Wish I could be in New York for this. Looks like a fabulous get together.
Surely someone is going to shoot it on video and share with the rest of us right?
Future of Local Video Gathering in NY
Roost.com, recent Inman Innovator Award recipient, has redesigned its real estate search results pages.
The biggest change is the search criteria, which were previously available on the left and right sides of the listing results and are now all above the fold. They are now, according to company PR, “completely hide-able” too.
Once expanded, the criteria panels slide from left to right. It reminds me somewhat of the Xbox 360’s dashboard tabbed interface which features 5 “blades” that also slide in and out.
The goal, I’m guessing, is to get people right to the meat of the search, the results, quickly and not clutter it up with too much extraneous information. Also notable is the map results now take advantage of Google’s new terrain image data and the map pins dynamically update as you view the listings.
Overall, it’s a pleasant experience. But it strikes me that it may still be a bit much for the average real estate consumer. The bigger issue here is that as more and more filters get added to Real Estate 2.0 search tools; neighborhood boundaries, school districts, keyword searches, I’m finding myself a little overwhelmed with options.
Ultimately the challenge for any of these sites, lies in creating a user experience that is both rich with data and pleasant, intuitive and easy to use.
Companies like Redfin, Estately, Trulia and Roost are all creating innovative new ways to present the massive amounts of data that is available to online searchers. But, in many cases, the rush to add even more features (fsbos, foreclosures, mls/broker listings, local context) to search results isjust adding more noise.
I applaud Roost’s attempt to ‘hide’ some of this features but personally I’m still waiting for someone to bring Google-like (or even Cuil-like) simplicity to real estate search results.
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Roost Redesigns Search Results
And a fair number of those were bought by real estate professionals I suspect…
Last week at Real Estate Connect, the Flip came up in conversation numerous times and I can’t count how many of them I saw being wielded by content-hungry conference-goers over the three days in San Francisco.
That’s why today I wasn’t surprised Pure Digital, the company behind the popular Flip video cameras, announced that it has sold its one-millionth unit in the US. They also reported that, according to research conducted by the NPD Group, the Flip Ultra is the #1 selling camcorder in the US based on sales through June 2008. A quick search on Amazon.com confirms their popularity.
I spoke with Pure Digital CEO Scott Kabat this morning and asked him more specifically about the Flip’s impact in the real estate industry. Interestingly, he told me his mother was a real estate agent and while the Flip was not designed specifically for this industry, he was definitely conscious of agents needs. Pure Digital’s goal is to make video production simple, portable and affordable - qualities that most definitely line up with the real estate industry’s requirements.
He also shared with me that the company has overcome one the long standing complaints about the Flip - its incompatibilty with the Mac. Pure Digital has been working with Apple and recent updates to Quicktime and iMovie now mean that the video files shot by the Flip can now be imported directly into Apple’s video applications. This is a huge win for us OS X users.
Finally, Kabat intimated that they are aggressively developing the Flip software to allow for seamless uploading to online video-sharing sites; which includes YouTube and now AOL and Myspace. Future versions of the software may also include the ability to upload to real estate-specific video hosts and web sites as well.
Personally, I’m a big fan of the Flip (minor quibbles aside). The hardware is stunningly simple to use for the non-technical crowd and the software is quickly becoming more and more useful too. The marriage between the two (hardware and software) is what will drive greater and greater adoption of video. And for the real estate industry that can’t come soon enough.
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Flip Sells a Million Video Cameras
Right now my life feels a little like this motorcycle ride I took a few week’s back…
It’s all a bit of a blur.
Real Estate Connect SF 2008 kicks off in little less than 24 hours and I think it’s shaping up to be one of the best events we’ve put together. But, needless to say, it’ll be slow posting here on FOREM this week.
However, if you want to keep up with everything that’s going on from afar, make sure you:
Follow me on Twitter.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Friend me on Facebook.
Watch my Flickr Photostream.
Find me onTechnorati.
Converse with me on Disqus.
More importantly - if you’re coming to Connect.. make sure you say hi in person or give me a call at 971.228.5704.
Hope to see you there.
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Connect with me at Connect
Frontdoor.com, the upstart real estate search portal from media giant Scripps Network Interactive, continues to move forward. From their most recent press release:
Just six months after opening, FrontDoor.com, the real estate Web site powered by HGTV, continues to unlock home ownership information for users – now offering more than 3 million listings of homes for sale across the country.
So is 3 million the magic number?
Zillow’s Real Estate Search Results claim to have close to that (2,626,271 to be exact). REALTOR.com says you can “search over 3 million new, existing and rental properties”.
Young buck Roost.com has about half that… but then they’re only live in a handful of markets.
Roost.com now provides consumers access to homes for sale in 26 major markets, over 12,000 cities and nearly 1.5 million listings in total.
Nothing from Trulia on how many listings they have but I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that they have… oh I don’t know… approximately 3 million listings?
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Millions of Listings Oh My
Open registration for .Me domains starts to today. The domains, which were previously reserved for entities based in the country of Montenegro, are now available for anyone to purchase.
(Amusingly, .Me was assigned to Montenegro after is declared independence from the former Serbia and Montenegro which used the TLD .Yu… so .Me split from .Yu)
Uses for a .Me domain?
Realtors using their own names as their main branding element would be wise to snag that URL. Using joerealtor.me might be a unique marketing angle (…for a short while anyway) but in any case, it would be good to stake your claim on it, even if you don’t end up using it.
Also, if you’re planning on using Apple’s MobileMe push contact and calendaring service with your hot new 3G iphone - you can assign your .Me URL to your MobileMe account (by adding it as your personal domain under the account settings).
Anyway, I snagged burslem.me - if you want to as well, go get ‘em.
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Get Your .Me Domain Today
The guys at 1000Watt have redrawn the Real Estate Web 2.0 mindmap. Make sure you go and check it out.
What’s impressive is that despite the gruesome economic news and horrific market conditions many in the industry are facing there is still so much innovation happening on the technology side.
I think this is going to be the big story of the latter half of 2008. It’s make it or break it time for many of the players on the list and those who haven’t raised a few rounds for a decent war chest to wait it out (see Trulia Gets Beaucoup Bucks) are going to struggle and probably fail.
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Real Estate 2.0 Expands
Yahoo! Inc., just released the results of a study they did on how the Internet influences home buyers and sellers and specifically how it influences consumers when it comes to selecting a real estate agent.
No great surprises in the results (which were tabulated from a survey of 500 participants)… Yahoo’s found that… Yes… the Internet plays a “pivotal role in the selection process and was central in helping consumers identify agents”.
The numbers are good brain fodder though.. here’s what Yahoo! found:
- Home buyers and sellers consider approximately two agents on average before making a final decision.
- The Internet impacts consumer trust. Forty percent of respondents credited a site in increasing their trust in the agent.
- 74 percent of people who accessed an agent Web site got there with the help of a search engine. [emphasis mine]
- The online research process is quick and intense: consumers spent an average of 12 hours online researching agents and 75 percent selected an agent within one week of starting their search.
- 45 percent of respondents used the Internet to learn about agents they didn’t know existed.
- 41 percent discovered special deals and promotions offered from an agent through the Internet.
Struck me that maintaining a blog might still be the best way for Realtors to deal with the discovery and introduction process.
But the biggest find reinforces what many of the online search sites are banking on (see Trulia Gets Beaucoup Bucks) - there is still a massive disconnect between Realtor’s advertising budgets and where consumers are looking for information. According to Yahoo! (bias noted) 77 percent of respondents searched the Internet for information during their research process compared to 34 percent for print.
And guess where Realtors are still spending the most of their money? A Borrell Associates report quoted by Yahoo says that newspapers continue to get biggest share of Realtor advertising dollars at 40 percent (though online is catching up - and now stands at 32 percent).
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More Proof You Need to be Marketing Online
Simmering resentment over Trulia’s SEO practices (see Trulia Caught Cloaking Red Handed) hasn’t stopped the search site from landing another $15 million in funding.
Deep Fork Capital LLC led the financing to top up Trulia’s reserves; Trulia’s other investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Fayez Sarofim & Co. also participated.
In the statement, Trulia co-founder and CEO Pete Flint said… well, he didn’t say all that much really…
““This additional capital will help us take advantage of this opportunity and continue our accelerated growth. This market is also a unique time to help real estate brokers and agents transition their marketing efforts and services online. In the coming year, we plan to roll out world-class products that will continue to transform the online real estate experience.”
Also found in the release - Trulia claimed it has:
- Approximately 5 million unique users
- 100,000 real estate professionals as registered users
- More than 3 million real estate listings nationwide
- Over 70 million property records providing constantly-updated comparable sales
Trulia has now raised $33 million since it launched. That’s big money - so somebody definitely thinks there’s a payoff somewhere to be had. The only question is from where?
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Trulia Gets Beaucoup Bucks
Moo is one of my very favorite online printing companies. In fact, the first time I went to Inman’s Real Estate Connect (see Help Plan My Trip to Inman Connect NYC) I carried with me in my pocket a handful of Moo’s MiniCards with me that had my blog URL and contact information on it.
For those of you who have moo’vd your marketing yet, Moo (which is based in London) creates brilliant printed products that can pipe in photo feeds from your Flickr or Facebook account so every single card can have a unique image on it.
For this reason, it makes Moo uniquely useful to the real estate agent. And they’ve just released a new product that their aiming directly at agents too - full-size business cards.
Using Moo’s “PrintFinity” technology, you could be printing business cards for a new listing that has a different picture on every card with the property information on the back. Imagine blowing your seller’s mind when you show up with a box of these for them to pass out.
Alternatively, you could create a series of business cards that have all the listings you’ve ever sold on the backs of the cards, along with your contact info.
The other nice thing is that Moo lets you do very small print runs (of only 50 cards) - which makes sense for a single listing - as you end up having a lot less waste and a run can be updated if there’s a price change. 50 cards costs only $21.99 and you can choose to get the cards in 100% ‘Green’ card stock (recyleable and biodegradeable) too.
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Moo Launches Business Cards for Agents
Marketing Real Estate on Facebook (and Other Social Networks) by Joel Burslem on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
I’ll admit it. I’m hooked on Facebook. I somehow missed out the whole MySpace craze (thankfully, visiting a MySpace page now just makes my eyes hurt) - but Facebook has me hook, line and sinker.
Over on the Inman Blog, I wrote a post recently about real estate marketing through social media - where I implied that you should be thinking about marketing your listings in the places where your target markets are these days. Believe me, that’s rarely in the classifieds sections of your local newspapers anymore.
Now, industry social networks like ActiveRain are great for connecting with your peers; but let’s face it, Consumers aren’t hanging out there. If you’re looking for buyers and sellers, in this day and age you need to be a little more creative.
The news that Facebook may launch Local Classifieds got me thinking on how you can take this idea and use social networks like Facebook to really power your business.
Here’s how:
1. Encourage past clients and new clients to ‘friend’ you or ‘add’ you to their networks. Include links to your profile in your marketing materials, business cards etc. Build out a brand new online “sphere”.
2. Creating Groups - This is the most obvious way to use the site. Create a “Portland Homebuyers” group for example and help first time buyers with their questions. Leverage your expertise to become the expert in the group.
3. Creating a unique Group is also a great way to keep in touch with business networking contacts you meet - maybe it’s at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting or even a Real Estate Connect conference. (I’ve set up a SF Connect group, by the way, where I hope we can all meet up). You can engage in post conference discussions, share information in a neutral open forum that doesn’t demand the intimacy of an email or telephone contact.
4. Shares - You could use Facebook to market properties to a select group or share properties with your friends . A handy bookmarklet lets you add external links to your Shares. You could add a link to a property from your own site, even a vFlyer page or Sellsius listing etc.
Think about it, you could have an exclusive Group of Realtors in your market, maybe its even inside a single branch office, and you could share great listings with each other even before they hit the MLS.
5. If you’re a blogger, add your RSS feed to your profile. Facebook lets you add a Blog feed to your Notes. You could find new readers and even drive traffic back to your blog by sharing your posts with your network.
I think that maximizing your exposure on social networks like Facebook are going to be increasingly important to small businesses - especially in industries that are already so network-dependent like real estate. Unfortunately, due to the fleeting nature of these sites, the trick is going to be to stay on top on where everyone is. The real danger is arriving too late and finding your audience has already moved on.
—
Related Articles at Future of Real Estate Marketing:
Read the rest here:
Best of FOREM: Marketing Real Estate on Facebook (and Other Social Networks)
Marketing Real Estate on Facebook (and Other Social Networks) by Joel Burslem on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
I’ll admit it. I’m hooked on Facebook. I somehow missed out the whole MySpace craze (thankfully, visiting a MySpace page now just makes my eyes hurt) - but Facebook has me hook, line and sinker.
Over on the Inman Blog, I wrote a post recently about real estate marketing through social media - where I implied that you should be thinking about marketing your listings in the places where your target markets are these days. Believe me, that’s rarely in the classifieds sections of your local newspapers anymore.
Now, industry social networks like ActiveRain are great for connecting with your peers; but let’s face it, Consumers aren’t hanging out there. If you’re looking for buyers and sellers, in this day and age you need to be a little more creative.
The news that Facebook may launch Local Classifieds got me thinking on how you can take this idea and use social networks like Facebook to really power your business.
Here’s how:
1. Encourage past clients and new clients to ‘friend’ you or ‘add’ you to their networks. Include links to your profile in your marketing materials, business cards etc. Build out a brand new online “sphere”.
2. Creating Groups - This is the most obvious way to use the site. Create a “Portland Homebuyers” group for example and help first time buyers with their questions. Leverage your expertise to become the expert in the group.
3. Creating a unique Group is also a great way to keep in touch with business networking contacts you meet - maybe it’s at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting or even a Real Estate Connect conference. (I’ve set up a SF Connect group, by the way, where I hope we can all meet up). You can engage in post conference discussions, share information in a neutral open forum that doesn’t demand the intimacy of an email or telephone contact.
4. Shares - You could use Facebook to market properties to a select group or share properties with your friends . A handy bookmarklet lets you add external links to your Shares. You could add a link to a property from your own site, even a vFlyer page or Sellsius listing etc.
Think about it, you could have an exclusive Group of Realtors in your market, maybe its even inside a single branch office, and you could share great listings with each other even before they hit the MLS.
5. If you’re a blogger, add your RSS feed to your profile. Facebook lets you add a Blog feed to your Notes. You could find new readers and even drive traffic back to your blog by sharing your posts with your network.
I think that maximizing your exposure on social networks like Facebook are going to be increasingly important to small businesses - especially in industries that are already so network-dependent like real estate. Unfortunately, due to the fleeting nature of these sites, the trick is going to be to stay on top on where everyone is. The real danger is arriving too late and finding your audience has already moved on.
—
Related Articles at Future of Real Estate Marketing:
Read more:
Best of FOREM: Marketing Real Estate on Facebook
What Does the Real Estate Brand of the Future Look Like?
The news that Realogy Corporation is going to license Better Homes and Gardens magazine’s brand to launch a new brokerage got me thinking again once again about what the real estate brands of the future are going to look like. (More on the launch from The Real Estate Bloggers).
There’s little doubt we live in an era where the big brands dominate. Drive through most towns these days and you’re going to see the same handful of big box stores that results in a startling uniform and homogenized consumer landscape. Welcome to the United States of Generica.
As these brands reach saturation point however, it’s natural for them to want to begin extending themselves into related markets. To leverage their name recognition and consumer awareness into new business verticals. Starbucks’ push into music sales is a perfect example of the powerful crossover nature of new brands, as is the push into white-labeled banking and finance services by retail outlets.
Real estate is no different - and Realogy gets that. There’s a trust factor that comes with an established consumer brand and a pre-existing identity to build upon. Plus, licensing an existing story is far easier than writing a new one (see Why Do All Real Estate Logos Suck So Bad?).
So it got me thinking, just for fun, what could be some interesting crossover brands for the real estate brokerages of the future?
(Personally, I’d love to see Steve Jobs at the helm of Apple Real Estate - but that’s just geeky wishful thinking.)
What about the online players then?
Any other ideas of crossover brands?
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Original post:
Best of FOREM: Crossover Real Estate Brands
Ephesus Library by Ozan™
I’m off for two weeks to Turkey - with jaunts from the Aegean Sea to the Bosporus. I’m looking forward to soaking up everything from antiquity sites like Ephesus and Troy to the hustle and bustle of Istanbul (not Constantinople).
FOREM’s going into repeats while I’m gone and I’ll be highlighting some of my favorite posts over the last year.
Regular posting will resume the week of July 7.
Allahaısmarladık.
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Hanging Up the Be-Right-Back Sign
Trulia continues on its quest for revenue by adding Trulia Pro today - a new ad platform for agents looking to create a quick and easy ad for themselves on Trulia’s search pages.
The package (which runs $39 a month) gives you unlimited “Feature Listings” (meaning participants get their listings floated to the top of the search results) and unlimited Local Spotlight Ads - Trulia’s new take on self-service ad concept.
Trulia CEO Pete Flint gave me a demo of the system recently and it looked pretty straightforward. Ads are easy enough to create (in fact, if you have a profile on Trulia already it’ll prepopulate the ad with your photo). You can add a tagline and a URL to your web site or blog (no-follow’d, natch).
When buying your ads you can pick to have them run in zip codes, neighborhood or cities. You can choose up to 20 locations when checking out (and change them later on if you want to tweak the campaign). Ads show up on Trulia’s search results pages, mid way down the right column.
Nothing terribly new here; Zillow already has its EZ Ads pay-as-you-go platform and Realtor.com has long offered up geographic regions to own. Trulia’s twist is they are offering unlimited impressions - so you’re not paying for a set amount of views. They’re throwing all the pageviews into a bucket and divvying them up according to how many people are wanting to be there.
(It is proportional however, meaning those who have fewer locations overall get more impressions in the areas they have chosen to mark.)
Flint made a good point when I spoke with him that fortune will favor the early adopters - the more people piling into the mix later on means the fewer impressions go around. If you get in early, right now you can own a city - for a while at least. Portland Real Estate is up for grabs, for example.
And Trulia is definitely trying to goose this out of the gates and poach some ad dollars from from their competitors by offering a Trulia Pro promo for the first three months free for current EZ Ad or Realtor.com advertisers.
My biggest concern with the ads however, is the placement on the page is poor so I doubt it draw many eyeballs beyond the initial curiousity phase. Past that, I’m also not sure how many home buyers will actually click through on any of the ads, making the ROI questionable in the long run even with the low monthly costs.
It’ll be interesting to see and hear what people’s experiences are running Local Spotlight ads. And, for that matter, any of the other self-service ad platforms that exist out there already.
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Trulia Goes Pro
