Inman editorial retreat

Covering real estate in a new news paradigm

April 9, 2015

News by the numbers

We have 1.5 million pageviews each month, driven by

500,000 unique viewers.
We have 30 contributed articles that run each week.
On our best week, when everyone meets all deadlines,
we have 40 staff articles.

News by the numbers

These were the top staff stories, April 1-9:

Real estate tech is making life hell for some homeowners: 6,052

Deal or no deal: MLSs disclose terms with Zillow Group: 4,426

Court filing claims Zillow used Moves confidential information to acquire Trulia:
4,037

These were the top contributed stories, April 1-9:

Why is housing inventory so low?: 25,295

Come August, there will be a new roadblock on closing a deal to a house: 7,442

How Americas No. 1 homeowner is changing the industry: 5,113

News by the numbers

What does that mean for our readers?

Our job is to produce valuable content for their everyday

lives.
The staff-written content is arguably the most valuable on
the entire site.
It is critical to maintain a balanced ratio of contributed
articles and staff-written articles in order to prove value
to our subscribers and grow Inman as a business.

Editorial production
expectations

For staff writers: A minimum of two breaking news

stories/shorts written every weekday. One enterprise
story filed every week.
For contributors: A minimum of 30 contributed stories
filed every week. This number will increase by 5 stories
per week (one additional story each day) every month.

Staff-produced stories

Writers must be able to answer these questions fluently

for each story filed:

What will Inman readers gain from spending their time

on this piece?
What value will this piece provide Inman readers?

Staff-produced stories

Breaking news

Extremely timely will be old news within minutes or hours.

Must affect Inman readers directly (remember the questions).

One additional question for breaking news: If you were working directly
with our readers and saw them hard at work, would this news be worth
interrupting their work with a tap on the shoulder or quick text message?
Breaking news stories should always take priority for staff writers. Timeliness
and transparency in reporting are key. We share what we know, when we
know it, and how we know it, and we update readers when its appropriate.

Staff-produced stories

Shorts

Timely have an expiration date tomorrow or the day after

tomorrow.

Must affect Inman readers directly (remember the questions).

Can be tackled with one or two phone calls or source emails.

Shorts are a secondary priority for staff writers after breaking news. Staff
writers are expected to file a minimum of two breaking news stories/shorts
every day. If there is no news breaking for you to tackle and you havent filed
two pieces of content, put a short on your plate.

Staff-produced stories

Enterprise stories

Timely, but not urgent.

Typically involve in-depth reporting and long-form narrative
journalism.
Give a complete and comprehensive answer to a common question
or shed light on a complex issue.
Staff writers are expected to file one enterprise story each week. Any time
not spent working on breaking news or shorts should be spent researching
and crafting enterprise stories.

Staff-produced stories

Hybrids breaking enterprise stories.

These are extremely rare.

They include a notable news hook and will affect a large percentage of
Inmans readership (more than 50 percent).
The planned Zillow Group/ListHub rundown is a perfect example we
knew when the deadline was set and could prepare materials in advance to
give us a head start.
The key component is advance notice. We will only work on these stories when
we know something is going to happen and can adequately prepare for in-depth
reporting as the event unfolds.

Contributor stories

The star contributor program:

Comprises contributors with above-average writing skills who are interested in covering specific areas
of the real estate industry. There are currently 13 interested in the program. Kevin Hopps 3 way
Googles new set of Android features could affect your real estate app was a program pilot test.
Shorts that are more evergreen or have a week-long (or longer) expiration date will be offered to this
group of contributors on a first-come, first-served basis.
Stories will be a blend of informational, analytic and opinion articles depending on the topic and what
will bring most value to Inman readers.
Star contributors will get all the perks that contributors receive plus special recognition on the
website in exchange for their star work.
Editor is responsible for coordinating, overseeing and editing. Staff writers are responsible for passing
along appropriate shorts. Deputy contributions editor is responsible for helping editor identify possible
new candidates.

Contributor stories

The standard contributor program:

Comprises industry experts in various real estate areas who hold various job titles agents,
brokers, startup CEOs, coaches, mortgage professionals, property managers and anyone else who
can speak knowledgeably to our Inman audience.
There are currently 206 contributors in the program. The goal is to grow the program to 300
contributors by the end of 2015.
Contributors must submit at least one piece of content per month to Inman. Contributors may
submit no more than one piece of content per week.
Contributors whose content is chosen to run as Select content get limited access (their access expires
after three months) to Inman Select.
Contributors receive an author landing page on inman.com, a biography with a backlink to their
website, and can include up to two social media contacts in their bio. A bio runs at the end of each
piece with an email link to the contributor account.

Contributor stories

All contributors will be required to submit ethics statements that disclose any potential conflicts of interest
business partners, stocks, gifts received and so on.
Contributor content is checked for plagiarism and edited by Inman editors for consistency with Inman style
and for journalistic integrity.
Content can be roughly categorized as opinion, how-to, analytic and informational. We will occasionally run
a humor piece or another type of article that doesnt quite fit in these categories.
Remember, most of these writers are not journalists. If you see something that looks slightly off or is flat-out
incorrect in a contributor article, say something so we can chase it down.
Deputy contributions editor is the point person for the contributor program; she is responsible for the
onboarding process, the contributor lineup, editing and art needs, and the bulk of contributor
correspondence.
Finding new contributors is also a deputy contributions editor responsibility and the responsibility of the
editor, deputy editor and staff writers. If a source or contact might make a good contributor, invite them to
participate in the program.

Tools of the trade

Basecamp is where we will keep track of the editorial lineup and host discussions
about art for individual stories.
Slack is where we will convene to discuss stories and make plans for daily news
coverage.

We will meet in Slack every morning for 10 to 15 minutes. I will keep a timer
going to make sure we dont go over. In this daily meeting, we will cover:

What breaking news stories or shorts staff writers plan to cover (or have
covered) that day.
Background or contextual information that should be included in those
breaking news stories or shorts.

Tools of the trade

We will meet once a week via phone every Tuesday at

9 a.m. Pacific Time. In this phone meeting, we will cover:

The top stories from the previous weeks reporting.

The enterprise stories in the pipeline for each staff
writer.
Any process changes or housekeeping issues that
need to be addressed at a team level.

Timeline of a story

Step one: Answer the questions we outlined earlier

What will Inman readers gain from spending their time on this piece?

What value will this piece provide Inman readers?

Step two: If the story has crossed your radar after the morning Slack meeting and is a breaking news story,
talk to an editor about timing, angle and reporting.
Step three: Add the story to Basecamp.

Assign the story to yourself.

Add a due date. Place the story in the appropriate a.m./p.m. hedlines to-do list. If the story is a
breaking news story that must take priority, please write BREAKING at the top of the to-do item in
Basecamp.
If there are embargoes or other timeliness issues related to the story, include this information in
Basecamp, ideally in the to-do task itself so it is easy to identify.

Timeline of a story

Step four: Write the story.

Add the story URL as a comment to the task in Basecamp. Please tag both the
editor and art director when you do this.

Add a headline and subhead.

Add related content.

Add category and tags.

Step five: Add ready for edit/art comment in Basecamp (as needed/appropriate
no need for art note if art director has approved the hero, for example)

Include art ideas or concepts if you have any.

Timeline of a story

Step six: Art director, editor and copy editor will work
in tandem to polish up and schedule or publish the
story.
Step seven: Sit back and watch the pageviews roll in!

Digging deeper

How to write a breaking news story:

Remember the qualities of a breaking news story. The most important of those is timeliness. These are stories that are worth
interrupting someones day over ideally, stories that will shock, astound, enrage or delight our readers, cause them to spit
coffee at their computer screens and then forward to the entire office to read. Lets call them Whoa! stories.
In a breaking news story, the goal is to let the reader know what we know, when we know it and to also share how we
know it.

These are not analyses; we will not use these stories to uncover the why or what does this mean questions at least,
not initially.
A typical breaking news story will look something like this abbreviated version:

We discovered at X time that X happened. We found out through X. We have asked X and X these questions. We will
update this story as more information is available.

Breaking news stories are inherently update-friendly. We will not hold these stories for source commentary, and we will add
new information and new source perspective for as long as the story is unfolding.
Breaking news stories contain an elevated level of transparency. We can share with readers the questions that we asked sources
and note that the story will be updated if (or when) the source responds.

Digging deeper

How to write a short:

Identify an appropriate topic. Pass along anything with no clear expiration date (or a several-days-long expiration date) to
editor for a star contributor. Keep only timely and valuable content for your own work. We want readers to gain additional
knowledge about something they already care about or provide an interesting piece of food for thought. Hmm is the
reaction we are trying to provoke, as opposed to Whoa! (If the reaction is Meh, theres a problem.)
Identify clear parameters for the story. Shorts should be at least 400 words but should not exceed 1,000 thats moving into
enterprise territory.
Clearly identify what value this information will have for Inman readers.

Use that to identify appropriate sources. One or two sources is sufficient for a short. Four or more sources is pushing into
enterprise territory.
When reaching out to sources for comment, give them a clear deadline. We are planning to run this story tomorrow. If
you are not able to respond before we publish, we will be happy to update the story with your comments added after
publication.

Shorts should take no more than 48 hours maximum to turn around, with or without source cooperation. Anything that
takes longer than 48 hours is either past its expiration date or was star contributor fodder from the start.

Digging deeper

How to write an enterprise story:

Identify a lucrative topic, something about which you know there will be plenty to say.
Identify how the finished product will enhance the knowledge and understanding of the average
Inman reader. We should strive to provoke a Did you know response from the reader in other
words, the reader should feel equipped to discuss this topic for twenty to thirty minutes with other
knowledgeable people, either at the dinner table or around the water cooler. And the reader should feel
inspired to share this information with colleagues and clients.
Identify the parameters of the piece. Understand what weve written in the past, what can be
paraphrased and linked to. Enterprise stories should be substantially longer than shorts, but they must
be streamlined too much rambling and we lose the reader.
Identify the narrative elements of the content. Understand the scenes and data you have at your
disposal to make this story come to life. Give thought to the structure and flow of the story, and dont
hesitate to reach out to your editor for guidance.
You are award-winning writers. Trust what you know.

Digging deeper

How to write a hybrid story.

These will be planned and executed on a case-by-case

basis.
We will gather as much information and feedback as we
can before the execution date, then report as quickly and
thoroughly as possible on the execution date.
We will update hybrid stories as needed and where
appropriate.

Questions?
This is Marshall, my bulldog. If I cant
answer your questions, perhaps his face
will make up for my lack.

Headline strategy

First, a big thank-you to everyone for your patience with the

ever-changing headline strategy.
The multiple-headline tool we used was interfering with
Facebook shares, so we turned it off. It will stay dormant until
the developer is able to solve this social media problem. We
might have to re-evaluate our headline strategy at that point.
In the interim, there are two types of headlines that we need to
consider: the homepage/newsletter headline, and the SEO
headline.

Headlines

SEO headlines

These are keyword-heavy headlines that Google (and other search

engines) crawl in order to find content in response to user searches.
In WordPress, this is the headline it appears at the top of the post
editing page. This is also the headline that will appear on the story itself.
Business names are appropriate to use (and even good to use) in SEO
headlines.
These are information-heavy headlines. They should answer the
questions: What is this article about? What information does it contain?

Headlines

Homepage/newsletter headlines

These are headlines designed to drive readers to click on them. These headlines
help boost pageviews and should pique the readers interest or hint at a mystery to
be revealed in the article.
They should always be factual and never misleading we are not in the business of
clickbait but can be more clever and creative than SEO headlines.
Business names should be used with caution.
Use strong, active verbs whenever possible a solid verb can be the backbone of an
outstanding headline.
Here are a few tools for helping you craft a good homepage or newsletter headline.

Lets practice!

Lets write an SEO headline and a

homepage/newsletter headline for some stories.

Headlines are hard, gang

I have read advice that says writers and editors should

spend as long writing a headline as they do writing a story.

Practice will help make perfect. Try writing lots of

headlines for every story you touch and watch your
headlines improve.
Brainstorming with a pal helps. Slack or Google
Hangouts are perfect headline-tweaking tools. If youre
stuck, phone a friend!

You know what else is hard?

Art!

Art is a vital component of any piece of content especially

on the Internet.
Our art director is a rock star, but there is only one of her and
many of us. As much help as we can give her is appreciated.
Think thematically when youre writing your story. Consider
what images might tell your story in miniature. (That said, be
aware of your own biases and tendencies. I tend to like roads
winding through woods to places unknown and nature-heavy
images. Try to think outside your own little box.)