On your mark, get set- BLOG!

You might have made history!

...as far as I know, our little get-together was the

FIRST EVER REALTOR BLOGGING SEMINAR IN WISCONSIN

Thanks for coming-

Here are the links resources to get you going as promised.

Remember-Be yourself, take small steps, lurk and learn,

and get into the conversation where you are comfortable.

...and have FUN!

(...remember, sometimes blogs are NSFW -

but don't worry about this one!)

http://obeoman.blogspot.com
Real Estate Is Crazy – a crazy real estate blog. Laugh. Learn. Live.

www.activerain.com
On line community of real estate agents.

www.wannanetwork.com
On line community of real estate agents.

www.facebook.com
Social utility

www.myspace.com
Social network

www.friendster.com
Social network

www.blogger.com
Free blog by Google

www.googleanalytics.com
Free analytics to track your blog performance.

www.wordpress.com
Free blog

www.typepad.com
Free blog

www.rsspieces.com
Learn how to blog for real estate-SEO, RSS tips

http://www.stpaulrealestateblog.com/
Teresa Boardmans' real estate blog, linked to her CWB website, her other blog and activerain

http://www.1000wattconsulting.com/

Common sense for the new market.

http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/
Edgy blogging collaborative, bucks the mainstream

http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/
The best blogging hub for Real Estate

www.inman.com
Hard news for Real Estate

www.rismedia.com
New trends for real estate

www.swanepoel.com
Opinion leaders for real estate

LINK TO BLOGGING PPT

Hard Knowledge for Soft Skills

...stop back and let me

know how you are doing!

Blog on,

Steve

Obeoman

Top 12 Real Estate Predictions for 2008

TOP 12 REAL ESTATE PREDICTIONS FOR 2008:

1.) Google corporate jets will feature scrolling AdSense banners on their sides, or tow signs behind them as they fly over beaches.

By the way, you won't need a crystal ball for your sellers

with

Obeo HomeSite and Obeo StyleDesigner.

(Available after January 21st)

2.) Redfin will give away Snoopy Catch-'Em kits to each lister, with free linkbait.

3.) ActiveRain will provide free umbrellas to each Realtor at its site to protect them from getting soaked by falling prices.

4.) Pat Kitano at Transparent RE will move into a new glass headquarters in Pomona, CA. To stimulate the local economy and discourage the proverbial rock throwing, Pat will hire displaced mortgage brokers to police the grounds for any other offending projectiles.

5.) RISMedia’s Annual Leadership Conference will undergo a format change, a cross between Big Brother and Survivor. Hosted by David Hasselhoff, it will only be available by satellite subscription service.

6.) Zillow will use street teams to meme their brand and have street team members carry bells and buckets to enhance cash flow.

7.) The crew at Sellsius, inspired by their successful '08 nationwide blogging tour, will form a Band of Bloggers - like Brian Setzer's, only bigger and more verbose-and go on tour to over 1,500 real estate brokerages, playing at lunchtime in the parking lot.

8.) Inman TV will host a reality series of the Sellsius tour, partnering with Teresa Boardman to vlog and blog the performances.

9.) Trulia Voices, not to be outdone, will go out on a choral tour featuring songs with lyrics based on answers to questions posted at the site. Performance MP3s will be posted free at their site and will also be available as ring tones.

10.) NAR CEO Dale Stinton will go on a consumer-based diet including non-fat technology commodities.

11.) Upstart on line real estate community Wannanetwork will be bought by Donald Trump and leased to AT&T, forming a worldwide network of networks.

12.) Obeo and Krispy-Kreme form a strategic alliance to enhance delivery of its donut-on-a-stick incentive to all eligible-and hungry-Realtors attending their sales presentations.

Obeoair is at NAR this week, so check us out or email me for details!

...what we got, you want!

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com

Google ranks top snack for Realtors

Click here to see Google rank the top snack for Realtors

-coming in at #1 out of 1,830,000!

...but what would office meetings be without donuts, anyway?

(Less sweet, I think...)

...but if Realtors like donuts this much,

...BUYERS LOVE PHOTOS!

1,000 pictures are worth 1,000 leads-sink your teeth into this over at RIS Media.

The fact: as long as they are good photos, make sure:

as many photos of your listing on line as possible.

(This is where Obeo comes in, obviously.)

and in other sweet news, uberblogger Teresa Boardman is at the top of a list of 25 most influential bloggers in 2007 at Inman News.

And deservedly so - she is a "real" blogger who is not afraid to share what she knows about her community and real estate. She is open and receptive to other bloggers and their ideas. And she has a great sense of humor, too.

The list reads like a Whos' Who of Blogging with too many names to drop

- here, anyway.

Laugh and sell !

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com

Realtors are going through the fan...

Teresa Boardman seemed a little crabby when I stopped by recently at her blog.

But not without reason.

She says Realtors need buyers, not a kick in the teeth from their licensing organizations or the boards that support Realtors, but still say there is an excess of Realtors walking around.

Needless to say, the market is giving Realtors, brokers, buyers, sellers and associated professionals - all of us - a push toward the fan.

(See photo below.)

(Photo borrowed from foureyesjokeshop.com )

Well, there ain't nothing like social networking to pull you through the fan.

While this current market situation reflects the survival of the fittest-those that throw the biggest fit survive.

My home forum, http://www.wannanetwork.com/, is looking at gathering as many of their over 11,000+ members as they can at the National Association of Realtors convention this November- so follow the link and join up, even if you can't get to Vegas. I am hoping to be there early, myself.

So, what is going to happen as we go through the fan together?

Well, the reality of transparent information , a flattening marketplace and the competition they generate will thin out any labor force- including Realtors.

Okay, there are many other forces at work here and this may be an oversimplification, but the fact is the shakeout is here for Realtors and everyone who works with or for them.

Keeping it short and simple: no one wants to eat their young.

In the thick of this you have to look way ahead and see what is already emerging: Realtors need buyers, buyers are online, online companies like Zill-Ow are serving those buyers and the FSBOS are serving them too, -up to 20% or better in one of my core markets.

Ramping up education and keeping an eye on standards could be one trend worth shouting about. And that is a good thing for the profession of Realtors and housing consumers alike.

Realtors who are serious are all experts at some things.

It seems that Realtors may become experts on what to know,

not how to sell or to whom.

But hey, I'm just turning on the roller grill with you...

Pass the ketchup, please....

Obeoman

steven.stearns@obeo.com

Bad Blogger - go lay by your dish...

(photo borrowed from http://casadenicki.blogspot.com/ )


...of course, after wandering for 60+ days and nights in the non-blogging wilderness,
the Prodigal Real Estate Marketing Guy returns.



What did he learn as he wandered far from blogging?



-Inman TV can actually get over a thousand people to view an online video - gee, how come that many can't seem to find their way to an on line video tour of the average listing? (See blog below: "A Short Course In Internet RE Video.")



-Teresa Boardman looks practically Presidential on the Inman tube!



-The Printed Word Has Power : Why else would Rupert Murdoch spend that kind of money - oh wait, the whole web asset cross-partnership-thing might be skewing reality here...



-That bankruptcies and foreclosures are just the market's way of saying to the Fed, "We really like our funds quick-fried to a crunch, and not delicately baked like a derivative..."

...and when the market turns down, you have to look up. There has never been a better time to shake out all of what you are doing for your marketing plan and look at it inside out, unseemly stains and all.

Get on line, Get blogging, Get your Niche carved out and get ready for the tide to rise.

This is like surfing - you have to paddle out and wait for the wave you want to ride.

No one is going to give you a push.

Well, if you are good enough, you might get a treat.

All for now. Glad to be back. Anyone out there?

Steve
Obeoman

Mhaaaaa..the mAgicK BuS!..and a thank you across the bow.

...Real work has been interfering with my blogging, but not my desire to blog. I apologize again to all my readers and 5-second looky-loos (according to Google analytics) for my absence, the topics that never were covered or properly expanded on and the generally lame attempts at being a bad real estate blog.

Meanwhile, back at the blog:

...I would love to be on the Sellsius bus, so to speak - the requisition has been made through the proper channels and a response is forthcoming in the next 24-36 hours.

...of course, if Teresa Boardman, Pat Kitano, JimmyZ, ZIllow, niknik, Joel Burlsem, REBlogGirl, JeffX, MaureenFrancis and Inmannews would offer me $300 dollars not to place my face on the bus..., well?????

By the way:...Joel has been a busy man lately pushing web RE video. He looked really Gen-Neutral during his Inman interview. His is a worthy cause for those selling digital video equipment - but likely not a great marketing solution for most single listings for Realtors.

Here is why:

Video Tours Lack Traffic and Aggregation: If you Alexa the companies that are doing RE video and stack them up, the traffic pile is not as deep as you-know-who-E-O. Video works great for building affinity for a community, a charismatic Real Estate agent/team or for showcase properties where the money is there to support video production values.

Video Tours are Tooooo Linear: They drag you though a property like a bull with a ring through its nose. Plus you usually have to look at some broker or agent hind quarters, making you feel like a sled dog.

Video Tours Lack Production Values: As a photographic mentor once told me, you cannot make chicken salad out of chicken guano. Find me ten RE video tours - done by agents or brokers at any site anywhere on the web that have any production values at all and I will eat this blog. The vast majority of RE video tours are so poorly executed with lousy lighting, fuzzy focus, shaky shooting, poor panning and awful audio it really isn't any wonder why this hot new trend is flailing to sizzle-yes, flailing.

EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS:

... to Voyager International, a kind-of competitor: Hey! You spelled Obeo right! And it's great to know our name leads on your web page presentation. Just so you happy-go-lucky gang of marketing mash-ups know:

-We are tops with Realtors in the NAR Vertical Metrix : money follows market leaders, and Realtors know their money works hardest with us.

-Obeo posts the vast majority of its tours on 4 days.

-And sorry about your traffic accident: One of my current clients has had a tour with you at Kayyah and the listing has been viewed 38 times since 09/06/2006. Get well soon !

More later, if you can stand it...

Steve

Inman proud owner of new Weenie!

The roller grill of blogging keeps on turning - Free Speech Crusader and Realtor Teresa Boardman announced Sunday-sometime between my second cup of coffee and lunch-that she has accepted an offer from Inman News for the Real Estate Weenie - with condiments.

Not surprisingly,the list of those who got off their buns to make an offer were top or wanna-be-near-top dogs in the bloggosphere: Larry Cragun, Rudy Bachraty of Sellsius, Pat Kitano at www.transparentre.com and an unnamed real estate marketing consultant from Obeo - me. The Weenie is priceless, but my Mastercard is played out.

April Fool or not: after the last ten or twelve days in the bloggosphere, let's not forget death threats and thugblogging silenced two voices, one maybe for good - Kathy Sierra -
and one when the blogthugs ganged up on her- Boardman.

Make no mistake - both of these situations, while each different in outcome, put a face on free speech. Being a 1st Amendment absolutist myself, note that free speech is a human endeavor judged by the content and the decorum of the debate. Those elements are essential and there is not much give in either of these conversations, and way too much taking. Blogging can and should be humorous, informative and not harmful to living things.

(As of the posting of this blog, no news on plans for the Weenie at Inman or how much they will charge for a Weenie.)
Inman News, another very human endeavor, is now the proud owner of a legacy, whether it notices this or not. Inman's position on the roller grill is between megacontent and metablogging: it definitely is news to blog about and Inman is a definitive resource for bloggers.
The opportunity: for Inman to use its Weenie for good - and point it proudly at all that is bad in the real estate blogging universe.

Someone has to do it - right?

I'm outta here.
steven.stearns@obeo.com

Free Speech for Realtors! - and other great ideas...

...after the last week, anyone who would not agree probably is crazy:

-Death Threats - Enough said. Kathy Sierra is a true victim of hate - as many others are on the world wild web. No one should live by fear. How do we and our colleagues stay safe?

-Blog Floggers - Another example of free-speech bloggers trying to speak and getting beaten down - by other free-speech bloggers. Teresa Boardmans' slightly delayed crusade to search out real estate weenies - people handing out bad real estate advice is not an example of debate, but an example of how speech can debilitate a great idea.

On the lighter, but still free speech side:

-Zillow talk is actually pillow talk - is it good for you too ? Watch out, it could lead to "Zlatulence", says Jessica Wynn Horton over at WannaNetwork - a damn funny rant on Zillow.

-Really Free Speech: or is it? A Clarification for Merrick at PR Leap on the previous post: PR Leap announces that www.athand24.com has free everything for free everybody-Realtors and private owners. Not a bad idea, but is this a free weenie lunch?

-Money finally talks - Ho Chi Minh City: The real estate fever spilled over from China : "HCM City is witnessing the most dramatic land price increase so far. Within one month, land prices in several areas have increased by 30-50%. " VietnamNet Bridge report-Got global?

-Mortgage Crazy : aside from the sub-prime market throwing stones and knives at us from the heavens, as Inman reports, we have something that appears slightly crazy since so many mortgage companies are closing : a mortgage search engine developed by the XBroker . WIll there be any mortgages left to look for when http://www.realespace.com/ is open?

Happy end of Q1! Look for my Free Saturday Special tomorrow.

I gotta go.

Steve
steven.stearns@obeo.com