I get email from all over the country from Realtors who have started blogs and would like me to look at them. I am happy to do it and I answer each one.
Feedback from a peer with some experience often has more value and I seek it myself when ever I need it.
I am writing today about some of the comments I write to new bloggers. I don’t want to call them mistakes but here is a list of advice I commonly give.
1. The first thing I do when I look at a blog is look for contact information. It amazes me how many times I can’t find it or when I do find it I can’t actually communicate with the Blogger through it.
2. The header looks like the template real estate web sites of yesteryear. They are among the worst looking sites on the internet. The look is too commercial for a blog. Lose the picture of the keys, the couple and the house. Use a photo of something local and even ordinary.
3. Often it is hard to figure out the bloggers location. Is the blog about Ohio? Alaska? Maybe it is about some county I never heard of. Do people search for real estate by county? I guess I don’t know but am inclined to suggest that a city and state also be mentioned just in case they don’t.
4. Sometimes the content isn’t quite right. No one is all that impressed or interested in reading a 1000 word opinion. Shorter is better, and photographs to break up that text are invaluable.
5. So many real estate bloggers fail to put the name or logo of their brokerage on the blog. They do not identify themselves as being Realtors or which state they are licensed in. One day NAR will do a sweep and who knows maybe the non compliant blogs will start following the rules.
Using the newest latest and greatest design and plug-ins can be pretty cool but if they make the site look cluttered and the reader has a hard time finding the content what is the point? Most readers will glance at a blog or skim it. We only really get their eye balls for a few seconds and if the experience isn’t what the reader was looking for he or she will quickly move on. Blog designs and redesigns should always put the reader first.
