Home Stage & Blogging... Reflecting Opportunities in Real Estate Marketing

For a little over a year now I have been writing about home staging here in this blog. I have to admit I have been fortunate in raising my staging voice up in an ever expanding world of real estate blogging. I believe part of the reason for my blogging success is due to the fact that the approach I take to blogging reflects the approach I take to staging.

When it comes to staging and selling a home it is no secret that good curb appeal is desirable. If a buyer doesn't like what they see, there is a good chance they will just move on. Well the same goes for a blog. I consider a blog’s headline its initial curb appeal. Headlines should be interesting and captivating so that your reader wants to stop in and read on.

When touring a home, which is for sale, a second critical moment takes place the instant the buyer opens the door and sees the interior of a home for the first time. What a buyer sees in this moment better be a visually appealing. For just as it is important that a stager creates an attractive first visual impression within the homes interior, the same can be said for using a picture in a blog. A strong visual impression positively reinforces what the buyer/reader are about to see/read.

Moving on (literally) is the next key element to both staging and blogging. A home that is staged well has certain connected "flow" that entices the buyer to move from room to room. As you develop your blog it should have transition/flow as your reader travels from paragraph to paragraph.

Recently we here at Real Estaging have seen more and more amature stagers’s relying on contrived tricks and gimmicks (i.e. champagne glasses on the edge of tubs) that make the house look “too staged” and ultimately distract a buyer away from seeing the home and it’s “personality”. So whether one is staging a home or writing blogging it is important that the unique personality of the home, or you the writer, comes through. Staging and blogging is about making connections… the buyer needs to “connect” to a home they are going to buy. In order to gain long term readership, readers need to connect to you. And remember… always be original, never plagiarize another's work, it will come back to haunt you.

The final parallel that I see between staging and blogging has to do with clutter. It is a well know fact that stagers remove all unnecessary distractions and get down to the homes most basic elements. Well the same goes for blogging. Keep in mind that reader often will skim your blog, so give it a lot of white space to make that process easier. Also you might want to consider highlighting key phrases in each paragraph that if only they are read… the basic gist of the blog is communicated.

So there you have it… my staged blog on home staging and blogging. Respectively, each can create a good reflection of home seller's home or a real estate professional's words.

Stage It Forward…
Me

POST SCRIPT 1: "They" must like what this blog has to say... cause once again it gets picked up fed to the masses, click each link to see it at: NBC - NY and USA TODAY's online news sources.

POST SCRIPT 2: I have had the idea for this blog bouncing around my head for a while.. but I gotta admit I am glad I held off from writing it until now. Tomorrow I am to be and industry expert panelist on home stager and real estate blogging at Coldwell Banker's Emagine Expo 2007 here in Chicago. With over 1,200 attendees coming to this event, it creates perfect reason to finally write this blended blog.