4 Methods To Create An Outstanding Blog List

There are many bloggers writing list blogs, like lists regarding blogging etiquette, or lists to deal with burnout, or lists to come up with interesting topics, so I thought I’d come up with a list of suggestions to create an interesting blog list.

#76 - Be Different – Instead of numbering your list sequentially (1,2,3,4….) start out with a random number. Notice that I started this out with 76, but you can start with 302 or 68, just pick a number, it’s easy. Then when you get to the next item on the list, where most bloggers would write - #2 – instead, put 42 or some other number picked at random, then follow this random numbering all the way down your list. Not only is it fun and different, it’s very effective.

#5 – Throw A Linguistic Curveball – About halfway through your list, write something like – “The Fanlop of all Overling is never bollixed, but sometimes nexted and vented, to be sure.” You might get comments like “What the ….” or “what does this mean?”, but at least you’ll know people are reading and paying attention.

#54 – Make your list POP! – Everybody writes about etiquette and burnout and such. Come up with grabbers, like – 
3 Ways Blogging Can Increase Your Sex Appeal
5 Reasons Bloggers Make Better Lovers
4.5 Easy Steps To Salvation Through Blogging
2 Ways Blogging Can Reduce Weight

#2 – Short lists – Keep your lists short. While most bloggers create lists of 10 or more items, real estate scientists in Seattle, Washington have conducted studies that revealed 72% of subjects studied began scratching themselves after the fifth item on a list, and 55% both scratched themselves and asked to go to the bathroom.

Real Estate Web 3.0

About a year ago Sramana Mitra wrote an article about Web 3.0 in which she gave the formula for the future as Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS).

The four Cs are Content, Commerce, Community (which are Web 1.0 and Web 2.0) and Context (Web 3.0).

The P is for Personalization (Web 3.0).

VS is Vertical Search - (Web 2.0)

The link above on her name leads to the article so I won't repeat all of it.

I have argued recently that, relating to RE web 2.0, context is an unresloved problem, but I have't thought much about Personalization, until now, as it relates to RE web 2.0 going into web 3.0.

I'll stray away from her application of the term "context" and "personalization" somewhat to make this relevant to RE concerns I see as weaknesses in RE web 2.0. 

Context is a big word. Realtor. com, Zillow and ilk run into a huge barrier when it comes to context and personalization. It's the problem of physical reality. All the homes they present exist in a context that has personal meaning to an individual home buyer with indivdual needs and personal identity.

Let me say that many of these sites offer local assistance for home buyers to gather local information, but the functions so far are primitive and seem mostly a small add-on feature that's not integrated very well into their large purpose. Most consumers are not convinced of the sophistication required for this type of information to be reliable, safe and unspammable. It will take much more than the ability to contact a local agent, who may or may not respond, may or may not know what they are talking about, and may or may not be willing to participate in any meaningful way -- they have listings posted on these sites and think by magic people will call wanting to buy their specific listing, but they aren't prepared to be local experts with the resonsibility of delivering good, reliable information and incubating prospects for long periods of time. 

I believe RE Web 3.0 will entail alliances with local experts who have commited to help solve the problem of context and personalization. Mutually beneficial relationships between RE sites and local RE experts will allow the RE sites to integrate context and personalization into their business model in a meaningful way. I don't know exactly HOW it will be done, I just believe it WILL be done. Cost concerns seem to make it prohibitive for the RE sites to hire employees who will get to know each area well enough to make personal searches reliable and limited to matching properties with comprehensive information related to the areas in which the properties are located -- it seems more cost effective to utilize local partnerships with professionals who know areas thoroughly.

Say Sally from Newark is a single woman who reqires little space but in a social complex with amenities close to the hospital where she'll be working as a physician and her taste is for open floor plans with plenty of windows and a great view. If the search parameters are right and the RE site has utilized local experts to develop specific algorithms entailing context and personalization, then immediately Sally ought to get a specific list of homes, several local buyer agents, area information, comparables, market trends, comprehensive mortgage information, vendors, etc.

Now, with RE sites there is too much hit and miss information lacking context and personalization, but I think that will change. This is a simplistic overview of what might happen, or could happen, but I believe something similar to this will evolve and create a system that will do more than I've imagined. The opportunity for agents will be in partnerships to gain status and visibility. The agents will have to learn and work hard to be in the game, but it'll be a profitable game.

What have I overlooked? I always overlook something.

Mike from Savannah

My Problem With McCain

He wants too badly to be president. If he loses this go around I can see him turning red, swelling up and exploding. I don't trust anyone who wants to be president as badly as he does.

I also see him as a control freak and an ego maniac -- not the first such to run for office, but with him it's dangerously close to true mania.

While Bill Clinton was full of himself and mightily ambitious, still is, I see him as more of an Elmer Gantry type character, a con artist, but likeable and mostly harmless. Clinton just wanted the attention and perks and some of the more sensual aspects of power.

McCain is almost a Stalinist figure, bent on power for power's sake and willing to bend and twist, form alliances, break them, whatever it takes to consolidate power.

I admire his military history, but the man I see today, I suspect, is much different than the brave soldier of the Viet Nam era. Our system of checks and balances can handle someone like McCain, but I hate to see someone like him in such a powerful position. The McCains of the political world need to be replaced by service-minded leaders who understand the word humility, freedom and the nature of a constitutional Republic. 

Real Estate Agents, Actors and Happy Jack's Used Car Sales

Real estate agents can't catch a break. I read somewhere yesterday we've fallen in public perception of honesty and integrity - I think we were tied with actors, or something like that. I would look up the poll but it doesn't matter,we've all heard the trash-talk. One thing about being on bottom is that you can only go up.

People are suing us now, making fun of the "now is the time to buy" mantra, companies like Redfin are distancing themselves from the tradtional agent, sites like Zillow are filled with agent-haters, the market sucks, consumers are squeezing on commissions, for-sale-by-owner sites are popping up, the internet has all our listings, NAR is under attack - we get no repect, I'm telling you, no respect (in my best Dangerfield voice).

We did have a lot of new agents coming on board during the last five years or so, or at least a lot of people getting licenses, and as we know, having a license and working as a full time agent are two different things. Many people think it should be more difficult to get license. I have arued that, but it didn't feel right when I argued it. There is a part of me that's a radical free-marketer with a libertarian bent, and this part says to just do away with license, period, let the market work it out. If after all the efforts of NAR, and legislation, to ostensibly insure competence and ethics have supposedly failed, according to the "public", then why not just do away with licenses and let caveat emptor rule and the fittest survive?

I know, that's radical and it'll never happen, yet creating higher barriers to entry, like requiring a masters degree, would limit the field severely. If higher barriers are erected reducing the number of agents, and demand for agents is steady, then the cost of RE services rises, creating an even greater opportunity for alternatives to agents, then demand for agents falls and the RE industry crumbles -- if you're going to go to the trouble of getting a degree, you probably won't go in the direction of a field that's being hijacked by online service alternatives which creates a situation where you have to lower the price of your services in order to compete.

I guess you can create higher standards and higher entry barriers without requiring a degree, but it all boils down to the people doing the work. The field's going to change regardless of what's done. One thing I do know is that RE information will be needed and consumers will demand service -- it's just a matter of how it's all delivered. Zillow, Redfin and people with licenses and very little knowledge chanting "now is the time to buy" aren't the answers, so far.

SPAM

Many sites are crying "Spam" whenever someone posts anything that appears self-promotional. Yesterday, I innocently posted the link to my new blog at REW and got accused of spamming by the owner, Morgan. So, I started wondering about the broadening meaning of spam. I googled it and got the standard email spamming definition: spam.

Then I found somthing about link spamming: link spamming

But, I didn't find much about blogs and forums in relation to spam. I'm assuming these sites mean self-promotion when they cry "spam". That begs the question of -- what is self-promotion?

I can see where sites don't want constant business commercials on sites that are designed for networking and learning. But trading links to blogs that aren't commercial blogs seems like networking to me -- and learning for that matter. I learn about a new site, go visit -- who knows. I might like it.

I've seen many blogs on REW that are advertising the author's areas of business -- is that spam? I've even seen Morgan post a blog that advertises the great benefits of his site. Is that spamming?

I don't know, I think people just like to cry "spam". The LINK SPAMMING discussion on the link above was particularly interesting -- I get requests daily to exchange links, link with this site or that. I think I will only add links that I think are useful and forget about any link schemes. Link/spam schemes can get you in trouble.