In May of 2005, I strolled in to my broker’s office and said, “Hey, I’m going to start blogging!”
My broker looked at me like I had two heads.
“Why in the world would you want to do that?”
“Why to get clients, of course…. I think….”
Getting clients, being wildly successful, becoming world famous. Why exactly did I start blogging?
Part of me blogs to satisfy some weird inherent desire to write. Call me crazy, but I not only enjoy writing, I need to write. Short of having a name like Stephen King or Ernest Hemingway, blogging is the easiest way to “get published”. I would blog even if it served no business purpose.
But blogging does serve a business purpose. In the short time I’ve had my real estate blog, I’ve met new people all across the world. My “sphere of influence” has grown by leaps and bounds. I’ve met (and received referrals from) other agents, brokers, and friends. The blog has directed significant traffic to our regular web site. I’ve been interviewed by reporters from the LA Times and Arizona Republic. And yes, I’ve gotten clients from blogging.
Blogging may be the single best way to express your skills, real estate expertise and personality on the Internet. Web sites and pages tend to be static. Blogs are dynamic. The fact that blog visitors can respond via comments in “real time” makes a blog a unique tool in the on-line marketing world.
People looking for a real estate agent want someone who is an expert in the field. A blog is an excellent platform for displaying your real estate expertise. The openness and free format of a blog provides virtually unlimited opportunities for the blogger to discuss a wide range of real estate topics, or to narrowly focus on certain aspects. Just the mere fact that you have a “web presence” above and beyond the standard real estate web site sends a message that you are internet savvy and and expert in the area of on-line marketing.
Blogging is not a fad, it’s here to stay. The growth of blogging has been phenomenal. The CEO of Technorati, what many consider to be the “Google of Blogs”, reports they are now tracking over 50 million blogs and over 175,000 new blogs are created every single day.
Despite this exponential explosion of growth in the blogosphere, using blogs for real estate marketing is still relatively new and unexplored — though it is growing daily.
As a real estate professional you really need to catch this wave! Don’t be left behind. You do not want to be sitting around some day saying, “If only I’d started blogging five years ago…”
Afraid of technology? Think it’s too expensive? Think RSS stands for Really Something Stupid?
Don’t worry about it! There are simple and free blogging solutions out there! Try Active Rain, Blogger, Wordpress.com. All can get you plugged into the blogosphere literally in minutes. As you learn more (and you will) then you can branch out into hosting your own blog, setting up RSS feeds and other techo-geek things that really aren’t nearly as geekified as they sound.
Do it! In half the time you spent reading this blog, you can be on-line, linked in and you can call yourself a blogger, and you can (and will) be successful!
To Blog: The act of writing in one’s blog. A weblog (”blog:) is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Success: 1) an event that accomplishes its intended purpose; 2) an attainment that is successful; 3)achiever: a person with a record of successes.
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In case anyone’s wondering what this blog post is all about, it’s for the Real Estate Tomato / Active Rain blog carnival.
http://realestatetomato.typepad.com/the_real_estate_tomato/2006/09/blogging_succes.html
Hi Jay, having your broker think you have two heads is not as bad as what I’m going through. The other agents in the office see me coming and sneak and hide under their desks in their cubicles. Some still think the Internet as a passing phase. I lost half of them when I started my web site. Then I added my podcast and lost some more. Now that I’m blogging they think I’ve finally gone over the edge. They are always telling me to do something productive. I guess I should sit on floor duty and surf the Internet like them. Anyway enough of my ramblings. I would also like to give a big thanks you to Jay. You’ve been tremendously helpful to me with setting up my blog. Now if I could just figure out what plug-ins you’re using. I could take over the world. Just kidding
Nice and interesting post. I really enjoyed reading it and it was time well spent. =)
Mao
Rei Success