You don’t blog enough.  But you want to.  You know all the good reasons – better Google rank for your real estate blog – the increased traffic to your real estate website – building a reputation with your readers.

But still, you’re so busy you don’t know how you’ll squeeze out another blog post.

This post is NOT going to tell you how to manage your time, where to buy real estate blog content, or even try to motivate you to write more.

I’m going to tell you to surrender.

Leave your real estate blog alone.  Go check your email.  Take the next message from a friend or colleague that you respect and admire, and invite that person to write a guest post for your blog.

You may even know about guest posting.  But something stops you from asking.

I have a hunch it’s one or more of these show-stoppers

• My blog is personal
• My blog will look inconsistent
• I may not like what my guest writes

If you’re sweating blog upkeep, you deserve a truth that will set you free.  The truth is — what may be holding you back is treating your real estate blog content like it’s personal. I’m going to challenge you to re-think these objections one by one.

Objection #1: My real estate blog is personal.  Rethink:  If you want your blog to increase in popularity, think of it as a team effort.  Marketing expert Seth Godin just described the “Death of the Personal Blog” in his blog. He observed that the top blogs (rated according to authority by blog search engine Technorati) are all maintained by teams of writers.  His point – to rise to the top, “your tactic needs to be to have a team of people doing the work” of posting very often.

Objection #2: My real estate blog will look inconsistent.  Rethink: Indeed, the voice and writing style may vary from post to post.  But if you consistently act in the best interest of your readers, that principal will unite everything.  Serving your target reader will keep your real estate blog feeling consistent, and valuable.  Don’t worry about the variety of voices.  Variety is the spice of life.

Objection #3: I may not like what my guest writes.  Rethink:  This is a great opportunity.  Feel free to disagree – with respect.  State your own view.  Congratulations, your next post topic has arrived, painlessly.

Re-casting your real estate blog as a team effort has all these advantages – and more you can probably see for yourself.  Such as –

• Your guest author may send friends to read your blog – more traffic for you.
• You may get an invitation to be a guest writer yourself.  Another chance to link to your real estate blog!
• You get more time to develop great high quality posts, because you take the pressure off having to write more often than is workable for you.

Thanks, Kathy, for giving me this great opportunity to be your guest on your Lead Booster Blog!  Wishing every reader a wealth of guest posts for the New Year….

Joanne Masterson
BlueJProjects Web Design

What is your 2009 New Year’s resolution for marketing your real estate business?  Consider making yours the same as mine.  It will tremendously improve your online presence, make your blog readers happy, improve your search engine ranking, and generate more clients.

Want to know a super easy and inexpensive way to achieve the goal of adding 2 new posts to your blog every week in 2009?  Join my Lead Booster Club.  You’ll get 20 pre-written, easy-to-customize blog posts every month for only $29.95.

If only I had someone who was writing well-researched, professionally written blog posts for me!  I’d run as fast as I could to get them at $29.95 per month.

P.S.  One blog post done, only 103 more to go this year!

To keeping your 2009 marketing real estate business resolutions,

Kathy Goughenour

Publishize is Susan’s ninth book. In it, you’ll find all her best self-publishing secrets that made it possible for her to self-publish 8 books in less than 18 months.  I’ve now purchased 2 of her 8 books and know first-hand how well-written and informative they are.  And, I know getting a book published on any real estate topic will help you build your real estate agent personal branding in a multitude of powerful ways.

TODAY ONLY - Susan is offering free shipping on her Publishize book.  When you purchase it, you also get a slew of bonuses from many people in the publishing and business world. You’ll find audio and print bonuses from Marcia Yudkin, Shel Horowitz, Fern Reiss, Sheri McConnell, and many other people. You’ll even find my smiling face on this page offering my report Improve Your Bottom Line by Hiring Online Help as a free bonus.  Check out http://www.publishize.com and you’ll see the incredible list of freebies Susan has collected.

Of course, you also get the book itself, which is chock full of all the information any aspiring self-publisher needs to finally realize that dream of publishing a book.

Here’s what a few publishing pros have said about the book:

A roadmap to turn businesspeople into published authors.”
– Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual, ParaPublishing.com

“Well-written, honest, pulling no punches, and full of good advice. Read Publishize to make informed and profitable decisions about the entire publishing and marketing process.”
– Shel Horowitz, award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers and six other books; www.GrassrootsMarketingforAuthors.com

Susan Daffron offers honest advice and breaks down self-publishing into manageable steps any business owner can implement.”
– John Eggen, President, The Mission Marketing Mentors, Inc.; www.MissionMarketingMentors.com

Susan Daffron eloquently nails the why’s and how’s of self-publishing in her new book, Publishize. This book is a great gift… I highly recommend it.”
– Fern Reiss, Director of the International Association of Writers, and CEO of PublishingGame.com

Susan Daffron explains the ins and outs of print-on-demand printing without the subsidy press stigma and offers a great overview of the latest online book marketing methods. I highly recommend this book for all the women writers I serve!”
– Sheri McConnell, CEO of the National Association of Women Writers, www.naww.org

You can read more testimonials here - http://www.publishize.com/praise.htm

I hope you can take a moment today to check out Susan Daffron’s book and all the great bonuses at http://www.Publishize.com.

To building your real estate agent personal branding,

Kathy Goughenour

Betty Byrnes, a Kokomo real estate agent who is a member of my Lead Booster Club, recently asked me these questions about real estate internet marketing.

I researched Betty’s questions, and found that several experts had already answered them.  Here’s what I found.

The bottom line is that keywords and tags are different names for the exact same thing.  I’ll let the experts give you the details:

1. According to Semiologic, WordPress 2.3 introduced tags, “which are just a sexy disguise for things that used to be called keywords.”
2. Nathan Rice agrees, “In my opinion, there are no differences between tags and keywords. I believe that tags and keywords are fundamentally the same thing, used for the same purpose — to tell something or someone, in a few short words, what the content of the website consists of.”  Nathan Rice goes on to explain, “In WordPress 2.3, the idea of ‘tagging’ your content was introduced into the core of WordPress.  You could now tag your content with certain keywords.  You may notice that I do this at the bottom of nearly every post I publish here at the blog.  I don’t do it because I believe it has massive value for SEO, but I do believe that it does affect your rankings, even if it is very small, especially in the blog search engines like Technorati.”

How Do Technorati Tags Help Your Real Estate Internet Marketing?

Betty also said she didn’t understand Technorati Tags.  Think of Technorati as sort of a huge encyclopedia of blogs and blog posts. If you tag one of your blog posts with “Kokomo real estate,” it automatically shows up in Technorati.   Pretty easy, huh?

So, how does this help your real estate internet marketing?  It can help bring visitors to your site, some of whom will turn into readers.  If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of how Technorati works, read Using Technorati Tags.

Betty, I hope that answers your questions about tags versus keywords and Technorati Tags.

Do you have a real estate internet marketing question for me?  Please post your questions here as a comment, or email your questions to me at kathy@leadboosterclub.com.  I promise to answer!

To boosting your leads,

Kathy Goughenour

“In an economy where everyone is watching their dollars, blogging stands out as both inexpensive and effective,” says Goughenour.  “In the same month, both Marketing Sherpa and the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® presented the case for blogging as a great way of reaching customers looking to buy or sell a home.”

In simple language suitable for beginners, Blogging 101 explains the benefits of blogging, why it works, how to get a blog set up, how to submit a blog post, what to write about, and how to make sure the blog builds trust with potential clients over time, along with tips for coming up with blog content.

For real estate agents who want to join the blogging trend but can’t spare the time to write blog posts, Goughenour’s membership program Lead Booster Club offers a customizable blog post service.  For a modest monthly fee, the service provides informative real estate-related blog posts into which subscribing real estate agents can insert local information and their own professional perspective.  Then they post the content to their own blog.

“Members get timely, well-researched material, such as ideas for reducing expenses for home maintenance and home energy, as well as easy-to-follow instructions for making the content relevant to their local community,” notes Goughenour.  “This way, blogging isn’t a burden even for an agent who’s very busy.”

For a free copy of Blogging 101: A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Boosting Business and Getting Tons of Leads or more information on customizable blog posts for real estate agents, anyone can go to www.leadboosterclub.com.

To boosting your leads,

Kathy Goughenour

For example, if your keyword phrase for a web page is “Cincinnati real estate,” you should be using “Cincinnati real estate” as linking text on that page.

What can you link to?

• A page on your web site with specific information about Cincinnati real estate such as the types of homes that are available (i.e., condos, townhomes, ranch, 2-story, raised ranch, etc.)
• Your Cincinnati IDX
• Your Cincinnati Featured Listings
• Videos of Cincinnati homes for sale
• A page containing photos or virtual tours of Cincinnati real estate
• Your blog about Cincinnati real estate

Want to learn more about on how to improve your real estate internet marketing to generate real estate leads?

As a member of my Lead Booster Club, you’ll receive a monthly “how-to” article and expert interview.  The articles and interviews provide specific instructions on how to generate real estate leads.  You also get 20 customizable blog posts each month.  Find out more about the valuable, yet inexpensive (only $29.95 per month), Lead Booster Club at www.leadboosterclub.com.

To improving your real estate internet marketing,

Kathy Goughenour

Because so many potential clients begin the process of buying or selling a home through the internet, your blog may be the first impression you make on them. You will generate leads through your blog when its message and tone resonates with your readers.

Most people are now suspicious of big business’ pushy marketing.   Today’s potential clients want to know the individual behind the name of the company. They want to get to know your personality, what makes you tick and if you can be trusted to do what you say you will.

What does your blog say to your readers? Does your personality shine through your words and topics? Can your readers tell that you love what you do and the area in which you live and work?  Do you want them to believe you are the leading expert in your field? If your personal message isn’t shining through, change it so it matches your goals.

To do this, make sure your articles sound the way you talk. Blog writing style is conversational, not corporate.

The easiest way to make sure your articles sound like you talk is to read them out loud.  Make changes to anything that sounds false.

Through your blog, you can give potential clients a glimpse of your personality and your expertise and most importantly you can build trust. Use this to your advantage and use your blog to enhance your real estate internet marketing and generate leads.

Learn more about how to generate real estate sales leads through blogging by downloading my free guide Blogging 101:  A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Building Business and Generating Tons of Leads Online.

To boosting your leads with real estate internet marketing,

Kathy Goughenour

Here are 8 guidelines to help improve your email marketing:

1. Eliminate spam. You know what Spam is, but you may not realize that the way you write your emails could cause them to be considered Spam.  To reduce the possibility of your emails being flagged as spam, and ending up in someone’s Junk Folder, avoid common words used in spam. These are those too good to be true words like, “Save $$$ Now”. To help you eliminate spam words, there are several sites online that provide lists of spam words to avoid and alternative words to use.
2. Write your subject line carefully. This is the recipient’s introduction to your email, and it is often what makes the reader decide whether or not to open it. That means the subject line is critical to your real estate follow up marketing email success.  Keep the subject line short.  As a rule of thumb, keep it no longer than 60 characters. Write subject lines that describe the benefit the reader will receive by opening your email.    Benefits should emphasize how readers will save money, save time or make their life easier.  Here’s an example:  Discover tips for selling your home quickly (43 characters)
3. Use an email linked to your own domain. Along with the subject line, email recipients check the name and email address to decide if they will open an email. Keep your name prominently displayed as the sender of your emails. An email account linked to your domain (like bob@thethomasgroup.com) looks more professional than a free email account (like bobt@hotmail.com).
4. Include the recipient’s name in the email. You can find mail merge software that can help you personalize your mass emails. Inserting the recipient’s name can increase the chances of your email being opened by up to 10%.
5. Use a good email software program. You need professional help to craft emails that people will want to read. These programs can set up your mailing lists, create a schedule for sending your emails, and even provide templates to make writing your emails quicker and simpler.
6. Know what you want to accomplish. This is part of your marketing strategy. What are your goals for email marketing: listings, buyers, repeat clients, referrals? This will drive the content you send.
7. Keep it short. Get to the point as quickly as possible and at least in the first 2 or 3 sentences.  Keep the email short enough that people can read it all on one screen without having to scroll.
8. Include your name and contact information at the end. Even if you think the receivers of your email have your contact information, include it so they don’t have to look it up.  Better yet, set up an email signature that is automatically added to the end of all your emails.

Put your real estate follow up marketing into high gear today by implementing these email marketing tips.

Get more tips like this one sent to your email inbox for free by subscribing to this blog.  Just enter your email address in the “Subscribe Now” section at the top left of this page.

To boosting your real estate follow up marketing using email,

Kathy Goughenour

A real estate blog gives you the ability to connect with countless potential clients. In your blog, you can share your expertise about your local area and the real estate market. You can also build your brand by helping your readers face and overcome problems as they try to buy or sell a home. For example, you can write a blog post about selling your home during the holidays.

Selling a home is a stressful situation, and this is only compounded with the added stress of the holidays. You readers can definitely use some advice about how to make it through the season with some semblance of sanity. This is a great post for a bulleted list, like “7 Ways to Survive Selling Your Home During the Holidays” or “5 Things to Remember During Holiday Showings” or even “10 Things to Do to Sell Your Home During the Holidays”.

No matter which topic you choose, you should remind your reader of the following:

• Go easy on the decorations. Nothing clutters a home like holiday decorations. They are extremely personal and vary from elegant to gaudy. Buyers like to imagine their own belongings inside a home, and any type of clutter—including holiday decorations—can interfere with their imagination.

• Be flexible. One advantage sellers have during the holidays is the nostalgia extended family may feel while being home. They may decide during a holiday visit that they want to be closer to mom and dad or the kids. You will also have to compete with shopping and get-togethers and may have to deal with some inconvenient requests for showings. Whenever possible, work with the potential buyers, especially during the holiday season.

• Use the holidays to your advantage. The spicy scents of the holiday season are a simple way to make your home smell great. They also help create a sense of nostalgia in potential buyers. This is a remarkable advantage to the seller. Bake your holiday pies during showings and get one more thing off your to-do list and impress the buyers at the same time.

Use your real estate internet marketing blog as a tool to help your readers simplify their lives. Their gratitude will be repaid in sales leads.

Do you want to know more about how to write great blog posts that pull in hundreds of real estate sales leads? Download my free guide Blogging 101:  A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Building Business and Generating Tons of Leads Online now.

To boosting your real estate internet marketing leads,

Kathy Goughenour

Here are some rules you need to follow in each post.

1. Abbreviations. You may think everyone understands an abbreviation that you use regularly.  Do not assume that.  Spell words out completely so the meaning is clear.  Abbreviations are appropriate when text messaging or instant messaging but not in a blog.
2. Avoid run-on sentences. Run-on sentences happen when you stick too many ideas into one sentence instead of breaking them down into smaller pieces and these are very hard for people to read and they don’t look right. See what I mean? Shorter is always better for online readers.
3. Proper spelling. Don’t worry if you occasionally misspell words. No one is giving you a score for your writing, but there is no excuse for regular spelling errors. Most blog services offer a spell check, as do most word processing programs. If you are in doubt about a word, look it up. When you find misspellings in previous posts, go back and correct them.
4. Subject Verb Agreement. This is a fairly simple rule that makes a world of difference in the sound of your writing. Look at these two sentences:

Johnny kick his ball across the street.

Johnny kicks his ball across the street.

Plural subjects get singular verbs. When in doubt, read your post out loud before publishing it.

A well-written blog will boost your ratings and generate more real estate internet marketing leads than one that’s just thrown together.

Do you want to know more about how to write great blog posts to pull in hundreds of real estate sales leads? Download my free guide Blogging 101:  A Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Building Business and Generating Tons of Leads Online now.

To boosting your real estate internet marketing leads,

Kathy Goughenour