Most of you have probably already heard of dogster.com - it is a fun website if you are a dog lover. For you cat lovers - try catster.com
Here is a link to our skateboarding, snowboarding, rock diving English Bulldog - Sir Buster Brown. My wife put it together a while back.
Yesterday we launched what we are calling “The Zillow Project.” It involves LakePlace.com pre-purchasing $100 worth of Zillow EZ Ads (at one (1) penny per impression or $10 CPM). We are going to chronicle the ongoing results here at the Pine Needle Lawn.
I have to mention that the folks at Zillow are also monitoring the results closely. Zillow, without a doubt, has the best evangelist and outreach team in the business. I am not sure what their final revenue model will be (I am a born skeptic), but they definitely stay on top of their stuff.
As I stated yesterday, we are currently showing our ads in only five (5) zip codes and the campaign is barely a day and a half old.
Zillow EZ Ad Results - Day 2
Impressions: 112
Clicks: 0
As you can see, our EZ Ad received another 21 views in the past 24 hours (or so), but no click-throughs. 112 impressions is not a very high number, but again, we have to keep in mind that only 5 zip codes will trigger our EZ Ad. Zero (0) click-throughs is to be expected with only 112 impressions - I would consider this no surprise. I think we are going to let our spot continue to run “as-is” through the weekend and add some additional zip codes on Monday.
I have a busy Saturday & Sunday coming up, but I will do my best to keep you in the know over the weekend - so check back tomorrow to see how we are doing.
Today we are featuring the Grand Rapids area in our Needle in a Haystack spotlight. Grand Rapids, MN has been named one of the “100 Best Small Towns In America.” The town is located in Itasca county, which is home to more than 1,000 beautiful lakes. LakePlace.com features more than 150 Grand Rapids lakeshore properties and over 450 Itasca County lake properties.
The Grand Rapids lake home (MLS# 3357940) featured above is situated on Hale Lake and features a jacuzzi tub, two fireplaces and a wrap around deck. It is priced at $449,000 by our Grand Rapids real estate partner.. For more information on this property or 20,000+ others, please visit LakePlace.com.
Happy Lake Home Hunting!
Last night, after reading Zadvertising on Zillow.com at the Bloodhound Blog earlier in the day, we started a little experiment. We went ahead and created a Zillow account and signed up for EZ Ads.
I have to tell you, the Zillow EZ Ad interface is great - it is elegant and extremely simple to use. The only problem I found was that you cannot edit your zip codes once you place the ad (and if I am wrong, and you actually can edit zip codes, they need to make it easier and more intuitive). And I guess one other minor gripe would be the image upload - Zillow crunches your image and severely degrades the quality.
Anyway, we chose to trigger our advertisement in the 5 zip codes surrounding Lake Minnetonka here in the Twin Cities. If you are not familiar with Lake Minnetonka - it is a very large lake, just minutes from downtown Minneapolis. It is the most exclusive “neighborhood” in Minnesota and is home to industry barrons, CEO’s, and professional athletes.
We started our account off with a balance of $100. Zillow uses a very clever sales strategy with their EZ Ads - by advertising the cost as one (1) penny per impression, they make you feel like you are getting a great value and an awesome deal. In reality, one (1) penny per impression is actually a CPM of $10 ($10 per 1,000 impressions). A $10 CPM is a pretty steep rate when it comes to advertising on the Internet. LakePlace.com does not charge its advertisers close to $10 CPM, and our traffic is much more targeted…but, this is neither here nor there.
Our little experiment is going to track the success of this advertisement throughout the $100 spend and we will post our daily results here on the Pine Needle Lawn.
As we provide the numbers on our 1st day of Zadvertising - please keep in mind that we have not yet completed a 24 hour cycle and our EZ Ad is only showing in 5 zip codes.
Zillow EZ Ad Results - Day 1
91 impressions (of which at least 6 were me)
0 clicks
So that is it for day one. So far not much, but again, we did not expect to see much this early in the game. We will probably be tweaking this “campaign” as we get a little further into it. We plan to expand our zip code base in the next couple of days to see if has an impact on our results. Check back tomorrow to see how we are doing and how our Zillow EZ Ad is performing.
LakePlace.com has been working with more than 50 affiliated offices throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin for the past 12 months. We wanted to take a minute and thank them for their commitment to excellent customer service. If you are planning to buy or sell a lakefront property in the areas below - we can tell you that these offices and individuals are the best in the business.
Aitkin, MN Real Estate - McGregor Realty and Property Management
Alexandria, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Crown Realtors
Annandale, MN Real Estate - Oak Realty
Bemidji, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker 1st MN Bemidji
Blackduck, MN Real Estate - Blackduck Realty
Cambridge, MN Real Estate - Century 21 Moline Realty
Chanhassen, MN Real Estate - Edina Realty Chanhassen
Cold Spring, MN Real Estate - Granite Realty of MN
Crosslake, MN Real Estate - Shores and More Realty
Detroit Lakes, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker 1st Realty Lyon
Ely, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker 1st Ely
Fergus Falls, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Backstrom
Forest Lake, MN Real Estate - ERA Muske Company Real Estate
Grand Marais, MN Real Estate - Gunflint Realty
Grand Rapids, MN Real Estate - Century 21 Land Of Lakes
Hudson, MN Real Estate - Century 21 Premier Group
Hutchinson, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Advantage
Isle, MN Real Estate - Beacon Shores Realty
Kabetogama, MN Real Estate - American Woods and Water Realty
Mankato, MN Real Estate - Realty Executives River Valley
McGregor, MN Real Estate - McGregor Realty and Property Management
New Prague, MN Real Estate - REMAX Dynamic Associates
Park Rapids, MN Real Estate - Preferred Properties
Pelican Rapids, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Backstrom
Sturgeon Lake, MN Real Estate - Majestic Pine Realty
Virginia, MN Real Estate - Realty Executives Northland
Walker, MN Real Estate - Coldwell Banker 1st Minnesota
Willmar, MN Real Estate - Edina Realty Willmar
Appleton, WI Real Estate - Century 21 First Realty
Beaver Dam, WI Real Estate - Wisconsin Real Estate
Birchwood, WI Real Estate - REMAX Woodland Realty
Chetek, WI Real Estate - REMAX Lake Country
Chippewa Falls, WI Real Estate - Woods and Water Realty
Crivitz, WI Real Estate - White Pine Real Estate
Hayward, WI Real Estate - Area North Realty
Hurley, WI Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Larson Realty
Iron River, WI Real Estate - Van Hollen Realty
Lake Mills, WI Real Estate - First Weber Group
Land O’ Lakes, WI Real Estate - Lakeshore Realty
Madison, WI Real Estate - Restaino Bunbury and Associates
Mercer, WI Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Larson Realty
Minong, WI Real Estate - LakeWoods Real Estate
New Richmond, WI Real Estate - Century 21 Premier Group
Oshkosh, WI Real Estate - Coldwell Banker Schwab Realty
Park Falls, WI Real Estate - Birchland Realty
Phillips, WI Real Estate - Birchland Realty
Rhinelander, WI Real Estate - Century 21 Pine Point Realty
Siren, WI Real Estate - Edina Realty Siren
Superior, WI Real Estate - Van Hollen Realty
Waupaca, WI Real Estate - Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group
Waupaca, Wisconsin Real Estate - United Country Udoni
Wisconsin Dells, WI Real Estate - REMAX Preferred
Again, a big “Thanks!” goes out to the great people who make LakePlace.com what it is.
At LakePlace.com, we started blogging in 2004 with our downhill ski reports blog, fishing reports blog and birding reports blog (all hosted at blogger.com). Our target audience is the outdoor enthusiast and we thought this would be a great way to connect to people who would otherwise not be looking for us. We fell off the blogosphere after 12 months and did not get back on until July of 2006.
Fast forward to 2007. Blogging by real estate professionals is huge and getting “huge-r.â€Â Minnesota is actually home to one of the best real estate bloggers out there – Teresa Boardman of the St. Paul Real Estate Blog. Her writing skills have gotten her national attention and she is frequently quoted and linked by the big players in the industry. Another highly skilled writer is Greg Swan of the Bloodhound Blog. The first time I read Greg’s blog I thought to myself – “this guy should be writing for the Times or the New Yorker.â€Â I also enjoy reading Greg Tracy of the Blue Roof Blog. Greg tells it like he sees it and does not pull his punches…it’s another great read. The Inman News Blog, as of late, has also become one of my favorites - they have done a great job over the past few months.
Anyway, the point of this post was to talk about the latest idea in the real estate blogging world. They call it Project Blogger and it is hosted at Active Rain and co-sponsored by Inman News.
“The goal is simple: over the course of about 4 months, each participating blogging coach will aim to develop the most successful real estate blogger they can.â€
I just had to take a minute to point out how stupid this seems to me. How do you “teach†or “coach†someone to blog? What’s the point? Can you actually teach talent? Did the bloggers I mentioned above have someone “coach†them to become great bloggers? I am pretty sure they didn’t.
If you are a talented and creative writer – and you have a lot of extra time on your hands, you can become a great blogger. If you are not a talented and creative person (with or without time on your hands), you will not be a great blogger. It’s a pretty simple equation.
I can just see a blogging “coach†with a whistle in his/her mouth, corresponding over a yahoo chat client, “ I NEED YOU TO TYPE ‘THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG’S BACK’ – Again (whistle blows)…and Again (whistle blows)…and Again (whistle blows).â€
How ridiculous. And even worse - who in the heck is signing up to be the student? How would you like to be standing in that line?
If you are a real estate professional and you really want to be a good real estate blogger – start reading great blogs (these ones are great too), sign up for a free WordPress account, and start writing. Signing up as a student for this Project Blogger thing is not going to be your best use of time. Reading some good blogs and writing your own will get you a lot further - a lot faster (IMO).
(AND…If I practiced what I preached, I would have a better ending to this post)
Good Luck.
Today I am shining the spotlight on Iron River, WI. The Iron River area, located in Bayfield County, is home to more than 100 lakes and streams including Lake Superior. Located in the heart of Wisconsin’s vacation area, Iron River is truly a beautiful setting. We are proud to have Van Hollen Realty serving LakePlace.com clients interested in properties in this area.
The property pictured above is a beautiful Iron River Lakefront Home perfectly situated on Twin Bear Lake. LakePlace.com features lakeshore property in Iron River on several area lakes.
The lakefront home pictured above is listed at $699,750 and features a perfect 250 foot sand beach, a hot tub and a sauna. Be sure to take a look at all of the pictures and read the full description - it might be the lake place you have been looking for!
Today, Phillips Wisconsin is our Needle in a Haystack. Phillips, WI is home to the Chequamegon National Forest and the Flambeau River State Forest. The town is nestled among a chain of lakes that includes Long Lake, Elk Lake and Wilson Lake…and let’s not forget about the Flambeau River.
The property pictured above is a great little cottage for sale in Phillips WI. Listed at just $125k and located on Solberg Lake in Price County - it looks like a great place to create some family memories. It sits on a small bay with direct access to the lake.
Better hurry on this one! Good Luck with your lake home hunting!
Minnesota & Wisconsin have more than 25,000 lakes between them - and probably about 8,000 lake names. When you search on LakePlace.com for Bass Lake property or Long Lake property or Sandy Lake property - our search results are going to show you properties on every lake with that name. In my hypothetical search, mud lake was the most used lake name. Some not very inviting names include coffin lake, spider lake, & skunk lake (all are beautiful, by the way). Leach Lake (blood sucker) did not make this list because it is actually spelled Leech Lake. So…if you are looking for a home on a beautiful lake, don’t put too much stock in the name. Skunk Lake could be perfect for you!
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