Get Rich with Google Scams? Watch Out. - 06/26/09 11:51 AM
The SEO Bozos are getting pretty shifty with unbelievable get rich quick schemes.
If firm's like MerchantCircle or LeapFish can't get you suckered into buying their pumped up SEO service cleverly disguised as nothing more than a stupid directory listing in somebody's portal that less than .000004% of your web customers are ever going to visit -- watch out!  
The SEO Bozos are back and they're luring in thousands of people with clever webpages that show you people holding big checks from Google.
The scam, buy their book, or buy their $49 a month service so you can make $10,000 … (9 comments)

Is Twitter Getting on Your Nerves, now? - 06/20/09 09:14 PM
NEW FLASH ---- NEWS FLASH:  Twitter Might Just be Another Time Waster.
10:43 pm. Thrusday night. Bart's house. Eldorado Subdivision, Santa Fe. 
Bringggg  Bringggggg.
My iPhone chimes go off with an Instant Message. It's from Anthony Robbins. Famous motivational guru sending out a Twitter blast. Not one, but three in a row.
I was sort of nodding off on the couch and I just started to reach the land of Nod when I get rudely interrupted by my iPhone vibrating and Bringggggg Bringgggggg chiming off every 90 seconds. Apparently he felt like he had to broadcast three messages in a row, … (2 comments)

Blowing Away Your Competitors with Black Hat SEO - 06/19/09 12:05 PM
I am thinking of doing what Aaron Wall is doing with SEO Book and doing a Real Estate SEO Book. What do you guys and gals think?
Here's why.
I printed up 10,000 copies of my SEO Book last year, "The Problems with Real Estate Search... Getting FOUND."
But the problem is, I am about out of inventory and some of my content is dated. There's maybe 320 or so left and now I have to update some new things about Google's major change they made in April. So maybe a Real Estate SEO Book online will be more attractive and … (5 comments)

Surveys. Bait and Switch with American Express. - 06/19/09 08:39 AM
It started off as a pretty busy day.
I had some new business coming at me from a client in Cabo, Mexico who needed a 360 virtual tour kit. I just finished up some work for a vacation rental client in Aspen who happens to live in Norway and as I scanned my emails... I came across a link for a five minute survey with the promise that I'd be entered into a contest that might land me a shopping spree courtesy of American Express.  The survey was offered by Vision Critical
The phones were quiet, I was enjoying my 2nd … (1 comments)

CyberHomes, Zillow still sucks. Can't Replace Humans - 06/08/09 03:00 PM
I was watching a TV commercial about Shredded Wheat the other day.
It was interesting. The spokesperson asks the viewer, "What has technology done for you? Has it brought you to a better place?"
At Shredded Wheat, we put the NO in Innovation.
I use this visual to bring you to the inaccurate Home Inspection Reports offered us today by Zillow or the so-called, New and Improved CyberHomes.com
I just paid $9.90 to Cyberhomes and wanted to see a house value report on the home in Santa Fe.
The price was more than $70,000 off. 
The house I am in was … (11 comments)

BING! You've Got Porn. - 06/04/09 09:47 PM
Steve Balmer screwed up again.  I'm a Mac-head and I love it. 
Put the AOL sound here: BING You got mail.
Thanks to Steve Balmer's most recent screw up, you can now make this: BING! You Got Porn!  I have GOT to find that guy that does the AOL Voice, YOU GOT MAIL so he can record this for me -- YOU GOT PORN!
This is what happens when Microsoft lets the original founders go. When Bill Gates left, Microsoft just started screwing up left and right.
Screw Up #1
Microsoft launches Vista. The worst operating system since Windows ME. Microsoft … (6 comments)

Why Customers Leave - 06/04/09 08:22 PM
My phone won't stop ringing.  You might not have this problem, but I wish you could. It's a very nice problem to have.
I went home today talking to my wife in the car about how frustrated I was at not getting more projects done because I had a lot of phone calls today. 
She smiled and said, "It could be a lot worse. Your phone might not be ringing at all. We're still not out of the recession you know." 
Why is my phone ringing so much? Because I eat my own dog food. I coach REALTORS to run Press Releases … (4 comments)

R.I.P. Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy. Another One Bites the Dust. - 06/04/09 08:04 PM

Did your hear the news? Full service brokerages are going belly up. Goodbye Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy. They're dead and gone. 
(taps music plays here) or if you prefer (another one bites the dust)
Did anyone ask Manhattan brokerage Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy what went wrong? What could have kept their doors open? 
Business simply evaporated and many would have been customers simply went elsewhere or didn't buy at all. Could it be that the full service model is broken? We know the MLS model is screwed up. That's why RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) technology will soon make sharing … (9 comments)

BROKERS: Time to Wake Up Now. Go Independent. - 06/03/09 12:40 PM
The glamour shot photos of REALTORS with big hair and white teeth are no longer an important part of your business today.
In fact, this kind of glamour photo marketing of pretty agents is completely insignificant today as your customers are no longer opening your drip marketing emails. Nor are they reading the local real estate guide ads or newspapers.
REOLOGY Corp (C21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby's) has upped their ad spend on social media networking. They have increased their ad spend on Internet advertising and have reduced their ad spend on newspapers and stupid real estate guide advertising by … (8 comments)

Lead Management Systems Need NOT Be EXPENSIVE! - 06/03/09 11:42 AM
 
Lead management. Lead creation. It's getting to be too complex.
What REALTOR doesn't cringe when they get the dreaded phone call from a lead shark? 
"Hi Bart, this is your friend Lester at LEADCO. I've got a solid prospect for that house you have listed on 14 Altura Road. Good FICO scores, pre-qualified. Let me fax over this commission agreement to your fax number... we're only needing 25% of your....
OW! No. This kind of predatory lead management sucks and is just too painful yet there's a lot of us that have caved in and said yes to this kind … (4 comments)

Top Ten Signs Your Broker Just Doesn't get It. - 06/03/09 11:12 AM
 
Home sales are up again. Hooo-rah! More than 6.1% sales jump for May 2009. April and March were strong months too.
It's time to warm up your websites, sharpen your lead generating tools and get ready to start enjoying some sales commissions.
A few of my recent blog posts have been on effective real estate marketing and the dark side of not using technology correctly.
I blame a lot of brokers for being cheapskates and morons when it comes to NOT using real estate marketing tools correctly. For brokerages that have sales of several hundred homes and making sales of … (9 comments)

Being a Stupid BROKER Should be a Crime. - 06/02/09 04:33 PM
Every business had them. Some of your clients are bright and get it. Others... just don't seem to have a clue.
I have my share of brokers that I consult with who have all of the best tools we can provide for them. Killer IDX. SEO Friendly website.
Here's an actual transcript of a conversation I had with a very large brokerage from one of the national real estate franchises a few weeks ago:
 
Hi XXXXX, this is Bart. I was calling to check in to see if you've been monitoring your leads on your IDX control panel.
No, we … (14 comments)

 
Bart-hd2 Rainmaker_large

Bart Wilson

Monument, CO

More about me…

VPiX® Corp.

Address: 590 Highway 105, Suite #276, Monument, CO, 80102

Office Phone: (866) 902-3600

Cell Phone: (719) 645-9940

Email Me

Smart Phone or iPad compatible Websites, custom real estate APPs, which IDX vendor to choose? ARGH! It can be agonizing. We can show you the way. Call me for an honest and FREE 2nd opinion.

Our clients include Timeshares Only, Keller Williams, Procter & Gamble, ABC's SharkTank: EzVIP.com and lots of million dollar agents, too.

My consulting schedule for 2013 will fill up fast. I only take on a handful of clients each year.



Listings

Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog