Ethics and your blog

I’ve never seen anyone write a blog post regarding ethics as it relates to a real estate blog.  Given that REALTORS^® all subscribe to a code of ethics and all all licensed, this seems a little strange, but perhaps it’s because being ethical on a blog isn’t well understood.  Or perhaps it’s because those that are ethical are saving their finger pointing for a time when they might find it useful.  Who knows.

At any rate, I thought I’d run down a few things that I find grossly problematic in the RE.Net, and pass along a few pointers that will hopefully keep the finger pointing away from you.

For the most part, it is pretty easy to be ethical on your blog, and in the past I’ve seen very few gross violations.  The violation I’ve seen the most often, however, is when a REALTOR publicly bashes another REALTOR^® during a heated blog war.  The pre-amble of the Code of Ethics clearly states that:

Realizing that cooperation with other real estate professionals promotes the best interests of those who utilize their services, REALTORS^® urge exclusive representation of clients; do not attempt to gain any unfair advantage over their competitors; and they refrain from making unsolicited comments about other practitioners.

Make a special note of that last important component:  “they refrain from making unsolicited comments about other practitioners.”  If you engage in a blog war, and start making derogatory remarks (whether they are true or not!) about your fellow REALTOR, in my opinion, you are making unsolicited comments, and you are committing an ethics violation.

The point of this was made clear to me, when I recently attended an ethics class taught by my broker (John Foltz) and Bill Gray (Arizona School of Real Estate & Business), in which they belabored this point, giving as an example: If you meet someone that is a client of John Doe REALTOR, you cannot tell this client, “Oh, I know John…did you know he was recently contacted by the police regarding …”.  Even if this police contact were true, you provided this info about John Doe in an unsolicited manner, for the pure purpose of discrediting John Doe, to put yourself at an advantage.  Bringing this to our blogs, I don’t think there’s any doubt that nearly 100% of our blog visitors are not soliciting specific information about a different REALTOR, when they come.  Given that, if we post derogatory comments, which are now surely unsolicited, in my opinion, we are committing an ethics rules violation.

So, if there aren’t at least 100 other good reasons not to engage in a blog war, let this be #1 on the list.  Personally speaking, my membership to my association, or even the fine associated with an ethics violation, is absolutely not worth whatever could possibly be gained, by getting involved in a blog war, and calling out the merits (or lack thereof) of your fellow REALTOR.

Another ethics violation that I’ve (fortunately) seen on the rarest of occasions refers to SoP 1-9 and keeping confidential client information confidential.  I know that I am constantly on the lookout for good blog content, but good blog content cannot be the confidential information provided to you by your client, even if it’s critical to “tell the story”.  If you need to use confidential information to tell the story, this will be a story you don’t tell on your blog (or anywhere, for that matter).

Perhaps the most common ethics violation I see is with regard to Article 10.  Actually, that’s an exaggeration (something that Article 2 says to avoid), but it’s close enough to the point I want to make:  Article 10 says we will not deny our “services to any person for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.”

The consistent problem I find on the vast majority of blogs is the lack of a fair housing logo on display.  The Arizona real estate commissioner believes this logo should be on every page and visible without scrolling.  Let me repeat that, in case it didn’t sink it.  Visible on every page without scrolling the browser.  Where is your fair housing logo?  Do you even have one?  Is it in the footer, where you have to scroll waaaay down to the bottom to see it?  Here’s an idea:  move your fair housing logo to the header or the top of your sidebar.

And finally, harkening back to the preamble of the Code of Ethics:

REALTORS^® can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries, embodied in the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Google Search, Right on Your Blog…

Sometimes, especially with blogs, you want to give your readers

the opportunity to search your site with a “Google style” search.  Well, in the interest of sharing, Google will allow you to configure a search widget that will search only your site.  Go to Google.com>more>even more then custom search.  It will allow you to configure a search bar however you would like.

Keep in mind that studies have shown that people prefer to browse your site for information and that if they did find you via a search engine search, they’ll want to see what they were looking for within about 2-3 clicks.  If they are using the custom search, you may need better navigation.

Happy Holidays!
Rob the Tech Guy

Az Real Estate Blogging Network Meetup - December 18th - SEO Expert

Come join us for our monthly meet up for all real estate professionals eager to learn and share about blogging for business! AZ Real Estate Blogging Network is excited about December’s meetup and our featured speaker!

We have invited a SEO Expert, Emily Leach to share blogging tips to help optimize our blogs for our real estate blogs!

Stay tuned for further details and be sure to sign up on our AZREBN Meetup RSVP, there will be limited seating!

Care to comment on that? (Part one)

Just like real estate agents, no two blogs are alike. For instance, commercial real estate is very different than residential; Some agents are better with buyers, some with sellers. Some agents specialize in a niche or neighborhood, some feel they can be all things to all people. Blog styles, formats and specialties can be very different, as well, and no one can or should tell us how to run our blog. I want to touch on a way to “get your feet wet” in the blogging game. You see, there is still a very small percentage of agents that are really doing any blogging. Why not start out by reading interesting blogs and commenting on those blogs? Do you realize that comments can engage people in conversation? Comments can also lead people back to your blog for people to see what you have to say about things. Who knows, they might even come to your blog and leave a comment on something you wrote.

The fact is, many blogs do not get a lot of comments, especially in the beginning. Don’t feel bad and don’t feel like no on noticed your latest masterpiece just because no one says anything. The majority of readers do NOT comment on blogs. Just keep writing, start commenting, and “find your voice.” It is way too early for a beginning blogger to think they will be a “Rain City Guide” where some amazing writers routinely get dozens (sometimes hundreds) of comments on a single post. 

Many bloggers have good luck reading, writing and commenting on the Active Rain network. Heck, you even get “points” for comments on Active Rain. How cool is that!? I have seen people make a ton of friends on their network with very limited blogging and a whole lot of commenting. Again, there is not a right or wrong answer. So, feel free to leave a comment one this post, even if you just say “hi.” I promise to come take a look at your blog and return the favor.

In the future, we’ll talk about: Can/does commenting help SEO? And Getting carried away in comments.  If we are lucky, I can get some of the other AZREBN writers to chime in on this stuff. Either way, we hope you will be back for more…