Five Questions With: Melanie Delman
The Providence Business News, Real Estate, November 28, 2008 By Kevin Shalvey, PBN Staff Writer
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Melanie Delman, the second-generation president of Lila Delman Real Estate, has been posting her musings and insights about culture in Rhode Island on a Weblog for the last seven months. We caught up with her to discuss why she's entered the blogosphere and how she hopes it will affect her business. |
PBN: First, we'll start with the basics: When did you start the blog, where can we find it and how often do you post?
DELMAN: We started our blog in April 2008. We find it is very important to have fresh and interesting content on your blog and we strive to have a new post on a daily basis. We are accomplishing this by recruiting from the creative talent pool that we have here at Lila Delman Real Estate. With a pool of excellent writers sprinkled amongst our agent roster we have numerous authors who contribute interesting content on a weekly basis. The blog is located on our Web site at: LilaDelman.com/blog. We also direct visitors to our Web site to the blog through the use of a banner on our initial page and through reminders to visit the blog on popular pages throughout our Web site.
PBN: What types of posts have you been making?
DELMAN: We took the position early on to avoid the typical real estate postings such as sales up, prices down and vice versa. This type of data is available on many Web sites and it is our opinion that content of that sort wouldn't drive users to our blog. We encourage the agents to post on a variety of topics that are of interest to them and will generate a dialogue with the user. The topics range from general observations on life, favorite places, neighborhoods, pet peeves, things to do, etc.
PBN: What responses were you hoping for – and what responses have you had?
DELMAN: Our blog page is averaging more than 3,000 unique page views per month and some specific articles have received more than 20 responses from readers. We weren’t sure how the blog would be received in the blogging community, so we are pleasantly surprised with the results and it is a testament to the creative abilities of the agents within our company. We now have steps in place to increase the visibility of the blog to the blogging community, which we believe will drive more traffic to our site.
PBN: As a real estate professional focusing on higher-end luxury homes, why is your discussion of local culture so important?
DELMAN: The blog accomplishes so much on this level. It first educates users of our Web site on the intellectual and creative abilities of our agents and begins to develop a dialogue and relationship between the consumer and the agent. Additionally, the topics typically discussed in the blog are not usually found in tourism magazines and other resources. It enables the reader to truly learn what is special and interesting about the communities that we live in and serve. It is a great way for the uninitiated to “read between the lines” in learning about an area.
PBN: Have your Realtors been accepting of the new medium?
DELMAN: We have a group of dedicated bloggers who have developed a following with readers. They are posting their articles and comments on other blog sites and each agent has his or her specific blog articles displayed on their agent bio page. This is a link to a blogging agent’s bio page.
We are adding new bloggers every week, as the agents learn from existing bloggers that it is a lot of fun and it is a great way to reach out to potential customers and clients to establish a rapport before you ever meet.
by The Providence Business News, Real Estate, November 28, 2008 by Kevin Shalvey, PBN staff writer
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