Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

Virtual Real Estate Online was a hot topic as early as 2004 when a USA Today article on Virtual real estate boom draws real dollars talked about virtual home ownership.

"...Large swathes of undeveloped online property, some bearing an uncanny resemblance to a palm-studded West Coast beachfront idyll, are selling for up to $550 an acre."

But I wonder how many people actually think that Virtual Real Estate can be as profitable as dealing with "Real" Estate?  Too many people think of Virtual Real Estate online as Zillow.com, Trulia.com and Realtor.com offer by allowing people to know details of any listed property online.

Virtual Real Estate online is really more about 3D Virtual Worlds like Second Life where you can buy and sell Real Estate much like we do in the Real World:

"...The number of users making smallish amounts -- just $10 to $50 monthly -- with a Second Life virtual business was about 9,500 in April, or nearly triple that of November. "There's a lot of people with a self-sustaining hobby that generates drinks money on the side," says Adam Frisby, a 22-year-old computer science student and entrepreneur from Perth, Australia, who's co-founder of Second Life's Azure Islands. Meanwhile, the number of "in-world" business owners who are making more than $5,000 per month was only 139 as of April, estimates Linden Lab. Though that's up from an estimated 58 in November, it's still a tiny fraction of the more than 7 million users. No one can say for sure how many of those are in virtual real estate. But several Second Life pros agree that big-time real-estate players number maybe a half dozen. "

In REAL ESTATE IN AN UNREAL WORLD, an article appearing in SFGate.com today, ColdWell Banker took a real house and built an identical 3D Replica in Second Life:

"... a virtual model of a real-world 5,700-square-foot new home on Mercer Island, listed for a little more than $3 million. While several real estate companies have used Second Life to advertise their services, this is believed to be the first time a real home has been available for touring in this environment. Listing agent Suzanne Lane ("Suzanne Ibanez" in Second Life) said she's been happy with the response."

"...Indeed, the Second Life project was led by Coldwell Banker's ad agency, Kinesis Advertising, which in turn hired Florida's Code4Software to do the actual development. Coldwell Banker says the cost of building a presence in Second Life, including its land and offices, was less than $50,000. The Mercer Island building required a fraction of that sum. However, Young said, he believes the high cost of 3-D modeling will keep home listings from being commonplace in Second Life for a while."

One thing that's different about the SFGate article - it talks about other ways to have a Virtual world presence besides Second Life such as Google Sketchup, Google Earth, etc.  According to Jared Freedman from Code4Software, creator of the 3 million dollar house in Second Life:

"....Virtual showings have a very bright future, Freedman said. "Fuel costs and traffic congestion are increasing. If you can have a mechanism to help a prospective buyer narrow down their choices for which homes they want to actually visit, you're saving the buyers gas and time, saving the agent gas and time, and saving the homeowner an intrusion. You can make a decision if you want to actually visit the location in person. There's no other way you can convey this amount of information."

It seems to me the real value of Virtual real estate online is to help us make a decision about which properties/homes we wish to take a closer look at in person.