Need ideas for blogging on your local Real Estate Appraiser Blog? Each Friday, NAR emails me their “Weekly” with that week’s top stories. Below, in yellow highlighting, are topics you can blog about, adding local market commentary that appraisers are especially adept at knowing the “pulse” of their local housing markets. For example, from below, an appraiser could use the “NAR Says New Home Sales Continue To Decline – Is This True For Tuscon, AZ?” and expand on this topic for locals.
Appraisers can register to receive these NAR email updates here! You must login to your NAR account to select email notification options. Remember, you pay NAR about $400/year for membership through your local MLS dues so take advantage of these services.
http://www.appraisersblogsample.info/- How To Write An Appraisal Blog Post or Real Estate Appraiser Blog Post. Learn more about custom build appraisal blogs with online ordering capability.
And, Here’s Why Appraisers Blog – So Google Will Index Your Post Helping You To Get Found Online When Clients Need Your Appraisal Services:
AppraiserVideos.com is all things real estate appraiser appraisal related, Commercial and Residential. Click below to be taken to the site. Here’s where you can submit a video to be added to the site here! There are some excellent videos featured on this site of appraisers using video to market themselves, help others and showing you how to become your housing market’s local trust agent!
About 1 week ago, an expert blogger recommended I add a contact form, the type that alerts you immediately, and told me where to strategically place it on my Real Estate Appraiser Blog site. I followed their advice and at 11:53am this morning, I received the email above (names and email address privacy protected). The Message Line reads, “Hi – I need to have an appraisal done on my home for a property settlement. Can you help? Thanks!“
My office immediately contacted this person via email because I forgot to add a contact field for “Phone #” on the contact form. So, I’ve corrected that. Anyway, the person called us and we secured the upfront “C.O.D.” order. How did this person find my appraisal company? When asked, they said they found us on Google and liked the appraisal videos on my site, which is another reason your appraisal company needs to be using a self-hosted Wordpress Appraisal Blog to help get you found online.
Why did we contact that response Immediately? Because the lead was fresh. When people search online for solutions to their problems, they want fast solutions….to be able to check that off their to-do-list!
NOTE: Yes, I had 2 other areas for “Contact Us” on my appraisal blog already” There’s no way a person could visit one of my custom built blogs without knowing how to contact that appraiser. However, in this case, this contact form is what provided the appraisal order! That’s one thing about marketing is that you’re always testing.
I owe that expert blogger a huge Thank You for this tip! As Zig Ziglar always says, “You can have everything you want in life IF you’ll just help enough other people get what they want in life!” I’ve helped you today with this Real Estate Appraiser Tip! Now, go out and help another appraiser or person today and be a giver!
As Always, I Appreciate Your Time And Your Patronage To Real Estate Appraiser Tips! Bill Cobb
AppraiserVideos.com is all things real estate appraiser appraisal related, Commercial and Residential. Click below to be taken to the site. Here’s where you can submit a video to be added to the site here! There are some excellent videos featured on this site of appraisers using video to market themselves, help others and showing you how to become your housing market’s local trust agent! Enjoy, Bill Cobb!
Ask Yourself How Your “Appraisal Website” has rewarded you lately!
The foremost thing you need to do is question yourself if you really require an appraisal website! If yes, log on to Google and in the search bar type “Real Estate Appraisers in Your City”. The name of the city should be a place where your housing market is situated, for instance “Real Estate Appraisers in Spokane Washington”. You will see a long list of websites on the first page of the search and if you note that your old website is not ranked on Page One of Google, then you really need to give a serious thought. You need to check what your so-called appraisal website is achieving and for what purpose you are wasting your hard earned money when it does not solve the purpose.
Start A Self Hosted WordPress Appraisal Blog With Online Appraisal Ordering Capability And Post Housing Local Market News To It Weekly.
It is quite easy to start, publish as well as add widgets to WordPress blogs. WordPress Blogs are very easy to setup, publish to and add multiple widgets to. WordPress blogs have a built-in amazing feature which notifies the major search engines like Google about your posts with a short time after you click the submit button. Generally, you will never find this feature in other normal appraiser websites nor are these sites accepted by search engines almost like blog. You need to invest a little amount of about $17 and this includes $10 for a single domain name and $7 as monthly hosting fee. However, appraisers can not promote their personal business on free blog sites like WordPress.com and Blogspot.com. Appraisal blog help you achieve Habits 3-5.
Publish Your Local Market Studies To Your Appraisal Blog.
The basic job of an appraiser is to study the local market carefully in order to succeed. One of the best examples is 1004MC which is nothing but weekly market study. With five minutes, you can display 1004MC information results on your appraisal blog, provided you are permitted by the local board of realtors to publish this data. If you write a perfect Blog title, your blog post will be used by several local as well as national clients who need your appraisal services, to search for you on Google or on other online search engines.
Publish Local Videos To Your Appraisal Blog. It is a fact that in 2010, videos are quite helpful and informative. Due to the busy schedule, people hardly get time to read long articles about the product, but they do have a few minutes to watch some videos. And one of the most interesting videos is about the local housing market! And you want to know why they like to watch local housing market video, because property investment is usually the largest investment and due to unstable housing market conditions, home owners are quite inquisitive.
Get Creative With Your Appraisal Blog Content. You need to be creative for your appraisal blog content by adding unique text, images and video. Cobb County Housing Stats Fourth Quarter 2009. Spokane Washington Appraiser Photos From The Field. Abilene TX Appraiser Photo Of The Week. Most Memorable Houston TX Appraisal Assignments Of 2009. Top 10 Birmingham Alabama Subdivisions With The Most Home Sales. Soon you will see a day in your life as a real estate appraiser for your own town.
In Conclusion – Google loves to index blogs. If your appraisal blogs are creative enough and if Google ranks it top, you are likely to get greater number of orders from those online potential clients who are searching for local appraisal services. If you publish greater amount of content to your blog, Google will index your blog higher and this will really improve your blog’s fame and recognition.
Bill Cobb is and has been a residential appraiser in the Louisiana Market for 18 years. Bill builds Self Hosted Wordpress Appraiser Video Blogs With Google Optimization And Incorporates The Big 3 In Social Media Within The Setup. Find out more at http://www.appraisersblogsample.info/. Bill also teaches Appraiser Video Marketing techniques at http://www.appraiservideomarketing.com/.
The video below is of Gerry Oginski’s “The Lawyer Video Studio” and present Pro-Blogger, Grant Griffith, talking about the importance of Blogging. I also had my staff transcribe the video into text below.
One of the most important things not to do is to not over think blogging.
Don’t spend so much time wondering if you should be doing it and just do it. I know that is kind of cliché but really that is key.
Blogging can be a really a great marketing tool if you use it, if you don’t use it it’s like a new pair of shoes that are left in the closet, you’re not going to get any good out of it whatsoever.
Think about who your audience is and think of blogging as a way you can connect with your community, your audience, your target market, it’s a way for you to talk to them, if you think about it what from a marketing stand point, what other things can you use that you can have a conversation with your audience? You can reach a huge audience.
If you live in a state that is rural or a small community your market becomes your whole state. If you live in a bigger metropolitan area it gives you that ability to reach a huge audience.”
Tags: “real estate appraisers” “home appraisers” “appraiser videos” “appraiser podcasting” “appraiser podcasts” “appraiser tips” “real estate appraisal” “home appraisal” “real estate appraiser marketing”
Appraisal Course Associates has posted a helpful video on the 2010-2011 USPAP Changes. To view the video, click on the image below. It”ll take a little time for the video to start, but it’s a good video about the changes on USPAP.
This is my recently published article as it appears in the new edition of Working RE Magazine.
“Editor’s Note: Bill Cobb is a wizard at using blogging, social media and other “new stuff” to increase business. Here, he generously shares his expertise.
Using Blogs to Grow Your Business By Bill Cobb
This may seem shocking to you but I don’t own an appraiser “website.” I don’t need one.
I am not an expert in SEO (search engine optimization). My sites are not “PR5”s to “PR8”s (Google page rank) but I have figured out how to grab the attention of Google for those searching for local appraisers. You may ask, “Why appraiser blogging?” And, “Is it worth my time?” These are excellent questions- the same ones I asked. Here are the answers.
In early 2006, my experience with appraiser blogging began out of major frustration. I was spending almost $1,000 a year for a fancy website with all the bells and whistles and around $1,500 a year for online appraiser directories that weren’t producing many appraisal orders.
About that same time, my friend, Wayne Pugh, MAI, owner of SFREP appraiser software, taught me how to set alerts for Google content. So on the particular website with which I was working, I spent time adding content and updating it. Still, not many additional orders were produced nor was there an increase in Google attention. Then I added a blogging feature to the website and began adding local content. But still, no attention from Google.
Fortunately, a relative sent us a link to his new Blogger Blog (Blogger.com), a free blog from Google, with photos from his missionary trip to Russia. So I started my own free appraiser blog that weekend. I took content from my website blog and posted it to my Blogger Blog and within one week I began receiving alerts of my published content called “posts.” Shortly afterward, I began receiving calls from national lenders needing appraisals. When I asked them how they found me, they said they Googled my area and I appeared at the top of the list. Cha-ching! So, I setup a free Wordpress Blog as well as blogging on two other free blogs.
Unfortunately, within two months, both blogs were shutdown because they were about the self-promotion of my business- a violation of their Terms of Service (TOS). All of those hours invested into my blog posts just evaporated instantly. Gone.
I learned two lessons early on: Blogs built into websites do not generally index well and free blogs generally do not allow appraisers to promote their services due to violations of TOS.
High Returns
By mid 2006, I learned how to self-host Wordpress blogs for my appraisal business ($8/month) while using free Wordpress themes. I adopted my own TOS and self-promoted my appraisal business 24/7. Then I learned that Wordpress was evolving from just a blog to a very easy-to-use CMS (Content Management System). Today, many are choosing Wordpress verses traditional websites because a blog has a built in pinging feature which indexes in Google within minutes or hours of clicking the submit button. Traditional websites don’t have this feature and Google gets around to them only every so often. Everything I do online is built in Wordpress- i.e. the appraiser blog setups that I build nationally with online appraisal ordering, online video business cards, video landing pages. No websites!
Why do properly setup “Appraiser Blogs” trump traditional websites?
When I take the market data from a recently completed appraisal report and publish it as a blog post, a chain of events takes place. Note that I set these features up in advance. First, the pinging feature alerts 25+ top directories, including Google and Yahoo, which indexes my content. Second, my blog post is automatically sent out as a tweet on Twitter which is a very powerful Google indexing free service. Third, my post becomes an online podcast into iTunes, which is indexed by Google. Fourth, with a few clicks, my post is bookmarked onto my Facebook plus 20 other social media pages, all indexed by Google. Fifth, my post automatically get posted to “My Page” on Appraiser’s Water Cooler (Appraiserswatercooler.com) and any other directory I feed the content to. Doing all of this might take five to 10 minutes after the proper setup.
Because my posts are syndicated as podcasts, the reader can listen to the post or article being read to them with click of a button.
Becoming a Trust Agent
Another appraiser experiencing success with Wordpress is Ryan Lundquist in Sacramento, California (Lundquist Appraisal Blog and Twitter@SacAppraiser). Ryan has come a long way in a short period of time generating 8,391 visitors in 2009 based on his “hit counter.” His is a testimony to how easy Wordpress is to use. Ryan has incorporated both local photos and short videos to make his posts very interesting. The philosophy that Ryan and I share is that our sites are where locals find out what’s really taking place in their uncertain housing market. Where else are locals going to get trustworthy news about their housing market? This is an appraiser’s opportunity to shine and become a “trust agent” within their local community. Has this effort paid off for Ryan? Yes, in the form of multiple tax appeal appraisal assignments (non-HVCC compliant appraising).
What Is Appraiser Blogging?
Appraiser blogging is simply taking information or 1004MC research data from your local market and quickly publishing it to your blog and adding a photo, aerial image or charting to make it appealing to your local and national readers. An appraiser can also take a published article from their local news or business report, tell their public about this news article and offer their expert commentary on what’s been reported. An appraiser can also engage their readers with polls about their market. Appraiser Blogging has replaced my traditional appraiser websites.
Why Do Appraiser Blogs Get Google’s Attention for Online Searches?
Google loves to index blogs with fresh content, images and video. Wordpress Blogs have superior built-in pinging features that automatically syndicate your post to the search engines. In other words, when an appraiser in Birmingham, Alabama adds a blog post with the title, “Birmingham Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Offer Pre-Listing Appraisals,” that appraiser will be indexed in Google for national online search for those keywords. When a local homeowner wants to sell a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) and needs an appraiser to price their home, they Google similar keywords and that appraiser is found and gets the assignment. This works similarly for FHA work. Properly tagged images also help you get found– just do a Google image search for “Baton Rouge Real Estate Appraisers” and see what I’m talking about. Adding your own YouTube appraiser channel helps one dominate their markets for local real estate video search. Then, adding video content to your blogs further engages your visitors. Offering an email update allows your readers to receive emails when you post updates to your blog.
Measuring Time ad Effort
I take my 1004MC research data, a photo of the subdivision entrance sign and a trends graph and report that information on my blog. Since I’m already doing the work for my appraisal research, I’m not adding much time. Using free software, it might take me five extra minutes to format the post and click submit. At a minimum, two blog post per week are optimal, which adds about 10 minutes a week. And, when one begins to see how effective this is for Google Searches, it won’t take long to realize the reward for your time.
Michael Gerber, in his now famous “E-Myth” philosophy, spoke of working harder on your business rather than in your business. Gerber reminded us that “technicians,” like appraisers, especially have this challenge because we are so busy “doing it, doing it, doing it” or getting out appraisals. Consequently, we often fail to work on our businesses. For me, appraiser blogging has been my opportunity to work on my business and reap the rewards of being found online.
It’s 2009, quickly moving into 2010. Blogs, video, and the “Big 3” in social media (Facebook , YouTube and Twitter) are making it very easy to be indexed by Google. With 76 percent of real estate agents on Facebook, as per the National Association of Realtors, it’s time for appraisers to catch up! Appraisers who are taking control of their online marketing are seeing the fruits of their marketing labor and are saving time and money by spending more effort on their businesses instead of in them.
About the author
Bill Cobb is a full-time residential appraiser in Louisiana. You can find him on Twitter@appraisertips. Bill builds “appraiser video blogs” with online ordering capability, teaches appraisers how to “blog to be found” on local online searches, how to use the new social media and video marketing to increase business.Visit: http://www.appraisersblogsample.info/ “
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YES, A WEBSITE SIMILAR TO THIS ONE FOR YOUR APPRAISAL BUSINESS IS AVAILABLE!
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I’m a Full Time FHA Home Appraiser in the Louisiana Market. Contact 225-953-0638, email: blogsbybillcobb@gmail.com
Here’s How It Works!
1.) Purchase A Site Setup Here, Cost is Only $150.00 And It Takes Me Approximately 6 Hours To Complete A Custom Build, Plus Social Media Integration, Plus Adding 5 Blog Post To The Blog, Plus Providing Video Training!
2.) Purchase Your Domain Name, I recommend Godaddy.com (PLEASE Ask Me About This Before You Purchase It, I Have One In Mind That Will Get You Found By Google). A Domain Name Shouldn’t Cost More Than $11.00/year.
3.) Purchase Your Hosting Account, I recommend Host Gator’s Plans “Hatchling” $4.95/month for 1 Site or “Baby” $7.95/month for Unlimited Sites.
4.) I Build, Deliver Your Site, Plus Add 5 Blog Post To It To Show You How It’s Done.
5.) I send you a Wordpress CD & Video Tutorials on how to blog to get found by Google for your appraisal business.
FOR MORE INFO AND FAQS: SEE THE PAGE: Why A Blog Gets Google’s Attention And Add To Cart
About 1 week ago, an expert blogger recommended I add a contact form, the type that alerts you immediately, and told me where to strategically place it on my 
I owe that expert blogger a huge Thank You for this tip! As Zig Ziglar always says, “You can have everything you want in life IF you’ll just help enough other people get what they want in life!” I’ve helped you today with this Real Estate Appraiser Tip! Now, go out and help another appraiser or person today and be a giver! 
http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/
Ask Yourself How Your “Appraisal Website” has rewarded you lately!
Start A Self Hosted WordPress Appraisal Blog With Online Appraisal Ordering Capability And Post Housing Local Market News To It Weekly.
Publish Your Local Market Studies To Your Appraisal Blog.
http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/
