Have you been working hard on your real estate website (or social media profile) and not getting the results that you expected?

Well we have a special free webinar planned at tackling our fans biggest question of them all “What’s Wrong With My Website?”
When: Tuesday, October 4th at 11am PST / 2 pm EST
How Long: 90 minutes or more!
How Much: $0, Zip, Nada! No Strings Attached and No Sales Pitches
Where to Sign Up: What’s Wrong With My Website? Webinar
Why You Should Attend: You’re probably used to hearing, “You get what you pay for” and most free training that I have attended has been worth what I paid.  This class is different because veteran bloggers, Jim Cronin and Daniel Bates will be giving up raw, honest feedback on real examples of real estate blogs.
We might make you laugh, we might make you cry, but more than anything, we hope to make you think about how you have been doing things on your blog and how might try things differently.
Those that submit a question will get the most our of this webinar, but everyone that attends will walk away with ways to improve their efforts.
Why This One Will Be Different: In previous free classes by the Real Estate Tomato, we have tried to answer as many questions as possible as quickly as we could to make everyone happy.
This time we’ve decided to tackle bigger questions and will really be digging into the websites and researching the content before the class  to try to offer the best advice that we can to a few lucky attendees, while still putting things in a light that makes these examples applicable to all who attend.
One Last Thing: In addition to this class we have also packed the Tomato University calendar with some really great training for the month of October.

The post Wondering What’s Wrong With My Website? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Learn the Basics from the Masters

When: Tuesday, July 12th at 1pm PST (4pm EST)
How Long: Two (solid) Hours
How Much: $40/person
Where to Sign Up: TomatoUniversity.com

This is a two hour course that will walk new bloggers through the basics of blogging on the WordPress platform.

Why is it special? We normally do not train the basics of using WordPress here on Tomato U – reserving these topics for our Real Estate Tomato Website Packages.  Our main focus on TU is generally on marketing techniques, assuming that most of our audience is already somewhat familiar with the platform.  Well… popular demand has shown us otherwise – so we are trying out this intense, 2-hour, everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-using-WordPress class with the intentions of adding it to our regular quarterly calendar.

The class will include in depth discussions on the following:

• Creating and Editing Posts & Pages
• Article Styling
• Finding, Sizing & Placing Images
• Creating and Managing Links
• Understanding Categories & Tags
• Sidebar & Widget Control
• A WordPress Plugin Primer
• Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Development of Writing and Topic Strategies
• Basics of Real Estate Blogging.

Due to the limited length of the class, and not wanting to completely overwhelm our students some of the advanced topics will be limited in their depth.  Many of these advanced subjects are expanded upon in other Tomato University classes.
Please note, this class does not include instructions on installation of WordPress and we will assume that you already have a site set up.
If you do not yet have a WordPress based website, please contact us and we’ll help you get started.
PS – We have also just posted a new class covering the basics of HTML in blogging.  A little familiarity of the code that governs the styling of articles, links, tables, and images can go a long way.  Check it out too!

The post Special Class Announcement – WordPress Basics For Real Estate Bloggers appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

During some of our blogging/social media webinars, we have been known to give honest, first impression reviews of websites submitted by our attendees.  No punches are pulled and the feedback is often direct and unfiltered. I’m sure some feelings are bruised, but they are asking for an honest assessment and we give it to them.  The feedback we have gotten from attendees on the website reviews has been overwhelmingly positive.
I bring this up because of all the common infractions we see in the real estate blogs submitted for review, the lack of imagery in the articles is most apparent.
There are many elements to developing blog content that gets read, but arguably the most important (after the headline) is the inclusion of interesting imagery.
Most online readers need an instant connection and continuous stimulation (eye candy) in order to gain and maintain their interest.  Leveraging an image (or 2 or more) to enhance your message can mean the difference between a 5 second glance and a 3 minute read of your content.
Here are some sound tips and tools for finding, editing, enhancing, and inserting images.

Where Do You Find Great Images For Your Blog Articles?

The wrong answer is Google images.
You must resist stealing, borrowing, improperly and/or ignorantly using images on your site.  Regardless of how easy it is, how little the odds are that you’ll get caught, or whether you knew your were illegally using the images or not, it is still against the law.  The penalty for getting caught illegally using just a single image can cost you of 1000s of dollars.  Here are a few articles to scare you straight.
In fact, there’s a browser plugin called TinEye that allows you to do a  reverse image search, exposing other uses of an image on the internet.  It’s amazing.

The Most Sound Resource Should Be Your Own Camera.

Every real estate agent should know their way around a camera and keep one in the car.  Taking better than average photographs of property is an essential skill.  Now apply this to the world about which you are blogging.  Our regular guest author Teresa Boardman personally snapped the majority of the images she uses in her blogging.

Browse Affordable Stock Image Websites

At around $1 an image you can’t go wrong or broke selecting images from millions of quality images.
Here are a few of my favorites:
123RF.com
iStockPhoto.com
VectorStock.com
EveryStockPhoto.com
BigStockPhoto.com
DreamsTime.com
Fotolia
In addition to the pay-per-picture options above, Stock.xchng is a great library (400,000+) of free stock images. (continue reading below for more free image resources) Please note: Not all  of the images presented in their database are free.  The results of searches provide both free and premium results.
The premium results require a financial investment.
Disclaimer: Use images from all of the above services at your own risk.
There are detailed restrictions, rights, usage options and licenses for every image your download from these services.  Read each carefully in order to understand your rights.  I specifically suggested the above because as far as I understand, once purchased, you have the right to use them in your online marketing efforts, including blog articles as long as they are not used for pornographic or unlawful purposes such as spreading hate, discrimination, or defamation.

The Little Known Creative Commons Option

The Creative Commons Copyright License allows the work (in this case, image) to be taken advantage of as Reusable Material.
The work is still owned by the individual creator, however it may be freely reused without the creator’s permission according to the terms of a CC Copyright license.
In most cases a simple attribution (“Photo by Artist Name and a link to their website if possible) to the original author of the work is all that is required for it’s lawful use.
Again, you must not violate the terms of use as disclaimed above, and double check the license of each and every image you consider reusing. If you want to be super secure in your use of an image, you can always email the author to ensure your lawful use.
Preferred Creative Commons Databases:
Wylio (Awesome CC Search – Hat tip Bill Wilson)
Wikimedia (your rights to use images)
Flickr Creative Commons (Attribution License)

Expired Copyrights & Public Domain Images

Images in the public domain got there because they either had no copyright, it expired or it was released to the PD by the original author.
Currently, for images that were published before 1923 in the United States, their copyrights are expired and free to use in a medium such as your real estate blog.
Here is great list of Free To Use Public Domain images:
StockXchng (over 400,000 images)
TotallyFreeImages.com (~500,000 images)
PublicDomainPictures.net (over 10,000 free images)
StockVault.net (Over 20,000 images)
Photos8.com (over 12,000 free images)
Sunipix.com (over 10,000 images)
FreeStockPhotos.biz (over 10,000 images)
PDPhoto.org (1000s of images)
Bestphotos.us (1000s of images)
CopyrightExpired.com (large collection of illustrations from popular sources pre-1923)
HistoryPicks.com (Large database of free to use historical photos and illustrations, pre-1923)

Fair Use of Copyrighted Works

The biggest concern that I have with people using copyrighted works and claiming “fair use” is that fair use is actually determined on a case by case basis.
My suggestion is that if you are unsure as to whether or not you are protected under a “fair use” scenario then you should avoid using the work for fear of subjecting yourself to legal challenges.
Some Examples of Fair Use
Parody
Criticism
News Reporting/Commentary
Teaching
So it seems, that if you are making fun of, criticizing, reporting on, or teaching about something that would be enhanced with a copyrighted work, then you are protected by fair use.
For example, I could include the logos of any of the services/websites/tools that I have mentioned in the article because I am teaching and providing commentary on them.  Or, if a real estate company just launched a new iPhone application, I could use both iphone and the real estate company’s logos or product images as a reporter of the news.  And finally, if I wanted to photoshop an image in such a way that I am parodying the work then I am also (potentially) protected.
There are so many grey areas and stipulations, however, when it comes to being protected under the fair use law that I recommend further reading, or complete avoidance.

Asking Permission of the Photographer or Artist.

Coming across the perfect image doesn’t always happen in the stock image databases.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t legally use it. Being granted permission is sometimes as easy as a quick email or phone call to the artist.  I would expect an attribution requirement at a minimum, but for the perfect image it could just be worth the effort.

Clip Art, If You Must

To me, most clip art cheapens a blog article.  But if you want to poke around and look for that exception, feel free using this list of Public Domain (free) clip art databases:
ClipArt-History.com
http://www.PDClipArt.org
http://www.OpenClipArt.org
http://www.WPClipArt.com
In case you missed it above, I must stress that you are responsible for the lawful usage of any images you find online.  I have tried to provide you with excellent resources for affordable and free images to use in your blogging, but I can’t be certain that all images you find are indeed licensed in a manner that permits you to do so.  Use these services and images at your own risk.

Image Editing for Your Real Estate Blog – My Favorite Tools

Cropping, resizing, flipping, colorizing, brightening, framing, etc. need to be easy in order for most to take the time to do it.
The following list are the free tools we use and train our clients to use.
IrfanView (Funny name, amazingly easy and versatile desktop program.)
Photoshop Online (takes some practice, but it is crazy good – online editor)
Pixer.us (easy and basic online editor)
PicMonkey (robust online editor)
If you are a dedicated blogger, I highly recommend becoming familiar with these types of programs.  When your blog articles are the first impression received of your business online, it only makes sense to put your best foot forward.  Styling images to look great and fit within your articles is crucial.

Watermarking Images – Protect Your Art

Just because you are careful not to use work without proper licensing, doesn’t mean that others are as moral and law-abiding.   Tastefully watermarking your unique images can help protect you from theft and reinforce that you are in fact the artist as well as the author!
Using either the Photoshop Online or the PicMonkey applications you can easily add tasteful watermarks to your images in seconds.  Your first attempt may take you a few minutes to navigate through, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly.
The steps are easy.
1. Visit application of choice.
2. Upload image
3. Navigate to “Create” on PicMonkey or “Decorate” in Photoshop Online.
4. Select Text
5. Choose a location, font, color and size.
6. Adjust “Fade” (PicMonkey) or “Opacity” (PSO) to preference.
7. Save and Done.

How To Properly Add Images To Your Blog Articles

One of the other immediately recognized challenges we saw during our “first impression reviews” was the poor placement of images within blog articles.
Common examples of this challenge are:
Images are too small
There is no breathing room between the image and the text
Text is not being ‘wrapped around’ the image
Poor placement choice of image within the text area
The images are placed ‘below the scroll’
Less obvious challenges are:
No descriptive ‘alt title’ or image name added
Lack of a border around image
Failing to use the image as a Call To Action that links

Basic Suggestions for Placement of Images in Your Blog Articles.

1. Place your first image toward the beginning of the article.
I generally place mine above the first paragraph, but I also really like when the image is placed to the right side of the paragraph.
Placing the image in the upper part of the article guarantees that it will be noticed and you’ll gain the desired effect of including the image in the first place; it helps tell the story.
In order to get the image level/even with the first line of text (which I think looks very clean) you need to place the image before the first letter of the first word in the first paragraph.  From here you use the image formatting tools to align it to the right.  This will allow the words to wrap around the image that now sits to the far right of the container.
Similar to the first image, the rest of your article images should either be formatted to fit at the beginning of paragraphs (or similar break in text) OR placed between paragraphs in the case where you have a wide horizontal image.
2. Advanced Editing options make images look more professionally placed.
In WordPress, after you have an imaged located in your article, you can access the advanced options by clicking the image and selecting the Edit Image icon (tiny landscape).  At the top of the interface that appears select the option for Advanced Settings.  From here you can add a Border (I regularly use “1” to add a 1 pixel thin black line around the image) and Horizontal Space (I usually use “10” to give my images a 10 pixel empty space of padding from the article text).
3. Don’t be afraid to use large images and please stop using tiny images.
If you have selected images that are worth displaying, then showcase them properly.  Determine a common size that looks great in your articles and stick with that for most of your images.  Go bigger if the story is the image.  But little images just look like a cheesy afterthought without much consideration for their impact.
4. Name your images something that is relevant to the article.
Far too often I see images named something like IMG_1024.jpg.  The only way that image will be found in a Google Search is if someone happens to be searching by image number.  By simply changing the name to something more appropriate such as “6 Shipman Rd” (given it is a picture of a house) you can almost guarantee front page exposure. Consider the context and keywords of the article and use those.  There’s no excuse, it’s too easy to not be doing this.
5. When appropriate, link the image to something of value.
Generally, If something that attracts attention is clickable (within an article) it gets clicked.  Use your images as Calls To Action to related articles, categories, home searches, galleries, etc.  You’ve got the audience, now lead them where you want them to go.

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 The Essentials For Using Images In Your Real Estate Blog appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

They are all things that seem easy at first, but prove to require a developed skill to be successful.
Photography:
Buy a nice camera and point it at things while pressing the button.
Easy.
Gardening:
Dig hole, place plant (or seed), replace dirt, add water, Miracle Grow® and sunshine.
Easy.
Bodybuilding:
Lift a lot of weights, eat a lot of protein, consider supplements.
Easy.
Blogging For Business:
Start blog on WordPress, type articles about real estate, publish.
Easy.

They all seem easy enough, but when it comes to measuring your success after the effort most will be left disheartened.

The question that irks skilled photographers more than any other: “Wow, that’s a beautiful picture, what kind of camera did you use?”
Excellent photography is not so much about the technology in the hands of the artist as it is in developing the vision and applying the expertise garnered from critical analysis of 1000’s of snapped images. You’ll need to learn all about composition, lighting, frame speed, motion, processing, aperture, and a dozen other topics that I am not an expert in.  I do know that worrying about megapixels and brand of camera mean that you have a long way to go before success comes ‘easy’.
I have what I refer to as a brown thumb.
Every plant I have ever cared for has died.  I go to the local nursery, look out over the acre of beautifully maintained plants and fall for it every time.  100s of dollars later, I am excited with the idea of having a back porch full of blooming happiness.  Every year I am disappointed as they almost instantly look worse than when I first watered them.  Every year I throw away pitiful looking plants that never lived up to my expectations.
Body building I’ve never tried, and don’t plan to. But watching some documentaries on contests, and reading about the intense dieting, training, chemistry and biology that goes into forming oneself into a formidable Atlas, it’s been revealed to me that it takes a lot more than pumping iron.
Sure, you can tone up, and even build some nice muscle with little knowledge of what you are doing at the gym but to get beyond the plateau, and really push the human body to its protein limits takes knowledge, skill, technique, discipline and hard work… lots and lots.

Skills like the ones above, once honed, are referred to as Disciplines.

It is with good reason, given the amount of time, energy, commitment and focus that is normally required to develop such skills.
In the book the Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explains the 10,000 hour rule (threshold) of becoming an expert in something.  Want to compete with the best of the best?  You need to be willing to develop your skills for thousands of hours before you are ready to even step in the ring.

Real Estate Blogging is a discipline, for sure.

But the good news is that you don’t have to develop skills over thousands of hours to be seen as one with whom we want to do business.  However, it is not as easy as just typing your thoughts about real estate and hitting publish for you to break through to the threshold where people see you as the expert.

Blogging is a journey through learning how to:

Define An Audience
Find Inspiration In Clients’ Needs
Write Headlines
Connect With Readers
Organize Content
Beautify Articles
Establish Call-To-Action
Market Your Content
Develop A Voice
Commit To Regular Publishing

Once these layers of the onion have been peeled back and you have a few dozen articles under your belt you’ll find you hit stride and the effort becomes a habit, and the learning a skill.
You will recognize potential articles in every conversation as the photographer sees the frame in every light.  You will have a plentiful bank of fruitful content just as the gardener will have baskets full of delicious reward.  You will publish as effortlessly as the bodybuilder plows through his daily workout.
You may, after decades, have invested 10,000 hours in developing content for your business, but you’ll be the best of the best long before that.
Most will quit after less than 20 hours because they fail to see the success quickly enough.  The quitters never looked at the effort as a Discipline, but rather nothing more that a few simple steps to an expected result.
Now, with such little competition in the blogging-for-business market, once you master the above list, you’re likely to be standing without peer.

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 What Do Photography, Gardening, Bodybuilding and Blogging For Business Have In Common? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The following article was written by our Dean of Education: Daniel Bates.
Much has been written on the subject of social media being used to generate leads and most of it has not been positive.  In most cases, this is due to a misuse of the tools and not the tools themselves.
When I teach social media marketing to students, I do not approach it as a one-size-fits-all-instant-cure and I don’t hype it to be something that it isn’t.  I try to look for a way that a specific agent can use it to reach their specific audience and develop a plan with them on how to accomplish this.

1. You Don’t Get It.

You’re scrambling so hard to find these things called “leads” that you can’t see the forest through the trees.
Everyone that you come in contact with isn’t a lead, they’re a human being and they want to be treated like one, not as a potential stack of money.  Social Media is about building relationships.  If you’re not looking to build relationships, then you shouldn’t be participating.

2. You Don’t Play By The Rules.

Rules were meant to be broken right?
Well not social etiquette rules.
The same way that not smiling while extending a hand to shake upon meeting someone new can ruin your chances of making a friendly impression, so can failing to follow simple social media etiquette.
I always recommend that agents establish at least a month of social participation on social networks before promoting a business agenda.   But most importantly they need to understand the harm in spamming.  Nothing will degrade your sincerity and ‘friend’ value quicker that thoughtless self-promotion in the public forum.

3. Your Entire Audience Is Other Realtors.

I see so many agents get caught up in the numbers game; measuring their success  by how many followers/fans they have compared to their competition.
It is so common to see real estate agents pitch themselves in Realtor-Centric blogs, groups and fan pages.  The common byproduct of this is that these same agents also follow a huge amount of other agents themselves, hoping for them to return the favor…and they do.
But what good (other than the slim-chance-referral) is that?
Real estate agents are the last people you want following your professional activities because they skew your results.
I make a particular mention, when I use my own efforts as an example in a class, that the students please not “like” my page, because when I reach milestones I want to know that those are real-life fans that I have a chance of doing business with.
If you are doing your job correctly, then your content should be very uninteresting to agents outside of your geographic area, anyway.
There is the exception where you are recognized as ‘doing it right’ and other agents follow you as a great example.  In this case you may not be able to stop the movement, and it could help boost you to a larger than life status.   In the meantime, just try to keep the groups separate in your head and don’t be afraid to delete agents who try to butt-in on the conversation.
You worked hard for it, they didn’t.

4. You Don’t Draw A Line Between Personal And Professional.

Your Social Media feed includes pictures of you overindulging at a party last weekend, a new real estate listing, an abstract thought or quote that means nothing to anyone, a blog post about buying a home, a “checked-in” at McDonald’s, your prized Golden Artichoke from Farmville, and a real estate video that makes me motion sick.
If you did have any chance at success it was ruined when you sat down in front of the keyboard and spammed your friends with business and exposed your personal life to your business contacts. On Facebook the separation is simple (and demanded by FB terms of use):  Keep your friends on your Personal Profile and create a Fan Page for the “Business You”.

5. You Forgot The Golden Rule.

You can’t expect others to help you unless you’ve taken a moment to help them.
Or, if you prefer “treat others as you wish to be treated”.
The “Gimmees” of the world don’t last long with social media once people figure out that they have a one track mind.

6. You Haven’t Figured Out That Real Estate is Boring.

You take the advice to create a fan page and but then you go and name it “John Smith, Your Kalamazoo Real Estate Expert, a Smith and Smith Realty & Associates Real Estate Agent”. You then proceed to post all of your listings and market data graphs pulled from your MLS without an explanation of what they mean.  This follows with the frustration that no one joins your page and so you decide to re-re-re-suggest the page to your friends.  When they still don’t join you just go back to posting the data on your personal account and everyone, including your spouse decides to hide you from their feed.
Instead, consider creating a page around your niche in which you discuss not only real estate, but local news, pictures, facts, and events of interest to that niche.
Try promoting other local FB pages’ activities, include some local pictures and fun facts, and then sneak in a real estate article or two.

7. You Leave People Hanging.

When people DM, PM, or comment you don’t respond promptly, or at all.  This leaves the impression idea that you’re not interested in fostering a relationship.  We live in an instant gratification society and failing to respond to an online request within a reasonable amount time (as defined by the other party, not you) will cost you business.
Fortunately, FB has just started to notify fan page admins of wall postings in addition to comments, which had been a problem for many that didn’t check their page(s) at least once in the morning and evening.  So no excuses!

8. You Chase Your Tail.

You’ve got the same 10-100 people who are subscribed to your blog, following you on twitter, and  liking you on Facebook and most of them are close friends and family that didn’t want to hurt your feelings.
They either ignore your content or participate just to boost your ego.  Either you get the hard truth, or you end up fooling yourself that you’ve got great content and an attentive audience.
If you aren’t reaching a new, broader audience, you need to consider a few things:
Perhaps your message is missing the mark or just plain uninteresting.
Or, maybe you just need to raise the bar and market the page more effectively to find a larger audience.

9. You Spend All Your Time Reading.

Rather than coming up with a game plan of who your audience is and what they want to experience, you simply start a fan page and begin mimicking what you’ve seen done by other agents.
There is nothing wrong with following other agents who are great examples.  The challenge however, is that most are poor examples and nothing but a loss for your time investment.
Stop paying attention to online chatter and spend more time working on your own content.  Figure out who your audience is and what it is that they want you to talk about.

10. You Don’t Care that Everyone Can Tell That You Don’t Care.

After watching the umpteenth evening news story (by a reporter who doesn’t grasp social media) on how social media is important, you are finally inspired to build up your online presence.
You create an account on Facebook and Twitter, put links up to these accounts on your website(s), break rules 1-9 and then setup an automatic program to post your blog feed to your account.
Predictably, you forget your login/password because you never visit either again.
Anyone that happens to stumble across your message sees the tumbleweed rolling across the ignored prairie and exits via the back button and on to your competition’s account.
If you could relate with any of the above, we have good news for you.  This week on Tomato University we are offering the following 3 Social Media classes at 11PST / 2 EST:

• Introduction To Social Media Marketing On Social Networks on Tuesday
• Facebook Fan Page Marketing For Real Estate Agents on Wednesday
• Facebook Advertising: Building A New Audience on Thursday

The post 10 Reasons You Will Never Generate A Lead Through Social Media appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Onsite SEO: Optimizing Content For Your Real Estate Blog

“This is an excellent class for new and seasoned blogger’s. I have been blogging for 2 years now and it was a super refresher course for me on a few things I forgot. Daniel has a great deal of knowledge and experience and I would recommend it to anyone.” ~ Rick Smenner

“Daniel gives a very detailed and easy-to-understand class on on-site SEO. Because of the experience with his community blog he lays out exactly what is necessary and walks you through the steps to increase your traffic. I personally appreciate the depth of what he covers. He clearly knows the material and is willing to share all of his knowledge. I have taken a few Tomato courses and find his sessions so helpful in taking my blogs to the next level.” – Melissa Riley

Offsite SEO: It’s Not ALL About Content

“A+ Instructor, A+ Class Content. Every Tomato U member should listen to Danial Bates and take his Offline SEO Class. Give a very “necessary” overview and lay of the land explanation of how search engines (Google) thinks, ranks and hands out the valuable “Google Juice” or love that all of our business sites need to compete. Daniel is a wonderful teacher, communicator and experienced search engine guy, that has actually tried and tested all of his recommendations. Don’t miss this class AGAIN! Thanks Daniel for your valuable information and resources you shared in your OFFLINE SEO class today. Have become one of your raving fans and will contact you for some 1-on-1 training today!” ~ Nannete Circo

Google Analytics: Tracking Visitors To Increase Sales

“The class was very informative, learn a lot of new information. The class was taught with a clear outline and accomplished it’s agenda. Professor spoke slowly and clearly, used examples to better explain. —- This was my first webinar and everything went so smoothly I was nervous that it wasn’t going to. I was able to take notes as well as follow along to what was going on, on the screen” ~ Patricia Flynn
“Really happy I took this class. Daniel was correct to focus on those aspects of Analytics that were relevant to the RE business and to warn us off those that did not apply.” ~ Jerry Hollerbach

Guide To Superior Hyper-Local Blogging

“Daniel did an exceptional job in his hyper-local blogging class. He was clear and concise and his powerpoint was superb. You could tell that he had full knowledge of the subject and was very willing to share. Attending this webinar gives me great incentive to sign up for other Tomato courses. Well done! Lot’s of great ideas from an experienced person.” ~ Melissa Riley
“Daniel’s knowledge of hyper-local blogging is extremely helpful. Appreciated the instruction on iGoogle and how to choose keywords also. The graphic on the areas we should concentrate our hyper-local blogging is a keeper. I always learn something new and valuable.” ~ Lori Cain

Introduction To Social Media Marketing On Social Networks

“Daniel was a great presenter. He did a very organized presentation and obviously had a lot of experience in the area. He also was honest about what he did not have experience with. It was a great overview of using social media. While there was not a lot of new information for me, I did pick up some very valuable tid bits that will be of great use.” ~ Karl Burger

Facebook Fan Page Marketing For Real Estate Agents

“I’m so glad I waited to take this class with Daniel before setting up my Facebook business page!” ~ Donna Hamaker

Facebook Advertising: Building A New Audience

“I followed the steps outlined by Daniel in the class and doubled the size of my old facebook page in one day. 5 days later and I have over 600 active fans and am so pleased with the results of his class” ~ Marty Van Diest

The post Tomato University Line-Up for the Month of February appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

JIM: What have you seen being the most notable change in the Real Estate Market over the last 10 years?

BERNICE: Specifically, the biggest change is the consumer having access to the Multiple Listing Service, to house value data and to educational information on the web. Consumers are hungry for information and this has affected the way we are getting clients. The biggest shift for 2007 is the shift from paid to free advertising. For example, 3 lines in the newspaper can cost 30 dollars. Now you can post your listings on dozens of websites for free, using handsome HTML templates. – In fact, there are even companies like foreclosure.comthat will actually pay you a 25% referral fee for helping them sign people up for their $49/month program that provides consumers with lists of foreclosure listings. This advertising model may be the beginning of a dramatic shift in real estate advertising.

Jim: So it’s the hunger of the consumer for access to data that has made their expectations different.

BERNICE: In the past, age didn’t make much difference in how we communicated with our consumers.  Today, there is a huge gap between those who are over 35 and those who are under 35 in terms of how they want to receive property information. Older clients prefer email and telephone. Younger clients demand texting.
A major challenge is that the real estate industry is more or less a “gray” age group with the median age being 54.  What’s happening is that the majority of Realtors are not really grounded in how their younger buyers and sellers want to receive information.  There is a big divide in terms of age right now- and that is one of the hot things that needs to be addressed in 2007: “How am I going to deal with this age difference?”
Another element that cannot be overlooked is that minorities and immigrants now account for a large percentage of our buyers and sellers. The number of so-called traditional clients has been shrinking. In fact, the old standard is becoming the minority.

JIM: How has your business changed along the way?

BERNICE: In the late 1990’s we tried to sell coaching without training. Today, the niche that has the greatest demand is training that includes integrating technology with traditional marketing techniques. An important issue for 2007 is how to integrate your internet presence with your traditional marketing techniques to make both more cost effective.

JIM:  What topics does your audience most want to learn about?  Or rather, what do they feel they are lacking most?

BERNICE: Blanche Evans from Realty Times once told me that what Realtors want to know most about is marketing, prospecting, and how to make more money.  When I write my columns, I always have my eye on those three things.  It’s the nuts and bolts that will make agents more profitable. Using the proper technology will make their marketing not only more efficient it will also make it more effective.
In a slower market, where there are going to be fewer transactions, the way that you can keep my net income the same is to cut your expenses. Cut back on advertising dollars by taking a more web based approach, for example.  Starting a blog and the obvious benefits of that far outweigh much costlier traditional techniques that are losing their effectiveness.  Embracing the advertising opportunities that the proper technology presents is the key.
Rather than spending your money on expensive personal marketing programs, concentrate on using technology instead. Technology can even the playing field; I can compete with Coldwell Banker online, but I cannot compete with them when it comes to traditional advertising.

JIM:  Who is your typical client?

BERNICE: That’s an interesting question:  Those who hire me to speak either own companies or manage offices.  I wrote the concierge program with Coldwell Banker, I spent 6 months doing a consulting contract with Gary Keller, and more currently have been working with Realty Executives, and Long and Foster. What really launched my business was my book, Waging War on Commission Discounters.  That book was about how we can defend our commissions, given all the so-called alternative business models.
My current clients hire me to analyze and consult them on how to embrace the new technologies.  With the market slowing in many areas, those agents that have been working for less than ten years have never seen a flat or down market.  They don’t have the necessary dialogues. For the last few years, they haven’t had to really work or worry about how to market a property.
The one message I would give to your readers: Now is the time to get trained! Get trained on the basics.  Avram Goldman from Coldwell Banker Northern California summed it up well when he called today’s market a “Realtor’s market; where you need real skills.”

JIM:  What’s the one thing that you would recommend to someone starting out in Real Estate that would help them succeed?

BERNICE: Get trained on the basics of being in real estate. First of all, there are going to be more expired listings and more for sale by owners who will list with an agent. There is tremendous opportunity there.
The other thing that one needs to master is market statistics dialogue – Its one of the things I have trained since the late 80s’ and it’s extremely effective. Most of the dialogues that I train are based upon the numbers.
When you walk in and you say to a seller, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, we have 12 months worth of inventory on the market – Right now that means in any given month you have a 8.5% chance that you are going to sell.  You have a 91.5 % chance that you aren’t going to sell.  That means that each month the properties that are selling are in the top 8.5% in terms of value, the other 91.5% are going to continue to sit on the market.  So where are you going to position you property in the market place?” The sellers must determine whether they are going to stage the property.
Furthermore, are they going to price it competitively? Those are decisions that the seller is going to need to make.  However, you need to give them the data in order to let them make the smart decision.

JIM: So you would recommend that they get training on how to speak to both Buyer and Seller, not just give them the facts?

BERNICE – That’s right and we have 220 scripts on audio CD…[laughs…]
JIM: We’re here help plug you shamelessly, no problem there.

BERNICE: Well. were out there plugging you (The Real Estate Tomato) on the circuit as well.  I’ve told my audiences that if you are looking to blog in the Real Estate Industry, Jim is the best resource to learn how to do it.
JIM: I can’t thank you enough.

JIM:  What’s the favorite thing about your career?

BERNICE: I really love being able to get out and meet with people – It is hard being out on the road, but what makes it worth it are the great people out there who are really making a difference and providing great service.  I do like writing and the speaking, but it is being out there and being of service that keeps me excited.

JIM: What’s the most challenging thing about your career?

BERNICE: I’d have to say that the least favorite thing to me is the trip from the arrival airport to where my final destination is… figuring out where I am going, or how I am going to get there.. the grind on the ground after the flight… it’s wearing. Scratch all that… it’s really the fact that I am getting fatter from all the good food I eat while I am out on the speaking circuit. [laughs…]

JIM: Many bloggers defend the role of the Realtor as being an ultimately necessary part to the real estate transaction.  Do you feel that Realtors are at any risk of disintermediation?

BERNICE: Nope, Absolutely, positively, no way.  The reason is that all of these new business models make the same mistake… They think that the website is a substitute for human connection.  Look at all the activity on social networking sites. People want to be connected.  They are connecting online – And when it comes to down to that all important decision of where they are going to live, they still want that face-to-face contact. They still want to work with a person that they can trust.
The idea of being a trusted effective advocate is one of the real hallmarks that will always make the difference.  There will always be the small percentage of individuals who buy on price or who may even buy online – But when we look at people from all over the world, when they find a home they want to buy, they will still get on an airplane and hook up with a Realtor to go and see the property in person. And this includes the ultra rich. Everyone wants human connection.

JIM:Playing Devil’s advocate… Dealing with the under 35 crowd is different… is there not some threat to the full service that a Realtor provides?

BERNICE: With the slowing market, sellers really need to work with someone who understands the market. In some areas. people are paying more than full commissions to get their house sold because that what’s today’s market requires. In fact, I was just interviewed by 60 minutes about 10 days ago for a story that Leslie Stahl is doing on commissions.
JIM: Currently, the most visited real estate blog to date is the fear mongering HousingPanic, which o nly focuses on the glass being half empty for the national real estate market.

What’s your take on all this housing bubble talk, and what affect (if any) do blogs like HousingPanic have on the current market?

This whole idea, that if it bleeds it leads – is there some sort of self fulfilling prophesy going on here that is having any kind of effect on the market?
BERNICE: People are kind of blase about the bubble because it has been talked about so much… what were seeing is that the market is spotty.  This fall I heard an economist speak at a conference, and what he said is that he felt that the Fed had over corrected in terms of interest rates. It takes about 8 to 12 months for the ripple effect to make its way through the system. He believes that rates will be down next summer. He also said that as long as corporate America stays strong, we won’t see a recession. That’s barring of course, that we don’t have another 9/11 type of event.
What’s going on right now is that people are standing back and waiting to see what the market is going to do. My response to that is that you have to look at the long term history of real estate – even in places like Florida where they had as much as a 30% decline in terms of valuation – the market is making an adjustment – all markets adjust. According to noted economist Don Reynolds, you can tell where there’s going to be a major market adjustment. Here’s how to spot it. You look for what he calls a “parabolic curve.” If there has been a big run up on prices, you will have one of two reactions.  The first is that the market will flatten and stay there.  The other is that there will be a big dip before the market rebounds and starts to appreciate again.
Sites like Housing Panic are driving traffic based on fear. It’s too bad, but sex and bad news are what sells. The ironic thing is that if you are interested in the market and are buying, you want a bad market.  The message I have for Realtors and your audience, is that if you are thinking of “moving up,” you want a bad market.  That’s in your favor.  You don’t want to be moving up in a sellers’ market.  If you sell your current home for 30% less of its former value, but are able to move up to a home worth much more, and acquire it at a 30% discounted value, the swing is in your favor.  Let’s say you sell your home that you paid $300,000 for. Assume you sell it for $240,000, and move into a home that used to be worth $400,000 , but is now worth $320,000. You have just turned a $60,000 down turn into a $20,000 upswing. Your mortgage payment and taxes will be less all the way through your ownership too.

JIM: What’s your favorite RE blog? Besides mine… laughs:

BERNICE: Oh, the Real Estate Tomato is my favorite real estate industry blog.
I really like The Realty Gram and The Fat Lady Blog – both by Frances Flynn Thorsen.
I also like the Inman Blog, but don’t get as much of an opportunity to read blogs as I would like because of the amount of time that I spend on the road. If you could point me in the direction of the cream of the crop as you see it that would be great. [Here you go: The Tomato Blogroll]
JIM: Thank you so much for your time today, Bernice.  Our readers will love the information you provided, it is such a pleasure to have the opportunity to get insight from someone so in tune with the industry itself.
BERNICE: It has been my pleasure.  Now let’s get you out on the circuit!

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