Speaking of Tomatoes…

By Teresa Boardman
I get a little introspective this time of year and usually send Jim some kind of a post about things that I have learned.  I have been writing my real estate blog for four years now and have over 1800 posts, not to mention a couple more blogs.
The biggest lesson for me this year has been that no matter how strategic my blogs are there is a random element that usually works in my favor, but not always.   I start by writing a certain type of content with a goal in mind.  I put the content out there and something completely different happens.

We make connections through our blogs
and some of those connections are seemingly random
and certainly unanticipated.

Here is one example:
I decided that I wanted to take photos of the local parks because they are an important part of our neighborhoods not to mention the fact that they impact property values and make certain areas of the city more desirable.  I want my readers to understand St. Paul and I want to show it to them.
I posted the photos, wrote a little about the parks and put some of the photos in an album in my side bar.  A month later I was contacted by someone at the city.  The next thing I know I am taking photos for the city web site.  It has been a great opportunity for me.
As I took the photos I began putting them on a web page with a gallery so the people that are working with the parks can see my photos and the progress I am making. They are being passed around the office and they all know that I am a Realtor.  In fact, one woman indicated that she wished she would have found me sooner.
A woman who needs to buy some photos for her office found the shots of the parks through Google and I am now working with her.  They will buy some photos which will help my real estate business and my blog because the proceeds will help pay for a lens that I need. Photos taken with the lens will go on my blog, and there are some cases where it will be used to photograph my listings.

Somewhere in this whole process real estate transactions will be generated, too.  Chances are it will happen in some unexpected way, it usually does.  My sellers are coming from the most unusual places and it is fun to find out how and where they found me.
There are other unintended consequences and opportunities, as well.  In the last couple of months I have been on three radio shows, quoted in a couple of local papers and two weeks ago quoted in the Wall Street Journal.  This all came about because of blog posts that I wrote. On the Wall Street Journal article a couple of people in a Flickr group I belonged to congratulated me, who knew?
Back to the tomatoes…  I took that photo a year ago for a blog post about laws pertaining to crops in Minnesota. I put it on Flickr.  Someone found it and they want to use it on a web site with a link back to mine.  Again, I have no idea how that will help my business but I know that it will in some unexpected way.
Content is king. Get the content out there, let it keep working for you year after year and good things will happen.
As for the idea of social media metrics I don’t believe social capital or the benefits of blogging can be measured in the same way as a drip marketing or snail mail campaign.  It’s too random.
[Update]
Shortly after I sent this post [to Jim] I went to one of my listings. I grabbed my camera and have no idea why I brought it in with me but I did. I dropped off some keys and as I was walking back to my car I met someone interesting.  He recognized me from my blog. He has some work for me that I am interested in: a little photographic type project.  Interestingly that listing came from a blog post I had written about the building some months ago. One thing led to another and it is leading to yet another.  Content makes connections.
—-
Thank you so much Teresa!
Web: TWasHere.com
Blog: StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

The post A Message About The Power Of Content, Any Content, For Your Real Estate Blog. appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

For most, the most challenging element of blogging is clearly finding time and the act of pounding out an article.  Even our clients, whom we train, and train and train some more on the best approaches to blogging find that keeping a consistent blogging pace is difficult to maintain.
So who better to get some advice on consistency than one of the only everyday-bloggers that I know, our great friend, Teresa Boardman of StPaulRealEstateBlog.com?

Writing About Writing

By Teresa Boardman
I never thought I would be writing about writing but I am.  I consider myself to be a non writer but have found that with practice it gets easier.  Writing a blog is like writing an email.  There was a time in business before email when we used to send memos but that writing style is much more formal.
The process was intimidating as my administrative assistant and my boss would question my choice of words and sometimes my tone.  When email replaced the memo even business writing became less formal and more about communication.
Blog posts can be informal like sharing an idea with a friend.  Blogs work because people like doing business with friends.  The tone is less formal and the goal is to make the post informative but at the same time easy and enjoyable to read.  As I write I sometimes get a mental picture of who will be reading it and I write to that person or group of people.
It takes discipline to write every day and to know what to write about.  Sometimes sitting down and writing a blog post seems like work.  A couple of years a go Jim published a post I wrote with 101 ideas for real estate blog posts.  It wouldn’t be hard to come up with a 101 more ideas.  The ideas come from the ordinary experiences that I have on the job and in life.  Some of the experiences are unique and others are very common experiences that people can relate to.
The hard part is actually doing it each day.  Most people run out of steam by the end of their first month writing a blog.

I am going to share some tricks that have worked for me.

I have written a post a day for more than 3.5 years.  I rarely miss a day.  I don’t write everyday but I have enough content so I can post everyday.
Writing is part of my business plan and a priority not something that I do when I have time. There isn’t any extra time in my life or spare time either.

Writing is part of my job and I treat it the same way that I treat listing appointments.
I have never heard an agent say that they just don’t have time for listing appointments and that they don’t know where I find the time.
I write at the same time each day.  I am the most productive in the morning, most of what I write is written while I am in my pajama’s drinking my first cup of coffee.  I have a place to write where I won’t be interrupted.  It is my private space and heaven help the person who invades it.  (My daughter just stopped by and got the evil eye, she has my undivided attention in 30 min and a free lunch)
There are days when I can not write. Stress, fatigue or travel get in the way so when I am in a writing mood I write as much as I can and save it for later.  I plan ahead and sometimes a weeks worth of posts at a time. I can never force it and I have tried.
There isn’t any rule about how long a blog post has to be. I wrote one that was five bullet points that worked nicely.  There isn’t any point in trying to add a bunch of words to a simple idea.  It is better to have a short post than none at all or maybe just a photo with some descriptive words. Blog readers enjoy the variety, and they don’t have much time to read either.
Most of what I write is written in my head long before I sit down at the keyboard. The trick is to carry pen and paper and jot down part of the idea so it doesn’t get lost in the jumble that I call a brain.  I keep pen and paper by my bed too.
When the ideas don’t come I spend time in the evening reading.  I read news, real estate news and visit my favorite photography blogs.  I also visit my flickr account and look at the photos for ideas.  Most of what I write on my blog comes from experiences that I have had and many of them take place when I am out doing my job.  If I wasn’t selling real estate I would run out of ideas quickly.
The time and effort I have put into writing has paid off. It keeps the business coming, and I have made some friends over the years because of it.  Yet I can’t spend a lot of time on it either so it has to be quality time.
Blogging is about content. It takes practice, persistence and consistency to make it all work but it is worth the effort.  The people who treat it like part of their job are the people who succeed with their blogs. The people who get too busy and who don’t know where to find the time will fail.  We all have the same number of hours in the day and we all have choices on how we want to spend them.
—-
Thank you so much Teresa!
Web: TWasHere.com
Blog: StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

The post How Does Teresa Boardman Post Every Day To Her Real Estate Blog? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Today we have the pleasure of publishing a tale of inspiration
from our favorite Real Estate Blogging Goddess, Teresa Boardman.

How Do You Define Content For Your Real Estate Blog?

By Teresa Boardman

My friends have been telling me for a couple of years that I need a photo blog.  Honestly I didn’t want to take the time, but a couple of weeks ago, on a cold Saturday night I built one.  It has energized me and gotten me more engaged with my blogging efforts.  So far all of the photos I have posted are out of my collection so I have not had to work at all to generate content.  I could probably post every day for a year without ever taking another photo.
The reason it has energized me is because in recent months it has been a challenge to find good news in the housing market or even new news.  I often feel as though I have written everything I have to say and that there is no more.  The photos are not news, and I enjoy taking them and I have plenty to work with.
When my photo blog was just a couple of days old some local photo bloggers paid me a visit. We are going on a photo shoot this weekend.  I just met them but photos and blogs have a way of creating bonds.  The photo bloggers also had questions about my theme and some of the custom tweaks that I put into my blog.  I was amazed at how much I knew and had planned on asking them for help if I were to get into trouble with the thing.
The process of creating this blog also brought me back to the basics; the things that I have forgotten about over the years.  It forced me to think about what the blog looks like and how it is organized.  I was forced to think about things that I figured out once a long time ago when I set up my business blog.  As a result I ended up tweaking that blog too.

During these challenging times it isn’t always easy to write blog posts.  Those of us who have local real estate blogs don’t have much happy news to report.  When business is slow it is difficult to want to write a blog post.  In my case most of my “blog food” comes from selling real estate.  The writing machine needs fuel and when there isn’t much the quality of my posts deteriorates and my readership declines.
There isn’t any rule that says a blog needs to have a lot of writing on it. A blog can be photos, video or audio with little writing.  Creating a video blog or a photo blog might help with creativity.  If the goal is to meet people I am finding that the photo blog works for that too. There is an about page and a link to my business blog and one or the other has already prompted a reader, or I should say viewer to send me an email with a real estate related question.  My business blog was around for about three months before anyone contacted me because of it.
The photo blog also demonstrates that I know my way around the twin cities and I have already gotten notes asking for advice on where to go to get certain shots.  In my spare time I will be building a map for the blog so that people who don’t know where to go to shoot will get some ideas.
I have concluded that a blog is a must have for Realtors.  I have also concluded that while quality content is important that content does not have to be writing.  My photo blog is becoming more of a networking blog. Local photographers have homes too.  Now they know a Realtor, and we all know that in this business people like to do business with people that they know.
—
Thanks Teresa!
Related Must Reads:
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

The post How Do You Define Content For Your Real Estate Blog? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

A very special post on the Real Estate Tomato today: Teresa Boardman takes a look at what 3 years of blogging on StPaulRealEstateBlog.com has done to her and her business.

3 Years of Real Estate Blogging – The Gift That Keeps On Giving

By Teresa Boardman
There are not many places where a blogger can write about blogging, except for here on the Tomato which is about blogging so once again I send my post to Jim.
A year ago I sent a list of 40 observations I had made after two years of writing a blog.
The observations still apply but the list is so 2007.  My neck still hurts but not as badly; I found an exercise that helps.  The only thing that has really changed from last year is that I don’t talk anymore I just blog.  I am kidding of course.
Now that I have hit year three I realize that my blog is the gift that keeps on giving. Posts I wrote three years ago are working hard for me  as readers search through Google and find them.  Some of the posts just never go out of style.
When someone sends me a question via email, I almost always have a link to my blog to send back with an answer to their question.  When I need most anything in writing, I can usually find it in my blog.  If I can’t, I call it ‘blog food’ and write a new post.
I face new challenges these days. When I go to write a blog post, and I already have 1300 of them, it isn’t as easy to come up with new ideas.  Sometimes I write the same thing twice and don’t even realize it.  Sometimes I just recycle old posts.  Occasionally I am truly inspired and write something decent.
The blog was redesigned this past year. I wanted something a little fresher without changing the brand or making it look too commercial.  I learned a lot through the design process and Jim was extremely patient with me as I shared my vision.  He laughed when the design was ready and I didn’t want to pull the trigger.  He told me that he expected me to resist.  He knows that my blog is my business and that it isn’t easy for me to let someone else go in and change it. I am lucky to have a friend like Jim who gets it and isn’t afraid to give me a kick in the . . . you know what I mean.
I am very happy with the new look, and my readers have responded positively. It looks more professional and it handles photos better which is important as they are a huge part of what makes the blog work.  It doesn’t look like anyone else’s blog which is also important to me.  Like me, it has it’s own personality.

The blog is now the center piece of my online presence.  A couple of years ago it was my online presence.  Today it is like a hub in a wheel  of my ever expanding online business portfolio.  The wheel is made up of memberships to social networks, and photographs. There are also thirty two separate pages in my blog, five photo albums, and two other blogs.
It may sound like all I do is write my blog, but keep in mind this is content built one word at a time, one day at a time over a period of three years.
The blog is still an experiment, and I continue to learn and grow. I know my writing skills have improved as have my photography skills.  Doing something everyday is a great way to fine tune one’s skills.  Writing is still my biggest challenge. . . oh and I still can’t spell.
Has it been worth all the work?  Yes it has been. The content keeps brining me buyers and sellers, and the blog still has a higher ROI than any other marketing piece.  I seriously doubt if anyone is reading post cards or newspaper ads that I published three years ago, but they are certainly still reading my blog posts.
Thanks Teresa!  Happy Blog Birthday.
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website:www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

The post 3 Years Of Real Estate Blogging – The Gift That Keeps On Giving appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

♫Reach Out and Touch Someone♫
Remember that jingle?

Use Your Real Estate Blog to Reach Out and Touch Someone, They’ll Touch Back

By Teresa Boardman
The telephone company AT&T used to use it. That was before telemarketers made answering the phone a truly frightening experience.
Jim and I have had a few conversations over the years; yes it has been years, about voice.  However, neither one of us has written much on the topic.
It isn’t an easy topic, and I think I have begun to understand it a little better, by listening to the feedback I get from my readers.
When they meet me in person they tell me that I sound just like my blog.  Good thing because I do everything I can to keep my blog real, honest and unique. I do that by writing about the ordinary in my ordinary voice.  That voice is the easiest to write in, it comes naturally and effortlessly.
At some point in my formal education, ironically, I was taught that we are not supposed to write like we talk.  My style is simple, and not very wordy.  In business writing, a simple an informal voice is a no-no, same with college papers, or a thesis.  I had one boss who hated everything I wrote and would scribble all over it with a red pen.
My blogs are different, they are informal, and red pens mess up the screen. Writing about the ordinary in an ordinary voice is a way of reaching out and touching people. Writing in a conversational tone, and throwing in some photographs of Real Estate and of scenery from around town can be almost magical.
It is that ordinary, simple voice that our readers listen too and are attracted too. It creates a warm spot on the internet, which can be cold and impersonal.  People fall in love with each other through the internet, that is how powerful words can be. They are attracted to each other through words and then use them to form a bond.
I know that I can make friends through the internet.  I used to think they were not real friends, until I started meeting some of them in person.  The friendships are very real and as important in my life as friendships with people who do not live in my computer.

If it is possible for two people to fall in love through the internet, and it is possible to make friends through the internet, it is also possible to attract clients through it. It doesn’t depend on great writing; it has to be done through writing that shows who we are, our values, and our areas of expertise.
Blog posts can be written in that very same voice that is used for writing emails to a friend, the kind of emails that describe a vacation or share an idea.  That voice we use in what we used to call letters.
Everyone has a voice. It simply has to be found and used.  Unfortunately, we are taught to write in unnatural ways that make writing a chore, when it should be effortless, and at times fun.  In my case I was never taught to write so it isn’t an issue.  Unlearn what you may have been taught and let that voice come out.
Your readers will fall in love with you, when you reach out and touch them with your voice.
—
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.

The post Use Your Real Estate Blog to Reach Out and Touch Someone, They’ll Touch Back appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Photo Editing For Real Estate Blogs Couldn’t Be Simpler

By Teresa Boardman
Nothing dresses up a blog post like a photo, especially on real estate blogs.  Our readers really like to see some real estate when they stop by.
Most photos need some editing before they can be published on the internet.  They need to be lightened up a bit and made smaller, and it doesn’t hurt to sharpen them and tweak the contrast a bit, and crop them as needed.
Some of the photo editing software is pretty expensive and not all that easy to use.  I have been using picnik (http://www.picnik.com) for much of my photo editing  It is free but I am using the $25 a year premium version because I am worth it. Although the free version works well for photo editing, it is missing some of the cool photo effects, fonts and frames.
Picnik is on the internet and does not require any software download; just upload the photos and edit them online.  I can put frames around them, write on them and or apply photo effects.  When I am done I can save them in the perfect size and resolution for my blog.
The site is very easy to use, and many of the “automatic fixes” work just fine. Once a photo is edited it can be saved to Flickr, Facebook, blogger and several other sites. They can also be saved on my hard drive.  Another really cool option is that photos that are currently in your Flickr account can be edited using Picnik and then saved back into Flickr
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.

The post Photo Editing For Real Estate Blogs Couldn’t Be Simpler – PicNik appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

I have written this post a few times and in a few different ways.  I meet other agents on the internet because of their blogs.  Sometimes I contact them by email or phone.  Yes there are people who still use the telephone and have a two way conversation, but that is the subject for another post.
Try contacting some of the real estate bloggers.  I go to a blog and search and search before I figure out who the author is.  After I find the author getting the contact information is often next to impossible. It may involve clicking on a form that sits in a queue somewhere, or a general office number where I don’t actually get to talk to the person I am trying to contact.  It is as if the person is saying that they are just too darn important to talk with but for some reason I am not impressed enough to pursue it.  They don’t seem friendly to me or like people who would welcome interaction or conversation.

Last week a reporter from California contacted me and I was interviewed for a publication for Real estate agents.  One of the comments the reporter made is that she had tried to contact others.  She said that I was the easiest to contact and that it was clear to her that I sell real estate in St. Paul, Minnesota.  She even went to my author profile and learned a little more about me before she called, enough to know that I use Twitter and Flickr so she asked questions about those too.  She also knew which brokerage I am with.  She told me that she couldn’t always tell that either by looking at some of the blogs.
The clients I have who found me on the internet do the same thing.  They usually know a lot about me before we ever meet.  My avatars are not standard photographs taken by professional photographers but people instantly recognize me when I show up for a meeting.  It could be because the photos were not taken 10 or 20 years ago and I did not pose for them, they are snapshots taken by friends, or family.  The face isn’t plastered all over, readers have to click to another page to see it.  My way of saying that I am here if you need me but not in your face if you don’t.  My contact information is displayed at the top of my blog on the left side.  Can’t miss it.
Speaking of Twitter, I have had entire conversations with people I don’t know.  They use screen names and avatars.  Their real names can not be easily found.  In one such situation I was not comfortable with what the other twitter member was saying and so I finally asked him who he was.  A received a direct message back from him.  He said Teresa you know me, and outlined who he was and that we had actually met in person. I felt bad about it, because I do know him, but I did not recognize him on Twitter.  I go by “T” or “TBoard” in a few places but my full name is spelled out in my profile.
It shouldn’t be hard to figure out who people are, where they work or to contact them if they are using the internet to meet people and win business.  Look at your blog or website and try to contact yourself.  How many clicks does it take?  Is there a direct number, or does the caller have to call one number and be transferred into a voice mail box? If so it is possible that I will be getting the business or the publicity that you have earned through your hard work as a blogger or web 2.0 social net worker, because I am so easy to find.
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.

The post Teresa Boardman Asks: Who Are You? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

This might just be the most ironic post we’ll ever publish here on the Vine.

Teresa Boardman, the real estate blogging goddess from St. Paul, sent over this post to help us get some fresh content on our pages.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.  With all of my time spent on the recent growth of our company and the development of some very exciting projects, including an entire Tomato Makeover, it’s nice to have a few reliable contributors.

Finding Time To Blog As A Real Estate Professional

By Teresa Boardman
I am contacted by people from all over the country who would like to start a business blog or who already have one but are struggling with it.  People make the same type of comment about not having enough time, not understanding how I find the time or saying that is takes too much time.
Marketing and prospecting have always taken time.  In general it is recommended that real estate practitioners spend about two hours a day prospecting.  We tend to want to work the business we have until it runs out and then start prospecting and advertising.  Consistent prospecting, even when there is enough business is the secret to consistently having clients and making what can be a kind of roller coaster ride a bit smoother.

Where do I find the time to blog?

It is part of my daily routine and part of my weekly schedule.  I don’t use time blocking, I find that too restrictive… but I do plan which tasks I will complete each day and writing is always on the list.  I also have a list of buildings and places that I want to photograph.  I think I have the best job in the world because taking pictures is on my to do list as a priority task.  I just love it when someone challenges me on the amount of time I spend writing or taking photographs.  I like to ask them how much time they spend doing open houses.  I don’t have time for open houses and they don’t give me near the ROI as writing blog posts does. There isn’t time during my working hours to do anything that doesn’t directly or indirectly generate revenue.

For people who are serious about having a business blog a plan is essential.

If the blog always comes last (when you ‘have time) it is likely that posts will not be made on a consistent basis making it less likely that the blog will generate readership and revenue.  Writing on a blog that doesn’t get read and does not generate revenue is a waste of time.  It is similar in this way to other forms of farming.  I have read that it takes about 18 months of mailing every month before geographical farming starts to pay off.  Most agents give up after 6 to 9 months which means they more or less threw away the time and money they spent on farming.  It works the same way with a blog.  It can take months or even a year for a blogging to pay off.  Once it does it just keeps on giving.  A single post on a blog with consistent quality content can lead to multiple real estate transactions.  it never goes away, it is out there in cyber space and people continue to find it and react to it.

Everyone has time for a blog.

We all have time to show houses, get listing contracts signed and attend closings.  Writing a blog is just as important. I can’t imagine not having time to show houses.  Most of us figure some way to work that into our schedules.  Why doesn’t writing a blog post get the same kind of priority?  It is just as likely to generate revenue as showing homes.  From a big picture point of view showing homes can lead to one sale in the near future but writing a blog post every day, can lead to home sales for years.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time for your blog.

You do have the time.  It just isn’t a high enough priority and you are not taking it seriously and should not have started a blog in the first place.  Writing a blog or any prospecting activity is part of the job and should not be treated like leisure time activity that is done only when there is enough time.  Get off of Jim’s blog right now and go to your own and start writing (you too Jim!).  You just wasted valuable time reading my rant when you could have been writing or out taking pictures. You do have time or you would not be here reading this.
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.

The post Finding Time To Blog As A Real Estate Professional appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Blogging everyday is not easy.  I know.  At best, I’ve got a pace of 3–4 times a week.

However, Teresa Boardman, our resident real estate blogging goddess, is pretty darn consistent.  Looking back through her archives it’s rare to find a day left unblogged.  So how does she find the motivation and creativity to keep it up?  Here’s a peek into the history behind Teresa’s Saturday offerings (to the gods).

Blogging on a Saturday – How Rewarding It Can Be

Jim and I have both said this a million times, well now a million and one times: it is content that makes our blogs work.  It is nice to have a pretty blog, and a blog that wins awards but if the intent is to meet people who have real estate needs then content should be a priority.
Saturday’s are my lowest readership day. At one point I considered not posting at all on Saturdays.  However, one Saturday I was driving downtown and I happened to notice a church that I have seen so many times that I have stopped noticing it.  I was at a stop light and was amazed by how beautiful the building is.  An old church made of a kind of brownstone that isn’t used any more.  It has a Gothic architectural style that makes it stand out, as it is surrounded by modern office buildings.
I took a few photos of the church while I was waiting and the stop sign … and yes while I was driving away.  I got home and did a little research and wrote a short post about the history of the building and the architecture.  I posted it in the afternoon and called it “Saturdays Church”. My readers really responded to it.  They asked questions about architecture and commented on the photo.  I started featuring a church every Saturday.  I went out and took photos of every historic church I could find and started researching them.   In the process I learned a lot about about the history of the neighborhoods I work in and the general migration patterns in and out of St. Paul.
Unfortunately, many of my photos were lost when I tried saving them to a DVD and then for some reason could not retrieve them.  I went for a few weeks without posting any church pictures.  My readers responded by asking me when I would be doing it again.  A close friend started bugging me about it too, and a broker from one of the Keller Williams offices mentioned it as well. I started taking pictures of churches again and writing my Saturday post.

In addition to learning more about architecture, and history and brining my readership up on Saturdays, people now call me when they want to buy or sell a church. I had no awareness of it but at any given time there are a dozen or so churches on the market in the twin cities. My specialty is residential real estate and I have no experience selling churches. In fact I have no interest in selling churches.   I called a friend of mine who is a commercial realtor and have been referring the leads to him.  We have not had our first closing yet but we will and when we do it will be nice for me because churches are more expensive than homes are,  and the commissions on the referral fee will be more than I would make for selling a house or two.  What I love about it is all I have to do to earn the check is take a picture, write a short post and make some phone calls.
Other real estate agents in the area have started contacting me and asking if they can advertise the churches they have for sale on my blog.   I have been invited inside a couple of the churches by local ministers so that I can take more pictures.  Out of town buyers love it when I show them St. Paul and explain the various churches and other historic landmarks around town.

This experience has taught me a some important lessons:

-One way or another we get back what we put out there.
-Creating content even on a low readership day can be rewarding.
-Doing something simple and easy can pay off.
-Experimenting and trying an idea out can be very rewarding.
-Doing something when I don’t know what to do is often better than doing nothing.
-Content is king and my readers know what they like, I need to listen.
-I love taking pictures of churches and doing the research.
Writing a blog can lead to new opportunities, but it won’t lead anywhere unless we keep typing.
Here is a link to Saturday’s church posts
Here are some church pictures that have one some awards:
Award winning church photo
Award winning church photo
…this one has only been up a day but it looks like a winner.
Use them … or not. (I think the churches have improved my photography skills too)
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.

Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

The post Blogging on a Saturday – How Rewarding It Can Be appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Reusing a post on the blog works too.  A small re-write and a new picture can give an old post a new life.  I take the posts that got the most traffic and comments and use them again.  No one seems to notice and they have the same, if not more, impact the second time around.  I can have a recycled post once a week and I even have a couple posts that I have reused a couple of times.
I think it is important to get the most out of my blog content. I spend six to eight hours every week writing and I want that content working for me.  I leverage it every way I can. There are many more ways to reuse blog content, be creative with it.  Reuse it as many ways as you can and make it work hard for your business.
Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.
Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603
Thank you Teresa.
As always, it’s a pleasure having you ‘on the Vine’.
Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

The post Recycle to Get The Most Out of Your Real Estate Blog Articles and Pictures appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.