Pierre's Blog

#1 Rule of Social networks - Stop Spamming - Never Spam - Are you Spam?

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:51:20 -0600

Ever wonder how Spam became Spam? Do you SPAM on AR? Is Spamming bad for business? Well here is the truth straight from my marketing class a few months back. It all begins with the actual wundermeat - Spam - the wundermeat became popular in america when women joined the work force and the family was adopting quick and easy meals that did had low preparation time.

(For the sake of length I am going to over-simplify some issues to get to the point)

Spam became popular because during their rise there was only 3 mediums, print, radio and TV. It was VERY clearly the birth of "brands" in America. You could literally throw money at these mediums and instantly sell millions of products, because unlike today's MASS (as in size) media, the options were very limited. I am sure that boomers and beyond can recall that even in the 70's TV was not more than 15 channels or so, of which you barely watched 4. All Spam did, was MARKET, buy ads, run commercials, you name it they were there and their sales went up - they SPAMMED SPAM - everyone caught on. SPAM is also absolutely useless for most people - sorry if you love it, but i believe it is really unhealthy.

It did not come to the technology arena until later: http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html

Now, why do I write this? STOP SPAMMING featured posts, popular posts in Social Networks, it is the ultimate way to get shunned, kicked, banned, booted, blocked, punted, denied and ignored. Social networks are NOT meant for promoting your product gratuitously.

SPAM = Promoting your product gratuitously, without request, without permission, and usually off-topic. Even on topic, it is not welcome.

How do you know if YOU ARE SPAM? ask yourself the following:

1) Am I answering the question in the blog? If you are, it is not SPAM
2) Am I merely stating my company name in a blatant disregard for integrity? If you are it IS SPAM
3) Am I putting words in a link and hiding the URL to encourage click through? 50/50 could be Spam
4) Does the comment I am adding ADD anything of value to the readers of this blog? only Yes if next is NO
5) Is this response strictly for my own benefit? If yes, you are a Spammer.

Look folks, let's Help people out, the next time someone SPAMS your post, send them the link to this post right after you report them as SPAM. They may not realize the negative effects SPAMMING will have on their business.

For example, if you are labeled a spammer, people will not like you - and instead of promoting yourself, you are actually ruining your reputation and opening yourself up for attack from the Social Network. This holds true for Trulia Voices, Zillow Q & A, ActiveRain, LinkedIn, MeetUp, Yelp!, etc.

The sad thing about Real Estate Spam is that alot of the brokers and agents do not realize they are doing it. It's okay, you are new to this medium. But you need to realize that the consumer does not fall for it, nor do they like it. If they are on Yelp! for restaurant reviews - and genuine reviews for other industries, contribute. But do NOT review yourself. Short reviews are also frowned upon, they look "spammy" - if everyone is writing thoughtful long reviews about companies and such - you should follow suit, so you are welcomed.

One Final tip: Look at the network you are joining, look at the popular posts, and learn from them what is read, what is welcomed and what kind of behavior is frowned upon.

Look at those 5 questions above, and I am sure you fellow AR members can add more to this list. Do not SPAM, and if you think it is SPAM, don't do it - But i'll give you a tip, on AR all you need to do to get recognition is to not be fake, be yourself, add to the community and people will naturally become interested in your product as a reflection of yourself. And you can write about your product, i do it. But those posts inevitable do not get featured, do not get posts and are not read. So this is my tip for 2008 - cut the SPAM!!!!!

Best wishes to all in 2008!

Pierre Calzadilla - Trulia - Manager strategic partnerships

Improve your lead conversion, by improving your leads...

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:00:41 -0600

We all want "good" leads. I remember my years at my previous broker when we were driving 1,300 web requests a month (to the company - not counting direct to agent, office leads), we were closing around 4-6% of the requests for real commission dollars (*after appointments). We looked at our lead sources and consistently the "for sale sign" and Web were the biggest sources of "leads". Naturally, since they were the biggest sources, we tossed more money at them: bigger signs, easier to read, colored posts that could be sign miles away, larger budgets for keyword buying, site optimization, etc. We got more leads. But, was that what we needed?

In the end those leads, just created more work, more frustrated agents, more misdirected use of time. We needed BETTER leads, not more. Why? Because better leads, lead to the following:

selling our clients home as fast as possible for the highest possible price
more closings
higher earned commissions
shorter sales cycles

If we could generate BETTER leads, we could accomplish those four goals and more. That is not rocket science. Yes, in the long run, increasing the pipeline will increase your opportunity, but you also increase work and time wasted on - what some would call - "bad leads". I am going to change your vocabulary right now, because NO lead, is a BAD lead. You need to know how to identify and attract leads that are closer to their buying stage. Better yet, you want your lead to tell you EXACTLY where they are in the buying cycle. Here are some ideas:

Which buyer is more likely to buy a property from you in less than 90 days:

1) Buyer A: Types into Google, "New York City Real Estate" or Buyer B: "Upper East Side Condo for sale"

Think very carefully. Which one knows EXACTLY where they want to live, which one knows the property type and neighborhood? Do you think that Buyer B is more honed in on their target?: Answer: YES - So why the heck do we optimize for "houston real estate", or even "new york homes for sale" - are we nuts? heck even "Brooklyn Real Estate".

You see, not only has the web evolved, but web search behavior has evolved. For some of the most popular real estate sites in NYC, the most popular terms are actually ADDRESSES - of course that is because of buildings and such, but imagine that consumers are going as far as to just type in addresses into Google and see what comes up? Try it out - if you don't believe me.

Try this on for size: A school district is one of the biggest criteria for buying a home (I think we all agree), do you think the Mother and Father go on to Google to search for the city name - real estate, or a "Zip Code - homes for sale", think about it. If YOU were going to buy a home in your hometown, what would you type into the Google search box, if you were not a broker? One final test, grab someone, out of the industry, or ask a client that just made an offer on a house, what they were typing in to the search engine 12 months ago, and what they typed in before they made their offer last week.

2) Your method of connecting to the buyer/seller:

Do you have one call of action on your listings? I hope at LEAST one. But you may want up to 3 or even 4! Again, before you throw up your hands in shock and awe, let's walk through this. A buyer, 6-9 months out of a purchase, heck even a year out will want to ask a question, about anything - but the only option available is one contact form - why? So you have to determine the order you answer? So you can sit there and answer back in 5 minutes to every mundane question? Well THAT is exactly what you force yourself to do when you have ONE call to action. At the very least, you need two: "Ask a question about this listing here" "Set an appointment to view this property this evening", the consumer themselves will choose which pile they want to go into. What others could you have: "Sign up for a weekly update" - "Let's talk on the phone" "e-mail me similar listings" - etc. Think of all of the options now available. By doing this your e-mail system becomes a prioritization tools and the people that want appointments get the best treatment and instead of having to voraciously watch your e-mail, you can just look for the subject line: "appointment request" and answer those ASAP and leave the others for when you can sit down and give a great response.

In the end, our role is to help our sellers get the highest possible price for their homes. To do that effectively you need to work hard on the consumers that are most likely to buy NOW, they are out there. But they are not searching for "New York Real Estate" they are looking for homes for sale in 11223, an "Upper West Side Coop for sale", etc. They know exactly what they want - are you there? Can you be found? Can you tell the 90 day buyer from a 360 day buyer? Improve your marketing methods to improve your leads and close more business. these tips above are just the beginning.

Cheers,

Pierre Calzadilla

Trulia - Manager Strategic Partnerships - East Coast

Establish your "mega-presence" online.

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:02:21 -0600

Hey all, this is from my article in this month's RIS Media (http://rismag.imprev.net/2007/12/) pg 124/125

http://rismedia.com/wp/2007-12-11/how-to-establish-your-mega-presence-on-the-web/ (complete)

"The average agent would probably count a website as part of their marketing plan and as important as their PDA, computer and digital camera. Yet, like many marketing tools of the past (see Polaroid and the Newspaper) the website is not timeless. As the web has matured to its proverbial adolescence, the sites that were created in recent years have quickly become outdated and non-functional. With today's "web 2.0" connectivity, data sharing and the mega-presence available to today's agent, a personal website is now optional. To understand my point, we need to assess the original intention of a website.

Some of you may say that the original goal of your site was to connect with consumers, or to display your knowledge, maybe even to market listings. These are all true. But something had to happen for this venture to be successful, you needed to be found. The race was quickly on to get to "page one" of Google for countless scores of keywords. We competed broker to broker, agent to agent and broker to agent and all against the lead farms for those coveted 10 spots on page one. An essentially painful and fruitless endeavor, that was quite costly. We can agree that unless your website can be found, it is virtually useless. Enter the "blog."

We did it, we found a way to connect - to speak with our clients and create connections - fantastic. But wait, so did 9,970,000 others according to my Google search for, "real estate blog." At first it was a genuine smorgasbord of actually good writing; it looked so easy. Quickly, thousands upon thousands of consumers, brokers, agent, mortgage bankers, lawyers and more started blogging too. The battle for supremacy raged again and blogs have now replaced websites as the medium of choice. They are text heavy, therefore easily indexed by Google, they offer quick and easy posting - and heck they don't have to be pretty. The blog has become the centerpiece of today's agent, but even that has a shelf-life that is nearing its course..."

for the rest of the article please read it here(http://rismag.imprev.net/2007/12/), I cannot link to it directly as it is a "flash" scroll to page 124-125:

"Commentary - Establish your Mega-Presence on the Web"

Happy Holidays!

-Pierre

News: EDGEIO will shut it's doors.

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:52:00 -0600

Read Below for the full article:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/06/edgeio-to-shut-down-in-the-deadpool/

Why can't I be split in two? Real Estate Events & Personal Life...

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:06:11 -0500

Hello my lovely AR friends. Normally i am not one to get up here and bemoan my predicaments, I rarely do that, I usually tend to lean towards the tip/advice kind of guy... but today, i just need to vent. this weekend is my 5th wedding anniversary! I am so, so, so happy to be spending time with my wife - a few months back we booked a trip to France - our first time ever out of the country to Europe. We have been counting the days to the trip...

let's put that on hold now.

Part two, i just started this awesome job at trulia in January, and I am able to meet brokers from across the U.S., speak at national venues - like Inman, and hold many agent/broker training sessions. I love that stuff, i really do. I love being able to meet people like Matt Heaton, see old friends like Mary, and meet new ones like the guys at Sellsius in person. Just like my previous life as a Real Estate agent: pressing flesh, sharing my cards and putting myself in places where my clients are - leads to more business. Business networking 101.

So, what pray tell am I bummed about? - RISMEDIA and Trulia Voices Unplugged, are going to be going on while I am away in France. To some of you, you may think, "why be upset? - you'll be travelling, yadda, yadda, yadda". But the fact is, I love what I do, and I love meeting my brokers, and most importantly I love meeting fellow bloggers, voices users, etc. it's just fun. Is it wrong for me to be sort of sad that I am going to france?

I am not kidding. I want to change my trip but my wife would cease to be my wife if I did... lol.

This is going to be the first ever Trulia Voices Unplugged get together too! You can see the blog post here, and sign up if you want:

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Using_Trulia/First_ever_Trulia_Voices_Unplugged_real_estate_mee-8107--

It is awesome, a party to just hang-out with fellow bloggers, and tri-state area Voices people, basically anyone that uses Voices is going to be there... EXCEPT ME!!!! AND it is the same week as the RIS Media conference.
If you go, can you do me a favor, and take a bunch of photos, say Hi to my friends - maybe even bring a cut out of my pic and hold it next to your face in group photos....?

I will really be thinking about you all while I am away in Paris, please send my regards to all my buddies out there. I know some of you are still thinking, "c'mon Pierre - you're in france - let's trade places" - but haven't you ever had to miss a closing, or broker meeting, or showing, that in your gut, in your business mind, in your heart of hearts, you know you should be at? But, the family is calling, and sometimes you just have to put business to the side? well that's me right now - Of course I want to go to France - I am not stupid. But i want to go to this Voices Unplugged get together - AT PRAVDA NYC!!!

So if you can go, please do and have fun for me, have a drink for me - hey it's on trulia! Toast my trip to France and wish me a safe return home. Just make sure you sign up here so they know you're coming in my place!

Inman HERE I COME! Your Tip Sheet for preparing for the Inman Conference

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:38:57 -0500

I just got a post asking about the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference, which kicks off here in San Francisco tomorrow...so hopefully this is not too late to provide some tips on how to get the most out of the Inman events.

This is my fourth Inman conference. In previous years I have gone to the NYC events, but never to SF due to travel and time restrictions. I am stoked to be a part of it! BUT guess what! Not, only am I attending ... for the first time I WILL BE SPEAKING --TWICE!!! WOO-HOO!!!!

But before I get to that, here are some conference tips for Inman:

1) plan ahead! Here is the link to the schedule of speakers: Schedule of Events for Inman. print it out, or download it to your blackberry/treo to save paper and be eco-friendly! If you don't want to walk right by your good colleague who you've never met, make sure to study the bios/photos of attendees. (BTW, I am a last minute add-in, so don't go crazy trying to find me, LOL.)

2) DO - pick the topics that will affect your bottom line, or open your eyes to something you have not considered before. Brad and his team do a great job of presenting engaging and sometimes controversial topics/speakers so you get the most out of the experience. DON'T - attend the sessions where you'll simply nod and agree with the speaker - that delivers no real value, unless you are just looking for confirmation that you are doing the right thing (fine, just not the best ROI).

3) ASK QUESTIONS! Too many times I attend a great session, but no one asks questions. Make sure you get the most out of your trip investment.

Here are a few must-attend sessions:

Every General Session! and Every Connect Duet! Period. Speakers include: CEO's from Trulia, Prudential, John L. Scott, Redfin, Craigslist, NAR, Zillow and more... don't miss out!

Of course, COME SEE ME! My sessions will NOT be a Trulia lovefest - even if we ARE in SF. As I do here on my AR blog and have done for years in my previous role as a Director of E-Business for a Real Estate firm in NYC, I will be giving valid, fair tips on how to get the most out of social networks, working with today's consumer, and managing your online business.

Wednesday - 3-4:00pm - Agent 2.0: Developing your Future Referral Network Online (Presidio Room, level 2)!

AND!

Thursday - 12:30-1:30pm - Content as King: Developing Web Site Content to Attract & Delight Customers (same location)

If you forget the details, make sure to pick up more information from our now-famous green Trulia Marker Men.

Finally, one of the biggest values of Inman is networking and "connect-ing" with leaders such as Craig Newmark from Craigslist.org, many of the country's top Real Estate bloggers like Joel Burslem and Pat Kitano. Shake hands, get ideas and go back to work with action items that you can implement today! Mingle, exchange cards, and please come by and say hi to me, I love putting a name to a face!

See you at Inman Connect SF '07!

DonorsChoose.org - UPDATE - They made it to AmEx Members project Finals

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:50:12 -0500

Awhile back i wrote about an awesome site that donates school supplies, and funds projects for our school teachers across the country. It has been getting rave reveiws and really growing while helping thousands of students across the country. Well, they entered the American Express Member's Project Challenge - and are now in the Finals! Please support this awesome cause! Below is the e-mail from Charles Best - from DonorsChoose.org. (this has been reposted with permission from DonorsChoose). Also, here is the post i wrote awhile back in regards to Donors Choose: Doing Good Things With Web 2.0 - DonorsChoose.org.

"Dear Pierre,

DonorsChoose.org just made the Top 5 finals of the American Express Members Project. We're in a close race.

If you voted last week, it will only take you 30 seconds to vote this time. If it's your first time voting, 2 minutes is needed. Please vote now for our submission:

"Teachers Ask. You Choose. Students Learn."
http://www.membersproject.com/Education/5630

If we win, all the award proceeds-up to $5 million-will go to classroom projects on our site. Hundreds of thousands of public school students stand to benefit.

Please refer to these simple instructions if you get stuck.

We're in the final homestretch, and the outcome will likely be decided by fewer than a hundred votes. Your vote now is essential.

On behalf of all the schoolchildren whom your vote will impact, thank you for helping at this critical moment!

Sincerely,
Charles Best and the DonorsChoose Team

P.S. Please reply "Yes" so that I can thank you for voting.

P.P.S. The project edging us out for the #1 spot is a real Goliath, as you can see from this New York Times article:

"Procter & Gamble is traveling incognito in the American Express Member's Project... [P&G employee] Mr. Allgood entered the science and theory behind the Children's Safe Drinking Water program. But he said that the Member Project's rules precluded him from naming it, or mentioning Pur or Procter." (NYT, July 24, 2007)"

GET VOTING! and please send to your clients/associates.

cheers!

-PC

Get your Widgets here, Voices Button, Free Map with YOUR listings for your site + More

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:33:32 -0500

hey all! For those of you that use the Voices platform on Trulia, I just wanted to be sure that you know we now have a button to include on your site and profiles! The page with the code is here:

http://www.trulia.com/tools/buttons/profile/

Don't forget that you can also get a Map to include on your site with YOUR listings! That link is right here, very easy to do:

http://www.trulia.com/truliamap/

Pierre's Brooklyn Pick's

your browser not compatible

Get your own TruliaMap

There is even a neat Home Roll Wizard where you can select property types in your market to display on your site: http://www.trulia.com/wizard/

If you have other cool widgets to suggest, or want to find more, there is an awesome public directory of Real Estate Widgets here: http://www.housingwidgets.com/ they have excellent blog plug-ins that are free, a vflyer widget, mortgage calculators, the whole nine.

Cheers! - PC

Social Networking part 2 - Facebook and LinkedIn

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:07:00 -0500

I just want to give http://Facebook.com and http://LinkedIn.com proper placement in my social networking roadmap. I left them out of my initial posting about Social Networking.

Facebook

In my previous posting, I sort of disregarded FaceBook as a "MySpace" - but I am quite wrong. Sure it definitely can be, but recently - due to the S.F. Inman Conference Group created on Facebook, i have seen the error in my ways. There does seem to be a professional aspect to facebook, a bit more "real" than what I have experienced on "MySpace". Many of us on ActiveRain are on there already, there is even an ActiveRain Group - over 130 members! and one for Trulia - that we did not start! (join it).

Not to mention Brad Inman's SF Connect Group and more! I was pleasantly surprised by it - you may be too.

LinkedIn - is AWESOME. I have been on here for a few years, and I have to say that it has been extremely helpful. First off here is my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrecalzadilla. The purpose of this site is to connect professionals across the country. Just think of it as the world's most powerful rolodex - BUT - you get to see who else is on your associates Rolodex too, not only that, but you can write recommendations for other people.

Let's put this into a real estate scenario. You just listed and sold the home of a local V.P., maybe a bank, or a small business. Either way this person is/was your client. You place their name into LinkedIn, and viola! They they are, their professional, public image. You ask to connect to them, and now you are part of their network. So - now every employee they have, every associate that is "linked" to them - can now link to you. But wait there is more - now you client can write a recommendation for you! this recommendation appears on their profile and on yours! A public referral letter - it is really great. You can see some of the people i have recommended here. And see the recommendations I have received on my full profile.

Okay, i could just not sleep without putting this up, to have a more complete social networking package. And as usual - you are on ActiveRain, so I really don't need to mention how Awesome it is here to network too.

Meet your client - BEFORE - they need you...Social Networking 3 must-do sites

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:40:38 -0500

No I am not talking about "MySpace" or "Facebook", those two sites may make you seem hip, but as far as reaching your target audience, you are a little off - unless you are doing rentals or sell in a college community. There are 3 other venues, that truly speak to your demographic, late 20's to mid 40's+, affluent, high-income, tech savvy, etc. They are: MeetUp.com, Yelp.com and Trulia Voices. Three free ways to communicate with your consumer, before they need you!

http://www.meetup.com

An excellent community site where the members actually get together once a month to share in topics they enjoy. For example, a museum lovers group may meet-up once a month to go to the city together and visit the MET – these are great, affluent groups that you can network with and spread your name to your marketplace. In long Island there are dog lovers group, art lovers groups, Real Estate groups! Join a group or make your own Westchester Real Estate group, maybe hold a home-buying seminar! FREE! And an excellent way to build up your name within your community!

http://www.yelp.com

The Zagat’s of the future! BUT BETTER! Rate restaurants, lawyers, doctors, and Real Estate agents, be the first to rate an item and you will be attached to it forever. Prove that you are the neighborhood or community expert by writing and providing the best local information – as you write reviews you increase in credibility. This is different than localism, as localism is really for the general area novice, or maybe a real estate buyer. The users here are as devoted to Yelp as we are to AR, and their base is growing exponentially. Users can rate your reviews as helpful or not, and can even agree or disagree. It is a very friendly, community site and another great way to build a network – write a review for YOUR doctor, YOUR Real Estate Lawyer, your mortgage bank, your dry cleaner and your favorite restaurant! Then tell them you did and ask them to do the same for you! Also, the old style closing table recommendation – DO IT Still! But how much more powerful is it if your past clients wrote about how great you are for the world to see?

http://www.trulia.com/voices

This is a great way for you to connect with the consumer on a non-threatening level. Consumers ask questions about various markets across the U.S. – perhaps your own. Topics include, transportation, schools, general market questions, and information seeking questions such as “what is escrow?”. Make a profile, and be sure to include your website address, your phone number, your slogan and a description. As you answer questions your credibility grows. Venture into other markets and ask questions too! Random questions are selected in each area and appear when a consumer does a search, for example, someone looking at a listing in Manhattan, will see a preview of Q and A’s from the voices area. Check it out! (p.s. Some of the top AR members are already ALL over the site!)

In Closing, Would you rather meet your next client when 10 other brokers are calling them too, or before? Clearly you would rather already be a "friend" or "acquaintance" to as many people as you can in your market before they need you to buy/sell a house or ask any real estate question. These venues allow you to prove your knowledge in a non-real estate sales setting, where YOU are not the focus, but your information is.Editorial note: I did not include localism because, well we are all on AR already so you know about it! But if you aren't using it, the same reasons I gave above are the ones why you should be!

Interactive Tool for Real Estate Research - see an area "boom" from the 1800's to today

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 31 May 2007 08:52:57 -0500

An amazing tool has been unleashed to the world that allows real estate developers, agents, buyers and you to see how an area has developed and grown over time, "Hindsight". Year by year, you can see the affects a factory opening, a train line meeting a new destination, the depression and the "Baby Boom" after WWII may have had on your city. The tool is pretty straightforward, just enter the city name into the field at the top, wait a few seconds (depending on the volume of development) and watch as the timeline scrolls and your city is developed. “Hindsight” is based on Trulia data and delivered through this beautiful interface. It’s practical applications can be for research, city planning studies, or perhaps an opportunity to see in which direction a city may be spreading and identify potential areas that are coming of age. The historical lesson is amazing as well, particularly Levittown NY – a community built by Levitt builders to provide cost-effective homes after WWII. Below are a few links to several cities which have grown at dramatic rates. Enjoy!

Las Vegas, NV

Watch as Las Vegas transforms from a barren, desert city into a booming metropolis. The first boom, in the early 1930s, accompanied the construction of the Hoover Dam, which brought an influx of construction workers to the Valley. As corporations began to invest in hotel and casino properties in the 1960’s gambling became “gaming,” making the transition into a legitimate business and bringing a three-decade-long wave of growth to Las Vegas. Starting in the mid-1980s, Las Vegas’ population began to grow by 7 percent per year, causing the city’s population to nearly double between 1985 and 1995 to 368,360. As the Trulia Hindsight timeline moves forward through the decades, housing developments mushroom before your eyes on the vast tracts of land surrounding what is today the glittering Las Vegas
strip.

Levittown, NY
Another dramatic example is the construction of Levittown, New York, a planned community originally conceived as a housing development for returning World War II veterans. Watch the Trulia Hindsight map light up between 1947 and 1951, when builders Levitt and Sons, Inc. mass-produced 17,447 homes on what had once been potato farms on Long Island. Their most popular model, a ranch built on a concrete slab, measured 32’ by 25’ and sold for $7,990. All a prospective buyer needed was a $90 deposit and payments of $58 per month.

More here:

http://stamen.com/

http://hindsight.trulia.com/

http://digg.com/design/Lose_Yourself_in_Animated_Zooming_Maps_of_Properties_Across_the_USA#c6953225

Trulia Launches out of Beta

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 11 May 2007 11:50:58 -0500

Greetings my fellow AR friends. Trulia.com is now out of Beta! WOO-HOO! So what does this mean to the average real estate broker/agent? Well, the fastest growing real estate website in the US, just got even better. Unleash YOUR voice on our new "Voices" interface, our new search result pages, and several new features among them:

Trulia Voices: Connect with the consumer, prove you know your market. Our visitors have asked questions across the US, and several brokers have already answered - have you? What is the best neighborhood in Brooklyn? Where can I find unbiased school info about NYC? You can answer, users vote on the best answer, and you can get credit for being the first answer. You can also now upload your picture, your favorite listings, a profile, tag-line and links - all for free. Link to your site, link to your listings, become the neighborhood expert to the millions of Trulia users across the US. http://www.trulia.com/voices/

Search Results: Check them out, do a search for your favorite neighborhood, you can now hide the map, make it bigger, make it smaller, see closed properties within the results, filter faster and easier with the new sidebar navigation, and more.

Recommendation tool: Along the left bar in our search results you will notice a few neighborhoods that are related to wherever you are searching. But what if you aren't familiar with NYC? or Some other part of the country? Well, as you cycle through and pick areas, Trulia will recommend other areas that users commonly include in the search. For example, users searching for Park Slope, usually look at Prospect Heights or Carroll Gardens too... check it out.

Trulia Trends: On the front page, you can now see the hottest areas in the country, where are consumers shopping, where are the prices fluctuating the most, and more.

New Site: http://www.housingwidgets.com This site is for YOU to add your favorite "widgets" or blog plug-ins, tools etc, that make your life easier. There are already some neat ones on there like Jaxtr - an interface to allow consumers to call you as a local call, or text you and more. I think it is a great relocation and lead capture app - plus it is free. Check out the other widgets offered and please add your own gems.

and more.... http://www.trulia.com/

Get to know the new Trulia.com, find your listings and if they are not there submit your site to be indexed. You can always give me a ring with any questions!

What was your business like prior to 2000? Let's time travel - the WayBack Machine

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:37:22 -0600

It is March 2, 2007 - where were we 6 years ago? What were we doing then, or not doing then that we are doing now? The question is worth asking. I for one was just getting into SEO, reading books, looking at message boards - the original blogs - I think I was still using AOL as my main e-mail account.

It was my first year in real estate, websites were definitely around, but man were they bad! You gotta use the WAYBACK MACHINE - to see what some of the most famous sites looked like in the year 2000, and beyond. they have been indexing the history of the internet since 1986. It is truly remarkable, see your site, even navigate pages, perform searches on yahoo, as if it was that year in time - you are literally travelling through time when you use this site.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://yahoo.com <----Click on Yahoo in March 1, 2000 (eek)

What a long way we have come!

http://web.archive.org/web/20000301174425/http://www.era.com/ (ERA in 2000) not bad actually

http://web.archive.org/web/20000301053545/http://microsoft.com/ Microsoft.com in 2000

But, I really want to know what were you doing before the web became so integral in our business?

I was READING, on paper the newest MLS listings...waiting for that darn book to be printed.
I was cutting FSBOS from newspapers before websites made it easier
I was cold-calling from the phone book, intsead of using tools that are now on-line
flyers were Black and White b/c color was darn expensive
POST CARDS - oh lordie, all day stamps and printing - uggg! (still do it but way less)
no digital camera!
e-mailing was like - "what?" still to many brokers AND clients
Addresses for listings were never published in my market
Craigslist was not around yet
Web 2.0? HAH!
Buying the newspaper or having it delivered at 5am
.........................yours?

the list goes on and on - how much has your business changed? and For those of you that are new to real estate, could you imagine doing what you do now - if you had to do what they did in the 80's - 70's - before fax machines - Oh my lord!

looking forward to some funny and interesting replies... and don't hold 2000 as the year, go back farther - i loved the stories I used to hear about having a fax machine - with no one else to fax to! lol

Realogy Network (C21, ERA, Coldwell Banker) join Trulia

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:45:07 -0600

Realogy announced this morning that they will be sending their entire listings inventory to Trulia.com and Google base for national syndication. This is the first time that Realogy, who owns Century 21, ERA and Coldwell Banker to name a few, will be actively allowing sites like Trulia to display and promote their properties.

Here is a quote from the press release: "Our announced distributed listing strategy follows an intense study of advantages...This serves as a milestone in our strategy to maximize the advantages of the Web for the benefit of our franchisees..."

Alex Perriello, the President and CEO of Realogy said in the same article," From the http://Google.com and http://Trulia.com Web Sites, consumers will be linked to the brand sites where they can learn more about individual properties, communitites and the home-buying process. Home sellers will maturally benefit from the additional marketing exposure for their properties."

This is awesome news for everyone involved. Last year Realogy did a study with Trulia under their ERA brand. the results were awesome, Trulia delivered 15% of ERA's total web traffic - WOW, that is really cool. Just 2 weeks ago we announced the Keller Williams launch, and now this.

So you may be asking why? Why should they go to Trulia to search for homes. The idea is that the consumer is already doing research on-line, they are already going from site to site. If they arrive on your site, perform a search and are dissatisfied with the sign-up process or the results, they will likely leave and go on to the next site. With Trulia, if the consumer leaves, you still have an opportunity to get them back, why? Because your listings are still in the same results they are looking through. So if in your market area, you have 20% of the inventory, or even just 5 listings, the moment the consumer comes to trulia, they still have a chance to find your other listings again. Plus Trulia offers SEO benefits, market data, and a great bunch of tools for Brokers to use on their sites. We have even more good things coming out - that I cannot talk about :( YET!

So to all of the C21, ERA and Coldwell Banker agents who read this - welcome! and I'll be in Vegas! See you there! Please looks me up in the Trulia booth!

Here is the full article link: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070302005110&newsLang=en

Hey all Trulia update from the inside! (New Trulia API and more)

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:06:21 -0600

Hey guys I am stoked to share this info with you all. As you know I was the Director of e-Business for Fillmore Real Estate for several years, and I am still a licensed NYS real estate professional - although no longer practicing as of January. Now with Trulia, the work I used to do for my broker, I now get to do for any of you across the country.

My new home at Trulia is awesome, I am meeting brokers from across the country and it is really exciting. Being able to talk SEO, e-business, marketing, etc is a blast. Yesterday we announced some news that got big headlines! between you and me there is even more on the way...but for now I am happy to welcome Keller Williams to the fold.

If anyone has questions about Trulia, please feel free to ask. Even "offline" feel free to send me a private e-mail. Although I work here now, I come from the other side of the table, and I understand many of the reservations some brokers/agents have across the country. However as you can see below, more and more brokers are coming on board.

We also had a little contest ehre at Trulia to create new API's, basically a way to share our data with anyone who wants it free of charge - (not the listings) but the actual volume data about markets, market activity, popularity, maps and more! check it out here: http://developer.trulia.com/page/gallery

Here is a link to a results page from Brooklyn, NY with my broker on it Click Here

Realtor.org

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2007022101?OpenDocument

and

RIS Media

http://www.rismedia.com/wp/2007-02-20/truliacom-signs-marketing-partnership-with-keller-williams-realty-inc/

Thanks to all who wrote me about my previous post, you all got it! I was not surprised!

Cheers,

Pierre

Why'd you click this?

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:25:32 -0600

Well?

Curiosity killed that cat, but something has to keep them coming back. think about it.

How many people come through your site everyday, but don't say a word?

How many eyes came to your page, read your thoughts, but did not write down a note?

How many people truly care about what you write?

If you want people to contact you, to inquire about property, to begin a relationship - you need 2 basic things:

1. Something they want.

2. (put down why you clicked and i'll tell you)

Doing good things with Web 2.0 - Donorschoose.org

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:44:33 -0600

Web 2.0, the "mash-up" continues to amaze me. People have found ways to take available web technologies and create useful and wonderful sites. One of these wonderful sites is http://donorschoose.org/. This site was started by Charles Best, a teacher in 2000 from The Bronx, NY. With their interface, school teachers place projects, books, field trips, etc in their directory for good Samaritans to easily find and financially support. Unlike the old school donation methods, Donorschoose.org gives 100% transparency to every dollar donated. They provide a break down, dollar by dollar of where your donation went, graphs of how many children you helped, how much you donated over time, and the real heart clincher - pictures of your donation at work - with hand written thank you letters and cards from the kids themselves! *sniff* The "mash-up" aspect is all of the neat things around the site that make you want to give more! You get points, graphs, charts, history of donations by state, how many kids your donation helped, etc and packages it in a truly useful way.

Projects can be as little as a few hundred dollars, to several $1,000's for new computers, desks, field trips, etc. Every project is screened by their team and then given a need level rating. You can search by area, need level, donation amount and more. You can wholly fund a project or partially contribute to reach a goal.

How does this apply to real estate? Glad you asked. For one, being part of a community and supporting our communities is just a good thing to do, of course it improves your status among your community. http://www.donorschoose.org/ is going national, so little by little you will be able to contribute to your local cause. Many cities are already available.

If you really want to get your competitive juices flowing there is also a Blogger Challenge for blogs that lead to donations, complete with a leaderboard. They track which blogs link to them, and how much you donate for you chosen project. The blog owner picks a project then sets up a link on their site, I'll be doing that here shortly. As your readers donate, your thermometer will rise.

Here are some interesting projects looking for donations:

California College Trip for NYC Youth - NYC

Pre-K to 2^nd Grade trip to a Science Museum - California

A Wonder Garden for kindergarten - Louisiana

There are over 160 projects related to Hurricane Katrina

So get out there my Fellow Realtors (c) and do some good in your local communities. If you have a blog it is brainless to select a charity and join the Blogger Challenge. Have a happy Valentine's Day!

From "Ink to Links" - the transition of your marketing dollar to web media.

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 12:18:09 -0600

For years Brokers and agents have spent countless dollars marketing in print. The main mediums being: Local Newspaper's, Real Estate Book's, Post Cards, Flyers, Door Hangers, etc. Their main purpose has been to generate phone calls/contacts from prospective buyers/sellers and most importnatly, keep the agent's name "top of mind". As far as we are concerned - it works, right? But how do you truly KNOW?

In this article - which may turn into a series, I will break down a few myths/facts about print and web marketing. Many brokers are transitioning their marketing dollars from "ink to links", but are they doing it fast enough? And if not - why?

To do this effectively you need to know your cost-per-lead. That is the cost of your advertising, divided by the amount of leads generated. For example, a $400 postcard mailout, gets you 2 phone calls. So the CPL for that is $200 bucks. If you run an ad this week, and you receive 15 calls on a $120 ad, your cost per lead is $8. If you spend $60/month on your website and receive 35 contacts, your CPL is $1.71

So, knowing that nfo, we can work the numbers in reverse. Just think back to those days when you were a new agent making 100 calls to get 1 appointment. Take X amount of dollars per month, divide it by the CPL for ad source, should then equal "N" generated leads. So for example, if I wanted to generate 200+ leads via any of the above sources this would be the cost: x/y=n

(website) $500 / $1.71= 292 leads
(print) $1,600 / $8 = 200 leads
etc...

I know postcards have a greater value to us -because we want that "1"deal - but is that smart advertising? Most advertisers look for greater return on their dollar. However I will propose a cost effective way to manage the postcard adertising below.

First let's breakdown the specific targets of our marketing:

Buyers - Sellers - "top of mind" (i.e. keep your name out in your marketing area)

Buyers tend to be generation X/Y, echo-boomers and Boomers. Sellers tend to be more towards the echo-boomer, boomer age, for the nature of this article let's call them "civics". We can agree that we want everyone in our market area to know our names as that area's specialist.

As we have seen in the last few years, the buyers are not coming from the paper anymore. As of the 2006 NAR buyers survey, 80% of buyers begin their search online. Yet brokers on average are spending 6% of their marketing budget in this media. Does that make sense? Sort of.

First off, many of our marketing tactics on-line are free. Craigslist, postlets, etc. Do not charge or are very low cost. Furthermore the average website upkeep costs $55-$75 a month, not including set-up fees. In retrospect a just-listed postcard to 400 homeowners or targeted buyers may run you around $316. From the onset we can see that the on-line spend is going to be less than our print.

Some differences between web and print advertising:

The web-site is a 24/7 billboard for your business; a postcard is a one time shot at a deal. But we continue to do them. It does make sense to, especially considering one deal can pay for the post cards 10X over. However, do you have a website? Quite simply, if you are spending money on postcards and you don't have a website - your marketing spend is upside down and wrong. You must correct it. Once you send out that postcard with your web address on it, you can now make a broader reaching statement that will drive traffic from buyers/sellers/ and curious "stroll-ins" because of the message. What message you ask? perhaps: Log on to West Palm beach's premiere real esate information site, find recent sales, home for sale, community activities such as the girl scouts bake sale next month, and more" - Not your typical real estate site, log on and learn more! Brought to you by....Free and no personal info is required.

(I can hear the sighs and screams from here) LOL. Look folks, let get this straight - why are we losing our sellers and buyers to these lead farms? The answer: They give the consumers what they want. So if you want to stop spending hundreds of dollars a month on leads, get the info on your site and use that money to promote your site.

Sellers: They are civics, but they also use websites - we only need to look at the success of companies like Zillow, Housevalues.com etc to prove that home sellers are going on-line too. How are these companies getting our sellers? They advertise on TV, we pay them a few bucks per lead, and they give us the seller. Sellers are also echo-boomers. This group is tech-savvy and wants to do things on thier own, almost as bad as generation X/Y do. They want leveraged services, so you need to approach them from a service/value angle. You need to offer them the housevalues service, the zillow service easily from your website.

Classified ads: We all know, deep down in our hearts, we only use this to make our sellers ego's happy. We also run them to make our egos happy. But we all know that it is just "face time." But we have to do it - or do we? Sellers want to be in the papers because that's what they are used to - but as professionals, we need to enter that listing appointment, explaining to the seller that buyers no longer come from the paper. We need to build a case for our website's, our web marketing and our service after the offer. Advertising homes in print is a waste of marketing dollars. The true print classified is not dead! What you want to do is run an ad in the paper, a group ad perhaps - and redirect buyers to see more homes on your website. Instead of 5 ads for 5 houses, make one ad for your website driving buyers and sellers there. Many times the large ad will sell for less than the 5 ads together and you can get your message out more effectively. Also, the larger ad attracts more "eyeballs" than the small column ad.

PPC: Pay per click, and banner advertising: VERY essential. VERY easy. Go to Adwords check it out, I'll make a separate post this week on how to use it. BUT - Google ahs made the interfact very intuitive and it does most of the work for you. For starters, set up your account for $5-$6 bucks a day, that's only $180/month. Well worth the cost. This is equivalent to your typical classified ad but way more effective. Why you ask? Well you are getting a targeted consumer click, but most importantly - you can track EVERY click back to google and then apply a cost per lead.

Other major alternative: Trulia.com, even better than a google adwords ad. Trulia is a national real estate search engine. Most of your listings are probably on there and you don't even know. What they do is better than any other alternative out there. They take the listing and link directly back to your site. thats' it. Free. No sign up form for the buyer. no lead fee for you. You can spend a few bucks per listing and have them featured for your area. They are stilling rolling out new markets - so keep an eye on them. I will also post a future article on trulia, a company i view as a truly broker friendly, safe marketing avenue. i foresee them to be the destination for homebuyers who don't want to scour 15 sites for listings. But still go to the listing broker directly. It is a great tool for buyer's agents too.

This article is already too long. i'll flesh out some spots this week. I look forward to questions and comments.

ciao! - Pierre

Great Article from Inman News - NAR 2006 HomeBuyer Survey

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:29:43 -0600

I love Inman.

Every year NAR releases the Homebuyer Survey. This years survey went out to 7,500 homebuyers and gives an excellent snapshot of our real estate market. For some of us, the house values are way off, but the percentages do stand true.

Here are two links that review the survey findings released in NAR New Orleans, I can't track down the actual report yet

Inman - NAR Press Release

Long story short, 80% of homebuyers have come from the digital realm.

Mnay of you will hem and haw that the number is exaggerated, but lets look at some facts and you tell me if you agree:

Are your showings down from previous years (only agents in the business 5+ years can answer this)

Are you getting many requests via your website to view homes?

Are Buyers asking you to e-mail them?

Do buyers call up with just one question and after you answer it, they say "thanks" and abruptly try to hang up on you?

If any of these symptoms sound familiar, you are dealing with internet buyers. But how do you truly know?

YOU HAVE TO ASK. This is step one in CRM (customer relationship management) How did they find you?

The key question to ask every buyer before you answer their question is, "by the way, before I look this up, how did you find us?"

If your admin, secretary, assistant, partner, or yourself, asked this key question every time your phone rang - then you can dispute or agree with these findings. the same goes for your open houses, on your sign-in forms - do you even have them? - do you ask "how did you learn about this open house?"

This will help you market way more effectively - at the end of a month break out the percentages of your lead sources. Put more money in what is working and turning into business. An effective CRM solution can assist you with this, or you can just use Microsoft excel with defined columns for: name, phone #, e-mail, source of call/contact, for every month and start to track your results.

Invest in banner ads: If you are NOT getting web response, then your traffic is very low. Most brokers across the nation, especially the big boys - get a large percentage of their closed business from their websites. The great thing about the web is the ability to have the same voice as a 20 office or even 500 office company. You have a website - use it - market it. Read this blog and keep up as I go into specifics.

For now I am dealing with a few vaguaries to just wet your appetite and get you thinking. i will start to get more specific as i move along. thanks for reading and pelase feel free to comment.

Niche Marketing on the Web

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:57:44 -0600

Real estate has attracted record numbers of new brokers and sales agents. From recent college graduates to seasoned professionals seeking new challenges, real estate has become one of New York City's hottest new professions.

But there's a cloud attached to this silver lining.

Inventory remains low and competition for listings is fiercer than ever. Savvy brokers are thinking out-of-the-box, creating new ways to build their customer base. One way to create business is through niche marketing, which allows you to position yourself as an expert in a specific area within real estate. By doing so, agents can attract a larger number of buyers, sellers or renters and set themselves apart from the competition.

Niche marketing can cover anything from property types (condo vs. co-ops, for example) to neighborhood expertise (i.e., Brownstone Brooklyn) to demographic groups (such as Echo Boomers and empty-nesters). Niche marketing works incredibly well on the web. We all know the Internet has become an invaluable device for the home buying and selling public.

According to The National Association of Realtors[R], 75 percent of home buyers use the web as the first step in their purchase process. Grab those "eyeballs" by creating a web site that focuses on your niche.

Work with your company's IT department to create such a site--this will enable you to take advantage of your firm's technology resources at minimum or no costs.

You need to do research. You can't fake knowledge. Visitors to your site will see right through that.

Thoroughly learn the market, property type, demographic or whichever specialty that you've selected. Next, check out the competition by conducting a meticulous electronic search. Compile and carefully review your research to see if you can take advantage of any apparent weak spots, such as incomplete statistics on home sale prices.

Content needs to be developed. For best results, work with a professional writer. Ask your company's marketing or PR department for recommendations. They may have a list of freelancers who can produce the copy that you need.

And what kind of content should be developed?

Well, if you want to focus on neighborhoods--say Bay Ridge in Brooklyn--an overall neighborhood profile or a fact sheet on new developments is a good start. Use pictures to show not only homes for sale but also those that depict the entire neighborhood.

This will help to entice the potential buyer. Work with a local photographer who is familiar with the neighborhood. Take note: amateur photos will detract from the site.

"Keywords" are phrases or words that Internet browsers use when an electronic search--i.e., "Googling"--is conducted. For a Bay Ridge niche site, use the words "Bay Ridge" as much as appropriately possible--in your articles, even in picture titles.

You may even want to title your site "All About Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Real Estate."

This repetition will increase the opportunities of your site popping-up multiple times on the search page. The more space you take up, the greater chance you have to attract new customers.

Remember to keep content fresh. And remain current on new information. While niche marketing using the Internet takes time, money and effort, the return on your investment can be a solid and lucrative customer base.

PIERRE CALZADILLA

Get Blogging to the Public

Pierre Calzadilla (Trulia.com) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:54:04 -0600

Information. That is what people want when they go on-line. They want all types of information: visual, aural, technical and descriptive. The internet has allowed people to collect information efficiently. That being said, if you do not have what they are looking for, they will go someplace else. One of the likely first stops that a savvy e-consumer will make will be to a blog, maybe not even intentionally. First let's look at what a blog actually is.

"Blog" is short for web-log: a public "diary" or personal view on the world and events that surround us. They can be about anything like the arts, industry, pictures, personal matters, etc. They began as people sharing intimate details of their lives, neighborhoods, hobbies etc. Blogs can evolve to develop a substantial following to the point where they grow into stand alone websites. Think of a blog as a newsletter that can eventually get enough subscribers to become a Newspaper.

So, why should we care about them? Blogs are becoming a major source of information and since they tend to be free of advertising and not part of "mass media", their opinions are assumed to be more pure. The other interesting difference between a blog and a web-site is that people can comment about anything you put on your blog. That means if a reader disagrees, they will let you know. Imagine if someone went to the NYTimes.com site and immediately after an editorial could post their opinions cart blanche? That is the power of a blog; the consumer's voice being heard, their opinion being valued. It's the ultimate word-of-mouth flying at top-speed 24/7.

A quick Google search will return 216 million sites under the search phrase "real estate." WOW. To put that in perspective, there are 3.35 million "Brooklyn Real Estate" results and only 108,000 results for "Brooklyn Real Estate blog". That leaves you a pretty nice opportunity to fill a niche and be heard. There are three things to consider: What should your blog be about? Why do it? And who will come to it?

1. Your blog should be about your specialty, your expertise, be it a neighborhood or a property type such as Brownstones.

2. The point is to be a source of information that is not meant to sell but to actually inform, and
3. People interested in your topic will come and will find you.

So how do we do it?

Go to http://www.blogger.com/ and create a FREE account. Pretty easy. Then fill in the blanks, top to bottom, left to right and within minutes, YES MINUTES, your blog will be up and running. Select a template (a ready made layout) and get going. Don't go out there trying to provide everything to everyone, to have a truly successful blog you need to have GREAT information about your topic. It should be updated daily or at least weekly. Once you get started start looking into "RSS/XML" don't worry you'll figure that out when you're ready.

To see what a successful blog looks like go to http://www.brownstoner.com/. This blog began on blogger.com and evolved into its own site. The site owners are people that have, "An unhealthy obsession with historic Brooklyn brownstones and the neighborhoods and lifestyles they define," now that is pretty specific. Your brokerage's website is probably listed on their site already and you may not even know. They have developed a huge following in regards to Brooklyn Brownstones and Victorian Flatbush, etc. They post listings on their site, that they feel their readers would be interested in. Their readers even recommend properties that they have seen or heard about. The views expressed are those of home-owners, sellers, buyers, do-it-yourselfers and the occasional agent that values a beautiful home with original character (sound like one of your listings?). You never know when one of your listings will end up on their site. You cannot solicit them to be on there either, if you post on craigslist.org and someone brings one of your listings to their attention, your home may be the "House of the day" or "Open house pick of the week."

Another excellent example of a successful Blog is http://www.curbed.com/ a site about Real Estate and NYC in general that feeds data off of the Times, Brownstoner, The Real Deal and many other sites. Curbed is geared towards those interested in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn Real Estate. They discuss zoning changes, neighborhood disputes, development, broker gossip, etc. They have become more commercial, but still keep close to their roots of providing relevant information and editorials.

So long story short, go get a blog, post on a blog and check out a blog. If you ever thought of having your own website but don't have the dough, a blog is a great cost effective solution. But stick to the fundamental reason a blog is successful: it's very relevant, offers fresh perspectives, brutal honesty, open forum, debate and quality information. It's the newsletter/bathroom wall/industry rag/diary of what you know. If you need further reason, blogs get indexed faster by search engines due to their simple layout and can help your own site get ranked higher on Google or Yahoo! So Get Blogging.