Marketingmason.com http://marketingmason.com/blog Real Estate Marketing Tips and Thoughts Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:16:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 Optionshouse Reviews http://marketingmason.com/blog/optionshouse-reviews/2009/07/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/optionshouse-reviews/2009/07/%postid%/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:16:18 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=54 There are a number of post rating the optionshouse product. Let’s see what other have to say about optionshouse. Optionetics rates the optionhouse platform in a recent blogpost. Moneyning, thedigeraitlife and bargaineering also offer reviews of the optionshouse platform.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/optionshouse-reviews/2009/07/%postid%/feed/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/52/2009/06/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/52/2009/06/%postid%/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:41:14 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=52 http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid19384278001?bctid=19538486001

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/52/2009/06/%postid%/feed/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/49/2009/06/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/49/2009/06/%postid%/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:39:18 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=49

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/49/2009/06/%postid%/feed/ Online Education Space http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-education-space/2009/03/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-education-space/2009/03/%postid%/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:15:25 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=47 It’s pretty amazing how competitive online education has become.  So many affiliates marketers, so many spammers, yet online colleges are paying $25 a pop for good leads.  I worked with a company that was calling the collected leads to verify their authenticity only to realize that some jackass affiliate had gotten contact info from an obituary list.  This poor girl was calling homes of people that had died within the past month and asking if they were interested in online education.  I have spent some time checking the affiliate conversion rates and it is quite low…so few good leads and so many disconnected phone numbers.  Despite it all schools are paying and getting the leads.  All they need is a few to convert and they make their money.  It seems the onlie  way to get a large number of effective leads is do get them organically by provided some good info about online schools.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-education-space/2009/03/%postid%/feed/ Get Your Site Indexed http://marketingmason.com/blog/get-your-site-indexed/2009/02/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/get-your-site-indexed/2009/02/%postid%/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:31:37 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=45 Good Solid site architecture is the key to having a website indexed by the major search engines.   Although a site map is a nice way to get all of your pages to the major search engines, it is a crutch.  Proper architecture, with your “Money” pages closer to the home page is the most important thing you can do.  Get people(search engines) to the pages of your website as fast as possible.  It’s really that simple whether you have a real estate website, a marketing site or a blog about you favorite TV show….it’s about you site architecture.  Go fix it.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/get-your-site-indexed/2009/02/%postid%/feed/ Hurley Stickers Galore http://marketingmason.com/blog/hurley-stickers-galore/2009/01/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/hurley-stickers-galore/2009/01/%postid%/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:58:12 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=37 A friend of mine suggested that we sell his Hurley stickers.  He has several thousand stickers.  I am wondering what the best way to sell Hurley Surf stickers would be.  It seems like a small item, but I guess a traditional e-commerce site might be the best way to sell the stickers.  Perhaps a blog with a quick purchase option might also be a good way to sell stickers.  I imagine shipping would be easy.  I think he also has a bunch of quicksilver stickers.  I guess I will have to do some homework on the surf sticker market.  Update…Surf Sticker Website.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/hurley-stickers-galore/2009/01/%postid%/feed/ Online College Degrees http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-college-degrees/2008/12/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-college-degrees/2008/12/%postid%/#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:05:44 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=36 I have not thought of going back to school for a masters since I was in college almost 20 years ago.  But today, while working on a education website that captures leads for online college, I started looking at the programs.  It’s really quite interesting and a number of very credible schools are in the game.  It can be quite expensive, but I’d be very interested to get a degree from Boston University or George Washington University from the confines of my home.

I will do some more research and keep you posted.  I imagine if I contact one of these schools, I will probably get sold.  It looks like you can set your own schedules, which is nice now that I have a kid at home.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/online-college-degrees/2008/12/%postid%/feed/ How to Write a Real Estate Blog http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-to-write-a-real-estate-blog/2008/07/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-to-write-a-real-estate-blog/2008/07/%postid%/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:30:56 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/?p=30 The real estate market is changing, there is no question about that. The Mortgage crisis, traditional marketing vs. the internet, FSBO, and the list goes on. Where will the real estate market be in five years? I think there will be a mix of new and old. The one thing that will probably never fade is the need for relationships and that is why I think blogging will continue to grow. Blogging at the neighborhood level is the focus of this post. While I don’t claim to be a great writer/blogger, I do think I have a formula that will work. It’s not about predicting the eventual real estate changes. It’s about building relationships that last over time!

This is one of the many formulas that can work with hard work, clever writing and regional focus. First pick a region and an audience….hopefully you are familiar with the region. If you are not then start doing your homework and write about it….be honest!

Posting
Write often, I would suggest five articles a week at least. More if you are doing this with a group. Even if you write and end up not posting, it is still important to write. Who knows that article may be helpful in a week, month or even a year.

Topics
Everything! I suggest having a couple theme days. For example post every Friday about hot spots in the area…”Friday Hot Spots”. You can send out a poll of 20 questions to all of your friends, or perhaps your target audience. Ask questions like best burger, best cocktail, best sports bar, best park etc… 20 questions = 20 Fridays and now you only need four articles per week. Posts like this tend to get comments and will give you ideas for other questions when you send your next questionnaire. These type of posts are region specific and will bring people back every week.

Perhaps Monday is the day that you write a short synopsis about the local market. This may prove to be a bit more difficult because you have to think, but also the market may not change a great deal from week to week. Keep in mind that you are a real estate agent, you should always have something to say about the market.

If you have a number of listings, you could showcase the properties that you are selling. This is another area where some times you may have more than enough, but more often than not you will not have a property to showcase.

Non real estate topics! Remember this is a regional blog and you are trying to build credibility as a a regional expert. your topics do not have to always be about real estate, in fact I would suggest writing about non real estate topics as often as possible.

Highlight local businesses, local personalities and local landmarks. Become the Anytown expert, trusted resource and authority!

Real estate blogging is not about being the best agent in an area, it’s about building a relationship online, just like in person. Have good content and be dedicated to writing, you will be surpirised that people are out there looking for you!

Good luck!

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-to-write-a-real-estate-blog/2008/07/%postid%/feed/ High Price Real Estate Property Sales http://marketingmason.com/blog/high-price-real-estate-property-sales/2008/06/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/high-price-real-estate-property-sales/2008/06/%postid%/#comments Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:25:24 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/06/25/high-price-real-estate-property-sales/ I wonder why people love reading about these high priced property sales. I typically read articles about things that are relevant to me or at least topics with which I can identify. So Trump’s palm beach mansion just sold for $100 million and the internet is buzzing with it! I was speaking to a friend that blogged about it and received more traffic from that single post than any other post she had ever written. It amazes me how these over sized real estate transactions receive so much attention!

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/high-price-real-estate-property-sales/2008/06/%postid%/feed/ How Websites Work http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-websites-work/2008/06/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-websites-work/2008/06/%postid%/#comments Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:23:12 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/06/20/how-websites-work/ I am excited to see my colleague Henry Rose has started a blog.  Henry is a developer I know who is using his blog to write about how websites work.  He is a self proclaimed hobo, but I venture to guess he is a bot more than that!  If you can find his articles amongst the many tweets there is some good stuff!

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/how-websites-work/2008/06/%postid%/feed/ I Am Back, I Am Sure Everyone is Going Nuts! http://marketingmason.com/blog/i-am-back-i-am-sure-everyone-is-going-nuts/2008/06/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/i-am-back-i-am-sure-everyone-is-going-nuts/2008/06/%postid%/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:23:39 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/06/11/i-am-back-i-am-sure-everyone-is-going-nuts/ I have never been much of a blogger or paid much attention to this blog other than to do some soft linking to other sites and cut my teeth on SEO.  I suppose it is time to start using this as a forum to test theories and discuss etc..  I have had this domain live for over a year and while I have not been aggressive at getting links I have watched it slowly grow to a PR3 site.  Although I don’t put too much stock in that it is certainly nice to have some some links and a site that is indexed quickly and often.

I am still very active in the real estate technology sector and have done some fairly substantial projects in the search engine world.  I will be writing more often to discuss some of these projects and pass on what I have learned.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/i-am-back-i-am-sure-everyone-is-going-nuts/2008/06/%postid%/feed/ primninick, whatever does it mean? http://marketingmason.com/blog/primninick-whatever-doesd-it-mean/2008/04/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/primninick-whatever-doesd-it-mean/2008/04/%postid%/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:55:25 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/04/22/primninick-whatever-doesd-it-mean/ This seems redundant but it certainly is interesting to see how fast google indexes your blog. Primninick is this weeks word of choice. I am not exactly sure what primninick means, but I am sure it is interesting. If I had to guess the primninick definition…I am sure I’d be lost! And lastly primninick, again….and this time with feeling.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/primninick-whatever-doesd-it-mean/2008/04/%postid%/feed/ Banochalapalooza http://marketingmason.com/blog/banochalapalooza/2008/03/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/banochalapalooza/2008/03/%postid%/#comments Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:00:42 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/03/28/banochalapalooza/ So I thought I would do a little demonstration of how quickly blogs get indexed by googlebot.  Banochalapalooza is a made up word that means nothing to anyone(hopefully).  I am trying to prove that I can rank for Banochalapalooza in a short period of time by simply adding it to my blog.  I imagine it will take just a few minutes to rank.  I imagine this term is not terribly popular.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/banochalapalooza/2008/03/%postid%/feed/ Does Google understand the difference between “Drive” and “Dr” or “Ave” and “Avenue”? http://marketingmason.com/blog/does-google-understand-the-difference-between-drive-and-dr-or-ave-and-avenue/2008/02/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/does-google-understand-the-difference-between-drive-and-dr-or-ave-and-avenue/2008/02/%postid%/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:00:02 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/02/15/does-google-understand-the-difference-between-drive-and-dr-or-ave-and-avenue/ Nope!

Check out these queries by address…

3706 Perseus Dr, Sparks, NV 89436 - With Drive abbreviated

3706 Perseus Drive, Sparks, NV 89436 - With Drive Spelled out

3706 Perseus Sparks, NV 89436 - Now I will remove drive altogether

Interestingly enough, when the city, state and zip are removed the Zillow result is still returned first. Changing Dr to Drive not only removes zillow from the top spot…it’s nowhere to be seen?!?! I have found this to be true with Ave vs Avene as well. Now if I could only figure out why and how to fix this.

NOTE: During the half hour dedicated to this blog post I re-uploaded the images of the search results and now this post is showing up first in the SERPS with Drive spelled out.

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/does-google-understand-the-difference-between-drive-and-dr-or-ave-and-avenue/2008/02/%postid%/feed/ Indexing problems http://marketingmason.com/blog/16/2008/02/%postid%/ http://marketingmason.com/blog/16/2008/02/%postid%/#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:35:12 +0000 pete quinlan http://marketingmason.com/blog/2008/02/11/16/ A major issue with many websites is getting deep pages to get indexed….especially if there is no link to the page other than a search funtion. In my case that’s the problem. I have a large number of properties than do not get indexed because there are no direct links to the pages. I want to create a special page that displays new homes for sale in a lsit and provides an rss feed so interested parties can subscribe and view properties as they come available. In order to get these pages indexed I will try and see if I can get this Auburn real estate property indexed externally, before the internal links kick in.

www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=58382697

Tags

]]> http://marketingmason.com/blog/16/2008/02/%postid%/feed/