Comments on: If blog visitors aren’t being treated as leads, then blogging is really a waste

By: Jason Brown

Jason Brown — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:12:12 +0000

I am guilty of commercializing myself on my blog, although I typically do it at the end of a post. Although I’m newly committed to blogging as part of my routine, I’m not new to having an online presence. While I’ve been fortunate that my web site has generated significant traffic to my blog, I understand that if I don’t give the reader something compelling then they won’t be making a repeat visit. But I also believe in taking the opportunity to tell the visitor who I am, what I do and where they can go to learn more.

By: Christine Bell

Christine Bell — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:54:42 +0000

I have an a la mode website. I’m trying to get some market related comments on my new blog. Please help a girl out? http://www.pamortgagepros.com/Blog
As for a la mode, I’ve had a lot of problems with their support and service. It doesnt seem they want suggestions from customers. For example I wanted to add a favitar (that little icon on the browser bar next to the URL). They won’t help me out and add it since their program won’t allow it. I just want to keep up with the times. I dont want to bad mouth them but they are just having growing pains.

By: Dan - RentBits

Dan - RentBits — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:59:21 +0000

I absolutely agree with you Jay. If you start thinking that every visitor to your blog needs to be sold something, you will inevitably kill your blog.

By: Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy — Sat, 19 May 2007 17:14:49 +0000

BR – thanks SO much for commenting. I was hoping a user of the platform would stop by. (I was *really* hoping that Evans or Lindquist would stop by, but I certainly wasn’t counting on it.)

It’s not a bad looking blog, but without some of the basic (very) functionality that’s missing, it doesn’t look like an a la mode blog could ever hope to truly compete in the transparent blogiverse.

Photoshop vs. Crayolas — that was a *great* analogy!

By: BR

BR — Sat, 19 May 2007 14:46:55 +0000

I wanted to let this conversation pass a little to the wayside so as not to completely disrupt the conversation, but this has to be said. I happen to use Lindy’s weblogging software and he really has designed it exclusively to capture leads. It sucks.

NO TRACKBACKS,
No rss feeds,
no buttons,
no blogroll,
no tagging,
no contributors,
no live feed,
no word verification option
etc…

He is right, he truly designed a la mode’s blog functionality to be only that- lead capturing. We’re soon to dump this feature all together and go live on our own w/ Wordpress. I just wanted to say thank you for writing this piece. It simply demonstrates the old fashioned thinking that anything and everything is an opportunity to sell something- whatever. If he truly believes that trapping a reader in a box only to read your material will result in a comment and a capture, he is insane. Allowing a reader to see what you read and go other places you recommend builds loyalty. To be honest, Im suprised- a la mode is normally a progressive thinker. What a bummer.

The sad part is that I have called Lindquist’s company repeatedly, asking for this functionality and the response is always the same, “we’ll send the suggestions to our tech department” and the timeframe is never released due to some stupid policy. So, in the meantime, you guys are participating in the transparent blogosphere with the equivalent of Photoshop, and I’m in timeout blogging with Crayolas so I can “capture leads” per Lindquist’s envisioned blogosphere.

By: Maureen Francis

Maureen Francis — Thu, 17 May 2007 03:27:36 +0000

I was tempted to express my feelings about Realty Times, but I thought better of it.

By: Chris Lengquist

Chris Lengquist — Mon, 14 May 2007 01:01:23 +0000

I’m late to the conversation so I’ll just say that I stumbled into blogging quite by accident in January of ‘06. I blogged very irratically (sp?) and it wasn’t until January of ‘07 that I realized that I had sold 4 sides from leads that came from my blogs and had only had about 545 visitors over the course of the whole year.

So yes, I blog because I get leads. But yes, I also blog as a way to share my knowledge and experiences with those that are interested or care.

I do not necessarily solit leads. But I don’t hide from asking people to contact me if they need an expert in my field, either. I share knowledge that has taken me years to learn and refine and I do it because it shows my expertise in the field and I believe it helps the consumers out there to make better decisions.

I love your blog, Jay. Keep up the good work. The interest in this topic proves, once again, you know what you are doing.

By: Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy — Sun, 13 May 2007 00:28:58 +0000

Nothing gets past that Tomato.. I edited the link.

By: Jim Cronin

Jim Cronin — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:46:44 +0000

Excellent post Jay. I echo much of it and the commentors speak.

Regarding Doug’s URL… seems he added an extra ‘w’ to his ‘www’ – therefor, we get the link as a catch all.

By: Douglas Trudeau

Douglas Trudeau — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:39:05 +0000

Thank you for your welcome.

Thanks for letting me know about where my URL is pointing. I asked JC to check it out. It should have pointed to http://tucsonrealestateblogs.com which is what I changed to with this comment.