ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Context Matters On And Off The Field
- 12/03/22 06:09 PM
I played goalie for the American soccer team in Doha, Qatar.
True statement, but without context one might think I was laying claim to being in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
The reality? Back in my Navy days I was stationed on USS Taylor (FFG-50), and out of that crew we fielded a ship's soccer team for the base league in Charleston SC. We deployed to the Persian Gulf for the 2nd half of 1990 and while there our team scrimmaged the Qatari military base team (rumor has it they trained against Qatar's national team). We actually did quite well for the … (19 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: 7 Tips To Avoid Unmet Blogging Expectations
- 11/29/22 02:51 PM
Over the years I've seen many a person in the Rain claim "blogging doesn't work".
And they're right, every time.
For them, blogging DOES NOT WORK, but upon closer examination of their blogs there's usually clearly evident reasons as to WHY blogging isn't working for them and in my opinion every one of those reasons can be corrected IF one wants to do the work.
Here's what I often see from the "blogging doesn't work" crowd:
1. Not enough content to get the consumer or Google's attention. Throwing out a handful of posts with "I sell houses" or "I'm help with loans" is going to … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Know When To Cut Your Losses
- 11/21/22 05:23 PM
Whether it's age telling me time is more important than ever, or just learning some hard lessons over the years of real estate, I'm more selective now than years past when it comes to deciding which potential clients become actual clients, and which ones STAY clients.
In my early days I'd take on just about any client, just to have a client because there was always POTENTIAL that it might turn into something.
But the reality is some people are just like a lottery ticket, there's a possibility that something could happen, but 1 in 292 million chance isn't a likely event.
Blogging and … (16 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Needle In A Haystack? You Can Be Found!
- 11/15/22 01:44 PM
Every week we receive emails offering to help us make our website easier to find.
"I came across your website and noticed that you were not ranking well for certain keyword phrases."
I suspect there's an infomercial on at 2 a.m. selling all these SEO "experts" a template email and thousands of agents' email addresses for only 4 payments of $29.99 each!
Very few of the emails stray much from the same basic idea: We found you, but you can't be found!
But here's the crux of it for me, they don't know what keywords are important to me and our business.
If they're trying to … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Every Day Is Election Day
- 11/08/22 07:25 AM
Did you realize that you're up for election today? And every day?
Whether you realize it or not, your blog is a series of campaign promises.
An exercise in communicating to the public and other agents why YOU should be the one to be hired rather than any of your competition.
Let me help you buy a home.
Let me help you sell a home.
Send me your referrals.
You never know which one of your "speeches" will be the one to be found, or if that post will be the only one read before making a decision.
Some posts make the decision process REALLY easy.
"This agent knows … (11 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Blogging Tap Running Dry?
- 11/01/22 02:46 PM
It happens to every blogger sooner or later. You're sitting at the keyboard...and sitting...and sitting. Nothing but blank space.
How do you break the blogging block and get the flow going again?
The ideas are out there, it's mostly a matter of tuning in and finding something that sparks your interest.
Maybe you just need to blog ANYTHING just to break the block, or maybe you still want to blog for your target audience and keep your blogging time productive, but there are choices out there, but where??
For starters, here are some sources:
All those real estate newsletters and magazines you get? Ideas can be … (19 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Give Your Audience What They Need
- 10/25/22 03:06 PM
Unless you're blogging for your own amusement, you're writing for an audience. Determining what that audience wants or needs from you is critical to success.
If you're blogging to other agents, you start with a common baseline of experiences and language, so different topics and expectations apply. Whether you're seeking to educate or just stay top of mind, your audience has expectations. Meet those expectations and the seats in your virtual stadium start to fill. Over time, your audience grows and the opportunity to gain opportunities increases, even if you never publish market reports or anything specific to your real estate market.
If … (12 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Evergreen Posts Keep Going
- 10/18/22 10:50 AM
It's been over 2 years since I've written a consumer facing blog post.
After blogging daily for almost 10 years it was time for a break, a nice long break. I've honored a commitment to produce Ask An Ambassador posts every Tuesday, but I've passed on writing more consumer facing content. It's not that there aren't opportunities, I've just chosen to use my time elsewhere.
That choice might seem foolish on the surface, but there's something working on our behalf until I'm ready to pick up the keyboard and produce more consumer content.
EVERGREEN POSTS.
Posts fall into two primary categories:
1. Temporary. They have a … (11 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Balancing Bots & Humans
- 10/11/22 12:31 PM
It's chicken and the egg all over again.
If you don't write to be found, you don't get found by the bots, and you'll rank on page 186 of the search results and you don't get found by potential clients.
But if you write with too much emphasis on the bots, you might get found (or have Google toss you to the side for being TOO bot focused), and the human who finds you is going to get tired of seeing your keyword phrase if it isn't naturally blended in.
"If you're interested in buying Cincinnati patio homes, you should call a Cincinnati patio … (18 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Fighting Gravity
- 10/04/22 10:18 AM
When you first start blogging it might seem like a LOT of work, and a lot of work with no visible return. You're starting at zero and there's a lot of downward pull to stop you from achieving orbit and being found by referring agents and consumers who might want to buy or sell a home in your area.
You've got to learn how to blog, to identify your target audience(s), gather information, develop enough content of the right types to establish a reputation and get your posts found.
That seems like a lot to learn doesn't it?
But here's the good news, there's … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: What Sets You Apart From The Crowd?
- 09/27/22 09:05 AM
Liz loves unsweetened ice tea from a certain place famous for donuts, so I'll stop there 3-4 times a week on my way home from my engineering job or after showing houses.
I'm there to order one thing, and rare does my order include anything additional.
When I pull up to the drive-thru, one of two things will happen.
1. "What can we make for you?"
2. "I got you, go ahead and pull up to the window".
Option 1 is every employee but Britny.
Option 2 is Britny. She immediately recognizes me and knows what my order will be.
Britny is the only employee that I know … (11 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Who's First?
- 09/19/22 03:40 PM
"If you ain't first, you're last!" Ricky Bobby, American philosopher
"I wanna go fast!!" What Ricky Bobby and every new blogger wants.
But real estate and racing to the finish line are a wee bit different. When you're behind the wheel of a racing car, you know the distance to the end. If you're a real estate agent, you just keep driving, and if you're just starting out you don't know when the results are going to appear. You can't see a finish line and you've got some people with "blogging is dead!", "blogging doesn't work", and other "supportive" commentary.
And in some cases, … (19 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: The Bonds Stick
- 09/13/22 01:09 PM
It started here.
Maybe it was a post, maybe a comment, but once upon a time something sparked the start of a relationship.
We come from many different areas of the country (or maybe even OTHER countries), but we have at least one or two things in common, enough to get started and determine who we continued with and who might best not be a part of our journey.
ActiveRain's membership has changed a lot over the years.
People come and go, others stay, but the core culture of helping continues. Chances are if there's a bright new idea about how to improve our business, … (15 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Can Blogging Bring You Listings?
- 08/30/22 12:58 PM
Can blogging attract sellers?
I think it's possible, but my personal experience is attracting sellers via blogging has been more "accidental" than intentional.
I believe the pool of sellers using the internet to find their next agent is smaller than the buyer pool using the internet.
In most cases, sellers had an agent help them buy their home years ago, and if that agent has kept in touch and did a decent job with the buy side, who do you think is going to get contacted by the sellers?
Now if they don't go back to their last agent, there's a good chance they go … (18 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Long Term Benefits of The Rain
- 08/23/22 04:21 PM
August 30, 2006.
We're a week shy of our 16 year anniversary in the Rain, and that day in 2006 we had no idea what we were getting into, and it's gone far, far beyond just being a "blogging site".
We've seen your kids and grandchildren go from little to not so little.
We've met a fair number of you in person and far more via phone calls, emails, and texts.
A lot of the relationships have left this original location and moved elsewhere, but the roots are still here in the Rain.
We've gained a network that goes coast to coast and north of the … (12 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Don't Reinvent The Wheel
- 08/09/22 12:00 PM
Yesterday evening a gasket failed in a toilet tank, preventing the tank from refilling.
While it wasn't apparent to me how to disassemble the column above the gasket, a quick Google search and I had the solution. An online search confirmed the big box hardware store had the gasket in stock and they were open until 10. In less than 30 minutes I had the part in hand and installed.
I didn't have to reinvent the wheel because the information was readily available. How to make the repair, the store's exact aisle and bay for the part, and if I had time to … (16 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Blogger's Choice
- 08/02/22 01:41 PM
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."Charles Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities
Blogging is a tool, and like any tool, sometimes it's right for the job, and sometimes it's not.
It's a blogger's choice of when to use a post vs. another media, and then how to create a post if a blog is the tool of choice.
While there might be elements of science and math in blogging, blogging is more craft than formula.
How well you understand your craft will determine whether blogging leads you … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Don't Push Me!
- 07/26/22 07:24 AM
I've noticed a trend lately in email and text solicitations to me.
Before, there would typically be a one and done approach.
Solicit me to be #1 on Google, or promise me a bazillion new listings or buyers, or offers for guest posting on some great website (that is totally unrelated to real estate). I'd ignore them and that would be that.
But now with some, the approach is more demanding.
Message 1, generic solicitation.
Message 2, did you get my generic solicitation?
Message 3, Why haven't I heard back from you yet? I'll continue to text you until you respond....(no, you won't, BLOCK).
And in yesterday's case … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Not Every Lead Is Worth Chasing
- 07/17/22 08:43 PM
This evening on Facebook I saw a builder's ad for a local condo community. It's one of my favorite places to do business, it's practically in our own backyard, and offers single family homes, condos and patio homes.
Now a couple of lessons to be learned from this ad.
If you're going to advertise on Facebook, you need to have someone prepared to follow up with the ensuing questions. Where is the community? Types of condos offered? etc.
So weeks and days later, these questions hadn't been answered.
If I wanted to be a vulture, I probably could swoop in and contact the questioners, and … (21 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: It's All In The Tail
- 07/12/22 08:35 AM
You want to find some information so you head to the Internet.
How often do you ever go to Page 2 or 3 of the results?
Ever?
So why would our blog audience be much different when they want information about homes for sale?
The diagram above illustrates a bell curve. If a given population has a normal distribution, you'll achieve a balanced spread around the center.
With our blogging we can aim for center or to the sides, but here's the thing.
In the center are the most popular searches:
(Insert geographic area) Homes For Sale.
Search results there are dominated by the big gorillas of the … (12 comments)
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