The Long Tail of Blogging

My first real effort at blogging occurred almost two years ago on ActiveRain—and I was immediately hooked.

I loved the real estate blogging community with its running stream of commentary, sense of humor and predictable disagreements. We were all gifted with the opportunity to openly develop our voices and emerging blogging skills—and shared immense chunks and tidbits of knowledge.

We also discovered pretty quickly that Google and other search engines were following us closely—and sometimes loosely.

We learned about the power of the long tail, or how obscure information in the content of blogs and websites gets stored on the search engines—with some potentially interesting results. Let’s say someone searches the term “rimless shower doors” on Google.

In late 2006, there were Page One results for a listing (with rimless shower doors) we had described on our website in 2004. Today, a blog article I wrote in May 2007, Drag a Long Tail and See What You Catch (describing the rimless shower door finding), now sits on Google Page One results for that term.

I never intended to become a rimless shower door expert, but Google doesn’t know that. Nor, I doubt, did HomeGain blogger and Phoenix Realtor Jay Thompson ever intend for his read more

Posted by Roberta Murphy on Jun 30, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking, Guest Bloggers

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The Baby Steps of Blogging -Getting Started Blogging

1. Read Before You Write

What I always advise real estate professionals interested in getting started blogging is to go out and read other real estate blogs. You’ll have no trouble finding them. Just Google “real estate blogs” or type in your market followed by “blog”.

Reading other blogs will give you a sense of the topics discussed, the presentation, and the various writing styles of bloggers. The more you read the more you will know what folks are saying, and how they’re saying it. Some bloggers write short posts, others expound into treatise length. Many use images and video, some do not. Some are heavy on facts and figures, others heavy on opinion and their experiences. When done right (and I use that word loosely), the blogger’s voice -— their personality -— comes through the writing.

And that’s what you should strive to do -— find your voice and get it out there.

Besides, reading blogs gives you the visceral feedback of what you like and what you think sucks. (Avoid the stuff you think sucks.) read more

Posted by Joseph G. Ferrara, Esq. on Jun 27, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking, Guest Bloggers

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Real Estate Radio USA Inquires About Blogging School

Real Estate Radio USA Inquires About Blogging School

Barry Cunningham and Barry Johnson of Real Estate Radio USA invited HomeGain’s Louis Cammarosano and Sellsius Real Estate Blog’s Joseph Ferrara to talk about the new Blogging School for real estate agents.

Listen to the radio show

Posted by Jessica Gopalakrishnan on Jun 12, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking

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Real Estate and Social Media Marketing – Join the Evolution

After the dot.com bust it appeared the initial promise of the internet was vanquished and the naysayers were right, that only geeks were using the internet and that business on the web couldn’t be conducted for profit.

So much for naysayers. The internet is now used by every bubba, grandma and you-name-it around the world. The internet is fulfilling its promise and rapidly becoming a standard tool of business, advertising and communication.

The argument is over whether real estate agents should be using the internet to conduct business. I’m sure there are successful hold-outs, and it’s probably true that many agents don’t have a comprehensive internet plan to conduct business, but it’s now pretty much a no-brainer that the internet is the place to be for real estate business.

NAR is addressing the issue, agents are getting their own websites, brokerages are putting together plans and every conference, workshop and seminar has something to say about it.

Many of us are way beyond all that and our main concern is just how best to utilize all the possibilities now that we’re in the middle of it. For those just starting, I’d suggest catching up fast by reading blogs like Bloodhound, Agent Genius and read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on Jun 11, 2008 under Blogging and Social Networking

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