Ribeezie: Social Media Business Strategy for Real Estate & Small Business

Blog Blazers: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets

I've always believed that knowledge is gained in two ways: 1.) learning from experience and 2.) learning from the experience of others. Therein comes "Blog Blazers: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets to Creating A High-Profile, High-Traffic, and High-Profit Blog!" 

I haven't read this book yet, in fact I've barely cracked it open. But I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy reading it! It includes interviews from folks whose blogs I already read... People like:  

• David Armano: Logic + Emotion
• Derek Semmler: DerekSemmler.com
• J.D. Roth: Get Rick Slowly
• Neil Patel: Quick Sprout
• Pamela Slim: Escape from Cubicle Nation
• Penelope Trunk (one of my favorites): Brazen Careerist
• Rohit Bhargava: Influential Marketing Blog
• Seth Godin
• Trent Hamm: The Simple Dollar
• Yaro Starak: Entrepreneur's Journey

Out of the 40 top bloggers listed in the book, I've been reading the above referenced 10 for quite some time now (Penelope's and Seth Godin's are the only two that I subscribe to and read via email). I even interviewed Neil Patel last week to talk about what it takes to be successful in business both on-line and off-line. See, the simple fact is, I love learning (reading and learning from others satisfies the geek in me). I'll continue to host interviews via my podcast to learn from folks. In the process I hope that you'll learn something new too!

For now, I'm gonna get back to reading "Blog Blazers." First up is Aaron Wall, author of SeoBook.com...  

How To Build A Community Around Your Blog

So a little over a year ago I put together an e-Book titled: How To Build A Community Around Your Blog. A collaborative piece put together by prominent names in social media both inside and outside of real estate. 

Since several of you have asked, here's a copy of that ebook... (I think a re-write is in order and coming very soon)... 

[Full Screen Link: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=16643670]

How To Build A Community Around Your Blog -

[New Poll] How much time do you spend working on your blog each week?

Most people don't realize that blogging: 

• Building a blog (design, etc.)
  
• Writing fresh new content
• Marketing your blog

...takes quite the investment of time and energy. A good investment tho for those looking for a way to cost effectively market themselves via the web as it turns out. Many folks market their real estate services or other small business successfully via their blog. 

Here are the stats according to Technorati's 2008 State of the Blogosphere (I don't know if they've released the 2009 report yet, if they have, please let me know so I can update this post): 

Even Gary's social media count offers some staggering statistics. 

Basically, Blogging = Cost Effective Marketing

And it works! But in order to get there (in order to author a successful blog that generates traffic, comments, leads, etc.), you need to promote your blog right, produce new content consistently, invest in the design and engage with your readers. 

For some people, all of this comes easy, for others it takes quite a bit of work. With that in mind, I thought I'd take a poll to ask how much time you spent on your site on a weekly basis: 

My intention is to follow up this post with a series of Best Practices for being more efficient with writing, marketing, reader engagement, etc. But first, how much time are you spending on your site each week? 

[Image Source: Technorati 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report]  

How To Blog Effectively

A blog is a great tool for expressing your own opinions, networking with others (building community), and driving traffic to your online storefront (your business). Most people however are at a loss with "how" and "where" to get started so this post is meant to give you a template to follow (to serve as a guide if you will). 

Enjoy! And if you have anything else to add, please drop it in the comments below...

Steps to Blogging More Effectively

1. Find Inspiration. 

Well written content is fueled by inspiration. If you're passionate about the subject you're going to be writing about (it's your profession), then that makes it a little easier. If it's still challenging for you, here are some additional places that you can find inspiration... 

Read Other Blogs

Keep track of what others are doing by reading/subscribing to their blogs. Some blogs you should be reading: 

• www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com, authored by Jay Tompson.    

• www.Miamism.com, authored by Ines Hegedus-Garcia 

• www.StPaulRealEstateBlog.com, authored by Teresa Boardman

Stay Up-To-Date on Current Afairs

Wether you're reading the local paper or the Wall Street Journal online, keeping track of current affairs is very, very important. But don't just regurgitate information. When you blog the news, inject your own opinion into it (give it your own spin). That's what makes you unique. That's what makes you interesting. 

2. Research. 

Do A Google Blog Search

You're searching for other blogs in your local area that are covering your same topic. How are they similar? How are they different? How can you stand out and be unique?  

Use Twitter To Collect Feedback

Twitter's a GREAT place to collect/gather real-time feedback. Ask a well-crafted question, perhaps link to a poll using something like PollDaddy.com and you're set. I used a Poll in my post titled: How Do You Feel About Scheduled Tweets.

3. Writing. 

Start with the title first. At least that's how I like to do it. Why? Because headlines sell! Here's a great blog to read to get ideas on great headline writing: www.CopyBlogger.com. 

When writing new posts, one of your primary objectives is: readability. Here are some tips to consider: 

• Avoid large blocks of texts. If you have a long-winded post, it might be a good idea to break it down into a series of smaller posts. 

• Write list posts. They're easy to read/skim thru. Remember, people have a short attention span and are always skimming through content.    

• Highlight important phrases. Again, this makes it easier to read/scan through content.   

Contribute Content Consistently

For some people (myself included), this is the hardest part. But I did put together a post recently on how to go about building a good writing habit. That process is helpful to me. Hopefully, it's helpful to you too. 

4. Multi-Media. 

Written content alone can have a tendency to be very dry to a reader. If you're not accustomed to reading long portions of text (and most people aren't), then you're articles become quite boring to read. Take this post for example, there's not photos in it. I'm banking on the hope that you find the content useful (if you do, I'd appreciate your comments below). But really, my point here is to say that you should be using the following to supplement your written text: 

• Photo: services like Animoto, Flickr and many more make it easy for you to insert images into your posts. Animoto in particular produces stellar slideshows!  

For Example: 

The 2009 REBarcamp Los Angeles Recap

Animoto Property Slideshows

• Video: when you run out of post ideas, it's easy to surf YouTube for good content. Take this post for example: A Case of the Mondays! It's a presentation given by Jonathan Baxter at Ignite Atlanta; and a pretty awesome one. It wasn't hard to come up with this post idea. Instead, it was rather timely considering it was Monday after all :-)  

• Audio: some people find it easier to speak than to write. If you find yourself in that position then you might consider using services like posterous and/or utterli.com. I've talked about Posterous before here. Basically, you can record an audio file and blog it straight from your phone if you have a posterous account. Utterli allows you to do the same thing; well sorta (there's more steps involved). With utterli, you dial into your account from your phone, record your file and it's then hosted on the utterli network. It's up to you at that point to grab the embed code and embed it into a blog post. Posterous has fewer steps than this but utterli allows greater recording lengths. 

The point of all of this is that you should be injecting some multi-media into your content to spice it up a bit. Get creative with photos, video and audio. 

5. Review. 

Last week I hit publish on a post a tad bit too soon. I realized I hit the publish button too early so I went back and unpublished the post. But it was too late! I'd already made a BIG mistake. You know why? Because once you hit "publish", that post goes out via your RSS feed so all your RSS subscribers see it even if you go back and "delete" or "unpublish" the post. I felt kinda silly to tell you the truth but ah well, "sh*t happens" as they say. 

The Lesson To Be Learned: make sure to go back and give your posts a once (or twice) over. It doesn't have to be super perfect. After all, blogging isn't writing, it's conversing. I always stress being conversational in your writing which means it's ok to get casual with your writing. But before you hit that publish button, read your own content and make sure you've hit on all of your talking points, and then go for the publish button cuz once you hit "publish," what's done is done (well, sorta).  

6. Publish and Promote. 

There's two parts to the whole "blogging" process: 1.) Content Creation, and 2.) Content Promotion. You know that saying: "if you build it, they will come." Well I'll let you in on a little known fact, blogging doesn't exactly work that way. Just because you blogged it doesn't mean everyone is going to magically flock to read it. That's where the power of social networks and your level of influence comes in (or what Tara Hunt would call "Whuffie"). 

My Step-By-Step Process: 

• Tweet my post using su.pr: I love su.pr because the bookmarklet makes it ridiculously easy to share content via Twitter AND it gives you pretty awesome analytics (like click-thru rates and number of retweets).   

• Share my post via my Facebook Page status update: notice I said my Facebook Page not my profile. I share social media related content via my Page (not my personal account). I've set that expectation with my subscribers and I share my content with them there accordingly.   

• Share my post via my LinkedIn status update: as with my Facebook account, I share a link to my post via my LinkedIn account but first I grab a su.pr link so that I can track statistics there as well.    

• Lastly, I broadcast my new post via my email newsletter: I perform this step less regularly but from time to time, I'll share a link to a recent article with my newsletter subscribers. I tend to do this when I post a poll or a tutorial of some sort. Otherwise, I try and keep the content via my newsletter and my blog separate. 

I'm sure your process is rather similar. My point here is that if you're taking the time to build your network, growing your community across various platforms, use those relationships to promote and share your content. But remember to be helpful first, otherwise it's a bust!

7. Follow Up.

Lastly, if and when people comment or someone takes the time to write you an email, please, PLEASE take the time to respond and follow up! There's nothing worse than when a new comment, email or inquiry goes ignored. It's like reaching out for a handshake and getting blown off. 

Respond to comments. Respond to emails. Respond to voicemails. Heck, be responsive PERIOD. 

Do that, and you're well on your way!

Building A Good Writing Habit

Writing is hard. Writing consistently (say daily) is hard too. Some people (I'm thinking Seth Godin, Valeria Maltoni, Chris Brogan) make it look so easy; they dish out fresh new content almost every day. 

How do they do it? How do you develop/cultivate a good writing habit? Practice of course (lots of it daily). Take Jim Cronin for example, he blocks out an hour a day to write (whether it's email, copy or blog posts, it's writing). Now THAT'S practicing a good habit! 

Start By Practicing Good Habits (Daily):

Some people are just naturally good writers (yeah I know, I'm jealous too). They spit out new content, write eloquently and poetically and well, it just works. Others, well, they have to work at it. In case you're wondering, I fall into the latter category. 

So how do you cultivate a good writing habit? 

Step 1: Start by Reading:

I was going to go with writing first but that's unrealistic if you have a bad case of writer's block. So, let's go with reading first. Do you know why reading works? It stimulates ideas and gets your creative senses moving. In fact, Darren Rowse recommended reading (sort of) in his 31 Days to Build A Better Blog Series: 

How To Use A Magazine To Improve Your Blog

The idea here is to sift through the magazine in search of headlines and post ideas. 

The same can be done with books. I read books with a hi-lighter and stickies handy (like this). When I read something that inspires a new post idea, I quickly hi-light the section, put a sticky note on the page, and I open up a new draft to be posted at a later date. 

Yet another source of inspiration is the ever growing feedreader! With 300+ subscribed to and counting, my feedreader is one of my first stops every morning. If and when I find something worth referring to for later use or inspiration strikes for a future post, that particular article is quickly archived in my delicious bookmarks. 

 

Step 2: Time-Block & Write:

Jim Cronin over at the Real Estate Tomato has a daily ritual. Every day, and without fail, he writes for at least one hour. Whether it's email correspondence, blog posts (published and drafts), or other sales copy, it doesn't matter...he commits to writing, period. It's a daily habit and a good one. 

The best way to cultivate a writing habit is to schedule 20 - 30+ minutes a day to just sit there and write. You don't have to always publish what you write, but it's a good idea to time block and use that time to write, period. Don't worry about whether the words are poetic or the post is well structured. Just dedicate the time to writing. After all, as they say, "practice makes perfect." 

Step 3: Write Some More: 

I use legal pads religiously. Whenever I take a trip to Staples, I buy a whole pack (or two) of 'em. I use them to jot notes down daily (not just my "To Do List" but other ideas that strike me throughout the day). I basically use it as a running journal of what I'm doing in my day to day. It's a messy exercise but it's helpful in terms of getting my thoughts down on paper (emphasis on the last part). That's your goal each and every day, to get your thoughts down on paper. 

There's another exercise that Darren Rowse recommended in his 31 Days to Build A Better Blog Series: 

Take A Trip To The 'Mall' And Improve Your Blog

This exercise works so well because it forces you get get out of the cave you call an office and to get some fresh air. This can often lead to creativity especially if you're out there interacting with new people. The change of atmosphere and change of pace (heck, the change of everything) almost always leads to new inspiration. But make sure you have that note pad handy otherwise it's a waste. 

Conclusion: 

Writing isn't easy at times but it doesn't have to be hard either. Often the best ways to inspire creativity are to read, practice doing, and get out for some fresh air and socialize. Talking amongst friends (whether it's a mastermind, a networking event, etc.) almost always leads to new ideas just as reading new content does. Just remember to write your thoughts down on paper (always) and practice writing daily. 

Next thing you know, you'll be well on your way. 

What tips do you recommend for cultivating a good writing habit? What's worked for you? 

Social Media Addiction Rap + 6 Social Media Productivity Tips

 

Social Media is great for many reasons (I think that you'll agree). No? But heck, we're all addicted to some extent. Sometimes to the point that it becomes a productivity killer and keeps us away from the day-to-day work that we have to do. With that said, here are...

6 Social Media Productivity Tips: 

(Some of these tip have worked for me. Hopefully, they'll work for you too.)

• Write More Than You Publish. Get in the habit of writing daily (whether you're scheduling 15 min., 30 min., or an hour of your day). If you write more than you publish, that's ok; that's the point.   

• Only Check Email Once. I don't mean like once per day. See, when we check our email(s), we have a tendency to scan back through emails more than once. Get in the habit of checking emails only once. When you open that email, either: 1.) respond, 2.) delegate, or 3.) delete it. I use tags to filter my messages. I also use AwayFind to manage my time spent answering emails (it's a GREAT service!).   

• Perform Social Media Triage. We've talked about this before. This is the process of prioritizing and identifying what tools are going to be most beneficial/resourceful to you. For me it's the blog and Twitter. For you it might be Facebook and your email newsletter.   

• Learn To Scan. I'm subscribed to well over 400 blogs. There isn't nearly enough time in the day to read every single  blog post out there, every article posted on the web, every email and piece of correspondence that comes in the mail. So, learn to scan/skim and look for important bits of information. Categorize your content (I use Google Reader and have folders for different types of blogs) and give yourself a process. For example, I skim through my "Social Media" and "Technology" blogs every morning for 30 minutes searching for new golden bits of information.    

• Read Fewer Blogs/Feeds. I'm not saying that you should go an unsubscribe from a ton of blogs (you could miss out on good information that way). Instead, as noted above, I'm suggesting you learn to skim but also that you spend more time creating your own content (point number one) and less time reading other people's content. 

• Let It Go To Voicemail. This almost seems counterproductive. I've written about this before in a post titled: Answer the Phone! I hate it when people screen their calls and let them go to voicemail. But you know what, it's ok to let it go to voicemail so long as you respond within a reasonable amount of time. What's more, services like Google Voice offer voicemail transcripts (a major productivity win if you ask me). 

It's easy to let social media become nothing more than a time-suck that keeps us away from work and family obligations. My recommendation is to find the tools that make it easier for you to do things, time-block and set boundaries.

REALTORS® often ask me: "How much time should I spend on this social media stuff?" 

My recommendation is 1 - 1.5 hours per day (if that). If you're spending more time than that, you're either doing something wrong or you could be doing something better (in my humble opinion). 

What do you think? 

Any Other Suggestions:

Any other ideas you'd like to add that I might have missed? How are you managing your social media usage? What works for you? 

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Follow me on twitter for more cool tech & social media tips and connect with me on Facebook. 

Is Commenting On Blogs An Effective Traffic Strategy?

I read this post over on CopyBlogger: Is Commenting on Blogs a Smart Traffic Strategy?

...and it got me thinking. Yes, I think it's effective when you have something of value to add. When all you're adding is gibberish, the tactic completely backfires. Rather than having people wanting to read your content, you become an outcast in an otherwise thriving community of readers and commentators. 

When I first started [Ribeezie.com], nobody knew about my blog. But as soon as I started reading and engaging with people on other websites (by simply commenting on other blogs), a small but thriving community started formulating here. In a period of about one year, we're at 1,211 comments and counting. 

What do you think? 

I thought I'd pose the question to you...

If you chose [It depends], please explain in the comments below. 

Time Management Tactics for Busy Bloggers

Being able to develop content consistently is essential to your success as a blogger. The second you stop writing, you're readers lose interest in reading your blog and your content doesn't get indexed on Google (or anywhere else). 

But when your day looks like the photo to the right, how do you find the time to write anything new? 

Well, here's a process that might help you develop a consistent writing habit...

1. Check Your Email A Few Times A Day

I use AwayFind to manage my email. I wrote about it before here. 

I check my email in batches at least 2-4 times daily. I use AwayFind to manage my Inbox so that I don't have to stare at the screen all day long stressing over whether or not another email came in and what to do about it. This leads to a ton of productivity as now I can put my full focus and attention on everything else!

2. Turn Off All Distractions

This includes Twitter, Facebook, Skype and your Gmail Chat. 

Nothing is more distracting and counterproductive than being pulled in a million different directions into a variety of different conversations. I'm not saying that these conversations are useless or that they don't lead to good ideas, but right now your focus is cranking out new content which means you need to focus and eliminate ALL distractions. 

3. Time Block Scheduling

Schedule at least 30 minutes to 1 hour a day to writing content and discipline yourself to commit to that schedule. Once you've eliminated ALL distractions (email and everything else), sit down for that hour and focus on nothing but developing content for your site (or newsletter). Write as much as you can for that one hour. If you've written something new, publish it. Otherwise, save those drafts for publishing the next day or next week. 

Discipline yourself to develop a schedule and commit to that schedule every week. In no time you'll find yourself more productive and developing content consistently. 

4. Store Your Research In A Central Location

Research is part of your writing process. Consider storing your content on a network like Delicious. Consider it an online filing cabinet for all of the great content that you find in and around the web. 

For example, if you want to see the articles that I've saved on content related to LinkedIn, just visit: http://www.delicious.com/ribeezie/linkedin

You can store all of your research here for reference at a later date. You'll save yourself the hassle of having to print the articles and clouding your inbox with a ton of emails. 

Anything Else?

Do you have any time management tips for everyone else? Anything else that's worked well for you? 

Show-off Your Blog

I had previously used my sidebar to link to and hi-light blogs from various genres. However, since I've subscribed to hundreds of blogs, there just isn't enough space in the side-bar to hi-light a lot of the good content that I find around the web. So here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to let you...

I'm going to create a blogroll page. A space for me to share a lot of the content that I'm reading and a space for you to submit your link and showoff your own blog! 

If you want in, all you gotta do is fill out the form below, and I'll add it to the new page: (pretty simple eh)

Is It OK to Take A Blogging Break?

You invest all this time and energy on building this new blog of yours. You write posts daily. Comment on other blogs. You participate in social networks and drive people back to your blog. Slowly but surely you build an audience. People are subscribing. People are reading. People are commenting. 

You have a community. 

There-in comes my question: is it ok to take a break from blogging? 

(Cast your vote "yes" or "no" in the poll below)

My Thoughts on the Matter: 

My first thought was to say "it depends." But then, I thought about it some more and I've changed my thinking. 

It's not ok. 

Why? Well, because you've worked so hard to build up your readership. You've created an expectation with your readers. The expectation that tomorrow or the day after you'll post something new. If you don't, what happens? Well, you lose that reader of course. They forget about you because you've forgotten about them (at least that's how your readers take it). 

When you stop commenting on other blogs, those bloggers stop commenting on yours. And that's especially the case if you haven't posted any new content. 

Basically, you can't go to a party, start a conversation and then leave mid-way through the conversation (that's just plain rude). 

Does that make sense? 

Then of course there's the fact that if you're not posting anything new your not getting indexed by Google or any of the other search engines for that matter. 

So how do you deal with writer's block and the lack of time to write new stuff? 

Heck there's a couple of different things you can do. Among them: 

• Invite guest articles - ask a client or fellow bloggers if they'd like to submit something relevant to your blog and post it. All you have to do is ask, edit the content, throw in some link-love and hit publish.   

• Link out to other bloggers - start collecting those articles that you find interesting around the web and write a list post linking out to that new content. Introduce readers to some new stuff (you don't always have to pimp out your own content).     

• Browse YouTube for videos - sometimes it's tough to come up with something creative. So browse YouTube for good finds. There's a ton of stuff on there that you could share with your blog readers. Throw a little multi-media into the mix.     

• Write articles for a rainy day - this is where it comes in handy to write a few articles and save them as drafts. When you get busy, go through your draft pile, put the finishing touches on a post and hit publish.   

So there you have it. A few tips to keep the content coming out consistently. Did I miss anything? What tips do you recommend? 

Before you offer some tips, what are your thoughts on the matter? Is it ok to take a blogging break? What's been your experience?