In this issue of Blog of The Week, we are featuring Long Beach Real Estate Home.com and it’s Editor and Author, Laurie Manny.

What do you say about a real estate blogger who has turned the Re.net , Web 2.0 world upside down? Laurie Manny gets it! Simply put, here is a real estate agent that is defying gravity. Her blog about all that is real estate in Long Beach, California, does it all. It generates leads, it moves homes, ..remember, that’s the reason to actually blog…to make money, it has tremendous traffic (are you sitting down, Laurie is nailing 4,000 plus unique visitors per day) and it’s got great content.

I searched a number of keywords, normal and longtail, and Laurie has it covered. Want to see for your self, Google the term “collaborative divorce long beach” and see what comes up. No, she’s not a lawyer, but she knows how to work those keywords. Not satisfied, try “short sale long beach“…getting the picture here?

No this isn’t a “My Space” social network type of blog where agents chat about how they feel the media is treating them. This is a blog by an agent who has plenty of business, is becoming a national speaker and taking advantage of all the World Wide Web has to offer. With over 80% of the general public initiating their search on line for real estate, Laurie just doesn’t read the statistics, she is taking advantage of them.

In one short year, Laurie has exploded and is dominating the search engines. In the real estate world, she is approaching rock star. status. If she wanted to leave her real estate business and simply coach other agents she would be as, if not more, successful.

This former New Yorker has a serious “take no prisoner’s attitude”. She’s in it to win it! Her background in marketing has allowed her to aggressively embrace a Web 2.0 strategy and she has surrounded herself with a formidable team of players to ensure that her clients get a premium experience. That being said, it all begins with her marvelous blog.

Her blog combines compelling content, great photography, market specific reports, is “hyper-local”, and in contrary to a lot of other real estate blogs…it features her listings. Duh…there’s a concept. Brilliant in it’s efficiency, bold in it’s disregard for what guru’s and others who say not to post listings on your blog.

Not one to back down from controversy, (remember she is after all a New Yorker)..Laurie recently wrote the following when the issue of blogging listings was raised in the Re.net blogosphere:

“A strong blog can take a listing to page one of the engines, giving the listing tremendous exposure. In Long Beach, most listings are getting very few showings. The listings that I blog are getting A LOT of showings. Buyers see the listings and call their agents to see the property. Buyers see the listings and call us to see the property. Either way, it is exposure to the seller. I currently have multiple offers on 3 of my listings due to the exposure I am able to provide; few other local agents can say the same thing.

Disturbing the momentum of the blog? Are you serious? We are Realtors, selling real estate, this is what we do. Consumers go to real estate blogs and web sites to see listings first and read real estate related material second. It is that way, it has always been that way. Any real estate blog without full access to the local MLS is wasting their time and energy. Blogging listings is further exposure for our product. The sellers want it and so do the buyers.”

This is indicative of an agent who has a plan and knows how to execute it. I salute Laurie on her efforts, I thank her for the information she provides and from which we all can learn from, and I look forward to meeting her at the UNCHAINED conference.

Laurie was nice enough to let us interview her on the air and you can listen to the interview by listening to Real Estate Radio USA Episode 73.

To contact Laurie Manny go to Long Beach Real Estate Home.com and see how it’s supposed to be done!