The following is the first in a series of brief interviews with a handful of Tomato clients
that volunteered to chat about their real estate blogging success.

Steve Beam of Parker, CO.
Website: RealEstateYak.com

Tomato: Steve, how long has blogging been a part of your real estate marketing strategy?

SB: I have been blogging about real estate since 2007 – I started on a community platform called ActiveRain, but I didn’t really get serious until 2008 when I decided to build my own blogsite.

Tomato: How long did it take you start to see results from your blogging? I mean, real business inquires?

SB: When I was on AR I was immediately getting lots of comments from the community and it was encouraging to participate, but I was not getting contact from potential clients, just other real estate agents.  Then, when I branched out and set up my own site I’d say it took about 6 months before I started to get real, solid inquiries from the blogging.  All the difference was in getting my own site and not getting caught up in the conversation on ActiveRain.

Tomato: How often are you blogging?

SB: Early on I was blogging more – but you need to at first. My blogging efforts now are more seasonal where I try to do most of my blogging from the end of September to the end of February when things start to pick up around here in Colorado. You see, I have 1000s of posts now, and 100s of pages after blogging for so many years that my site continues to work so well for me even when I slow up. I’d say I average around 1 to 2 articles a week – and no less that 4-5 a month.  But it just depends on my time. I have two young children so I’m always short on time, you can imagine.

Tomato: What are your most common blogging topics?

SB: Market reports, local events (fun things to do in town), and hot real estate topics – typically things I am helping clients through, or things that are happening in my market now. Regarding market reports, people think that you need to put these out every month, but you don’t have to have those on a schedule. Put them out at any time. They are pretty easy to post and great info that is always relevant. But the easiest content to create is the Fun Things To Do.

Tomato: Do you track how much business you get from your blog?

SB: I do! Take 2010-2011 for example. Transactions from blogging alone made up more than 50% of my total income. It’s amazing. What’s really great is that I generate a lot of high-end clients from my blog; quite a few million dollar deals have come from the blogging – clients that I don’t think I could have generated if it weren’t for the blogging.

Tomato: Any particularly interesting stories of success you’d like to share?

SB: Well my biggest client to date was a celebrity NFL Coach. He had his $1mil+ home on the market for over 2 years with the same broker with no luck. So his wife was ‘stalking’ me on my blog, reading everything I wrote for like 6 months. She finally called me and we talked for like an hour about all I was doing with real estate and social media and Internet marketing. They finally listed with me, but under the condition that we didn’t drop the price. So I used every angle I had in social media; my blog, Twitter, FB… you name it. Boom, I get this buyer from Dallas, TX who has been reading my blog as well for months. She contacts me and says “that’s got to be my house.” So now I landed the buyer and the seller with the blog – it was amazing! The NFL coach tells me later, “I didn’t know you could sell a house using Twitter and all this stuff.” “I though that was all for the youth, like the ones I coach.” Later I got this great letter from him written on NE Patriots letter head about how impressed he was with my ability to sell his house using social media.  I got it framed right here in the office.

Tomato: So what’s the biggest challenge you have when it comes to blogging?

SB: Well it’s NOT the coming up with topics, that’s easy. For me it’s finding the time. When business picks up around here, and I still want to make time for the family, it’s the blogging that takes a hit. But I always try to make sure and post at least once a week. You have to feed it – it is has worked so well for me, I hate to neglect it.

Tomato: What’s the best reason for you to blog?

SB: It’s a 24/7 professional advertisement. The videos I do, the market reports, the blogging… it’s always accessible and is reflects on me so favorably. It’s this bank of information that is accurate and build my credibility.

Tomato: What topics are best for generating leads?

SB: I can’t pin-point this. I have tried, but the answer is really a combination of topics because they are all part of the puzzle. Data heads want data, so I create the market reports. Current events drive immediate, today traffic. And the real life real estate topics are what keep people on the site because they are seeing the answers to the real questions they have. I just keep plugging away knowing that each article plays its part in bringing in an audience and keeping them there reading.

Tomato: What advice do you have for new bloggers?

SB: Post, post and post some more. With persistence and patience you will see the results. Don’t get caught up in the chatty communities like FB or ActiveRain. You need to develop a home-base full of your insight and observations. The results will come.

Tomato: Has blogging made you a better real estate agent?

SB: Oh definitely. I KNOW my market. All those market reports I have done over the last several years have forced me to know my stuff like a professional, which I am. I am not reading a script or trying to interpret data on the fly – I am just on it because I have spent the time to make sense of it, and deliver it to my blogging audience. People call me to find out so much in this town, it’s just amazing.

Tomato: If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

SB: I wouldn’t have changed much. I was lucky to have chosen a small area and stuck with it. Hyper-local is a term that is over used in the social media conversation when it comes to real estate but it is so true. I guess the only thing I regret is not having gotten with the Real Estate Tomato sooner. I made some mistakes and learned some lessons with other web design outfits but it has been smooth sailing with you guys ever since. Oh, and I would have taken the training twice – so that all you guys teach could have really sunk in.

Steve Beam is an incredibly professional Realtor servicing the greater Parker, CO area.
He can be found at his blogsite RealEstateYak.com.

It took a lot longer than I had anticipated to design the infographic, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Below you will find a collection of articles we’ve written that support the Infographic above.

This article was composed (almost) entirely using Microsoft’s speech recognition program in Windows 7. I dictated directly into the WordPress text editor.

Since I started blogging six years ago, my typing speed has improved considerably. I used to be a hunt-and-peck typer, sufferings through each paragraph. But now, after tens of thousands of keystrokes, I can actually type notes while listening to clients in real time.

But when it comes to blogging, I wish I had someone to simply dictate to. I talk for a living, and curiously, I guess you could say that I write for a living as well. Why not marry the two?

So here’s my review:

The Pros

1. The setup its really easy.
Simply search “speech recognition” from the start menu in Windows and in one click you are off and running. I’m using a desktop microphone, and in less than 10 seconds it was optimized for this feature.

2. The tutorial and walk through is very informative and very helpful. 
I got the hang of it in just a couple of minutes.

3. The range of commands that you can use in addition to the dictation is extensive. 
Copy, cut, paste, delete, remove, select, correct, open, save, etc… everything that you would use when composing a document is there. It is way more extensive that I can explain in a brief review, and you’ll have a steep learning curve to master it – but the basics are intuitive and natural.

4. Spelling/Word suggestions are spot on.
Selecting and changing a word that was incorrect is slick and swift, but it will have to be since the system is less than perfect as mentioned below.

5. It actually works!
With some patience and some practice one could realistically control their entire computer with their voice. It’s pretty neat, and if you are at all curious it’s definitely worth checking out.

6. It’s free with Windows 7

The Cons

1. It’s not as easy to use as Apple’s (iOs) and Dragon’s voice recognition, which are what I’m most familiar with. 
I find that I am having to correct about 8% of the content that I’m creating using speech recognition. The tutorial claims that the system will learn and improve…we’ll see.

2. The program is almost too robust. 
I am really just looking four a dictation device to help me deliver my thoughts into articles more efficiently.  On a few occasions during the composition of this article I managed to accidentally have my voice commands start controlling programs outside of the text editor. I had to wrestle the voice recognition program back into helping me compose this article.

3. It is not any faster (for me) to compose an article in full.
If I was just trying to bang out some notes where I didn’t care about the formatting and aesthetics, then I could see using this program regularly. But, I take great care in formatting these articles and I found that I just couldn’t navigate my way around this text editor fast enough to keep me from grabbing the mouse and doing it all manually.

Tips

Speak slowly.
Speak directly into the microphone.
Be patient, it does take some practice and getting used to.
Proof read carefully, some of the words it chooses to display are close but not correct.
Do your formatting after you’ve done your dictation, and after turning off the VR program.  I added the image, pullquotes, links, and font formatting post dictation.

Recommendation

Try it.
It may just be the solution for some of you slower typists, or those just looking for an alternative to the keyboard.

I really like the idea of not having to organize what I want to say and then execute it on the keyboard. Just talking out loud is much better for a free flow of ideas.

Now if I can just get it to dictate my thoughts. Actually on second thought, scratch that =)

Normally we reserve our blog for blogging advice articles, but I thought I would take a quick break for a little shameless promotion. Please forgive us, and enjoy the smattering of real estate blogsite examples we have thrown together.

From now on, we’ll be adding to this gallery as we launch new websites. The examples shown are just a small percentage of the several hundred live sites we have manage.

If you would like to see have us design you a site worth showcasing, just let us know!

The Cairn

This is the 6th in a series of brief blog articles inspired by Good Earth Tea® quotes.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
-Benjamin Franklin 1706 -1790

One of the most common questions we get from new clients is “how long will it take for my site to start to generate leads?”

The worst part about having to answer this question is that it is impossible to give a specific, scientific response to their inquiry. Who knows at what moment your site will start to generate leads?

But the best part about answering their question is the confidence we can reply with by explaining that when you are patient and dedicated, it will happen soon enough, and it will last for as long as you embrace those two qualities.

The silver bullet in online marketing is the consistency with which you participate and create. However it moves more like a lumbering freight train than the argent projectile.

In the meantime, keep hitting publish, pay attention to your traffic statistics, and stay after your target reader. They will find you!

“I just don’t have time” always leads to the death of a real estate blog.

Even bloggers that have great success from their sites find that, at times, the time it can take to construct worthwhile content is hard to come by. And the more often that it is hard to come by the further a blogger is from overcoming this challenge.

The best way to maintain a good habit is to reinforce it as often as possible, even if it is only in small efforts.

After reading all the reports that sitting is the new smoking, and that it increases your risk of all sorts of health problems, I decided that I needed to be more active on a daily basis.

As a very dedicated worker who puts in several hours of focus in a row, getting up from the desk every hour, or taking a long lunch to exercise has proven too difficult to make into a habit; disruption is the death of my productivity.

So, in January I started walking 4-5 miles every morning before sitting down for a long day in front of the computer.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago: I strained my lower back after taking a hard foul on the basketball court. I woke up the next morning unable to stand up straight, much less go on my daily 5 mile walk. The next day I had improved, but the long walk was still out of the question. Day 3: same story; mild improvement, no miles. I was enjoying the extra hour of sleep but the guilt of not going on my walk was getting to me. The next morning I got up early and slowly walked 1 mile. Then the next morning, 2, then 3 and then back up to 5.

It was easy to convince myself to stay in bed knowing that a 5 mile walk was out of the question. But once I committed to a much lower effort (1 slow mile), it was easy to get back into the rhythm. Who knows how long I would have stalled had I kept looking at 5 miles or nothing as my only options? But I do know that I got back into the rhythm much faster by lowering the bar.

Your blogging habit, much like any healthy, daily habit needs to be maintained – and learning to avoid long interruptions in your effort is key.

So – when you find yourself short on time, and know that the 30-45 min article is out of the question, don’t use that as an excuse to not publish to your real estate blog.

Use these tips to bang out quick, but worthwhile posts that will keep you on pace.

The best thing you can do to improve your results from blogging is to hit Publish as often as possible.

1. Learn To Blog From Your Smartphone.

It has a great camera, it has a blogging app for WordPress and no one wants to fidget for more than a few minutes with that little keyboard.

One of the time consuming things about blogging is going to the computer, sitting down, logging in, firing up your site and getting going from there. Your mobile device (if you’re at all like me) is almost always at hand and you’re one tap away from launching the blogging app.

Since blogging on the mobile is not as easy as it is on a full desktop keyboard, you’re forced to keep your posts brief.

This is the perfect opportunity to post something pithy; a picture and two sentences; a quote and two sentences; a quick RE news flash; a statement; a link to something useful and two sentences. Whatever it is, make it quick and easy and hit publish.

WordPress App for iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)
WordPress for Android
And all the rest are here too: (BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Nokia, etc.)

2. Blog The Instant Something Comes To Mind.

Article ideas come to the blogger all the time, but they usually go into a list of “good blog topics” that you pull from, from time-to-time.
Instead of saving that clear idea for a rainy day, quickly bang out that idea as swiftly as you can, with the goal of hitting publish in less than 10 minutes.

3. Break Up Topics Into Snack Sized Bites.

Any good blogger can wax on and on about an interesting topic – why not chop it up into several smaller, easy to swallow, bite-sized pieces?

Blogging with lists is a super common format for tackling a topic’s many points. Posting an item or two a day helps you extend that topic and shorten the time between posts.

4. Take A Minute To Outline The Idea To Keep You On Track

It might sound silly to outline such a short effort (10 mins) but one of the things that keeps people from being able to get a post written and published in less than 10 minutes is their lack of focus.

By summarizing the message of the post you not only have a guideline to follow, but you also have exercised your ability to express the message concisely. I find that in the summary you can also quickly determine the Tags that you want to use for the article.

5. Eliminate All Distractions For 10 Minutes

By eliminating the common distractions (FB, chats, email, music, TV, phone, family, etc.) you can make the most of that 10 minute window to get the job done.

6. The 10 Minute Challenge.

As an exercise try challenging yourself to only 10 minute or less blog posts for 10 days straight.
Once you learn to post compelling content in a short window, it will be easy for you to add it to your blogging style.

For more information on real estate blogging, or to get some world-class one-on-one training, contact us today.

One of the first things that people need to learn about WordPress is that there are 2 very different versions of the platform.

The first is WordPress.com

This is the free* version of their blogging/content-management platform. Each site is part of a vast network of websites all controlled by Automattic (the parent company of WordPress).

The second is WordPress.org

This version is completely independent and must be hosted, requiring some technical administration to use.

They are incredibly similar in that they both function as a platform to easily create content. However, they are vastly different in their capacity and set-up.

Below are the detailed differences between the two platforms.

Theme Options

WordPress.com

For the free platform, there is no access to modify the platform files (CSS and PHP) so you are limited to using the free themes available by WordPress.  You may however pay ($30/yr) for a CSS upgrade and there are some commercial themes available for purchase.

The main reason for this difference is that WordPress.com needs to be “locked down” completely and as universal as possible. This eliminates any security risks, and makes it possible for Automattic to manage their network as a single entity.

WordPress.org

Since you are in complete control of all the aspects of your site you can implement any theme, be it free, commercial or custom designed.

Plugins - “Plugins can extend WP to do almost anything you imagine.”

WordPress.com

Plugins are not permitted.  There are however many built-in features on the free platform that in order to have them on the .org platform, they will need to be added as plugins.

WordPress.org

Again, your independence allows you to upload and use any plugin whether it be free, commercial or custom.

Cost

WordPress.com

Free up to 3GB of storage space. However, the public will see text ads on your free site.
*From there, the costs can start to mount: Storage, Design options, Domain purchase,  VideoPress, Ad removal, etc.

WordPress.org

The platform itself is free to download and install. What tends not to be free are all the services that come with the responsibility of maintaining an independent platform.

Common costs:
Hosting
Domain
Customer Service
Custom Theme(s)
Custom Functions
Training
Search Engine Optimization

Monetization

WordPress.com

You cannot post money-making ads on your site until you reach at least 25,000 pageviews a month. Then you evenly split your revenue with Autommatic.

WordPress.org

It’s yours to do with what you like, including the right to plaster ads all over your site.

Maintenance

WordPress.com

Automattic takes care of everything, automatically. You are worry free.

WordPress.org

Because you are independent you are now responsible for:
Hosting
Upgrades
Plugins
Theme Changes
Spam Control
Security Risks
Backups
SEO
Domain Management

So what is the best solution for a Real Estate Agent
wanting to use a WordPress platform?

I am a proponent of if you are going to invest in something worth doing, then you need to do it right the first time.  For this reason I can only recommend that real estate agents wanting to leverage the incredible functionality and features of WordPress must employ the hosted WordPress.org platform.

The real estate site can be a very complex and feature rich. Trying to force the limited, free platform to accomplish the things your website requires will be done in vain.

Common needs such as showcasing Listings, offering IDX (MLS), and creating Neighborhood Profile Pages are not an option with a limited, free platform.

Sure the hosted version will most likely cost you set up and on-going monthly fees – but in marketing one needs to invest money to make money.

And the one mistake you don’t want to make is to develop a free site, full of months or years of content on the WordPress.com branded domain: yoursite.wordpress.com.  Firstly it is not professional to use a 3rd party in your domain name, and worse, you are building all that search engine exposure for a domain that you will regret. Bad idea.

If you want to learn more about how to take advantage of using the WordPress platform for your real estate business you just need to contact us, and we’ll answer all your questions, free of charge.

Also – check out our Pinterest page with a Portfolio of recent real estate blogsites.

Today’s guest post is from avid real estate blogger, author of LifestyleDenver.com: Gretchen Faber. I asked her to contribute with the following article because of her brilliant effort on social media’s latest big deal, Pinterest.

6 Reasons Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Pinning on Pinterest
by Gretchen Faber

If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, the newest social media phenomenon, you may be missing out on a key component of a rounded Internet strategy.

Pinterest has taken the lead in “buzz” among social media early adopters. And for good reason.

Pinterest is the fastest growing website in Internet history.

It’s extremely visual, fun and easy to use, it lets the Pinner’s personality shine and gets you great backlinks. By creating “pin boards” for photos you find online you can arrange them in visually interesting ways and backlink to photos from your own blog or web site, or from other favorite sites that might appeal to your followers.

Here are the Top 6 Reasons you should begin Pinning on Pinterest:

1. It’s fun!

Pinterest is high on the fun factor, and easy to use.

This is not a social media site that will take a lot of time to learn or use. Check out a few people who you know are on Pinterest and you’ll get the idea very quickly. The visual quality to the site means you can scroll through the Pins of the people you follow for a few minutes at a time, or for hours. You do not engage in conversations, so you can come and go whenever you like. There is the option to like someone’s pin, rep-in it or comment on it.

2. It Lets Your Personality Shine.

If you love old cars or picket fences or country barns, you can dedicate one of your pin boards to photos of those things. You’ll quickly connect with people who have like interests.

Mix those pin boards in with boards dedicated to listing photos, or your town’s best restaurants, or architectural styles in your area and away you go. You’ve created a personable way for people to get to know you.

Beware of self promotion or in-your-face marketing. You don’t want to turn people off to your pins before you even get started. Pinterest should not be used only as a vehicle to promote listings, rather it’s a place you can post beautiful photos to show your followers the types of homes you represent.

3. It Creates Links to Your Website.

One mistake I made early on was uploading my own photos. I seldom do this anymore, and only when I want to pin something I won’t be able to put on my web site first.

The best bang for your buck is to craft a blog post and insert a photo you also think would be great on Pinterest.

If you’ve been blogging for awhile or have a robust web site, go back through old posts and find photos for Pinterest. You can pin something you posted two years ago and create an instant backlink to your site from an old post. Pin photos from web sites or upload your own, but don’t steal them (as in from Google Images.) Copyright laws still apply.

4. It Enhances Your Keyword Strategy.

When you pin a photo, you also create a caption. Consider how you can use the captions to focus on specific keywords within your Internet strategy.

If you want to be found for “Tulsa,” have a pin board or two that focus on Tulsa.

Pin photos of the area or local Tulsa happenings – and use “Tulsa” in your captions. Do you want to be found for “Beachfront in Bimini?” Use the opportunity to write about beach property and the beauty of Bimini, then pin the photos to a Beachfront in Bimini pin board on Pinterest.

5. It’s a Digital Memory Enhancer.

We’re all prone to forgetting.

Surf the Internet for more than a few seconds, and you’ll undoubtedly think, “I should come back to that.” Or, “That’s what I want my garden to look like this summer.”

While there are many outstanding sites for cataloguing articles, RSS feeds and ideas, Pinterest lets you catalogue photographs. You’ll be pinning to create connections, but a hidden use is to give you ideas.

By going back through your pins later, you may remember a blog post you wanted to write, or a better way to photograph your new listing.

Are you helping your daughter plan her wedding or a close friend renovate his kitchen? The photographs on your boards will remind you what you liked about the cool new kitchen design you saw. Don’t forget to pin the photo when you see it – it won’t enhance your memory if you don’t get it on your board.

6. You and Your Boards Can Be Followed.

An interesting feature on the Pinterest site is that you can follow a person, or just follow one of their boards.

Some of your friends may want to follow everything you pin, and all of your pin boards. But the country barn lovers might only follow that board and skip the board you have on gardening. If you’re into contemporary design, you might find a lot of people following that, and fewer people following your pictures of cats. That’s OK. Pinterest lets people connect around shared interests.

Pinterest is growing exponentially at a mind-boggling rate. As mentioned above it is the fastest growing standalone site in the history of the Internet – which leads us to believe that it is not only worth participating in, but something that looks to have staying power.

And best of all, it’s a natural fit for real estate.

Visuals of homes, design, colors and landscaping are all beautiful on Pinterest. You now have the opportunity to craft your own visual expression of yourself and your brand with a single click. So get Pinning!

Not sure who to follow? Here are a few allstars from the RE social space:
Lani Rosales
Eric Bouler
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
Mike Bowler

Thanks so much for the article Gretchen!

Gretchen Faber is an incredibly professional Realtor in the Denver, CO area.
Check out her Pinterest page and her awesome blog: LifestyleDenver.com.

Photo by miss karen.

Thinking About Going Mobile With Your Real Estate Website/Blogsite?

Do you need it? 

Is this just something that the buzz is causing you to feel like you are in danger of being left behind? Or is the fact that mobile web browsing has exploded in the last 2 years mean it’s time to get in front of that audience too?

Do you have a mobile audience yet?

Check your visitor statistics.
Exactly 13% of all our clients’ traffic was from a mobile device last month (Feb 2012)

Does what you currently offer fail on a mobile level?
Check it for yourself:
Desktop Simulator
Online Simulator

Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that this article’s content will be irrelevant by the time I hit publish, but the topic has generated enough discussion around these parts that it warrants at least a solid overview, however fleeting it may be.

What are my options when it comes to being mobile friendly
with my real estate blogsite/website?

The trend to handheld computing is putting a lot of pressure on designers to make sure that their clients’ websites are up-to-snuff when it comes to rendering on a mobile device.

But, the solutions aren’t necessarily worth it, yet.

The first challenge is that often those that are inquiring about a mobile friendly website aren’t exactly sure what they are asking for.

But the bottom line is that they want to ensure that their audience is able to have a rewarding experience on their website regardless of the device they use.

The biggest challenge is the fact that most real estate websites are dependent on the use of a 3rd party IDX function to offer a home search and other special listing services. Most mobile solutions don’t account for the IDX function and the consequence is the loss of this incredibly important feature. More details on this consequence in the options below.

The following are the options currently available
for a mobile friendly experience.

Do Nothing

The websites that we design are optimized to display properly within a 1024px wide resolution.  Anything wider than that will display a background image filling in any empty space.  This is currently the standard in the industry.

The height of a standard website was at one time 768px. But with the propensity to scroll, users no longer expect everything to appear ‘above the fold’, and there is no longer a typical height for a website.

Sites built in the standard 1024px resolution render just fine on smart phones and tablets because these device makers need to be able to offer an enjoyable web experience to their users. So they have made an effort to meet this standard.

However, looking at and using sites on a handheld can prove to be cumbersome, with all the zooming in and swiping it takes to get a rich experience… hence the development of more friendly solutions for websites.

Pros:
- No cost
- Full website experience, even if it is a little cumbersome.

Cons:
- Mobile internet can be slow, and having to load your full website can kill a visit.
- Non-smartphones will have an impossible time using the site.
- You feel like you should do something, right?

Layout Altering Plugins for WordPress Content:

What happens in these plugin-generated, mobile versions of your site is that your content is consolidated for easy viewing, and the rest of the site’s functionality is either removed or dumbed down. This causes an issue with the IDX/MLS display in that it is no longer an option to any mobile viewer.

Their value is that they are simple for the mobile viewer, but I don’t feel that the sacrifice of the IDX is worth it.

WP-Touch automatically transforms your WordPress content into a mobile theme.
WP-Touch Pro (Starting at $49) allows for a more customized theme/branding as well as the option to switch back to non-mobile display.

Wapple Architect ($0 to $1000s) Claims to do a better job of maintaining your site’s style/branding with custom editor options, all-the-while offering a much more robust viewer experience.

WPTap Plugin that automatically detects the mobile browser and activates the mobile theme you have installed or redirects it to a unique mobile url (m.domain.com).
WPTap Themes is a collection of more elegant layouts/themes/functions for sale in the $40-$100 range.

And similarly is WP Mobile Detector (detection, and loading of installed mobile theme)
WPMobile Detector Premium ($50: Customizable themes, editors and more)

Pros:
- Easy to implement
- Fast loading
- Easy to read content
- Cheap

Cons:
- No IDX!
- No calls-to-action
- No lead generation
- Weak branding
- You end up with a site that is hardly similar to your actual site.

Layout Altering Plugins for IDX/MLS Content:

Instead of losing the IDX functions, you lose all your content, and the site, when viewed on a mobile device is simply a portal for property searching. All of the below require an approved and paid IDX subscription.

These plugins offer similar features; searching, location based avails, contact agent, favorite listings, etc.

iHomefinder Optima IDX Mobile

dsSearchAgent Mobile

IDXBroker Mobile

Pros:
- Mobile IDX is awesome!
- Lead generation
- Easy to implement
- Fast loading
- Easy to read content
- Cheap (as long as you already have a compatible IDX)

Cons:
- No posts, no pages!
- You end up with a site that is hardly similar to your actual site.

Mobile Version/Makeovers of Your Website

Sticking with the idea that the website can detect that a mobile device is being used to access the site, these services offer much more full featured, robust renditions of your site.  The main difference from the Plugin options above is that these can be applied to non-WordPress websites. However, in order to make your site at all user-friendly it looks as though you’ll need to cough up some developer fees and get it done right.

In addition, you will not have the ability to include the IDX as part of the design – it will either need to link off to the actual website, or linkned to a separately hosted version of the IDX plugins above.

DudaMobile ($0 to $500) offers both do-it-yourself and professionally supported mobile versions of your website.

Mobify (Free, then paid versions start at a whopping $249/month) offers both do-it-yourself and professionally supported mobile versions of your website.

GoMobi (free trial and $8/month, build fee $295) – There are a number of resellers of this service, and it basically makes a cute, easy to use version of your websites main navigation.

Google: Of course they have their hand in this market as well: Howtogomo.com (complete with testing your site and links to mobile design services)

Pros:
- Good branding
- Include calls-to-action
- Include content
- You end up with a site that is somewhat similar to your actual site.

Cons:
- You’ll need a workaround for IDX integration, but it can be done.
- Doing it right is not cheap
- Now you have 2 sites to worry about keeping up.

One thing to keep in mind is that with a separate mobile site, the device detection can be unreliable as new devices are released. It will inevitably fail at times.

Responsive/Scalable Web Design

Imagine not having to worry about any of the above, and just having a site that reorganizes its layout according to the resolution of the browsers that load it.

One of my favorite examples of responsive web design is the Boston Globe. In order to see if in action you can pull it up on multiple devices, or open it in a standard browsers, then slowly resize the window (click/grab an edge and drag it inward) to watch it respond to the new resolution. As the screen gets smaller, the content reacts accordingly. It’s magic!

Each site has multiple layouts with alternate headers, navigation, columns, footers, etc. The appropriate layout is displayed depending on the device resolution that accesses the site.

Here is a brilliant article on How To Design A Mobile Responsive Website.

Here are two more for the geeks in the room.
Media Queries
Responsive Design Planning 

There is still a MAJOR challenge, however. That IDX solution that you have embedded/framed into your website is not built on a responsive stylesheet. So, once a mobile user clicks on your IDX features, the site will not render properly.

Solutions:
1. Use and IDX provider that allows their content to conform to a scalable/responsive stylesheet.
2. Use a mobile device detector that will send any click of an IDX feature to the mobile friendly IDX as described above. So, the site is scalable up until someone clicks on an IDX link, and then it activates the mobile plugin, away from the website.

Pros:
- A single site that is compatible with all devices for the foreseeable future.
- You lose no branding
- You lose no content
- You lose no calls-to-action
- You lose no lead generation

Cons:
- You’ll need a workaround for IDX integration, but it can be done.
- Doing it right is not cheap because you will have to invest in multiple layouts and stylesheets.

To App or not to App.

Many of the requests we get for a mobile friendly version of a website is a request to turn their site into a mobile app; something available for download at an app store. To prevent this article from getting out of control, I will limit my editorial comments on this option and simply link to some popular app building services.

MobileAppLoader for Real Estate ($100 – $200 set up + a monthly)

WiziApp ($20-50/month)

Pros:
“Oooh I have a real estate app!”

Cons:
Finding an audience that even cares.

There are a lot of options when it comes to building a mobile app for your real estate business. Today’s article was strictly concerned with how to best present your real estate website/blogsite on a mobile device. I will be sure to follow up with an article specifically focused on mobile apps for the real estate agent.

In the meantime, here are a few links for your enjoyment: MobileDevHQ, SmarterAgent, AgentTouch, MobileRealtyApps, SeattleClouds.

Tablet Specific Websites

In my research I failed to find Tablet Specific web design for real estate.  The only example I have seen that was even mentioned alongside real estate was OnSwipe (their CEO spoke at a recent InmanNext event). Unfortunately, unless you are only using your blogsite as a blog, and not a way to showcase pages and listings you’ll find little use for it.

At this point, it looks to be nothing more than a glorified WP-Touch plugin for tablets.

I still don’t see a need to rush this trend given that browsing the web (as is) on a tablet is already incredibly rewarding. I’m sure there are all sorts of creative applications that I haven’t fully considered (Facebook integration, picture galleries, neighborhood profiles, etc.) but this is an article about how to make your current real estate website/blogsite as mobile friendly as possible.

We Can Help!

If you want to learn more about responsive/scalable web design for real estate, just contact us – we are at your service!

Our blog articles, like this one, are often inspired by the challenges that we encounter on a daily basis with new clients.

One of the most common pitfalls for a new, excited blogger is overlooking the importance of properly categorizing their content.

Note: This post is not about what Categories you should use. That falls under “What I Should Be Blogging About.”

For more info on what you should be writing on your real estate blog visit these articles

• The Real Estate Business is Content not Home Selling
• 10 Real Estate Blog Topics
• The Secret To Developing Real Estate Blog Content
• Secret Resources Finding Real Estate Blog Topics That Attract Buyers
• Hear Real Estate Blog Articles As They Happen

Because blogging is a marathon, and not a sprint, one has to expect that they are going to publish 100s of articles, possibly 1000s.

One must employ a plan of organization at the outset so as to avoid an impossibly complex mess in the future.

The Goldilocks Zone

Too Many

To understand what blog covers, I generally look at the Categories to see what range of content it offers. I should be able to determine what your focus is at a quick glance. If you have dozens of Categories, I fail to see a strength of topic and your expertise is clouded.

Too Few

Less is more, in the sense that the idea is to establish focus and expertise, but you can have too few. I’ve seen blogs that have the content categorized by “Buyers”, “Selling” and “Mortgage”. At a minimum the Categories should at least be more descriptive and possibly segmented into some specific topics that fall under the umbrella of Buying, Selling and Mortgage.

Just Right

Typically, we recommend (to new bloggers) that one keeps their initial Category count to under 10. As content piles up, and focuses shift like the market, it’s understandable that this number will swell.

Garbage

Uncategorized and Miscellaneous

The default Category in the WordPress platform for content is “Uncategorized”. Leaving this Category in place is a sign of laziness. And worse, it gives the impression that whatever is behind it is worthless.

Subjects vs Topics

A common mistake when categorizing content is the use of the subject, and not the topic for the category. For example, if I am blogging about preparing to sell my home around Christmas, this does not call for me to create a Category for “Christmas”. I would only do so if I regularly dedicated a significant portion of my content to Christmas.  Otherwise, “Christmas” should be reserved as a “Tag” and not a Category.

The One Timer

You had every intention of blogging on a topic, but it just hasn’t panned out. Now you have a lonely post sitting in a Category showcased along with all the other areas of real focus. Move that post to a different Category and it (the unwanted Category) will disappear.

The Plan

Your Blog Is Your Newspaper

[From the above linked article] Improve your chances at subscription by having the discipline to develop clear and predictable divisions in your blog.  Whatever you choose to maintain as your focus, whether it be Home Buying Advice, Local Events, Market Statistics etc., try to develop content that continues to fall under these Categories.  Breaking your current and future content into strong Categories help you develop a format which your readers:

Appreciate.
Develop an expectation of.
Clearly discern your focus and expertise.
Recognize the value of your effort.

All of which beg for subscription to your blog’s RSS feed/email blast.

Length of Each Category

Using descriptive terms in your Categories is important, but if it is going to throw off the aesthetics of your sidebar (and/or navbar) to squeeze in that extra keyword, you might need to reconsider. Use as many terms as it takes to effectively describe your Category without compromising the look of your site. We’ve had to redesign clients’ sidebar widths to accommodate longer Categories, and that is always an option, albeit somewhat extreme.

Order Consideration

Organize your Categories by their value to your ideal audience. The topics that most apply to their needs should be listed first.

SEO Value

Your Categories carry strong SEO value. By using Keywords (neighborhood + “real estate” for example) you are doing yourself a great favor. Your site can appear in search results in many forms, and the Category page is one of them. Each time you publish an article into a Category, you are effectively reinforcing this keyword association for your content.

Other Category Tips

Single Posts Added to Multiple Categories

One of my blogging pet peeves is when a post is placed into several Categories. It looks terrible in the article credits (listing all the Categories that a post falls under). It looks like you are keyword stuffing by including all those Categories. And, it looks like you didn’t organize your site very effectively if a post falls under so many sections.

Back to the Local Newspaper analogy, an article about Baseball falls under Sports (and maybe Baseball), but not under Business, Arts, Food, Real Estate, Comics and Classifieds.

The Whimsical Category

Random musings need a Category as well. Don’t be afraid to include your whimsical posts into a catchall Category, especially if they veer from the general focus of your site. Real-life examples: “Friday Fun”, “Whimsical Wednesday”, “Just Because” – you get the idea.

Linking to Categories Within an Article

This is a bonus SEO tip, as well as just smart blogging. Link to a Category within an article at every opportunity. For example, when we mention SEO, we commonly link to our Blogging SEO Category. This allows that Category to be spidered again, as well as offering a valuable link to the reader.

Exclude Outdated Categories

Most blogs will have the feature to exclude a Category – use this when you no longer want to showcase it along with the others.
For more information on blogging with images feel free to attend our live webinars at Tomato University, or contact us direct for some one-on-one training.