Jim Cronin: ReadTomato.com Real Estate Website Expert
Are you building a website that answers your ideal client’s real questions or a brochure that only talks about you?
In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes Real Estate Tomato founder Jim Cronin. Jim breaks down how agents win online today by pairing deeply targeted websites with consistently updated, authority rich content. Long tail questions drive discovery, and AI overviews now pull heavily from blog articles and market snapshots written by true local experts. If your site speaks directly to a defined persona and proves expertise with specifics, you rise above portals and generic pages.
He walks through a standout case study the Lake Life directory where each lake page includes listings, drone visuals, drive times, FAQs, and monthly market snapshots. Jim shows why freshness signals and on the ground insight beat big box data, then shares his Coffee Chats system to extract stories from agents and spin them into blogs, shorts, and social posts at scale. Net effect you become the source AI cites and the site clients click.
Pick one niche you love and ship one authority page this week. Add five buyer and five seller FAQs and a current month market snapshot. Repeat monthly. When you are ready to scale that cadence, book a Coffee Chat with your marketing partner and turn the transcript into blogs and posts for the next four weeks.
Highlights:
00:00-12:00 Foundations of great content
· Why content volume matters today.
· Audience questions as the starting point.
· Best answer wins attention.
· From brochure sites to problem solvers.
· Setting the stage for the discussion.
12:00-22:00 Blogging and long-tail search
· Multi-word queries drive discovery.
· Blogs fuel AI overviews and snippets.
· Consistency beats sporadic posting.
· Writing for one clear persona.
· Blogging’s comeback in real estate.
22:00-32:00 Niche focus and authority building
· Clear persona targeting.
· Speaking with empathy and proof.
· Creating lake and neighborhood hubs.
· Turning listings into resources.
· Authority that compounds over time.
32:00-42:00 Lake Life case study
· Why focus on 30 lakes, not 100.
· Pairing listings with local context.
· Drone visuals and lifestyle content.
· Rules, drive times, and species data.
· Long-term lead generation results.
42:00-55:00 Freshness and ongoing updates
· AI values current local snapshots.
· Monthly market reporting cadence.
· FAQs for buyers and sellers.
· Local expertise vs national portals.
· Linking posts to strengthen core pages.
55:00-01:13:04 Scaling with Coffee Chats and AI
· Recording conversations to mine stories.
· Guardrails to keep AI on brand.
· Multiplying blogs and social posts.
· Becoming the cited local source.
· Final takeaways and action steps.
Quotes:
“There’s no excuse for why you can’t create a lot of great content… can you build enough content to prove to them that you’re the best answer That’s the formula.” – Jim Cronin
“Blogging is back because AI overviews and conversations are pulling from people’s blog articles where the authority is.” – Jim Cronin
“These sites are going to be the ones that are showing up when people are asking AI how’s the market in southwest Michigan for lake homes.” – Jim Cronin
To contact Jim Cronin, learn more about his business, and make him a part of your network, make sure to follow him on his Website, X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Connect with Jim Cronin!
Website: https://readtomato.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retomato/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readtomato
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimcronin/
Connect with me!
Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com
Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com
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