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March 30, 2008: Writing Your Real Estate Blog Primarily to Google is a Squandered Opportunity.
Comments: 29 | Categories: Blog Marketing , Blog SEO Advice , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Real Estate Blogging
Thanks to the recent frequency and quality of guest posts, I’ve had the pleasure of taking a little time off from shouldering the content on the Tomato. Keeping in stride, we have another treat for you. Todd Carpenter, ubiquitous RE.net participant, and owner and author of the globally appreciated mariah.com (a web 2.0 real estate network of websites), just emailed over this solid piece weighing the value of blogging for Search Engine exposure. Writing Your Real Estate Blog Primarily to Google is a Squandered Opportunity. By Todd Carpenter What’s the difference between a blogging expert and a real estate expert? Blogging experts may or may not understand how the real estate industry operates. Take, for example the theory forwarded that, for the sake of superior Google search results, bloggers should not write about their community. That instead, they should stick to posts that are only about real estate itself. You’ll...

March 26, 2008: Can My Real Estate Blog Help Me Talk Like a Woman?
Comments: 27 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Real Estate Blogging
John Coley, still my favorite Lake Martin, Alabama blogger, sent over this gem, and I couldn’t wait to post it for your enjoyment. Can My Real Estate Blog Help Me Talk Like a Woman? By John Coley I recently got rejected on a listing presentation, and it hurt. Unless you're a realtor that signs up 100% of your listing presentations, you know what I mean. This one was particularly painful because it was to list a couple's lake home and help them buy another. The combination of the two homes would have been about $2 million in gross sales, which buys a lot of groceries in Alabama. It also hurt because I felt I had a really good relationship with the husband. He contacted me out of the blue. We talked a lot. He liked the way I marketed other homes in the area. So I was surprised to hear...

March 6, 2008: Real Estate Blogging Business Plan For 2008 - Boots On the Ground Will Help You Find and Service Buyers
Comments: 18 | Categories: Blog Content Creation , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
The growth of Real Estate Blogging, although steady and noticeable, still has not lived up to the hype, and it never will. That’s not to say that it is being rejected as a competent means to the end: as an effective lead generation tool. In fact, we’re finding that blogging is not only keeping people in business, saving them marketing spend, and changing their outlook on real estate, but it is actually improving the industry. Anytime that you force an industry to establish, present, and defend opinion and insight, you’re heading in the right direction. The reason I feel that a rush to blogging as a marketing tool will never catch fire is because of a major deterrent called: Work. Writing for most is work. Sitting alone at a computer, being asked to pave the way to your marketing success through writing, is just not a reasonable endeavor for most....

February 24, 2008: 7 Reasons Why Your Local Real Estate Blogging Peers Are Not Your Competition
Comments: 22 | Categories: Blog Marketing , Blog Participation , Blog Writing Tips , Real Estate Blogging
Because the clients we work with have such a positive experience with their blogging, they commonly express the concern that they would prefer us to not educate others in their geographic areas of focus. Sometimes they ask in jest, other times they are actually dead serious and willing to pay for exclusivity. As unwise as this is from a business growth standpoint for us, this is not the reason I discourage this manner of thinking. Below are 7 arguments in favor of the growth of the real estate blogging community, in your town. And, selling more custom blogs and training is not one of them. 1. Coke Needs Pepsi. McDonalds Needs Burger King. Why? Because the consumer should not be discouraged to get more of what they want, just because they can't have their preferred product. Coke can't be in all places at all times. So Pepsi is there to...

January 23, 2008: Finding Your Voice as a Writer of a Real Estate Blog
Comments: 3 | Categories: Blog Content Creation , Blog Discipline , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Real Estate Blogging
Former real estate blogger Derek Burress who left blogging nearly four months ago to devote time to writing novels has kindly dropped by the Tomato to offer his advice on helping others find their writing voice. Writing at the Crossroads: Finding Your Voice as a Writer By Derek Burress Toni Morrison once said, "If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." Have you ever found yourself wanting to write a book or blog but found yourself not knowing what to write? If so, I have some good news for you. What should I write about? The answer to this question is simple; you should write about what?s been in front of you the entire time: the same stuff you enjoy reading. Write about the things you enjoy: If you enjoy reading romance novels, you should write romance novels....

January 22, 2008: Three Letters I Don't Think About When Writing A Post For My Real Estate Blog
Comments: 24 | Categories: Blog Content Creation , Blog Dos and Don'ts , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Real Estate Blogging , Teresa Boardman , Topics and Opinions
Our favorite “Tell-it-like-it-is” correspondent from the real estate blogosphere, Teresa Boardman, is back with her first Tomato contribution of 2008. Recently there has been some discussion as to what approach we should take when it comes to considering the search engines with a real estate blog article writing style. Teresa, a proven success with her straight forward approach, serves up a spoonful of perspective, keeping us all in check: The Three Letters I Don’t Think About When Writing a Post For My Real Estate BlogBy Teresa Boardman There are three letters that I don’t think about when I write a blog post, they are S, E and O. I consider my posts and photographs to be a kind of creative endeavor and I can’t be creative if I am thinking about Google. I do need to attract search engines but my main goal is to attract the people who are...

January 18, 2008: The Before and After - A Real Estate Blog Article Extreme Makeover
Comments: 5 | Categories: Blog Organization , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
A year and a half ago I wrote a blog article called the Starbucks Mistake. The article was based on a Talk that I used to give regularly during the e-marketing seminars which I organized before I got into blogging. My blogging style, voice, format and content have noticeably developed since The Starbucks Mistake. I thought it would be fun to make-over the original article to illustrate the changes my blogging has gone through as well as how effective certain formatting techniques can be. Because of the attention that I am drawing to this ancient article, I can't resist making a few changes to the content... call it "freshening it up a bit". But for the most part, I am looking to leave the original text alone and focus on improving its presentation, organization, and optimization. (Disclaimer – Things may have changed on the Starbucks marketing front since I originally...

January 12, 2008: Another Easter Egg Hidden in the Real Estate Blog
Comments: 8 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Entertaining , Real Estate Blogging
Recently we did a post on the Art of Easter Egging in blog articles to help gain subscribers. Since that post, I have also been including other sneakier easter eggs into our articles using HTML. Today's post is to satisfy the requests that have come in for a brief tutorial on how it's done. The bad news: We need to dig into the HTML of the blog article to apply this easter egg. The good news: It couldn't be simpler The Easter Egg effect we are learning here can be seen in the image below. When a reader of your blog article 'rolls' their mouse over the word that has been 'enhanced' a hidden message appears. The display before 'rolling over' is dramatically different in Firefox than it is in Internet Explorer. You will see that the hidden message is much harder to locate in Internet Explorer. The Firefox egg...

January 10, 2008: How A Strong Finish Has A Real Estate Blog Article Generating Leads
Comments: 18 | Categories: Blog Lead Generation , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
Just as the dot at the bottom of the exclamation point signals to the reader that there is an emphasis on the statement that it completes, what you choose to complete your blog articles with can drive home a message with more impact than you may realize. Once you have gained interest through a compelling headline, formatting makes all the difference as to whether or not a visitor actually invests the the time to read your blog. One place that has traditionally been a popular landing area for the eyes is the end of any written piece. Take for example: The Sales Letter, it has a Bottom Line. And that's what we're all after anyhow, right? The Love Letter. It's all about the strong finish... Those 3 words make the whole thing so much sweeter. Speaking of letters... PS, anyone? What thoughtful communication could be thoughtful without an extra thought?...

October 28, 2007: The Art of Easter Egging To Gain Subscribers To Your Real Estate Blog
Comments: 19 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
When it comes to readership on your real estate blog, Visitors are not nearly as important as Subscribers. A subscriber is someone who recognizes the need to be notified as new content published to your real estate blog. Traffic to your site that is generated by search engines and inbound links certainly has its value, but a returning visitor that is already convinced that they are impressed with your message, is a relationship. Getting a visitor to make the decision to subscribe does not always happen in the context of the message of the blog’s articles. Often, your message is not unique, and it takes more than the article itself to convert visitors to subscribers. Introducing the Blogging Easter Egg. The Blogging Easter Egg is a hidden reward that adds extra dimension to the article. The dimension can be something such as humor, entertainment, innuendo, incentive, support or reference. A...

August 8, 2007: What Copyblogger Hasn't Told You About Writing Real Estate Blog Headlines
Comments: 11 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
Many bloggers are under the false impression that it is what their posts contain that will attract readers. Although this is true to some degree, it is really the headline that is most effective in the search engines and in the minds of your next visitor. Bloggers are in the business of headline writing - fail to understand that, and fail to attract the readership your hard work deserves. Consider the audience you are reaching. Internet users are scanning large amounts of content, looking for something that either meets their needs, or catches their attention. Your articles will appear in the following locations: Inbox (email RSS subscribers) RSS Feed Reader (Bloglines, Netvibes, GoogleReader, etc.) Social Bookmarking Sites (Digg, reddit, RealEstateVoices.com) Social Networks (ActiveRain, MySpace, WannaNetwork) Search Engines (Google, Google and Goolge) Is all cases, you are competing to be noticed. A poor headline will render your article invisible. Brian Clark...

July 17, 2007: What Can Real Estate Bloggers Learn From Betty Crocker and Oprah?
Comments: 11 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
You don’t have to have a household name to ensure that your article will be read from top to bottom. The internet has created impatient speed readers out of us. Regardless of the value of the content, it seems skimming the article before delving in for details is the approach. Blog reading is different from newspaper reading, book reading, letter reading, and essay reading. Therefore, blog writing and formatting needs to be different as well. The approach to reading online is more akin to reading magazines and cooking recipes. A tasty headline. A compelling picture. Clear, accentuated points. Brief enough to follow, detailed enough to enlighten. Magazines have changed their own formatting over the last few years and in turn have experienced huge growth in readership and subscription. The one page, bite-sized, snack of an article is now king. The days of the New Yorker's 15 page articles are gone....

May 14, 2007: How F Street Will Have Readers Returning To Your Blog
Comments: 9 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Chris Hotz , Guest Author , Real Estate Blogging
The methodical organization of your blog content can make all the difference when engaging a reader to entirely consume your articles. Today’s article is the introduction of yet another Tomato author. Chris Hotz, our very own Director Of Education, steps up on to the soapbox to deliver his first piece of blogging advice. Chris plays a very important role for our team, and we’re thrilled to have him on the Vine. How F Street Will Have Readers Returning To Your Blog By Chris Hotz Rules of the Road There are certain rules of the road that we all learn when looking to pass our driver's exam. The rules help us anticipate the direction others are going to take, preventing us from crashing into one another. Without rules, the road most traveled would quickly turn into chaos. The destination, never reached. Three rules that I learned in driving school are: Read...

May 3, 2007: Real Estate Blogging: The 80/20 Rule Applied
Comments: 9 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Blogging Peers , Guest Author , Jonathan Greene , Topics and Opinions
Jonathan Greene is back with a very insightful look at defining the growing success he is experiencing with his Real Estate Blog: Real Opinionated. Real Estate Blogging: The 80/20 Rule Applied By Jonathan Green You've probably heard of the 80/20 rule. It's a contemporary theory related to management, economics, and many other applications that states "20 percent of actions/causes/inputs, etc. will lead to 80 percent of consequences/effects/outputs." The idea is sometimes attributed to Italian economist Pareto who developed the theory in 1906 after observing the unequal wealth distribution is his country. Here are some examples: 20% of Realtors make 80% of the sales. 20% of Families hold 80% of the nations wealth. 20% of your daily tasks net 80% of your best results. You get the point. The theory is surprisingly pervasive. I wondered if the idea applied to blogging, so I set out to make some observations about the...

April 12, 2007: Microsoft Word Is Like Gum In Your Blog's Hair
Comments: 27 | Categories: Blog Dos and Don'ts , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Marketing Solutions , Real Estate Blogging
Formatting issues will persist in your blog if you continue to copy and paste from Microsoft Word. Everyday we come across 'broken blogs'. The reason the blog 'broke' is always the same: Microsoft Word was used to compose an article and now the formatting is jacked up, and in some cases the formatting throughout the rest of the blogsite is also affected. The most common issues are challenges with font styles, sizes, bolding, italics and underlining. Other challenges include indenting, bulleting and numbering and total sidebar destruction. Here's why there is a problem: Microsoft Word is a desktop publishing tool, intended for standard, offline word processing. Microsoft Word is best used for items intended for printing or sharing offline: essays, business cards, menus, etc. The proprietary code that Microsoft has written for their word processing program IS NOT HTML. Below is an example of what their code can look like...

March 21, 2007: 9 Examples Of How Blogging Will Have You Overcoming Real Estate Objections
Comments: 15 | Categories: Blog Content Creation , Blog Lead Generation , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
The Obvious: The most effective way to overcome objections is to handle them before they become a hurdle in the sales process. The new agent routinely looks for the solution to providing the right answers to their clients' concerns. The questions they ask, the fears they present, the roadblocks they create and the challenge of their misunderstandings, all can get in the way of moving closer to the real estate transaction. In addition, great experience in converting ‘the interested’ into ‘the closed’ still won't make you bullet proof to misinterpreting or mishandling a clients objections, here and again. Listen to every question asked, chances are they're being asked online as well. Each opportunity to overcome these challenges will be as much a learning experience for the agent as they are for the client.Each successfully handled hurdle needs to be documented for the next opportunity, preemptively preparing and incubating your audience....

March 15, 2007: Your Audience Is A Moving Target - 4 Ways To Pin Them Down
Comments: 3 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Real Estate Blogging
Writing the same topic from different angles can help pin down your audience and your subject. - As the long tail effect has taught us, broad, rich and on-topic content will attract the audience you are aiming for. So you've beefed up your blogging efforts; pumping out relevant content, regularly. You are using the the methods you've uncovered to write audience attracting articles. You are gaining traffic and renown for your insight. Your best articles might follow a formula something like this: Great Title: "The 10 Must Know ___. Or, "The Secret To ____" Sound Advice: On topic, and on the money. List Format: Makes for easy reading. Bold Lines: Emphasize your main points. Short Paragraphs: Create the illusion of concise thoughts. Encourage Comments: Build content from the mob. Don't be so quick to check that topic off your list. Even though that article will persevere in the search engines,...

March 5, 2007: 7 Crucial Tips To Developing Real Estate Blog Copy That Gets Read
Comments: 24 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Marketing Solutions , Real Estate Blogging
The biggest challenge for a new blogger is readership, not visitorship. Most who have the fervor to embrace the blog as a real estate marketing tool have no problem developing the content. Dropping a post on ActiveRain or Digg will generate an instant audience. It’s enticing that audience to actually read one’s work that eludes most. Poorly formatted blog copy (writing) will scare off the audience you worked so hard to inform. The audience you are reaching is not an ideal group of readers. Readers of your blog are going to barrel through your article at a pace much faster than you expect as you toil over the composition of each sentence. Realize that they aren’t cozying up with it on the couch nor are they taking it into the john. Your readers are just stopping by for a quick look before they head off to the next mental snack....

February 19, 2007: Localism: Winning the Hearts and Minds
Comments: 10 | Categories: Blog Content Creation , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Jonathan Greene , Real Estate Blogging
It’s ironic that newest member of the Vine, Jonathan Greene, chose to write an article that completely defines the reason we want him here in the first place. Jonathan writes with a clear understanding of how he wants to educate and delivers his knowledge in a refreshing and compelling manner. Jonathan also happens to be one of our newest re-design clients. Look for his grand re-opening later in the month. Localism: Winning the Hearts and Minds Jonathan Greene I read lots of local blogs. Mostly, I read for the purpose of gathering intelligence. I can’t help it. My days as a shadowy secret agent type in the military have made me a perpetual seeker of targeted information. I want to know what works. I’ve stumbled upon an unspoken truth in my web travels: You don’t have to be a nationally recognized pundit to offer quality, readable content for your viewers....

February 15, 2007: Will Blog For Food
Comments: 12 | Categories: Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Guest Author , Jonathan Greene , Real Estate Blogging , Topics and Opinions
We’ve established and train, that the most crucial step to “finding your blogging voice” is by focusing on core categories and delivering regular content to your audience. That strict approach leaves no room for ‘Blogging Big Picture’ essays if your audience is expecting content about the [your town here] real estate market. It’s a shame if you have a great understanding that you can’t contain and have no appropriate soapbox to express it. The Real Estate Tomato is that soapbox; a destination to shape knowledge and discussion about the real estate blogging big picture itself. Our Vine is growing quickly with real estate bloggers that need to share their understanding of how to approach the blogging as marketing effort. For them it seems therapeutic, for us, it’s both a blessing and an honor. Today we are thrilled to slide the Tomato Soapbox over to Jonathan Greene. What has impressed me...

January 20, 2007: He Asked Me, "Why Am I Blogging?"
Comments: 13 | Categories: Blog Discipline , Blog Writing Tips , Blogging Advice , Marketing Solutions , Real Estate Blogging , Search Engines
Last week I was inspired to write an article about developing blog content because of a conversation I had with a client that we are training, well this week he asked the biggest one of them all: "Why am I blogging, again?" At first it struck me odd that someone who has made the financial commitment to have a custom blog developed and trained on, would ask me such a question. As I began to answer, it occurred to me that the most valuable reasons for blogging may not be so obvious after-all. Our clients receive intense training that covers a broad range of topics from article formatting to social bookmarking, to community participation and search engine statistic analysis. I can see how one may feel that there are "too many trees in the way to allow for a good view of the forest." His question was followed up by...