Home : Blogs : Nick Hoddinott : Nick's Blog

Blogging Etiquette

Does anyone out there have any opinion on posting items to someone else's blog to promote your business without their permission???

I mention this because a very over zealous agent posted a comment on one of my blog sites advertising his own business. Don't get me wrong we all run these things to promote ourselves, but I think it is a little presumptuous to go into someone else's place of business and promote yourself. I just think it is rude! Especially when I am basically offering employment and you post on MY site the way that YOU think your company is better. Real estate companies are like ice cream, there are a lot of flavors. That is why we all have our site to recruit individuals whose approach to business matches our personal philosophy in business. But I say this, use YOUR OWN site to promote your flavor, NOT MINE!!!! No wonder people look at realtors sideways. Why wouldn't they when there are so many people out there willing to resort to less than considerate means to promote their ideas over the competition?

Let me know what you think,

Nick

Posted by Nick Hoddinott on 08/26/2007 05:26 AM

Comments (20)

real estate careers, blogging etiquette, rude realtors

Post is included in group: Active Rain Employment Marketplace
Post is included in group: San Francisco Bay Area

20 Comments on Blogging Etiquette

AUG

2007

I agree with you, Nick. Use your own blog to promote yourself. And don't respond to someone elses blog with a 'nanny nanny boo boo - I'm better than you are" comment Either be constructive or be quiet.

I agree with you. Unfortunately, there are some Realtors out there with no integrity at all. They're the ones that hurt the good names of other Realtors.

Nick, I love the delete button. That is just wrong. You take the time to write your post and it is yours for someone to write something without your permission is rude. When this happens to me I just delete it.

Nick, I think it's very cheesy for an agent to do that. But as Matthew mentioned above, you have the control on your own blog (at least with AR blogs) to DELETE inappropriate comments.

Nick,

I have added "Deborah Johnson is your Farmington Hills, MI real estate expert" at the end of my comments where the Realtor is nowhere within my service area. I always check to see where the Realtor is located first. Now I am wondering if I have offended anyone. Would this be something that you are describing or did he actually comment only to advertise himself?

Nick it is considered by most people to be Spam and just delete it. Don't even bother complaining to the poster because they will feel that they done no wrong.

Whoooaaa...Nick, just delete it. That is one of the rudest things I've heard of in a while.

Hi Nick and Deb,

Actually I think that adding a comment about yourself at the end of a blog is probably creative but best not to do. Many of us have associations with agents in other cities we might prefer to refer clients to and so best to simply offer comments to blogs that are relevant. What I prefer people not do is comment without reading the entire blog -- so the comment is anemic and does nothing to add to the conversation.

I like the suggestion of others.If you think it is spam, just delete it. But I think some people are new to blogging and do not know .It might help if some one calls them or emails them in private the first time and explain it to them.

Nick -- the delete button is a wonderful thing for such comments. If people want to find out more about you there is a link to your profile page here at ActiveRain and in other BLOGS it is a link to a site that you determine (your personal BLOG or website).

THis just happened to me about a month ago. A local buyers brokerage (the broker, too, no less) put his information in the comments section of every community I had profiled on localim. I was nice about it and asked him to remove it. I eventally emailed him and said, this town is small - no hard feelings but I don't want your contact info in my blogs.

Shock of all shocks he emails back and says I'm lucky to have his links in my blogs because his site is soooo popular. I started deleting right there after I mentioned that there are blogs about communities in Albuquerque too, that need his public service attention. Some people are just morons.

I was nice to him in spite because it is a small town. I received an offer on one of my listings (from one of his buyer agents) not less than 7 days later.

If it's something that you think hurts your business, then just delete it. Most people will simply ignore the advertising of someone else anyway, thinking that it's rude.

I like what Chris had to say...drop him/her a line and ask them to edit the comment...if he ignores or says NO then DELETE IT IS!!!

I would never use someone else's post to promote myself. As others have stated, it is inconsiderate. There are plenty of opportunities to promote yourself via AR!

I checked your blog and didn't see any comments in any of your posts about another agent promoting themselves. Unless of course, you deleted it.

And I wouldn't worry too much about it. If a consumer is reading a post in ActiveRain. They are one click away from finding your competitors in the area. That is why I place importance of ensuring you have your own self-hosted blog.

Nick:

Delete the comment. You have that power. It's your post.

Wow I lit a little firestorm with this one. It was gone before I posted this topic. I know well the power of delete. I like the idea of asking the to edit it, but Since all the post was, was advertisement,in this case I thought it best to delete first and ask questions later. I also posted a link to this topic in his personal site. The other agent wrote back and said the following:

"nick I agree with you and if I did offended you in any way I do apologize."

Thanks

Nick

I'm really curious here, because i was in another post, and saw you had put up this post in its entirety in the comments section. Of course, there could be something before that that I missed, but what gives?

Were you sending a message to someone that might have left an ad in your comments?

In Response to Lane's question... If you saw this post in another realtor's blog in it's entirety, I only posted it one place, other than here, and yes it was the guilty party's blog.

Nick

Thanks Nick. I suspected as much. There are a lot of people here that seem to think this is the wild west and that there are no rules except for them to do as they see fit.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?