Are your prospective clients having to act like abalone divers to interact with you? Abalone divers furbish themselves with an abalone iron to pry off abalones from submerged rocks. These divers are committed to their task, as abalone is considered a divine delicacy to some. But if prospective clients have to work like an abalone [...]
Hitwise and Google show that foreclosure searches are creeping up on “traditional” searches regarding properties for sale. UPDATE: RealtyTrac reports a 6% rise in foreclosures in February 2009 over January 2009, with a 30% increase over February 2008. On March 12, 2009, Hitwise reported that foreclosure searches are on the rise.
For fun I ran [...]
Ever wonder why anyone tries to “out-game” Google? I’ve always argued it’s futile to try and out-think hundreds of PhDs working in a university atmosphere where they have relatively free-reign to explore their research-oriented whims, and where they’re all pretty much singularly focused on studying one thing: us. Oh, and they likely get paid extremely [...]
This post on real estate brokerage future and this one on hyper-local targeting are two excellent discussions about the strategic decisions real estate brokers will face over the next few years, especially with the technology side of the equation. I will focus on two salient points from these posts: (1) the ascendancy of broker power [...]
This Universal McCann study states that
Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and as a collective rival any traditional media
The blogsphere is becoming increasingly participatory, now 184m bloggers world-wide
And as recently referred to in my previous post on the long tail, the New York Times discusses the power of blogs for real estate firms.
So why are [...]
Despite the sentiments expressed by Google’s CEO about long tail search (see previous post), Bill Tancer of Hitwise presents an intriguing alternative view. Tancer shows that despite brand-centric search saturation in the head, the long tail presents a panoply of opportunities to online marketers willing to invest the strategic and tactical resources necessary to leverage [...]
McKinsey & Company Consulting interview of Google CEO discussing long-tail search viability.
This research paper investigated how specific keyword characteristics affect click-through rates. By modeling a set of keywords in a pay-per-click environment, the researchers found that searches conducted by brand-loyal consumers, typified by “retailer-name” searches, had the highest predictive value relative to click-through rates. The researchers noted that when consumers searched for specific brand names, [...]
Google’s AdPlanner (need to register for the beta) has the potential to unleash the power of traditional demographic marketing analysis to long-tail search strategies. This is a great tool because it allows media planners to target niche sites in a highly effective manner while focusing on distinct consumer segments. For example, let’s say that I’m [...]
This video, sourced from Bring the love back, beautifully illustrates the new dynamic–and power shift–between consumer and brand.
eMarketer issued a report that blogs are big business (or have the potential to be). According to the article, advertising opportunities abound for traditional advertisers in the blogosphere as the number of blogs grow and readership increases.
And this research paper from MicroSoft adCenterLabs discusses intriguing concepts in tracking blog information flows with an eye towards [...]
Epitaph of printed classified advertisements:
And this commentary corroborates the physical evidence.
For newspapers, these are the end times, or something very much like them. Every week provides a new marker on the road to apocalypse: hundreds of layoffs in Los Angeles, circulation scandals in Dallas…
… and …
The rise of the Craigslist model has devastated classified advertising [...]
Go2Web20 is a great place to view what’s available in Web 2.0 tools and services. To make sense of the madness, read their blog. TransparentRE also lists some great Web2.0 tools.
TouchGraph is an excellent tool that gives you “visual insight” into a site’s external linking structure and relationships, which is a good starting point for website competitive analysis. Let’s compare Redfin, Zillow, and REALTOR.com.
Redfin’s linking relationships
Zillow’s linking relationships
REALTOR.com’s linking relationships
The visual representation of these relationships allows you to quickly explore the link structure of [...]
Trulia’s response to this issue is an excellent case study in online reputation management.
