Create an infographic.

A few years ago I created this infographic about How To Ensure Your Success As A Real Estate Blogger.
After publishing it on this website, I pinned it to Pinterest.
I had at times noticed that it was repinned quite a bit, but never paid much mind to it. Then yesterday I looked at the stats and see that it has been re-pinned over 3,100 times. Holy cow! I looked at the stats on all my other pins and see that of nearly 300 pins my second highest pinned image is 66 times (and the 3rd highest is just 33 pins). That’s almost 50x the amount of pinning!
The thing is, creating that infographic took me 50 times longer than any of the images I posted on Pinterest. So you could say I got out of it what I put in. And I haven’t created another infographic since then because of the time it took to do that first one (a few hours).
That is until today!
Turns out making infographics is no longer the massive chore it was just a few years ago.
Using a tool Canva.com you can create a great looking, super-shareable infographic in about 30 mins. If the results are anything like my first infographic, I plan on doing a lot more of these.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.

How to Make a Successful Infographic

The above infographic was designed to be easily noticed and digested. Below is a little more insight on the included 8 points: 

Get Inspired

Rather than staring at a blank canvas, look at what others have done successfully before you. Save a few favorites for inspiration and borrow from them the ideas you need. This site has a ton of great examples that will get your creativity flowing: DailyInfographic.com. This Pinterest Board has a ton of Real Estate related Infographics.
Once you have a solid inspiration, you can use Canva’s infographic templates to design your vision.

Wireframe

Sketch out the whole concept on paper. It’s much easier and faster to work with the rough draft it than with the design program. I also found that I was able to come up with several solid ideas for future infographics as I was sketching out this one. Now I have a notebook with a bunch of pages of ideas all ready to go.

Use Canva

Canva.com – they are just what the novice designer needs.
Drag and drop content, simple editors, tons of free templates and graphics, and most importantly: guidelines to keep everything in place. I loved using it to create the infographic above. You can also buy premium graphics for as little as $1. I was able to keep my project free by designing some of my own images for the icons – which is another nice feature: upload your own graphics.

Think Mobile

My website analytics show that 40% of my audience is mobile. But the analytics on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest profiles show that number to by upwards of 75%. So at this point, I would design the infographic for the mobile audience. Keep the message clear and simple. Overly complicated infographics with lots of images and data will not be appreciated by your mobile audience.

Contrast

Contrast gets you noticed. Contrast draws attention to the flow of the message. Use bold colors, bold fonts, attractive images, and enough white space to keep your audience on track.

Blog It

All your best content should originate on your blog. It will last forever there, well organized, well indexed (SEO), and clearly attributed to you. From there you can share it everywhere else.

Share It

Great content is meant to be shared. Get it in front of as many as you can and then let them do the rest of the work. I shared that original infographic just 1 time on Pinterest, and it was re-pinned over 3100 times. I’m going to dust it off and share it on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Recycle

Not only does the infographic make for great blog content and social media fodder, but it can be incredibly useful on your website pages. If you create an infographic on the Home Selling Process, this would be an amazing asset to your Selling pages on your website. If you have your website in mind when you consider your infographics, you can really make use of them over and over.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.
 

The post How to Be Successful Posting On Pinterest – The Infographic appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

With real estate blogging, when someone asks
“Does it work?” they mean, “Does it generate business?”

It does.
Here’s why:

Your potential clients have questions.
You have the answers.
Your blog is the vehicle that delivers the answers to your potential clients.
It delivers them through Google.
It delivers them through Email.
It delivers them through Social Media.
You build trust and earn new clients through reliable counsel.
The formula is simple:
For Google: The more your create >> the more you are “spidered” >> the more you are “indexed” >> the more you’re found >> the more you’re read >> the more you’re trusted >> the more new business you generate.
For Social Media: The more your create >> the more you are shared >> the more you’re found >> the more you’re read >> the more you’re trusted >> the more new business you generate.
NOTE: There are just 2 little caveats to making sure that the above is going to to work out as planned.
1. If you don’t have a well defined target audience, you won’t be answering the questions that they are asking.
Learn more about how and why to define a limited target audience.
2. Every bit of your content needs to be unique. The ideas, and the topics, and the questions you answer don’t have to be unique. It’s the content that you publish that needs to be unique if you want to have any chance at success.

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 Why Does Real Estate Blogging Work? 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.

Lori Turoff of Hoboken, NJ.
Website: HobokenRealEstateNews.com

Tomato: How long has blogging been a part of your real estate marketing strategy?

LT: Well, ever since we first connected way back in late 2007.

I had been running my own travel business at the time, had been a corporate lawyer and an MBA in finance so I was no stranger to complex spreadsheets.
We had recently moved to Hoboken from Manhattan, where Barbara Corcoran had founded The Corcoran Group Brokerage and she was something of an icon in the NYC real estate world. In 2004, the year I got my real estate license, she wrote (and I read) a book called “If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails”, also know as “Use What You’ve Got”.
Well, let’s just say her book got me thinking about what my best attributes might be and how to use them.
Few agents – actually no agents in my market, had my combination of education, legal background, financial savvy and entrepreneurial experience. There were my ribbons! The other thing I kept hearing at real estate seminars was “become the local area expert” if you want to be successful. It didn’t take me long to realize that blogging was the way for me to ‘show my ribbons’. Ten years and one blog later, I truly do have a reputation as the local market expert.

Tomato: How long did it take you start to seeing results from your blogging? I mean, real business inquires?

LT: The results were pretty immediate.
I found that there was such a dearth of cold, hard data about our local market that once I started doing some meaningful number crunching and putting the analysis out there, via my blog, word spread and readership grew quickly.
Of course, I would still check google analytics every day to watch the red line rise. Within maybe a month the phone started ringing with people asking if I could work with them to find a new home. Now I don’t bother with ‘measuring my results’.
The financial cost of blogging is negligible. One deal in a market where the average sale price is over half a million, more than pays for more than a year of hosting. So financially, there is no question that I should spend the money.
I do put an enormous amount of time and effort into my blog but I truly enjoy doing it or it would be impossible to do on a regular basis.

Tomato: How do your visitors find your website?

LT: Our travel company had a website so we were familiar with the challenges of outdoing the ‘big guys’ at SEO to get above the fold in google results. It’s next to impossible without a huge budget and dedicated staff. Rather than rely on organic search for our blog to be found, we include our URL on everything we do.
Choosing the right domain name didn’t hurt any, either. We really only do business in one city, Hoboken, so HobokenRealEstateNews.com was an easy pick.

Tomato: What sort of success did you see in the Search Engines?

Well we come up on the first page for so many solid search phrases, it would be difficult to list them all.  
If you google “Hoboken condos,” “Hoboken real estate,” “Hoboken homes for sale,” “hoboken property for sale,” or “Hoboken open houses” for example, we are always among the top results. It’s been amazing!
And then there are literally hundreds of longtail search results we are found for all the time. Blogging is the key to getting into the top results.

Tomato: How often are you blogging?

LT: I make a point of posting at least 3 times a week.
If I weren’t so busy doing real estate deals, I would love to write more but then, I love to write.
I think one of the biggest challenges agents face when it comes to blogging is that they don’t like to write so they just don’t do it often or well. Law school was invaluable in teaching me how to express myself clearly and concisely and I put that learning into practice in every post.

Tomato: What are you most commonly blogging about?

LT: I blog about the most pressing thing that my audience wants to know – what’s the market doing.
That question can be answered in many different ways. The way I most often hear other agents discuss it is anecdotally which may have some value. My market is primarily young buyers who work in finance on Wall Street.
More than anecdotes, they want to see the numbers, so that’s what I give them. Lots of statistics, charts and graphs about the Hoboken condo market. Merely posting numbers and charts are not enough, though. I make a point of analyzing the stats to explain what has changed, what is important and why. If, for example, the number of units on the market on the first of the month has dropped by 40% year-over-year, what does that mean and why does it matter to a buyer or a seller?
My job is not only to give them the facts but to then interpret those facts in a useful way.

Tomato: Do you blog about listings? Why/Why not?

LT: Never. Despite all advice to the contrary, I strongly believe it is counterproductive.
I am positioning myself to be the market expert. My credibility is everything and that disappears entirely when I start touting my listings. I don’t talk about other agent’s listings either.
I have a separate, traditional ‘agent website’ simply because sellers want to see that their listing has a ‘site’.
In general, I believe agent websites are a waste of time and money. If a buyer wants to search for a home they are highly unlikely to do it on an individual agent site. They go to Realtor.com, Trulia or Zillow. No individual agent can compete with ‘RTZ’ or even the big brokerage sites like a Weichert or Coldwell Banker. Those companies have full-time staff that does nothing but make the search experience better for consumers. Agents are not in the tech business – we sell real estate.

Tomato: Do you track how much business you get from your blog?

LT: From the blog I get 90% of my business. Down from 100 only because I get some referrals now since I’ve been in business so long. Our neighborhood is still transient compared to most so referrals are not a big part of anyone’s overall picture.
Best thing I ever did for my career – yes, thanks to you but – and this is a big but – I write original content that is meaningful and useful to readers and do it on a very consistent basis. To this day, I still don’t sell on the blog and no listings despite the advice of everyone in the world that an agent MUST have an IDX feed, MUST have a search function, etc. etc. Hooey.
When people call or email me they tell me they’ve been reading my blog for years. It’s like they already know me. The loyalty is already formed before they meet me in person. I get website leads on my listing from my brokerage but those people just want me to get them in the property and are on to the next agent when it suits them better. My readers want to work with me and only me. That is invaluable.
We have done more business every year for 10 years and won’t work with people who are not seriously in the market. My business model is all about developing personal relationships. I like to think of myself as an advisor.
I have no interest in ‘growing a team’ and getting hundreds of listings to let some transaction manager handle them. I don’t cold call or do mailings. I couldn’t truly provide quality service to 100 clients at the same time. I work mainly with buyers because it’s what I enjoy. My husband is also my business partner and he works with sellers because it’s what he enjoys (and keeps us from killing each other). We have a life outside work and believe strongly in keeping things in balance.

Tomato: So what’s the biggest challenge you have when it comes to blogging?

LT: Plagiarism. Other agents are lazy and dishonest and will steal your ideas and your work product when you do something brilliant. The good news is that most of them don’t have the gumption to do that consistently either. Also, there isn’t enough time to write as much and as in depth as I would like.

Tomato: Any particularly interesting stories of success you’d like to share?

LT: I’ve hosted more than one open house where after talking to a prospective buyer for a while I hand them my business card and mention that I write a blog about the Hoboken market and the URL is on the back of the card and they react by saying “OMG -THAT’S YOU??? I love your blog – I read it all the time – I’m such a fan …” I feel a little bit like a local celebrity when that happens and it’s very satisfying.
I get thank you notes and comments all the time from readers, especially when I deal with more controversial topics. They thank me for providing an invaluable service to consumers and shedding light on practices many agents and some MLS’s would prefer to keep in the dark.

Tomato: What words of wisdom do you have for new bloggers?

LT: Do what you do best and pay someone to do the rest.

Tomato: Anything else that you would like to add for our readers?

LT: Blogging is not the right channel for everyone.
You have to be smart, and be a good writer or have good visual skills (if you do more of a photo or video blog). Then again, the real estate business is not for everyone either. But if you like expressing yourself, have something worthwhile to say, and truly address what your audience wants to know, it can be a blast.
Lori Turoff is an incredibly professional Realtor® servicing the greater Hoboken, New Jersey area.
She can be found at her regularly updated blogsite: HobokenRealEstateNews.com

The post Lori Turoff – Real Estate Blogging Success Profiled 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.

SEO Improvement.

I’m not here to shove keyword density, PageRank, or backlink strategies down your throat.  Here are just a couple of simple (and easily overlooked) tips for improving your website’s SEO.

1. Run A Check For Broken Links

Broken links refer to any link on your site where the destination is an error page. This can happen when URLs that you link to have changed, been removed, or they were entered incorrectly in the first place.
Broken links on your site can not only be embarrassing to you and frustrating to your visitor, but they can also have a detrimental affect on your SEO. The good news is that it is easy to search for and repair your broken links.
Here are 3 options:
1. The WordPress Plugin: Broken Link Checker.
Support for this plugin.
2. Online Web App: BrokenLinkCheck.com
3. Desktop App: Xenu Link Sleuth (hint: use the Direct Download Link)
Funny name, but this is the original power search for broken links.
Broken Links are going to continue to happen. It is part of owning a website full of content. So another (bonus) suggestion here would be to have a custom 404 page (the page that loads when a broken link is clicked). A functional 404 page will offer clear calls to action, a content search box, and sometimes something clever – just for fun. A quick Google image search returns some examples of what I am referring to.

2. Link New Articles To Relevant Older Articles and Vice Versa

Linking one article to another is one of the easiest ways to improve the performance of your website.
Improvement is twofold.
First, your are now providing a link to additional content on the topic to your engaged audience. This keeps your visitor on the site longer, improving your chances of conversion.
And secondly, there’s great SEO value when linking in this manner. The more you link around your website, the more the search engines are able to index deeply into your pages. Linking to old posts allows them to be reindexed, in turn giving them new life.

Overall Housecleaning

3. Clean Up Your Sidebar(s)

If you’re not careful your website sidebars, because they are widgetized, could end up being as cluttered as your attic. Your general rule of discard should be, if you haven’t used it in a year get rid of it.
Categories
Revisit your choice of categories. If there is one you haven’t been using delete it, or hide it. If you have two that are similar, combine them. Consider renaming categories if they’re not descriptive or keyword rich. Click to read a more comprehensive blog category strategy.

Archives
If you haven’t already, change your Archive list to a drop-down menu using the standard WP widgets.
Clutter
The goal of your site it to make your site as simple as possible for your visitor, clutter causes confusion.
Toss outdated badges, awards, affiliations, chiclets, groups, ads, and other completely unnecessary items.

4. Clean Up Your Footer

Like the sidebar, it’s time to remove items that offer no value to your visitor. Common useless items I see in there are badges for (now defunct) blog directories, blog rankings, and webrings.
The very bottom of your site should have, at most, a selection from the following items:
Contact profile, including a business address
Your DRE #
Real estate affiliations
Equal housing and REALTOR® logos
Site credits
Login link
Copyright Info
A reprise of your branding/logo/company logos
Text navigation matching your header’s nav.
That’s it.

Simplify the Visitor Experience

Certainly the above items could fall under this heading, but the following are specifically geared to making sure that your visitor’s experience is as good as it can be.

5. Improve Your Fonts

First of all, you have a blog, right? And you want people to stay and read your articles? MAKE THE FONT BIGGER! Make it easy on our eyes to read your writing. But, do not do this in the text editor. All your font changes need to be done in the CSS Stylesheet.  For more on this, Learn To Use The WYSIWYG Properly.
Secondly, Google now allows us to choose from hundreds (and growing) of unique fonts for our web content. Break out of the Arial/Verdana/Tahoma funk and spice up your fonts! This touch of personality will make a difference in first impression and overall attractiveness for your content.

6. Reconsider Your Calls-To-Action (if you even have any)

What are the first action items that your visitors see on the site? Make sure that these are in consonance with your visitors’ expectations. But most importantly, make sure that your CTAs are driving your visitors one step closer to doing business with you.  This is all that matters: Are you giving them the experience that they are anticipating, and does that experience lead to working with you?
OK – so this might not be an “instant improvement” but it is something that you really need to take care of immediately. Otherwise your site is not going to perform to its potential. Contact us on this if you are not sure how to make the most of this consideration.

7. Re-evaluate Your Niche – Have You Strayed From Your Intended Audience?

A formula for successful real estate blogging is hammering a niche. But if you have been blogging for a while, there is a tendency to waver from that focus and just publish to publish without much consideration for who you are reaching.
Every year, every month, every week, every day there is a new audience visiting your site. They rarely dig deep into your archives. This means that they are not reading all the great, relevant, niche posts you published over the last few years. Start that niche again – dig in and publish on the same topics/neighborhoods/niches that you have built your site to satisfy.
There is more than one way to pin a tail on the donkey.  Just because you said it once doesn’t mean that there isn’t another way to say it, and there’s a whole new audience that has yet to hear it from you.
Some of these tips might require working with a designer to accomplish, and if you find that you need this level of support, contact us first – we’d love to help!

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 7 Ways To Instantly and Greatly Improve Your Real Estate Blog appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Today’s article was written by blogging client: Geordie Romer of IcicleCreekRealEstate.com.

99 Problems but a niche ain’t one
If you’re having SEO problems I feel bad for you son
I got 99 problems but a niche ain’t one
(With apologies to Jay-Z)

So often when I hear real estate agents complain about their lack of leads or lack of web presence, I try to explain to them that it might be a lack of focus that is keeping them from success. It’s so much easier to be a big fish in a small pond than vice versa.

Are you a beginning real estate blogger trying to figure out how you will compete with the budgets of Zillow, Trulia or Realtor.com?

“Washington State real estate” brings 395 MILLION results on Google and “Seattle real estate”, 174 million. A bigger city like Chicago brings 450 million results for the term “Chicago real estate.”

These are horrible odds.

Unfortunately, I hear of agents who actually try and service an area that size.  If you serve five counties, four congressional districts and three area codes, I would argue that you aren’t a “local expert” in much of anything.

My main service area is a small resort town east of Seattle. Leavenworth is a Bavarian themed town and a destination for outdoor recreation ranging from rock climbing and skiing to mountain biking and river rafting. The population within the city limits is 1993 people and 6500 in the zip code.

And yet.. some of my best success stories come from finding EVEN smaller niches.

I noticed that there wasn’t much competition among agents in the local golf course neighborhood. The houses were upper end homes and there were condos for sale as well.  The agent who had worked for the original developer was transitioning out of real estate and into a golfing retirement in Palm Springs.

I bought a few relevant URLs and began to create content. I wasn’t an overnight success. I wrote a few posts on my blog and on Active Rain in 2007 and over the years the dividends continue to pay me back.
On Google, results 2 through 7 lead the consumer to me. The top result is the resort itself, but not any of my competitors.

Since 2007 (the last five years), my wife and I have sold 1/3 of the real estate in this neighborhood. Over the last two years, we have sold 2/3 of the properties.

In 2012, this translates to 7 sides and $43,000 in commissions.

Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow? I don’t think they know this neighborhood exists.

I may have 99 problems, but my niche ain’t one.

Geordie Romer is a managing broker in the resort town of Leavenworth WA. He has been blogging about real estate since 2004 and can be found online at www.IcicleCreekRealEstate.com or on Facebook.

The post 99 Problems But A Niche Ain’t One 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.