Brokers, imagine providing your real estate agents the ability to learn from industry leaders, top marketing professionals and social media experts without leaving the office or paying for speakers to visit your destination.
Your entire office can get the educational experience that REBarCamps have provided to thousands of agents across the country. Bring the power of this event to your agents, without the cost and travel. The Ultimate Office Meeting.
Every brokerage is looking for new and unique ways to provide value to their agents. The Virtual REBarCamp is the solution:
Progressive Education: Stay relevant in this changing marketplace. Diverse Content: There is something for everyone. Nationally Celebrated and Recognized Presenters: Value! All Day Event: Everyone should be able to participate with this schedule. It’s Free: The price is right!
Brokers and office managers, this is the perfect opportunity for you to offer an experience of incredible value to your agents.
Suggestions for a successful, in-office RE BarCamp:
- Projector screens and a strong audio source. - Separate rooms for the separate webinar channels (3). - A tech-savvy assistant or manager to ensure a smooth operation. - Computers dedicated to Social Media avenues (Facebook, Twitter, TomatoChat.com) allowing the office to get into the national conversation. - Pizza and refreshments. - The After-Event-MeetUp. Plan an off location MeetUp to have a drink together and meet other participants from your community.
If you are going to plan an in office VREBC we would love to know. We will showcase your event and brokerage on our website: http://www.vrebc.com. Instant cool! We’d also appreciate it if you could request that the participating agents register on our site so that we can get a sense of the overall participation count.
we will be holding the first of its kind, Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.
And finally, so as to not lose the Social Aspect of the BarCamp atmosphere, we are encouraging volunteers around the country to organize In-Real-Life MeetUps for immediately after the online event. Sponsorship donations will help fund these Social Media Happy Hour style gatherings, so please let us know if you would like to help by volunteering your time to organize a local MeetUp.
As the calendar of sessions and the IRL MeetUps start to come together, we will keep you all posted through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page.
Block off your entire calendar for Tuesday, Nov 17th. None of these webinars will be available after the event. You do not want to miss this.
We are thrilled to announce that on RETomatoRadio.com will be speaking with Real Estate Blogging Royalty, Teresa Boardman. Teresa has launched the StPaulRealEstateBlog.com in November 2005, and has hardly missed a day of blogging since.
Her dedication, and local-focused approach to blogging has been the inspiration of 1000s of real estate bloggers across the country.
Together, with Teresa we will be discussing the following:
Without doubt, the most common question that I get from brand new blogging clients is, "Can you help me choose a domain name?"
The days of agents using their own name as their website identity are gone, and this has them left with the task of developing a new, powerful brand.
After answering this question and setting up several hundred domains over the last few years the formula has become clear. That said, you could probably break everyone one of these 'rules' and still end up with an incredibly successful blog.
But before we get the guidelines, you need to get into a Domain Buying State of Mind.
What Are You Going To Be Blogging About? Ultimately your content will determine your success, not your domain name. However, taking into consideration what your topics of focus are to be make a nice direction for your site's name, and help potential visitors understand your focus.
Who Is Your Ideal Reader? Once you can define who you need to read your blog, you can consider what impact the domain name will make on them.
What First Impression Are You Looking To Make? We ask this question in our design interviews because it makes all the difference in connecting with what our clients' design needs are. This consideration can make a difference in your domain name selection.
What Are Your Blogging Goals? Leads VS Relationships - Communities VS Traffic - You As The Expert VS Your Site As The Tool.
Who Will Be Writing On The Blog? Is the name you choose going to work for everyone involved?
Basic Guidelines to Choosing A Real Estate Blog Domain Name
1. Easy To Remember
If your audience can’t remember your domain name at first glance then you have made a poor decision.
Note: Terms like “Real Estate” and your community of focus (San Diego, for example) are incredibly easy for your audience to remember. If your blog is a real estate site about San Diego simply tag a word that’s easy to remember to that and you’re fine. Wire, Voice, Blog, Report, News, Wave, Juice, Crab, Cafe… are all examples of single words added to an easy-to-remember combination.
I’m not suggesting this type of combo as the best alternative, but it is common for a reason; it’s memorable. (There is one clear peril to using a term like 'blog' in the domain: Your site may grow to be bigger than the identity of the blog, and yet now limited, in impression, by the domain).
Beware of easy to confuse combinations of words. If the order of words don't make a strong impact, or don't have a natural order, you can be sure they will be jumbled, and your potential visitor will end up on someone else’s site.
ChicoHomeSearching.com VS HomeSearchingInChico.com VS ChicoHomeSearch.com
And finally, if it can’t be remembered, it can’t be branded.
2. Easy To Spell
Google does a good job of suggesting words when it catches a misspelling with their “Did You Mean?” feature. But that doesn’t mean that they will suggest your site. And, not all browsers automatically utilize a search engine if they don’t recognize the url.
If you cover a community that is commonly misspelled (Schenectady, for example), it would be worth buying domains with common misspellings just to cover all bases. I own RealEstateTomatoe.com, and you wouldn't believe how much traffic I still get for this misspelling.
And finally, if it is difficult to spell, it makes your domain harder to remember.
3. Value Of Keywords
The question is, "Do I Need "Real Estate" in the Domain Name?
The short answer is: No.
The other question is, "Should I have keywords in my domain name"
The short answer is: Yes, keywords are a benefit in your domain name. The reason is because when you are linked to, by another site using your domain name, the link the use contains these keywords, and they are considered a relevant description by the search engines. For example, if I link to SantaBarbaraRealEstateVoice.com from this article, the spiders will see the keywords Santa Barbara Real Estate associated with my link, giving a description to the site I am linking to. This is a key element to success with inbound links: that they clearly define and describe your site. You’ll see me regularly use keywords (and alt titles) when I link from my articles to boost the value of the link for site.
-BUT- Keywords in a domain are not required for your site’s success. Most of the successes you will gain in the search engines come from your content, not your domain name. I recommend that you first consider the memorability of the domain before you start adding keywords, just for keyword’s sake.
Some favorite real estate blogsite domains without a definitive keyword:
The length of the domain is certainly relevant to the above considerations. 5 words in a domain name is not necessarily too many if it makes sense. Take Valerie Fitzgerald’s domain name:LosAngelesRealEstateTalk.com. The name of the area and the term ‘real estate’ are a given, leaving just the term ‘blog’ to be remembered. No one interested in reading a blog about real estate in Los Angeles is going to forget that domain name.
However, something like: CastleRockRealEstateHomesForSale.com is ridiculous. It is difficult to remember, keyword stuffed and a P.I.T.A. to type. Remember, the object is to create a powerful brand that supports your powerful content, not to make a mockery of your site's name just to improve your SEO.
IT HAS BEEN CHOPPED BECAUSE THIS IS A SYNDICATION OF THE ORIGINAL, AND IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT FOR SEO PURPOSES IT IS NOT A GOOD STRATEGY TO POST THE SAME ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY IN MORE THAN ONE LOCATION.
Yesterday, during our Tomato Radio Show with Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel of Inman News, Brad was feeling generous and announced that he would give us 10 free passes to the upcoming Inman Connect conference in San Francisco. He also mentioned that we can give them away in any manner that we please.
So, instead of just handing them out to the first to raise their hands, I figured we would run a little competition.
I know how busy real estate agents are, so I’m not going to make this too difficult. However, I also know that the biggest challenge for bloggers is the commitment to developing regular content. So this competition will be about swift and easy content creation.
Requirements to get one of the 10 Inman Connect Free Passes:
1. Write an article (or post a video) on your blog that includes a 50 word reason that you deserve a ticket. The article doesn’t have to be 50 words, but the reason that you deserve the ticket has to be exactly 50 words.
2. The article (not the reason) must link back to this article on the Real Estate Tomato Blog, and to the Inman Connect San Francisco page.
There are 2 ways to win:
1. The first 5 respondents that meet the above requirements automatically win a free ticket.
2. The 5 most creative entries will each win one of the remaining free tickets.
We will be rewarding only one ticket to each winner. Real Estate Tomato staff will be voting to determine the for the creative entries.
Please note: If you don’t have a blog, well, we can help you with that. And we will find a way to get you a free ticket if you become a client today.
If you didn’t win a free ticket, but would still like to attend the Inman Connect Conference in SF Aug 4th-7th, we can still help you receive a substantial discount by visiting thisregistration page and using the coupon code: Tomato.
This week’s show is another amazing opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names on the Real Estate Industry.
On Wednesday, July 15th, at 3pm PST, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel of Inman News.
For the last several years, Brad has organized, what I consider, to be the most important conference for the real estate industry. The opportunity to connect, network and learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry make it a Must Attend event. It is labeled as 3 days, but those of us whom attend know that it is a full week of opportunity.
So what are we going to be talking with Brad and Daniel about? Well the big event in San Francisco, of course.
Brad and Daniel will be sharing their thoughts on:
What makes this Connect Event different than all the ones in the past? What are they most excited about for the upcoming event? What makes Blogger’s Connect so special? What will they take away from the experience? Who are the 'do not miss' names speaking at the event? (Besides me, of course!).
And, we will be taking you calls as always. So prepare your questions for them now!
The event this summer is in San Francisco from the 4th to the 7th of August at the Palace Hotel.
Most of my blogging efforts revolve around delivering sound real estate blogging advice. The articles generally take me at least a couple of hours to develop, format, publish and broadcast. I have dozens and dozens of ideas that are just waiting to be developed and published, but as we all know, the mostchallenging thing about blogging is carving out the time.
Then it strikes me. Micro Blogging on Twitter would be a fantastic solution to my dilemma: a ton of ideas, and no time to get them into blog-shape. So, on April 25th, 2009, I started posting Real Estate Blogging Tips to Twitter, under the hashtag #reblogtips. Only having 140 characters with which to deliver sound advice forced each one to be clear and definitive. The following are a collection of 50 of those first two months of tips.
1. Near holidays, timely posts can drive HUGE traffic to your blog. Great article on just that phenomena: http://bit.ly/WysfJ
2. Tell it from your perspective. If you think you don't have one, then you don't have much business being a blogger.
3. Getting your readers to subscribe to your blog is crucial. Make it VERY CLEAR how to subscribe via email and rss reader.
4. Copy/Pasting entire articles you find on the Wire to your blog = Fail. Grab a paragraph and leverage your own opinion.
5. Do an Interview Post with a local business owner and it will dominate the SE's for their business. Good power to have!
6. Never, I mean never, under estimate pointing out the obvious. What's clear to you is that "a ha" moment of others.
7. Looking for your blogging voice? Tell a great real estate story, a story that has a point with value for your ideal reader.
8. Write posts with the intention of making your blog better. Each article is someone's first impression of you.
9. Want good SEO content about yourself on your blog? Interview yourself with some keyword rich questions. It'll be fun too
10. Use Sub Headers to break up the different ideas or sections of your blog articles. Easier to read, and huge for SEO!
11. Blog from your ideal reader's point of view. Ask their questions, in their voice, and then answer them.
12. Don't be afraid to ask for guest authors to contribute to your blog. Or pay it forward and offer to write on someone else's.
13. 3 reasons LISTS make for great blog articles: 1. They make engaging headlines. 2. Easy to write. 3. Easy to read.
IT HAS BEEN CHOPPED BECAUSE THIS IS A SYNDICATION OF THE ORIGINAL, AND IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT FOR SEO PURPOSES IT IS NOT A GOOD STRATEGY TO POST THE SAME ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY IN MORE THAN ONE LOCATION.
My friend Melani Gordon from Gwave Consulting brought this to my attention, so I thought I would bring it to yours.
July 27th iBidcondo is set to deliver a deal of a lifetime in Dallas. Buy your auction seat today. Bid for a brand new 1,300 sq ft condo in downtown Dallas, TX.
iBidcondo is a new and exciting way to purchase high quality real estate using a unique (Patent Pending) online-auction system that has NO RESERVE or MINIMUM PRICE. iBidcondo covers the cost of the property by “selling a limited number of seats” to the Auction.
This means that the majority of the net proceeds will be donated to a registered Charity that the winning bidder nominates prior to the auction. • iBidCondo auctions are online live property auctions where properties are auctioned without reserve or minimum prices. • To bid at an iBidcondo Auction, Bidders must first purchase a "virtual seat" to the online Auction from the iBidcondo website. • The revenue from the sale of the Auction Seats subsidizes the price of the property.
At a recent auction of a property in Austin, a condo with a $690,000 value was sold for a bid of $86,840, and more than 1,200 people participated in the auction. Followhttp://www.Twitter.com/ibidcondo to learn how you can win an auction seat.
We’ve trained hundreds of real estate agents to make the blog an effective marketing tool. We run them through a dozen hours of personal training classes, aiming to keep them on track to success.
The following represent the most common issues that we help them recognize in or to keep them focused.
___
1. Worrying About Design Before the Writing
___
This is akin to planning a wedding before you have even met your husband/wife to be. Before you even ‘deserve’ a great looking home for your blogging, you need to have shown a solid commitment to The Writing.
Our process with our new clients is to get them to start thinking and acting like bloggers while their custom design is being developed. The process usually takes around 4 weeks, providing us with ample time to establish a strong commitment in the form of 10–12 well written articles.
Not to take away from a killer design, but the impression that you should want to make with your blog is that you are an Expert, delivering a Consistent Message. This will gain you an audience, to whom you have earned the right to show-off you fancy site.
2. Failing To Establish A Clear Focus for the Content
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If we stick with the idea that the common blogging goal which we all share is to gain and retain an audience, then we need to consider their experience.
Good headlines and great content will surely gain the audience, but keeping them there, and earning their subscription and return visit is the real trick. Categories, Related Posts, Tags, a Mission Statement and clear Calls To Action are your opportunity to make your message clear. But the first thing you need to do is carve out exactly what topics of content you plan to deliver on a consistent basis.
If your audience is confused as to what categories of content they are going to get from your blog, they aren’t going to bother subscribing. You put $1 down and pick up a newspaper without even looking inside because you know what you are getting (local news, world news, sports, business, entertainment, comics, etc). Your audience needs to react with a similar understanding. When they recognize a solid commitment to a clear group of topics that meet their interests, they will commit to you in the form of subscription.
3. Failing to Recognize and Write to Their Ideal Reader
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In order to gain the right audience, you need to define them. I know that most of you have worked with all ages, all incomes, all races, and have gone miles in all directions to help them… but who do you want to work with? Define him/her, and then write to him/her. Take a second, write down who they are and even name them if you have to.
When you can visualize the reader, it is much easier to explain things to them. What’s easier, explaining something to a friend or to a room full of strangers? When you ‘know’ your audience, it will be much easier to hatch and deliver your ideas.
To become a better writer you need to be an avid reader. We learn from example, and there is no shortage of fantastic writers in and out of the RE.net.
Read from the perspective of a writer.
I learn something every blog surfing session. I see new formatting ideas, new call-to-action approaches, new PlugIns, etc. But before all that, the new blogger can pick up so much from established bloggers. Blogging is not like other forms of writing, and reading others will help you recognize the rhythm and formatting that works best.
In addition to learning the writing style, new bloggers will notice the dedication shown by the successful. This is the most valuable lesson of them all.
IT HAS BEEN CHOPPED BECAUSE THIS IS A SYNDICATION OF THE ORIGINAL, AND IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT FOR SEO PURPOSES IT IS NOT A GOOD STRATEGY TO POST THE SAME ARTICLE IN ITS ENTIRETY IN MORE THAN ONE LOCATION.
We have been having so much fun, and getting such great feedback that we have decided to add a second show a month to the Tomato Radio schedule. Now, instead of just one show on the 15th of each month, we will be hosting 2 shows, the additional date being the 1st of each month. The bi-monthly shows will air live at 3pm PST, and will also be available as a podcast shortly thereafter.
Todayy, July 1st, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Jeff Turner, president of Real Estate Shows.
Over the last few years, Jeff has positioned himself as one of the most visible personalities in the online real estate space (aka the RE.net). He has been a top point earner (~400K) for much of the existence of ActiveRain, he is stalked by nearly 7000 on Twitter, 2000 on Facebook, 360 on Flickr, 500+ on LinkedIn, shows up to speak at most of the REBarCamps, and Inman Connect events. The man is connected.
Our format will be to talk with Jeff for the first 30 minutes regarding:
Real Estate Shows News Mastering Social Media Real Estate and Social Media Must-Have Web Tools iPhone and Real Estate
And the second half of the show will be Jeff answering your questions!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Brokers, imagine providing your real estate agents the ability to learn from industry leaders, top marketing professionals and social media experts without leaving the office or paying for speakers to visit your destination.
Posted by 
We are thrilled to announce that on 
Without doubt, the most common question that I get from brand new blogging clients is, "Can you help me choose a domain name?"
Yesterday, during our 
If you enjoyed reading this article, 
On Wednesday, July 15th, at 3pm PST, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel of 
And, we will be taking you calls as always. So prepare your questions for them now!
Call in to listen away from your computer, and Ask Questions: 
Most of my blogging efforts revolve around delivering sound real estate blogging advice. The articles generally take me at least a couple of hours to develop, format, publish and broadcast. I have dozens and dozens of ideas that are just waiting to be developed and published, but as we all know, the mostchallenging thing about blogging is carving out the time.
July 27th iBidcondo is set to deliver a deal of a lifetime in Dallas. Buy your auction seat today. Bid for a brand new 1,300 sq ft condo in downtown Dallas, TX.
We’ve trained hundreds of real estate agents to make the blog an effective marketing tool. We run them through a dozen hours of personal 
To become a better writer you need to be an avid reader. We learn from example, and there is no shortage of fantastic writers in and out of the RE.net. 
We have been having so much fun, and getting such great feedback that we have decided to add a second show a month to the 
;)
;)
