real/diaBlog - boldly saying what others won't about Real Estate

Bing, I'm In and So Should You

Last week my Google Reader sent me a post written by Karl L. Gechlik of  makeuseof.com .  I get more good tech tips from this site than any other I subscribe to.  His post is one of the better ones for the non-geek bloggers out there on how to submit your site to Google.  But the reason I liked it was it has the link to submitting your site to the new Bing search site from Microsoft.

How To Submit Your Website To Bing & Google For More Traffic

If you have a blog and you haven't submitted your site to Google yet, than you definitely need to immediately.  And if you haven't submitted it to Bing, I suggest you do so sooner rather than later.  I am already seeing an increase in traffic from organic searches on Bing.

Update:  Here is another reason to submit your site to Bing.  

Bing Continues Taking Share

Successful Bloggers Pay Attention to other Bloggers

The name of the paper is Blogs and the Economics of Reciprocal Attention.  What it says is that the most successful bloggers will participate in their blogging network more than those that do not.  Blogs that link to other blogs and bloggers that comment on other blogs are cited as ways to reciprocate.  Hat tip to Freakonomics (even though they talk bad about real estate agents).

I have always taught the people just getting into the blogosphere that they must read and comment on other blogs 5 times as much as they write on their own.

2009 Is the Year of the Video

2007 was the year of the Blog....2008 was the year of Social Media....and 2009 will be the year of the Video in the world or Real Estate 2.0.

And the best tool for a Real Estate agent that wants to add video to their blog and to their facebook account and create a youtube video channel is the Flip Mino HD.  I got mine a couple of weeks ago and making quick 4 minute video blog posts couldn't be easier. 

I had a Sony video camera that cost $400 that I only used to make 3 videos in 18 months.  I just finished my 4th video post this month on my local real estate blog because the Flip Mino HD makes it so much easier to download and upload.  It takes a total of 15 minutes from the time I shoot a video until I have it embedded into a blog post.

And I am getting direct inquiries from my video posts from buyers and sellers in my market place.  So this year I am going to add video to my blog and social networking to increase the reach I have in the marketplace.

UPDATE:  I just added this video to show how quick and easy it is to shoot a video and post it on your blog.  It took 18 minutes.

Get Paid If Your Listings Expire with a Listing Hedge

I received an email and an invite to beta test a new site by Realty Baron called Listing Hedge.  As a former stock broker and financial anaylst, I am intrigued by the concept of hedging the risk associated with taking a listing that might not sell.

According to Realty Baron, Listing Hedge will allow an agent to pay a small fee (premium) to protect themselves against the likelihood of a listing not selling.  If the listing does sell, the fee is taken off of the commission.  If the listing expires, the agent is paid an amount that supposedly will cover the cost of listing the property.  It is important to point out that the hedge is paid only if the listing expires according to the blog post.  I am sure you do not get the payout if the listing is withdrawn prior to expiration.

Some other points regarding the Listing Hedge that are important.  First, you have to have an agent rank with Realty Baron.  Last year I had the agent rank and updated it for a while but it became too time consuming to keep it updated and it soon expired.  I haven't had a reason to go back an update it until now.  Second, the amount of the hedge premium will depend on your agent rank and market conditions.  I am not sure what algorithm they are using but it will have to be pretty complex.  Third, one of the variables uses to determine the hedge premium is the length of the listing agreement.  This time frame is preset at 6 months but I am not sure if you can go for a shorter term and obviously pay a higher premium and potentially get a lower payout.  Perhaps someone from Realty Baron can answer that.

I can see this being a great tool for agents that sell a lot of listings but on occasion run into a listing that they know is going to be difficult to sell due to market conditions, property location or a customer's unrealistic price expectations.  I can easily tell which of my listings will be more difficult to sell and could hedge just those listings but I assume I will pay a higher premium once they figure out I only hedge the borderline listings.

I am sure it is not as simple as the blog will have us believe.  I have a lot of questions about this concept and will have to actually try it out to see if it in fact works in real life.

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Facebook Hacked by Phishing Site

WARNING:::  If you have received a message from me on your wall in Facebook, delete it immediately.

I have received multiple (4) emails in the last two days saying my friends have left messages on my wall in Facebook.  The link, however, is from one phishing site called fanebook and another called facecooks.

One message says "LOL! did you guys see what happened on the news today? check it out"

The other says "lol this vid is so crazy and funny! check it out"

The does not take you to your facebook account.  The messges are on my wall and those links also lead to a phishing site.

Beware.  Do click on the links and erase the messages off your wall immediately.

Blackberry Phone as Lockbox Key

Pretty soon I will be able to use my Blackberry phone as a lockbox key.  I am excited.  I ran across this announcement on our new association website. 

Here is the description of the new service being offered by GE.

Blackberry Phone as Lockbox Key - Free Legal Forms

Tony Arko - Real Estate Consultant

I designed this widget last night using sprout.com.  Not really sure what to do with it as of yet but I am experimenting with a couple of ideas.  I put it on my other site, www.loudounstats.com in the sidebar as a true widget.  Let me know if you have any other ideas as to what to do with it.  I got the site from Joel over at FOREM.

Trulia and Prudential - From Enemies To Business Partners

The Real Estate Coach just leaked the story that Prudential Real Estate will be announcing their deal with Trulia at their upcoming national conference in New Orleans. Prudential will be sharing its' 4 million listings with Trulia helping Trulia gain even more ground in the listing site war. This comes after Prudential's deal with Yahoo! comes to an end.

This is a far cry from only a year ago when Prudential kicked Trulia out of their convention. Guess these two are good at not holding grudges.

Source: FoREM

More Proof That Real Estate Blogs = Clients and Success; L.A. Times Reports On REALTOR® Blogs

The L.A. Times has the latest in a string of discussions and articles regarding how real estate blogs, when done correctly, actually produce ready, willing and able clients and help agents achieve their goals and increase success.

The article interviews several agents such as Teresa Boardman of St. Paul Real Estate Blog, Larry Cragun of Real Estate Undressed and Diane Cohn of Reno Realty Blog that have had great success with their real estate blogs.

Diane says that "about 75% of those clients came from the blog," and that "the other 25% were previous clients or referrals from them." And she deals primarily with families looking for principal homes, not investors or second-home seekers.

One great point that the article makes is that a blog can be a place for buyers and sellers to get to know an agent without having to step out from behind the curtain of anonymity. They can watch from afar and determine whether they "like" the agent and what he or she has to say. When they are comfortable and ready to make a move, they pick up the phone and generally don't need to be pushed into a transaction.

"Inc." Names Social Networking and Blogging New Basics of Marketing

In their latest issue (February 2008), "Inc." ran a piece entitled "The New Basics of Marketing". Of the five "basics" they named, Social Networking and Blogging were two of them.

Yet, so many within the real estate industry view real estate bloggers and those of us on Facebook or LinkedIn as crazy or even a threat.

If you don't get it, you don't get it.

D