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I believe I have developed TMJ.

For the last month I have had frequent headaches and a persistent clicking in my right ear.  The sensation varies from an annoying pop to a painful snap.  I have been doing light research on the issue since it began, and am now really ready to find remedy. 

What does this have to do with Real Estate Blogging?

Other than the fact that I can't be the only blogger out there suffering from TMJ and any solution I find will be much appreciated, I'm sure... the following post is a documentation of how I used the internet for research, found a potential solution, and yet the source failed to engage me as a reader/subscriber/potential-client. 

The mistake: Although I did find useful information on relief of TMJ, it was at the most critical moment that he failed to engage me. This mistake can be applied to any and all business blogging, hence the article.

Read the rest of this article on the Real Estate Tomato.

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Regards,

Jim Cronin

http://realestatetomato.com
Community. Education. Excellence.

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Meet Our Speakers

The below are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

We are not yet full  We have room for 28 total speakers.  Below we are showcasing: 23

Name: Susan Adler
Company: Realtor/Partner, Keller Williams of Essex, Union & Morris Counties
Website: SueAdler.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Sue has been the #1 Keller Williams agent in NJ for the past five years, and leads one of the top KW teams in the country, with annual production averaging $50 million in sales in recent years. In 2009, 80% of her team’s business was “repeat”, “referral” or “reputation”.

Name: Brad Andersohn
Company: ActiveRain
Website: ActiveRain.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined

Bio: Community Manager for ActiveRain.  Brad has over 25 years experience in the Real Estate Industry, and has helped thousands of Industry professionals find solutions to their daily tasks and challenges through the uses of technology and his resources.  Founder of Agent Assist, RE411, and RETechWorld.  Brad is a coach, consultant, and trainer on using Social Media and technology to grow Business and Community.

Name: Teresa Boardman
Company: Saint Paul Home Realty
Website: SaintPaulRealEstateBlog.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Teresa Boardman is a Realtor, and licensed Minnesota real estate broker with Saint Paul Home Realty.  She is also a blogger, writer, photographer and speaker.  Although she claims to be anti-social, it is clear that her online social reach is most impressive.

Name: Brad Carroll
Company: Dakno Marketing
Website: Dakno.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: As the owner of Dakno Marketing and Internet and Technology Coach for CKG International, Brad couples his expertise in online marketing technology with a keen understanding of real estate. A Consultant,Speaker, Innovator, and Business Leader, he currently heads an experienced team of marketers and developers while serving as a personal Web & Marketing Consultant to many of the top speakers, coaches and REALTORS in the industry.

Name: Sherry Chris
Company: Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate
Website: BHGRealEstateBlog.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Sherry Chris was appointed President and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC in October 2007. Well known within the real estate industry, Sherry is a frequent speaker at real estate and technology conferences. She has served, and continues to serve, on a number of industry- and technology-related advisory boards, including Trulia and Google Real Estate, and she is a past chairman of The Realty Alliance.

Name: Jim Cronin
Company: Real Estate Tomato
Website: RealEstateTomato.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: President and founder of Real Estate Tomato, Jim Cronin has helped thousands of Realtors develop a superior internet presence. His focus is on personal training, the embrace of social media, and the development of beautiful and powerful blogsites.

Name: Rob Hahn
Company: 7DS Associates
Website: 7DSAssociates.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Robert Hahn is the Managing Partner of 7DS Associates, a marketing, technology and strategy consultancy focusing on the real estate industry. A veteran of the online world since the pre-Netscape Internet, Robert got into the real estate industry at Realogy, overseeing the interactive marketing and technology for the commercial brand. At 7DS, his focus is on helping clients take an integrated, evidence-driven approach to real estate, combining strategy, marketing, operations, and technology. A frequent speaker at industry events, Robert writes on transformation in the real estate industry, and blogs at 7DS Associates as well as his personal blog, The Notorious R.O.B. You can find him on Twitter: @robhahn.

Name: Ross Hair
Company: eRealEstate.com
Website: eRealEstate.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Ross Hair is the Real Estate Advocate and President of eRealEstate.com, a social network for real estate investors and professionals..

Name: Brad Inman
Company: Inman News
Website: Inman.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Bradley J. Inman is an entrepreneur, journalist and technology expert. TurnHere is the most recent company to be founded by Mr. Inman, famous for highly-successful Internet content businesses including Inman News and Homegain.com which he sold in 2005 to Classified Ventures.

Name: Tara Jones
Company: Reel Productions TV
Website: ReelProductions.tv
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Jones is an Emmy™ award winning journalist that has been in the broadcast television industry for 17 years. More than a decade has been reporting and anchoring across the country for ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates including the #1 television station in the country. Tara is also a licensed real estate agent and has now married her two careers into one with Reel Productions TV. As the co-owner and spokesperson for Reel Productions TV, Tara is able to showcase dozens of homes, communities and businesses throughout the country providing an innovative tool that gives unlimited exposure to agent’s listings, builder’s developments and business owner’s dreams.

Name: Mark Madsen
Company: Raintree Mortgage Services
Website: MyFHAMortgageBlog.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Social Media and Communications Director for Raintree Mortgage Services in Las Vegas, NV.

Name: Mike Mueller
Company: Are We Connected
Website: AreWeConnected.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Mike is a former Mortgage Banker, Mortgage Broker turned “Tech Geek” who specializes in Social Media Consulting. He is a builder of engaging Custom Facebook Business Pages, blogs and social media engagement plans for his clients.  Mike writes AreWeConnected.com, a blog dealing with social media and technology as it pertains towards real estate. He publishes articles in the San Francisco Examiner and the BusinessWeek Exchange. AreWeConnected is listed in Alltop and ranked by AdAge. He has been interviewed and quoted in articles for BankRate, Scripps, the San Jose Mercury News and others, (including the front page of The Wall Street Journal for writing mortgage related Haikus).

Name: Nicole Nicolay
Company: MyTechOpinion
Website: MyTechOpinion.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Nicole is extremely passionate about learning and sharing…and it shows her in writing! As a founder, author and editor at MyTechOpinion.com, she focuses on providing her readers with a comprehensive technology base for the real estate industry. She recognizes the importance of both on and offline marketing strategies for real estate professionals and offers knowledgeable how-to solutions for implementation. In addition, Nicole authored “Twitter for Real Estate Twits”, the only Twitter how-to guide created specifically for teaching real estate professionals how to use Twitter. She is also the originator the “Tweet Plan” which outlines how to maximize your Twitter efforts by becoming your network’s trusted advisor.  Nicole was named one of the 25 Most Influential Bloggers in Real Estate for 2008 by Inman News and one of the Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers by Sellsius.

Name: Darin Persinger
Company: Productivity Junkies
Website: ProductivityJunkies.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Darin Persinger is an 11 year veteran in the Real Estate industry with sales, management, leadership and training experience. He was a certified trainer for Keller Williams. He successfully coaches agents one on one. He provides agents with the vital learning tools to be successful in the Real Estate industry both through his writing and in group training classes. Earlier, he was the CEO/Team Leader/Business coach for Keller Williams Madison East. Before that, he was a Regional Manager for Century 21 Affiliated. He has recruited new and experienced agents, trained and coached agents to great levels of success. Before any of that, he tried to make a living as a sponsored wakeboarder.

Name: Steve Rosenbaum
Company: Social Media Dos and Don’ts
Website: SteveRosenbaum.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Steve Rosenbaum helps companies large and small integrate a profitable sales, marketing and social media networking strategy.   Current clients include restaurants, builders, authors, financial companies, stocks and options, manufacturers, realtors, attorneys, webmasters, advertising agencies, radio stations, television stations and consumer products companies..

Name: Bernice Ross
Company: Real Estate Coach
Website: RealEstateCoach.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Nationally syndicated columnist, author, trainer, and speaker, Bernice Ross couples her expertise as a Master Certified Coach with 30 years of real estate sales experience. From 1993 to 1997, she served as Executive Director of Training for the 4,000 agent Prudential Jon Douglas Company. With over 400 published articles to her credit, Inman News called Bernice “America’s top real estate coach.” She is the author of “Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters” plus her latest new book, “Real Estate Dough: Your Recipe for Real Estate Success.” Bernice is also the creator of an exciting new real estate negotiation game called “Real Estate Dough Negotiation.” Visit Bernice’s Luxury Real Estate Blog at LuxuryClues.com.

Name: Glenn Sanford
Company: eXp Realty
Website: eXpRealty.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Entreprenuer / Marketer / Judo Coach / Owner: eXp Realty & Working The Magic LLC and of course an all round Great Guy.

Name: Mike Simonsen
Company: Altos Research
Website: AltosResearch.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Michael Simonsen is co-founder and CEO of Altos Research Corp., the premier source of real-time real estate market intelligence for thousands of local markets around the country. The company helps real estate agents and brokers easily reach their clients through innovative local real estate market analytics, reporting, and web tools.

Name: Jay Thomspon
Company: Thompson’s Realty
Website: PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Jay is a real estate broker, father, husband and all-around nice guy. He likes to volunteer for what some people consider crazy things–like serving on his Home Owners Association board of directors, or getting on the Town of Gilbert’s Human Relations Commission. Jay even served as a substitute teacher at his kids K-8 school. The kids at the school frequently said he was “the coolest sub ever”. His autograph is highly sought after by students under 9 years old.

Name: Kendra Todd
Company: Kendra Todd Group
Website: KendraTodd.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Apprentice Winner & Host of HGTV’s “My House Is Worth What?

Name: Jeff Turner
Company: Zeek Interactive
Website: Zeek.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: Jeff currently serves as President of Zeek Interactive, and is the creative force behind Real Estate Shows. He is also widely-regarded as a thought leader in the area of social media marketing strategy and execution, and a sought after speaker.

Name: Zillow (To Be Determined)
Company: Zillow
Website: Zillow.com
Session: To Be Determined
Time: To Be Determined
Bio: To Be Determined.

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A big change that we have made for this Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is to give the registrants the power to choose what topics they want to sit in on during 9–hour the event.

For the January 4^th event, we have 28 spots to fill for your entertainment and education.

This conference is about you, and how we can cater to your needs. Our speakers will be chosen based on the feedback of our registered attendees Click Here To Register Now – It’s Free!

Our aim is to give you what you really want.
The below list represents 40 potential topics (based on feedback from our previous event).
In addition to these potential topics, we will be taking and posting your suggestions, looking to get the feedback of the community, before me make the final selection of topics and speakers.

Potential Topics for Virtual Real Estate BarCamp Presentations.

1. Beginner Search Engine Optimization
2. Intermediate Search Engine Optimization
3. Advanced Search Engine Optimization
4. Blogging and Search Engines
5. Nothing about Search Engines
6. What is WordPress, and Why Should I Care?
7. Getting Started with a self hosted WordPress website
8. Popular and Effective WordPress PlugIns
9. Must-Have WordPress Widegets
10. Advanced WordPress Techniques
11. Nothing about WordPress
12. Essential Training on Flickr for Real Estate
13. Photography Techniques/Tips for Real Estate
14. Digital Photography Basics
15. Photoshop for Real Estate
16. Using YouTube for Real Estate
17. LinkedIn Business & Referral Strategies
18. Selecting an IDX Company
19. Single Property Websites
20. Electronic Flyers and Online Classified Services
21. Getting the Most Out Of Your Mobile Devices
22. The iPhone and Real Estate
23. Podcasting for Beginners
24. Getting Started with Video Blogging
25. Advanced Video Blogging (editing, marketing)
26. Video Listings
27. Essential Twitter Training
28. Advanced Twitter Tips.
29. Nothing Twitter.
30. Preparing to Start a Real Estate Blog
31. Web Traffic Statistics and Google Analytics
32. Facebook for Dummies
33. Doing Business on Facebook as a Real Estate Agent
34. Advanced Facebook: Applications and Customizations
35. Getting Started with Blogging (what to do, what to write, how often, goals, expectations)
36. Blog Writing Techniques (Headlines, Formatting, Images, Videos, SEO, Readability, Call-To-Action).
37. Why Blogging Works: How To Generate Leads Through Blogging.
38. Developing a Strong Personal Brand Offline and Online.
39. HTML That Everyone Should Know.
40. Using Posterous Blogs As a Real Estate Agent.

The sooner you register for this free event, the sooner your can ensure that the topics you want to sit in on are part of the event. We will be making the final selections in the next couple weeks. As they are chosen, they will be posted on the website.

Related Post:
We're Back! Introducing the 2nd Edition of the Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

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We're Back!
Introducing the 2nd Edition of Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

Our first event was such a success, we decided to parlay the momentum into the launch of another.

January 4th - 9am until 4pm PST
9 Hours, 28 Incredible Speakers, 1000s of Attendees!

It's Free!

What Is Virtual BarCamp?
How Do I Register?
Who Is Speaking (To be determined)
How Can I Sponsor?

In an effort to always improve, we have made some changes to the event format:

There will be 4 Webinar Rooms 
(previously there were just 3 rooms).
Presentations will be 45 minutes in length 
(previously they were 30 mins).
Total number of Speakers: 28 
(we had 27 last event).
Each Webinar Room will have its own accompanying Live Chat Room 
(previously there was just one).
Session Topics will be chosen by our Registered Attendees 
(last time it was first come first serve).
Session Presenters will be selected by us 
(last time it was first come first serve).
Sessions will be recorded 
(we were unable to record last time).

We have boosted our goals for the event as well:

Registered Attendees: 3000 (previous: 1000, actual 1928)
In-Office Events: 100 (previous: 40, actual: 71)
In-Real-Life MeetUps: 50 (previous: 20, actual: n/a)
Number of Sponsors: 15 (previous: 10, actual: 13)

We have a new website: www.VirtualBarCamp.com

Just because we hold virtual, online events doesn’t mean that we can’t create an incredibly social community.  One of the best aspects of the BarCamp atmosphere is the ability to connect, network, meet and mingle.  We took this into great consideration as we planned out the architecture and user experience of our new website.

The tighter the community, the greater opportunity we all have to learn, network and teach. Get involved by involving others!

If you have any other suggestions on how we can improve on our first effort, please let us know!

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Beth Butler, former Broker for EWM Realtors in Miami, FL wants to get into the head of real estate brokers around the country.  She wants to share her expertise in managing an incredibly successful real estate company blogsite with those that need to see the light.  The playing field has changed, and many need a coach.  Beth is that Coach.

Real Estate Brokerage Websites - I Don’t Think We Are In Kansas Anymore

By Beth Butler

Just like in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy tiptoes out of her house to find she is in an altogether different place than she left, so it is with the real estate brokerage business post market meltdown.   As brokers gently lift their collective heads from dealing with the drudgery of the down market, the view out the window is not the same as it was.  The business is forever changed.

Budget cutbacks wielded the proverbial axe on most print advertising, which left most brokers with a tad more money in the bank but a noticeable absence in their marketing plan.  Most brokers are looking for their websites to be their yellow brick road to the Land of Oz and real estate recovery.  

A closer inspection of brokerage websites will leave you stranded in Munchkinland.  This post is the first in a series designed to get your Brokerage website to be the cornerstone of the company’s marketing plan and the business generator that it should be.  It is time for Brokers to take back the technological aspects of the business back and win once and for all the Internet battle with regard to real estate.

If you wonder how your site stacks up – start by taking the simple test on websitegrader.com. If you score above 75% you can consider your site one of the better in the business.  If you score above 90% - you need to post some comments and share some of the non-proprietary  secrets of your success.  Sadly, most sites I checks scored well below the  50th percentile – and you certainly have some work to do.

In the framework of rethinking your website, I think it is high time to put content on an equal playing field with design and search.  It appears that many of the Web 2.0 updates to most brokerage websites include an oversized search box and a cleaner more organized homepage.  This is all good and correct, however when you overlook content, the site fails.

A wise person once told me that people are interested in listing search only when they are looking to buy or sell a property, but they are interested in real estate all of the time.  If you look at your website like a prospecting tool, you might begin to understand how important content is in your next website.  It is time to stop talking about driving traffic and to begin to emphasize the importance of attracting customers, and learn to do it.

A blog on your website will provide all of the content you might need while creating that real estate news feature that will draw an audience of potential customers that might not be ready to buy or sell right at this moment.  Additionally, the blog provides your company a platform to promote themselves, the community and the company.  

A multi-user blogging platform allows the website to become a content generator on an exponential level, even with a relatively small percentage of your company participating.  

I know this is posting on their site, but when I say that it is time to step up and make your website everything it should be, I’m serious.  The Real Estate Tomato has the solution that will get you to where you need to be from inception to implementation with training and consultation.

Next post:  Bringing your Marketing Department into the 20th Century. 
 
To connect with Beth Butler: 
Beth is the Owner of Big Mouth Consulting
Facebook Profile
LinkedIn Profile
Twitter Profile

Related Must Read:
The Real Estate Broker Blog 2.0 - Plug In To The Solution

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Regards,

Jim Cronin

http://realestatetomato.com
Community. Education. Excellence.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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We have an expression in blogging: "If you write it, they will come." This means that content attracts an interested audience. Social Media avenues (such as FB and Twitter) can be a great way to build reach, but they are not always an effective solution for attracting the desired audience.

Developing a wealth of valuable content through blogging not only attracts the desired audience, but it gives you something to offer in the Social Media avenues that can help you get the response you are looking for.

Thoughts?

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