The Real Estate Tomato

10 Inman Connect San Francisco Passes Are Up For Grabs.

2009-07-16T13:28:46-07:00

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. This decision will be made on Friday the 17th of July.

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-7^th, we can still help you receive a substantial discount by visiting this registration page and using the coupon code: Tomato.

If you enjoyed reading this article, why not Subscribe to be notified of the next one?

Tags: Inman+Connect, Brad+Inman

Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel To Appear on Tomato Radio, July 15th at 3pm PST. The Inman Connect Show!

2009-07-14T00:18:22-07:00

This week’s show is another amazing opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names on the Real Estate Industry.

On Wednesday, July 15^th, 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 4^th to the 7^th of August at the Palace Hotel.

To Learn More About Inman Connect:
Bloggers Connect
Schedule of Events
Conference Program
Workshops
Start-Up Alley
Speakers
Innovator Awards
Social Networking
Sponsors
Pricing
and more.

Visit RETomatoRadio.com at 3pm PST on July 15^th to listen in live.

Call in to listen away from your computer, and Ask Questions: (347) 884-9764
(Hit the #1 on the keypad to get our attn, and we'll bring you on live!)

There's a chat room too!

Yes, there will be a podcast in case you missed the live show... but being there is where it's at!

Are you a fan yet of Tomato Radio’s Fan Page on Facebook?

Tags: Inman+Connect, Brad+Inman, Ddaniel+Rothamel, Tomato+Radio

Tomato Twitter - A Better Way To Microblog On You Real Estate Blog

2009-07-10T10:04:44-07:00

Microblogging with the Tomato Twitter PlugIn Solves Two Major Challenges.

1. The biggest challenge to blogging is developing regular, unique content on your site.
2. The biggest challenge to syndicating your Twitter Updates to your blog is that often they are out of context and confusing to your blog readers.

Now you can solve both of these challenges at the same time.

Microbogging Is Blogging.

Making/Finding time to blog is cause of death for most blogs. Although it is no replacement for rich, well-thought-out content, quick, unique updates relevant to your audience’s expectations are a great manner of keeping the regular content coming.

Every update, long or short, is an opportunity to connect with your audience, and that is the goal in the first place.

The Tomato Twitter PlugIn creates a widget that displays Micro Blogs (short text updates) on your blog, which then syndicate to Twitter.
From the dashboard of your WordPress blog, you create and publish your updates as swiftly as you would on Twitter. The instant you hit ‘update’ you publish to both your site and to your account on Twitter.

Segment Your Updates For Your Blog Audience

The beauty of this PlugIn is that you can now post micro updates specifically for your Blog Audience that are not mixed together with tweets intended solely for the greater Twitter crowd. You tweet from your blog up to twitter, not the other way around.

This is a stark contrast to Twitter Widgets where tweets are syndicated from Twitter to your blog.
For example, if your latest update on Twitter is something like: "@retomato You are so funny!" It would be out of place to display this message on your blog. Your blog audience won't have any context and just end up confused by the content.

With Tomato Twitter, on your blog, you just showcase the tweets that are relevant to your blog audience's expectations. And, these updates are syndicated up to Twitter for your twitter crowd to enjoy as well.

Placement On The Site?

Because it is a widget it can be placed in a sidebar, the footer, wherever you have a widgetized area. With some tweaks to the PHP you can even add them in the main post area, adding content to your regular blogging.

In addition, because it is now governed by your blog’s stylesheet, it matches the font styles and looks like it belongs on the site.

Character Limit?

Another interesting element of the PlugIn is that instead of there being a 140 character limit, you can type on as long as you like. You are, however, notified of the 140 character limit because of the syndication to Twitter. If you do go over the 140, the update is posted in full on your blog but gets cut-off on your Twitter display. Once you reach character 141, it converts 138, 139 and 140 into "..." on the Twitter display, and that "..." is a link to a display of the whole tweet.

Clear Benefits Include:

* Easily keep your obligation to deliver regular content to your blog.
* Content syndicates UP to Twitter, segmenting content that is relevant to your blog readers.
* Micro Blog updates are styled to match your site's design, and can go anywhere that you have widgetized.
* You are not dependent upon Twitter for micro updates to be posted to your site.
* You can post updates longer than 140 characters.
* Content is indexed by Google as being part of your site.
* Your interested audience can subscribe to the mini feed and/or your Twitter feed. (coming soon)

It is the best of all worlds!

How To Get It

This PlugIn is currently available on all Tomato Blogs. So if you are a client that would like to take advantage of it, look in your PlugIns and activate it. From there you will need to watch the video tutorial to manage it.

Soon we will be releasing a public version. Allow us to fine tune it and then it will be available for download. Let us know if you would like to be notified of its release.

If you enjoyed reading this article, why not Subscribe to be notified of the next one?

Tags: Tomato+Twitter, Twitter+PlugIn, Real+Estate+Bliogging

50 Sound Real Estate Blogging Tips

2009-07-03T01:07:03-07:00

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 most challenging 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.

14. 2 great locations for FREE and interesting IMAGES for your blog posts: http://cli.gs/DHsj1R and http://cli.gs/RTBRj8

15. Your images will rock in Google with keyword rich file names and alternate text. These details make all the difference.

16. Learn to add padding around your images to keep them from butting up against the text. It will make it look like you care.

17. What is the most challenging element of blogging? Finding the time. If it’s that important, you must schedule it!

18. Every article needs an image. It's worth the $1/per to get the perfect one at istockphoto.com.

19. Your categories NEED to be Keyword Rich. Yes, you should change them if they are vague, or lame.

20. Your readers love lists. They represent the perfect Snack Sized Article that they can quickly consume.

21. 1st Whimsical Weekly Topic: One Question Interview with a Stranger on the Street. "Man on the Street" style.

22. 2nd Whimsical Weekly Topic: "Guess the Local Location" - Easiest post ever. Reward first correct answer with $5 coffee card.

23. 3rd Whimsical Weekly Topic: "About Me" Share something about yourself to your readers. They need to know you to trust you.

24. If you want people to watch the entirety of your video blogging clips, keep them under 2 mins .

25. The #1 overlooked element of a successful blog is your participation in the blogosphere. Engaging Comments People!

26. The best Back-links to your blog come from Writing Large Amounts of Quality Content. & it doesn't hurt to ask for them either.

27. End each article with links to related articles. Use descriptive sentences to improve SEO on the link. You'll thank me later.

28. Break longer articles with well placed Keyword Rich Sub-Headers. Your readers and the search engines will thank you.

29. Write with your Ideal Reader in mind. Define them, name them, and then write to them. They will start to hear you.

30. Many of those that are currently holding the top spots in the SEs have done it without much regard for SEO. How? They write!

31. For RE agents to embrace blogging, the routine needs 2 be realistic & comprehensive. It's writing, folks, not brain surgery.

32. People want to live near parks. 2 properly written articles on any park in town and you'll dominate the SE's for their names.

33. When a client asks a question, odds are dozens more are asking the same, and 100's more will ask it within the year. Blog it!

34. Need a quick idea for a blog article? Head over to Trulia Voices: http://www.trulia.com/voices/ There are 100's!

35. It is a mistake for a real estate blogger to be caught without their camera. No, your cell phone cam doesn't count.

36. When your brain is hungry for content, you begin to recognize the blog article in every personal connection.

37. Having trouble finding time to blog? Schedule it. Block off 3 hours a week, and keep disciplined.

38. Success Takes Planning. Can you make the commitment? Who is your ideal reader? Do you have an outline of regular topics?

39. Headlines need Call-To-Action. What is your reader going to get by clicking on your headline? Make the value clear.

40. Headlines need Keywords. If you aren't using the words you want Google (and your audience) to find you for, you will be ignored.

41. Headlines need emotion. If you aren't compelling, you are ignored.

42. Read everything Copyblogger (Brian Clark) has ever written about Writing Headlines. http://cli.gs/3QjEyZ

43. Funny Thing: The terms you think you want to be found for are hardly the only ones that will generate the right audience.

44. Regular Blogging (3+ times a week) is you first step to success in the search engines.

45. For blogging to be the appointment generator you want it to be, you need to make it the priority that it deserves to be.

46. When building an audience and gaining exposure in the search engines, many short, powerful posts are better than long articles.

47. Monitor your comments. Comment spam makes your blog look neglected, and Google will follow suit, quickly.

48. Post your articles to AS FEW categories as possible.

49. Treat you blog's categories like sections of a newspaper. Only create categories that you are committed to write to regularly.

50. Define your Ideal Reader; Age, Gender, Profession, Income, Needs. Now write your articles to and for him/her.

Look for the next collection of 50 tips in two months!

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Tags: Blogging+Tips, Blogging+Advice, Real+Estate+Blog, Twitter+and+Real+Estate

Jeff Turner of Real Estate Shows To Appear on Tomato Radio, July 1st. Mark Your Calendar!

2009-06-28T22:55:40-07:00

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.

On Wednesday, 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!

Click Here to Listen Live at 3pm PST on July 1st.

Call in to listen away from your computer, and Ask Questions: (347) 884-9764
(Hit the #1 on the keypad to get our attn, and we'll bring you on live!)

There's a Chat Room too!

Yes, there will be a podcast in case you missed the live show... but being there is where it's at!

There's a chat room too!

Yes, there will be a podcast in case you missed the live show... but being there is where it's at!

Are you a fan yet of Tomato Radio’s Fan Page on Facebook?

Tags: Tomato+Radio, Real+Estate+Shows, Jeff+Turner

The Real Estate Tomato

10 Inman Connect San Francisco Passes Are Up For Grabs.

Requirements to get one of the 10 Inman Connect Free Passes:

There are 2 ways to win:

Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel To Appear on Tomato Radio, July 15th at 3pm PST. The Inman Connect Show!

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.

Brad and Daniel will be sharing their thoughts on:

Tomato Twitter - A Better Way To Microblog On You Real Estate Blog

Microblogging with the Tomato Twitter PlugIn Solves Two Major Challenges.

Microbogging Is Blogging.

Segment Your Updates For Your Blog Audience

Placement On The Site?

Character Limit?

Clear Benefits Include:

How To Get It

50 Sound Real Estate Blogging Tips

Jeff Turner of Real Estate Shows To Appear on Tomato Radio, July 1st. Mark Your Calendar!

On Wednesday, July 1st, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Jeff Turner, president of Real Estate Shows.

On Wednesday, July 15^th, at 3pm PST, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Brad Inman and Daniel Rothamel of Inman News.