blogging :: SoundBiteBlog.com

I’ve always been able to best express my thoughts through the written word, so it’s no surprise that I embraced blogging like a fish to water back in 2005.

It all started with a challenge from my managing broker at the time, Frank Wilson. He was always pushing the technology envelope when it came to the real estate business. He would explore and exploit every widget and gadget that came along, trying to find some meaningful application to increase sales or improve efficiency.

Frank pointed me towards blogger.com and gave me an encouraging shove. Like most people, I created a profile, and embarked upon a 3-month conversation with myself. Obviously, I must have contracted ‘comment leprosy’ during this time.

I have to confess that I also attempted to post for a while on MySpace, but I don’t think that platform really qualifies, does it?

Either way, I became rather disenchanted with the whole ‘blog’ craze thing, until I met up with Brian Brady, a mortgage broker down in San Diego CA, through a connection on MySpace. Brian invited me to check out a new social network created specifically for real estate professionals. It was a small start-up company out of Bellevue, Washington, called ‘ActiveRain.’

The real genius of ActiveRain was in offering a social network where members competed for points. The more you participated and engaged the community, the more points you earned. The more points you earned, the greater your exposure and prestige. ActiveRain provided it’s members with their own blog publisher, similar to blogger.com, but with the added benefits of networking freely with other industry professionals. People openly shared ideas and technology tips, thereby reducing the learning curve tremendously. It became the perfect online classroom for developing my blogging skills.

Shortly after joining ActiveRain, I realized that one of the top point scoring members in the State of Washington was right here in Silverdale WA. His name was Mark Flanders, a local mortgage lender and husband to one of the agents in my Windermere office.

Mark and I became quick friends and started meeting for coffee once a week to talk about blogging/social media. Over the course of several months, we both participated heavily on ActiveRain, swapping the lead back and forth for points in WA State. Eventually, we were both asked to serve as voluntary moderators for the network.

In January 2007, in what seemed to be a common evolution for many, we decided to embark upon our own joint WordPress blogging project and SoundBiteBlog was born. It was a true tag team effort. Mark exercised his blossoming code monkey skills and I contributed content.

The following year, I was afforded the opportunity of joining the ActiveRain staff as a Community Manager. It was a wonderful and enriching experience, allowing me to meet many social media heavy-weights, and speak at numerous national events, including BlogWorld.

During this time, I started two additional blogs:  CrabbingInTheHood.com (a ‘just-for-fun’ blog about my favorite pastime), and Everyday CK (a community blog for the local newspaper Kitsap Sun).

Returning to full-time real estate in the Spring of 2009, I have been focusing much of my time and energies on implementing other social media tools to grow and promote my business. However, Blogging still remains my primary passion. My most recent project, HomesByHarbors.com, though in its infancy stages, should prove to be a very effective lead/referral generation platform.

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate broker providing Knowledgeable Empowerment and Relentless Representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Everyday CK, HomesByHarbors, and Crabbing in the Hood, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: blogging, brad pitt, engaging readers, quality content, razor sharp content, seo, social media, talented writing

In recent years, real estate blogs have become an increasingly popular marketing tool used by real estate professionals to attract/engage potential clients and share helpful information/resources within their sphere. In many instances, well-constructed blogsites, in which good quality content is published consistently, can out rank/out perform more traditional ‘static’ websites, resulting in more traffic and more business.

However, blogging isn’t for everyone. Just like any other meaningful marketing method, it takes time, effort, and consistency to achieve results. There are no ‘easy’ buttons.

Perhaps one of the best ways to test the writing waters and get your blogging feet wet, is to join a social network like ActiveRain. Launched in 2006, ActiveRain has grown to nearly 200,000 members throughout the US and Canada. The basic free membership allows you to set-up your own blog publisher, post articles, read/comment other member blogs, etc.. For a monthly subscription fee, your blog content (articles) can be made accessible to the Search Engines, allowing your blog to be found by consumers.

Although there are other blogging platforms, like Blogger.com or WordPress.com, and niche microblogs like Tumblr and Posterous, you will find that some don’t get crawled and indexed by the search engines as well as others, and you end up feeling like you’re having a very long, frustrating one-sided conversation.

Ultimately, your blog should serve as the primary ‘Hub’ for all of your online marketing activities and social media involvements.

For those who discover the value of blogging and find it to be a good fit in their marketing plan, a natural evolution is to eventually migrate over to a WordPress.org or TypePad blog. The primary benefits are having a greater degree of control and ownership over your site and content.

The process for creating your own WP or TP blog is not as difficult as it appears. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a Techno Geek or a Code Monkey to successfully launch your own blogsite.

Here’s the basic steps in a nutshell:

1. Name and Claim Your Domain:

What are you going to call your blogsite/blog? Ideally, it’s best to use a name that describes your local real estate market or niche, like “HoodCanalWaterfront.com” or “HomesOnHoodCanal.com.” This will help improve the ‘findability’ factor of your blog.

There are a number of companies that offer domain registration, like GoDaddy or Direct NIC. Some Hosting Services also offer domain registration as part of their package.

2. Select Your Hosting Server

Once you’re chosen/registered your domain name, you’ll need to select a Hosting Service Provider, like BlueHost or GoDaddy. Personally, I prefer BlueHost because they make the overall set-up process fairly painless.

3. Upload Your Blog Software

WordPress.org is by far the most popular blogging platform currently available, and it’s FREE! You can go to their website and download a .zip file to your hard drive. Or, as is the case with BlueHost, they have a WP icon that allows you to quickly install the WordPress software onto your hosting space.

4. Select/Upload Your Blog Template/Theme

One of the great things about WordPress is the seemingly limitless array of themes (free or paid) that are available for use. For my most recent blog project, I simply did a Google search for ‘WordPress Themes’ and downloaded a free theme that fit with my intended marketing niche.

Again, the process may seem daunting at first, but it’s really not all that difficult. If someone like me can embrace technology and make it work, just about anyone can!

For my latest blog project – HomesByHarbors.com – it took all of about 15 minutes for me to register a domain, secure my hosting provider, and upload a theme. Now the fun/challenge will be to generate good, relevant content that potential clients will find helpful/valuable.

Happy Blogging!

~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~

Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing Relentless Representation and Knowledgeable Empowerment for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Everyday CK, HomeByHarbors and Crabbing in the Hood, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: blogging, internet marketing, social media

Stuart Kaufman, noted Personal & Business Coach, who writes a column for the Washington REALTORS® News, contacted me the other day and asked if I would contribute to an upcoming article he is putting together on Blogging.

In this article, he is posing the question:

“It seems like Blogging is the current rage. I took a class and know the basics, but can it really help me build my business? Is it really worth the time?”

Stuart e-mailed me 5 questions relating to Blogging that he wanted me to answer:

1.   What are the ingredients of a winning Blog?

Well, that really depends on how you want to define &  measure ‘winning.’ If your goal is to grow your business and attract potential clients, then there are definitely some key elements to incorporate into your Blog that will help in achieving those goals.

Content – Blogging is not another form of advertising or self-promotion. It’s not about you, but the consumer. Publish good, relevant information that is geared towards helping educate consumers about real estate, understand the unique nuances of your market, and empower them to make informed decisions.

Consistency – Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. Like any good marketing endeavor it takes a commitment of time and effort. Cultivating a loyal audience and attracting potential clients to your Blog won’t happen overnight. The more good, relevant content you contribute to your Blog, the better it will rank with the search engines.

Connection – One of the main benefits of Blogging and Social Media is that they create the opportunity for meaningful connections/conversations to occur. Be authentic in what you write. Allow the 3 Powerful P’s of Blogging to come through – Your Personality, Your Passions, and Your Perspectives.

2.   How often do you need to Blog in order for it to pay off?

Today’s Internet-savvy consumers are more  spoiled and fickle than ever before. Our fast-paced microwave, drive-thru culture breeds demanding expectations. You need to feed your Blog at least a couple times a week to begin with. Don’t feel like you have to publish a literary masterpiece each and every time. Some of my most popular posts have been basic, short, and to the point. Certain kinds of articles like market reports, local business reviews, neighborhood showcase, etc., can be regularly repeated and help maintain your publishing consistency.

3.   Where should you post your Blogs?

This is an important question because you can do all the right things and Blog your fingers to the bone, but if the platform you’re using isn’t constructed in such a way that it allows the search engine spiders to crawl, index, and rank your content, and give attribution to you as the originating source, most of your efforts will fall on deaf ears. There are an abundance of sites available, many of them free, that you can use to begin your Blogging journey, including ActiveRain, Blogger, BiggerPockets, Squarespace, Trulia Voices, WordPress.com, LiveJournal, Tumblr, and Blogster, just to name a few. Platforms like ActiveRain provide an easy and encouraging environment to learn the Blogging ropes. Their basic membership is free, but you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee to have your content show up on the search engines. Eventually, at some point, if you find Blogging to be a good fit for your marketing plan, you may want to consider hosting your own WordPress.org blog.

4.   How has Blogging helped your business?

Historically, the majority of my business has been ‘Referral Based.’ However, as is typical, when the market cycle slows down, especially to the extent that it has now, you don’t have the luxury of relying on any one source for new business. The use of Social Media, and Blogging in particular, now generates nearly half of all my business.

So many of our old-school marketing methods involve ‘chasing’ leads or potential clients. The beauty of Blogging is that potential clients come to you (your Blog). It allows you to engage/converse with consumers and reveal parts of yourself to readers/potential clients through your writing. By reading your Blog, a meaningful connection is made, a sense of familiarity is established. When you finally meet your clients face-to-face, it’s as if they’ve known you for years. Through Blogging, the usually awkward and uncomfortable ‘courting’ period with new clients is effectively eliminated from the process.

5.  What is your advice for agents who want to start Blogging?

Blogging is not the magical purple pill that will solve all of your business woes. It is simply one more tool you can add to supplement your current marketing methods. Develop and incorporate a Social Media strategy component to your annual marketing plan that includes a Blog and consistent involvements in sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, and others. Start off by lurking and listening. Subscribe to some of the top blogs in your area, real estate or otherwise. Read their articles and make comments. Partner up with someone who is already Blogging or is interested in Blogging, and meet together regularly for encouragement and accountability.

~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~

DISCLAIMER: The author of this series is not a social media guru. Any similarity to such title, character or history of any said individual is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

An avid blogger since 2005, Rich has published over 1000 articles, most related to real estate. He enjoys using the tools of social media to brag/boast about the quality of Life on the picturesque Kitsap Peninsula in scenic WA State. He is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Crabbing in the Hood, Everyday CK, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: blogging, blogs for small business, how to blog, kitsap county wa blog, social media, Social Media for Small Business, social media strategy

Welcome once again to our series,

“Developing a Social Media Strategy”

So far, we’ve realized that “Social Media is a Conversation, not an Advertisement!”

We’ve answered “The ‘WHY’ of Social Media?” (Why it should be a vital part of your Annual Marketing Plan)

We identified that one of the key strategies is “Taking AIM” (Audience, Image/Brand, and Message)

We learned how to become a skilled blogging chef by serving up “Social Media Sushi”

We discovered the “5 Keys to Having a Killer Blog!”

And, we explored the “Top 10 Ways to Feed Your Blog.”

(for what it’s worth: I plan on discussing the use of both video and podcasting in subsequent series)

In this week’s episode, we’re going to venture beyond our blogs, and seek out other viable social media tools that can be used to effectively expand your digital footprint and improve your ‘findability’ factor.

Choosing Your Social Media Tools

Perhaps the biggest challenge in determining which social media tools to utilize is simply identifying and selecting the ones that best suit your business and marketing goals. With the plethora of tools currently available, and new ones constantly popping up, this is easier said than done.

Allow me to offer some helpful advice as you begin the process:

Take Baby Steps

1. Start off by taking baby steps and biting off only what you can effectively chew. What this means, is to start with the most obvious and popular tools, learn them, become comfortable and proficient with them, and then move on to another.

Don’t Sleep Around

2. Be discerning and selective in which platforms to join. All the more reason to have a well-conceived, goal-oriented marketing plan to guide your choices. Some things to consider in making your selection: How well does the site rank? Does it offer meaningful exposure/engagement with your target audience? Does it allow connection/syndication from other platforms?

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

3. Constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the effectiveness of your tools/involvements. Are you currently tracking where your traffic/potential clients are coming from? What sites are helping you to rank well for your targeted key search terms?

Make Your Life Easier

4. Utilize resources like Retaggr.com, Ping.fm, GizaPage, or DandyID, to help manage and maintain your network profiles.

Find Out First

5. Keep current on all the latest and greatest social media tools as they first crop up by subscribing to updates by Mashable.com and TechCrunch.

Here’s some excerpts from a recent article by Dan Schawbel that I think you’ll find insightful:

Can you join too many networks?

“PageRank is extremely important for your personal brand because it allows you to command your Google results. This is great for promotion and protection in the digital world.”

“Your Google results are your new business card. Your results are a depiction of who you are, so it’s smart to join the networks that best represent your brand, and carry a high PageRank (6 or higher is satisfactory).”

The most recent issue of Website Magazine provides a great list of the Top 50 Social Media Resources. This is a good starting point for help in identifying potential tools for you to incorporate into your social media tool belt.

ACTION POINT: Take a quick look at the list of Social Media Resources that are provided in the aforementioned magazine. Identify and investigate at least 3 sites that could be added to your tool belt.

In our next installment, we’ll begin to discuss my recommended Top Ten Social Media Resources.

~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~

DISCLAIMER: The author of this series is not a social media guru. Any similarity to such title, character or history of any said individual is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

An avid blogger since 2005, Rich has published over 1000 articles, most related to real estate. He enjoys using the tools of social media to brag/boast about the quality of Life on the picturesque Kitsap Peninsula in scenic WA State. He is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Crabbing in the Hood, Everyday CK, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: blogging, Kitsap County WA, social media, Social Media for Small Business, social media strategy, top 50 social media resources

Welcome back to our series, “Developing a Social Media Strategy“

So far, we’ve realized that….

“Social Media is a Conversation, not an Advertisement!“

We’ve answered “The ‘WHY’ of Social Media?” (Why Social Media should be a part of your Annual Marketing Plan)

We identified that one of the key strategies is “Taking AIM” (Audience, Image/Brand, and Message)

How to become a skilled blogging chef by serving up “Social Media Sushi”

And, we discovered the “5 Keys to Having a Killer Blog!”

In this week’s installment, we going to embark on a fun learning journey entitled,

“Blogging and The Little Shop of Horrors!”

Have you ever seen the rock musical “Little Shop of Horrors?” or the 1986 movie version with ‘Honey, I shrunk the Kids’ Rick Moranis?

It’s the story of a nerdy floral shop worker who finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who constantly demands to be fed.

“FEED ME!!!”

Well, that’s kind of what it’s like to author a successful blog. In order to effectively attract, engage, and retain any meaningful amount of readership/traffic, you have to be committed to consistently feeding your blog. Fortunately, your blog won’t demand human sacrifices. However, there will be times when you feel as if it’s sucking the life out of you!

“96% of All People who start Blogging quit after 3 months”

I once heard a statistic that claimed only 4% of the people who start blogging will still be blogging after 3 months. That’s quite an attrition rate, if it’s true. So why do so many quit?

There are probably many different reasons, but I think one of the main ones is that people feel as though they’ve run out of things to say/write. They hit a mental brick wall where inspiration and creativity cease. Some call it Writer’s Block.

Personally, I think this dilemma has a lot more to do with poor planning/organization and discipline than it does a lack of inspiration/creativity. That’s not to say that creativity and inspiration don’t have their place in authoring a blog. One should always be open/sensitive to the leading of your ‘inner muse.’

But to successfully compete in the ‘marathon’ that is blogging, you must develop a consistent, long-term, organized strategy for writing. While a certain portion of your blog writing will come as a result of creative moments of ‘inspiration,’ other portions should be planned or scheduled, and become part of your regular writing routine.

So, without further adieu, I give you,

Top Ten Ways to Feed Your Blog

1.   Market Reports: I publish a real estate market report at the beginning of each month for all of Kitsap County WA. My reports contain 3 primary components – statistical data; my personal opinion or analysis of the current market; and a local business/interest story. Consumers don’t want cold statistical data, they want your expert analysis and interpretation of that data. They also want a sense of what makes your area such a great place to live, work, and play.

2.   Listings/Property of the Week: Utilize the ever-abundant tools of social media and create quality media presentations for your listings. During your weekly home tour, select the best value for the money and promote it on your blog. Be sure to obtain expressed permission from the Listing Agent first.

3.   Neighborhood Showcase: This is where you can do a detailed overview of specific neighborhoods, developments, or communities within your market. Be sure to include lots of pictures, median home descriptions, school information, shopping, parks, etc..

4.   Local Business Review/Promotion: What better way to build relational bridges with area business owners than to promote their services/products on your blog! Start off with recommendations of service-related businesses that new residents would find the most helpful.

5.   Develop a Series: One way to keep yourself disciplined to blogging more consistently is to create a multi-part blog series. In fact, you’re currently reading one right now! It can require a lot more work than usual, but it will become a worthwhile and valued addition to your blog archive.

6.   Shell Answer Man: Trulia has done an excellent job with this particular approach by providing a forum where consumers can pose questions and solicit answers from local real estate experts. Provide a link on your blog where readers can send in questions, and those questions can become source material for future blogs. Or simply, make a list of the most common questions that Buyers and Sellers are constantly asking you, and turn your answer(s) into blog articles.

7.   Local Attractions: Consumers can access listings from literally hundreds of websites, but what they really have difficulty finding is good relevant information on local entertainment, recreation, and attractions. What are the ‘Must-See’ points of interest in your area? What are the primary local sights and attractions that make your area such a great place to live?

8.   Pictures are worth a 1000 words: Consumers are graphically oriented or ‘picture happy’ and are accessing the Internet in droves with searches of images for their destinations of interest. If your goal is to expand your digital footprint and increase the likelihood of consumers finding you, then creating photo galleries is one more effective methods to employ. In addition to creating photo galleries on your blog, also consider similar galleries on your Facebook Page, or on social networks that are dedicated to photos, like Flickr.

9.   Invite a guest blogger: A great way to create additional content for your blog is to invite another proficient blogger to write a guest post on your blog. Mutual collaboration among fellow bloggers can be an effective means to drive new readers to each other’s blogs.

10.  Point/CounterPoint: Just about every avid blogger has an RSS feed (Google Reader) of other blogs they frequently read and enjoy. Find an article that contains an attitude or opinion that is contrary to your own, then state and defend your position. Or, you can find an article you feel is exceptional, and simply provide your analysis/editorial comments. Make sure that your contributed content well exceeds that of the other article. And, remember to provide adequate attribution to the original author and links to their full article.

ACTION POINT: I’m sure there’s a lot of other creative ideas out there. What have you found to be the most helpful for you in keeping you on task with regularly contributing content to your blog?

~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~     o     ~

An avid blogger since 2005, Rich has published over 1000 articles, most related to real estate. He enjoys using the tools of social media to brag/boast about the quality of Life on the picturesque Kitsap Peninsula in scenic WA State. He is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, ActiveRain, Crabbing in the Hood, Everyday CK, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Tags: blogging, blogging ideas, kitsap county wa small business, social media, social media strategy, top ten ways to feed your blog