September's Top 10 Articles: Photos, Freebies, and more

The best part of our monthly 'Top 10' posts is getting a glimpse into what type of articles our readers care about the most. This month? It's free stuff. Three of our 10 most popular articles from September are Friday Freebies! We can't blame you, because a) free stuff is awesome; and b) we arranged a couple of great deals just for our readers.

Read on to discover what else rounds out the rest of our Top 10!

1. The 4 Biggest Listing Photo Mistakes
Even when the market is hot and homes are selling fast, you've got to make sure your listing sets itself apart from competing homes in order to get the best deal. Pictures move the masses and if you're not careful, they can move prospective buyers away from your listings online. Check out these four buyer photo turn-offs to avoid then read tips for making sure your listings are getting the right attention online!

2. Rock Your Next Open House with this iPad App
Agents are replacing traditional pen-and-paper sign-in sheets with their iPads --and reaping great benefits in the process. For one, most open house apps play nice with your CRM system, making it easy to add anyone who attends your event directly to your contact database. Today we'd like to introduce you to the latest app to enter the open house scene. We've even wrangled a special 90-day free trial for our members, too. Read on to learn more!

3. 1 Way to Get Back in Touch with Neglected Contacts
Having a real estate CRM you barely use is almost as bad as not having one at all. When you neglect your CRM, what you're really neglecting are your prospects, clients, and lucrative future business. However, if your current CRM is complicated to the point of being difficult to use, we sympathize, but offer a few words of advice: Get a new one! Today we're going to introduce you to one that will let you try before you buy.

4. 3 Surefire Ways for Agents to Anger Buyers
While many agents are working hard to protect the real estate profession's good name, along comes Mr. Exaggeration or Ms. Lazy, and all that work seems to be for naught. How many times a month do you hear about an agent who tried to buy a listing? Here are three major ways that agents tick off real estate consumers.

5. Five Tech Tools You Need to Host a Safe Open House
A key step to hosting a successful open house is ensuring high attendance and maximizing exposure to your listing. With an influx of visitors, it is important to take the necessary steps to keep your sellers, buyers and yourself safe. Here are five tips and tools to use during your next open house to ensure a safe and successful event.

6. 5 Email Marketing Tips Every Agent Needs to Know
An effective email marketer is one part psychologist and part public relations whiz. They know that while email is one of the most best ways to stay top-of-mind with prospects and clients, it has to be done right or it will be ignored or, worse, marked as spam. These five email copywriting tips that will banish the "blah" from your marketing.

7. Agents: Pick Up Your Phones (and Ditch Your Desks!)
Your clients want you to pick up your phone. Fortunately, you no longer have to remain tethered to your desks waiting for the phone to ring. Mobile phones mean that you can take calls anywhere. Better still, today's smartphones mean that you can actually work from anywhere. Today we've got tips and tools that will help you do more using your mobile phone to work through all stages of the selling cycle, from attracting new business to closing the deal.

8. Rise to the Top by Showing a Little "Local Love." Here's how.
"Local love." It's not enough to just feel it. In order to compete in your local real estate market, you need to show it, too. How? A free new guide has a few ideas. Learn how to zero in on content that your community wants and share that via different online channels to rise to the top of your local market.

9. 7 Essential Tricks to Take Control of Your Online Reputation TODAY
Surveys have found that trustworthiness and reputation are the two most important factors when homebuyers and sellers are looking for an agent. If your online reputation isn't perfect, you will lose business. Here are 7 simple tricks to ensure that your online reputation is helping you attract customers.

10. Top 10 SEO Strategies & Tips for Realtors®
SEO can make a big difference between whether your website is just a billboard people surf past or a destination that delivers leads and commissions. By concentrating on what Google wants, we can share information that is relevant, timely, and expected to be useful for some time to come. Here are 5 tips that are all related to a master SEO strategy geared toward making Google happy ... and that will make you very happy as well.