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"Striking a Balance" - Avoiding the Lop-Sided Blog - Blog Tips for Rain Drips

I'll keep this one short and to the point (okay, so maybe I'll just try hard)

"Is Your Blog Lop-Sided?" By that, I mean, "What are you writing about? Who are you writing to? Who is your target audience?"

I suppose a more foundational question would be, "Why are You here on ActiveRain?"

Please, don't take me wrong. I am not being critical of anyone in particular here. I just think it's a good thing to constantly evaluate what we do and why. Especially as it relates to our business and our yearly marketing plan. You do have a yearly marketing plan, right? Or do you just shoot from the hip?

I wrote a recent post reminding us all of the ActiveRain Weltanschauung. It's the mantra, guiding principles, and philosophy of our community. It serves to renew our energies/focus on the core purpose of our Network - real estate. In a nutshell, this platform exists to build a community that encourages and educates one another, and at the same time, provides a clearinghouse of highly valuable content for consumers.

With that in mind, let me ask again, "What are you writing about?"

As a Community Builder for ActiveRain, I get quite a few emails from among our members asking if particular subject matter/topics are permissible or appropriate for our community. Sometimes it's recipes, other times it's jokes. Political and religious articles take a lot of hits as well.

It has been debated since the very beginning as to whether or not to allow post content that isn't real estate related. The founders of our network provided the following posting categories for us: Sunset on the Hood Canal WA

ActiveRain Community

Industry News
Tips and Advice
Real Estate Opinions
Off topic, humor, etc
Advertising

Obviously, the 'Off topic, humor, etc' category allows for posting content that isn't necessarily real estate related. Personally, I prefer a variety of topics/subjects on ActiveRain. I enjoy reading the human interest stories. Some of my most favorites articles have had little or nothing to do with real estate. For the most part, the content posted here will bear a direct reflection on the majority of our membership. As the Weltanschauung states, "the true value of the ActiveRain community rests entirely with its members."

It is not our plan to censor or prohibit our members for posting certain subject matter. As long as the community guidelines are followed, we will continue to embrace/promote the freedom of speech.

However, let me encourage you to consider balancing your blog. Go back through your archives and evaluate what you've been posting. Do your articles sound like a broken record? Are you constantly writing about the same topics or categories? Perhaps it might be beneficial to your readers and to your business, to write a greater variety/balance of articles? You might even want to develop a regular weekly strategy of blogging.

Let me make the following suggestions:

Create some good, quality 'Consumer-Oriented' articles that you can categorize and post to Localism.

Share some golden nuggets of sage, professional advice or experience with your Fellow Rainers.

Generate eye-catching and informative monthly market reports for your region.

Reveal something of your unique personality, and passions/interests outside of real estate.

And then, every once in a while, toss in a listing or two.

By 'Striking a Balance' in your writing, you'll generate a larger readership, and attract more consumer traffic to your blog!

* * * * * * * ~ U P D A T E ~ * * * * * * *

Allow me to clarify my primary point in this post: it starts with my lead-in question,

"Is Your Blog Lop-Sided?" By that, I mean, "What are you writing about? Who are you writing to? Who is your target audience?"

What I've observed lately within our community are members who publish very little, if any, real estate-oriented content to their blogs. Since this a network for Real Estate Professionals, our primary focus should be generating good, quality, relevant content that is related to real estate. This benefits everyone. It offers the exchange of helpful/practical expert advice among fellow professionals; it serves to educate consumer readers; and it keeps the Google spiders fat and happy! Of the five categories I mentioned, four of them are specific to real estate. If you're only posting 'off-topic' material most of the time, then perhaps you should consider finding a social network that focuses on that particular topic? I apologize if my point wasn't clear enough.

Posted by Rich Jacobson Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Broker on 04/27/2008 11:35 AM

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Originally posted at: "Singing in the Rain!": "Striking a Balance" - Avoiding the Lop-Sided Blog - Blog Tips for Rain Drips

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75 Comments on "Striking a Balance" - Avoiding the Lop-Sided Blog - Blog Tips for Rain Drips

APR

2008

Thank you for your post - I am a "Newbie" and always appreciate good advise and suggestions

Amy - You're quite welcome. One of my passions is to help provide useful information for our new members. Feel free to ask me any questions along the way.....

Hi Rich, great information for a sage! Love it. Keep nudging me along. The best is yet to come.

Great reminder, Rich. I think it would serve us all well to occasionally stop and reevaluate the path we're on. How else will we know we're on the right one?

Rich, this was really good. I like the balance...not only can we help consumers and others here with the knowledge that each of us has, but consumers (and other bloggers) can get to know us a bit. Blogging is a wonderful relationship builder.

Balance of material that you put anywhere is a key. My blogs are to be informative I hope. I put content that I find interesting but its not always something you will.

I can't wait to see what Localism is like when it is "reintroduced" if that is the correct word.

I have a poll on AR today about what should NOT be on ActiveRain... mostly because I believe it is up to the member what they want to present to consumers or their peers via their presence on AR. Neal Bloom and I got into a conversation about jokes on ActiveRain. I believe Neal thinks Jokes should not be allowed on ActiveRain. Others don't think their should be recipes on AR but the number one video on AR is how to eat sushi? I quote Rich....

While only 8 people have voted on the poll it surprises me that there are two votes against "Market Reports" on the poll. Or maybe it does not surprise me. Market reports for another market are boring but consumers want to know what's going on in their market. It's a choice for posting to consumers. Why would people not want others to post market reports on their own blog?

I seem to get on "tracks" with my posts. Recently I've been lost at the station as I felt like I had said it all. The I realzed the our business always brings us new opportunites to learn about the local market and convey information to the public with our own twist.

Rich - thanks for a great post. I agree with you and will reflect on what I have been writing to ensure I am covering those areas. Thanks - Sharon

Rich, I think this is great. I think I get into a rut and maybe structuring it as a "certain" subject once a week is a good idea. I guess should go back and read my posts? However, the older they are the more they make me cringe. Did I really write that? I do think there are so many groups that there is an audience for anything and everyone.

A good mix is what I strive for. I am a REALTOR so I write real estate topics, I am a TRAINER so I write educational topics but I am also a person so I also write about my feelings and who I am. A good mix works for me. Thanks Rich for the reminder.

LOL you were obviously inside my head. I posted almost the same post this morning. Are you psychic???

I don't produce the posts as quickly as others do, but I do try to strike a balance. It's a pathetic attempt. In the end, I'm going to focus most of my efforts on going "hyper-local" and then throwing in a dash of general topics, a pinch of listings, and nada on recipes. You really don't want to hear about the variety of frozen pizzas we have here in our local market! :-)

Rich,

Great post with good practical advice for all Active Rainers! When I was in grade school the nuns taught us an 11th commandment...MYOB...mind your own business...that would also be good advice for those emailers embroiled in 'controlling' content on AR...

"I get quite a few emails from among our members asking if particular subject matter/topics are permissible or appropriate for our community."

JMHO, Thanks, Fran

Fran's "MYOB"... "mind your own business... " the 11th commandment from the nuns reminds me of something that Chris Griffith wrote long, long ago on AR about "hoeing your own row" ... a phrase I had never heard before and when I try to remember it I always think of "rowing your own hoe" first and think ... that makes no sense at all...and in my brain sounds down right nasty since I wonder what how you would row a "ho." I guess I am not much of a gardener so it gets jumbled and I have to think about "rowing a ho" each time I try to remember Chris's wisdom.

If I worry more about how good my garden (blog) grows and what I need to do to make my garden (blog) better and not worry as much about others ActiveRain members posts since I can't change them anyway...

Thanks Rich for this refresher. It comes in very handy and I agree that balance is everything when it comes to blogging.

Good tips! Asking "who your audience is" is very important before writing!

hi- this blog will help me. I am a new member-just joined up last week..this will make it easier for me....thanks!!

Hi Rich, your advice applies both here on AR and equally to our blogs/websites out on the web as well. Competition for attention is fierce!!!

If you want to attract a long term following of anykind we have to focus on something. basically become very useful to the people you want to reach, not just posting about this and that unless your blog is just a hobby, not a way to attract business.

Rich- Very valuable information to all of us who are still figuring out what it is we are doing with our blogs! I really appreciate your information and positive attitude.

Best,

Scott

Great Post. I am here to drum up business. Yes it is nice to joke around or just chatter on but to me it is about business.

Rich, On topic and to the point again. There are a lot of good bloggers who have a lot of great information to give us, but, some seem to post nothing but marketing reports 90% of the time (usually cut and paste), a smattering of other posts with only about 2% good content. I know you have been talking about the "New" localism for a while. I hope it is not just another venue to quickly post boring content or a cut and paste post. I have heard the quote that "Localism" is king. I believe that well written content with biz info, a bit of personal info, about local info that tells the reader something about the writer as well as the information in the post. I can tell you what cut and paste tells me about the writer. AJ

Rich says, "However, let me encourage you to consider balancing your blog."

Isn't this key to an interesting blog? (I believe it's the healthy way for life....having balance....so gee, balance in a blog only seems....the natural thing to do....?)

Good Morning, Rich. Have a great Sunday and relax. You deserve it -- and it creates balance!

Rich...

Fact is, most of us want comments, and the comments come from the humorous posts. They get you noticed, and get subscriptions. I never tell old jokes, I try to intermingle real estate with humor, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

However, business comes from the consumer oriented post that do not get as many comments.

So, as you mentioned, you have to have a pattern, some posts geared for consumers. some geared for professional networking, and some that are interesting enough for others to completely read and comment upon.

A lot of it is contralled by AR's featured posts as well. Members that are trying to get featured tend to look at those posts as models. I am sometimes surprised by some posts that are selected, but hey, that's what makes this interesting!

Personally I just try to blog about real estate in my area. I'm not even sure how I would "balance" my blog. I blog about real estate to get better rankings in my area on google.

Hi Rich- I've been reading AR for many months, but only started posting last week. I've written my other blog since January - so I'm new at actively blogging but not new to reading blogs. Your advice is right on target from a reader's perspective. What I look for in the blogs I subscribe to is interesting, well-written content. If it's repetitive is gets stale and a bit boring.

Rich - You know already where I stand on this topic. I do have a plan, but I also pretty much write from my heart. Sometimes, that is real estate-related, but often it is not. I have made some wonderful friends and contacts here on ActiveRain, but I certainly haven't done it by limiting myself to Localism posts, although they are a necessary part of the mix. Have a great Sunday!

Generate eye-catching and informative monthly market reports for your region.

Yes, generate market reports rather than copying and pasting copywritten material from Trendgraphix and other third party sources.

It is important to look at our posts from the eyes of the public.

Rich, I sort of chuckle at some of the judgmental stuff about other people's posts. Hey, nobody is gluing your eyeballs to your computer screen and forcing you to read anything! If religion or politics or recipes are not your thing, move on! Of course, you might miss a recent post of mine that included the recipe for "Black Eyed Susans", the official drink of Pimlico Racetrack in nearby Baltimore! And it is the nectar of the gods!

I'm headed straight to Patricia's blog to get that recipe. Never heard of a Black Eyed Susan and I've got to keep my skills up for blog bartending. Good stuff, Pat! Rich, you want to be the taste tester?

Rich- I am glad we are allowed to mix it up a bit. But I think that is the key "to mix it up." or (Balanced as you stated) Thank you for this post, being a newb, my goal was to blog blog blog about my listings and my community. Which is what I will do, but there is more to me than my career or my town.

Definitely some good suggestions. I heartily endorse posting at Localism.

Rich, Thank you for the info, while I feel market reports are boring as I can pull them myself for my area, others have the right to post them. I am one of the 8 who voted on Maureen's poll, I feel there should be a balance too! I am not a cook but I did post recipes once for those who like to cook. I like reading the human interest stories as well as the jokes. Talking real estate all the time can be a bore but I love giving out real estate knowledge that I have received as well receiving it from other AR blogger! I wish you all a great week!

real sage advice

Do you really think consumers come back over and over again daily for just real estate info. I think not.

I think what so many of us forget from time to time is that when a consumer is looking for real estate information for a particular area, the posts they find here are their introduction to a community. If I was moving to another city, I would certainly want to be able to find not just listings, but market reports and information about the community itself - what is there to do, where is the best place to eat, what are the family friendly activities in the area...the list goes on and on. Because if I am a consumer, I don't know or care that everyone else on AR may not like how "you" blog - I only know if you are providing me with useful information that makes feel like I can trust you and contact you directly to help me. (Did that make any sense at all?)

I'd like to see some stats on how long the average blog visitor spends reading market reports. The closest thing I can relate to a focus group (asking clients) suggests to me that they have absolutely zero interest in market reports, no matter how attractively they are presented.

I agree that a blogger should cover opinions and passions outside of real estate, at least occasionally. I can't imagine anything more boring than a site where 100% of the posts are about the blogger's profession, whether it's real estate, mortgage banking, insurance or whatever.

Lisa, it made a lot of sense, although I haven't seen any complaints about original local content on AR.

Ideally Localism.com would present rich local content that would put the faux RE lead generation sites out of business. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet (fortunately the RE versions of 1-800-DENTIST are rapidly going broke anyway), but brokers and agents still have the option of structuring their own blog in a way that appeals to consumers who find them based on AR's SEO.

I think Rich is trying to gently steer people in a direction that will generate leads because if they don't generate leads, they probably won't stick with the AR platform. The non-participation and attrition rates here at AR have been absolutely staggering. 50% do virtually nothing and another 50% leave within six months. Many successful veterans have foresaken AR for their outside blogs because those blogs are what helps them pay their bills.

The real estate industry needs someone to show them how to blog for clients. Rich is taking on that challenge with his usual diplomatic tone because he understands that it is critical to ActiveRain's mission. This is a business, not an internet clubhouse. The founders weren't handed millions of dollars (someone else's retirement savings) to create the MySpace of real estate.

AR needs to find ways to help more members achieve success if they ever hope to recoup their investment in this business. Sorry if that sounds too mercenary, but I sometimes think people forget that AR is a business venture due to all the new age philosophizing. Matt, Bob, Rich, and Brad can't feed their families with RE.net fame. At some point AR needs to make sense as a business and the best way to do that is by having AR help their members become more successful.

Hi Rich, I thought I was actually doing that, always trying to mix up the subject matter and keeping the subjects varied and what I at least try to do in keeping them interesting. I am not sure that these were more useful than the alternative of being totally focused and cutting edge on the subject that consumers really care about. Listings: I have never put one on here accept anecdotally. Market and Sales statistics: never put them on here thinking they would be boring. Community news: left it too general and not tied closely enough or often enough to where I do may marketing. All serious errors on my part.

William, your answer to the "How's the market" question doesn't have to be boring numbers or plagiarized charts and graphs from Trendgraphix. You could verbally describe the market instead. One statistic that should be publicized is the percentage of listings that sell for more than the asking price. Here in Santa Clara County, we've seen more than 20% of listings sell for more than the asking price due to agressive offers or multiple offer situations. Many consumers and some agents are unaware of this. They argue for pricing a property high because "buyers may offer less, but they will never offer more." Here in Santa Clara County, that simply isn't true. It's better to price a property to generate interest rather than adopting the strategy of following the market down.

Okay, Rainers, you've all got something to write about. Do you get multiple offers in your area? Should that affect pricing strategy for sellers? There's a local, RE keyword rich post just waiting for you to write it. :)

Rich, as always, you write some really meaningful and awesome stuff!

I would invite everyone to venture over to Brian Brady's recent post. He makes some excellent points and the ensuing discussion is a good one.

Hmmm... I someitmes wonder if I am writing too heavily for the localism crowd. I think I am spending too mush time trying to educate the masses on property management. Maybe I should focus on content to help out my peers instead for a while.

Good advice Rich. I am still trying to find my voice on ActiveRain.

Rich, thanks for linking to Brian's post. I actually think you were trying to say the same thing but in a much gentler way. You asked the question "Why are You here on ActiveRain?" Once people answer that question by identifying their objectives, the natural follow up is "Who should you be writing for to achieve your objectives?" If the objective is peer-to-peer support and feedback, by all means, write for your peers. If the objective is leads, write for consumers. If the objective is both, do both. I think new bloggers sometimes fall for the objective of "write something" or "write for points" and forget their real objectives. It is important to be persistent, but persistence should be directed toward your objectives. Online friendships can be valuable, but remember you can't spend ActiveRain points at the supermarket.

Frank - at the end of the day, it's for each of us to decide what we want to achieve in our time here on ActiveRain, and how we're going to accomplish it. It's not always the same for everyone. For some folks, it's the relationships that bring greater satisfaction than any monetary compensation could ever offer. For others, its 'Show Me the Money!" Neither is right or wrong. However, with that said, I think we all need to remind ourselves that this is primarily a network for real estate professionals. The ActiveRain Weltanshauung that I've referenced in my last several posts offers some great principles/philosophy to help us all refocus our energies.

APR

2008

Rich, you, Brian, and I are all in agreement that it takes focus to generate the desired results, whether those results are more business or strong friendships. I suspect your point on professionalism could be related to contentious discussions of religion and politics. I'd just like to remind everyone whether your focus here is on clients or friends, the fastest way to lose both is by arguing about religion and politics.

Hey Rich. I've been advertising quite a few listings recently. I'm sure it bores my subscribers on AR, but the positive side is that they get a lot of traffic and are google-friendly for my market. That's a big value-add for the Realtors that I support, but it also means that my blog is a lot dopier than BB, Brian...whoever. Hmmmm.

Good morning Rich,

Thank you for the post. A guideline I can use. I need all the help I can get!

Have a great week

Rich, I think this is great. I just think its a good kick in the pants for some (maybe me...) who might need to review and reflect and then write.

Great post, good ideas.

Great post. You definitely need a a wide variety. I need to work on more of letting my personality show. I try to keep it under wraps.......

Allow me to clarify my primary point in this post: it starts with my lead-in question,

"Is Your Blog Lop-Sided?" By that, I mean, "What are you writing about? Who are you writing to? Who is your target audience?"

What I've observed lately within our community are members who publish very little, if any, real estate oriented content to their blogs. Since this a network for Real Estate Professionals, our primary focus should be generating good, quality relevant content that is related to real estate. This benefits everyone. It offers the exchange of helpful/practical expert advice among fellow professionals; it serves to educate consumer readers; and it keeps the Google spiders fat and happy! Of the five categories I mentioned, four of them are specific to real estate. If you're only posting 'off-topic' material most of the time, then perhaps you should consider finding a social network that focuses on that particular topic? I apologize if my point wasn't clear enough.

APR

2008

Hi Rich - I think the community will vote by either reading your blog and commenting or not. In that way the rain will police itself. Also as a beginning blogger, I find that I need to write inorder to find my voice and focus. At this stage in my blogging I am trying different subjects, and working on developing consistency. I would hope that my blog will show a development in proficiency, but some of this will come with time.

Whew!! Glad you added the UPDATE.

I write Localism posts for the consumer.

I write Hard Core posts for the real estate community.

Localisms are optimozed. Hard Core stuff isn't.

That's my balancing act.

Rich: As always.... Another great post. Blogging comes natural to some. For some like me.. Well we have to try a little harder ! :) Thanks for all the great tips

APR

2008

Great post. I find the human interest stories terrific also.

BEAUTIFUL PICTURES!

All the best!

I love it when I read blogs which are rich and raw. An element of human is at last added to Realtor with the advent of active rain.

Rich - Indeed this is a great post ! My focus lately has been localism. I wonder though...in a previous comment I seen it stated " I can write a blog about someone peeing down their leg and receive comments all day, I can write a nice localism post and never get a comment " This also brings me back to why so many featured post's on "How to Blog" rather than a platform for some great localism material. It seems members only gets more of the features than the localism ? And...if members hardly comment on localism post's its a little hard to have someone submit your post for a feature to AR with it going unnoticed...I am all for localism and the fluf but can see many great points to all of this !

Rich,
I love it all! When I first arrived here, I posted a lot of "fluff" now I focus mainly on localism but toss in a few of the others occasionally. Variety is the spice of life.

I love it when no one comments on my Localism posts. One of the reason I HATE posting Localism posts are inappropriate comments from other ActiveRain members. If I post something about a school district in my market making a list for best schools the last thing I want is someone slamming a school district in their market in the comments. Want to express your opinion that schools on a list compiled by someone else sucks? Go to the source (there's a link there in my post) and argue that with them. Want to slam a school district in your market? Vent your spleen? Write your own post... think about that as a real estate professional but please don't use my AR post to denigrate people and institutions when I am talking to consumers in my market.

I'll give you the same respect on your Localism posts. I can post the same thing on my other blogs and not get comments or get a comment or two from some nut. It just really bothers me when the nut is a real estate professional. It bothers me that someone could find your "icky" comment under my name on Google.

I posted a Forbes.com list that Columbus made last fall and got a response from a "real estate professional" in Southern Calfornia, belittling the cities that made the list and boo hooing that the market he works in was not on the list. Again link in the post, go talk to Forbes.com if you disagree. I don't appreciate those kind of comments on a blog I am writing to consumers. The same thing on my blog outside AR no comments belittling the markets on the list.

I really dislike folks who post receipes every week just for the points. Come on... this is a real estate site.. isn't it?

Rich, this topic seems to be humming around AR right now. I have found that I am writing mostly Localism Posts because of my outside blog but need to go back to writing more for the good of the AR group. Its hard to find the balance!

I find that I gravitate to posts that are short, to the point and do not waste my time with a lot of fluff. I have seen many feature posts that takes quite a bit of time to read, with very little contend. I do not mind if they are speaking about technology but, when they just keep repeating themselves I get antsy and say what is the point they are trying to make? I enjoyed your update, it was short and sweet.

Istn't this subject matter what actually makes Active Rain a Social Network community. The comments to this blog alone reflect the diversity of the community. I for one like the recipe posts but posts that are long and laborious I hate. I get especially irritated writes 5 google optimized blog posts a day for points and to drive traffic to their non -AR website it makes me nuts.

Overall the community works!

It does seem that there should be some kind of balance between blogs that read like reworked Broker Agent News RSS and someones' personal diary. I really could care less about little Mary's visit from the tooth fairy but a personal touch is warranted to keep things fresh and relevant. This is, after all, our life, and what the market does impacts those lives tremendously.

I found the von munchausen article and it opened my eyes. very new here but i like your posts a lot. thanks for the guidance!

MAY

2008

Great post, thanks for sharing.

MAY

2008

Thanks for the great article and more importantly, the suggestions you mentioned for writing a variety of articles. It gave me a few good ideas on what to work on next. JENNIFER

You have inspired me, I will be looking for more creative blogs I can write. I do post similar blogs sometimes! Good post Rich!

MTR

Thanks for the post and for sharing. I, like many others are still learning. IMHO, I have Learned alot and hope to continue to do so.

Take Care & Have a Great '08!

MAY

2008

Very good reminder and give thoughts to ponder on. Thanks for posting.

MAY

2008

I like to strike a balance. I hope to write on these topics each week: a localism or two, a "give back" or two, an advice about selling or buying article and the rest are up for grabs. I love the AR has so many members who are willing to be helpful about every aspect of blogging. It's really such an awe-inspiring community and I'm sure you have your many moments of job satisfaction knowing that so many of your "members" are finding so much satisfaction here.

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Rich Jacobson Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Broker

Silverdale, WA

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Keller Williams West Sound Realty

Address: Silverdale, WA, 98383

Office Phone: (360) 499-6367

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Providing Knowledgeable Empowerment and Relentless Representation of Real Estate Clients throughtout the Western Puget Sound, including all of Kitsap County WA, and portions of Mason, Pierce, and Jefferson Counties.

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