It Only Takes 10 Steps…
Rain god, Jonathan Washburn, made a statement in his recent ActiveRain blog article, “10 Steps to Localism Success“:
5. Do not post a bunch of self serving marketing material on the bottom of your post: If a home buyer or seller finds your information interesting they will figure out how to contact you. Also, our editors highly downgrade posts with built in – self serving marketing messages.
I’ve covered this particular subject on a number of previous occassions over in the Rain:
Here: “Removing Your Own SPAM” and here: “How to Sabotage Your Own Blog” and here “Don’t turn Your Blog into a Refrigerator Magnet!”
Obviously, as you can tell by these articles, like Jonathan, I’m not a big fan of ‘over-the-top’ blantant self-promtion within the context of blog posts, especially ones that are written and geo-targeted specifically for consumers.
It’s Just Noise
I enjoy reading Seth Godin. As someone who has been involved in marketing most of my professional career, I find his approach insightful and refreshing. One of the descriptions he uses for ineffective, old-school methodology is “Interruption Marketing.” Today’s sophisticated Internet consumers aren’t duped with relentless real estate commercials. It’s just noise to be ignored.
As real estate professionals, it has been deeply ingrained in us from Day 1 to ‘brand’ everything we put out there. We’ve effectively littered the local landscape with every conceivable form of self-promotion – from refrigerator magnets to grocery carts. If there’s a flat surface somewhere, chances are our name & logo/website is there!
As we transition into all things Web 2.0, it becomes rather challenging for some of us to leave old tricks behind. Incessant self-promotion is one of those old tricks making a very slow death.
Back in the Day…
Real Estate used to be ‘Agent-Centric.’ All of our marketing and promotion centered around us – my image, my website, my logo, ME ME ME! Glamour shots ruled the day!
Thank goodness the paradigm has shifted over to more ‘Consumer-Centric‘ focus. Now our energies are better spent on creating/developing marketing/information that offers actual value/benefit to potential clients.
Unfortunately, there are still many out there who feel that conversational blogging = advertising. Their usual blog post consists of a few jumbled sentences hurriedly thrown together. Then the remaining 3/4 majority content contains a business card on steroids, with every conceivable piece of contact information imaginable, endless realtor designations, accollades, website links, snappy catch phrases, logos, banner, etc..
How To Do It
A well constructed blog should contain sufficient navigation tools to facilitate a reader’s desire to contact you. Redundant links, banners, signatures, ad nauseum, only serve to clutter your content, and ‘interrupt’ the flow of meaningful dialog.
Creating good quality, hyperlocal content takes time, effort, and commitment. There are no shortcuts. Good writing will attract your readers and keep them engaged, and coming back for more!
