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Welcome to our latest Tomato Collaborative Article where we cover the topic of Video in Real Estate Blogging. We recently had a Tomato Radio episode on the same subject, and this article is the collective opinion and insight from the contributors on our internal Matrix Blog. My question to our audience was What is the Impact of Video in your Real Estate Blogging? Below is my best effort at stitching together their comments in a comprehensive manner. Pros: The Audience Better Identifies With Author.Rob Saxe: Who I am comes through more on video than when I write an article. From experience, that video blogging as a marketing tool is indispensable and an absolute necessity for my business. Bruce Lemieux: A blog with compelling and informative written content can be a huge net to gather leads and build an audience. To pull leads into the boat and convert them to clients,...

This edition of the Tomato Collaborative Blog Article is an effort to tackle the topic of *gasp* Quitting Blogging. Do you foresee an end to your regular blogging? How does the story end? Blasphemous, right? I mean, are we not RE.net’s biggest proponent of, and cheerleader for maintaining a thriving real estate blog? Darn right we are! But we also recognize that: 1. Most Real Estate Blogs Will Fail. 2. Careers Change/End 3. Blogging Can Become an Unwanted Distraction from Business. 3. Some Have Written All They Want To Write. Retiring – Quitting – Failing I see 3 ways in which bloggers head off to pasture. They retire, finally hanging up the keyboard, and perhaps their career. They quit out of frustration, feeling that the reward of all their blogging hasn’t been worth the effort. They fail, unable to keep up with the commitment to writing. We threw the above...

We are back with our popular Collaborative Article series, and the first one of 2009! A Look Inside the Mind of a Real Estate Blogger. My pitch to the gang was, “Now that you have been blogging for a while, describe how your thinking/behavior has changed.” 9 Tomato Bloggers hashed out our topic on the Tomato Matrix, and the result of my patch-work follows: Changing One’s Lifestyle Daniel Bates points out: “Blogging isn't a job or a hobby, it's a lifestyle!” One of the first things you notice, when you commit to putting blogging at the center of your online marketing strategy is the way it starts to overtake you thoughts. A mix of passion, commitment, and opportunity energize the brain, making it difficult to ‘turn it off’. A commitment to blogging means early mornings for some, late nights for others, and if you are like me, sometimes an exhausting...

This past week’s Collaborative Article topic has been focused on the Future of the Real Estate Blog. Inside the Tomato Forum, the gang hashed out 2 specific questions: 1. What do you see as the future of the real estate blog? 2. What do you fear about the future of the real estate blog? Before we jump into the article that is the highlights of the Tomato Forum discussion, I just wanted to paint a picture of the very near future of real estate blogging I see: Imagine for a moment you are sitting on your couch, feet up, remote in hand. You scroll through your Tivo’d favorites looking for updates from your favorite topics… San Diego Luxury Real Estate being one of them. The console that sits 10 feet away is tomorrow’s television, an all-in-one entertainment center merging Internet, TV, Computer and Game Console. Tivo has selected and recorded...

Our Monday Collaborative Posts are back (we were on vacation last week) with a topic that proved as interesting as it was slippery: Why Should Your Clients and Potential Clients Care That You Blog? In the collective discussion that took place on this topic, there was lots of writing on why blogging helps you gain the trust of your audience, and how blogging helps you connect to your potential clients, but pinning down why they should care took some time to uncover. Paula Henry from IndyRealEstateTalk.com broke through with the concept that a well executed real estate blog gives clients a sense of the agent “beyond the slogan.” Many real estate agents use slogans such as: “Knowledge Is Power” “Service You Deserve. People You Trust” “Experience Is The Difference” “Always There For You” “We Care” “Your Local Expert” …and so on. Without the substance to back up these slogans, they...

As promised last week, Monday Real Estate Blogging Advice Posts will now be the result of the collective collaboration from our own Clients, the Tomato Bloggers. This Week’s Collaborative Blogging Advice Topic: What Should Realtors Be Blogging About In Order To Attract Ready To Act Home Buyers? As a disclaimer, I don’t know that there is an objectively correct answer to the question, given that every target market is different, be it urban or rural, or beach front or mountain living. Nonetheless, it made for a fascinating conversation in the Tomato Forum. Here’s what we made of it: The Internet Lead is generally considered to be a lead that is going to take some time to incubate. The length of time thrown around is usually 6–18 months. Can real estate blogging help a lead develop more quickly, or rather can blogging attract leads that are further along in their own...

Our goal here at the Tomato is to educate Real Estate Professionals on the fine art of successful business blogging. Now that our Active Vine of Blogging Clients has grown well past the 100 mark, it's obvious we have an army of savvy real estate bloggers. In an effort to bring real, first hand knowledge to our readers, we will be collaborating with the Tomato Bloggers in the form of a weekly post. Monday's articles are now the result of the collective writings of our clients around a Blogging Advice Topic that we discuss in a private forum. This weeks topic: What Makes Real Estate Blogging Better Than Pay-Per-Click Campaigns? 1. Longevity Online Presence and Self Preservation Pay-Per-Click advertising is an effective traffic generator while you are paying, but as soon as you stop paying, the traffic ceases, as does your increased presence online. There is a direct correlation between...