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Real Estate News and Advice |
November 30, 2009 |
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Sites To See: 'The Apprentice' Realty Pros' Bios
by Broderick Perkins
NBC's "The Apprentice" contestants are sequestered from the media's glare during production and unless they are told "You're fired!" the show offers the public only their first names and brief bios on air and online. Season Six "The Apprentice: Los Angeles" viewers see contestants only as Donald Trump employee-wanna bees vying for a life under the thumb of one of the nation's most prominent and outspoken real estate magnates. "We only give out first names of contestants for privacy reasons," says Jill Carmen with NBC's publicity office. But privacy is the last thing on the minds of the competitive Type-As who want the glory, the glamour, and the glare of the spotlight to shine on them each week as they take on tasks of teamwork and business acumen and scrap through behind-the-scenes sessions of back stabbing and in-fighting. It's not surprising then that, before they enter the world of reality TV, each contestant goes all out in the real world to crank up their own marketing machine to capitalize on fame so fleeting it could end with the next weekly visit to the boardroom of doom. (Under the shark-eyed glares of Trump and siblings Ivanka and Donald Jr., some poor chump gets fired every week.) The contestants' slick online portfolios of personality and experience tell a lot more than you'll get from the producers of 'The Apprentice'. The websites of the contestants with real estate backgrounds can serve both as models for those in the business looking to sell themselves along with goods and or services and as examples of what you shouldn't present in a business portfolio. In alphabetical order, with nicknames offered by "The Apprentice" producers, they are: Altscher is co-chair of the Fredericksburg Area Builders Association's Sales and Marketing Council and he managed to land partnership links with, among others, Wells Fargo and SightSpeed.com, a video mailing service that allows fans to send him well wishes. Strangely, his "Business" link is a "Coming Soon" blank, given his bio's reference to his recent work as a "community sales manager for a (unnamed) Fortune 150 homebuilder and sales and marketing associate for a (unnamed) real estate developer selling high-end luxury homes." He says his "passion for real estate along with his personal integrity, resilience and humility," makes him the perfect next Apprentice. The site is slick, professional, personable and easy to navigate and one of the best in the bunch. The photo gallery, however, is over done. How many Altscher images do you really need…well, unless you are on the make for a realty guy or are a realty guy on the make. Clark's web site is like a distorted picture inside a fine frame. It's a professional presentation that sizzles and pops with images, scrolling text boxes, informative links and navigational ease, but many of the images are wrong, adjectives are over done and quotes from really famous people could be misleading indicators that Clark has no vision of his own. Not surprisingly, nearly on bended knee, pop-philosophy spewing and begging to stay (not his finest hour), Clarke was the first contestant to get the terse "You're fired!" from his would be boss in the latest season of "The Apprentice". Clark certainly can appear suave and sophisticated. He has the background and experience to do so. However, his website's grand design takes a back seat to too many childhood snapshots and, worse, images of him dressed like, well, a clown. Literally. The many combinations of polka dot tie-checked shirt-pin striped suit are just too much for life outside the Big Top. She's gone on, under the name of D’Ambrosio Incorporated, to purchase a property every year since she was 21. That makes five or six and, according to her telling website, if she didn't spend so much time partying in nightclubs, she'd probably have an even larger portfolio. Of the seven links she offers, three of them are nightclubs. Granted she's invested in one and if you are going to hang out you might as well pay yourself for the drinks, but is this really professional promotion? We also learn D'Ambrosio's favorite drink is the Apple Martini her favorite holiday is Christmas and she's won four beauty pageant awards. If nothing else, where to hook up with D'Ambrosio in the Windy City is a no-brainer. The website's simple, uncluttered and welcoming design could have been put to much better use by sticking to the fundamentals of promotional content. Lombard is not called "The Mouth" for nuttin', but he should shut up and let his website do the talking -- unless he's the brains behind his website's design and has earned the right to yak it up. It's the best of the bunch. Straight talking with just the facts, illustrated with a slideshow of appropriately professional images and just the right amount of tabs to get the low down on Lombard, the site is a gem of simplicity and usefulness. Even if he doesn't win a job with The Donald, this tight site is a winner in its own right and should serve him and his businesses well. She's the only realty candidate to use her on-air experience in a streaming video on her promotional website. She's revealed as a talking head with lots of charm and aplomb. Nearly as fine tuned as Lombardi's, Sorro's site is quickly digested, easily navigated and offering all the right information in the right places. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending upon your perspective, Sorro has a lot to sell from acting, to real estate, to writing, as revealed by her links to other promotional pages on the MySpace.com and Zoodango.com. Is she a Jacqueline of all trades, but a master of none? Promotional materials should answer more questions than they raise. Bookmark all the promotional websites from realty professionals for examples of what to do and what not to do online if you are looking to use the Web to get ahead. Published: January 17, 2007 Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. Related Articles:
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