The next eight-week series of No Blogger Left Behind Webinars starts August 29, 2008.

“.. I'm not so sure that consumers are looking for or even expecting a Web 2.0 experience in growing numbers when it comes to purchasing something, especially when buying or selling a house! This seems to be another "myth". Rather than real estate being a "social" interaction, it is what we have always referred to as a "sales" situation.”

It is hardly a myth. The National Assn. of REALTORS report that 92% of home buyers used the Internet in 2008. Real estate Web 2.0 giants Zillow and Trulia each report traffic in the neighborhood of 5 million unique visitors each month. Modern real estate professionals are happy to trade outdated “sales” descriptors for consumer-centric words that reflect service and consultancy expertise.

“Think about it. When buying new tires, are you really going to read a blog at GoodYear? No! You came to look at replacing your tires... and GoodYear hopes to make a sale today with the price information they display on their site instead of you going to Bridgestone instead. If you want a new Lexus, do you plan on interacting on a blog with the local dealer? No. And once the "sale" has been made, will the consumer really plan on coming back often to see their sites again... even if they have a blog? Probably not for many months or even years! If you just bought a Kenmore washer & dryer at Sears, do you keep coming back over and over to look at washers & dryers again?”

I started blogging in January 2005, the same year that Business Week ran a cover story on blogging. The message in 2005? Catch up … or catch you later!

I don’t know much about Goodyear … but take a look at GE, maker of Supra lockbox products and numerous product lines. They have an excellent blog. 

The Lexus media team thinks that blogs are very important and this company flexes some creative muscle in a blog to sponsor a US Open Podcast.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is a man with a household name and  a record of accomplishment.  Guess what? He blogs!

“… The main reason many, many agents don't "blog" is because very few can actually "write"! I'm not being sarcastic when I say this, but all you have to do is visit lots of real estate agent sites and read their content to confirm this. Very few of us would be considered "authors" by others ...”

You do not have to be Ernest Hemingway to blog. If you can write an e-mail or a business letter, you can blog. Do some people blog better than others? Certainly! Bloggers can improve their skills with some short-term blog coaching. Superb writing skills are not required to blog successfully. In fact, a conversational writing style is probably the best approach on a blog.

Real estate search giant Trulia launched a new blog platorm today that puts real estate consumer bloggers and real estate bloggers front and center before 5 million unique visitors the site draws each month.

ADVICE : Start a blog at Trulia! What a great way to reach consumers!  Trulia has surveyed its web visitors: 70% of Trulia consumers expect to complete a real estate transaction in the next 12 months, and 70% of those real estate buyers and sellers do not have a real estate agent yet. The blogs are FREE ... there are no good reason NOT to do this!

Trulia’s blogging platform provides users with a built in audience of 5 million home owners, buyers and real estate agents to share real estate advice, tales from their recent home remodel or community news.  By providing a free, easy and collaborative environment, Trulia is empowering consumers to share their voices with a blog platform that is as easy to use as sending an e-mail. Real estate agents have the benefit of maximizing a value-added social media tool that enhances their online brand and allows them to share their expertise among a highly targeted audience of consumers who are looking for real estate content and information, and other industry colleagues who are interested in all things real estate.  Go blog at www.trulia.com/voices/blogs.

There is a hot new mobile application also.

• Trulia on your iPhone 3G or iPod touch: Trulia’s native application automatically detects a user’s location via iPhone 3G’s location-aware technology, or by user input, to find nearby homes for sale.  Detailed property search results include price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, color photos and local open house information. The Trulia application is free to download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/

• Trulia on your phone: Trulia’s phone application delivers homes for sale and open house information directly to a user’s handset, whether you've got a BlackBerry, Blackjack, Sony Ericsson, Nokia or many more. Built as a channel on Lightpole’s mobile platform, Trulia’s application allows consumers to search homes for sale via an interactive local map. Other search features include extensive property details, color photos and updated open house dates and times. New results are instantly generated with every change in location or search criteria.

• Trulia in your car: In partnership with Dash Navigation, Inc., Trulia enables consumers to search for homes for sale right from the drivers’ seat. Via the Dash Express™ , the first Internet-connected automotive GPS, users can access real-time listings of all homes for sale from their cars. As part of their search, consumers get up-to-the minute open house information, in-depth property details and driving directions.

Learn about the Flip camera. REEL Tech TV offers four excellent tutorials at WellcomeMat.com

Episode 1 - Flip Camera Basics 

Episode 2 - Flip Camera, Production Basics 

Episode 3 - Importing Files

Episode 4 - Flip Camera, When to Use It (and when to call in the pros!)

Enough is enough!!!

I have been inspired by recent Laser Blog Coaching sessions, including one about reclaimed blogs and I have decided that it is time to reclaim and rejuvenate my own The FAT Lady Blog. over at the Typepad blogging platform. This poor blog has been neglected and ignored. The screen shot on the rightilustrates the blog in a skin that it wore for more than three years.

I decided to opt for a two-column format that offers a much wider text width and lends itself well to parger graphics. I installed a category cloud and a Twitter feed and later I will review the links that were installed and bring the links up to date.

 

A screen shot of the new and improved blog appears at left. I need to work on a new banner for the top, but a simple text solution is good for now.

I like the narrow measure of the headline text ... it looks and feels so THIN! ;-)

I'm going to spend more blogging energies there to journal some much-needed attention to weight and cholesterol concerns. Funny how health and blogging interests intersect ;-) I welcome all suggestions about the blog format AND recipes and ideas for health and wellness that I can share on this blog.

In the meantime, I am going to commence makeover projects on the remainder of my blogs, including this one! Stay tuned.

White Mountains (AZ) REALTOR Yvonne Coelet has a web site, a blog, and a foreclosure resource page and she wants to tie things together for a more cohesive Web presence. Yvonne is Treasurer for the State Chapter of the Women's Council of REALTORS.

We talked about these things during a Laser Blog Coaching session last week.

Listen to the session here.

The next eight-week series of No Blogger Left Behind Webinars starts August 29, 2008.

It's been a year since Australian real estate coach Karin Hanna posted an entry on her I Love My Agent blog. She's been travelling around the world, teaching real estate agents on three continents how to build their reputation.

Today she engaged in a 12-minute Laser Blog Coaching session that rejuvenated her neglected blog.

Listen to the session here.

We will watch this blog closely as Karin accomplishes a general blog makeover next week.

The next eight-week series of No Blogger Left Behind Webinars starts August 29, 2008.

Barbara Gaines is a well-known real estate CyberStar. She has a triblogular presence on Blogspot and profiles on LinkedIn and Facebook and ActiveRain. Until today she did not know that she is still a member of the RealTown community. (Time to update your profile, Barbara! ;-)

Barbara is a superb REALTOR who remains upbeat in a tough Michigan real estate market.

We spent 24 minutes today exploring an exit strategy from writer's block and a way to make social networking both FUN and profitable.

You can listen here.

Meet Barbara online:

Sold Team USA

Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog

Milan Real Estate Blog (This is in Michigan, NOT Italy!)

Top Agent Blog

The next eight-week series of No Blogger Left Behind Webinars starts August 29, 2008.

REALTOR and educator Sharon Koziel and I spent 16 minutes exploring ways to increase traffic to her blog, Dreaming of Real Estate.

Whoops, Sharon, I did not notice that you attached a domain name to the blog. www.koziel.com needs to be uncloaked to let your readers send permanent links! When you uncloak (or unmask) your domain name, the domain name will "evaporate" when the page is launched and open the possibility for link sharing.

Each blog post creates a separate URL and readers can click the Link or Permanent Link and send posts separately. That is one of the internal features of blog architecture that makes blogs so wildly appealing to search engine spiders.

Hear our Laser Coaching Session here. There are a few tech hiccups but don't worry, I am going to get this right soon!!! Sharon is a dynamite pro and it was fun to play with her this morning.

Learn more about Sharon at her other web sites:

Golf Homes of South Corona (CA)

Education Plus

The next eight-week series of No Blogger Left Behind Webinars starts August 29, 2008.

Join me for an all-day blog coaching marathon on Webex. I will be taking calls and sharing mouse controls with bloggers from 9 am - 9 pm EST all day on Wednesday, August 13, working in 10-minute segments, scheduling calls every 15 minutes through the course of the day. Calls and Webex sessions will be recorded and posted as an EXTREME VALUE offering of No Blogger Left Behind.

Do you want to brainstorm abouit

• Content, news and topics?
• General design and a makeover?
• How to increase traffic to your blog?
• How to connect your blog to your web site?
• How to use social networking tools?
• How to choose a blog platform?
• ... anything else?

If you are interested in particpating, send me an e-mail with your time preference, and the area(s) that you would like to cover. -- Frances Flynn Thorsen, Blog Coach