Here at Point2, we spend a lot of time thinking about real estate blogging. And blogging about blogging. After all, real estate blogs are a great way to build your personal brand, establish yourself as a local expert, give your SEO a boost, connect with your audience and much, much more.

In the past we've written a lot of helpful posts on the topic, including sharing 5 blogging tips and creativity strategies, but it occurs to us that we've never broached the topic of what NOT to write about. Getting consumers excited about your real estate blog can be a challenge from the get-go; you certainly don't want to turn them off before you've even had a chance to show them what a wonderful agent and person you are.

With that in mind, here are blog topics that are more likely to alienate readers than to inspire potential customers:

Client Details

It seems silly to say this, but we've seen it happen, so please, please read your blog posts before publishing to make sure you didn't accidentally share any confidential client information. This includes mortgage details, incomes, offer and counter offer amounts and more. Give your clients and transactions some privacy by leaving names and addresses out of posts. If you want to write about a particular sale, be considerate and ask the parties involved before you post!

Your Competitors

Like the old saying goes, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Writing negative posts about your competitors – even if you're just referencing their ads, website or listings in an offhand way – is a major no-no. Instead, why not shine the spotlight on professionals in your network who could provide a service to your readers? Profile great mortgage lenders, talented landscape designers and other wonderful resources in your neighborhood.

General Misfortunes

Everyone has bad days. Advertising your misfortunes is most likely not going to win you any fans or loyal readers. If your goal is to attract happy, successful buyers and sellers who are going to result in easy and wonderful transactions, it's probably best to focus on the positive. No one wants to hire an agent who sounds like he or she is down in the dumps and just can't get things to go their way.

Everything Under the Sun... in ONE Post

Assume that your online readers are busy people with shortened attention spans. If they wanted to read a book about real estate, they would. Instead they are coming to you for relevant real estate updates delivered in an easy-to-digest format. With that in mind, keep your posts succinct and focused on a single topic. Use formatting and pictures to make them visually appealing. A real estate blog is generally no place for budding novelists, but if you know of a site that proves us wrong on that score, we'd love to see it!

All Listings, All the Time

We all know that online consumers are looking for listings, but they have so many places to find them. Your website, your emails, other agents' websites and emails, national portals... you get the idea. Unless you are able to run a weekly post entitled "The Best Listing You're Not Going to Find Anywhere Else," skip the boring 'new listing' posts and instead work in listing photos and details as they relate to the subject of your blog posts. Got a listing with a great front yard? Write a post with curb appeal tips and include a picture.

You may have noticed that "Cute Pictures of Your Dog" wasn't included on this list. That's because occasionally sharing personal photos and stories can really work in your favor. People like seeing a human side of you that they can relate to, in addition to learning from your professional advice. Readers love it when we profile our coworkers or share silly pics of our team on Facebook; it lets them know that we are much more than (awesome) real estate marketing robots.

What are your most popular blog posts about?

To view the original article, visit the Point2 Agent blog.