2008 New Year's Resolutions for our Realtor Blog

What are your blogging New Year's resolutions?

What are your blogging New Year's resolutions? Aim high and think big, even if that thinking is outside of real estate - become a mainstream blogger, swim in a bigger pond, make money online, etc..

1.       Jump into mainstream blogging: I will be blogging outside of real estate for a number of main stream, huge traffic sites! I highly recommend checking yourself out of your blog for a few hours every week and checking yourself into the main stream world wide web logging phenomenon. Find a bigger pond and blog. Start actively soliciting other bloggers to swap blogs or apply to be a guide on About.com. If all else fails, try submitting articles to the top five directories: EzineArticles.com, Buzzle.com, GoArticles.com, ArticlesFactory.com and WebProNews.com. Submitting to these is a sure fire way to drive traffic! EzineArticles.com and Buzzle.com can bring you a lot of traffic, GoArticles.com brings you backlinks, and ArticlesFactory.com .

2.       Try monetizing your blog: OK, so not everyone loves them some AdSense, so try TextLink ads, but try something! In fact, I will probably switch to TextLink ads this year. While we have banked off of AdSense, I have heard and seen amazing results with TextLink ads, so switching how I monetize my blog is definitely one of my New Year's resolutions. This is a great way to at least pay for your hosting and blog setup.

3.       Publish an e-book: Taking a page from the Aaron Wall School of Blogging, I will publish an ebook for download this year. I've been working on it for a while now, but I resolve to actually publish it during the first part of this year. Realtors can benefit from publishing consumer based .pdfs for buyers and seller's guides in their farm areas.

4.       Create a podcast/video cast weekly show: Ever want to be famous? Don't we all? While we have had a studio designed for this purpose for a while, I have not yet really pushed to develop this format for the blog. I resolve to create a weekly podcast/video cast show for RSS Pieces. Creating and publishing a podcast/video cast show is an easy and inexpensive way to develop a new following and publish training or guide information in new ways. Realtors should consider publishing buyer and seller guides in addition to neighborhood tours, business reviews and builder/seller interviews though audio/video formats this way.

5.       Run WebWex's: We have so much training to do around here that we have already begun the process of doing weekly WebEx's on blog publishing, blog marketing and blog SEO and intend to start a formal public WebEx session each week so anyone can login and learn how to do all the stuff that makes a blog successful.

http://www.rsspieces.com/0017B7

http://www.rsspieces.com/2008-new-year-s-resolutions-for-our-realtor-blog

Posted on December 31, 2007 21:00:40

Comment from: Diane Aurit [Visitor]

· http://www.BestRealEstateLakeNorman.com

These all sound great...I will watch and learn. My goal is to get my blog on the front page of Google for all of the main searches in my area! Thanks for all of your help in 2007. Happy New Year! www.BestRealEstateLakeNorman.com

Permalink January 01, 2008 08:58:23

Comment from: Daniel Bates [Visitor]

· http://www.mymcclellanville.net

Your list started off things you want to do and then seemed to change to suggestions for your readers, but I have to disagree with 2nd suggestion about adding ads to your site. If you operate a real estate website, shouldn't the goal of that site be selling properties? This may be directly selling property through an IDX feed or indirectly by showing off your personal side so potential clients may choose you to represent them. The average real estate blog probably doesn't have enough readers to make more than $20 a month which may cover your hosting fee, but I believe that you'll lose many more potential clients by "selling out" and cluttering up the appearance of your site. Any one of those clients could provide much more income than an entire year's worth of ads. I expect to see ads on sites like yours and many others that I read that provide great information, free of charge. But on sites who's main purpose is to build a relationship, should do everything they can to remove the clutter from the sites. I wrote this post to help explain my site and it really helps me stay in line when I sometimes think about going a different route with my website.

Permalink January 01, 2008 09:35:49

Comment from: Chico CA Real Estate- Sandi Bauamn [Visitor]

· http://www.chicohomesearch.net

Wow! I have to say a heartfelt "thanks" for helping me to push the envelope a little. You've introduced me to some ideas I hadn't yet heard of!

Permalink January 01, 2008 13:56:45

Comment from: Karl Burger [Visitor]

· http://www.pensacolarealestatenews.com

Thanks for the great ideas. I personally love all of them, except for number 2. Thaone just doesn't work for me. But then I have a different business and different goals in mind for my blog. I would love to see public Webex sessions available. Too cool.

Permalink January 01, 2008 21:45:50

Comment from: Dee Copeland [Visitor]

· http://www.TexasRealtyBlog.com

I think these are great ideas.

I will be a Featured Blogger for Realtor Magazine Online this year and have already blogged for GeekEstateBlogs. I read that we only need to post on our main blog 1-3x per week and that 5-7+ is overkill, so I decided to give it a try with TexasRealtyBlog.com. I'll move that to no less than 3x per week so I can blog and write other national articles.

Permalink January 02, 2008 07:36:41

Comment from: Richard [Visitor]

· http://www.theflipboard.com

Don't forget that your blog posts must be of quality or they will not last.

Getting continued readership is a must. Once you crack that code, it doesn't really matter what's next since you have readership.

Permalink January 09, 2008 01:11:05

Comment from: Roger [Visitor]

· http://mightymortgages.com

There is nothing like a clean slate and a fresh to do list to kick of a new year. I think it is great that you are writing your goals down (and share them with us too!), I think this is your best chance for success.

I think there is nothing wrong with monetizing your blog, but I am surprised you are opting to swap Adsense for TLA. In our niche Adsense should perform very well. And with the Big G's crack down on selling links I think it would be a mistake to jeopardize your blog like that.

I wish you all the best and you are my favorite real estate blog! Thanks for continuing to deliver.

Permalink January 10, 2008 01:46:00

Comment from: John Allen [Visitor]

· http://www.buysarasota.com

My goal is to start posting 3 to 5 blog posts per week as you recommend. I'm alos planning to change from an old Blogger blog to a new Wordpress blog.

Permalink January 11, 2008 11:58:36

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