This week was pretty hard on a vast number of everyday people who relied on IndyMac bank to hold and manage their funds. It seems that one of the leading California banks whose strong suit lay in mortgages and loans has been appropriated by the government in an action to save investors and account for some major miscalculations. The bottom line for most customers of Indy Mac Bank is that your funds are protected and insured by the FDIC for up to $100,000. Anything past that you're on your own, meaning that many people sitting on large nest eggs are out of luck in seeing any more of their money past that $100k mark. The AP (Associated Press) showed customers of Indy Mac waiting in lines numbering in the thousands, waiting for a bank that wasn't going to open. An interesting thing happened in the following days on the stock market... The price of oil "corrected" by over 16 dollars and is still dropping. As I see it, more banks will fail, and the weak will get weeded out from the strong to help our economy become a more fortified machine. It's going to take some major "corrections" to see a massive rebound, but the chain of events is definitely set in motion and we should see a strong recovery from the maladies in the last 5 or so years.

As the housing market fluctuates, so does the number of discount brokers who have come and gone over the last few years.  Lending Tree recently released a statement notifying the community of 440 company lay-offs.  With this spokeswomen Rebecca Anderson stated, “This decision was a proactive move to adapt to the current market.” Anderson declines to break down how many employees will lose their jobs in each city. Affected employees will receive severance packages and outplacement services, she says. The layoffs come in the wake of Tom Reddin’s departure as chief executive of the business. Reddin surprised even his corporate superiors last month, announcing he would retire effective May 7 to spend more time with his family. 

In recent months, we have also seen a Southern California Brokerage, I-Pay-One float in and out of bankruptcy, another discount broker who facilitates real estate transactions for no more than 1% commission.  Help-U-Sell assists home buyers in For Sale By Owner type transactions at a reduced commission.  In the heat of the market Help-U-Sell flooded the country with office grand-openings all over and now it seems like the doors are closing quicker then opening. 

Today, I had a laugh. A hearty laugh it was. Let me explain to you what transpired.

I called up a potential client who, on three (3) previous occassions, contacted us and expressed extreme interest in using our service. Each time she expressed interest in our company, we had very good conversation about the value in our service and how we are and have managed to be the leader for new condo advertising on the web.

Today, I called for a friendly follow up. I introduced myself and told her who I was and she seemed to have no recollection of who I was nor what company I was with. So, after the formalities were exchanged, I asked her if she was any closer to making a decision regarding getting some of her product on NewCondosOnline.com. Her response was: "No thanks, we have a website." I asked her if she was doing any SEO and she replied "No." I asked her if her website was on any lead generation sites to which she responded "nope."

I then explained to her the benefits of using our site and the power of lead generation portal like NewCondosOnline.com. She's now a client and her properties are already attracting many eyeballs - in less than a day!

I hung up the phone, shook my head and laughed for a good five minutes.

Why did I laugh? Because it's evident that some people in the marketing field still don't seem to realize the power of internet marketing. If 10 people were in a room together and each was asked where they would start their search for a new home, 8 of those people would answer: "The Internet."

Moral of the story - if you're a marketing director or owner of a real estate company, make sure your properties are on the internet and that people will find your websites. A website is only useful when people can view it.

Have you ever wondered what Internet Sites get the most traffic and how to find out traffic rankings? We place ads on many sites and we work with many media planning and advertising companies. It is essential that we know how much traffic a website receives before we consider placing an ad of any kind or a banner on that website. We use 2 main sites to judge how much traffic a website receives and so should you. The top 2 Sites in the Industry are Alexa.com and Ranking.com. These are the two most highly respected judges of traffic on the Internet today. Ranking.com ranks from 1 to 900,000 and Alexa.com ranks from 1 to usually about 2 million. Google, Yahoo, and MSN always round out the top 3 with other favorites in the top ten such as Myspace and YouTube.  Sites in the top 100,000 are top tier sites in the world. These sites update frequently so you should continue to check where you stand.

NewCondosOnline.com:     Ranking.com-28,187       Alexa.com-34,794