So impractically cool
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-QUkE1DGM]
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Dustin
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Dustin
Bon Voyage
I look forward to living vicariously through your Parisian stories!
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Dustin
This Week’s Roundtable: Tech Tools to Serve Sellers Better?
[UPDATE: This edition of the 4realz Roundtable is now live and you can listen to it at the bottom of this post!]
As part of my hunt for new marketing tools for agents, I’d love to take on a relevant topic similar to how we took on tracking and analytics for agents last week.
With that in mind, I’m planning for Thursday’s discussion to focus on tech tools that help agents serve sellers better…. And here’s where you come in. What types of technologies and/or tools should we cover?
Some thoughts that come to my mind include single property websites and listing syndication services… But I know there is more? What about tools that help agents get sellers to price properties more appropriately like Altos Research Reports?
I’d love to hear from you about the technology tools available to agents that can help them serve sellers better! In particular agents, if there is some tricks or tips you’d be willing to share, I’d love to hear from you and potentially get you on the show!
Also of interest, I’ve started summarizing the relevant websites taken from our previous Roundtables on social networking, home valutions and analytics for agents within the Tool Shed!
UPDATE:
What an awesome crew we had on the call today:
If you’re an agent looking to increase your knowledge on how to use simple technology tools to increase your business, here are just some of the tools that were mentioned in the podcast:
- Docusign. Kris: a religious experience…
- Point2Agent. Jay: Robust listing syndication
- Altos. Great reports
- Transaction Point. Kris: Great tool…. While Ted says Relay drives him crazy and he is almost better going paper.
- eFax #3 on the list of tools that Kris “couldn’t live without”
- Real Estate Shows is a great tool
Some great stuff! Thanks again to everyone who took part! For everyone else, you can listen to this edition of the 4realz Roundtable here:
[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-20339/TS-124626.mp3[/podcast]
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Ed Kohler
This doesn’t exist today, but I think sellers would find a lot of value in reports that could track page views on their home listings across ALL sites where their property appears, including MLS sites, single property sites, aggregator sites, etc.
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Andrew
i have yet to meet an agent who says a single property site has helped them close a deal. Its a good listing tool to set yourself apart from other agents to get the listing but I not sure it helps the seller any.
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Dustin
Ed: I hear you! I just had a conversation at lunch today about that very issue!
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Dustin
Andrew: What are some of the tools you think are helping?
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g.dewald
Ed & Dustin: What type of actions would/could you take if you could know how often your property appeared across all sites?
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Dustin
@g I’d be less worried about pageviews (i.e. how often they appear) and more interested in lead tracking…
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Chris Johnston
I am getting re-licensed in a few weeks and I have a ton of ideas in this area. One area that people often fail, is in maintaining an open and often used line of communication with their sellers. I’m thinking of using a either a live video service like to qik.com or a service like oovoo or seesmic to record video updates that you could send to your sellers via email. I like the idea of single property websites and I love them as subdomains on your own site. How about YouTube videos of walk throughs of the subject properties or virtual tours on the single property websites?
I’m also not so sure that giving seller access to the page views of the site is all that useful. Page views without knowledge of click through and conversion rates is just data that doesn’t really mean much. Also, unless you have some massive time to market those property site URL’s the page views will be low but if marketed correctly the conversion from page views to appointments to view the home could be high. -
Kris Berg
>One area that people often fail, is in maintaining an open and often used line of communication with their sellers.
Chris – All good ideas, but sometimes I have to remind myself that the telephone works too.
We start to speak in these tech tongues which, while familiar to us, are foreign to our clients. Sometimes the simplest way is the most effective.
Having said that, innovation is great but only if it adds value or streamlines a process.Ed – Yeah, man! I need that! We send what used to be weekly but are now bi-weekly updates to our selling clients. Parts of these updates are numbers of on-line eyes we are attracting, but with so many site, this is another example of a need for an aggregator aggregator.
Thanks, Dustin, for a place at your table. I enjoyed it.
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Dustin
Chris: So glad you’re finding some inspiration from the roundtable! I get great ideas out of each of these!
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Dustin
Kris: I loved having you at the table! For reasons that seem obvious to me, you are always welcome with a seat at the roundtable!
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Ted Mackel
Dustin,
Your Roundtable yesterday was awesome!!! I don’t know of any agents in my Trade area that are embracing these technologies so it was refreshing to here how others are using it.
Great input from everyone!
Ted mackel
Keller Williams
Simi Valley, CA -
Dustin
Ted: I’ve seen what you’re doing with video, so I have no doubt that you’re way ahead of the game…
Thanks for joining us! -
Ted Mackel
Hey, How do I get a custom Avatar?
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Dustin
if you sign up for a wordpress.com account (free) and give yourself an avatar, then it will show up when you leave comments (assuming you’re logged in when you comment!).
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Jay Thompson
Another great roundtable Dustion or is it Mike?
Thanks for having me.
You can also go to Gravatar.com and get a free avatar. WP owns them, or they feed each other, or sumpthin. But it works.
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Jim Duncan
Dustin -
Thanks for having me. That was a great discussion and I learned quite a few things I’d love to make the time to integrate into my business.
I’m looking forward to the next one.
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paulo muller
I need a broker that make a contact with the great companies. I invent a revolucionary technology that torn the contruct house, price less into 70%, and torn its more resistent into 150%. can you help me, thanks
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John
I’m just missing http://www.pamfax.com on this list. I just like it more than efax, because there is no subscribtion and no mothly fees. Thanks for the great list!
John, 
paulo muller and 9 others are discussing. 
Dustin
“Blogging is a waste of time!”
or “Blogging is the answer!”?
Help us figure it out by adding your experience! Fill out the simple CREST survey from VAR!
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Ben Martin, Va Assn of REALTORS
Thanks for spreading the word, Dustin. The survey is intentionally very short, so it should only take 5 minutes to complete. I’m looking forward to testing the conventional wisdom about real estate blogging. Hope your readers are as curious about this stuff as we are!
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Joseph Ferrara.sellsius
It depends on the question
It might be worth blogging simply to amass an archive of commonly asked Q&As and scenarios that you can share with anyone who wants to know. (I learned that from Ardell)
It may be worth blogging simply to improve your writing and communication skills– necessary for many businesses.
It may be worth blogging for self-expression.
It may be worth blogging…..fill in the blank
Success is not necessarily a call for a gig.
But yes, you can get gigs from it.
…lemme have a look at the survey.
Dustin
ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs
And a few folks from the 4realz community got to test it out early. My new “outside” blog is at http://tyr.activerain.com/, but if I was feeling really savvy, I would have given it my own domain name, (as in http://4realz-on-ar.com/ ). It’s pretty cool that they offer this as a free service since even sites like wordpress.com, which has lowered the barrier pretty darn low, charges $10/year for this service.
My only real knock against the set-up so far is that the available “themes” are pretty limited and require that you put your photo in the right sidepanel… not exactly something I want, but it likely will appeal to agents.
As Brad says in this AR post, this service has been a long time in the making… And Brad might not know just how long considering Jon talks about being inspired to create this type of feature after attending one of my seminars from Feb ‘07 in this Sellsius blog post!
(Also interesting in that it looks like Roberta Murphy probably coined the phrase “outside” blog in a follow up comment of that thread! If you haven’t seen the thread recently, it’s definitely worth checking out.)
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Cash Back Real Estate
I have gotten the emails from Active Rain regarding their real estate blogs. Free service is good. Thanks!
Joseph Ferrara.sellsius
Since I really like your twitterlike style of blogging– going back to the roots of webblogging, which is link sharing– I’m liking the siphs link blog– posting of links is extremely easy (via bookmarklet)– can also post video. Customization is not bad– sidebar photos, widgets.
wrote a post on siphs here: http://tinyurl.com/5kt2kg
see link blog here : https://www.siphs.com/public/jfsellsius
Joshua Jarvis
I’m not so sure it’s earth shattering, but it tells me what direction ActiveRain is going. If you’ve been on the internet for any number of years and in real estate it’s interesting to see these companies “go to the dark side.” Homegain quickly comes to mind, but there are other examples – eperks was mentioned here.
I like the new features and I actually prefer the more professional look. AR is starting to feel more like a blogging platform or site as opposed to a glorified forum… too bad the members don’t know that.
Thanks again to Dustin for the invite… wish I had some time to spruce up the page for your post.
Marc Grossman
Dustin, Thanks for allowing me to be one of those that got a chance to check it out ahead. There are some limitations as of now, but I’m sure as well as you probably are, that there will be more to come in the near future. I just wish that it had some of the SEO that we also have on AR, but can understand their not going to that extent.
Teresa Boardman
My face doesn’t go on my blog. I go with what cosumers like. i guess I would like to know why a person would want an “out side” blog from Active Rain. As you know I have had my “out side” blog before active rain came on the scene and I have been very happy with it. Any advantage to using theirs? There are many blog platforms out there that have been developed and that work well. There are blogs on the first page of google under important keywords that are not active rain blogs so I am thinking anyone can accomplish it on their own, help me here.
Sparky
We still have a number of enhancements yet to incorporate. We just launched it today, so it’s a starting point. It’s simply one more value proposition to offer our members, and to help support their business model….
Brad Andersohn
Dustin – Actually I do recall just how long it’s been in the making. You introduced me to ActiveRain back in Feb 07, at that Top Producer event in Oakland. You spoke there and we met after. Not sure if you remember that. You and I spoke afterward about Outside Blogs and AR. The next day, I came home and joined as a member. Thanks for that by the way )
It’s an exciting time for us in the rain especially since we have waited so long. The launch went fairly smooth, a couple minor bugs and glitches, but I was happy with our results. Definitely more to come, we’re excited and enthusiastic at what the future holds for AR Blogs. Not sure if they have been formally named “Outside Blogs” just yet, but they are what they are.
Looking forward to seeing you next month at the RE Connect.
Louis Cammarosano
Joshua
I’m not sure what you are refering to when you say “homegain comes to mind” regarding the “dark side”
Please elaborate
Dustin
Brad: That’s awesome. I have to admit I forgot about that conversation, but now that you reminded me, I do remember meeting! So cool that you’ve obviously figured out the system!
Eric- New Orleans Condos and Lofts
I have a blog and a couple of sites. I still blog on active rain from time to time. Its just gotten too commercial. Its like one big ad. However it got me started blogging and I owe them that. I met a nice group of agents as well. Most are gone only to visit seasonally.
Roberta Murphy
Dustin,
That was a terrific seminar you hosted in 02/07–and provided my first real opportunity to meet other bloggers throughout the state.
Since that time, changes have occurred at blogspeed and you continue to be an innovator.
Dustin
Roberta: Not everyone has been able to do such get things with a blog! Keep up the great work.
Spencer Rascoff
I think AR is going to a have a hard time competing with Wordpress, Blogspot and the dozens of free blogging tools. I’m not sure this is the direction I would have gone if I were ActiveRain. Will be interesting to watch.
Dustin
I agree Spencer that this is not necessarily where I would have gone if I were them either… but my guess is that this was seen as an easy way to continue to endear themselves to the community. At some point though, I suspect they’ll look for a way to monetize the real estate content in a way that would be tough, if not impossible, for the folks at WP or blogger…
Dustin
Doing it the Coldwell Banker way: Yahoo is now Google’s…
…hmmm… I can’t do it justice. You just have to watch the video yourself.
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Jim Reppond
I LOVE how this confirms our branding status. You can’t get away with this type of satire unless the brand you imitate has major market penetration.
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Dustin
No doubt the CB brand carries a lot of weight.
Dustin
Realtors are being asked to reach deep to help…
…Charles Richey as he deals with his recently diagnozed Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Max Chirkov is organizing a fundraising and looking for your help!
Dustin
Has Google Analytics Gone Bad?
A few weeks ago I moved the Rain City Guide servers over to new servers. Starting a few days before I moved the site over, I noticed a drop in the amount of traffic that coming to RCG as measured by Google Analytics:
The fact that it started a few days beforehand didn’t really surprise me since I had been having trouble with the host (hence the move!).
However, the huge drop that Google Analytics shows is almost entirely from a drop in search engine (think: Google) traffic: 
It’s not pretty, but I figured it was a reality and just part of the consequences of moving the site from one server to another and I figured Google would hopefully start sending lots search traffic again over time. But here’s where it gets weird.
The ONLY indication I have that our search traffic has decreased is Google Analytics… All other indications are that the traffic is just about the same.
For example, Quantcast total daily visits from the same time frame (which, just like Google Analytics, uses a bit of javascript I installed in the footer of the site):
Diving deeper into the search terms I can see that for terms we used to rank really well for, like [moving to Seattle], Google Analytics said we dropped to only one person visiting us from that search term yesterday:
But, I simply can’t believe that for two reasons:
- The Rain City Guide post on Moving to Seattle is STILL the #1 result on Google for the term
- WP-Stats (also using a bit of Java-script in the footer) says we got 32 views from that term yesterday which is a bit low, but closer to what I’d expect by showing up #1 under that particular term in google:
For those wondering, I didn’t touch the Google Analytics code when I moved servers. Nor did I install any caching or other plugins that would be related to this in any way that I can think of…
And finally, just to show you that the issue really is only related to search engine traffic, both the direct traffic and referring traffic have remained pretty consistent throughout this time period:
So finally…
My questions for the 4realz community:
- What is going on with Google Analytics? Is it busted? Any ideas on why it would only be picking up a small portion of the search terms that come to Rain City Guide?
- Or maybe you’d argue that RCG’s google search traffic really did drop off heavily… But then wouldn’t you have expected us to stop ranking well in the usual phrases [agent recommendations], [Seattle real estate blog], etc.?
UPDATE:
After only 14 hours or so of a fix (thanks to an idea I had inspired by a comment below), the search engine traffic on RCG as measured by GA has had a nice bump: 
(Notice the jump at the right of the chart… That’s today’s traffic from search engines)
At least for one of the WordPress blogs that I run, all evidence points to the fact that the existing tracking code went bust at some point in mid-May! Obviously, if you’re also noticing that GA is measuring a drop in search engine traffic, as some others have mentioned in the comments, then try upgarding to the latest javascript code.
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Jay Thompson
Weird. Something clearly changed about May 24. But if SERPs didn’t change, it’s hard to believe people’s surfing patterns fundamentally shifted (all on the same day).
My GAs seem fine. Why it would affect just RCG is beyond me. Sounds as if something somewhere is corrupted. What and where is beyond my capability!
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g.dewald
I poked through a few accounts to see if I found similar results and I didn’t. So off the top of my head I don’t have a clear answer. But here are some factors, perhaps:
1) The Google updated its algorithm around the time your issue begins.
2) Potential issues with your old server may have caused Google to re-rank your site at various data centers that you don’t see from your location. (Unlikely since you seem to rank well still).
3) Search interest in the keywords and phrases that worked for you in the past suddenly dropped off (again, unlikely but it’s a possibility… maybe no one cares about Seattle real estate blog).
4) GA servers were all screwed up at the end of May making a hash of a lot of data for a week or so, perhaps your issue is related.
Have you tried installing another tool just to double-check the GA results?
I also put a call out on the #WA twitter hashtag, I’ll let you know if I hear anything.
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Dustin
Jay and g.dewald,
Playing around on GA a bit more, I noticed that Google apparently updated their tracking code at some point from “urchan.js” to “ga.js”. I don’t think it *should* make a difference, but I just updated off of the legacy tracking code to find out.
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g.dewald
urchin.js and ga.js are two different code sets. The new one has lots of features (event tracking being the most exciting) but it also could use a little more baking.
I currently don’t advise people to switch to the “new ga.js” code yet. But it probably won’t hurt too much. I don’t think it’s related to your issue.
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sakarya
thanks..
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NoelVeiga
I noticed something around the same dates, too, also a traffic drop, though I couldn’t point it to search engine traffic for sure (we’re just starting and we don’t get enough traffic to detect that kind of pattern yet). We do pop up as a first result with relevant terms on Yahoo, though, but not Google. I’ve noticed some traffic coming from google recently, but the formerly usual Yahoo referrals have all but evaporated.
We’ve always been using the newer script and we haven’t made any other changes. I thought it was just a drop due to actual content, but hearing a similar story makes me wonder about the accuracy of the tool itself. I’m only using that and a server-side Webalizer account, but maybe I should install additional trackers in light of this issue…
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The Tim
You got me curious, so I poked around in my Google Analytics stats for a while and was unable to see anything similar.
On the other hand, I poked around in your Quantcast statistics a little bit as well, and found some charts that seem to indicate a fairly similar trend to what Analytics is showing.
They’re showing a decline 5/15-5/31, followed by something of a leveling off since then. I am inclined to think that the issue has something to do with your Google ranking, perhaps on some search terms other than the obvious ones that come to mind?
My $0.02.
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Dustin
Interestingly, the search engine traffic that GA recognizes is WAY up today over the past few weeks. I only started using the new script code at 10am and despite the fact that it’s not yet 8pm, the total search traffic for the day is almost double the usual search engine traffic.
I’ll give it another day to confirm things, but I think the problem has been solved and that the old tracking code was missing lots of search traffic.
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Erno Hannink
I see a similar drop from May 24. Normally 300 visitors daily sice then reduced to 50. Next to GA I also use GetClicky, here business as usual. So it must be something in GA.
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Andrew
I noticed something similar happening on my site and it’s freaking me out.
Organic traffic from Google was about 70% of my total traffic up until late May. Since then it is more like 30% and it is actually DROPPING.
My Page rank has remained unchanged. Was 3/10 and still is 3/10.
Now, I did go on vacation around that time and stopped posting for about 3 weeks, so that could have something to do with it, but I only ever post about once a week anyway so I wouldn’t think a 3 week hiatus would result in a drop like that.
In my case it seemed to fall off the cliff around the last couple days of May.
Consistent across Google Analytics and Sitemeter.
I guess I’ll try upgrading to the latest GA code first and see what happens.
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Dustin
Erno and Andrew: The upgraded code solved the problem for me! My traffic according to GA has been back to normal levels ever since the change!
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Andrew
Upgraded GA code has not changed anything for me in the 24 hours since. still not getting ANY google traffic and my page rank of 3 is just puzzling me. how can i still be a 3 and not be getting ANY google traffic. is google punishing me for something?
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Donna
I found your blog when searching “google analytics shows a drop in keyword search” because I’ve been trying to figure out what has happened to my site that totally freake me out this past week. I have been raking pretty steady and in Google’s top 10 for over 2 years for a few select money making keywords. One day I did a check and I had fallen to page 6 for two of them, and even further down for a few more. I had been updating my site with a new logo so for a couple of weeks I had been working steady on it. My first thought was I must had messed something up and didn’t realize it. In looking at my G-analytics account I could see that for certain keywords the search for all of them happened around June 19-21. This was about the time I started uploading changed pages on my site. However I didn’t see the big bottoming out until July7th. All the top keywords in G-analytics showed the same thing a big decline (and I dont’ mean just a swoop down I’m talking about a straight line to the bottom and then flat line…like I had died for two weeks).
I’ve been frantically trying to retrace my steps ..and tonight in looking at my GA account I couldn’t help but think it has something specific that happened during those 3 days.Tonight I just happen to compare my home page (which has been updated) to an internal page that has not been updated and is ranking very high. After reading the above post in you blog..and checking to see which code I’m using ..the old or new… I realized my updated pages don’t have ANY analytics code in them. But my older pages do! And, my older pages are still ranking ok.
I think I must have accidentally removed the GA tracking code completely…so I’m fixing to go put it back right now and I’ll come back and update here to let you know if it had an impact.
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Dustin
Donna: Accidentally removing the GA tracking code would definitely cause such a problem!
Dustin
Can a Blog be a Community Resource?
Today I was fortunate to interview a woman who has created a blog that has become a true resource for her community as part of a weekly podcast series I’m doing on Rain City Guide. This woman spends hours and hours each day crafting posts about her community, everything from local events, new permits, “missing pets”, etc for the West Seattle community.
It’s become such a great community resource and so widely read that she’s been able to quit her day-job in order to blog about her community. It’s a fascinating interview where she discusses many different issues around what makes her community special and I think well worth listening to for real estate professionals who want ideas for how to turn a blog into a dynamic, interesting and local neighborhood resources.
However, you’ll may also walk away thinking, “I need to sell real estate and that sounds so time consuming,” which is why I say listen just for ideas. She’s clearly tapped into something that works for her community… and I think it is well worth a listen:
[audio http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-17904/TS-126001.mp3
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Rhonda Porter
I really enjoyed this interview, Dustin. I do believe West Seattle would be less of a community without her blog.
I think the lesson an agent could take away is that they can implement being part of a community via blogging–not to the same level as Tracy–but just posting community events, garage sales and connecting pets makes one more valuable than “just listed” post cards or calendars IMO.
I know w/my much smaller West Seattle blog, I know more neighbors than I ever would have without it…they shout (nice words) at me when they drive by. I don’t receive as much biz from it as I do Mortgage Porter, however I don’t push biz either. I am looking at creating an adverstisement for myself on my neighborhood blog…I’m probably too much of a soft sell…always have been.
Thanks again!
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T. Record
Dustin, thanks again for inviting me to be on Rain City Radio. Wanted to echo Rhonda’s point. As I mentioned during the show, my husband and I are somewhat shy, nonsocial people in general … me even more than him … when we’re outside business situations. So we have lived in the same house for 15 years and barely know anyone. As a result of WSB, though, I have heard from two more neighbors … and although we haven’t talked F2F yet I feel a little more connected as a result … like I could at least go knock on their door in case of emergency or something. And in the wider community, now that we have spent more than six months identifying ourselves at community meetings and other events, we often see people we “know” wherever we go … and that is a nice feeilng too. My very favorite part though is when I hear from readers (I don’t like that term because so many “participate” too, by sending tips, or photos, or posting comments or forum discussions) about how THEY became more connected because of something we mentioned or reported on. Sunday, for example, I posted an item that as an aside mentioned the next West Seattle La Leche League meeting was the next morning. Heard from the leader later that night that two new moms showed up at the meeting just cause they’d read it on our site. We have a lot of stories like that, and it makes the long hours worthwhile because unlike a lot of the media work I did for 20-plus years, it feels like this really *matters*. Thanks again!!!!
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Dustin
Tracy: Thanks again for sharing your story! I definitely agree that what you’re doing matters and as Rhonda has said many times, you’re definitely making a difference in your community!
Dustin
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Kevin Tomlinson
Dustin,
may I have a backlink or a blogroll?
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southbeachcondo
Oh, I already have a blogroll. Thanks so much.
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Reno Real Estate
It’s hard not to like Matt Cutts (pertianing to the linked article) he knows how to limit the things to say. I think that’s smart his five steps may sound simple but that alone can be overwhelming for people starting out with SEO.
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Dustin
Reno: No doubt keeping it simple is key. That’s why I love that Matt can be quoted as saying “linking is where it is at”. And if ranking well in Google is your goal, then having an strategy to build quality inbound links is key.
Tyler, The Wealth Creation Guy 7:09 pm on June 29, 2008 Permalink |
The funny thing is, as I watch that video – all I can wonder is how incredibly difficult they will be to finance. Could you imagine that condo questionnaire?
Pathetic to get inside the mind of a mortgage lender huh?…
Good thing most of those buyers will be loaded with cash.
Greg Tracy 10:31 am on June 30, 2008 Permalink |
Nice to see what all that oil money is being used for…
Dustin 12:21 pm on June 30, 2008 Permalink |
Greg: That same thought occurred to me as well… Wild world we live in.
Andrew 12:36 pm on June 30, 2008 Permalink |
my building cant even get the brand new elevator to work right. I can’t see this working out. condo fees will have to increase often. lol
Dustin 12:38 pm on June 30, 2008 Permalink |
Yeah… Having a car elevated to your floor seems ridiculous!
Steve Belt 5:19 pm on June 30, 2008 Permalink |
If I was filthy rich and could afford such a condo, and if it were in the US, I’d be a buyer tomorrow. The “cool” factor for something like that in NYC especially would be almost too much to pass up on, even if it were $2k/sq ft. 2000 sq ft for $4M, really is not that crazy when Scottsdale has non-moving condos over-looking “water” (actually a man made canal) for $1.5M.