With a bunch of new online real estate companies vying for the Web 2.0 brass ring, we are starting to see a landscape of sites all too similar in look, feel and function. It’s really starting to look like 1998 again.
I am therefore issuing a personal cease and desist order (or wish list, really) on a few things:
- No more URL’s that start with the letter Z, have the words "real" "home" or "agent" or a color followed by a noun. I’d like to see words like "splotch" "pyaemia" and "patooties" make their way into the URL vernacular.
- No more logos featuring a house, roof line, or globe connected to a thought bubble.
- No more sites trying to connect people who don’t even want to be connected to each other in real life. I’d rather see a site that helps me avoid people at this point.
- No more sites that allow agents to post information about their neighborhoods. What we need perhaps are more online tutorials on how to write.
- No more "find a Realtor" sites. Do we really need help in this area?
- No more business plans that rely exclusively on ad revenue. If you are banking on this puppy read this, "what the subprime mess means for real estate 2.0" then this "how mortgage collapse could wallop Google".
– Davison
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"I'd rather see a site that helps me avoid people at this point."
^
Your wish came true…
http://www.arsebook.org/
Mark,
As a guy who has been working on a website for 9 months that will launch this month – a site that starts with a "z" and networks real estate professionals… I am just loving this post of yours.
"What we need perhaps are more online tutorials on how to write."
I couldn't agree more and my latest blog post addresses this issue. There are plenty of good resources on the web to learn how to write good marketing copy, unfortunately few of them are geared toward real estate professionals. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a resource that features the best of real estate marketing copy. Tutorials that are real estate specific are a great idea.
No more crappy email address's such as realtor4u @ aol .com
If your in business of real estate or any business for that fact. Act like a professional, not some schmuck with a free email address
Can we just do away with having "Beta" in the logo?
Awesome post!
I guess you didn't like agentmatch.com? I would agree we don't need any more 'find an agent' directories, but the consumers need a way to sort out agents who ALL say they are top producers, and simply are not. At least the color is orange and not light blue!
On the contrary – I love ideas. All of them. What I love more is proving the idea is sound before it's fully invested in, built and pushed to the industry.