01 | 28 | 2009 Posted By Douglas Heddings

More on the Broker Blogger's Dilemna: To Post or Not to Post...Property That Is

Since TrueGotham's inception in March of 2006, I have refused a plethora of requests to advertise on my blog for fear that I couldn't maintain the integrity of the site and I still continue to deny advertisers (perhaps foolishly but it's what I choose to do for now). 

In the meantime, I have also resisted marketing my own exclusive properties during these past 3 years and after a great internal struggle, I have decided to feature my exclusive properties under the TrueGothamTV link entitled Property Videos.  At no time do I intend to clutter this blog with marketing which is precisely why I decided to file the videos in a place that a reader must actively search if they wish to see the properties.  As new properties hit the market, they will be posted to the main page and archived in the Property Video section of TrueGotham.  So if you don't wish to view them, you don't have to.

Thank you again to all of my readers for your insightful and thoughtful input and I'm looking forward to continuing to share my take on Manhattan real estate market dynamics and goings-on.

Written By:Matt On January 28, 2009 4:25 PM

Doug,

I say go ahead and start putting some advertisers on here. You work hard to maintain this blog. I think most people expect some level of advertising on sites. If kept at a reasonable level there is no reason you shouldn't get paid for your work. Anyone who hates on that is just a hater in general and you can't really worry about them.

Written By:Douglas Heddings On January 28, 2009 4:45 PM

Thanks a lot Matt. We shall see...for now I remain advertiser free. At least until I figure out how to pick and choose my advertisers.

Written By:henry On January 28, 2009 9:25 PM

Definitely put up ads. Maybe put up a picture (with link to listing) where city harvest ad is. Also, include a link to all of your listings somewhere.

That said, I find your Jan 27 link to be annoying. Leave your blog space for the blog.

Written By:Douglas Heddings On January 28, 2009 10:13 PM

Thanks for thre input Henry and sincerely sorry for the annoyance. Truly not my objective at all. I'm trying to figure out how I can have the properties passively posted behind a link without showing up on the main page when I initially post them. I think I have to play with posting dates.

I'm working on it especially because I have yet another video to post tomorrow.

Thanks again for the input. I'm listening!

Written By:Peter Comitini On January 29, 2009 9:33 PM

Hi Doug;

First congratulations on NY Times piece, well deserved. BTW, they thought it was okay to run advertising near the editorial about you :-)

Second, I don't see why posting about property that you represent would necessarily be "clutter"; depends on how it's done. The work we do is marketing properties, posting a story about a new availability is brokerage. Nothing to be shy about. People are interested in property. Glad to hear that you're making a change.

Written By:Douglas Heddings On January 30, 2009 11:36 AM

Thanks Peter. TG has never been salesy and I don't want it to be about that. It is much more about me staying in touch with my sphere than anything else.