The Unique Selling Proposition is an idea first discussed by Rosser Reeves in his 1970 book,"Reality in Advertising". According to Reeves, there are three components in a successful USP: 1. Each ad must make a proposition to the consumer. Each advertisement must say to the reader: "Buy this...

I am reading a fascinating book called, "Real Estate Confronts the Future". The book interviews several industry players that give their forecasts. One interviewee John Tuccillo is NAR's Chief Economist. He pointed out that the gross commission on a transaction averages less than $200. This is...

It seems The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has the Department of Justice in a bit of a pickle. NAR, in an effort to support its vast membership's best interests, has given the go ahead for Agencies not to allow Zip Realty to show their listings. In a recent article in Forbes the author...

Did you know that Google News reaches more Americans than washingtonpost.com? And that Yahoo News now reaches a larger unique audience in the U.S. than MSNBC. I know I hardly ever read a paper or get my news from the television anymore. It is always several hours behind what you can get instantly...

The report, titled "Internet Search Brand Effectiveness Research," studied the impact of search and contextual text ads on an array of brand metrics, including aided brand awareness, unaided brand awareness, brand image association and purchase intent. For the search listing results, when...

I found a terrific resource proving that search is the cheapest cost per lead generator out there. The source from this chart is Piper Jafray While search is shown to be at .45 a lead, direct mail is $9.94. You always have to look at these numbers relative to the other relation. But it is...

Often times I find that my clients don't have a great understanding of their numbers. I try to council him or her into knowing the cost of each lead and sale from their web results. Therefore they can know the true value of our work, and quite frankly, hold us accountable. Unfortunately, my...

A recent Playboy interview of Google's co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (ever wonder where the term Page Rank came from?) features the two discussing the company's rapid growth and even brag about how Google's search engine has helped save people's lives. There is concern that the interview...

Or something for nothing....... It is realistic to expect some kind of guarantee from a service. When dealing with search engines however, it is not realistic to expect a guarantee of placement in the SERPs (search engine ranking positions). Especially when an SEO firm offers such dramatic results...

A recent post in Webmaster World has confirmed suspicions that Google has downgraded the positions of big sites. Pros are reporting that their SERP's (Search engine ranking positions) have fallen, despite their backlinks having exploded. By the way to find out your back links in Google you can use...

NAR's Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers in 2003, found that the amount of successful for sale by owner sold homes were 14 percent. This is a 30 percent decline over the last two years in the number of people successfully selling their home "by owner." Many flat fee for sale by owner services have...

I am waiting for the yellow pages to finally get that the Search Engine's are trying to become what the Yellow Pages already do. At what point does all the paid ads like at Yahoo become meaningless? A Big advertisement if you will. Because if it really is about ads, then why not just go full...

Walt McDonald, National Association of Realtors president and broker-owner of Walt McDonald Real Estate in Riverside, Calif., said the typical household is well poised to buy a home in most regions of the country. "The average buyer could afford to buy a home costing nearly 4.5 times their income...

The most successful marketers on the web realize that the value of their web efforts is their list. Not their website. But to build their list they must capture leads thru a valuable opt in offer. The way you create a list in real estate is by offering MLS data which is usually attached to your...

According to a survey by PCWorld, Yahoo! Search and Google are tied for quality of search results. The race is now on for personalization, presentation and quality of service. Personally, I like Yahoo for its search results. It seems like Google is showing 80% directories in its results. I can't...

Atlas DMT released a report this week titled The Atlas Rank Report: How Search Engine Rank Impacts Traffic which showed how the clickthrough rates breakdown within pay per click ads. The report is showing a huge drop off from the top positions. Mike McDonald at WebProNews.com says:There is nearly...

Real estate Web sites enjoyed an overwhelming increase as interest rates spiked last week after the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate a quarter of a percent. HomeGain, AOL Home & Real Estate and MSN House & Home experienced double-digit growth during the week ended July 4,...

Stelor Productions, the company that owns and operates Googles.com, said Wednesday it has initiated trademark proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Google. The complaint is based on Stelor's belief that the search engine has begun infringing on its brand name....