I’ve been toying with the thought of using “branded” short URLs for awhile now.

What’s a short URL, and why use one?

Short URLs take lengthy web page addresses like:

http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/the-seller-didnt-submit-my-offer-to-the-bank-on-a-short-sale/

and “convert” them to something significantly shorter. This is quite useful in applications that limit the number of characters you can use, such as Twitter and text messages.

There are several services that shorten URLs – bit.ly, tinyurl, and many others. And they work just fine.

But I wanted a short URL that “brands” Phoenix Real Estate Guy. I’ve had the domain name TPREG.com (The Phoenix Real Estate Guy) for awhile and never done much with it. Since it’s only 5 characters, it lends itself well to a branded short URL. All I needed was a relatively painless way to create short URLs.

Google, naturally, has an application to do just this.

You’ll need a Google Apps domain, and the ability to change MX and add CNAME records to that domain. It’s not as complicated as it may sound, Google will step you through it. However, unless you’re comfortable with changing these things and understand roughly what they are doing I highly suggest trying this first on a test domain, not your primary one. Changing MX records can really jack up existing email. Most of you won’t have email going to a short URL anyway, but better to be prudent than blow up your email account.

Cost for setting this up is zero.

The Google solution is pretty slick. It tracks clicks on shortened links (VERY useful) and has an API for those more technically adept than me.

An example of the branded short URL for this post is:

http://new.tpreg.com/001

Which is significantly shorter than:

http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/customized-short-urls-brand-your-links-on-twitter-sms-facebook-etc

Is creating a branded short URL worthwhile? I dunno. But it only took about 10 minutes, so I figured it can’t hurt. You’ll see them popping up on my Twitter page, and anywhere else that long URLs are a pain.

Hat tip to Dustin Luther for finally motivating me to get this done.

I don’t know if this is ironic, funny or pathetic. Probably a combination of all of the above.

Today I get this via email (name/email changed to protect the “innocent”):

On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:06 AM, “Joe” <”joe”@gmail.com> wrote:

Subject: please remove

This comment comes up very high on google searches of my name and I am hoping that you would be so kind as to remove it. I am not sure why I would have used my last name – not a good move on my part.

http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/housing-panic-keith-vs-the-hound/#comment-39500

Thanks much,
”Joe”

My first thought was, “Wow, that’s an old post. I wonder what this guy wrote that he doesn’t want people to see?”

The post was written in November 2006.

Here is the comment in question:

Joe’s Full Name August 27, 2008 at 11:04 pm
This is utterly hilarious to read. My favorite part is Jay constantly trying to deflect the criticism of a post from 2006 – because it’s SO OLD.

I guess there really isn’t anything to be learned from history, at least not for the shallow.

Really, a simple, “We were wrong and should be much more responsible in the future and maybe even buy a calculator,” could have ended this thread months ago. But I guess that’s what Phoenix REALTORS are good at, deflections and blame shifting. Good luck everyone.

So approximately a year and a half ago, “Joe” writes a comment on my blog, personally attacking me. Now he doesn’t want people to Google his name and see what he wrote.

Why not? Afraid people will find your snarky attack… stupid? Afraid it demonstrates to anyone who should happen across it that you’re an ass?

Joe writes, “I am not sure why I would have used my last name – not a good move on my part.”

No Joe, what was not a good move on your part was being a jerk on the Internet.

You see Joe, Google never forgets.

One basic rule of humanness I abide by is, “If you are not willing to put your name to it, then don’t say it”. Joe apparently feels differently.

I was tempted to reply to Joe and say, “You attack me on my blog and now you want a favor? Why I’m just a irresponsible and shallow Realtor that is only good at deflections and blame shifting. So uhm, no. Your name stays.”

VERY tempted.

But I chose to take the “high road” and delete Joe’s name and avatar from the comment. There’s really no redeeming value in stooping to a troll’s level. I’m sure some out there will chastise me for removing Joe’s name. But hey, people make mistakes and it’s my blog so the name is gone.

I told Joe the comment would stand, but I’d remove his name.

His response to that was interesting:

Thanks I appreciate it. I run a blog that I get attacked for a lot too, so I know how you feel. I appreciate you taking the high road. Removing my name will be just fine.

Joe might want to take a gander at The Golden Rule.

There are lessons here

• Don’t be a jerk.
• Google never forgets.
• If you’re not man enough to stand by your statements then perhaps it is best to just keep quiet.
• “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt” (usually attributed to Abraham Lincoln).

Here is my presentation from today’s Virtual Real Estate Bar Camp session.

Thanks to Jim Cronin and the Real Estate Tomato crew for putting it all together!!

Please remember, donations are being accepted for the Warmath Children College Charity Fund.

Thanks to all that attended! Shout if you have any questions!

I can’t help myself…

If you are reading this blog post on PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com and not in a feed reader, and assuming you’ve been here before, and you remember what it looked like, then you’re well aware that we’ve changed the look and feel of the blog.

If you’ve been around very long, you also know this happens on a semi-regular basis.

TPREG is still running on the fabulous Thesis Theme by Chris Pearson. It also uses the Print is Dead Thesis skin by Adam Barber over at ThesisReady.com. Yours truly modified the skin pretty extensively, but Adam did an amazing job with the framework, functions and CSS. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say he provides world-class tech support. Like fixing a bunch of Internet Explorer styling issues in just a couple of hours. If you’re looking to spice up a Thesis install, check him out!

I would LOVE to get some reader feedback – Good, Bad, and Ugly. You won’t hurt my feelings, let me have it!

Here are some before and after screen shots. Below them you’ll find my thoughts and rational for what I’m trying to accomplish…

Before:

I had to cut out the middle two-thirds of this screen shot because it just went on and on forever (one of the biggest problems with the old design in my opinion). The full size screen shot is over 7000 pixels tall. That’s a LOT of scrolling.

After:

That’s the entire screen shot, 2300 pixels tall. A mere one-third of the length of the original design.

I’m keeping the old header as I’ve grown fond of it. Social Media icons are next to that and navigation tabs are below the header graphic.

The most recent post will always be at the top, spanning the width of the content area. Below that is a new addition — “Home Info” pages — which will be updated regularly and contain market stats, new listings, and other info on different areas of the Phoenix and Tucson real estate market (there is data there, I’m still working on the layout of these pages).

Below the Home Info area are snippets of the next four most recent posts. Below that are some buttons that will take the visitor to different home searches. Then comes a video section that will have the most recent episode of Streets of Phoenix embedded and links to other episodes (I can’t begin to describe the pain of creating this section).

Below the content area is a widgetized footer area that will let me easily highlight posts of topical interest.

Over in the sidebar is pretty standard stuff. Buttons leading to our Phoenix and Tucson home search solutions and the Ask The Broker button. “Sliders” highlighting current listings for Thompson’s Realty, and a Google Custom Search area to help folks find the 1400ish articles here.

Below that is a “tabber” (another PITA to install) that highlights more recent posts, recent comments and has a nifty “random” tab that pulls up random posts from the last 6 months on each screen refresh. Under the tabber are links to our agents blogs and an ad block.

The single post pages are different as well. The primary difference is the content column is significantly wider than the old design, requiring the reader to scroll less and making my sometimes ridiculously long articles appear shorter. A “Contact Us” block will always be top right on single post pages because, well, we want people to contact us. I also stripped out a bunch of superfluous crap from the old single post pages so they load much faster and have more white-space – in theory that makes them more pleasing to the eye.

I’m undecided at this time if I’m going to add the Disqus commenting system back in. It had lots of bells and whistles, but they were rarely used and provided more clutter.

I suspect I’ll be tinkering with things for quite some time, but the nuts and bolts of it are here.  Let me know if you see anything wonky and again I’d love your constructive criticism! Let me know what you think! Honestly.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely and ridiculously talented Tara Hunt at the National Association of Realtors Conference & Expo. It was very cool to meet her and hang out a little, talking about real estate VRM (Vendor Relationship Management).

“Holy shit, it’s Tara Hunt!” were my exact words when I first met her. Just a subtle indication of the school-girl like excitement I felt meeting the author of one of my favorite books.

Tara’s book, The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, is solidly ensconced in my list of must-read books on social networking. (Finally, after 4.5 years of blogging, I get to use the word “ensconced” in a post.)

Why should you read The Whuffie Factor?

Because it will teach you about “social capital” which can help you succeed in not only business, but in life.

What is “Whuffie”?

Well, you’ll just have to read the book and find out!

How to win an autographed copy of The Whuffie Factor

It’s very complicated, so follow closely…

Leave a comment on this post.

And /or Tweet this message:

I want a free signed copy of The Whuffie Factor!  http://bit.ly/tpregwfc #tpreg

Do both and double your chances. But only one comment and one Tweet per person will be entered into a random drawing to be conducted on Monday, Nov 30 at Noon Mountain time.

That’s it. No link back, no fan my Facebook page, no follow me to win thing. Just drop a comment here or send a Tweet.

If you can’t wait to win, you can get your own (non-autographed) copy of The Whuffie Factor. Heck, buy it now and if you win the autographed copy, pay it forward and give away your other copy.

That’ll help you raise some Whuffie.

Update: Cooper asked in the comments what other books on Social Media / Networking I like. Here you go!

(Disclosure note to the Feds and others who care – There’s an Amazon affiliate link in this article. If 50 people use it, I may be able to buy a latte or two. And Tara Hunt isn’t paying me to pimp her book. Lord knows she doesn’t need my help, the book sells itself.)

Two cool events are coming up in October, and I’m excited to be speaking at both of them.

Real Estate Blog World is being held in conjunction with the Blog World and New Media Expo 2009 in Las Vegas on Oct 15 – 17 (RE Blog World is the 15th).

There is a great lineup for RE Blog World and the schedule for Blog World is jam packed.

There are package deals available, and discounts end September 14, so hurry!

On October 17 (yes, I’ll have to cut out of Blog World the night of the 16th) the Phoenix Business and Professional Women’s Foundation is holding a “Dive into Social Media Symposium”.

The event is from 7:30am to 12:30pm at the Embassy Suites on the SE corner of 44th St and McDowell. Registration is $39, $29 if paid by Sept 19th.

Hope to see some of you at these events!

Lately I’ve been teaching some real estate continuing education courses on blogging and social media. It’s always interesting to me to talk to people whose experience in social media ranges from the complete novice to the grizzled veteran.

At the end of these courses, someone always asks, “What’s the point? I mean, what is the value of spending all this time on social media? Does it really help your business?”

I use social media to meet people. Meet as in real life, face-to-face meet. Not just meet across the keyboard. I don’t do it for “leads”. I do it to meet people, to grow, learn and share. And I’ll freely admit, I do it for fun. Yes, it has led to business which is a wonderful ancillary effect, but that is not my primary purpose in engaging in social media

Every Friday night, a “meetup” happens somewhere in the Phoenix East Valley. For that matter, there are meetup’s happening all across the Phoenix metro area on  Friday nights (and Thursday mornings. And for lunch. And on Sundays. And….)

Last night “EVFN” (East Valley Friday Nights) took place in Scottsdale at Geisha A Go Go. Now I’m not really much of a “Scottsdale Scene” kind of guy, but like every other EVFN, this one was a great gathering of an eclectic mix of people. Heck, even Jimi Hendrix was there in spirit…

Lots of old friends stopped by and like almost every other social media gathering, lots of new friends where there to meet.

There is something decidedly odd about meeting someone face-to-face for the first time that you’ve engaged with previously on-line. There are really no “awkward pauses” there’s no “what the hell do I say to this person?” feeling. You already know at least something about them, and meeting them “IRL” (In Real Life) is almost without fail a grand experience.

Last night I met Beverly Kidd “IRL” for the first time. We’ve interacted on Twitter and Facebook. Beverly is the Phoenix Channel 3 Evening News anchor and I have to say I was momentarily star-struck when I first met her. But literally within seconds, I found out Beverly was just another one of the regular folks out to interact and meet with people. She’s just how she seems to be on Twitter – genuine, funny and just an all-around nice person. Heck, she’s even nicer in person that she is on-line, and that’s saying a lot.

This is why you participate in social media folks. Not to generate “leads”, not to convince people you’re the greatest real estate agent on the planet. Not even to meet local celebrities.

You “do” social media to meet new people, and hang out with old friends. To interact with them. To engage with them. You do it (to use an overworked cliché) to expand your horizons. 

Does social media really help your business? Maybe. Probably. But there is no question it can help your life.

And isn’t that just a wee bit more important?

Want to participate in one of the myriad meetup events happening in and around Phoenix? Check these sites out:

Phoenix Friday Night – aggregator site for the East Valley, West Valley, North Valley, Downtown and Light Rail Friday Nights events.

East Valley Tuesday (or Thursday) Morning Tweetup. Mmmmm, Liberty Market breakfast…

Search Twitter for #EVFN, #PFN, #WVFN, #NVFN or #EVTM

You can also check Meetup.com, Upcoming and Yelp for other local meetups and events.

None of these float your boat? Start one!

.

I’ve been meaning to post this video for a couple of weeks now. About a half-bazillion people have already posted it, but in case you haven’t seen it yet it’s worth 4 minutes of your time.

I’m teaching real estate continuing education classes now in “social media” and invariably I get input like, “is this stuff really all that important?”, and “what if it’s a passing fad?”

Social media isn’t anything new. Oh to be sure the tools have changed, and will continue to change – at a blinding pace I suspect. But lets face it, human beings are social animals. Always have been, always will be.

The first time I saw this video I swear the site at the very end with a link to statistic sources wasn’t there. Maybe I missed it. Here is a post by the author listing sources. I haven’t cross-checked or looked into any of them in depth, but I suspect like any statistic, some interpretation is involved. Whether or not this is 100% fail-safe accurate isn’t really the point. Watch it, and if you’re even remotely interested in business, marketing, entrepreneurship or human interaction, I bet it will make you think…

Whoopsie, somehow I lost the bottom part of this post when I first published it!

You (or your business) don’t necessarily need to “do” social media. You don’t have to Tweet, blog, Facebook or get all LinkedIn. Doing so isn’t going to lead to instant fame and wealth. It’s not for everyone. But you darn well better at least understand social media. There are too many stories of companies imploding their reputation because they don’t “get” social media. This isn’t a fad folks. It’s not going away. My suggestion is either learn it, or get out of the way…

Others Opine:
Here’s a new (to me) local Phoenix blog by Rebecca Armendariz who attended today’s Social Media AZ Conference (that sadly I had to miss). She writes, Dear Social Media, I’m totally tired of talking about you. Read it.

Welcome to the 154th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate (and apologies for the delay).

This is the fourth time we’ve hosted the “CoRE” – previous versions were #33, #37 and #93. All had catchy themes, at least in my mind.

I struggled with a theme for this week’s Carnival. There was just nothing there, nothing that was until Sunday afternoon when I watched a practically unknown golfer named Y.E. Yang win the PGA Championship, besting some guy named Tiger Woods. Yeah, that Tiger Woods who had never surrendered a 54 hole lead in a major until yesterday.

Before the broadcast was over, announcers were asking if this was the greatest upset in sports history. 

Now it was quite the story, but greatest upset ever in sports history? I don’t think so.

So here’s my take on the three greatest upsets in sports history, which I will attempt to very loosely tie into my top three picks for this weeks edition of the Carnival of Real Estate.

#3 – The Buster Douglas Award

In February 1990, Mike Tyson was on top of the boxing world. Undefeated, he routinely demolished his opponents. Then along comes Buster Douglas. A 42 to 1 underdog, he put Tyson on the canvas for the first time ever.

While it’s not entirely fair to call these two entries underdogs, they were for me, much like Buster Douglas was for many, complete unknowns.

Since I can’t make a decision, well call the #3 spot in the Carnival a draw and give the Buster Douglas award to David at MoneyNing for his post, Rental Property vs REIT. It’s a nice discussion of the pros and cons of investing in rental properties vs. Real Estate Investment Trusts. He draws with Ray (what’s with the first name only folks?) at Money Blue Book who penned the tome, What is a Good Credit Score? Nothing earth shattering here, but it’s a good primer on the in’s and out’s of the FICO score.

#2 – The Rulon Gardner Award

In the 2000 Summer Olympics, unheralded Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner faced Russian behemoth Alexander Karelin in the gold medal match. Karelin was a three-time gold medalist, a nine-time world champ and was undefeated in 13 years of international competition. He had not given up a single point in six years. Gardner’s successes up to that point amounted to a junior college championship and 4th place in the NCAAs.

Well, so much for credentials. In one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, Gardner defeated Karelin 1-0 to bring home the gold.

While it certainly can’t be called an upset whenever Jonathan Dalton writes anything, JD is the winner of our Rulon Gardner Award. His post, What Halley’s Comet May Portend for Phoenix Real Estate, while it contains some Phoenix specific info, is for me, more of a solid piece of advice. Chiefly that it’s not wise to let expectations trump fact (or maybe even common sense). It’s a good read, but honestly I was hoping Jonathan would submit an earlier piece, Welcome to the Real Estate 1.5 Revolution. I thought that one was masterful.

#1 – The Miracle on Ice

Ask any sports fan to name the top 5 all time upsets and you’ll get a myriad assortment of answers. But I’ll betcha that the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”, where a bunch of 20 year old college kids beat a world dominating team of Soviet Union pros, will be WAY up everyone’s list. I’ll never forget watching that game. Heck, makes me misty-eyed just thinking about it.

Now Dan Melson doesn’t exactly make me misty-eyed, but the man does have a winning way. His post on Searchlight Crusade, Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers, should be required reading for all home sellers. Dan writes longer posts than I do, but he is consistently on top of his game. SC is a regular stop for me.

On the CoRE, and Trivia!

So there you have it folks. There were 17 submissions this week. One was so full of ads it was basically unreadable. There were two very good posts from a group blog, but the CoRE rules clearly state that only one submission per blog address is allowed. The remainder were all quite well done. There were a lot of local, consumer targeted posts, which I think is great. I encourage everyone who submitted a post this week to keep on submitting — “winning” is really quite subjective and a matter of the hosts tastes and mood. And if you aren’t submitting posts to the Carnival of Real Estate, why not? You can get more info here.

And finally, have you ever wondered how the word “upset” came to be used for an improbable outcome in a competition?

Sure you have.

In 1919 and 1920, there was a legendary thoroughbred horse named Man o’ War who was considered by many to be one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Man o’ War raced 21 times, and only lost once – to a 100 to 1 long shot horse named Upset.

I like to try new stuff and gizmos. It’s just the way I am. So over the past couple of days, a few new blog experiments have been launched. As always, no promises that they’ll be permanently ensconced here.  

First up, the Wibiya toolbar. Take note at the bottom of the screen:

This toolbar is the last thing to load, give it a couple of seconds if it’s not displaying. Also, it doesn’t work if you are using Internet Explorer 6. If you’re using IE6, you’re now two versions behind and either need to upgrade, or ditch IE altogether and get a better browser like Firefox or Chrome.

This is kind of a nifty thing. It’s got an area to search (either the blog or Google), recent posts window, a random button that will pull up a random post from the archives, a photo button (pulls from a Flickr photo set), RSS feed button, sharing sites, access to the TPREG Facebook Fan Page, a Facebook Community page (please join!), Facebook Connect implementation and even a Twitter client (that I can’t get to send Tweets. Yet.).

I could, if I were so inclined, also put up “notifier” messages to all visitors as well as send messages to the Facebook Community.

If the tool bar annoys you, you can minimize it by clicking the down arrow on the right of the tool bar.

Wibiya provides some usage statistics:
 

What’s the point? Theoretically this helps increase page views, time on site, etc. Who knows if that’s really the case, time will tell. I look at it as more of a service to the readers here. The search seems to work quite well. The post navigation page could prove useful for some. “Community building” is all the buzz now, and the Wibiya system may just facilitate that.

Local Market Explorer

Speaking of community, a new Wordpress plugin, Local Market Explorer (LME), was released this week that “mashes up” real estate and community info from Zillow, Education.com, Flickr, Walk Score and Yelp.

You can see a sample page here.

I’ve set up pages for several Phoenix area communities, which you can see on this page (the Local Market info pages are accessed via the “real estate info” links).

Of note: I disabled the option to display Flickr photos. I’m not too keen on random photos I have no control of being shown on the blog. Who knows what might pop up. I’d like to see an option to only display photos from Flickr sets I designate.

Also, the plugin requires a minor edit to work with the Thesis theme used here and on many other real estate blogs.

Here’s what has to be done to get LME to work in Thesis:

1) Open the plugin file lme-client.php in a text editor (NOT Microsoft Word)
2) Find this line (Line #36): include(TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/page.php’);
3) Replace it with this: include(TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/custom_template.php’);
4) save and upload the edited file to the LME plugin folder on your server

I’ve also noticed the plugin conflicts with plugins and widgets related to recent posts. If you have a recent posts plugins (or the Thesis Killer Recent Entries widget) installed, you’ll see an error in your sidebar (or where ever you have these plugins out-putting information).

This plugin dynamically generates some pretty useful information. It’s not going to help you in search engines, but if you run a real estate blog, you ought to be posting material for your readers, not Google. I’m pretty certain some will label it a Zillow link love fest. But I’m liking the compilation of a lot of city specific information all on one page. I’d like to see the ability to get even more specific – down to the zip code level or even subdivision level. Perhaps this will be available in a future release.

As always, thoughts – good, bad or indifferent – are welcome!