Realtor.com is clearly in disarray. They not only refuse to acknowledge or communicate with their community, I have come to question whether or not they even recognize that a Realtor community exists. More importantly, I ask myself, if I were charged with rebuilding Realtor.com, reversing the brand and community damage and making a genuine effort to start a new relationship with Realtors, how would I do it?
A good starting point would be to review Loic Le Meur’s 10 Rules for Success. While the list is geared for startups, many of the ideas work just as well for established businesses.
Don’t wait for a revolutionary idea. It will never happen. Just focus on a simple, exciting, empty space and execute as fast as possible
Share your idea. The more you share, the more you get advice and the more you learn. Meet and talk to your competitors.
Build a community. Use blogging and social software to make sure people hear about you.
Listen to your community. Answer questions and build your product with their feedback.
Gather a great team. Select those with very different skills from you. Look for people who are better than you.
Be the first to recognise a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Address the issue in public, learn about and correct it.
Don’t spend time on market research. Launch test versions as early as possible. Keep improving the product in the open.
Don’t obsess over spreadsheet business plans. They are not going to turn out as you predict, in any case.
Don’t plan a big marketing effort. It’s much more important and powerful that your community loves the product.
Don’t focus on getting rich. Focus on your users. Money is a consequence of success, not a goal.
Once daily posts halted for a week. 36 hour delay in acknowledging hack. 19 hours of downtime. No communication with the Realtor community as to whether their personal data was compromised or even an acknowledgment that the site was even hacked.
I just noticed BrokerScience articles coming up in an odd looking feed along with articles from Inman and Bloodhound, among others. I traced feed to this non working domain (update: it is now working) indicates it is the future home of a Feedburner “ Real Estate and Mortgage Blogging Group“. TechCrunch reported testing on feedburner blogging groups over a year and a half ago, so perhaps there is a roll out coming soon or perhaps just more testing. Although it’s hard to tell, this does not look like a user generated group, but if that’s the case, we will follow up.
Oddly enough a google search for “feedburner blogging groups” only returns the real estate and mortgage blogging group mentioned above.
UPDATE: Shortly after publishing this story, the above domain in question, was working and is down again. It looks like the Real Estate and Blogging Group is official. Unfortunately it looks like BrokerScience is not included in the final blogroll.
UPDATE 2: Link is down again….. testing it is. Here is a link for the google cache.
UPDATE 3: Dan Green confirmed this is a group he created but as of yet, creating groups is not a feature available to the public.
Quite frankly, in light of the growing attention and coverage Ben Behrouzi’s cease & desist letter and legal threats to Vlad, we didn’t think Ben and company would be so foolish stupid as to continue in such a self defeating manner. We have a lot to learn. Ben has continued his tour de force of driving ePerks into the ground by threatening BrokerScience with legal action and following up with a lawsuit against Vlad which will ultimately prove to be his coup de grace.
Online Reputation and Brand Destruction. Ben’s actions have exponentially increased the numbers of outraged bloggers and real estate professionals linking to Vlad’s blog. The result is that the very blog post that Ben / ePerks fought to suppress now ranks #2 in a Google search for ePerks, right below ePerks.com. Seven of the top 10 results contain negative commentary on ePerks. Even paid blog posts sponsored by ePerks are overrun by negative comments from unhappy ePerks users. Eight of the top ten results for “Ben Behrouzi” are negative. BrokerScience ranks number four and five for “ePerks.com”, number six and seven for “ben behrouzi” and number two for “iHype.com”. It is my opinion that this case will be referenced in future studies and textbooks dealing with online reputation and brand management. One thing is for sure Behrouzi and company are panicked and they should be.
Lots of links will flow, but unfortunately their brand is destroyed. Perhaps they can later 301 redirect their site, but the PageRank is probably going to be worth less than the negative karma associated with the conflict.
Game Over. As bad as the ePerks situation has become, the greatest damage is likely still to come. If Behrouzi drops the case against blogger, Vlad Zablotzkyy, there will be a tidal wave of attention on his defeat. If he moves forward against Vlad, he will likely lose, if his case does not get thrown out first. More importantly, if a direct IP address connection is made between the false child molestation allegations, Ben and company will face not only civil action, but more importantly criminal fraud charges and intense media scrutiny and coverage. Of course, all of the negativity will also haunt Behrouzi in future projects such as his failed to launch startup, iHype.com and virtually guarantees his inability to attract investors in the future. His brand, name and reputation are in short, toxic. All of this damage done and the story has not even gone national yet. The real fallout occurs when the New York Times, LA Times, or similar carry the story, which is looking sooner rather then later. A likely trigger for this will be if Ben follows up up on his threats to BrokerScience or when the right person finally notices the story.
Small Sample of Recent ePerks / Ben Behrouzi Coverage
For the seventh day in a row Realtor.com is failing to communicate with its community regarding the hack that we first reported on June 4th. Realtor.com is approaching one week with no blog posts, no communication with its paid users and increasing doubt in its ability to run a blog, let alone one of the largest real estate portals in the world, Realtor.com. This is bad folks.
Another stunning story comes from 4Realz.net with news that weeks ago, following in Zillow’s footsteps, Realtor.com launched a new home estimates feature. Again, nobody noticed and nobody cared. Perhaps this is why Realtor.com thinks they can behave in the manner they have and get away with it. The fact is that if nobody notices what you do or don’t do and you are a company with the reach and funding of Realtor.com / NAR, that should be a warning that you are not doing things right, not something to be used as a shield to hide behind.
The original posts that had spam injected to them have been removed. The daily blog posts have halted and communication about the situation is non-existent. This is turning uglier by the minute. Where is Blaine Cooke when you need him? {sarcasm}
In yet another blow to embattled ePerks and Brabus Ventures Corporation CEO, Ben Behrouzi, BrokerScience has acquired exclusive ownership of the following internet domain names:
Internet domain name case law provides that these names can be used in a capacity that does not create confusion in the market place. In the future they may be used to host and support a Defense Fund for bloggers that are sued by ePerks / Ben Behrouzi / Brabus Ventures Corporation. Have an idea for what we can use them for? Drop us a line!
We left BehnamBehrouzi.com (Ben’s legal name) for Ben if he so chooses to use it. We’ve also left most of the Behzad (Ben’s Brother, “Director of Product for Brabus Ventures”) domain names untouched. We are disappointed to report that Behzad’s preferred pseudonym (as anonymously reported by current ePerks employees), Kevin Morris is not available as a domain name.
When ePerks.com CEO Ben Behrouzi originally hired blogger Vlad Zablotzkyy of Go-Beyond-MLS.com to write a paid review of ePerks.com, he never expected the barrage of user complaints that were posted in the comment section of Vlad’s blog and he never expected the fallout that would occur when he threatened Vlad and sent him a Cease & Desist letter to take down the comments.
While it is not uncommon for CEO’s to be upset with criticism that their companies receive, it is highly unusual, perhaps unheard of, for CEO’s to follow the path that Ben Behrouzi has in single handedly destroying his reputation, brand and likely becoming liable for slander and defamation. The secondary effect that is as the story continues to grow it only serves to increase his exposure to growing murmurs regarding a Class Action lawsuit by dissatisfied ePerks users. To date: 8 of the top 10 results in a Google search for “eperks.com”and likewise “ben behrouzi” point to content that has negative commentary or comments about ePerks and ePerks CEO Ben Behrzouzi.
This morning, Vlad Zablotzkyy was served with a civil action from Brabus Ventures Corporation (ePerks parent company, owned by Behnam Behrouzi) claiming unspecified damages for posting information on his blog about a false child molestation allegation that was made against him. Vlad made no accusations but simply presented anecdotal evidence indicating that ePerks was possibly linked to the false charges. The evidence showed that user names used by the person posting false child molestation allegations matched user names used by persons leaving comments on Vlad blog originating from ePerks.com corporate IP address.
Fluff. The purpose of a Cease & Desist letter is to forewarn of pending legal action in lieu of compliance. When legal action is taken, the actions should be consistent with the items cited in the Cease & Desist letter if they have validity.
Break down of Specific Complaints in ePerks C & D Letter vs. Actual Complaint:
C & D: “Your only goal is to cast ePERKS in a negative light for personal gain…………your blogs deceptively fail to inform the reader that you are motivated by an undisclosed proprietary interest in an ePERKS competitor.” Not Included in Complaint.
C & D: “Having researched the content of your blogs, we have come to conclusive proof that a substantial number of your postings are bogus, in that they frequently describe experiences that never happened and people who do not exist.” Not Included in Complaint.
C & D: “Our research also shows that negative remarks are not only invited, but are posted without a challenge.” Not Included in Complaint.
Central Complaint:
“Defendant Zablotskyy published an accusation on his blog website that plaintiff was responsible for an anonymous internet posting alleging that defendant was a child molester. Said post by defendant is attached hereto as Exhibit “A”. At the time the Exhibit “A” post was published, defendant had no reasonable basis to accuse plaintiff, or its internet name ePERKS.com of being the author of the child molester post.”
Stupidity. ePerks is going after Vlad for accusing them of being behind the child molestation allegation on Yahoo Answers. The fact is that Vlad did not accuse them as such, he simply presented anecdotal evidence. The irony is that the single piece of information that will confirm what IP Address the Yahoo Answers post originated from and will likely invalidate ePerk’s complaint is one subpoena away and is the also the single piece of evidence that will provide Vlad with an airtight Libel and Defamation case against ePerks should it link ePerks to the allegation.
On June 5th, one day after ePerk’s complaint against Vlad was filed, BrokerScience laid out the connection between ePerks and the Yahoo Answers child molestation post. While the link will only be definitive once Yahoo is subpoenaed, the anecdotal evidence points strongly to ePerks. One thing is for sure, it is very likely that Ben Behrouzi and company are panicked in light of the IP Address link to ePerks presented by BrokerScience only one day after their complaint was filed.
If ePerks was so unhappy with Vlad’s assertions, how will they feel about ours? Will BrokerScience be served in the coming days? Our fingers are crossed. An ePerks case against BrokerScience all but guarantees the story goes national, gaining exposure to Vlad’s plight and consumer complaints against ePerks.
In an unfortunate turn of events, Realtor.com has failed to acknowledge its website and or servers were breached and has failed to inform users whether or not personal data was compromised. This is disturbing on a number of levels. While the breach may have been as simple as a flawed wordpress plugin or much worse, nobody can know for sure due to Realtor.com’s failure to communicate.
Realtor.com Failure to Communicate Fallout:
It signals to users that they are not valued and builds distrust and disloyalty in users.
Fails to inform users if their data was compromised, on a legal basis, my guess is that users have a right to be informed as such.
Is counterproductive to fostering community.
Shows lack of leadership on the part of Realtor.com team members.
Gives credence to criticism that Realtor.com does not act in members’ best interests.
Common Courtesy. After repeatedly informing Realtor.com that their website had been compromised, they failed to acknowledge our requests and failed to give us any feedback on the situation at hand. Oddly enough, despite their lack of communication with BrokerScience and Realtor.com users, their IP Address, 209.74.96.62, shows up as one of the most frequent visitors in BrokerScience traffic logs.
To be more specific, the IP Address of HomeStore.com shows up. It is not clear whether HomeStore is now considered a parent or partner of Realtor.com or whether it only shows up because the ARIN record has not been updated since 2001. It does, however, serve as a reminder of Realtor.com’s past and may provide a clue to the company culture that exists that would allow such a basic, preventable and unheard of gaffe to occur.
BrokerScience IP Address Traffic Log
NetRange: 209.74.96.0 - 209.74.127.255
OrgName: Homestore.com, Inc
OrgID: HOMEST-7
Address: 30700 Russell Ranch Rd
City: Westlake Village
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 91362
Country: US
