Seth says to write an ebook, and I think this is a fine idea. When we start to look like we’re done with the Weblogging 101 curriculum, I’ll go back and whip together something that can work on dead-tree media. This would not be the ideal way to work with it, though, since an ebook can be rich in links — including a “check for the latest edition link.”
One thing I would want to do with something like this is make it link out to richer resources. I can gloss topics, but there’s a lot of deep-think stuff that is much better handled by other people. At the ante-penultimate stage of revision, I’ll put it out for link suggestions. Real Estate Weblogging 101 could end up being an iterative resource, the half-way point between a legacy-style book and a piece of software: Work through the big print first, then pursue the links, then work through the arcane but massively edifying sidebar links. That could be very cool.
On the subject of resources, or perhaps the unexpected serendipity ensuing from web-based resources: Two nights ago before bedtime, I wrote How to make Google your weblog’s best friend. It was a small idea that I had been wanting to hit. I had the time to take care of it, and I wanted for there to be something new on the weblog. I don’t ever do anything half-way, but if ever there was a just-knock-it-out post, that was it. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, and it took me no time to to compose and post it.
Serendipity came in the form of Mike Levin of HitTail.com. HitTail is a web site/weblog stats service that will monitor your incoming traffic and tell you what keywords are bringing people in. You can use this information to SEO optimize your site, to plan AdWords campaigns, etc. Anyway, Mike Levin coming here was cool, but what was even cooler was that he cited my post and its comments thread on StumbleUpon, a social bookmarking site similar to Digg or Del.icio.us.
Hundreds of people came to read that post. On average, they read at least one other page while they were here, which might mean that we added a few new regular readers or RSS subscribers yesterday.
Dozens more people have come in from StumbleUpon already today. How do I know? I subscribe to the statistics package from MyBlogLog.com. I also use HitTail.com, and I will be subscribing to the upgraded version of HitTail. There are finite limits to the utility of this kind of information. As always, the long-tail keywords that matter to you are not the ones that bring visitors to your site, but the ones that bring paychecks to your bank account.
But here’s a huge caveat: I’m bad at this stuff. I don’t use social bookmarking sites, so I tend not to attach too much value to them. There are massive, outrageously arcane SEO-optimization websites that I care nothing about. I actively despise paint-by-the-numbers writing advice. Even so, there is value to be derived, from a little to a lot to so-much-you-can-never-absorb-it-all, in web-based weblogging resources. I’m going to go through some stuff, in no particular order, with the understanding that I will not come even close to scratching the surface on what’s out there.
RSSPieces has an excellent article on how to avoid committing copyright theft with images. Both RSSPieces and The Real Estate Tomato are fully of tasty (sorry!) real estate weblogging advice, but remember to keep a balanced diet. What makes a weblog work is not web mechanics, but rich, detailed, authentic, organic, community-building content.
(One of the reasons I’m not very good at the resources end of this subject is that BloodhoundBlog grew without my having to do very much resource stuff. Content is King? That’s for you to decide, but it’s all we’ve ever done.)
At a more hands-on level Dave Smith’s Real Estate Blog Lab is like Tim Taylor’s Tool Time for real estate weblogs.
Todd Carpenter at lenderama is advising lenders on how to build weblogs, and much of his advice should apply to our purposes as well. Todd is also father of REMBEX, the uncontested best search engine for the RE.net. How well do I like it? It sits just below the WordPress search in our sidebar — and for all but the most obvious searches, it works much better than the WordPress search.
Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, publishes a very powerful locally-oriented real estate weblog. He’s not doing some of the things we have been talking about here, but his results — at the long-tail and at the short-head — are excellent beyond contest.
More: ProBlogger and Blogging Pro. I read these sites for posting topics, and for tools and techniques. Lorelle on WordPress, on the other hand, I follow pretty closely.
In the neighborhood: Staska.net has just published a list of the thirty most popular WordPress plug-ins. Big Red Warning Signs: Plug-ins can conflict with each other. Not everything is WordPress 2.1.x-compatible, even if it say it is. And a little goes a long, long way. How much salt is too much salt might be a matter of opinion — until there is way to much salt.
Got a question? Google is god — omniscient, omnipresent, omnibenevolent. Wikipedia is the Archangel Michael. You’re never more than a link away from the link you knew must exist. Every where is always right here, so “to persevere in obstinate condolment is a course of impious stubbornness.” So there!
There is lots, lots more, and if you apply yourself assiduously to pursuing the links you’ll find on the sites I’ve linked to — you will never, ever absorb it all. So what? Learn what seems most vitally important right now, and pile on more tomorrow. You are perfection personified — potentially. It is by iterative self-improvement that your potential is realized — made real.
Homework: Improve yourself — but don’t get so swept up in this stuff that you forget what you do for a living.
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Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing
Mark Ballard says:
Thank you for taking the time to share the great blog promotion techniques
March 28, 2007 — 4:51 pm
Kris Berg says:
That was all you had to say. That one sentence represents perhaps the best advice any blogger could ever hope to be given. It is all too tempting to be seduced by the endless technological possibilities of an on-line presence and to fall into the trap of chasing a that elusive long-tail that can never be caught, but it is essential to remind ourselves on a regular basis why we are here. Greet each day with a strong cup of coffee, a solid perspective check, and a laptop… in that order. Then, at least in my case, go out and improve your business model and sell some houses.
March 28, 2007 — 8:10 pm
Todd Carpenter says:
Just to add one resource, Dustin Luther of RCG, is now writing a blog dedicated to RE Blogging.
http://realestatemarketing101.topproducerblogs.com/
March 28, 2007 — 8:32 pm