THE GOLDEN RULES OF BUSINESS BLOGGING
REAL ESTATE PRACTICE, REDDING LIFESTYLES, SHASTA COUNTY
September 29th, 2008
I’ve only been blogging for business for a couple months, but I have heard there are certain unwritten 
rules bloggers should follow. Call it etiquette if you like. Google “blog rules” and you will find many results for this new way of social marketing.
My goal is to write items of interest about real estate, why I like living here in Redding/Shasta County and community events that might be of interest to readers. My focus is content. Unlike traditional news sources, I can add my 2 cents worth whenever I feel like it. Journalists are (supposedly) hamstrung by rules that require them to be neutral, impartial, objective and fair to both sides of a given topic. Bloggers, on the other hand, are not constrained by an editor that parses, strikes out, rewrites and otherwise polishes the final content.
After some basic research, it appears suggested rules for blogging are under development. By who? Bloggers, of course. Bloggers are blogging about blog rules and perhaps someone will distill the top suggestions into The Top 10 Golden Rules for Blogging. I can toss out my Top Ten List for all to chew on:
- No cut and paste. Blogging should be seen as a unique opportunity to write about something of interest through your eyes, mind and keyboard. Exception granted for clip art or pictures. Linking to a website/page with additional information should be allowed, but your material should, well, be your material! A variation of this is reblogging, cutting and pasting someone elses post. Tacky, tacky,tacky!
- No plagarism. Like cutting and pasting, if you are skilled enough with your mouse and know how to get the most out of your software, you can look like someone you aren’t. You will be found out, sooner or later, and if you are not getting comments, you will now (unless you have comments turned off). Hope you have thick skin!
- Avoid talking about how you feel, tell us what you think and why. Touchy-feely may boost your ego, but you will only succeed in putting your audience to sleep.
- Make sure the content has value, not just a bunch of words strung together. Failure to do this will cause readers to click away from your post, your site, your company and they may never return. Write to inform, entertain and hopefully engage your readers and subscribers.
- Try to make your content so rich that fellow bloggers forward or recommend your blog to the greater blogging community. I have learned much by reading other peoples blogs, and I hope they will learn a thing or two from my hunting and pecking!
- The headline should describe the content-Bloggers want to use their limited time efficiently and effectively so make sure that they can get an idea, with a glance, if this post is going to be of interest to them.
- Try to evoke a response from you readers. It’s OK to get personal, ruffle someone’s feathers, that sparks dialogue amongst bloggers and allows a sharing of opinions and reasons for those positions, even if your audience may never agree with you. At a minimum, you have given someone food for thought! Only 1-2% of readers comment anyway, so don’t get your hopes up!
- Consider having a blogging buddy that reviews your blog before it is published. It’s easy to fall in love with your own writing only to have a peer say “Are you sure you want to publish that?” You must keep your cool and not publish something you regret.
- Decide if you will or will not allow comments. If you do, be prepared for some nasty remarks and, of course, becoming a spam magnet. Censorship runs against the grain of allowing free thought, but annonymity has a downside, some bloggers have ulterior motives such as undermining your best efforts, just to get your goad. Delete those comments, even if it annoys the commenter.
- Business bloggers represent the company they work for. Business owners should monitor content and be proactive if it is casting a negative light on the company. Remember, you, as an owner, are liable for what they write. I’ve seen internet postings printed out and used time and time again as evidence in court cases alleging slander and/or libel. Lawyers love the Internet!
Let me know what you think should be added or subtracted, I won’t take it personally. After all, I am new to this, and some of you longtime bloggers probably have some suggestions I have completely overlooked. Let’s hear them!
Happy blogging!
530-224-6767 or 530-941-7492
BRAD GARBUTT
REALTOR/BROKER ASSOCIATE
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS GMAC
QUARTER CENTURY LOCAL REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE
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