

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure”

Add to this commitment and the necessary resources, and this seems like a recipe for success. And, successful people, with resources, have absolutely no excuses for being less than excellent. Barring natural catastrophes, that is.

A last note. I mentioned in the comments under John’s that some think any publicity is better than none at all. I always keep my promises. Which do   readers think is better, remaining silent and appearing one way, or…. Either way, you just Don’t Mess With the Zohan.

Feel free to add and/or Tweet me here @Philbo

Job One – Have your OWN Website

This seems like a no-brainer, but keep in mind that a website should be showcasing you individually and should point to a unique URL. A profile about you on a social networking site alone, like Linkedin, does not count. If you are an agent working under a broker who insists on only using their website, be sure that you have a page that is at least dedicated exclusively to you that is simple enough for clients to remember. If you’re a broker, keep in mind that success of your agents can be enhanced when people have clear access to them.  The bottom line is to make sure people can learn about you.

Recommendations:  For DIY types, I recommend Weebly, SquareSpace, WordPress, or even 1&1. For Brokers looking to have agents all under one domain, check out Agent.Point2 as well, and always consider custom web design at the high end of the spectrum.

SQUARESPACE helps professionals build stunning sites

Jon Two – Improve Your Website

Having a site alone and calling it a day just isn’t enough. Remember, your website is your business card, resume, and billboard. As a business card, it must have your general contact information: Name, Contact Information, Location, Phone Number, Photos etc. There should be a way to reach you, but having a built in form is also a good way to capture incoming interest. Also, to get a better sense of design, use this method from web usability experts. Ask your friends, family, and colleagues to offer a critical examination and to be sincerely honest with the presentation of your site.

Keep in mind they may try to spare your feelings, that is why you should check their facial reactions for the first 15-30 seconds as a test. You can usually tell from their initial reaction what their thoughts are, despite what they might say.

Recommendations: To add forms in order to make it easy for clients to contact you, try going to WidgetBox to get a plug-in solution. If you have the experience, try using Slidedeck as a way to showcase key properties or tell the story about you in an engaging format.

Fitting your digital brand into the matrix

Job Three – Internet Advertising

If you are looking to generate business or buzz about your service, it might be worthwhile to consider paid advertising online. While going into the depths of paid advertising online could serve as a post, or even a book in-itself, there are some key takeaways to consider. Know your audience and demographic. With search engine marketing, you can target not just keywords but also geographic data. Make sure that you only place ads against prospects in your region. Furthermore, monitor your results. If the cost of acquisition is too high, it might be wise to bow out and spend your time on other channels.

Recommendations: Paid advertising is a highly encompassing endeavor and it’s a field of study that requires considerable research in order to get the best results, that being said, if you are still gung-ho on pursuing that avenue cold, try getting a feel for Google Adwords and even your local Yellow Pages online.

Ever Hear of Interactive Online Signage? You Will

Job Four – Free Promotions on Social Media and Video Sites

Everybody loves free. In order to get some free marketing online, here are two things you can do to get seen on search engines and other channels fast. First, be sure to mark your presence on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. Many of these websites will often be the first thing that pops up when people search for you online, many times these pages will be higher up than your own website. Keep these sites pointing to your website and make sure the branding across these sites are the same. Second, it is always good to create a video about yourself on Youtube. The reason why it is on Youtube is that Google likes to include Youtube and other video content into search results. Be sure to disable comments when you post a video, otherwise you may find odd remarks from people whom you may have never ever met.

Recommendations: Make sure your presence on social media sites are consistent with each other and that they point back to your site. Top sites to have a presence on include, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.

Free digital latency with your audience

Using these steps, and infusing a bit of yourself into your virtual “online calling card” what you will have in effect is a perpetual commercial introducing you and your talent to the world. In the digital age so many have invested in half measures where websites are concerned, expecting a sort of “magic” to occur, if you will. But just like in the brick and mortar world it takes work and commitment to succeed online. And believe me you must succeed online or else your competition will overshadow you. There is no more important marketing or business tool than a credible online footprint. I hope this has helped.

What separates and defines you? In the digital world everyone has a presence

Credits: Interactive signage image courtesy Northern Computer website.