{"id":2702,"date":"2008-03-04T22:12:35","date_gmt":"2008-03-05T05:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2702"},"modified":"2009-05-28T14:13:11","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T21:13:11","slug":"oh-for-goodness-sakes-of-course-you-should-blog-listings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2702\/oh-for-goodness-sakes-of-course-you-should-blog-listings\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh, for goodness’ sakes! Nothing sells houses like houses, so of course<\/I> you should blog listings — your own and other Realtors’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Homey'<\/a>Very early on in BloodhoundBlog’s history, I argued against blogging listings<\/a>. The argument actually concerned styles of anti-blogging that were common then: Stealing and reposting newspaper articles verbatim, for example, or posting listing after listing with nothing to engage the reader in any way.<\/p>\n

Later on, when I was working on the posts that became Real Estate Weblogging 101<\/a>, I reversed that position in a big way:<\/a><\/p>\n

So what are we looking for? Hmmm… There’s no place like it, and, when you go there, they have to take you in…<\/p>\n

We’re looking for home,<\/i> of course. If I could lay one blanket complaint against locally-oriented real estate weblogs — allowing for particular exceptions — it’s that they are way too much locale<\/i>-oriented and way too little focused on — what? — on homes and families.<\/p>\n

Russell Shaw is beyond brilliant, and BloodhoundBlog is very lucky to have him as a contributor. But if no one learns anything else from Russell, please read, learn, mark and inwardly digest this sliver of his genius: Buyers don’t want agents, they want a house.<\/p>\n

The very first thing I want to see at your neighborhood\/community\/town-focused real estate weblog is a house. A nice, big, homey house, with a welcoming front door. I want to see a gleeful little girl on a swing-set and a Chocolate Labrador playing Frisbee with her brother. I want to see the Spring flowers and the Autumn foliage and the glowing of Christmas candles — all at the same time. I know you can’t do all that, but I want to feel that way anyway.<\/p>\n

I want for you to have made me feel instantly at home.<\/p>\n

At a minimum, that means adapting the stock weblog theme you’ve adopted. Okayfine. Get on it or hire it out. First impressions are lasting. If you don’t sell me on the idea that there is no place like your<\/i> home on the web, I’m movin’ on. Buyers don’t want agents, they want a house.<\/p>\n

In truth, I think your target market should be sellers, not buyers, but it’s going to be people with their buyer’s hat on — even if they need Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Very early on in BloodhoundBlog’s history, I argued against blogging listings. The argument actually concerned styles of anti-blogging that were common then: Stealing and reposting newspaper articles verbatim, for example, or posting listing after listing with nothing to engage the reader in any way. Later on, when I was working on the posts that became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,9,5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-photography","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-technology","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2881,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2881\/blogging-other-realtors-listings-selling-houses-by-selling-history-details-ideas-lifestyle-selling-the-story-of-the-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":0},"title":"Blogging other Realtor’s listings: Selling houses by selling history, details, ideas, lifestyle — selling the story of the home","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was in an historic home on Monday that made me think it had been built by an important home-builder in the very early days of the suburbanization of Phoenix. With the permission of the lister, I went back yesterday and took dozens of photos of the property. I built\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":516,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/516\/using-weblogs-as-the-platform-for-custom-real-estate-listing-web-sites\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":1},"title":"Using weblogs for custom real estate listing web sites . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"More than a month ago, I said that I was going to do the custom web pages for any new listings as WordPress weblogs. Lucky me, since then we've sold down our inventory of listings, but we haven't added any new ones. That changes Thursday, and there are at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":333,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/333\/ask-the-broker-why-would-an-mlsidx-system-forbid-commingling-with-listings-from-other-sources\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":2},"title":"Ask the Broker: Why would an MLS\/IDX system forbid commingling with listings from other sources . . . ?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Giving my prominent proboscis a good hard tweak, a certain pseudonymous Scarlet Pimpernelesque semi-retired real estate weblogger asks: \"Are you trying to say that the MLS' are not fascist dictatorships???\" The question refers to a weblog entry I posted last night chastising Trulia Blog for hyperbole in its complaints about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2849,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2849\/dont-blog-your-listings-how-about-this-dont-try-to-pass-sales-call-reluctance-off-as-social-media-marketing-expertise\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":3},"title":"Don’t blog your listings? How about this? Don’t try to pass sales call reluctance off as social media marketing expertise","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know, I know -- I owe, I owe. I owe Jeff Brown a discussion of every little last thing we do to launch a new listing with maximum impact. And I owe The Lovely Wife a discussion of the role of self-promotion in real estate weblogging. But... We listed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1527,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1527\/redfins-sweet-digs-weblogs-resurrected-as-neighborhood-sites\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":4},"title":"Redfin’s Sweet Digs weblogs resurrected as neighborhood sites","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From John Cook's Venture Blog:\"Sweet Digs\" is back -- kind of. The Redfin real estate blog, which was shut down last month after agents complained to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service that the home reviews were hurting sales, is making its return today in a modified state. No longer will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":232,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/232\/if-the-cute-little-baby-wants-to-chew-up-your-copyrights-who-are-you-to-complain\/","url_meta":{"origin":2702,"position":5},"title":"If the cute little baby wants to chew up your copyrights, who are you to complain?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Marlow Harris at 360Digest has an incisive post about the incipient conflict between copyright-holding brokers and national dot.com real estate listing aggregators:But what does the agent do who has signed a TOS Agreement with their broker indicating that the Broker owns the listings and the broker does not want their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2702"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8660,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2702\/revisions\/8660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}