Bloggers Connect - One Blogger's Notes

The highlight for me was re-uniting with my blogging buddies I had already met and meeting many for the first time: Missy Caulk, Shannon LeFevre, Brad & Bobby Carroll, Kim Wood, Jeff Dowler, Laurie Manny, Tina Merritt, Mike Mueller, and so many others. From Active Rain I met Rich Jacobsen and Brad Andersohn for the first time.

Bloggers Connect started Wednesday morning and ran until mid-afternoon. I attended my first Bloggers Connect in New York this past January and the wealth of information I gained then and last week is staggering. Creating Content That Hooks Readers was the focus of the first session. I learned:

* Know your audience. Who are you writing to? Listen to what your readers are talking about and then write about it. Or...
* You can write for yourself. If you are authentic and have something interesting to say, your audience will follow you. Have a genuine passion for what you're writing about.
* Make your clients successful buyers and sellers. Educate them via your blog.
* If you were wrong about something in a previous post, admit it. Tell your readers you were wrong and put out the correct information.
* Readers love surveys. It's a way for them to become involved. Check out wufoo.

Next up was Case Study: How Four Bloggers Are Closing Sales: Panelists included AR's Linda Davis, Laurie Manny and Teresa Boardman.

* Target the buyer.
* The process takes time. Be patient.
* Use market reports from time to time. They usually generate a lot of traffic.
* A few websites to check - www.mindjet.com, www.realestateweenie.com
* Some great quotes from Linda Davis - "If you have a crappy business, a blog isn't going to help." "Be yourself. Write like you talk. If you're boring you should be writing about statistics."
* From Laurie Manny - "Sometimes you have to stop blogging and just sell some real estate."
* From Teresa Boardman - "If there's any demographic I'm targeting, it's folks looking for homes on the internet."

The third panel was Leaving a Digital Footprint.

* Participate in online communities. Leave links to your blog everywhere.
* Be proactive. Answer questions on sites like Trulia Voices.
* Make sure you're on linkedin, facebook, twitter, etc.
* On facebook, look for people who graduated with you and reach out to them.
* Quote from zillow's David Gibbons - "Content without links is meaningless."
* Become part of the q & a community on linkedin.
* Check out friendfeed and retaggr
* Put links to your top posts on trulia and zillow.

Session four was Blogging Pitfalls: How NOT To Get Sued.

* Become familiar with trademark and copywrite laws.
* Go to realtor.org and check out law and policy for use of the REALTOR trademark.
* Parody is fine, nastiness isn't.
* Presume that something you're quoting is copywrited. The less you take, the better.
* Instead of copying a story, provide a link.
* For images, go to flickr and look for rights on an image search.
* Just because it's on youtube doesn't mean you have the right to post it.

The final panel was Growing Pains: Take Your Blog To The Next Level. AR's Jeff Turner was a panelist and he's one of the best.

* Define what the next level is. Where are you now and where do you want to go? Why you blog will determine what the next level is.
* What are you doing to engage you community?
* YEO (you engaging others) is at least as important as SEO.
* Be the hub of your community. Talk with teachers, principals and others. Go to the park and engage with others.
* Be controversial, but stay away from arguments.
* If you're angry, step away from the keyboard... or write what you're feeling but don't post it. "The internet never forgets."
* Check out co.mments and use google alerts.
* Quotes from Daniel Rothamel from The Real Estate Zebra "Life does not happen inside your computer." "One of the best ways to promote yourself is to promote other people."

I'm already looking forward to January's Connect in New York. Discount pricing ends Friday!

If you're a member of Active Rain, this post with all the links intact can be found at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/615399/RE-Connect-SF-One