Here’s a few stories from around the real estate blogsphere I found interesting…
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Phil is obviously have some fun in Boise, although others may find his anatomy of a listing he won’t take more relevant to recent RCG conversations…
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Jonathan sends out a blogger’s prayer and some really nice words about RCG.. Thanks!
Fortunately, I ran into Ardell DellaLogia, her blog, and the Rain City Guide. Between her advice and her blog, and the larger Seattle based blog to which she contributed, I got a sense of what a blog could be – articulate, meaningful, educational. And that’s what I decided I wanted and what I’ve strived for, with mixed success.
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The xBroker is clearly and definitely over-the-top. Yet, despite the self-promotion that permeates all of his posts, I really like this guy. In emails and blog posts, he’s come across as someone who is definitely informed and wants to communicate his knowledge… There’s definitely a there, there…
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Tech alert: Greg Linden turned me on to a very interesting post by Google’s Steve Yegge, where he looks at the management of Google through the lens of the Agile programming philosophy. The story would have been good enough, but then Microsoft’s Dare Obasanjo made it better by comparing the ideas to the (failed) management structure at Enron… All three posts are worth reading (but make sure you have some time!).
Thanks for the plug Dustin. Maybe I can cut back on some of the self-promotion now 🙂 It’s been ‘Fly by the seat of your pants blogging 101’ thus far, mucking through the learning curve (aka rookie errors). Our sites ‘tighter’ format and layout should be released late today…alas, there I go again, more shameless self-promotion…
Jeff
(The Ex-Broker)
I was first introduced to Jeff (The Ex-Broker/xBroker) via his discussion on the Redfin blog some time ago (http://blog.redfin.com/blog/redfin/2006/06/the_hall_of_shame.html). Not sure if you all caught the conversation (as I wasn’t reading your blog back then) but it’s definitely an interesting debate and Jeff is certainly passionate about what he’s doing. Beware: it’s a long read…
dustin – what’s wrong with self promotion?
-rudy.sellsius°
Rudy,
There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion… In many ways, blogging is all about self-promotion. However, when it is overdone it can be hard to read through. In other words, if I have to read past “I’m the best agent in the world” in order to get at the meat of an article, I quickly take those people off my reading list. There’s a line of acceptable self-promotion (and it is not even all that fine).
I think Jeff does a great job and he doesn’t overdo it (otherwise I would not have linked to him!). Nonetheless, a lot of the text on the XBroker site (not necessarily the blog) reads like it has a monopoly on the truth, and that brings out the skeptic in me.
There is a bit of irony in that we make the truth, ‘tabloid shocking-like’ and that marketing the truth differntiates you from 95% of the industry. Despite all the sensationalism, the content is factual, and unfabricated…I will take that as a ‘tone it down, just a notch’ suggestion though!…
I Love Feedback!
Jeff,
I’m not sure that toning it down would even be the right answer because you’re right that the shock-factor is valuable… Finding an interesting niche as you’ve done that has a personality is probably the hardest part of creating a website worth visiting. The reality is that I would have quickly passed over the site had I not known to look a little deeper thanks to an earlier conversation, but once I’m “there”, I really like what you’ve done.
I think working the blogosphere to create some buzz (as you’re clearly doing) is the right approach, and I’m happy to help! 🙂
hi dustin,
your personal opinion may be interpretted as a blogging rule by some. it may possibly chill their enthusiasm towards blogging. i’d rather err on the side of freedom to make mistakes. i see nothing wrong with an individual real estate professional or company talking about their services, products, unique expertise and prior accomplishments on their blog.
blogs such as google, trulia, zillow and redfin talk about themselves all the time. isn’t that ok? we still read them. do they meet your definition of being over the line?
-rudy.sellsius°
Rudy,
We all know agents who push their listings first. Then if the buyer doesn’t want those, begins to think about which homes would best suit this particular buyer. Clearly that is not the way I work, or would want an agent who is working for me to work.
Pushing your listings on your blog, is the same as pushing your listings on buyers, just because they are yours. Websites are for advertising your listings, not your blog. It’s silly anyway, given the ephemeral nature of the blog. It’s even almost “illegal” as the listing stays on the blog after it is sold, as an old post in the archive. So you end up advertising a sold listing, which is a no, no.
Anyway you look at it, there ARE clear differences between a blog and a website and Dustin’s view is more right on than you give him credit for.
P.S. Rudy
Anyone who thinks there are real hard and fast RULES to blogging, don’t “get it”.
hello ardell,
i never mentioned listings. but since you mentioned it, we have no problem with bloggers posting listings on their blog. as a matter of fact, didn’t dustin list his home on rain city guide? did the blog help it sell or attract more buyers?
aren’t we giving him credit by stating that his personal opinion will influence other people’s blogging habits? here’s some proof – xbroker – because of what dustin said, now he is going to “tone it down”. is that a good thing?
-rudy.sellsius°
p.s. we agree what you said re: hard and fast rules.
Actually, the blog led people, even me, to think Dustin’s home was sold. It did not sell, and I was very surprised by that piece of misninformation. I have it listed now and felt very badly that I hadn’t offered to help him earlier when I thought it was sold.
I’m sure someone on this blog said it sold FSBO.
Rudy,
It will be a sad day when I decide not to have an opinion for fear of influencing people! LOL!
No toning down then!…a format and layout ‘clean up’ is in the works. Keep checkin us out.
Thanks again for the feedback guys.
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