So it looks like HGTV is hoping to cash in on their large customer base and join the ever-growing group of real estate syndication partners.  It appears they will automatically be syndicating all the listings from REALOGY to start things off as is typical for start-ups.  (See recent Inmann article:  http://www.inman.com/inmanstories.aspx?ID=65575 )

Do we really need another large syndication site?  I'm starting to think that it's gotten to the point that everybody and their brother is putting listings on their site despite the fact that some assocations still won't allow their own agents to do this (just the brokers).  In our state (MO) an agent has to "frame" their brokers IDX although that rule seems to simply be ignored by the majority of agents. 

This leads me to the question of why on earth should HGTV/Frontdoor, or any syndication site for that matter, be allowed to post an agents listings when the listing agent can't show listings on their own site.  Isn't the agent the reason there ARE listings in the first place.  Seems a bit bass-ackwards to me.

However...it makes me wonder if Point2 will be adding Frontdoor to their list of syndication partners in the near future?   

I have been looking at my year end web stats and doing some evaluating of natural search results this week.  I was surprised to learn that after only a year and a half of launching my site that I am now on the first page of Google for all my most important search terms 

I sell in two communities in the St. Louis area and took a lesson from my favorite web guru (Michael Russer) last year and tried to focus on specific terms that were most relevant.  I didn't bother with "st louis real estate" or any of the larger metro terms.  Instead I focused on the two communities where I sell (Webster Groves and Kirkwood) which happen to be in my site name "websterkirkwood.com".

My primary focus was on very targeted key words and content though I have to admit I have not updated my site in many months (which I will be doing soon).  Anyway for all the terms people actually use (except the elusive "Kirkwood MO real estate" where I'm not on page 1 for Google but am #1 for msn and others) I am almost always on page one.  And often I'm the first "real" site after you get past all the national listing aggregators such as Homes.com and the like.

I then read over all my SEO research and files as I'm going to try to get ranked for even more terms in 2008.  I kept coming across the old "google page rank" topic over and over again.  It seems like all the SEO "experts" still often talk about ranking as if it were the golden goose. 

Well I only have a page rank of 2.  Yep, it's a whopping 2/10.  But I rank on the first page of Google for over 100 extremely relevant terms (that according to my site stats people actually use) and for other search engines I am in the #1 spot for many of these same terms. 

So my question is does Page Rank even matter anymore? 

I use to see some of the top sites say they would trade links for anyone with a page rank over 5.  That seemed to be how they determined if your site was even relevant.  So I didn't really bother linking with anyone after researching the work involved and all the complications with "bad neighborhoods."'

I'd be curious to hear how those of you with top sites are getting noticed.  Do you think it's linking, page rank, key words, etc.  Or is it just that you have great content and are getting natural search results.

I think that more and more Google doesn't give a hoot about anything but targeted content and that in the future that's all the will matter.  So based on my experience I would say to heck with a lot of the SEO tallyhoo and just work on having a great site.  The rest seems pretty unimportant anymore (thank goodness).

Am I wrong?

Okay, anyone else notice lately that SPAM has gotten even worse than usual.  I bet I could write a book on the ridiculous subject lines that come through my P2 email and it just leaves me wondering "do these guys really think we would ever click on the link or buy squat from them." 

I don't get this type of email from any other account except my P2 account.  And most of them are the same exact email topic/layout with a different headline and a crazy "from" name like "Dill Pickleman" or some other version of an english word.

I can't seem to block them or stop them and when I get really aggressive I end up losing emails that I need. Anyone else have the same type of emails popping up, especially the one with the picture of a woman on it (looks like she's wearing a lab coat) hawking viagra.  Have any luck getting rid of them?

I even researched the source and discovered most come from overseas.  It looks like they like P2 as there are so many emails in one spot but they have taken over the system!  I must get 150 a day from only about 3-4 different layouts.

I'm about ready to drop my P2 email again.  I tried it once but then my rankings drop in the system as it then appears I am not getting contacted by any prospects. 

 Any suggestions?  And by the way one need viagra?  I have a lot of sources:)

I recently discovered a great tool offered by Google.  It's called Google Docs (do a Google search and you'll find it).  It allows you to convert Word and Excel files (and I think some others) instantly to an online readable format.  Then they provide an html link so you can post it anywhere.

I have been gathering/collecting comments and ideas from the participants in Project Blogger (from Active Rain) to review later.  One of my co-workers asked if she could read the file.  I initally tried sending it as an attachment and her email wouldn't take it.  So instead I posted the word file I had been compiling onto Google Docs so that she could read it.

This particular document is not one that I would post to my blog or web site as I did not include the bylines of who wrote what (but there are links all over the place if you want to find out).  I did it more as an example and to simply share a document with my co-worker.  You can check it out here but PLEASE DO NOT LINK to it or I will have to remove it.

http://docs.google.com/View?docID=ddph6vj9_1dw84n8&revision=_latest

I know there must be a million ways I can use this in the future (how about sending a link to a file in your emails instead of having to send an attachment) but I have not applied any of my ideas to date.

I would love to hear some opinions from others as to how this type of service could best be utilized.  I figured that it might be a really easy and quick way to post sales stats and such for my local area but I'm looking for some other BIG IDEAS as to how this tool could be used in our business.

Jay T. and Lonn D...I figured great technical minds like yours might really be able to think of something useful.  Hint...hint!

Have any of you noticed an increase in (or any examples of) the types of signs that are made to look like they are from a homeowner (FSBO) but list only basic info and are really an agent trying to acquire leads?

I have seen them before but there is one guy here in town who has them printed to look just like they are hand-written and posts them all over a neighborhood for a week or more.  They say things like "Home for sale to the highest bidder.  Preview this Saturday and Sunday Only" and he only includes a phone number and no address.

I knew they were fake and to prove it I had a friend call.  She has now been put on his mailing list and he has called her several times as since she called him first he's no longer violating the do not call list. 

I realize it's not ethical but do you think it's breaking some law of agency?  I would suspect so.  I'm tempted to go collect them all tonight and turn them in to our real estate board. 

I have heard there is some real estate seminar or speaker that suggests that agents do this.  Anyone know who they are?  Does it bug the rest of you as much as it bugs me? 

I know it's been discussed in the past that you can't create custom forms through P2 and how it can be annoying in terms of collecting good customer info but I've been testing some options.

It originally looked like the only one that would work was to use a form generation type site and then get the code for the form, host it on another "dummy" site, and then frame this into a custom section of my P2 site. Well I didn't like going through all the steps and needing the "dummy" site.

I did a little more research this week and found another custom form company whose system allowed me to simply take the code and input it directly into my P2 site. It included something like an automatic framing code within the code itself and doesn't require hosting the form anywhere else.

So far I really like it and have set up a sample form on my site and am wondering what the rest of you think. Here is the link to a test form on my site.  I chose what to include and what type of menus I wanted:

http://www.websterkirkwood.com/Test_2/page_1691818.html

The company is called Wufoo and the first three forms are free. After that it actually has a fairly low cost for additional forms. 

Here is the link: http://wufoo.com

Hope the rest of you find this helpful.

What are the stars I see at the bottom of the index to the most recent blog posts.  Some of use have no stars, some have one, some have five.  It reminds me of the Performance Index.  Is that what it is?  A performance index for bloggin?

Becky Troutt had two postings in a row.  The first called "Websites to add your listings to for FREE" had no stars.  The next post "How Often Do You Mail Your Farm?"  had five stars.  Same person, same blog, different subject.  Now I'm really confused!

Can anyone enlighten me?

Ginger Fawcett - e-PRO
RE/MAX Suburban Kirkwood
338 S. Kirkwood Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63122
314-909-8850
ginger@remaxginger.com
http://websterkirkwood.com
"Selling Hometown America One House at a Time"

First Point2 announces their new NLS system a couple weeks ago and suddenly it's all the buzz around the real estate water cooler!  That came on the tail of launching Point2 blogs which I'm still trying to find the time to tweak.  And then tonight I login to my online office and discover RE-liberation!

Last week RealTown/Internet Crusade (the brains behind RealTalk) announces that they are linking to the Point2 NLS and away we go with more ways to find our listings, our web sites and our services. 

I've also been a long term member of RealTalk (Internet Crusades online message board for Realtors®).  Recently they underwent some major changes by launching a new internet based platform to replace the listserv that use to only be available by email. Because of this I finally started using my blog on Realtown as well even though I've hardly had time to keep up with the blog I started on Active Rain.  I really liked the concept behind Active Rain and was hoping to become a regular contributor but apparently I need a clone in order to find the time. 

Next I hear my IDX map based provider (RealBird) who started a wiki for real estate several months ago (called RealKi) announces they have sold RealKi to Inman news and now it will be called InmanWiki  Unfortunately I was so busy over the past several months I had never even had a chance to contribute to the first wiki version when suddenly it goes national!

There's even a new player in town called Agentopolis who has started a national database of all the real estate agents across the country.  I think by next year they are going to be a major player in this new world of real estate and if you haven't heard of them you may want to go verify your own listing for the future.  You can find mine if you scroll about halfway down the page here:  Agentopolis  I'm banking on their site helping my search rankings in the coming years but right now it's just another tech tool that I have to keep track of.

So here's the good news and the bad news...apparently I have picked several of the real "winners" in terms of movers and shakers in the real estate industry.  I spent many months, even years evaluating and selecting the best service providers out there as I did not want to invest time and money and energy into a system that would be obsolete in the future. 

Point2 has changed so much in the past year that I can hardly keep up with the many (all positive) changes that are introduced every month.  I'm proud to be associated with them and am glad that I have stuck with them through the changes and when others thought "they were just another template site."  Point2 proved everybody wrong and I'm now one of their biggest fans.

Saul and John at Internet Crusade have been in the forefront of real estate technology for years.  And the RealTalk platform has made me feel like I have gotten to know realtors from all over the country including names like Iggy, Fran, Paula, and all the rest of you who I think of as my mentors.  And the newer services like Active Rain and Agentopolis are quickly proving their own worth. 

So what's the down side?  Well I don't know about the rest of you but I can't seem to keep up.  I'm to the point where I feel I need a full time tech person on staff just to manage all the tools and web sites.  Sometimes I truly long for the old way of selling real estate. 

I'm starting to miss the 25 pound real estate book with a page for each listing.  And I miss how when I use to be out showing houses I could dedicate myself to that particular customer because I didn't have a cell phone or a pager or a PDA or a GPS system!  It was just about listening to the customer.

Are we living in a time of great blessings or will we one day look back at the internet as a curse?  I really can't decide and am wondering if any of my peers find themselve reminiscing about a simpler time.  I really can't believe how much our industry has changed in just a decade.  It's mind boggling! 

Ginger Fawcett - e-PRO
RE/MAX Suburban Kirkwood
338 S. Kirkwood Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63122
314-909-8850
ginger@remaxginger.com
http://websterkirkwood.com
"Selling Hometown America One House at a Time"