Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Hi! Thanks for pointing this out… it’s actually a bug (for which I’m responsible, actually… d’oh!). A fix for this is in place and ready to go as part of our next code release. It happens to anyone who has a custom profile URL, even me. (See link below.)

Louis B., Trulia
http://www.trulia.com/profile/louis/

Oh yeah, the functionality still exists… it’s just those two links that are broken. You can get to the correct place by using the link at the top right under “View (your name)’s…” > “Questions & Answers”.

Thanks for getting on this Louis B.

Well that was an interesting trip over to my Trulia profile. While my answers are all showing, I had no idea I had answered as many as I have. Got me to thinking about the investment of time I've made and still occasionally make over there and the return on that investment. Doesn't really pan out. Don't think I'll be as inclined to anymore.

Trulia sends out nightly emails containing some consumer questions. Have you seen the quality of the questions these last few months? A serious decline in intelligence! Cant imagine a consumer that I would want to do business with being in that fray.

I gave it up too. The ROI was not there.

It's not the decline in the quality of consumer questions that bothers me (well, it bothers me, as there are some real doozies there. Like today's "How many houses on this street will be for rent in 2010?" Oy....)

What REALLY bothers me is the general quality (or lack thereof) of the "real estate pro's" answers. Fair housing violations aside (and there are plenty) the answers with horrific grammar and spelling, the "In {pick any state} this is how it works" (when the questioner has an Arizona specific question) and the blatant and disgusting trolling for referrals makes me wanna puke sometimes.

This is the 3rd time I'm posting this comment - 1st time was on Wed.....

Hi Joe!

What happened to the two comments left by Louis B. from Trulia explaining what had happened and what we were doing to remedy as well as the reply that you left him saying glad he was on it? Did you delete them?

Sorry I didn't see your email to me in time asking why you couldn't check all your answers but I was traveling to the KW Family Reunion in Orlando Sunday. The delays were horrible and didn't get in until the wee hours of the morning....Then was swamped throughout the conference for two days.....My bad.

Good news though, the recent bug with the two links is now fixed!

Sorry you haven't received any ROI from your participation on Trulia. I see you have provided some good answers. I guess it depends on who your target audience is and how you engage that consumer or agent. Some agents and brokers within Trulia Voices connect with home buyers and home sellers more than others. Consumers contact the agents who they feel comfortable with and with those who provided answers that resonated with them. It also depends on what kind of ROI/Success your looking to get out of your participation - friendships, clients or maybe just personal gratification.

Here are some Trulia testimonial success stories for those who haven't seen them:

http://cli.gs/trulia-success-stories

Thanks,

Have a good night!

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia

Hey Rudy

NP I know you are busy.

You may have put in several links to kick your comment into the spam filter. That Spam Karma is a monster. And Disqus, which I use now, has its own spam system. Sorry about that. I had asked you to give me your IP address so I could white list it but I never got it.

Louis B made 2 comments and I replied. Don't know what happened to them. As you know, I did not delete them.

Q: How long did Trulia know about this bug?

It;s amazing how quickly Trulia gets to things when folks gripe online--- I suggest any agent who has a problem to post about it or put it on Twitter for fast results-- I know you get right on the problem, which is a good thing. Pete & Sami are lucky to have you in customer service. You are always quick to solve the agents' problems.

The crummy TruliaVoices ROI seems to be common based on the limited folks I've spoken to-- same goes for the spotlight ads. Maybe that's why Trulia ran the recent discount :) Who's idea was it to share the spotlight ad space and put it below the bigger ads? But I digress.

Here are the causes of the Trulia Voices ROI problem, as I see it

1. most folks on Trulia Voices are looking for FREE advice-- nothing wrong with that.

2. you have agents from all over the country answering local questions, which is not fair to the local folks. You guys should really fix this problem. As you probably know, local agents hate this.

3. Trulia's own "American Nightmare"survey showed that over 90% of homeowners are staying put for the next year (& that was before the stock market meltdown). So it's no surprise no one is seeing any real ROI on Trulia Voices.

"92 percent of homeowners and 70 percent of non-homeowners say they plan on just staying put over the next 12 months" http://cli.gs/14ETzM

Finally, based on the 1,000+ questions and at least 5 answers per question, Trulia Voices generates well over 5,000 answers PER DAY.. Based on the few testimonials you've got, I'd say the success stories are anecdotal. If you calculated the percentages, I'd venture a guess the odds are better for the lottery.

Do you have the overall stats for Q&A and the total # of testimonials to show the odds of success? I'd understand if you didn;t keep them or reveal them.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.