Social Media For Realtors®

By: OptimizedRealEstateAgent.ComRyan M. Covino

Why are you here?

• To learn how to Blog• To learn how to set up a blog• What is a blog• How to leverage blogging• Enhance my website• Facebook/Twitter/Linked in• I thought I was getting CE Credits

What is a Blog• A blog (a blend of the term web log)[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually

maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

• Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.[2]

• Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

• As of 16 February 2011 (2011 -02-16)[update], there were over 156 million public blogs in existence.[3]

What is a Blog

• Content• Interactive• Multi Media– Text– Photos– Podcasts (mp3)– Video

There is a lot of them

Why Blog

• Blogging can get you on the first page of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other major search engines.

• Blogging can establish you as the AUTHORITY Figure in your local market / niche

The next slide will tell you why you should be the authority figure….

Why Blog?

• According to NAR, 93% of House Hunters Start Their Search Online.

That was in 2009.

How does this all work

• Crawling– Googlebots (robots or spiders) use an algorithmic process to

search all the pages on the Internet.• Indexing– Process and catalog all webpages including content on page,

url, title tag, meta tag and keywords (tags)• Serving Results– Relevance is key– Pagerank (links from other sites) it is telling Google you are

important

www.google.com/support/webmasters

I am not making this up

• Wilmington• South Boston• Medford• Cambridge

Implementation

So far you should have:• Domain name secured• Hosting account• Forwarded your domain• Told your hosting account to “accept your

domain”• Ready to install Wordpress

Let’s do it!

Setup

Themes to Choose From

Paid• Prose• Thesis • AgentPress

Free• Rake• Anything from

Ftthemes.com• Google Free

Templates• There are

hundreds of them.

Customizing the Nav Bar

• About• My Properties (link to your MLS, or other IDX

provider)• For Buyers• For Sellers• Contact• Distressed• Whatever you would like (services, restaurants

Categories

Categories is how your group your posts. If you are blogging about a restaurant then you would have a restaurant category.

• Restauarants• Local news• Reviews• Services• Open houses

Must Have Plugins and Widgets

• What is a plugin and a widget?• All in one seo pack• Subscribe/Connect Follow Widget• Twitter Widget Pro• Facebook Members• Akismet (anti spam)• Social Share Buttons

What/When to Blog

• Consistency is Key – set a date every week .– There is always something to blog about, read a

newspaper and give your take if you have to.

– Text– Video– Pictures– AudioYou should have all 4!

Inserting Video

• What to record – You, you going to appt, you going to local bakery, interviewing the local baker.

• I need a volunteer!• Record video (Kodak Zi8, Flip, Built in, Camtasia)• Upload to youtube (sign up if you have too, NOW)• Title, description (put in blog url (linking)) tag• Get Link or HTML code and input into visual editor

on Wordpress

Advanced Strategies

• Facebook Fan Page (no one cares about your new listing) Bring Value to the community

• Aweber/Mail Chimp (Free Giveaway)• Youtube channel• Active Rain

Free Referral Tool

Who wants to go first?