Real Estate Bloggers Join the Conversation

November 10th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I just received my Barnes & Noble book order. One of my new books is called Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe. The cover is a great montage of face avatars, sort of like the MyBlogLog widget or even like the faces we had on Blog Tour USA. Pretty cool. As I looked closer, I recognized someone - my friend Dave Smith from the Real Estate Blog Lab. Fantastic! He’s on the cover of a new book to be seen by millions. Then I looked closer. Holy book cover Batman! I see more real estate bloggers on the cover…

Larry Cragun - Real Estate Undressed
Pat Kitano - Transparent RE
Jonathan Dalton - DaltonsAZHomes
Andrew Maury - Maury Properties
Drew Meyers - Zillow
Christine Forgione - NY Houses 4 Sale
Maureen Francis and Dmitry Koublitsky - MIOaklandCounty (Maureen is on twice)

Jim Cronin - Real Estate Tomato
Jeff Turner - Real Estate Shows
Tobie and Sadie - Sadies Take on Delaware Ohio
Deborah Burns - Rain City Guide
Norm Fisher - Saskatoon Online
Marlow Harris - 360 Digest

Did I miss anyone?

In true community spirit, Jaffe held a book cover contest on his wiki. The winning cover is based on the 2,000 blogger project. He even dedicated an entire chapter of his book to user generated content which was provided by his loyal readers. The conversation which started online, has now spread offline. Chances are, that if you find your face on the cover, you’ll be bragging to all your friends and family. Ah, the power of the conversation.

Real estate bloggers Join the Conversation

For well over the last 20 months, real estate bloggers from around the nation have been feeding the Google monster with delicious original content. We have blogged about everything from home buying and selling tips, how to advice, true stories, marketing ideas, advertising do’s and dont’s, neighborhood information, recent sales, current market conditions and even some fun posts. In return, Google has sent real estate bloggers some great free organic traffic which in many cases, has resulted in real business. Thanks big G.

Before blogs, we were handcuffed with dead static websites that were in most instances eyesores, but even worse, one way sources of information. Once in a while, buyers and sellers would stumble upon our sites. The problem from a consumer point of view was that the information was stale - not dynamic and current. What a huge turn off.

Blogging has given real estate professionals an opportunity to provide real estate buyers and sellers relevant up to the minute local information - all without the need of an expensive webmaster. More importantly, blogs enable a two way conversation. Sure, many of you already know this but for those of you who are newbies - there you have it - Join the Conversation.

Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Marketing

How Much Does it Cost to Advertise Your New York City Business Offline?

November 8th, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Source: YouTube via HipHop-Ads via Good Magazine

Let’s face it, advertising your business offline is pretty darn expensive in New York City. Those who have deep pockets benefit by exposing their brand to the masses. It’s more about brand awareness than anything else. Measuring the ROI of an offline ad can be difficult. Online ads have analytics and metrics that help advertisers gauge the success - or utter failure - of their campaigns. Guerrilla tactics have their place and can do more for a company than any bus ad or billboard. I wonder if offline ads are really worth it?

$3,000 per month above ground train station display ads

$44,000 per month to cover 25% of the trains interior ad space

$40,000 to cover 200 train stations per month - below ground poster ads

$500 per month for an an on the side of a bus

New York City Taxi Cab Advertising - $45,000 per month of every 15 minutes for every 100 taxis

Bus stop display ad - $1,000 $5,000 per month

Plane banner ad per flight - $1,000

Street Lamp banners $360 each per month

Starbucks Coffee cover sleeves 12-4 cents each

Tall wall banner ads - $20-$100k per month

Billboard - $175,000 per month

ResidentialNYC has their New York City bus ad campaign live since last week. It will be interesting to monitor the success of the campaign and whether of not it brought awareness to the REBNY sponsored ResidentialNYC brand and more importantly, buyers to the new website.

Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Advertising

Sutton Place - 2007 ING New York City Marathon

November 4th, 2007 | 1 Comment

The 2007 ING New York City Marathon passed through Sutton Place today. Thousands of runners made their way across The Queensboro Bridge. The crowds went wild as they made the turn on 59th Street to head up First Avenue through The Upper East Side.

Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger

Sights and sounds of the Marathon

What’s with the neck brace dude?

Lots of vocal supporters were in attendance for Children with Leukaemia.

NYC Marathon runners on 1st Avenue and 59th Street under the Queensboro Bridge.

Lifeboats?

My daughters first New York City Marathon - Mommy takes great pictures

All in all - a good day.

Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Sutton Place

Star Manhattan Real Estate Broker Linda Stein Murdered in Her Apartment

November 1st, 2007 | 2 Comments

Real Estate Video by - Real Estate Blogger

Last night, Manhattan Real Estate Broker Linda Stein was found murdered in her apartment at 965 Fifth Avenue. Everyone is covering the developing story. She had a famed life with connections to lots of stars including The Ramones, Madonna, Sting and Billy Joel. So naturally the media is focusing on her life story.

News of such nature is always sad to hear. However, the part that I find interesting is how something like this could happen in such a secure Manhattan Co-op apartment building. The building has the supposed security of video surveillance, a doorman and elevator operator - yet nobody saw or heard anything suspicious. How can this be? I’m sure the doorman and elevator operator remember who they saw that evening. Could the murderer be a resident within the building? Maybe. I’m sure we’ll learn soon enough.

According to The New York Times:

Ms. Stein’s body was found face down in the living room in a pool of blood, the police said. She was wearing a sweatshirt with a hood, which was pulled over her head. Investigators at first believed the bleeding could have resulted from a fall, but when the hood was pulled back, a severe skull injury was exposed. Yesterday, the medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

Although I did not know her personally, I send my deepest condolences to the entire Stein family.

Posted by Rudolph D. Bachraty III | Filed Under Manhattan, NYC News