Blogging is Not Prospecting, Or Even Close.
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Jonathan Dalton says that Blogging Is Prospecting. Nonsense. For most real estate agents out there, and most of the ones (even the good ones), blogging is not going to be a justifiable use of time. Blogging is in fact, creating the worst thing: the illusion of work that gets most agents no closer to a deal than they were before. Now, there are great reasons to blog, but almost none of them have much to do with getting immediate (or even eventual) business. Todd Carpenter said to me once that people that blog for money don’t stick around. .
I have been blogging since 2002. so don’t think ‘Sour Grapes.’
In the 4th quarter of 2007, I generated $37,000 in revenue by using blog + social media contacts.
I’ve earned well over $150,000 in my career via my blogging efforts. I also never doubt that you can get pleasant contacts that make you feel good via your blog.
It’s an ego rush whenever someone comes from any of my blogs.
But, for almost RE/Mortgage Guy, telling them to start a blog for money is horribly bad and horribly reckless advice.
Blogging is inefficient.
Blogging takes effort, but is going to lull people into a false sense of security that real work is being done and that something has been accomplished. But can you send an awesome post to AMEX and say, “Dear AMEX, This blog post is so valuable that you actually owe ME money?”
Most Consumers Would Swallow a Pill To Be Done With Us.
You get that, right? Customers don’t care about the arguments between Cunningham and Shaw, they only wonder why they should pay you 6% when there’s no equity left, or why you need to charge an underwriting and a processing fee. They aren’t scouring the blogs for the best and pithiest realtor. They still get newspapers delivered to their homes, they watch Rockford Files reruns, but they simply want the easiest and cheapest way to move their house. They don’t want new friends, they have enough.
And they have never seen a blog, let alone a real estate blog.
Bars Also Get Business. So Drink Up.
I’ve been to sports bars a few times. And I’ve wound up with 3 closings from me being at a couple of sports bars. The obvious solution is to through out ROI and to go out and drink more. This way, the deals will pile up as I enjoy a great Goose Island IPA. I mean, I know I’ve had closings from bars, so it’s clearly time to go more often, right?
Having Jonathan Dalton tell us to moneyblog is sorta like having Tiger Woods tell us to take up golf. JD is great at blogging, and so he will be able to get different results. But a new Realtor with not a lot of experience in real estate–or writing–should not blog.
What then should RE Pro do that is more efficient, predictable, fast and reliable than blogging?
- Call family, friends and past clients
- Visit family friends and past clients
- Do a talk at a CDC Corp.
- Send an E-zine to people that like you.
- Go talk to people teaching Real Estate/Mortgage at your local college/community college.
- Get a list, scrub it against the DNC, and call people.
- And yes, door knock. Since I track everything, attributing 50% of the revenue to the acquisition of the lead…I know that door knocking pays $300 an hour. No kidding. Yes, it’s an ego hit, “I went to a good college, and I gotta $#%^ door knock,” It’s the most predictable path to money. (And If I was good looking, holy hell)
- Call CPAs who have just talked money with all of their people.
- Call loans that couldn’t close.
- Call orphaned mortgages. I hear some dude is doing a good job of that.
All of this stuff is less pleasant than blogging, but it makes more money more predictably. Our business case for blogging is that it’s low stress and low resistance. And as one arrow in your quiver, it’s not bad. And, in an industry that’s hideously negative, it’s one of the few places to get positive feedback. I seriously doubt that most people make dough on their active rain site (Ah, but they can bitch about how countrywide didn’t get back to them).
Why Blog Then?
Having said all this stuff…I blog almost daily. It is not something I’ll abandon, even though the business case is thin. The most important customer you reach when you blog is between your ears. You are setting up a standard of practice, advocating for an industry getting its teeth kicked in. You are becoming transparent, and you’re writing because it ensures that you uphold a standard, you think about best business practices, and you connect with people that are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more positive than those in the industry. You’re putting yourself out there a little bit so you have people paying attention.
We want to stand up and be counted as someone who is helping the industry.
We want to help other practitioners do a better job.
I want a record of how I am as it happened for the future.
I want to set the best example I can.
But I don’t give a hoot if I get a client out of this. I don’t give a hoot if anyone chooses to buy my ebook. (Thanks to the 80 that have).
For money, there are lots of better ways to do it. Don’t fool yourselves into thinking Blogging is the ‘best way to get clients.’
Presumably Related Posts:
Chris, Chris, Chris …
I didn’t say everyone should go out and start a “moneyblog”. I never said it was the “best way to get clients.” I did say that blogging works for me. The blog didn’t just appear out of the ether and start working. I started somewhere and I learned as I went.
I have a friend who has relied on friends and family. Guess what? They all have bought or sold. His pipeline’s now empty.
Blogging is time consuming? And cold calling after filtering against the Do Not Call list isn’t? Walking from house to house isn’t?
If I spend an hour writing a post (and I don’t - it takes me about 15 minutes for most) and you spend an hour smiling and dialing or knocking on doors, which one of us is going to reach the most people by day’s end? You’ll have the folks you contacted in your hour. I’ll be in front of 100 or so - and those are the hard clicks.
In any event, if cold calling or door knocking works for you, then by all means do it. In fact, I said as much in my post. But it’s not for me - I’m the type who won’t answer my front door if I don’t know someone’s coming over and sure as heck doesn’t want an agent there asking if I’ve ever considered selling.
Incidentally, I agree with you on Active Rain. I even wrote about it a couple of weeks ago.
Jonathan-
most agents aren’t experts, they are at best a concierge.
most loan officers are worse.
For them to try and blog is stupid. I’ve measured my $/hour from knocking on doors. It’s insanely great. Ego is the only reason I don’t do it more.
And, reaching people isn’t a measure. It’s getting them to act, it’s transferring emotion from you to them.
Putting an ad in front of people is one thing.
Getting them to buy from you is another.
Getting them to be a raving fan is another.
[...] Blogging is Not Prospecting, Or Even Close., by Chris Johnson. [...]
Chris — If an agent’s singular intent in blogging is to prospect, and they indeed obtain leads which turn into closed transactions, how is blogging then not prospecting?
BawldGuy Talking »
it may be prospecting, but the problem is that it’s inefficient and who wants to be an inceasant shill.
Let’s see — the blogger makes six figures easily, but the price is some call him an incessant shill.
Six figures, incessant shill, six figures, incessant shill… I wonder which way his banker and his wife will go?
Chris, I’m with you on the bootstrap approach. I did it for years, and very successfully. I love what you’re doing. But there are those in the business doing wholly different things and making more money in a quarter than those doing other things make in a year — and vice versa. Do what works for you, but realize folks are skinning cats everywhere while ignoring your methods.
BawldGuy Talking »
“My methods,” are being effective, nothing else. Subordinate all to effectiveness. I do know that there are some that do other things, and in this market, for most people, it’s darn bad advice.
I don’t give a hoot what people think of me. And you know what? I’m tellin’ ya, there aren’t as many cats being skinned as people are letting on.
[...] blogging prospecting? We’re Point and Counterpoint with Jonathan Dalton and Chris [...]
Well, let’s see …
Lead comes in today from Jay Thompson’s blog … the client’s on my side of town so they call me. I’m booked but pass it to another agent in my office who I trust.
When I walked in this afternoon to file paperwork he was writing an offer for these folks whose first contact came from a blog.
Hmmm …
I closed a house Monday with a Canadian who found me on my blog.
Hmmm …
My closing in January was a referral off another agent’s blog. My two closings currently for May both were from the blog.
Hmmm …
Since this is pure blind luck, I probably should head to the casino.
To tell people that blogging doesn’t count as prospecting and isn’t going to earn you any business is about as irresponsible as telling people it’s the only way to prospect and generate business.
I’ve never said the latter but I’ve sure seen the former.
And since I just thought of it, let’s take the math one step further.
Let’s say I spend an hour a day on my blog (I don’t - it’s less, but let’s just go with an hour.) That puts me at $171/hour for an hourly return on blogging.
Not $300, I admit (since I’m closer to 30 minutes a day I’m ahead of the $300 but I digress) … but I’m willing to bet that cold calling and door knocking isn’t going to help those agents trying to attract buyers from north of the border. Blogging can do that.
Jonathan Dalton »
Heh. How much is allocated to biz getting vs. doing; 40-60 % each way.
You’re really good at blogging. You’re an experienced agent. The Single Pointers are also really good. To say that new agents must blog…is not going to be good advice in most cases. Most agents would be well served to network, etc.
I picked on you because you could take it, and because the idea that blogging is business development is still absurd. If you didn’t first love the business…you couldn’t get anywhere with a blog. Lots of prereqs that you meet that others won’t…and that’s a/the problem.
I’m on eastern time it’s time to go to bed.
[...] This wasn’t Chris’ point, of course. Rather, he was using what I wrote as a launching pad to extend upon the notion that blogging doesn’t constitute prospecting. [...]
Speaking from the point of view where I write for 3 successful blogs corporate executive(this one is as a ghost blogger for a Fortune 500 exec, so it may not count), one that promotes a product and a gossip site that generates income from Advertising (No John Chow dollars- but some reasonable money), I think blogging when done right can serve any purpose- it is simply about having a very clear marketing plan for it. Too many people jump into blogging as “opening the conversation with the consumer.” That theory is so 2005. Today, blogging is becoming more of a real marketing tool. We have agents that generate leads off their blogs daily- but they treat their blog like a real estate website with more, better, faster content. This works for them. But their goals all along were to get good search placement, new traffic and leads. If people think they can prospect with content that doesn’t drive qualified readership- they are kidding themselves. Put together an online marketing plan that identifies the goals and the paths that need taking to get there and you can prospect, generate money or promote a product. It’s all in the planning.
REBlogGirl »
Read what I’m saying…not what I’m not saying. A new agent is going to have a hard time being good enough to predictably get clients. I blog. I make money doing it. But I’m not RECOMMENDING that to someone that needs a closing in 45 days or their mortgage is 30 days late. You said it best: If people think they can prospect with content that doesn’t drive qualified readership….they are kidding themselves.
Thanks for the reply, by the way, i’ve been enjoying you for some time.
[...] How to use demographics to craft real estate blog posts that target your readersChris Johnson, Blogging is Not Prospecting, Or Even Close.Loren Nason, Who is Your Webhost and Why it MattersWade Young, Should You Start a Blog?Steve Leung, [...]
I now understand what you’re saying Chris.
For those whose license still sports wet ink, blogging isn’t the way to go.
Works for me.
BawldGuy Talking »
Also for people that aren’t currently doing 30 deals a year, it’s probably a waste of time. Heirarchy. There are exceptions; a new agent would do well with a rookie type blog. And it would be goodt follow blogs on market conditions/survival. And if you’re failing, blogging ain’t a magic bullet.
On the RE net if anyone dast glance askance at blogging…
I think you make a great point - which I think is very solid. If you are new to the business and you start a blog thinking you are going to make money closing transactions, you will be out of the business very quickly. Forget whether the agent is a good blogger or not…buyers don’t find new blogs in the search engines - if they can’t find you, you are not there. It takes time to buold authority online and if you are new, you’ll be one before you get it.
[...] a ridiculously compelling reason for someone from the outside to contact them, or they should simply not blog. It doesn’t have to be hyper-focused, but it does have to have a reason to come back. Some [...]
[...] I get on someone about blogging (un artfully), the real message was meant to be this: if you only have one widget for getting money, [...]
People are always looking for the easy way out. You are right on–its the bascis–learn how to write copy, drive traffic to a website, create print ads that get buyers/sellers to call, hire telemarketers to get on the phone–its all the stuff no one wants to do so they blog instead, thinking its a substitute for the basics.