Staging Your Business Blog

SmartMoney.com’s Kelli Grant talks about cheap ways to boost your home’s value, but her article can serve as a tutorial on adding value to business blogs. "Make your first priority the front door," she advises.  "Potential buyers standing on the front porch have 15, 20 seconds just to look", she warns.

I’m not a real estate professional, but I do know blogs, and the "front door" of your blog is the title. BlogManiac  advises making sure one or more of your primary key phrases appears in the title.  After all, searchers who’ve clicked on your blog won’t linger even 15 seconds if your blog title doesn’t reassure them they’ve come to the right place. Names matter in blogs, as I emphasized in "A Blog By Any Other Name Wouldn’t Smell As Sweet."

One common mistake homeowners make, according to Lyle Martin of Assist-2-Sell in Reno, Nevada, is making aesthetic upgrades while ignoring basic maintenance. Spelling and grammar errors divert readers’ attention from even the greatest of blog content, and, while blogs (as I’ve often taught) are more personal and more informal than websites, they shouldn’t be sloppy. Blog maven Ted Demopoulis agrees. There’s a difference between more formal business writing and blog writing, he says, but "that’s no excuse" (for typos, misspelled words, and poor grammar).

Real estate stagers are familiar with this startling statistic: Buyers traditionally negotiate a $2 discount for every $1 of damage that turns up in a home inspection. Internet searchers won’t negotiate at all – they’ll navigate away from your blog and find somewhere else to go.

Not sure where to start? asks SmartMoney. Hire a professional home inspector. Not sure how to incorporate blogging into your online business marketing strategy? A professional ghost blogger could be the "stager" for your business blog!