How Steriod Use is like Search-Engine Spam

One of the hazards of working from a home office is receiving telephone marketing.

For instance, Jacob Krause from ReMax called today to tell me all about the hot real estate market in my (nameless) area. Except, he didn’t. I mean he didn’t call and he didn’t tell me anything. When I picked up the phone a recording of his voice played from an automatic phone dialler. Oh my this is crap, I thought to myself, except I probably didn’t think ‘crap’ and I probably didn’t put things so politely or succinctly.

But Jacob’s call piqued my curiosity. I did a Google search for ‘jacob remax vancouver’ and up came his website (link removed at Mr. Krause’s request) as the first and second listing. I had a quick look at the site and recognized the mode he was operating in. This was an extremely over-optimized website, a website built for discovery and indexing in search engines, a website built only secondarily for humans. From the domain name (vancouver-realestate-condo-and-home.com) to the, ahem, blog, the site is designed to game search engines, to trick them into listing the site highly for specific key search terms.

So? Who cares.

Well, I care. As someone who tries to help clients understand how they should conduct their web marketing, I care. This is the type of website that gives web marketing a bad reputation. The tactics employed by Jacob and/or his web marketeer are dishonest. They also make it harder for legitimate websites to compete. My two touchpoints with Jacob - the recorded voice message and his spammy website - both left me with a greasy taste in my mouth.

Competing against over-optimized websites is kind of like playing a professional sport where some of the athletes use steriods. They have a short-term positive impact by boosting their users’ performance. But overall, beyond the short-term boost, they hurt everyone. The users rationalize their use by saying things like ‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘who can argue with the results.’ But people lose faith in the system, people can see through the dishonesty.

So, if you’re looking for a real estate agent to buy or sell a home in Vancouver, I advise against using Jacob Krause. I’m actively trying to discourage his marketing tactics. His use of them tells me that he does not respect people and he will do whatever it takes to achieve questionable results. Is that who you want to trust, advising you on your single largest investment?

It’s also likely, and here I’m just guessing, that since the real estate business is largely driven through word-of-mouth referrals, Jacob has to resort to grey-zone tactics (telemarketing spam, search engine spam) because he can’t generate business through word-of-mouth. But there I’m just speculating. Any real-world experiences out there say otherwise?

Living Rivers Trust Announced

Yesterday I attended the announcement of the Living Rivers Trust Fund, where BC Premier Gordon Campbell announced a tripling of the fund to $14-million. The story seems to have totally missed all local news outlets, with the except of the lamentable paywall at the Vancouver Sun, so here’s the story and some photos I took of the event.

The Fraser River Park played host to the event held on a day when wind gusts topped out at 80 km/h. The north arm of the Fraser River provided the backdrop to a podium and speakers. Whitecaps rolled along the river in great undulating waves. A throng of handlers, reporters and interested folks had formed when I arrived. The Premier arrived a few moments later with Dianne Ramage of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, both sporting rubber boots.

BC Environment Minister Barry Penner kicked off the speaking and said a few words before introducing the Premier. Gordon Campbell spoke well about the importance of rivers to BC, how they provide the lifeblood of our province, and how salmon are the key species for the health of both the people and land. He announced an increase in the funding of the Living Rivers Trust Fund to the tune of $14-million. (I expect a press release with the details of the funding will appear one day. When it does I’ll update this post.)

John Woodward, the Chair of Living Rivers Trust, followed the Premier. Then came George Hungerford, Chairman of Pacific Salmon Foundation and Patrick Reid, Chair of the Fraser Basin Council. All of them talked about what the announcement of more funds meant to the rivers of BC, how they had worked long and hard to achieve the recognition of the importance of rivers, and how the money would bolster conservation and rehabilitation efforts. Barry Penner wrapped up the event.

Everyone then followed the Premier and Dianne Ramage down a path along the riverbank. Bystanders stood on a raised wooden platform while a ceremonial tree was planted by the Premier, Minister Penner and Dianne Ramage. This was the photo opportunity and it felt surreal to see all the cameras focused on this singular event while so much more happened outside the focus of the event. An eagle flew overhead and landed in a tall fir tree.

The Premier did a few television interviews. People milled about and chatted. Gradually they dispersed. As I left I walked past reporters sitting in their cars, writing their stories on notepads and filling in the details they remembers. This, I thought, is how the news gets made.