Or…

The good ones are too expensive and already too busy to take on new business.

The problem with paying someone to blog for you is that if you don’t know what it takes to be an effective blogger in the first place, it is hard to be a good judge of who you are hiring.

Content is king.

But…crappy content is just crap.

People will take your money and they will Plagiarize.
They will rip it off Wikipedia.
They will copy your competitors.
This is crap and it can get you in a lot of expensive, hot water.

People will take your money and use AI (Artificial Intelligence) to generate content.
This shortcut leaves you with questionable claims.
This shortcut does not identify sources.
This shortcut is not fact checked.
This is still crap and can make you look like a fool.

People will take your money that do not have native command of American English
This cheap route leaves you with odd grammar and spelling mistakes.
This cheap route doesn’t grasp cultural nuances.
This cheap route will cause you to edit it yourself.
This is crap and it will make you look like you paid for a cheap service.

People will take your money that have no understanding of basic SEO or Copywriting.
Lack of SEO understanding can bury the best written article.
Lack of Copywriting skills will bore your readers.
This is crap and you’ll think that blogging just doesn’t work.

We are the pioneers of Real Estate Blogging; teaching agents how to be incredible bloggers since 2006. Now we want to write for you!

Don’t pay more than you should to a contractor in high demand.

Don’t take the cheap route and regret the crap you get back.

Let us do it! In 2022 we wrote over 1,250,000 words for our clients!

• We research it
• We write it
• We polish it
• We optimize it for Google
• We publish it to your website

You get to sit back, look amazing, and take all the credit.

If this sounds interesting, let’s have a 10 min call to show you how we’re the reason you’re going to be found in Google.

Curious to learn more? Visit: TomatoCopy.com

The post Why It Is So Hard To Find Someone To Blog Effectively For You? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Half quit after 2 posts.

Another half after the next 2 posts
Another half after the next 2 posts
Another half after the next 2 posts
Another half after the next 2 posts
Another half after the next 2 posts
Another half after the next 2 posts

That leaves us with only 0.75% blogging after just 14 posts.

I made that stat up, but it might as well be true since of all the 1000s of agents I know, only a handful still blog regularly.

You’re asking the wrong question when you want to know, “How often?”

The answer is probably “not at all” if statistically no one will ever stick with it long enough to see the results they’re asking about. It’s just going to be a waste of time, and a stalled blog with a handful of posts looks worse than no blog at all.

But maybe I got you all wrong.

Maybe you’re one of those people that follow through with their New Year’s resolutions.
Or you’re someone so focused that you commonly achieve Moksha with Inbox Zero.

The right answer is “as often as you can maintain.”
Success in Google is a relationship with Google. (That sounds weird in my head, too.)

You have to continue to feed it content, centering around a target audience’s interest.
If you can do it once a week, every week, and it’s the good stuff… the stuff your customers want to click, then you will be rewarded with great organic traffic.

Want that reward doubled? Blog the good-good twice as often.
Just don’t burn out too quickly. The longer you seed, feed, and share the longer you will enjoy the spoils.

I’ve written 100s of articles for Real Estate Tomato. And I have taken years off at a time.
Guess which period I get my most Google traffic.

If you’re part of the 99.25% and you recognize the power of blogging but know that you aren’t going to be consistent at it then you need us.

• We research it
• We write it
• We polish it
• We optimize it for Google
• We publish it to your website

You get to sit back, look amazing, and take all the credit.

If this sounds interesting, let’s have a 10 min call to show you how we’re the reason you’re going to be found in Google.

Curious to learn more?

The post How Often Should I Blog If I Want To Succeed In Google? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Your sellers have new questions.
Your buyers have new questions.
Your neighbors have new questions.

You need to have good answers.
Answers that make sense.
Answers that you can support in face of all the misconceptions they already have.

Blogging is not just for being found in Google because of the sweet SEO it brings.
It’s about educating your audience.
It’s about building trust through knowledge.
It’s your chance to shine in a world of uncertainty and contradictions.

So whether it’s buyers confidently wrong that the market is certain to crash, bringing home prices down with it, or sellers that think it’s a market still in their favor, it’s your job to bring clarity.

And along with clarity, you can also bring honesty and say “we don’t know” when you don’t. Being wrong is worse than being silent.

The real benefit in this situation is helping clarify your own understanding of the questions your customer has. By taking the time to consider, empathize, research, write, and publicly publish the answers to their questions, you are making yourself a better agent for them.

Successful blogging is simply answering your customers’ questions.
The more they have, the more you should be blogging.

But Jim, who has time for all that?

I’m glad you asked.

We do.

The post As The Market Shifts So Do Your Customers’ Questions. This Is What Blogging Is For. appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Hell yeah I am!

You’re just chapped because it’s something you know you should do, but never do.
I’m the same with going to the gym for some.

I wish someone could go to the gym for me, workout for an hour, and I get all the benefits.
I’d pay that dude $100 an hour, probably more once I saw those sweet abs come into view.

Blogging is work.
But the sweet abs traffic is worth the effort.

Some masochists even come to love it.

All the idea planning, the first draft, the editing, the SEO, the formatting, linking, finding the perfect image, etc… for some it’s like the joy of gardening. For others it’s like the hell of playing in a disgusting, muddy, worm filled, flower box of crap.

When you learn the simple steps of an effective blog format the only real trick is just showing up. If you put your gym clothes on, and drive over there a few times a week you are going to get results. Staying home in your athleisure binging Marriage or Mortgage is the equivalent to doom scrolling InstaBlah when you could have just busted out 4 paragraphs about the fact that low inventory is keeping prices high even though those stupid interest rates keep climbing. I mean, where are all these people getting this money to afford this market? I don’t know… don’t ask any questions. Just blog it.

For the first few weeks you think, looking back – I’ve barely written anything.

After the first year you look back and think – holy crap – look at all that progress. Look at all that growth. Look at all that traffic. Look at all those leads.

Imaging the feeling of having a blog full of amazing content that proves you are truly the Local Area Specialist that you claim to be. The feeling of someone choosing you because the impression they have of you is the local expert that understands their concerns, questions, and needs about the community. The feeling of being found dozens of times a day by customers asking the question that you have answered with your blog.

Who am I kidding?

We all just wish there was someone who could go to the gym for us, and yet we end up with the sweet, sweet abs.

That’s where we come in!

• We research it
• We write it
• We polish it
• We optimize it for Google
• We publish it to your website

You get to sit back, look amazing, and take all the credit.

If this sounds interesting, let’s have a 10 min call to show you how we’re the reason you’re going to be found in Google.

Curious to learn more? Visit: TomatoCopy.com

The post The Hardest Thing About Blogging Is Keeping At It – But It Is Worth It appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The Mistakes: 

• They lack a strategy to gain traffic.
• They lack high impact messaging.
• They offer nothing unique as a call to action.
• They have weak content.

1. They lack a strategy to gain traffic.

Websites don’t gain traffic on their own. It is earned.
You can pay for it and you can generate it on your own.
But without a strategy to gain it, your site will fail to produce leads.

The Soluton: The best ways to drive an audience to your site.

• Compelling content. Write (or talk) about what your audience wants to learn about, and they will come. It’s like magic, but if you’re answering the questions that you know your target audience is looking for answers to, they will find you.
• YEO (You Engaging Others). Show honest interest, awareness, and interaction with your target audience. Instead of talking about you, you engage with others to learn about them. This participation is contagious and incredibly welcoming. People will notice, and want to engage more.
• Build a Tribe. Use social media to target and attract like-minded people with your content and YEO efforts. In addition to regular participation, staying on message, and on brand is key.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A managed SEO strategy with a company that cares and understands your business is guaranteed to bring targeted traffic.
• Paid Ads. The data shows that the traffic is there. You can jump right in front of it when you work with a Google Ad company that cares and understands your business
• Employ a Copywriter. Content is king. Work closely with a skilled content creator that cares and understands your business to build your own SEO.

2. They lack high impact messaging.

You have just an instant to communicate a message with your visitor. Don’t blow it.

Use words and imagery that makes them understand that you can help them with their quest.
They want to know: Who are you? Can you help me? How do we begin?

The Soluton: The best ways to to create high impact messaging: 

• Use a Hero image/video that your visitor relates with.
• Use a Logo that is recognizable and memorable.
• Use a Slogan that isn’t made of Styrofoam
• Use a Call-To-Action that they actually want

3. They offer nothing unique as a call to action.

If every other real estate website out there is offering a property search, a home value request, listing alerts, or the like, then that’s your cue to offer something different. You can still have these options on your website, but don’t trot them out like you’re offering something that your visitor is looking for. They’re not.

The Solution: Offer actions that your visitor will truly appreciate. 

A few ideas:

• Get a personal tour from Greenville’s Relocation Expert.
• Take the survey. Which Greenville neighborhood is best for your family?
• “Coming Soon Listings” are your secret weapon for buying in Greenville.
• Skillful Negotiation wins home buying contracts. Learn how we do it.

4. They have weak content. Weak content repels an audience.

Examples of Weak content:

• There is very little content
• It’s outdated content
• It’s canned, and it’s being fed by a 3rd party (like keepingcurrentmatters.com)
• It’s copy/pasted from a 3rd party (like wikipedia)
• It’s not relevant to your visitors’ needs
• It’s a blog that was abandoned

Strong Content is how you attract an audience.
Strong Content is how you build understanding and trust with your audience.
Strong Content makes you look like the expert.

The Solution: Create content that satisfies the following:

Your audience is looking for answers to their questions. Anticipate and answer them.

They are looking for guidance in their real estate journey. They are the HERO, you are the GUIDE.

They are looking for someone they can trust. Educating them builds trust.

They are looking for someone who empathizes with their challenges.

If you can’t make the content happen because you don’t have the time, or interest, or language skills, then you need to seek someone who does. Having strong content on your website is crucial for connecting with your visitor and that is the first step in “generating leads.”

Don’t just hire whomever to help with your website’s content. Hire someone who cares and understands your business. Hire someone that you are willing and able to spend time with to train to write on your behalf. This relationship needs to be healthy and maintained in order for you to get the results you want.

Let us do it!

• We research it
• We write it
• We polish it
• We optimize it for Google
• We publish it to your website

You get to sit back, look amazing, and take all the credit.

If this sounds  interesting, let’s have a 10 min call to show you how we’re the reason you’re going to be found in Google.

Curious to learn more? Visit: TomatoCopy.com

The post Your Website Fails to Generate Leads Because of These 4 Mistakes appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The Goal:
Find language that better connects the dots to what you really need to say/communicate.

Examples of Styrofoam Words: 

Phrases such as, “Helping you acheive your dreams” or “Real Estate Specialist” or “Service is our Hallmark” or “Premier Real Estate Team” carry litte value.
These words sound like they have impact, but they are just stand in’s.

People want to find someone that they connect with, someone they feel offers what they need, who empathizes with their challenges.

To acheive this we need to tell them with words that connect.

“We Take The Suck Out of Relocation”
“We Sell It Faster, and We Sell It For More”

The Slogan, The Bio, Testimonials, Calls To Action… these are all the opportunities to make an impactful impression with your audience.

A swing and a miss here is on you.

Take the time to boil down what you offer to a real claim. Why choose you?

If you would like to take a deeper dive on understanding how to leverage impactful language just let us know. At no charge to you, we’d be happy to discuss this important topic. We’re available by email, text, phone, chat, or feel free to schedule an appointment at any time.

The post We Gotta Stop Feeding The Audience Styrofoam Slogans On The Homepage appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Without a clear understanding of what needs to be accomplished with the homepage we’re bound to miss the mark.

Let’s look at how one might use particular text and images to tell The Story.

1. Recognize Our Visitor’s Challenges

We recognize that you have an issue/ a challenge /a pain. We know you, we understand you, we understand this situation.

Identify our target audience’s main concerns and acknowledge them. 

• For example: Our target audience wants to move out of a dense urban area and into a more rural area with a high quality of life. Our main hero image could be a serene landscape, a lake perhaps, with a smattering of homes dotted on the shore. Overlaying this beautiful, calming image is a bold statement such as, “Leave The Noise Behind.” Include a few more words below in smaller text to support that claim, “Life is just better in Greenville, NC*.” Finish it off with a clear call to action button/link: “Make your move.” This links to the ways to initiate a conversation with us (email, phone, text).

2. Provide Resolutions To Their Challenges.

We have what you need to overcome your challenge. Our skills, our knowledge, our product, and our experience will guide you to resolution.

• Continuing with the example above we need to round out our certain understanding of their concerns, and offer solutions.
  Choose only local images (not stock) and couple them with simple claims and offers build on their trust that we understand their hurdles.
  A few ideas:
  – Why We All Love Greenville (links to a page full of reasons and calls to action).
  – Get A Personal Tour From Greenville’s Relocation Expert (call to action).
  – Let’s Go See Homes You’ll Love Before They Hit The Market (call to action).
  – Is Greenville a Perfect Match for Your Family? (call to action).

The reason the above are so effective is because we are not just offering what everyone else is offering. We’re telling The Story that we are the guide to help them resolve their concerns. We are not just stating that we have been doing this a long time, and here are the tools everyone else offers (property search, featured listings, home values, etc). We are considering their specific needs and acknowledging them and offering resolution.

Pro Tip for Step 2. (If you can stick with it) Blogging with The Story in mind allows us to show a dedication to our target audience’s education all the while resolving their concerns. I can see the headlines now: How To Best Get To Know Greenville, NC In One Weekend. What Made Us Fall In Love With Greenville, NC. What Locals Do For Fun In Greenville, NC. What Locals Do When Their Family Comes To Visit Greenville, NC. The Top 10 Questions We Hear From People Moving To Greenville, NC. Feel free to steal any of these as primers for your blog.

3. Showcase The Trust of Others

We want to illustrate that others have taken this path before and we successfully guided them to overcome their challenge. This is done with testimonials (and images/video of past clients when possible) that directly express that we have helped them with the same challenges and concerns of our visitor.

Avoid lengthy client quotes – trim them if necessary. Keep it direct and to the point. A few perfect ones are better than long, fluffy ones that never get read.

4. The Introduction

Now that they trust that we understand them, and are capable of helping them, we introduce ourselves, our approachability, our willingness to help and connect immediately, our level of relevant experience, and the like.

If we introduce ourselves too strongly, too soon in The Story, then it can come off that we want the visitor to become part of our story, rather than us helping guide them through theirs.

Note: The above isn’t as much a rule as it is a suggestion. If your face, look, and name are a big part of your brand – then I can see the draw towards introducing yourself earlier on in The Story.

5. Call To Action

All throughout The Story above we should sprinkle in specific calls to action, but it is imperative that we close the homepage Story with specific requests for action. Just as a sales appointment should end with an action item (close a deal, schedule a next appointment, initiate paperwork, etc.) the homepage story needs to end with a strong call to action.

Reiterate and encourage that they communicate with us that they are ready to share in the solving of their challenge.

• Come for the weekend. Let me show you why we moved to Greenville, NC.
  (call to action links to contact)

*I’ve never been to Greenville, NC. I’ve heard it’s a very nice place to live, and therefore made for a fine example in this exercise.

If you would like to take a deeper dive on understanding how to tell the Homepage Story is just let us know. At no charge to you, we’d be happy to discuss this important topic. We’re available by email, text, phone, chat, or feel free to schedule an appointment at any time.

The post What Is The Story We Are Telling On The Homepage, And How Do We Tell It? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

If the story being told on the homepage is that there is a challenge to be solved by using your services, then who should we make as the Hero?

There is only one Hero in the homepage story we are telling.

Who is it?
Is it you, and all your strengths?
Or is it the visitor and their need to overcome their challenge?

The more compelling story is when the audience can truly relate to being the Hero.
The audience relates with Luke, not Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (A New Hope).
The audience relates with Charlie, not Willy Wonka, with Neo, not Morpheus, with Frodo, not Gandalf, with Dorothy, not Glinda.

The visitor is the Hero.

The visitor wants you to be part of their story of success. The motivation is not to become part of your story, but to have you help them in their journey of overcoming their challenge.

The How: The audience needs to find parallels to their challenges in your story. Use images that reflect your target audience. Present their questions and challenges head on. Illustrate that you understand their plight, and what a successful resolution looks and feels like. What’s happened to others that you have helped, is happening to them. Assume the role of guide, mentor, or sage in your hero’s journey.

The Why: They want to solve their challenges with trustworthy guidance and for that they will exchange their time (and money).

If you would like to take a deeper dive on understanding who the hero of the homepage is just let us know. At no charge to you, we’d be happy to discuss this important topic. We’re available by email, text, phone, chat, or feel free to schedule an appointment at any time.

The post Who is the Hero of the Homepage Story? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The Decisions: We focus on getting the following affirmatives:

• Visitor decides that they need what you have.
• Visitor decides that you’re the best option to solve their problem
• Visitor decides to exchange their time and money for your offer/service

This doesn’t all have to be done in the millisecond that they first come to the page, but they need to stay on the page long enough to decide that they need what you offer. To get them to stay, they have to feel understood.

The What: Your audience must immediately recognize that you understand them.

• You understand the challenge they have come looking to solve.
• You understand how they feel now
• You understand what it feels like to resolve the challenge

Your audience wants to feel that you understand their challenges and that you can support their journey to solve them. They want empathy.

The How: Show your audience that you understand and empathize with them:

• Use language that they recognize and connect with.
• Consider a brand/character archetype that matches the personality of your target audience.
• Use imagery that mirrors their emotional state (before and after overcoming their challenge)
• Present the questions they ask, and the challenges they suffer and offer solutions to them.
• Showcase testimonials of others you’ve helped with similar challenges.

Your audience wants to solve their challenges with trustworthy guidance.
They want to be the hero by making the correct decision in solving their challenges.
They feel this when it was their idea to take your guidance.

The Nuance: It should be that they decided to work with you, and not that you convinced them.

If you would like to take a deeper dive on understanding the goal of a website’s homepage just let us know. At no charge to you, we’d be happy to discuss this important topic. We’re available by email, text, phone, chat, or feel free to schedule an appointment at any time.

The post What Is The Goal Of Your Website Homepage? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

How it works: These are ways we look to leverage the Hero Image

• Tell A Story To Connect Emotionally With Your Target Audience
• Highlight Your Brand
• Answer Your Target Audience’s Questions
• Showcase Your Value Proposition/Call-To-Action
• Make a Claim/Announcement

How we bring it all together:

Select a Compelling Image. Choose an image that your target audience recognizes as being part of their life, or the life they want. This familiarity assures them that the site is for them. Avoid obvious stock photos. Be authentic. Don’t use images you don’t have a license to use.

Make a Compelling Claim. Your hero image coupled with this claim is your first impression. This statement is the reason they will stay longer. Workshop this statement until it is pithy, and powerful. 

Offer a Compelling Call To Action. Be upfront about what you want your audience to do. This site is your opportunity to compel them to connect. Put it put there.

Hero image pro-tips:

• Choose an image where there is energy focused on the Claim/CTA
  • Someone pointing, looking, moving towards your CTA.
• Choose an image with depth that draws you in to a vanishing point
  • Horizontal lines, angles, structures, paths… draw your attention.
• Use dark and light shading to create contrast for your Claim/CTA
  • Vignette, fogging, semi-transparent shade… make for easy-to-read text.
• Choose an image with some empty space to place Claims/CTA.
  • Alternatively, this can be added with solid color overlays
• Apply the above to your interior page subheader image selections. Avoid using a default subheader when each page has its own story to tell.

Should I use a Slideshow for my Hero Image?

• Do more images tell the story better?
• Will our audience pay attention long enough to warrant it?

Should I use a Video for my Hero Image?

• Does video tell the story better?
• Will our audience pay attention long enough to warrant it?
• Can we get the right video clips to tell the story we want to tell? Cost?

If you would like to take a deeper dive into how to choose an effective hero image just let us know. At no charge to you, we’d be happy to discuss this important topic. We’re available by email, text, phone, chat, or feel free to schedule an appointment at any time.

The post How To Choose An Effective Homepage Hero Image appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.