Are part's of your website starting to look like a cluttered closet? Is your blog starting resemble a junk drawer? Tom at Real Estate Bloggers just put out a post staging your site. (New AR profile designation maybe?)Ben is actually hard at work developing some things that will modify the look of your ActiveRain Profiles.
In the mean-time it's important to look at the content that you are putting up on your bogs and websites.
I remember a time when the goal was to put as much as possible on your website so that you could capture every potential client. Now there are so many resources out there that if what your viewer sees is cluttered with information, then they'll move on to something more relevant.
Tom proposes "cleaning out the closet." Essentially throw out everything that doesn't help the reader get what it is they are looking for. By cleaning out the clutter we make it easier for our readers to find the things they are looking for. How do we apply this to a post?
Throw out the junk.
First off throw out all of that extraneous information. Anything that doesn't advance the topic should be removed. It doesn't have to be totally real estate focused, but it does have to have a main idea and any information outside of that main idea likely should be thrown out.
Organize the valuables.
Your ideas are valuable. Separate your thoughts into paragraphs and give them headings and images when appropriate so people can quickly see what you are talking about.
Be sure to leave some space in your post. Like Tom's analogy of cleaning out the closet, don't leave words packed in there. Give them some space to breath. That makes reading it much easier.
For two examples of this check out (and these are two of many here):
Denver Real Estate and Relocation and Turner's Perspective, these two do excellent work with formatting, images, and thought composition.
Caleb.... this is a great concept that is easily forgotten and or over-looked. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe you could have titled this, Spring Cleaning.... lol Good post, thanks.
Caleb,
Very interesting post. I followed the links through to the visual depictions of other sites. It was to much to comprehend at one sitting . Something I will have to visit over and over again.
Thanks for this reminder Caleb. I've thought of doing exactly what you are recommending on more than one occassion but have gotten side-tracked. I hope I have improved since I started Blogging so I can probably go back and tweak several of my blogs. In addition, I'm going to tell Bob to clean out our personal website. There's always room for streamlining there too!
Caleb... thanks... but it's easier sometimes to think of these things when there is no pressure. But come up with an idea to blog about it, and the brain shuts down on a good title... ;o) At least mine does. Because of your post and a few that were done last week, it taught me to be more creative with the title/subject line. I wrote that post about groups and where certain blogs belong. I thought it was a good blog. About a week later, 2 other people wrote about the same thing, but not only was their title catchy, they added a slight twist within the post. It woke me up some..... thanks
Good point Maureen, that's actually one thing I was thinking as I wrote this.
oh no, another post to remind to start thinking again!! ARRGGH!! :))
G
ood points Caleb. time to organize. time to get with the program? eh? btw, i love my messy desk drawer. and maybe a pack rat. i dont think anyone has a clean desk drawer,.. except for those who suffer OCD.
and how long are you gonna be underwater? Last time I looked you were skiing! what a life! :)
Spring cleaning on all levels is important - edit - edit - edit...
BTW ...like your new "Spring Look"! Snow is melting...back to the beach!
A wonderful time to clean up your website. The buyers seems to come out of the woodwork once Spring arrives. Thanks for the reminder.
I think using spacing is one of the most important elements to a blog to help the reader digest the information presented to them.
Scott
Caleb... you STOLE my idea.
I'll just have to wait a few months and RE-INVENT this post in my own way... and post it so that the next 20,000 memebers benifit from MY (and yours too) wisdom.
Me