RSS is fine for tomorrow, but email is here today.

You needn’t look past MYBlogLog, or the comments left here to see who typically reads this blog. This is a pretty low traffic, highly specific site. I designed it to engage RE.net. My own Facebook in many ways. Because of this, I never really thought about making available a way to subscribe by email. I just assumed that anyone who wanted to track this blog would do so by RSS.

Maybe that’s a mistake, even for this crowd. It would definitely be a mistake for a local real estate blog. When I revamped Den-Mod last fall, I added the ability to subscribe by email. Today, 78% of my subscribers (about 100) do so by email. It’s as if RSS doesn’t even exist.

From the relationships I’ve built with my readers over the last few months, I would consider that crowd to exhibit a higher than average grasp of the web. Yet RSS is not on the radar for most of them. A typical real estate blog reader, drawn more by location, could be even less likely to understand the benefits of RSS. One thought might be to try to teach these folks about RSS. But it seems to me that it makes just as much sense to allow them to subscribe by email.

To accomplish this, I use Feedburner’s email system. It’s free, and offers the appropriate opt-in/opt-out controls. Even if you don’t use their services to broadcast your RSS feed, this is a great little tool to manage email subscriptions.

To get started, register with Feedburner (free). Burn your RSS feed. From the feed details menu, click on the Publicize tab, then click on Email Subscriptions. There’s more to it, but you’re all smart enough to figure it out from there.

Blogger Spotlight: Ines Hegedus-Garcia

Much of what I wrote in my Hugh Hefner post would also apply to Miamism. I’ve written before that one doesn’t need a sexy blog to be a success. But it certainly doesn’t hurt!

Hi Ines. How did you come to the decision to start blogging?

This question merits 2 answers – one is how I learned about blogging and I actually wrote a post about it because it was our photographer, Roy Llera that first mentioned it to us.

The second answer and the most valid is why I started blogging and I think it has to do with the value of being able to establish dialogue with potential customers before meeting them. The idea of having customers know us and understand what value we bring to the table via blog is priceless, so you will see a lot of me in the blogosphere.

I think from a visual perspective, miamism is my favorite blog. How important was the look and design of your blog when you started blogging?

Todd, I thank you and I blush at the same time. Being an architect I can tell you that I am extremely visual and always have clear cut concepts on what things should look like as to represent me and what I’m about. Having a blog that reflects my high visual standards was extremely important and is still a work in progress. I have been called a “perfectionist” and other not so nice things, but can tell you that Mary McKnight is doing a heck of a job staying in tune with my requests (it’s what I call patience!).

On top of the design, you guys add lot’s of visual content in your posts. Some of looks like pictures you take. But do you create all of the pictures? If not, where do you find this content?

The content comes from different places. Our Miamism Fridays series started with Rick and me taking pictures of things that you only see in Miami and calling them …..another Miamism! (Which was obviously the concept behind the site name); then our customers and friends started sending in their contributions and now our audience is engaged in the blog (doesn’t get any better than that).

You will also notice that every post does have a graphic of some sort and the source may be one of my own photos or I may buy a graphic from 123rf.com or istockphoto.com (I love high quality shots and some of the stock photography sites have great content).

Rick and I are also starting to use video and although we find the editing process a bit overwhelming at times, at least I found something Rick really likes to do.

Today I set up a mobile photo blog to play around with my new toy (iphone) – it’s so much fun to be able to post photos directly into a blog from your cell phone. (As for the advantages…..we will have to wait)

One thing I noticed about Husband & Wife real estate teams with blogs is that, with rare exception, one blogs their brains out, and the other blogs once in a blue moon. Do you and Rick simply work off each other’s strengths, or is there some other factor (unknown to me) that’s at play?

I do all the blogging, but it doesn’t mean Rick is not part of it, as a matter of fact my whole family is. You may hear one of my kids blurt out “you need to blog about THAT mom!”, and Rick is constantly providing good blog fodder. He wrote one blog when Miamism first started back in June, he also helps me with editing and corrections and lately he has been contributing with the video aspect of the blog.

One of my best friends met her husband while living in Miami. She would speak English to him, and he would speak Spanish to her. And both of them seemed to communicate just fine. Your blog reminds me of them because sometimes you write in English, and other times in Spanish. What’s your philosophy behind bilingual blogging?

The bilingual blogging started off as a rant. During Project Blogger I was getting frustrated with the judging and decided to write in Spanish because the judges were not getting my concept, so might as well be in a different language. Then I realized that the Spanish real estate blogging market is untapped. Looking at the analytics behind Miamism I was shocked to find how many people were searching in Spanish so I decided to start translating content I already had. Rick and I are both bilingual and then my parents jumped in and helped as well. I have to tell you that keeping my “voice” in another language is not easy and some expressions cannot be translated, it is definitely challenging.

My goal is to have a blog in Spanish that mirrors Miamism and it will be called Miamismo – and yes the domain is already registered.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Do you have room or should I just include my RSS Feeder here? J

As for sense of humor: Mariana Wagner and Lani Anglin are the best.

For fun: Danger Bay Stories

Group blog I have to say Agent Genius

One of the Miami blogs I love: Transit Miami

Real Estate: Sellsius, 4Realz….. I promise I kept it short, I have a list of about 100 blogs that I would add in here in a heart beat!

What advice do you have for agents who are just starting a new blog?

Joining a social network to start off and learn the “unwritten rules” is always a good idea. I started in Active Rain and have made such unbelievable friendships and business relations. I blogged there for over 8 months until I felt comfortable and opened up Miamism. Reading blogging books like Realty Blogging by Paul Chaney and Richard Nacht and Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel is also helpful. The biggest advice is to dedicate time, be consistent and not to give up. It’s as important to read and comment in other blogs as it is to write. To see results from blogging does take time, but it’s well worth it.

Blogger Spotlight: Michael Price

Just a few days ago, I published a post commemorating the third anniversary of lenderama as a blog. Originally, my blog used the same simple template that Mike Price uses today. Fancy graphics, widgets, and even multimedia are cool additions to a blog. But as Mike proves, blogging is more about what you say, than how fancy it looks.

Hi Michael, as the head of video intensive company, one might expect your blog to be multi media intensive. Instead, you concentrate primarily on the written word. I’ll ask you more about multi media next, but first, what is the biggest advantage to good old text as a medium for blogging?

Speed, flexibility, easier to compose, edit, absorb, consume….you name it. Video blogging is fine if you’re showing other people and places, sitting alone in front of camera lens as a means of communicating just doesn’t make any sense to me. I think people prefer the tried and true methods of the message and replacing it with another medium just for the sake of being able to do it seems like a waste of time and resources to me. We will be doing some cool new video blogging based content in the coming months, but I can promise you I wouldn’t subject my readers to a video of me after I just kwaffed my first cup of joe in the a.m. It is not a pretty sight.

There’s now doubt that audio and video content is becoming more and more viable as a way for real estate agent to showcase their listings on over the Internet. Please tell us a little bit about how your company helps agents do that.

I”ve spent quite a few years working on marketing and software tools for the industry, a great deal of that concentrated on listing enhancements like virtual tours etc. I realized before the whole web 2.0 thing came around that syndicating content on the web would allow forward thinking agents to expose listings and communities in a much more proactive way by using things like RSS and Podcasting. When it comes to video, I also realized that it will be a long time before agents will be able to a acquire the skills to produce their own presentations or be able to afford to hire professional videographers to do it for them. We created a way to use an agent’s exisiting collateral material, photos, narrative text, keywords etc, to create a polished video presentation with a professional voice over and professional music score. By converting these slide shows to a video format, we can use advanced syndication tools to distribute them across a huge network of portals and sites within and outside of the traditional realms of content distribution for real estate content. We do it at an extremely affordable rate that opens up the realm of advanced new media marketing to any agent, on any budget. $49 one time set up, $29 per listing or neighborhood tour and that includes a professional narrator and music.

What do you imagine the future holds for multi media opportunities for agents marketing on the Internet.

The industry is finally coming to the realization that their roles as advertisers and marketers now include that of publishers and producers. Publishing content via blogs, syndicated video and audio talk shows, video based community tours, listing presentations, tetstimonials, social networks…you name it, the real estate industry will be a participant one way or another in this new interactive stream of communication both b2c and b2b. It’s executing on a balance between traditional media and new media that will become the most important job description in the brokerage of the immediate future.

Like myself, you are a volunteer for RE Base Camp. I know that you also attend many real estate tech conferences. What can a face to face meeting with other technology focused real estate professionals provide, that can’t be captured on the Internet.

You can’t really tell how much beer someone can handle over the web. Some people seem to be able to drink and type really well. Kidding aside, when it comes to business, nothing replaces the ability to shake a hand and look someone in the eye. Human interaction. Thank God nothing can ever change or replace it. So it goes with the real estate industry, you can not disintermediate the need for humans to connect on emotional levels that can only be done through a physical presence. Besides, you really can’t tell how strikingly handsome I am by looking at my photo

I listed to your comments on a podcast over at Zebra Talk, and one of your comments paralleled my own opinion that RE.net is not proportionally represented by mortgage professionals. Do you have an opinion as to why the disparity exists, and any idea of how to close the gap?

I think it’s just been the natural progression of the industries, the trade associations etc. The mortgage industry seems to have always lagged when it comes to the more visible of technologies like the web and web marketing. That’s obviously starting to change and every participant in the process is looking for a new way, angle, edge, anything to be able to reach today’s consumer. I’ve always thought that the MBA and NAR should get together in the play yard more often. On local levels I think the trust factor is one element, I’m not in the trenches every day with agents or mortgage brokers, but I speak to people every day that are. It seems to me that developing the right networking relationships based on trust and good service would go a long way, but from what I hear from my friends, there seems to be such a lack of trust, that long lasting and mutually benefcial realtionships are few and far between. On a side note, I did talk to Joel at Inman about this issue and I think they are in agreement that more content regarding the mortgage industry for the upcoming event is in order.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Does somebody other Greg Swann write a blog? Kidding aside, as far as blogs I read on a regular basis, the usual suspects, Jay, Kris, Jim Duncan, Joel, Chico (the zebra), Kevin, Curbed, Inman, Teresa B., most of the bloggers at Agent Genius. I know I’m leaving some people out, If I did, call me I will be happy to issue a full mikes_link_bait_shop.com refund, I want only satisfied customers.

What advice do you have for agents who are just starting a new blog?

Ask yourself why you’re starting a blog. If the only answers you can think of are

A. Because everybody told me I need one.
B. Search Engines Love Blogs
C. Leads. Leads. Leads.

Don’t bother. Seriously don’t waste the bandwidth, starving Realtors elsewhere will gladly put your wasted bandwidth to good use. If you’re still serious about the effort set up a feed reader and put these blogs in it.

Copyblogger
At Home In Scottsdale
The Harper Team
The Housechick Blog
State of Mind Real Estate

Follow them for a couple of weeks to get an idea of the kind of effort you will need to put into a well done, consumer focused, hyper local, professional business communication and marketing tool. The first blog will help you develop better marketing communication skills. The rest set the tone for the kind of content that will eventually help you garner business from the effort. Ask the authors of any of those blogs and they will tell you, it didn’t happen overnight and the leads don’t just come streaming in, but the business does eventually come and the quality of the leads they do receive are head and shoulders above most any other effort they engage in.

Blogger Spotlight: Robert Ashby

Lenderama is the fastest blog on RE.net. By that, I mean we have the fastest contributors. More than half of us own sports cars. I own an insanely fast snowmobile, another owns one of the quickest motorcycles money can buy. One contributor actually races her supercharged and super-light car at the track. And then there’s Robert Ashby, who flies jets.

Hi Robert. How did you come to the decision to start blogging?

I was bored. No, in all seriousness, I felt that blogging was the new way to provide education to the masses and since hardly anyone knew about mortgage planning and many concepts surrounding mortgages, I decided to start blogging about them. I actually started by simply using some articles I wrote previously, posting them to my ActiveRain site. I felt AR was the best avenue back then, but felt compelled to “break away” last summer, starting up Florida Mortgage Report. Other blogs I work on allow different avenues with which to provide input.

You blog at Agent Genius, Lenderama, and a couple of your own blogs. Much of your content is read by other professionals. Your competitors even. What is the advantage to blogging to your peers?

I have competition? I never really think of it that way as there is plenty to go around and I only cover Florida anyway. I have fun providing my insights and opinions; even to those people may consider my competitors. If they can use the information to their benefit, more power to them.

As for other professionals, I want them to know the information and help them. Hopefully, real estate agents, financial planners, etc. will want to work with me and take a moment to contact me to set up a time to discuss working together. I do not actively seek new relationships, hint, hint. If relationships develop, great. If not, oh well.

As a part time pilot, you’re constantly on the road. what tools do you use to connect and communicate on the Internet while away from home?

Well, actually I am a full time pilot, though I try to only fly weekends. Occasionally, I am stuck flying all day during the week, but that is not the norm. I am switching aircraft to try to minimize the “downtime” created from me being airborne even more. As for tools, I do not know where to begin as it is virtually a fully automated office at this point.

It starts with the office call that is answered by the computer if no one gets to it first. The message is recorded to the hard drive and a copy sent via email to me, so I get the message no matter what country I am in. Of course there is an online application as well. Other tools include the ability to electronically send docs, sign them, and even get them to the lender. The entire process from application to underwriting can be completed in hours versus days and it doesn’t matter where in the world I am, just need to be able to access the Internet (and now we are getting that on the airplane – no, I won’t be blogging while flying, but I may be blogging from the plane from the back).

Much of the commentary you share through blogging concerns the mortgage market. What are some of the tools you use to gather and evaluate what’s happening in the market every day?

I get my information from everywhere. I have feeds from Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, NY Times, MarketWatch, Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald, and many more. I also use feeds from other bloggers and link back to them if I use their post. I watch the bond market through Mortgage Market Guide, but don’t listen much to their commentary anymore as I like piecing it together myself. I also have CNBC on in a background window on my computer, which I can maximize if I hear something of interest.

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Of course I am biased towards Lenderama and Agent Genius since they allow me to contribute there. I do like Bloodhound Blog as well. I have feeds from way too many to list, but most of those interviewed here are on my list (or soon will be). My biggest problem is finding time to visit and comment since between news and blog feeds, I get over 1,000 posts a day that I view (and that is outside my “client time”), which brings up a point I would like to make. Fellow bloggers, if nothing else, that should stress the importance of your headlines since if it doesn’t catch the eye, it gets deleted before it even gets looked at.

What advice do you have for agents who are just starting a new blog?

Be yourself. I have always mentioned that blogging should be an extension of you. Your posts should follow along the lines of if the person you are targeting is in the office and you are having a conversation with them. There are times when you can deviate from that, but remember that your readers want to know if they want to do business with you, so your blog should demonstrate your level of knowledge, expertise and personality. If you blog well, your readers will be sold on your services before they even contact you.

Blogger Spotlight: Owen Raun

Owen Raun is EXACTLY why I started RBF. My blog, lenderama, turns three years old today. I have more blogging experience than 99% of RE.net, and yet, it doesn’t really matter.

I thought about making RBF an expert site, where I told my audience all about how to blog. That might work, but my own experience has been that while many of RE.nets experts have good advice, it’s not the only way to skin a cat. So instead, this blog’s platform is to get perspectives from every corner of RE.net. Even someone new to the game can have something innovative to offer. That’s the case with Owen. He’s teaching me all about how to use audio on the web.

Hi Owen. How did you come to the decision to start blogging?

There are two reasons.

I listen to a ton of podcasts but none of them discussed the mortgage industry from a b2b perspective.

The second is that I am fortunate enough to be on the Lender Advisory Council with Lendingtree.com and have learned a great deal sharing “best practices” with other lenders. I wanted to expand that sharing of information to a larger, more diverse audience.

If I remember correctly, you attended Inman Bloggers Connect right about the same time you started your blog. From the perspective of someone who was just getting started, what was your impression of the conference?

Correct, first one was Aug 07. Its a great place to get ideas, look at what is “new” and meet people that are genuinely interested in sharing ideas and helping each other. I also like the two - four person panels and the way they pack a lot of information into a short time.

One thing that impressed me about your first blog, was that it is driven by podcasts. What sort of tools do you use to audio blog?

We use Talkshoe.com to record the conversation. It’s pretty simple, just need a phone line. Once the call is recorded Michael Price with mlbroadcast.com converts them to an mp3 and distributes the final version to iTunes and other podcast directories. I like podcasts because they are easy to download to my iPod and listen to on the way to work or other places that I might find myself untoggled from a computer. Using iTunes makes it very easy to keep up with new things to listen to..

While the numbers are growing, mortgage blogging has not been nearly as popular as real estate blogging. Why do you think that is?

Part of the reason for this might be that the mortgage business is still a bit more technologically behind the curve than other industries. Also, the number of people in the mortgage business has shrunk considerably in 2007, so fewer people to participate in the blogosphere..

What are some of your favorite blogs?

Leadcritic.com, coffeeforclosers.org, bettercloser.com are some lead generation related sites, lenderama.com and themortgagereports.com for mortgage - Mlpodcast.com/blog and GeekEstate for tech, then many others. Podcasts include twit (this week in tech), IT conversations, Business Week podcast and all the NPR business, story of the day, and economy shows.

What advice do you have for agents who are just starting a new blog?

Be patient. Blogging is sort of like any other advertising medium. You might be working really hard expecting immediate results when in fact the results might be several months out. Blogging is sort of like direct mail, you can put it out there, think no one is paying attention to it, then out of the blue you get a comment, email, or phone call from someone wanting to do business with you.

The second piece of advice is to blog about subjects that are interesting, relevant, and new. Blog about things that know one else is blogging about . The chances of getting attention for a different view, opinion or approach are more likely to get you noticed than repeating what everyone else is saying.