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Well avid reader’s, our little spot here in the blogosphere was mentioned (sort of…) in the Arizona Republic today. I spoke with the reporter, David van den Berg, at length last week about real estate and blogging. He was a nice guy, and asked a lot of great questions. I wish he’d had more space to print some of them. I also wish he would have printed the URL to this blog like he did with everyone else he quoted, but oh well, nothing I can do about that. Regardless of what the article says, I don’t maintain this blog with the sole purpose of driving traffic to thompsonsrealty.com. That’s just one of many goals for this blog. The main goals for this blog are to give me a place to opine and write, to provide information and yes, to help drive traffic to my main site (where if it’s information you are looking for, you will find a veritable treasure trove.)

And don’t worry, even though Mr. Ron LaMee, vice president of information services for the Arizona Association of Realtors, thinks “real estate agents, blogging about topics other than real estate isn’t a good idea”, I’ll continue to go off on a tangent occasionally… I don’t see anything wrong with injecting a little personality into the blog.

Blogs will grow as tool for real estate

David van den Berg
The Arizona Republic
May. 17, 2006 12:00 AM
article link

The blogosphere, that online realm of information and opinion covering a massive range of people and issues, has snared at least three Southeast Valley real estate agents.

Shannon Hubbard of Mesa, an investor and real estate agent with Great American Realty in Ahwatukee Foothills, runs www.blogarizona.com. Hubbard has been blogging for about two years. Her husband, Scott, also blogs at www.homeinspection blog.com. She believes people and businesses will continue to find uses for blogs.

“I know when I first set up blogarizona, a lot of people looked at blogs as if they were a fad,” she said. “You can actually get into a discussion with someone as opposed to just reading a marketing message.”

• Jay Thompson of Gilbert, an agent with Century 21 Aware in Mesa, said he’s been blogging for little more than a year. The blog has achieved Thompson’s goal, driving traffic to his Web site, he said.

Most of the time, Thompson said he keeps his blog focused on real estate. “Occasionally, I’ll go off on a tangent,” Thompson said. “Do my opinions turn some people off? Probably.”

• David Thomas of Gilbert has been a real estate agent for 20 years and has been blogging with his wife, Paula, for less than a year. The Thomases, agents with West USA Realty in Mesa, have a blog at www.onlinearizonahomes.com and contribute to www.blogarizona.com.

David Thomas said he doesn’t think blogging is a “huge thing at this point” for local real estate agents, but it could grow in popularity.

“I wanted to do it and my wife decided to do it because there was a need to get some basic real estate information out to people,” Thomas said. “We’ve seen some interest. Insofar as acquiring clients I don’t believe that it’s been a huge benefit, but insofar as informing clients, there I believe it has been helpful and I believe it will continue to be helpful.”

Real estate agents will face ethical scrutiny for blogging if they post disparaging comments about competitors or inaccurate or fabricated information, said Ron LaMee, vice president of information services for the Arizona Association of Realtors. Still, for real estate agents, blogging about topics other than real estate isn’t a good idea, he said.

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