nar tech edge - las vegas - blogging - shannon register
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Shannon Register, Broker/Owner of Register Real Estate Advisors in SPring Texas and the host of "Houston Real Estate Radio" on AM700 KSEV, presents about blogging to the NAR Tech Edge event in Houston and Las Vegas. http://rrea.comhttp://rrea.us/narTRANSCRIPT
Blogging
Shannon RegisterRegister Real Estate Advisors
Spring, TX @ShannonRegister
No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I would start with is a blog. Chris Brogan, Founder, New Marketing Labs and Author of the New York Times Best-seller “Trust Agents”
• 10% of Realtors blog regularly (NAR 2011)• Most of those do not blog effectively• The most common blog post is on the
agent’s listings• 3% of blogging agent’s business comes
from their website.• 80% of my business comes from my
blog/website (Makes it a priority)• Effective blogging Readers Contact
info Leads Closings
Blogging Platforms
Free(multi-user)
Wordpress.com
Blogger
BlogSpot
Tumblr
Real Estate Specific
(multi-user)
Active Rain
Trulia
Realtor.com
Self Hosted (inexpensive)
Wordpress
Movable Type
Joomla
Drupal
Most Successful* Real Estate Bloggers…
• Have an integrated website• Self Host (Wordpress or similar
platform)• Learned to adjust the site themselves
/ minimal code
* Generates a significant portion of their business from their blog
Which to Use? – My Online Strategy
• Blogging as an SEO Strategy
• Wordpress Self Hosted• Use real estate multi-
author blogs for syndication
• Fully integrated website using WP as platform
How to Get Started
• To get started– Domain name– Hosting package w/ database– FREE software
• To reach the goal ($)– Learn some technology–Willing to spend the time– Build a platform that works
Tech Tips
• Get out of your comfort zone• Learn some code• Tutorials / videos / books / trial and
error• Learn to add posts and pages
yourself– Self publishing = freedom
• Learn to make videos• If it were easy, everyone would do it
Beauty of Wordpress as CMS
• Plugins– Adds functionality to your website– Tens of thousands available for almost
anything
• Themes– Themes are a set of files that determine how a
website will be displayed. – Usually the only modification that needs to be
made to a Wordpress website
Why Bother?
I am a literary genius that feels obligated to grace the
world with my wisdom.
Search – a marketing method that didn’t exist a decade ago, provides the most efficient and inexpensive way for businesses to find leads.John Battelle, Journalist and Founder, Federated Media Publishing
• Google owns YouTube• Content is King / Post daily• Vary your content• Blogs feed search engines which
drive traffic
Variety
• Variety of Style– Videos– Photos– Text– Links– Quotes
• Variety of Subject– What to blog about?
What To Blog About?
• Listings• News stories• Events• Neighborhoods• Economic issues• Educational posts• Areas of town• Local neighborhood
events• White Board Monday
• Vendors • Other thought
leaders• Radio shows• TV segments• Viral videos• Local politics• Market trends• Allow guest posts
Longevity of a Blog
• Shelf life of a tweet = seconds• Shelf life of Facebook post = minutes• Shelf life of a blog post = YEARS!
Free Blog / Non-integrated Site
CONTENT
TRAFFIC
“MONEY SITE”
BLOG
SuzieTheRealtor.Blogspot.com
SuzieTheRealtor.com
Self Hosted Integrated Blog
CONTENT
TRAFFIC
LEADS!
BLOG/“MONEY SITE”
COMBINATION
SuzieTheRealtor.com
The Center of Your Online Universe
Website/Blog
YouTube
Business cards
Stationary On air promotion
T-shirts
Signage
Email Marketing
Print to web
EVERYTHING!
Drive traffic to your website!
A steady stream of high quality content + a search engine
credible website = TRAFFIC!
Traffic = LEADS!
Leads = $$ CLOSINGS! $$
Syndication
Blog
Active Rain Trulia
Realtor.com
Other News Sites
Over 55 Social
Bookmarking Sites
Syndication
• Automate where you can– Social Media– Social Bookmarking
• Generate backlinks• Drive traffic back to your
site
Now You Have Traffic, Now What?
• CONVERSION!!!• Draw them deeper into your site.• Ask them to connect. Calls to action– Social Media– Opt-in email lists– Comments– Contact forms– Capture contact information– IDX Search for listings– eBook offer
Measure Everything!
• Google Analytics• Other analytic software• Google alerts
Where is your traffic coming from? What are your clients searching for?
But I can get a blog for free…
• Ticket to NAR Tech Edge - $49.00• .com domain name for 1 year - $12.99• Hosting package - $4.25 / month
For the price of your ticket to this event, you can have a domain
name and 8.5 months of hosting.
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
“I tried blogging for almost a month and I didn’t get anything out of it” -Frustrated Agent
Half Effort less than Half Results
Time
Resu
lts
Search Engines started driving
major traffic at 8 monthsMost quit at 6
weeks
Key Tasks
• Steady stream of high quality content– Articles– News Stories– Blog Posts– Segments (audio and video)
• Syndication– Biggest Impact / Least Effort– Automated / Semi-automated
• Connect– Turn visitors into clients– Convert to sales
Free Tools
• Wordpress.org– Tutorials– Themes– Plugins
• Filezilla – FTP client – allows you to transfer files from computer to web server
• Gimp or Paint.net– FREE photoshop
Secret to Blogging
• Supplemental marketing• Focus on consumers with quality content– They will find you eventually
• Consistency– Takes time– Cheap– Easy
• It only works if you do it• Don’t outsource
Results
• Thought Leadership• Credibility• Personal SEO• Create a following• Build your database• Shortens sales cycle• Lead Generating Machine
THANK YOU!
Shannon RegisterBroker/Owner
Register Real Estate AdvisorsRREA.com
[email protected]@ShannonRegister or @RREAdotcom
on Twitter
281.288.3500For a copy of these slides, visit
RREA.us/NAR