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.

Or whats the shortest post I can publish and still see good results?

The following is an argument for short real estate blog posts… even though I know that longer posts will perform better.

The 300 Word Myth?

The idea that a post needs to be at least 300 words in order to be seen as long enough for Google is one that I see and hear frequently. The idea is that is falls under what Google calls “Thin Content.” But the idea of Thin Content is content that doesn’t satisfactorily provide value to your website visitor. If your blog article is one that doesn’t require more than a couple of sentences to make a point, or answer a question, then how can it be seen as lacking value?

I think that to best understand what Google means with their goal of stamping out Thin Content is to look at the spirit of the rule. If your website is a consistent violator of publishing content that is copied from elsewhere, or syndicated from another account, or causes your audience to bounce (as opposed to stay and read), then I would say that you are violating the spirit of the rule, and you deserve what Google penalizes you with.
But if your content is unique, frequent, and engaging (people actually read it, share it, and/or subscribe to it) then the length of the post it takes to make that happen is irrelevant.
My take: If you get blogging, then counting your words is a distraction you shouldn’t be bothered with.

What Do The Experts Have To Say?

Turns out, when it comes to current Ranking Factors, the experts make no mention of article/page length.
However, an interesting note is that in a study of over 1,000,000 articles, those that were less than 1000 words were shared/liked less than those that were greater than 1000 words, with the longer posts being the most shared and most liked.
So yes, there is great value in lengthy posts. But at what cost to the blogger?

Get and Stay in Shape

I commonly relate blogging to getting into and staying in shape.
Let’s use running as an example.
Try running 1 or 2 miles a day, every day, and you can make that a habit that sticks, and yields results.
Try running 10 miles in a day. Now get up and do it again tomorrow, and the next day. For almost all of us, that’s not going to happen.
Now try doing it once a week (running 10 miles).
You might last a month before there’s a reason to take a week off. Then you miss another week… and soon the habit is dead, and so are the results.
Achieving blogging success requires establishing a habit.
The most important thing you can do to be a good blogger is to hit publish.
Struggling to reach word counts is a hindrance to production.
I want you to see results. I want you to get an audience to read you, and trust you, and do business with you.
This won’t happen if you don’t become a blogger, and that means establishing the habit of publishing at least a few times a week.
If that means that half your blog articles are falling in the 100-200 word (6-12 sentences) range… then so be it. The idea is that you are still doing this in a year’s time. The idea is that you are giving Google a reason to rank your site. The idea is that you have something to show your audience that you are the expert.
Don’t make this the gym membership that you pay for, guiltily, and fail to use.
Be unique.
Use your niche.
Your competition is thin when you target properly.
The threats of thin content penalties apply mostly to one trying to rank for very competitive terms.
Longer posts will come, and may perform better, but they shouldn’t be the bar that keeps you from being successful.

Yes, But Longer Is Better

Ok so there’s the argument for shorter. Now here’s why longer is better:

Research shows it will be shared more often. This is huge in SEO.
It will be seen as more authoritative, driving your rankings higher.
It will naturally have more keywords because there’s more content.
But can you keep up a pace of 10 miles every time you run?
As a Real Estate Agent, you wear a lot of hats, and I just want you to “stay in shape.”
And don’t worry… your competition can’t keep up that pace either.
If you want to keep reading about this, here are some interesting articles I found when reading about word count and SEO:
http://www.copypress.com/blog/4-statistics-every-blogger-should-know-about-content-word-count/
https://www.snapagency.com/blog/whatll-be-the-best-length-for-a-blog-article-in-2016-for-seo/
https://moz.com/blog/fat-pandas-and-thin-content
https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2392782/should-we-still-worry-about-thin-content 

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 How Long Should A Real Estate Blog Post Be? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Each landmark holiday provides you with the opportunity to drive a huge amount of targeted web traffic to your real estate website.
Your broad target market is residents and future residents of your community. During a holiday, the community tends to act in a similar manner. A timely blog post that covers these acts will bring you web traffic.
The summer holiday of the 4th of July is fast approaching.
What do we all do on the 4th of July?
We watch the firework display put on by the town.
What’s the best way to enjoy the display? Location Location Location.
My bet is that if you can get a post published by this weekend about the best places to watch the fireworks in your town, you’ll see a surge of traffic. And to maximize this opportunity, you must share this blog post in your social media sphere: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Get on it! There’s no time to lose.
PS – Think ahead for the next cultural holiday opportunity, and get blogging to be found.

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 Timely Blog Posts Yield Great Traffic appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Photo by Evan Swigart.

In order for something to be made perfect we need to determine what criteria we’re aiming to satisfy.
For me, when you publish an article, you should aim to accomplish at least the following:
1. Help you be found by the target audience, including search engines and your social media reach.
2. Communicate an effective message to your visitor as quickly as possible.
3. Bring your audience closer to doing business with you.
Sounds easy enough…
So what’s the least amount of content you can create in order to satisfy all the above?

Minimum Effort To Perfection:

1. Write A Great Headline.

If you fail at headline writing you will never be a successful blogger.
Why?
If your blog headlines aren’t compelling, no one is going to click to read them. Fail to connect with your audience and they will never visit in the first place.
The headline is the best and easiest place for SEO success. By using keywords and being descriptive in the headline you now have a competitive piece. Google wants to present the results that matter to people’s inquiries.
When your headlines satisfy both what attracts Google and your visitors’ clicks, you win.
Remind me to write: How To Write The Perfect Blog Article Headline.
I took a stab at it some years ago – but I think I can expound.

In order to make something perfect we need to determine what qualities we’re aiming to satisfy.

2. Always Always Always Include An Attractive Picture

So you got them to click because of your great headline… now you have to deliver that next punch that will set the tone for the blog article; eye candy.
In order to gain and maintain your audience’s interest you will need to make an instant connection and offer continuous stimulation (eye candy). 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.
The Essentials For Using Images In Your Real Estate Blog Articles

3. Write Pithy Content

The faster you can connect with and deliver the message to your audience, the more effective it will be.
Here’s the trick to writing high-impact, concise content:
– Pretend you are paying someone $3 a word for copy.
This will force you to get to the point and cut out the unnecessary fluff.
For example the above could be more economical like so: “This forces you to cut the unnecessary.”
7 words instead of 15. Or $24 cheaper =)
– Practice writing 5 articles in a week, all under 200 words each.
(For context, I average ~1000 words a post. )
– Pick a picture with the most impact.
If it can be worth a 1000 words think of all the typing you have just saved yourself.
–  Instead of using in-depth explanations, link (in a new window) to additional commentary, definitions, and/or related content.

 4. Properly Categorize and Tag Each Article

Every article you write should fall under (at least) one of your well planned categories.
This helps communicate the agenda of your consistent message to the visitor and to the search engines.
Similarly, tagging one’s article by it’s topic(s) is a crucial step in organizing your content. While your categories help you identify the general agenda, adding tags to an article help you identify the particular subject matter.

An article can’t be perfect unless you are enticing your audience to take an action that leads them closer to doing business with you.

5. Link To Related/Relevant Articles In Your Database

Similar to properly categorizing your content, by offering links to related content from each article, you are satisfying all 3 of the perfection criteria above.
The links encourage your audience to continue reading, in turn building trust and showcasing your expertise.
The search engines are able to spider deeper into your archives and make connections as to the relationship between your content and keywords.

6. Locate Clear Calls To Action

Whether they are designed into your article template (automatically included on each post) or you craftily weave calls-to-action into your copy, an article can’t be perfect unless you are enticing your audience to take an action that leads them closer to doing business with you.

Additional Elements Of The Perfect (Longer) Article

Simply look at a longer article as if it were just a series of pithy articles under one main title.

1. Headings – Another Chance at Headline Writing (see above).

The best way to keep your audience reading through longer copy is to break up the content with Headings. Establish a solid point and write a rich title right smack in the middle of the article.
For more info on how to properly use Headings in your articles, check out our WYSIWYG article.

2. Formatting – The Best Way To Ensure Your Long Article Is Read

Making an article a joy to read goes beyond the content itself. An attractive article, one that is easy to read and follow, increases the chance that it will be read and finished. Learn to master the use of Headlines, Pictures, Links, Short Paragraphs, Pull Quotes, Block Quotes, and Lists.

3. Add Additional Images

More images means more unwritten, yet clear message impact.

Examples Of Perfect Real Estate Blog Articles

Here are a couple that satisfy most of the Perfection Criteria:

Complete Guide To Coconut Grove’s Gated Communities
Great headline, great picture, very useful map, easy-to-read formatting, great integration of CTAs, great resource links, well categorized and a great text template CTA at the footer of the article.
Suggestions: Additional reading/related-posts – and maybe another image to break up the content (but not necessary).
What Does $1 Million Buy in Today’s Very Strong Santa Barbara Real Estate Market?
Great headline, great pictures, very easy-to-read formatting/font, great integration of CTAs, great resource links, great related posts, it is well categorized and a great use of quick-search links.
Suggestions:  None.
Hat tip to Steve Beam for requesting this topic to be covered here.

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 Is There Such A Thing As A Perfectly Written Real Estate Blog Article? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Biting off more than you can chew will be the death of your real estate blogging.
But I hear it all the time: “My blog needs to showcase that I specialize in these 10 communities.”

You have 2 hands/10 fingers and only so many hours a week to dedicate to content creation (blogging). How can you possibly create enough content to come off as the expert, equally, for all 10 communities? You can’t. Not alone, anyhow.
“But I want to make sure that people know how much ground I cover.”
The best way to do this is two-fold:
1. Write up profiles for as many communities as you reach. Showcase this group in either a carousel or a sidebar group/list linking off to each profile.
2. Leverage your IDX functionality to offer property searching in a wide range of locations. This can be done in a quick search dropdown and/or in a sidebar list, not unlike the profiles above.
But successfully covering this range of communities with blogging content is another story.

In order for blogging to work, and work swiftly, you need to illustrate to your audience that you are an expert on your topic(s).
This is done by comprehensively covering a niche from many angles (housing market, entertainment, landmarks, schools, parks, events, listings, etc). By spreading your efforts across many locations, you water down your impression to whimsical.
Look at it this way:
If water (success) is 100′ deep, you don’t dig five 20′ holes.
You get started digging to 100′. Once you have reached success for that niche, you can set out to dig subsequent holes. Your experience will be better because now you can apply what you have learned to be more effective, more efficient and more properly expectant of your effort.

The Bottom Line For Blogging On Multiple Communities:

I understand that you want to showcase the range of ground that you cover locally. So do this with property search options and community profiles. But leave the blogging effort (at least in the beginning) to at most a couple (that’s 2!) communities. The audience that you attract with your blogging will respond to your efforts. This will in turn encourage you to continue blogging, opening up the opportunity to cover a greater range in the future.

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 How Much Ground Should I Cover With My Real Estate Blog? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

How To Improve A Webite’s Ability To Attract & Engage Sellers

Firstly, one needs to put themselves in the shoes of the seller.
♦ What are the most common concerns/questions that you have to address when you are looking to win the business of a potential seller client?
♦ What are the most common challenges that you have to overcome with sellers?
♦ What are the most common services that are expected of you by a seller?
♦ And finally, what are the most common reasons you fail to win the business of a potential seller client?
Address all of the above quickly and easily through your website and you’ll start to win seller business.

Here Are Some Expert Tips On How To Accomplish This Goal:

Represent and Showcase Your Listings in the Most Positive Light.

Dedicated Listing Pages
A well organized, and clean layout for each listing shows that you care and it gives a nice first impression for all your listings.
High Quality and Appropriate Photographs
You don’t want to end up on BadMLSPhotos.com  – If you are not (yet) a good photographer make the investment with a professional. The photos of your listings are so crucial to making a good impression. It seems like this is the most overlooked element of listings, and that is a major failure.
Comprehensive Descriptions
If you want to improve the SEO of your listings, write unique, comprehensive content/descriptions. Copy/pasting the descriptions off the MLS is a mistake. That content is strewn throughout the internet and your site’s listings will not be seen as unique to Google, and therefore ignored.
Homepage Showcase
If you want to attract sellers, you need to prove to them that their home will be seen by all traffic. Getting listings on the homepage can be done with an elegant slideshow, carousel, sidebar list/gallery, or at a minimum in a drop down from the main navbar under Listings.
Effective SEO 
You need to get your listings’ home addresses on the front page results of Google. If you are listing 123 Elm St, San Diego, CA and you are not on the front page for that search phrase, you are doing it wrong.
So how does one out perform Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin and the rest of the big dogs?
The simple answer: You need to prove to Google that you are the best authority on each dedicated home address.
Using the above: A dedicated listing page, comprehensive content/description, a direct link to the listing from the homepage, and finally, blog about it. All this unique content, with exposure on a highly indexed page (homepage), and multiple links using the listing home address virtually guarantees you a top 3 placement for any standard listing.
Video/Virtual Tours
We cover the importance of video in greater detail below, but this list would be incomplete if we failed to mention that a quality video tour of your listings will impress your potential seller as well as the house shopping buyer.
Single Property Sites
Another effective way to make your listings stand out is to dedicate a stand-alone website and URL (1234ElmStreet.com) for the property.
There are a number of competitive single property websites available, but I think that the best approach would be the following. Design a unique theme dedicated to your listings and publish them as pages on your site: (yoursite.com/1234-elm-street). Then forward the dedicated URL (1234ElmStreet.com) to the custom listing page on your site. This way you are not wasting the SEO value of your listings on single websites, but rather growing your own website’s SEO with unique listing content.

Dedicate Content To Engage Your Seller Traffic.

Blog to the Seller
Some ideas:
Questions From Your Sellers, Answered.
You are expected to have all the answers, show that you do. Strip the identity of your seller and answer it much like you’s see in a Dear Abby column.
Use Active Listings As “Teachable Moments”
Rather than just forcing listing data into your blog, use the listings you have to educate your seller audience on the importance of curb appeal, negotiating, staging, open houses, photography, new paint, elbow grease… And, as a bonus you have yet another link to the actual listing details on your site driving that SEO for the property (see above).
Seller’s Objections
Handle the challenges that you know your future sellers will present before they become a stumbling block. Think: Price reductions, Zillow, comparative values, days on market, commission, waiting on the market, you know the ones…
Success Stories
No one else is going to publish your awesome sauce. Pat yourself on the back by telling a story with a happy ending. Make sure to always link to your testimonials page.
Be Honest About The Market
People appreciate the straight talk. Discuss market conditions honestly presenting the pros and cons as often as possible
The Selling Process
Break it down step by step over many articles.
Listing appointment, contracts, MLS, advertising, the Internet, open house, offers, price changes, days on market, negotiations, contingencies, closing, post closing, moving…
You can always pin another tail on that donkey.
Home Value Improvement Tips
Every seller will want to know what they can do (or avoid) when it comes to getting more for their property.
Maintain A Gallery Of Sold Listings
Keep it simple – you are not trying to sell these listings, but rather your recent activity.
A picture, an address, a price, and the date sold.
Develop A Must Read Sellers Info Page That Includes:
Your Mission Statement
An Outline of Your Listing Marketing Strategy
An Outline of Your Strengths
Lots of Testimonials both Written and Video
Strong Calls To Action That Garner Sellers’ Attention – Hook Them!
Again, you must get into the shoes/head of your seller traffic.
When you know what your audience is looking for, it’s much easier to provide it.
What have they come to find? Answers to their questions? Services for their needs? Examples of your awesomeness?
Some ideas:
If you are going to go the Free CMA/Home Value route, make it super simple.
The more complex the experience the more you scare them away. Consider breaking the process into two simple steps.
Start with requesting the Home Address, and then (after selecting ‘continue’) ask them for contact info. And that’s it – forget all the other details, you can get those once you have made contact.
All-the-while, make sure they know that they can just pick up the phone to initiate the process.
Downloadable eBook
(idea: Collection of best seller advice/blog articles)
Offer something that they can’t just read on every other real estate site.
With a nice graphic, a killer title, and a required email box, you’ll get leads.
Set up an email subscription (feed) to your blog category for sellers (e.g. Home Selling Tips).
Making it clear to sellers that they can subscribe receive to Seller Specific content – free of all the other blog updates.
Video Video Video
A recent study claims that 73% of homeowners say they are more likely to list with a realtor doing video. I assume that they mean doing video of listings.
But, just as bad photography can only hurt the impression you make, a bad video is definitely worse than no video at all.
Either start practicing until you have skills, or hire a professional.
A great way to practice your video skills is video blogging (vlogging), video testimonials/interviews, neighborhood videos, and finally lots of listing walk-throughs. But please, do not publish without considering “is this going to hurt or help me?”

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 How To Use Your Real Estate Website and Blogging To Attract Seller Leads appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Do you want blogging to generate real estate leads from the get-go?

Zero in on your target with unwavering focus.
This simple exercise below will make all the difference and clear the path to your success.
I guarantee it.

Step 1. Who’s your Bob?

I ask this of every new client that needs a little help with their approach to real estate blogging.
We just want you to define and commit to your target audience.
If I can help you generate 10 new contracts in the next 12 months, who exactly would you prefer to do business with? You have the chance right now, to define exactly who you are going to work with.
Who makes you enjoy your role as a real estate agent most?
– How old are they?
– Married?
– What is their family situation? Kids?
– What is the price range they are shopping (for buyers)?
– How much money does the household make?
– What do they do for a living?
– What level education have they completed?
– How many times have they done this before (bought/sold a home)?
– Where do they want to live?
– Are they from the area? (Or, where have they moved from?)
– What is their political lean?
– Religion?
– Serious hobbies (tennis, surfing, cooking…)?
– And on and on…

Step 2. What do the answers mean?

Now that you have defined Bob you need to start to see things from their perspective.
With regards to real estate consider this: Let’s say your bob is a family man: Once the kids are in bed, and he and his wife are talking about real estate, what questions do they need to sit down in front of the computer to have answered? Your blogging about real estate needs to be the best answers to their questions. When you solve this, blogging will instantly bring you business.

With regards to lifestyle consider this: When moving their young family to a new town/neighborhood what diversions will they be looking for? Soccer or swimming lessons for the kids? Parks to play in? Local golf club to join? Church to attend? Become part of that family and see things through their needs – now blog the heck out of that.
This works because Bob will find your site.
Bob will read your articles.
Bob will know that you wrote them for him, and he will trust that you are a great fit for doing business.

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 Exactly How To Define Your Target Audience and Accelerate Your Blogging Success appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

This is the 7th in a series of brief blog articles inspired by Good Earth Tea® quotes.
“Inactivity is the biggest sin in boxing.”
– Sugar Ray Leonard.
OK – so I am cheating. This is not an actual GET quote. But I ran across it the other day and saw the obvious correlation with blogging, so I had to force it into the quote series.
The obvious connection with this quote and blogging is that a quiet blog is a dying blog. We have covered this topic over and over and over again.
But there is a different angle relating boxing and blogging that needs to be pointed out.
More often than not, it is the consistent use of combinations in boxing that wears the opponent down, allowing them to win the fight. The pugilists don’t train to throw a single knock-out punch. They train to work the body, work the head, counter punch, and to force their opponent to miss. All this work opens the opportunity to land a clear shot, in turn, knocking their adversary out.

Bloggers similarly need to recognize the value of
regular writing within different topics.

It is not the article about living in the community, nor the one about short sales, nor the one about market trends that will generate the lead, it is the combination of all of them.
Bring your audience into the ring with you and showcase your expertise in real estate and your connection to the community. Your consistent blogging on this combination will strike the reader as being a worthy resource, one to contend with. Forgive me, I am forcing the puns here.
But you get the idea… a healthy distribution of content into several strong categories is the winning combination for generating leads in the blogging business. Don’t get caught up in trying to throw that knock-out article, hoping to land a new client. Keep moving, keep writing, keep dancing in the ring. Work the topics you know so well, and success will be yours.

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 Is Real Estate Blogging’s 1-2 Punch? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

This article was composed (almost) entirely using Microsoft’s speech recognition program in Windows 7. I dictated directly into the WordPress text editor.
Since I started blogging six years ago, my typing speed has improved considerably. I used to be a hunt-and-peck typer, sufferings through each paragraph. But now, after tens of thousands of keystrokes, I can actually type notes while listening to clients in real time.
But when it comes to blogging, I wish I had someone to simply dictate to. I talk for a living, and curiously, I guess you could say that I write for a living as well. Why not marry the two?

So here’s my review:

The Pros

1. The setup its really easy.
Simply search “speech recognition” from the start menu in Windows and in one click you are off and running. I’m using a desktop microphone, and in less than 10 seconds it was optimized for this feature.
2. The tutorial and walk through is very informative and very helpful. 
I got the hang of it in just a couple of minutes.
3. The range of commands that you can use in addition to the dictation is extensive. 
Copy, cut, paste, delete, remove, select, correct, open, save, etc… everything that you would use when composing a document is there. It is way more extensive that I can explain in a brief review, and you’ll have a steep learning curve to master it – but the basics are intuitive and natural.
4. Spelling/Word suggestions are spot on.
Selecting and changing a word that was incorrect is slick and swift, but it will have to be since the system is less than perfect as mentioned below.

5. It actually works!
With some patience and some practice one could realistically control their entire computer with their voice. It’s pretty neat, and if you are at all curious it’s definitely worth checking out.
6. It’s free with Windows 7

The Cons

1. It’s not as easy to use as Apple’s (iOs) and Dragon’s voice recognition, which are what I’m most familiar with. 
I find that I am having to correct about 8% of the content that I’m creating using speech recognition. The tutorial claims that the system will learn and improve…we’ll see.
2. The program is almost too robust. 
I am really just looking four a dictation device to help me deliver my thoughts into articles more efficiently.  On a few occasions during the composition of this article I managed to accidentally have my voice commands start controlling programs outside of the text editor. I had to wrestle the voice recognition program back into helping me compose this article.
3. It is not any faster (for me) to compose an article in full.
If I was just trying to bang out some notes where I didn’t care about the formatting and aesthetics, then I could see using this program regularly. But, I take great care in formatting these articles and I found that I just couldn’t navigate my way around this text editor fast enough to keep me from grabbing the mouse and doing it all manually.

Tips

Speak slowly.
Speak directly into the microphone.
Be patient, it does take some practice and getting used to.
Proof read carefully, some of the words it chooses to display are close but not correct.
Do your formatting after you’ve done your dictation, and after turning off the VR program.  I added the image, pullquotes, links, and font formatting post dictation.

Recommendation

Try it.
It may just be the solution for some of you slower typists, or those just looking for an alternative to the keyboard.
I really like the idea of not having to organize what I want to say and then execute it on the keyboard. Just talking out loud is much better for a free flow of ideas.
Now if I can just get it to dictate my thoughts. Actually on second thought, scratch that =)
 

The post Real Estate Blogging Without Typing – Speech Recognition Actually Works! appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

“I just don’t have time” always leads to the death of a real estate blog.

Even bloggers that have great success from their sites find that, at times, the time it can take to construct worthwhile content is hard to come by. And the more often that it is hard to come by the further a blogger is from overcoming this challenge.

The best way to maintain a good habit is to reinforce it as often as possible, even if it is only in small efforts.
After reading all the reports that sitting is the new smoking, and that it increases your risk of all sorts of health problems, I decided that I needed to be more active on a daily basis.
As a very dedicated worker who puts in several hours of focus in a row, getting up from the desk every hour, or taking a long lunch to exercise has proven too difficult to make into a habit; disruption is the death of my productivity.
So, in January I started walking 4-5 miles every morning before sitting down for a long day in front of the computer.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago: I strained my lower back after taking a hard foul on the basketball court. I woke up the next morning unable to stand up straight, much less go on my daily 5 mile walk. The next day I had improved, but the long walk was still out of the question. Day 3: same story; mild improvement, no miles. I was enjoying the extra hour of sleep but the guilt of not going on my walk was getting to me. The next morning I got up early and slowly walked 1 mile. Then the next morning, 2, then 3 and then back up to 5.

It was easy to convince myself to stay in bed knowing that a 5 mile walk was out of the question. But once I committed to a much lower effort (1 slow mile), it was easy to get back into the rhythm. Who knows how long I would have stalled had I kept looking at 5 miles or nothing as my only options? But I do know that I got back into the rhythm much faster by lowering the bar.
Your blogging habit, much like any healthy, daily habit needs to be maintained – and learning to avoid long interruptions in your effort is key.
So – when you find yourself short on time, and know that the 30-45 min article is out of the question, don’t use that as an excuse to not publish to your real estate blog.

Use these tips to bang out quick, but worthwhile posts that will keep you on pace.

The best thing you can do to improve your results from blogging is to hit Publish as often as possible.

1. Learn To Blog From Your Smartphone.

It has a great camera, it has a blogging app for WordPress and no one wants to fidget for more than a few minutes with that little keyboard.
One of the time consuming things about blogging is going to the computer, sitting down, logging in, firing up your site and getting going from there. Your mobile device (if you’re at all like me) is almost always at hand and you’re one tap away from launching the blogging app.
Since blogging on the mobile is not as easy as it is on a full desktop keyboard, you’re forced to keep your posts brief.
This is the perfect opportunity to post something pithy; a picture and two sentences; a quote and two sentences; a quick RE news flash; a statement; a link to something useful and two sentences. Whatever it is, make it quick and easy and hit publish.
WordPress App for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)
WordPress for Android
And all the rest are here too: (BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia, etc.)

2. Blog The Instant Something Comes To Mind.

Article ideas come to the blogger all the time, but they usually go into a list of “good blog topics” that you pull from, from time-to-time.
Instead of saving that clear idea for a rainy day, quickly bang out that idea as swiftly as you can, with the goal of hitting publish in less than 10 minutes.

3. Break Up Topics Into Snack Sized Bites.

Any good blogger can wax on and on about an interesting topic – why not chop it up into several smaller, easy to swallow, bite-sized pieces?
Blogging with lists is a super common format for tackling a topic’s many points. Posting an item or two a day helps you extend that topic and shorten the time between posts.

4. Take A Minute To Outline The Idea To Keep You On Track

It might sound silly to outline such a short effort (10 mins) but one of the things that keeps people from being able to get a post written and published in less than 10 minutes is their lack of focus.
By summarizing the message of the post you not only have a guideline to follow, but you also have exercised your ability to express the message concisely. I find that in the summary you can also quickly determine the Tags that you want to use for the article.

5. Eliminate All Distractions For 10 Minutes

By eliminating the common distractions (FB, chats, email, music, TV, phone, family, etc.) you can make the most of that 10 minute window to get the job done.

6. The 10 Minute Challenge.

As an exercise try challenging yourself to only 10 minute or less blog posts for 10 days straight.
Once you learn to post compelling content in a short window, it will be easy for you to add it to your blogging style.
For more information on real estate blogging, or to get some world-class one-on-one training, contact us today.

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 Art of the 10 Minute Real Estate Blog Post appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.