Nothing that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Unfortunately I’ve learned this the hard way (3 times). However, this last weekend, unlike most Vegas trips, had good stuff come out of it. The RE Blog World Expo 2008 was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center 9/19 – 9/21. Here is my report of some of the golden nuggets that I learned and some of the changes you may see around PhoenixRealEstateBrokerage.com and JohnHall.com.
Day 1 – RE Blog World
→ Good buttons to have on the top of your blog/website: “Search for Homes”, “Find the Value of Your Home”, and “Receive Weekly ‘Best Buys’”
→ Use photos. Label photos. It helps create a sense of place and google likes photos (with alt tags).
→ Organic traffic from search engines is the most valuable kind.
→ Companies should set up a YouTube channel, LinkedIn account, Twitter account, etc.
→ Eyejot.com is the reason I am high-jacking my wife’s webcam.
Day 2 – Blog World
→ Social media enhances personal contact – does not replace.
→ You should have a call to action at the top of your webpage.
→ Free, legally allowed to use pictures for blogs and websites are available at picapp.com
→ Slideshare is a good platform to share…slides.
→ Ask your readers what they want to read.
→ Tubemogul.com distributes videos to several video sites automatically.
→ Add social media to your main page.
Day 3 – Blog World
→ Lose the royal ‘We’.
→ Forget what you learned in business school and press release writing class – just keep it real.
→ It’s not about us. It’s not about us. It’s not about us. It’s about you – the readers.
→ Never be afraid to change your direction completely.
→ Use more than words. Use pictures, videos, polls, etc.
→ A good way to measure ROI of blog is to compare traffic to a pay-per-click campaign.
→ Mingle – learn – it’s not about shouting from the rooftops. Others will make connections and sell you for you.
→ Twitter is a wonderful tool (especially at conferences).
There you have it – one guys notes on three days of blog seminars. Lots of digestion is now happening with all the information fed to me.
I would like to stress the bullet “Social media enhances personal contact – does not replace.” I sat down to eat lunch on Sunday and introduced myself to the other guy at the table. He introduced himself as Lee. Since he looked strangely familiar I said, “Lee Lefever?” and he nodded. After I got done complementing him on his ability to make excellent videos, I started talking about the last time I left a comment on his blog. He remembered it, saying ”Oh yeah, didn’t you use the word ‘legit’?” which I had. Because of social media, there was an immediate trust in our conversation - it was no longer like 2 complete strangers talking to each other.
No wonder real estate agents are using social media more and more. It enhances personal contact.
Jim, thanks for the Blog World round up. I kept tossing back and forth on whether to attend, but we are being as fiscally tight as we can this year. I wasn’t aware of picapp.com, so I’m going to check that out. Thanks!
Steve, you’re welcome. It was a great event – especially all the networking that went on in the hallways.
We’re already looking forward to PodCampAZ ( http://podcampaz.org/ ) in Tempe – I hear they are putting on quite a show. And the price is right – $FREE.99!
Great info Phil!!
You will help make us better bloggers yet!
Thanks for sharing.