R TEAM

Determining How Your Visitors Found You

With a Typepad blog, it's pretty easy.   The screen below is from my mortgage blog and shows from this morning what websites people were last at before landing at Mortgage Porter (or if they directly typed my URLs: www.mortgageporter.com or www.rhondaporter.com.

1. Click on the blue "manage" tab.
2. Click "stats" (then the screen shot above will appear).
3. "Referring Address" shows you where your visitor came from.   
4. Click on the the "referring addresses" and you will learn the actual search term used to find your blog AND where your site ranked on the search page (like Google).   If it's not a search engine (like Google, Yahoo, etc.) and it's an actual website, you can click that to see how where the visitor came from and where the link your blog is on that site (is it on a blog-roll, did someone write a nice article about you with a link embedded, etc.).

Here's what I see when I click on the top Google referred visitor from 7:26 am:

 

It's useful information to know how someone arrived at your blog and what people are searching for.   You can see trends or what's currently going on (Fremont Solstice Parade, for example).  And how your article is ranked on Google.   My post happens to be the first one based on the visitors search phrase "2nd mortgage and bankruptcy".    Google is actually picking up a couple of various articles I've written at Mortgage Porter, one on bankruptcy and one on occupancy (second home).   This is why the more diversified your content, the better your odds are that you'll have better position in search engines and, most important, that your readers will find what they're looking for: YOU!

Testing Out Something New at RCG

Dustin Luther is trying out something new for Rain City Guide: SocialNotes.  The post directly below this one is from me testing out SocialNotes and easily adding the post below...the only thing I see is that I thought the link would be to that specific post and not to the the general blog.    More to follow...I love trying this stuff out and I do have a lot of trust in Dustin.   

What new social media or blog tools do you recommend?

Seattle Real Estate ~ Rain City Guide

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Learn from a Successful Neighborhood Blogger Today at 4:00

West Seattle Blog is the Grand-daddy (or should I say Grand-Lady) of local neighborhood blogs and today, during Rain City Conversations with Dustin Luther, we will be featuring Tracy Record, Editor of West Seattle Blog. 

Not so long ago, nobody knew who the WS Bloggers were--it was a big mystery.  I remember being at local events in my West Seattle neighborhood and having others ask me if I was the WSB or knew who was.   I would be covering the event as well equipped with a camera and maybe taking notes...nope...not me! 

West Seattle Blog has been around since December 2005 and during that time, has grown into being THE blog that WS residents turn to for local information and is one of the most recognized neighborhood blogs in Seattle/King County.   This blog is so successful that Tracy and her husband have retired from their "day jobs" and just run the blog (which has become a full time job).

I think having a neighborhood blog (or at the very least content) on your real estate blog is essential to pulling in local readers.   There is going to be a lot for you to learn during this interview so I really encourage you to call in and join our Rain City Conversation:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

4:00 - 5:00 pm PST

Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
Call ID: 17904

Visit On Line  Note:  if you do not have a Talk-Shoe account, you will want to call in and visit on line (using the link I just provided) at least 5 minutes prior to the event so you can register--Talk Shoe is a free service.

This message from Dustin Luther:

And to answer the most common question from last week: You can listen into the conversation by calling in using ANY phone… However, if you want to get on-the-air, then it really helps me if you log into TalkShoe so that you can ping me in the chat room when you have a question or comment! Again, all the details (and there aren’t many) are on the Rain City conversation page of Talkshoe!

I hope to see/hear you today at 4:00 pm!  If you can't make this call, be sure to save Tuesday's at 4:00 for future Rain City Conversations...Dustin continues to book great guests.   Past conversations are also available for you to down loan and enjoy!

WHEN to Post an Article

I've noticed that on the weekends, my readership for Mortgage Porter much less is than on the weekdays.   I keep this in mind when I post articles.  I try keep what I feel are more important posts for the weekdays when I have more people reading my articles and visiting my blog...weekends?  I might post a lighter article, photograph, or something personal just to mix it up.   Sometimes I actually take the weekend off from blogging and post nothing at all!  I will post an article on a Sunday with the plan of waiting a few days to publish my next post so the article is prominent for a few days.

If I have several articles in mind (sometimes the juices are flowing and it's easy to pump out a couple posts) I'll save them to be published at a future date by selecting "posting status" with Typepad and selecting "publish on".   I try not to publish more than one article a day... in fact, if you're new to blogging, I think it's perfectly fine to publish 3-5 times per week.  Pace yourself--you don't want to "burn out" (which all bloggers go through and 99% of us recover) and, as I mentioned, if you have more to say, save it for a future date. 

Check out Rain City Guide Conversations

We're trying something new at Rain City Guide: a weekly broadcast with my fellow contributors hosted by Dustin Luther that will take place every Tuesday.   If you can't make the show (you can call in and participate) then you can download our converastion using the "talk shoe" gadget to the right.

For more information, visit Rain City Guide...I'm sure Dustin will post an update soon!

Beat the Funk!

The M's and our lack of sunshine this Spring (which is officially over as of today!) are enough to have you feeling some blues, not to mention a challenging time in our industries and economy.  Here are a few tips on how I shake it off when I feel a funk starting to creep in (in no particular order):

• Hop on that treadmill for 15 minutes first thing in the morning--no treadmill?  Then get outside--even better!

• Clean your home office...there's a reason I don't have a photo of mine up as an example!

• Make the most of small victories--promote them.  You can do this by writing a short blog post or a real quick "Twitter".  I just did a twitter post the other day that said "Talon Escrow just called me to let me know how happy my client was with my services."
  

• Contact past clients.   Our past clients need us now more than ever.  Even if you just contacting them to see if they have any questions about their current home value or to put them in touch with a mortgage professional (ah-hem) to help review their mortgage. 

• Associate with positive people.  Misery loves company and it's real easy in this type of market to wallow in the gloom--GET AWAY FROM IT.  Make a conscience effort to spend more time with proactive positive people. 

• "I have time to take on a few clients".  I can't remember which motavational speaker I've heard use this quote, but now could be the time for you to use it.  Maybe while you're contacting your past clients!

• Take your vitamins--don't neglect your health.

• Do a good deed.

• Promote that you're not "unemployed"...use Twitter and blog posts to write about recent transactions (so what if they were a month or two ago).   

What do you do if feel the funk starting to make it's way towards you?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Why I tell stories of local events and places and don't just stick to my biz (mortgage)

Right now, I'm getting a lot of visitors to Mortgage Porter (my business blog) because of this post I wrote last year.  Yep...it's getting to be that time of year again: the Fremont Solstice Parade takes place on Saturday.  I went for my first time last year with fellow Rain City Bloggers, Ardell and Deborah...OMG!   Anyhow, I took a few photos and posted some fun ones on my blog and sure enough, some people who are searching for this event land on the website Mortgage Porter.   They can tell it's a mortgage blog, but they're interested and check out the site, my photo's, etc.  Who are these people?  I'm assuming that most of them live in the Seattle/King County area and are interested in going to the parade.  Please pardon the pun, but I don't mind the exposure!

Today when I was helping some agent/friends work on their blog, I encouraged them to write about local restaurants, events and places.   They are wanting to keep their blog "professional" and I agree with that completely.  However when you write about what's close to your home, heart and just things you enjoy or have experienced locally, I've found that people not only begin to see you as an expert professional--they also start to see you much deeper--as a human they relate to.

Ah...you'll get a few visitors that just want to see the naked bicyclist too...C'est la vie!

Poll: How Should I Price Mortgage Rates

You may have noticed the survey to the right on this site. I would love your opinion on how I should post rates on Friday at Mortgage Porter: with or without points.   For more info, click here.

This poll will be up until June 30, 2008.  Simply click and let me know what your opinion is!

R TEAM Blog has over 100 Posts!

Well barely over 100 posts but considering all the other blogs I have or contribute too...I'm pretty proud.   So why bother with R TEAM Blog?  I only promote it to a real small group of agents that I'm encouraging to blog and I'm thrilled with the other readers we're getting along the way.   100 posts isn't really a lot...especially if you compare it to Mortgage Porter where I have over 600 posts (in just over a year and half).  But in these 100 posts, there's a lot of information for those of us in the RE industry who are considering to finally start blogging--and there's never been a better time to start!   

Here are some of my top 5 favorites that I thought I'd revisit with "newbie bloggers" in mind:

Excellent Questions from a Future RE Blogger

Should You Blog?  YES!

Blogging and Your Real Estate Career

Attracting Your Perfect Clients

Write for Your Client Not Google