The Real Estate Tomato

What Is The Biggest Barrier To Real Estate Blogging?

Teresa Boardman, our resident Real Estate Blogging Goddess, is back with some personal insight on what she has uncovered as the biggest roadblock to blogging.

What Is The Biggest Barrier To Real Estate Blogging?
By Teresa Boardman

Earlier this week I conducted a kind of survey, and asked 25 real estate bloggers, which I defined as practicing real estate agents, mortgage, title and staging pros who blog, what they see as the biggest barrier to real estate blogging for agents.

The answer was writing, and it was almost unanimous.

What to write about and how to write it.

That came as a surprise to me because so many agents believe that blogs require technical skills. This myth is perpetuated here and in other places on the internet as blog writers discuss SEO and merits of various blog platforms, and the rules of blogging. I would have guessed that they found the whole process complicated and confusing.

Based on what I have read, I did most everything wrong when I started my blog, but the important thing is I did it. It doesn't seem to matter because I still achieved my business goals. My blog has been and continues to be a journey and one of the most meaningful learning experiences that I have ever had.

The writing thing is something I don't have a solution for.
I am intensely uncomfortable writing and posting where the world can see it. My whole education was based on the idea that if a piece of writing had a grammatical error, or a misspelling it was useless and had no value. When I submitted a paper, or an idea in writing it came back with red pen all over it. Occasionally I would have a teacher or professor who would notice an idea or something else in a written piece but mostly it was about the technical aspects of writing not about the ideas or research that had gone into it.

After I graduated from college I pretty much avoided writing unless someone made me. I had jobs where I pawned it off on administrative support, and I made sure that I hired people that could write. I would talk, and they would take notes, record, or type as I went.

I understand not wanting to write or being afraid of it. It is possible that I have missed opportunities to work with buyers or sellers because they came to my blog and found a typo. Yet I take the risk each day and hope that if I practice long enough I will be able to crank something out that doesn't have an error in it. I have written more than a thousand posts and I am relatively sure that if they are more than a paragraph long they contain at least one mistake. Yet people still read my blog and some want to do business with me, even though I can't spell.

The same is true with photos. People seem to enjoy them and I use photos on my blog but I am sometimes told that they are not technically correct. It might be the composition or the angle. Yet I shoot what I see and if it pleases me I post it. I write what I think and hope that someone will read it and find some value in it even if it is not technically perfect. I am a Realtor, not a writer or a photographer.

Thinking about good writing, good photos and perfect search engine optimization makes me crazy. (OK you no what I mean, we all know I am stark raving mad already) If I had really considered all of those things I never would have started a blog. Now that I have readers the writing is harder. I don't like to think about how many people read it each day.

Doing everything the way it is supposed to be done takes the joy right out of it for me. It isn't fun to worry about every sentence and every photo. Professors and photographers stop by and some times send me notes. So far they have been positive and they help me find the courage to do it all again the next day.

There are other things that I don't do perfectly, yet if it is something that I want to do I keep trying, practicing, or I get more education. It is the same with the blog, if I had let my inability to write stop me I would have missed out on opportunities that I am really happy to have had.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy doing it. My strategy is to spend more time doing it than thinking about it or planning it out. I don't worry about what other bloggers are doing, or what I am supposed to do. I just try to improve my own personal best. Just do it, or at least try it. If it were easy I would not be nearly as rewarding. The risk involved in writing on the internet seems small in comparison to the risks most of us take each day as 100% commission based sales people responsible for representing others in the biggest purchases or sales of their lives. real estate is not for wimps.

Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.  

Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

—

Thank you Teresa.  As always, it’s a pleasure having you 'on the Vine'.

Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

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Tags:  writing+a+blog, real+estate+blogging, teresa+boardman, blogging+advice

Nine Months Of Real Estate Blogging A Celebrity Will You Make

We are so proud of our first Real Estate Tomato Graduate, Gena Riede. This hot house tomato has just leaped from her keyboard to the television.

This past weekend, Gena was interviewed by Channel 13, CBS, in her home town of Sacramento, CA.  The piece ran on both Friday the 21^st and Saturday the 22^nd.

She owes her new found celebrity to her hard work, timely advice, and her real estate blog: SacramentoRealEstateVoice.com.

Anchor Kris Pickle contacted Gena directly, after noticing an article she had posted to her blog called: Sacramento Foreclosure Auction Looking for Suckers!  Apparently Kris and her team loved the piece and wanted to have Gena give her two cents, forewarning potential bidders for an upcoming property auction in the city.

To watch the piece that appeared on the evening news click here.
To read Gena’s account check out her post on the event here.

In addition to her appearance on the local news, her blogging has continued to pay off in other means as well.  Through her blog, she receives regular inquiries for her services as a real estate broker and has surged to the front page of Google for dozens of desired search phrases, including: Sacramento Real Estate. 

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Tags:  gena+riede, sacramento+real+estate, real+estate+blog

Inman Announces 2007 Innovator Award Finalists - Tomato Makes The List

Inman has just announced the 39 real estate, technology and media companies that are competing for the coveted 2007 Inman Innovator Award, and we have been lucky enough to make the short list.

We are so honored!

Winners are scheduled to be announced during the annual Real Estate Connect Technology Conference, in San Francisco Aug. 1-3.

We have been named, along with thirty-nine other real estate, technology and media firms as finalists, including John L. Scott Real Estate, Fidelity National Information Service, the BloodhoundBlog, Trulia and Zillow.

An excerpt from the original Inman press release states:

The Inman Innovator Awards recognize companies that use technology and innovation to enhance the real estate transaction and experience for consumers and real estate professionals. In addition, one individual who embodies the spirit of innovation in real estate is honored each year.

There are 5 categories for which the finalists will be competing:
(Finalists are shown in no particular order)

Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise

Coldwell Banker
John L. Scott Real Estate
Real Living
Foxtons
The Corcoran Group
Iggys House
@Properties

Most Innovative Web Service

Point2 Technologies' National Listing Service
Trulia Voices
Zillow Q&A
vFlyer
Wellcomemat
Cyberhomes
HUD's Neighborhood Networks
FTC's Competition in Real Estate Web resource
HAR.com (Houston Association of Realtors)

Most Innovative Technology

Google Street View
Meebo
Jott
MyBlogLog
Talkshoe
Altos Research's Market Widget
Xpressdocs
RealTech

Most Innovative Blog

Real Estate Tomato
Transparent Real Estate
Patrick.net
Mortgage Fraud Blog
Bloodhound Blog
Calculated Risk
Redfin's Sweet Digs blogs
3 Oceans Real Estate
Real Estate Competition and the Law

Most Innovative Media Site

Active Rain Real Estate Network
Business Week's Hot Properties
New York Times' Real Estate Site
Wall St. Journal's RealEstateJournal.com
Curbed.com's real estate network
"60 Minutes" Multimedia Article/Segment Site

Congratulations to all the finalists, and especially to our friends at Bloodhound, Transparent, 3 Oceans, ActiveRain, Altos Research, VFlyer, and Point2.  Best of luck to you all.

Related Must Read
Jim Cronin to Speak Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2007

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Tags:  inman+innovator+awards, inman+real+estate+connect, Real+Estate+Connect+SF

Real Estate Agent 2.0 - Defined

It seems the more I try to participate here on the my own blog, the more I am presented with great content that I know our readers will enjoy.  Today, we are introducing yet another new member of the Vine, Mr. Steve Groves.  His topic: Agent 2.0.  Grab a coffee, this is another great ride.

Agent 2.0 - Defined
By Steven Groves

Jim Cronin and I have connected at various levels and he’s allowed a posting of the manifesto of Agent2.0 here at the Tomato and I am grateful. 

 

Premise of Agent2.0 – the ‘Duh’ Statement

The sale of real estate is / has changed significantly in the last several years.  The major shift is the immediate and widely available access to multiple listing service (MLS) data.  MLS data was at one time the exclusive domain of the real estate professional, who acted as the gatekeeper of the data to the public, MLS data is now freely and readily available.

While not completely understood, this shift in the access to data appears to have mandated that the agent extend themselves to utilize the Internet to better undertake their responsibilities.  The major areas of change have to do with data. 

The Internet is rich with data of all kinds; data on homes for sale, for rent, for lease, land for sale, commercial property for big business, small business and more.  The information about specific neighborhoods in major cities is beginning to cascade into the web, entered by real estate professionals, citizens, cities and individuals for all kinds of reasons.  The drive appears to be heavily centered around the use of social media technology and the next generation of Internet users who are growing up with the web as a natural, normal part of their lives.

 

Agent2.0 – the Model and Implementation Outline

Agent2.0 is a framework against which vendors of online technologies for the real estate community can insert themselves to the benefit of the agent in connecting with their clients and prospects.  A fundamental characteristic is that the tool set is either completely or mostly online.  Online = good in Agent2.0.

The major categories of the business model are designed to a) promote and enforce contact with the clients and prospects and 2) develop social capital that is meaningful or useful in the sale of real estate.  The non-exclusive (they will overlap) business model categories today are -

Public exposure,
Social media tools,
Self generation of leads,
Inter-agent communication,
Personal presence and
Mobile connectivity

I’ve been writing on Agent2.0 for a while now and finally felt the model was baked enough for disclosure.  It is however, a work in progress and I suspect it will never be completely defined, particular to the individual and the market – but here is what we have so far for the first installment.

Data Defines The Agent2.0 – No Longer A Gatekeeper Of Data, But A Data Engine

I had a friend of mine yesterday who reviewed the Agent2.0 material already posted at my blog and said he felt a rant coming on (that may / may not make it to their blog).  The post would cite that the changes in the industry were now making a real estate professional earn his keep vs. a real estate license providing permission to withhold MLS data.  They also felt that for the compensation, it was an appropriate change – I’m not going to take a position on the comment other than to continue to cite the changes and identify what the Agent2.0 will need in my opinion. 

If the agent of the future is no longer a conduit to MLS data, because it’s now freely available, I see the most important functions will be to:

Gather data more effectively and more deeply than their client
Manage data more effectively and have it present during interaction
Present data in the form of information in more meaningful ways

This is just the starting point though – the new real estate agent will collect and manage data more effectively.  They need to give away their hard fought knowledge – this is contrary to so much of what the Baby Boomer generation has been taught, but in the connection to Gen Y and Gen X and the tween’er and beyond – it will be essential.  Sharing and transparency are hallmarks of the social media movement and the only real way to establish social capital that is meaningful.

 

Sharing Begets Social Capital = Earned Believability

Social media demands that social capital accompany the message.  Social capital is not lightly earned either.   It accrues over time and is particular to readers and participants in social media phenomenon and impacts the believability of the publisher – which is you, the real estate professional.  Jeff Tomlin / Point2 Technologies, in a recent podcast cited (and I paraphrase) that social capital has both a consumer-facing and a back-end function, impacting the relationship between agents. 

On the agent side, if they do not believe your business operation fits theirs, they will deny connections and visibility via their efforts; if they do believe in you, the synergy of the relationship can be formidable.  Consumers also must find your presence comfortable, believable and approachable.

I use Twitter and tweet two to four times a day as a minimum – why?  I believe it impacts social capital in a meaningful way. As people see the tweets, they begin to recognize that I am a regular guy; going to Home Depot like they do, watching movies like they do and working – like they do.  They begin to see me not just through my web site, which I hope looks professional, but they also see that I live a regular life – people like people who look like them and will do business with them. 

Social capital makes an online persona, more human and approachable.

 

Is Social Media More Than A Fad? What Is Social Media Anyway?

Last question first, it’s the easiest – these are the five most popular social media tools.  Here is an online definition of each.

Blogging
Podcasting
Online video
Social networking
Wikis

When coordinated and connected, they provide an online environment that can better connect the real estate professional to their clients/prospective clients better than ever before.

But is it a fad? – maybe; predicting the future is real hard. I remember when those of us in business computing saw the IBM PC come to market (ok, ok – it was 1981 – I’m old(er) allright!!); we all chuckled and suggested people should bring a joystick and play the games that were sure to come – after all they were just a fad, not nearly powerful enough to run a real business application... hmmm, how do you connect to the Internet today?  Do you have a Mainframe in the second bedroom with a T1?  We were wrong and I learned then not to be so presumptive about what the future holds.  Regarding the melding of Web2.0 and it’s impact on real estate, I think we’re pretty solid – and I am an advocate of social media and real estate.

Overall, most analyst do not think the changes in the way the Internet is being used is a fad.  According to Ryan Buchanan of eROI, they predict that social media will continue to blossom, but will essentially serve more and more of a niche market – in real estate, we are seeing tighter and tighter specialization in cities, towns and neighborhoods emerge.  Those who have jumped on the social media bandwagon are becoming well respected for their connections and contributions to their geographic areas of specialization – and it is translating into a very successful business for industry practicioners.

Exploring Agent2.0 – To Be Continued…

Social media is just one element of course – there are other underpinnings that the Agent2.0 needs to address; contact management, sales performance, personal presence and just the drive to be the best.  More on that as we expose the Agent2.0 model, identify the tools and some of the best Agent2.0 implementations on the planet.

I do have more comments and a lot of the precursor work posted on my blog at www.StevenGroves.com and will continue working both locations, my blog and here at the Tomato Patch – so long as Jim will allow.
—
Thanks Steve!

Steven Groves is Director of Marketing for a real estate brokerage in Phoenix Arizona, a technologist of 20 years in software and an entrepreneurial consultant on technology-based marketing and sales. 

He posts at his blog, www.StevenGroves.com regularly about real estate technology, marketing and Second Life, an online 3D community emerging as the next interface to the Internet. 

Steve is the developer of Agent2.0 the model of the real estate agent of the future and founder of InterReality Advocates in Second Life, promoting the connection between Second Life and Real Life as a platform for business and education.

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Tags:  agent+2.0, social+media, social+capital, real+estate+agent

Real Estate Blog Articles Are Now Appearing On MySpace

Shortly after posting the article before this one (Should MLS Brokers Be Allowed To Blog About Other MLS Broker's Listings?) I noticed a good amount of traffic coming in from a source I had not seen before: MySpace.
Had someone hijacked the article?
Was someone reproducing a feed on their MySpace page?

It was MySpace News Beta – Real Estate.

The usual suspects, along with some Trump and a couple of mainstreamers make up the front page Top 15.  I was honored to be in the bunch, but it left me wondering, who selects what is newsworthy for MySpace, and how long have they been at it?

Rain City Guide
Real Estate Tomato
The Trump Blog
BloodhoundBlog
Blueroof Blog
The Real Estalker
Sellsius Real Estate Blog
The Real Estate Bloggers
The Housing Bubble
CNBC
RealEstateJournal.com
CondoDomain
Real Estate Undressed
Zillow Blog
Real Estate Marketing Blog

The ‘news’ is presented in a Digg-like fashion, offering the chance to ‘vote’ an article’s value.  But, unlike Digg, it seems you don’t even have to have a membership to give your opinion.  I see gaming of the system.

Also, unlike Digg, MySpace creates a link that is not a direct URL to the original article.
(Example: http://news.myspace.com/business/realestate/item/6586871) So, using the link’s location in a post such as this one, sends the traffic back through the MySpace servers.

I poked around some, trying to see if there was much of a buzz on the topic, but mostly came up short.  Have I missed something?

Tags: MySpace+News, Real+Estate+Blogging

Should MLS Brokers Be Allowed To Blog About Other MLS Broker's Listings?

New RET contributor, Edde Anderson, of CF Anderson & Co., jumps into the Tomato Patch in controversial form.  Edde and I were talking about the topic of this post the other day, and figured it would make for great blog fodder this weekend.  Enjoy, and thanks Edde!

Should MLS Brokers Be Allowed To Blog About Other MLS Broker's Listings?
By Edde Anderson

Wow! Let’s give all give a hand for the question of the year.

A recent article posted by Inman News on June 12, 2007 reported that the controversial discount real estate brokerage Redfin revived its Sweet Digs blogs after having to shut it down due to an MLS rule violation. The rule basically prohibits brokers from advertising other broker’s listings.

So that leads me to heart of the question: Should MLS brokers be allowed to blog about other MLS broker’s listings?  In order to answer the question, we should probably explore the why’s.

Why Would I Want to Blog about the Competition’s Listings?

Say you were a buyer’s agent and you were looking to generate a database of Buyer Only clients. In any normal circumstance, you would go out on tour, preview the homes and then return to the office to call or email all of your clients and let them know what you saw that day.  It should be reasonably assumed that you would give your clients a professional and honest opinion of the homes. Especially concerning the conditions and how well they are priced. Right?

So why not provide your clients a service on your site that basically does the same thing. Your clients would love it. Blogging about properties would bring value to you as an agent by providing up-to-date rich content on exactly what your clients are looking for… A home.

From a consumer point of view, I have to admit that I would be all over that. If my Realtor fed me up-to-date information about homes on the market in my area, with a touch of professional opinion, I would be their client for life.

Would Blogging About the Competitions’ Listings be a Conflict of Interest?

Potentially… Seeing as I am not an attorney, I could not say legally, however, if you are a listing agent trying to promote your own listings and decided to blog about the neighbor’s house down the street, which is listed with another broker and all you blog about are the negative attributes of the home, it might be considered a little biased. It might even be slanderous, defamatory, or just plain unethical.

So unless you can keep it completely unbiased, it may not be worth your time as an agent if your niche is primarily listing properties.

After perusing Redfin’s Sweet Digs sites for San Francisco and Seattle, all I noticed were open houses, neighborhood reviews, price reductions or Redfin’s “most clicked on properties”. I did not see anything that struck me as overly defamatory or slanderous about the homes. Then again, I am not the home owner. Admittedly I did not go much further than the first pages. From what I understand, the reviews were much more “insightful” before they shut the site down the first time.

As real estate and technology professionals, I would love to here your comments and opinions on this topic.

Related Must Reads:
Blogging Your Listings
13 Ways To Post Your Listings For Free

Edde Anderson is an exceptionally professional Realtor in El Dorado County, CA. 

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Tags: redfin, blogging+listings

Blog Chiclets: What Are All Those Colorful Banners In Your Sidebar?

Chris Hotz, the director of our education division is back with a handy overview of why bloggers use so many chiclets on their real estate blog. 

Blog Chiclets: What Are All Those Colorful Banners In Your Sidebar?
By Chris Hotz

I love candy.  If you read my last article, then you already know that. 
So it shouldn't surprise you to hear I like chiclets.  No, not that kind of chiclet.  I am talking about this type of chiclet:

You've seen them.  Every blog seems to have at least one.  The weird, orange icon that represents a site offering an RSS Feed is universally recognized by all who participate in blogging.  This did not occur by accident.  On December 14, 2005, however, Microsoft (are they still the authority?) decided to adopt the icon originally introduced by Firefox.

So What Is A Chiclet?

According to Wikipedia a chiclet or chicklet "is a small icon adjacent to a blog post, article or web page that indicates the availability of an RSS feed".

While this is somewhat true, a chiclet can indicate a lot more than just an RSS feed.

• A chiclet can represent that a site that offers an RSS feed -   
• A chiclet can represent the designer of a website -
• A chiclet can represent a social bookmarking site that the blog can be submitted to –
• A chiclet can be used as a tool to provide site traffic information - 
• A chiclet can represent pinged sites - 
• A chiclet can represent networking sites - 
• A chiclet can let users know which directories your site belongs to -  
• A chiclet can be used to vote for your favorite blogger -

• A chiclet can be used to show visitors your certifications -

• You can even build your own chiclets.

Do you need all of these tiny, colorful, bumper-stickers all over your blog?  Heck no... You probably don't even need most of them.  Yet, nonetheless, just like bumper stickers on a pick-up, everywhere you turn, another turns up.

Some Pro’s
1. Colorful additions to your blog’s sidebar and/or footer.  The pillow on the couch so-to-speak.
2. Many directories require their chiclet to be posted on your blog to validate your membership.
3. Rankings and reader counts can illustrate your competitiveness and readership rates letting others know they have come to a ‘popular’ destination.
4. The ‘call to action’ for social bookmarking and voting is more likely to stick.

Some Con’s
1. Colorful additions can disrupt the ‘zen’ of your blog’s appearance.
2. Multiple chiclets will confuse newbies, distracting them from the content that brought them there.
3. Poor ranking and low reader counts can have you appearing ‘less than popular’
______
Thanks Chris!

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Tags: chicklets, chiclets, rss+icon

Know The Facts: Proprietary Vs Open Source In Real Estate Web Design

One of the least understood, yet most important elements when choosing your web design provider is knowing the difference between purchasing a proprietary product and an open source product. 

 Now that the internet is literally driven by open source (Wordpress, Firefox, Joomla, Thunderbird, Linux, Apache, MySQL, phpBB, OpenOffice.org, OSWD, WikiMedia, and more.) consumers have better, more affordable options and more effective tools for their needs. 

Don't find yourself handcuffed to a product or company that has developed a limited and expensive solution for your current needs.  Open source grows with you, and your options for service and development are approaching limitless.

Know the facts:

1. Ownership
Do you own the elements that make up your real estate website, blog or blogsite?

Open Source:

In most cases, yes, you do own all the elements of your site.
You have dominion over the code, graphics, functionality and content.
The site can in fact be in your copyright.

Proprietary:

You never own all the elements of the site.  Your relationship to the site is in essence just 'renting'.
The code and functionality of the site are the core elements that you do not own.
Images and content are commonly owned by the client.
Being proprietary to the web design firm, the site is in their copyright

Repercussions:

Scenario:
Something happens to the company that 'designed' your site (company is bought-out, folds, changes):
Result with Open Source: Your site can be easily moved to another host server without any loss whatsoever.
Result with Proprietary: At a minimum, you lose all the architecture, functionality and features of your site.

2. Hosting
Every site on the internet needs to be hosted somewhere, what are your options?

Open Source:

Most hosting companies have the capacity to host the database, code and content that make up your open source site.
Normally, for convenience sake and for easy access, your web design company will manage your hosting, but it is not obligatory
Hosting fees are normally minimal because there is no 'tie down'.
Email account management and domain forwards can be managed by client, or other.

Proprietary:

Proprietary software must be hosted by the company that owns the software.
Changing hosts is not an option.
Fees are determined by demand because there are no other competitors to their hosting services.
All email management and domain management must be done by company hosting the domain/site.

Repercussions:

Scenario:
Something happens to the company that 'designed' your site (company is bought-out, folds, changes):
Result with Open Source: Your site can be easily moved to another host server without any loss whatsoever.
Result with Proprietary: At a minimum, you lose all the architecture, functionality and features of your site.

3. Upgrades
The marketplace is always changing, is your site staying competitive?

Open Source:

Open source is exponentially improved.  Thousands of designers and coders are constantly improving on the core functionalities.
New versions are released regularly with one click upgrading.
Hundreds of custom plug-ins are being introduced annually, offering new functionalities all the time.

Proprietary:

Proprietary software only improves at the speed of the company's ability to compete.
Proprietary software only improves when the company recognizes the need to improve.
Upgrades must be performed by the software company.
Plug-Ins are only available if the design company develops them

Repercussions:

Scenario:
You experience something on the internet that a competitor has implemented to enhance their site.
Result with Open Source: If feasible,* any capable designer can add the improving feature and more to your site.
Result with Proprietary: Your site must exist within the bounds of the company's ability and flexibility.

4. Design Improvements:
Sometimes you just need a new design.  We all do.

Open Source:

Employ your designer to whip something up.
Give one of thousands of designers access to your site, and pay them to give you that perfect new look.

Proprietary:

Employ your designer to whip something up.
Cross your fingers and hope that a new designer can work within your web design company's unique format.

Repercussions:

Scenario:
It's time for a change, and you don't want to work with the same designer you did the first time.
Result with Open Source: Any capable designer can work over open source and build you your vision.
Result with Proprietary: Some proprietary code will not be flexible enough to accept unique designers' themes.

5. Cost:
It's really all about the value, not the cost, nor the sales pitch.

Open Source:

Most open source is free or close to free.
Invest your money in truly custom designs and unique code development and organization for your needs.
Service fees are performed at a competitive rate because of the 'openess' of the site's architecture.
Any capable designer and/or coder can make the changes you require.

Proprietary:

Base fees for proprietary products are unavoidable.
Design fees and custom changes add to the overall cost.
Fees are determined by demand because the product is considered unique
Changes must be performed 'in-house', at their fees and pace.

Repercussions:

Scenario: There are better service providers, cheaper hosting, slick coders and creative designers that you want to take advantage of.
Result with Open Source: You can either work with the company that helped you develop your site originally, or employ any number of technicians to get the job done.
Result with Proprietary: You will to either work with the company that helped you develop you site originally, or start from scratch.

*Not all elements that are found online are transferable to all real estate websites.  IDX features, for example, vary from association to association.
Related Must Reads:
Open Source, Freely Taking Over The New World

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Tags: open+source, real+estate+web+design, proprietary+software

White Hat SEO for Real Estate Blogging and the Reciprocal Link

Chris Hotz, the director of our education division is back with some insight on a topic that has turning up quite regularly lately: Reciprocal Linking and it’s effect on Search Engine results.

White Hat SEO For Real Estate Blogging
By Chris Hotz

I never played on a baseball team growing up, but I loved when the little league baseball season started.  I loved baseball games because of the easy access to candy.

Every year when baseball season arrived I would hop on my bike, ride to the fields for the opening day pitch and dart straight for the club house to use up all my allowance on Big League Chew, Bottle Caps and Fun Dips.  I loved the sugar candy!  But by the last pitch of the season I was so sick (sometimes literally) of candy that I could not look at another Fun Dip bag full of red sugar.  I had eaten too much.

When many real estate agents purchase their first website, they too fall into the same trap of eating too much of a good thing.  And I can't blame them.

One of the first things a new real estate website owner does after purchasing their site is educate themselves on how to obtain good Search Engine Placement.  Realistic or not, the expectation is very common that they are going to be instantly be able to make the front page for the search terms they desire.

After doing some research and/or talking to a 'marketing consultant' they learn that one of the easiest and fastest ways of getting competitive placement in search engines is through reciprocal linking.  The routine is always the same: Set up a page on your template website (you know who you are) and just start a link exchange with other Realtors online (commonly  using the same template website company).  Another related quick fix is to get added to every web-directory that they can find.  Directories are useful, right?

What are their results?

• Months 1 through 6 - The website moves up quickly month by month.  First on MSN, then Yahoo and lastly receives at least long-tail placement on Google.
• Months 6 through 12 - Depending on how aggressive the Realtor is on creating reciprocal links, they slowly watch as their search engine placement dissipates while they scratch their head wondering what went wrong; they only did what they were told.

Why did this occur?

Listen up!

You get rankings by building a quality site.  Period.

The rule of thumb is: You will earn a good search engine placement by ignoring rankings jumps and concentrating on quality.  All of the advice webmasters give about SEO (and I give a lot!) is only to make you aware of some of the qualities search engines look for in a site.   

If you are reading this post, you most likely already have a blog or are interested in developing and maintaining a blog. An active blog (as opposed to a static blog) has powerful SEO naturally built into itself through:

Regular posting of unique content
Regular participation with others on your blog and in your blogging community.
Proper organization of your content
Rich keyword headlines, titles and articles.

Reciprocal linking (like candy) is not a terrible thing.  But do not create reciprocal links for the act of creating them.  The guideline should be that you are only doing so when the relationship you are building with the other business or site is real and beneficial for your visitors.

Too much of (what tastes like) a good thing can cause you harm in the long-run.
__

Bonus – What is White Hat?

Other Articles By Chris Hotz

Related Must Reads:
Category: Search Engines

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Tags:  seo+advice, real+estate+blogging, search+engine+placement, reciprocal+linking, link+exchanges

Why Real Estate Blogging Is Like Golf.

9 observations of how publishing your real estate mind is like mastering a game of patience and grace.

1. You are competing against yourself.
In golf there is no other responsible for your successes failures.
Blogging is no different.  Your search engine presence, traffic and leads are all dependent on your performance.  The more you play, embrace your strengths, improve on your weaknesses and learn from those that are better, the more effective you will become.

2. It’s not how you get the ball in the hole, it’s if you do.
It's not how you generate leads and business through blogging, it's if you do.
There are a lot of 'right' ways to to get business from your site.  Listen when you are attracted to what you see as sound advice.  Recognize what’s working for you, and duplicate that.

3. The better you are, the less important the equipment becomes.
Tiger will out play you with just his putter; no driver, no irons, just the flat stick.
Have you seen Seth Godin’s blog? Just the flat stick. 

4. Put together a couple shots and you’ll still have a good hole.
An errant drive can be recovered with a strong iron; an ill approach can be saved with a delicate pitch; one-putt and you’ve made up for that bunkershot.
When blogging, as long as the topic is solid and attractive, every point made doesn’t have to be absolutely polished.  A couple great observations, or nuggets of knowledge will carry it through.

5. Drive for show, putt for dough.
This common expression explains that, just because you can crush from the tee, it’s really your green work that will shave the strokes, keeping you competitive.
With blogging: Just because you can write a killer headline, it’s keeping the reader’s attention through to the end of the article that proves its worth.

6. Play within the limits of your game.
Golf will beat you if you press.  Going for it usually adds up to more strokes and penalties.
Similarly, if you don’t have a poetic command of the English language, don’t press.  Leave the thesaurus on the shelf, and just write it the way you’d say it.

7. Approach each putt from all angles.
Hastily hitting a putt leaves you open for surprises on the path to the hole.
Blogging topics should be contemplated, analyzed and refined.  Leaving yourself open for surprises in the comments that discredit your post is never a good thing.

8. Golfing is social.  Play nice and honest.
When your phone stops ringing to be part of a regular foursome, it’s because of your behavior.
Keeping your cool in the comments and on the blogosphere is crucial for maintaining face online.  Your written words can last forever online, be certain that what you write will be construed with its intention.

9. Etiquette is expected.
You can always tell the new guy on the golf course; he’s stepping on your putting line, teeing off out of turn and ignoring his divot.
Beyond spellcheck, it may do you proper to spend some time reading and learning from the behavior of the seasoned bloggers before jumping into the ring.  A gaffe won’t have you expelled, but heads-up play can save you from some embarrassment and eye-rolling. 
Leaving this one off after nine holes to go in and get lunch at the turn.  Any other golfing bloggers out there have some suggestions for the back nine?

Related Must Reads:
The Back Nine – Why Real Estate Blogging Is Like Golf
Tiger Woods Would Beat Me With A Broomstick

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Tags: golf+blogging, real+estate+blog, blogging+advice

For Immediate Release - Jim Cronin to Speak at Inman News Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2007

Paradise, CA – June 15^th, 2007 – Jim Cronin, owner of Real Estate Tomato, will be a featured speaker at Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2007 this August 1st, at 11AM. He will speak on “Show Me The Leads”. The complete speaker lineup and program details are available at http://www.realestateconnect.com/sf07.

Hosted by Inman News, Real Estate Connect is the premier executive gathering for everything related to real estate, technology and digital media. This year's event will draw upwards of 1500 mega-agents, top brokers, technologists, opinion leaders, entrepreneurs, decision makers, press, analysts and investors from across the country. RE Connect SF ‘07 takes places August 1 – 3 at The Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

“We pride ourselves on attracting the most dynamic and captivating speakers in the industry, and Jim Cronin certainly fits that description,” said Bradley Inman, Founder and Publisher of Inman News (http://www.inman.com). “Past speakers have included Seth Godin, Barry Diller, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Google co-founder Larry Page, and Priceline.com chairman Rick Braddock.”

Real Estate Connect SF ’07 also includes four pre-conferences: Internet Marketing Bootcamp, Connect TECH, Broker Internet Session and Bloggers Connect. Registration for the event runs until July 24th, 2007.

About Real Estate Tomato
Real Estate Tomato, The Blog
"The Real Estate Tomato is the destination for new agents or seasoned real estate pros to gain knowledge on how to best leverage the Internet as an effective marketing tool. We focus on blogging advice, emarketing, search engines and email marketing.” The Tomato has just recently been recognized by Realtor Magazine as one the Top 5 must read real estate blogs.

Real Estate Tomato, The Business
We are a leading provider of custom developed real estate blogsites. The element of our business model that has us standing out is that we not only provide our clients with unique and robust blogging platforms, but we also ensure your blogging success through intense training. Our clients are enrolled in 13 hours of personal training to develop their writing, marketing, formatting, networking and site management skills in order to make them A-List real estate bloggers.

About Real Estate Connect
Real Estate Connect (www.inman.com/connectsf) is the premier real estate, mortgage and technology conference, drawing the industry’s most influential decision makers, opinion leaders and technology experts into an active forum for discussion and debate.
The event is organized and produced by Inman News (www.inman.com), the nation's leading independent media news service and licensed content provider for the real estate, mortgage and real estate technology sectors. Inman’s clients and partners include 50,000+ Web sites and 250+ U.S. newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Washington Post, Denver Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, Comcast Spotlight, The Wall Street Journal Online, CBS MarketWatch, and many more.

# # #

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Tags: inman+news, real+estate+connect, bloggers+connect, RE+Connect+SF+‘07

How Google Reads Your Real Estate Blog

This article has been provided by our Director Of Education & Training, Chris Hotz.  Thanks, Chris!

Everyone wants their real estate blog to appear on the first page of a Google's SERP.  

Why not? 

You're the best real estate agent in your area on the web, right? 
Of course you are...

Yet when you consider that a search of "real estate" in Google currently brings up 312,000,000 results you must realize that you will have to do a little more than just throw your site into the mix.

The Oompa Loompas in the mysterious Google factory work hard everyday to make sure users are returned the most relevant search results when a query is created.  Much like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, few outsiders are allowed within the confounds where Google engineers are constantly strategizing better methods to organize data and spit out the best results for your queries. 

Until now...

Recently Google allowed a New York reporter within their factory to sit in on a "confidential quality meetings at Google".  You can read the article here at the New York Times.  While no great secret was unveiled to Saul Hansen during his visit, his article does illustrate the complexity of search and reinforces those qualities that we do know Google looks for when determining whether your blog receives the placement it deserves.

Here are two specific factors that Google is looking at that one can argue bloggers have the most amount of control over.  These items also seem to be 'staples' within the algorithm, making them a constant factor in your success.

• PageRank

PageRank is not determined by pigeons.  As Google explains it, "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives...Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

With PageRank, five or six high-quality links from websites such as www.cnn.com and www.nytimes.com would be valued much more highly than many links from less reputable or established sites.  You can increase the number of inbound links your site receives by participating within the blogosphere through value filled comments.  For more information about how to write comments that get read, The Secret to Successful Comments.

• Keywords

Content, content, content.  Keywords are the bread and butter of how your site appears in SERP's.  Every post you write is new content.  Every comment left on your blog is new content.  Google looks at many factors to decide how the words on your site are relevant to the users query.

• Location:  Where are those keywords placed within your website?  Keywords are given more relevance in the title of your article than in the body.  This applies to your category titles as well.  I like to use the example of "Blogging Advice" with clients.  On the first page of Google results you will find the Real Estate Tomato's category entitled "Blogging Advice". 
  Although none of the titles of the articles Jim has written actually contain the words "blogging advice" it is the strength of the number of articles that fall under that appropriately named category that have propelled him to the first results page for the term.
  
• Intersecting a Posting List:  When someone searches for "real estate blogging advice" Google first finds all the pages they have indexed that contain one or more of those words in no particular order.  So every page with "real", "estate", "blogging" and "advice" is pulled from their index. 
  
  After this Google must decide which of these pages deserve the highest ranking.  To do this they look for pages with all four of these words after which they rank those pages that use all four of those words in the same order as the query with higher placement.  Again, location of these keywords matter as well.  For more information read this article from Matt Cutts.
  

There are over 200 factors Google looks at when determining which pages should get top placement under certain queries. 

Most of the factors Google uses in their algorithm will never be made public and are always changing.  This post's aim is to illustrate two of the most natural ways you can positively affect your search engine success.

Write and participate.  If you do these two things your site will naturally earn good search engine placement, with time. 

Related Must Reads
Your Blog Is An Army
He Asked Me, "Why Am I Blogging?"
Search Engines Are Up For Grabs
SEO Can Be Snake Oil - Part 3
SEO Can Be Snake Oil - Part 2
SEO Can Be Snake Oil - Part 1

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Tags: Real+Estate+SEO, real+estate+blogging, blogging+advice

The Little Real Estate Blogger That Could

One of the biggest advantages to breeding A-List Real Estate Bloggers, is that now I have an army of talented and savvy bloggers willing to contribute incredibly useful content to the Tomato.

Today’s debut comes to us from Denver, CO; Jennifer Steck is the author of new launched CentralDenverBlog.com.  She has put together a piece relating her anxieties of trying the wrangle the blog as a real estate marketing tool.  I think most looking into real estate blogging for the first time can surely relate.

The Little Real Estate Blogger That Could
By Jennifer Steck

I think I can...I think I can...

After doing a lot of research on technology and rainmaking for real estate, I decided late last year that a blog was the way to go to become a valued community resource in my area.

A link led to an article from Inman News about blogging. Who's name should come up but the Tomato man. So began my journey with the usual challenges of a new project.

The Software Learning Curve  

I've found the software learning curve to be a climb. I've lived through the usual glitches and bugs involved in bringing up a new program. I've sat at my computer almost in tears when I've created problems I couldn't fix. While issues still occur on occasion, most of them self imposed, the problems are not at the same level as they were just a couple of months ago.

My biggest lesson? Walk away before you throw your computer out the window.  

I remember the early conversations when Jim, in his excitement, would go on and on about blogging and how things worked and I was lost after the first three words.  UH HMMM! Can you tell me what you meant when you said RSS Feed? What about that social bookmarking thing? I felt kind of bad for him.

I think I can...I think I can... 
 
Putting it on Electronic Paper

Writing the blog articles has actually been pretty enjoyable. It's posting them so other people can read my words that is difficult. It's one thing to take my writing and show it to a friend and a completely different thing to spread it out where millions of people have access. Okay...maybe just twenty or thirty… I'm still new.

My most embarrassing moment so far is my posting, With All Due Respect. I was very emotional as I wrote it and really struggled to make the words convey clearly what I wanted to say.  When I finally posted it, the first comment made on Active Rain said something like, "Great article, but you may want to change it to Memorial Day, not Veteran's Day." I still turn red when I think about it. I'm glad the first person was kind enough to correct me instead of finding out I made a mistake after 1,000 people looked at it. I thought about deleting his comment after I fixed the post, but I figured we all have those kinds of days and other people would understand.

I think I can.. I think I can...

Somebody Say Something

"I'm not getting any comments!" There was a pause at the other end before Jason (one of the Tomatoes) suggested I start commenting on other people's blogs. Oh...I get it. Quid pro quo. Now, I just needed to get over the intimidation of commenting on someone else's blog.

One of my comments on another blogger's site had this kind of response from another reader, "I was just going to make fun of Jennifer's comment, then I went to her site." So, I had made a "duh uh" kind of comment, but I'm really glad he liked my site. Thanks for looking.  Value added comments make for valuable visits… I get it.

I think I can...I think I can...

If Only the Neighbors Knew

Getting the word out in my local community is a challenge.  I've sent out the information to my farm area and sphere of influence and there has been a bit of a spike in my visitor numbers. 

Note: The spike in visitors on my site has resulted in my passing the twenty visitors a day for two days in a row. I am very excited. (I think I was probably four or five of those visits each day, but who is counting… besides me?)

I think I can...I think I can...

This whole world of blogging is new to me, but I love my site and I'm enjoying the interaction with blogging professionals. I promise to do my best to add good comments, but an occasional "duh" may still occur. I haven't had any business calls just yet, but I know they’re coming. I may be the tortoise in the blogging race, but I'm in for the long haul.

I'll check back in a year and let you know how this future seasoned veteran is doing.

I think I can....I think I can...
__

Thanks Jennifer, welcome to the vine.

Jennifer is an exceptionally professional and focused Realtor servicing the Central Denver area. 
Her blogsite: http://www.CentralDenverBlog.com
Her website: http://www.RockyMountainHomeScapes.com

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Tags: Jennifer+Steck, real+estate+blogging, denver+real+estate+blog

Inman News Holds Project Blogger Conference - Listen In!

Today, at 11AM PST, Inman News and 4 Guest Speakers From Project Blogger will be discussing “Building from the Ground Up. Real Experiences Starting a Real Estate Blog from Scratch.”.

The best part, you can join in to the chat and listen in to the call.
In advance of the show:

Please visit www.talkshoe.com, Sign Up, and Pick a PIN (part of the Sign Up process).

It will take about 30 seconds and it's free. (Note: Software download is NOT REQUIRED. Feel free to skip that step unless you want to ask questions by text-chat.)

At the time of the show or up to 15 minutes early:

Call 724-444-7444 and follow the audio prompts.

Enter the Talkcast ID: 32606

Enter your PIN (which you chose at Sign Up -- it's likely your own phone number).

So, who’s talking?

Hosted and Moderated By:
Jessica Swesey – Managing Editor from Inman News

Jackie Colson-Miller (Apprentice)
Jackie Colson-Miller is a 13 year veteran in the Real Estate Industry. Originally from New England, she has lived and studied in Switzerland, has a B.A. from Providence College, Providence, RI, and was recently awarded the Certified International Property Specialist Designation (CIPS). Working with a heavily international clientele, Jackie works in the Tampa Bay area, as well as International Relocation. Jackie’s blog is  www.realestatesizzle.com

Jim Cronin (Coach)
Jim Cronin, author and creator of the popular Real Estate Tomato blog. Having helped thousands of Realtors embrace the internet as an effective marketing tool over the last 7 years, Jim has developed a blog, a company and a product on the premise that the best service is through education.

Julie Ferenzi (Apprentice)
Julie is a Realtor with JP Realty Group in Illinois, and prior to her career as an agent she spent 3 years working as a real estate investor’s apprentice. She is the busy mom of four great kids. She loves real estate and working with people and is a new blogger and a new agent, and so far loves them both too. Julie’s blog is www.livinginplainfield.com

Jeff Turner (Coach)
Jeff Turner is a serial entrepreneur and is currently President of  RealEstateShows.com. Throughout his career, Jeff has excelled at bringing extraordinary vision, creativity and innovative solutions to challenging situations. Jeff only recently started blogging but sees many similarities between what makes a good entrepreneur and a good blogger. Jeff blogs at  http://activerain.com/blogs/respres

For more info, visit the official page for this conference at Inman News.

Note: If you encounter problems, call TalkShoe technical support at 724-935-8265 or email support@talkshoe.com.

If you miss the live call, you can always listen to it after the fact. You can download and listen to an MP3 podcast using your favorite music player (like iTunes) or stream it over the internet. Click here to access all recordings and features: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/32606

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Tags:  project+blogger, inman+news, real+estate+blogging, building+a+real+estate+blog

Two Blogging Widgets That A Real Estate Blogging Goddess Can't Live Without

Jim is not a fan of putting a lot of bling on the blog.  I agree with him but would like to mention two widgets that I can't live without. 

One of them is the MyBlogLog widget.  To get this widget sign up for an account, follow the instructions, grab the code and paste in in your sidebar.  It is a bit more complicated if you have a self hosted word press blog but the MyBlogLog site has instructions for those too.

Why do I like the MYBlogLog widget?
Because it shows me the faces of my friends.  I can see that they have stopped by.  I know people read my blog I can tell by the number of visits it gets.  Yet  it makes me smile when I see a familiar face on the widget.  Seeing those faces encourages me to do my best.  When I see an avatar that I don't recognize I click on it so that I can meet it's owner.  I have met some interesting people that way.  Blogs are considered social, take advantage of the opportunities to expand your sphere..

A blogger considering the MyBlogLog widget recently asked if there is a way to sneak around without being seen.  She feels compelled to leave a comment if she stops by.  Yes you can visit blogs without being seen by logging out of MyBlogLog.  I have to say I am never offended when I see a face but no comment, and am always happy to see the face, or tomato,  the comment is a bonus.

The other widget I can't live with out is the Criteo AutoRoll. 
If my readers are coming from other blogs I can see where they came from.  I am finding that they enjoy the same blogs that I do and have discovered blogs that I would not ordinarily look for or know about.  AutoRoll is easy to install.  Sign up for an account, grab the code and past it in the sidebar.  Watch the widget and click on the links.  I  promise you will be introduced to a new world.   They now run a post every month of the top 100 blogs  based on traffic.  A few of us Real Estate bloggers made the list.

As  Jim recommends keep the bling to a minimum.  Too much is confusing and it can slow things down.  There are blogs that take so long to load into my browser that I end up moving on without ever experiencing what had brought me there in the first place.
—

Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.  

Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

—

Thank you Teresa.  As always, it’s a pleasure having you 'on the Vine'.

Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

Tags: mybloglog, blog+widget, real+estate+blog, blogging+advice, teresa+boardman, autoroll

Real Estate Blogging Tips From A Rural Real Estate Blogger

One of the biggest advantages to breeding A-List Real Estate Bloggers, is that now I have an army of talented and savvy bloggers willing to contribute incredibly useful content to the Tomato.

Our newest contributor, Daniel Bates of MyMcClellanville.net, has had to take the load less traveled in the real estate blogosphere.  Rather than spoil it, I’ll let him tell it:

Real Estate Blogging Tips
From A Rural Real Estate Blogger
By Daniel Bates

Bright Lights, Big City

The 2000 census reports that 94.6% of the US is rural open space, yet 79% of the population live in that remaining 5.4% (Don’t you guys feel cramped?).  We can’t all live in the big city, and I gladly represent the 21% that said “thanks, but no thanks”.  My home town of McClellanville has a population hovering below 500 and relies on shrimping as it’s main source of income.  We draw a few tourists a day (more in the summer months) that come to enjoy our Spanish moss draped live oaks, historic homes, beautiful waterfront, and amazing seafood restaurants.  We have a blinking light, but not a stop light, and the closest grocery store is 25 miles away.  We live at a slower pace of life. 

A Country Boy Can Survive

There are thousands of small towns and rural areas across this great land of ours.  Each has it’s own set of local real estate agents who know the land better than any agent from the “big city”.  These “big city” agents often get a piece of the action though because they work with larger companies, have larger advertising budgets, and may be seen as more professional.  In order to overcome these setbacks you have to play up your own strengths.  Your biggest strength is your knowledge of the area.  As a local real estate agent you know the history of properties (not just what's on MLS), the market trends (without having them compiled), and what a property is really worth (without having to pull the comps).   A blog is a great way to exhibit your local knowledge in a professional way and have it seen by those who are looking in your area.  The following are rules to live by for the rural real estate blogger, but may also apply to urban bloggers.

Create an Online Community

Through blogging we all hope to create an online community, nowhere else is this more true than in rural blogging where your audience is already separated by more space than in the city.  In order to gain regular visitors or subscribed readers you need to provide a service that people will want to return over and over again to use.  Remember your greatest strength: Knowledge! Sharing your local knowledge is your service, but people don’t just want to know about real estate.  Fill them in on the local attractions, upcoming events, the latest news or issues.  Turn your site into an encyclopedia of your home town.   

Search Engine Advantage

Creating a site that shows up on the first page of a Google search for “New York Real Estate” is going to be a tall order.  However, it is possible to attain first page results for “insert your small home town's name here + real estate”.  This is where the relatively small amount of information on the internet about your town is to your advantage.   Depending on the size of your town and how often you are posting keyword-rich material, you should be able to capture first page SEO ratings within the first six months, leaving the keyword-weak, national companies’ sites in your dust.

Long Tail Search Hits 

Writing insightful articles on local attractions, events, and activities will actually get you more search results than “your small town name + real estate” ever will.  Many people come to my sight from searches for the nearby national forest, wildlife refuge, or our annual shrimp festival, all of which I wrote keyword-rich, specific content about.  A final item that will bring you a few more search results is a good directory of local businesses.  Write a review of all the restaurants, being sure to provide their contact information, and people will come looking for the phone number the first time, but will return when they want more in-depth local information.  

Low Tech Meets High Tech

So you’ve captured your out-of-town audience searching in your area, but what about the locals?  Locals don’t Google their own town name or even the local attractions, so getting their attention requires a different approach.   Develop a reason for them to go to your site and advertise it locally.  Befriend the local business owners and help them out whenever you can in exchange for the ability to leave advertising in their stores.  Restaurants are great places to distribute flyers because everyone’s got to eat (locals and tourists) and they are a captive audience.  Create attractive flyers that draw peoples’ attention and place them near the entrance, where people will pick them up while they’re waiting for a seat.  On my site, I have just created a forum with local discussion topics.  I gave local businesses a place to advertise for free and will encourage them to participate in local discussions (i.e. – local boat store and fishing guides responding to comments about fishing and boating and local restaurant owners posting their favorite recipes or answering cooking questions). 

Create a Buzz

Oddly enough, most people don’t randomly stumble upon your small town (while driving or on the internet). They hear about it from someone they know that lives there.  If that local person knows about your site, than you have a better chance that the person he is telling will know about it too.  Word of mouth advertising is your best friend.  If you are providing a good service then word will spread and you will get more visitors.  Keep in mind that building an online community where there has never been one before takes a lot of work and may or may not succeed despite your efforts.

Don’t Sell Out

You are a real estate agent, not an advertising agency.  You make your money from the sale of homes, not books on Amazon.com or getting people to click on other peoples sites.  Yes, you may make a few bucks from plastering ads on your site, but it is not worth the quality readers you will lose and the overall feel of your website being lowered.  Also resist the temptation to ask local businesses for their money, as I stated earlier both sides have much to gain from a reciprocal relationship.  If you believe that a business is doing something great than give them a free plug.  They’ll find out about your good deed and give you one in return. 

Your Name in Lights

If you take my approach and create a true community center, don’t over emphasize your real estate business.  Proudly display your name and contact information and make sure people know that you’re responsible for the site, but don’t mention real estate in every post and don’t have 20 different links to your contact form.  There is a fine line between enough and too much name dropping.  Try to keep in mind that you will have many readers who aren’t in the market for real estate, but someday they may be and if you have gained their trust as a source of information than they should choose you as their trusted real estate agent.

You Can Do It

Following these simple steps will have you jumping ahead of your competition in the search engines and will create a name for yourself as an expert in your field and as a local information source.  Always remember to keep the consumers needs and desires in mind.  Don’t be afraid to try new things, but if those fail, go back to what works.  Commit the time and energy your blog requires and you will see results in the long run.  Happy Blogging!
—
Portions of this article were inspired by other rural bloggers John Coley, LakeMartinVoice.com and Marty Van Diest, ValleyMarket.com.

Thanks Daniel, welcome to the vine.

Daniel Bates is an exceptionally professional and focused Realtor servicing the ‘small town’ of McClellanville, South Carolina. 
His website: http://www.MyMcClellanville.net
His local forum: http://www.mymcclellanville.net/forum/

Related Must Reads
Localism: Winning the Hearts and Minds

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Tags: real+estate+blogging, blogging+advice, small+town+real+estate+blog, mcclellanville

What Happens When You Take Two Weeks Off From Blogging?

It (fortunately) hasn’t gone unnoticed that there have been no published blog posts to the Tomato in over two weeks.  Have you ever wondered what the effects of not writing for two weeks on a regularly updated blog will have?  We can’t speak for you, but this is what has happened to us.

   Missing Person (Blogger) Alert

The very thoughtful concern for my well-being has been the most notable reaction to the absence of blogging here on Tomato.

Thanks to all of you whom expressed your sincere concern.  It is comforting to know that the friends I have made through blogging are just that, friends.

Traffic Slump

The daily traffic that is generated by the Tomato has taken a significant hit.  What was regularly 330-350 daily unique visitors is now hovering around 185.  That's a drop of nearly half.  At a quick glance, it appears that the traffic source that is holding strong is the Search Engines.  Google, which accounted for about 35% of daily traffic is now closer to 45%.  Not rocket science here, but it could be deduced that half that daily traffic was coming to read the articles we had published and syndicated.
Naturally, with the traffic slump comes the blog directory ranking slump as well.  What was normally a 25-28 placement ranking in BlogTopSites is now 41.  Being competitive, that one especially stings.

Comments Slump

Comments, after publishing an article range from 10–20 per article and 4–5 per day in between writing days.

During the last 2 weeks we have received 23 comments total.  This is encouraging, but, it is also safe to assume that this rate would continue to suffer the longer we delayed posting new content for our regular readers (whom leave most of the comments).

Motivation To Write

How quickly the blogging void was replaced by other efforts is staggering.  This is the challenge with balancing success and marketing.  When marketing works well, it seems that it is the first thing to be sacrificed, if it takes any effort.  My wife, who has been in the television sales industry for 7 years, suffers a similar fate once her clients achieve grand success with their commercials; once the business surged, the marketing budget and effort often dries up.  Now this is never wise, however convenient.  It is the marketing that had brought the success and should be seen as the source of continued success.  Pulling back on the effort that garnered the fruits will only leave you in yearning when the dust settles.
The further I got from writing, the less the desire came to me.  What used to be a regular offering, became a guilty inaction and finally a forgotten commitment.  The irony lies in the fact that I have over a dozen articles this close (hold index finger and thumb just a millimeter apart) to being polished for posting.

Business Inquiries

Fortunately, two weeks hasn't been enough to slow the request for service from the Tomato Team.  It seems the bank of content (250+ articles) is still hard at work while the distracted had moved on.  But, I can imagine, it would have been only a matter of time before the inactivity stated to take its toll.

RSS Feed Reader

Curiously today we are at one of our highest recorded reader rates of 1261, but the significant note is that we have note really grown in the last couple of weeks.  Since January we had been experiencing leaps as much as to 75-100 readers weekly.  Two weeks ago today we were at 1235.

Our business model is built on service and education.  As we grow, the commitment to both has its effects.  For the last two weeks that effect has been on our availability to participate on the Tomato creatively.  Our offerings are generally very intense.  "Mailing it in" is not an option.  Yet, nonetheless, neglecting the audience that has built our business, reputation and success is out of the question.  So, as much as this article may look to be a reflection in experiment, it is meant as a lesson to those slumping in their own efforts on their blogs to recognize that time off is a bad blogging habit.

Imagine your regularly updated real estate blogsite to be something of a regularly received publication like your local newspaper.  What effect on readership would a 2 or 3 week hiatus have? 

Related Must Reads:
Blogger Burnout – How To Avoid It
How Often Should I Blog?
The 10 Biggest Mistakes Made By Real Estate Bloggers
96% Of All Real Estate Blogs Will Fail
You Need To Lose 25 Pounds, And Your Blog Is Dead

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Tags: missing+blogger, real+estate+blogging