Marketing and Blogging Advice For High-Octane, High-Protein, Butt-Kicking, Name-Taking Real Estate Agents

Patrick McFadden • October 10, 2013

Many Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Blogs are under this false notion that it’s what in the body of their posts that will attract potential prospects and readers.

Although this is true to some degree, nothing in the marketing mix is more important than a strong headline. Just like a newspaper headline: If prospective readers are intrigued, they keep reading. If they don’t, they move on to the next book, blog post, or next home.

But a high-octane, high-protein, butt-kicking, name-taking Real Estate Agent that uses online marketing as part of their marketing mix understands they’re in the headline business – if they fail to understand that, then they also fail to attract the prospect they need.

Who Are You Serving? Who Are You Trying To Reach?

Home buyers and sellers use the internet more and more for scanning large amounts of content, looking for something that either meets their needs, desires, solves their problem or catches their attention.

Question: Does your content appear in any of the following locations:

  • Inboxs (email RSS subscribers)
  • RSS Feed Reader (Bloglines, Netvibes, GoogleReader, etc.)
  • Social Bookmarking Sites (Digg, reddit, RealEstateVoices.com)
  • Social Networks (ActiveRain, Pintrest, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
  • Search Engines (Google)

In all of these channels, you are competing for the one thing that is finite: other people’s attention. And you’re in competition with everyone else who wants a slice of it.  A headline that is not eye-catching and remarkable—worth making a remark about— is a message, post, email, or article that is invisible.

 Convey Your Message With Emotion and Conviction. 

Emotion can be provoked in many ways:

  • X-Games Words : best, most, never, crucial, perfect
  • Moving Words : scary, sad, mean, fun
  • Playground Words : secret, hidden, unknown, forgotten, exciting…
  • Curiosity Killed The…Words : celebrities, well knowns, news items, buzz words…
  • Create Your Own:  Use something attention grabbing

Invisible Example : Interest Rates Are Uncertain
Attention Grabbing Example : 4 Essential Reasons You Must Not Wait On Interest Rates

The Old MacDonald Formula For Real Estate Agents and Real Estate Blogs

Old MacDonald had it right!

EIEIO. Remember that? Now in the song it was just a rhyming filler. But as a real estate marketing tool, it looks like this:

  • Educate (Teach) on something
  • Improve  on something
  • Expose  something
  • Inform on something
  • Overcome  something

When ever you produce a Craigslist ad, signage, blog post, video, or any other piece of content remember to include one of these elements.

Invisible Example : The Real Estate Loan Broken Down
Attention Grabbing Example : 6 Simple Steps To Getting Organized For A Real Estate Loan

Be Found For Your Subject Matter Expertise

  • Work your subject matter  into your titles
  • The title carries the most weight  in your posts search engine success
  • Search engines don’t give credit for keywords , unless you include them in your post

Invisible Example :  Advisors Don’t Let Friends Pay 8%
Attention Grabbing Example : Trusted Advsiors Don’t Let Friends Pay 8% In Real Estate Commissions

Be Clear And Concise To Avoid Confusion. (CCC)

  • Tell the  full story  in a sentence
  • Avoid confusion  with description
  • Avoid assumptions;  your prospects shouldn’t have to guess what your writing about

Invisible Example : Real Estate Transactions Aren’t That Difficult
Attention Grabbing Example : Why The Real Estate Transaction Process Is Easier Than Baking a Pie.

Question: What do you think? What would your headline be for your next piece of content?

By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.
By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.
By Patrick McFadden May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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