4Realz vs BHB: Un…imaginitive
The recent wankathon between everyone in the world and Greg Swann was a blast. Best I can tell, Swann doesn’t care–at least not at the finger wagging level of everyone else. Fun pissing contest, but beyond that, being in one camp or another makes no sense. Like him or not (and I think he might have low grade Asperger’s ) Swann has been good for the conversation here and elsewhere, and good for the standards on the Internet. Generation Y? Get a thicker skin.
The RE Net played too nicely for too long. There are too many milquetoast, unsalty, unflavorful noncontributing blogs. “Now’s A great time to buy. Seth Godin is King.” The trivial many. Who wants to be in that category? Most of us are–no doubt. People that are only mentally able to generate one or two posts a week feel obligated to post every day and more. Wattered down expansion pitching. The desire (which I myself have had) to be accepted vs. the desire to contribute pull against one another. The RE.NET has developed a lunatic herd mentality, and playing nice is the ultimate problem.
If we want to go all “Seth” on everyone–the beginning of purple cow: What committee churned out good ad copy? Why be homogeneous?
Fitting In, Vs. Making Money: Different, But Not Exclusive Choices.
To fit in, there are the nine Rules for the RE.NET. (Oh, I have been guilty of seven of them, minimum)
- Obviously, you have to profess your love for Seth Godin, Linking to him at least monthly.
- You must to be into social networking.
- You have to really blog, daily.
- And you can’t disagree too strongly, no matter how stupid the idea. (News Flash: Push marketing, well executed, works consistently and makes people happy.)
- You have to have contempt for push marketing.
- Any cause that’s supported by a few cool people deserves badges and buttons on the sidebar of your blog (ah,but don’t REALLY give any dough, just be recognized as ‘caring’).
- Any new or different 2.0/social site is a must join, regardless of the fact that we are all already tumbling, twittering, linking, facebooking.
- You’ve got to contribute to a big damn multi author blog.
- Oh, and you must mention Zillow, Truilla and/or Redfin.
Nothing wrong with plain’ nice….but if the herd is traveling in one direction, how do you stand out? What are you giving? The above rules are subscribed to with zeal. How do you make any cash doing what everyone else is doing? You can’t post more. You are working against a big lead. Why would they pick you against someone else? Your personality doesn’t even shine through much…because most people try to gain the approval of the RE net, rather than doing things for the people that close deals.
OK, OK, it’s not JUST About Money
There are a million valid reasons to blog–for me, right now, it’s personal development/improvement. The cash is an ‘asisde,’ Since 2004 and I’ve made $118,000 from web 2.0 tools, and another $81,000 from first generation referrals. 4th quarter, 07, I generated $17,000 alone. If I was in a more expensive market, it would double; remember: in Central Ohio, you live like a pharaoh in a $350k house (if you don’t mind freezing, humid winters and sticky hot summers). Not my only source of income, but a welcome spoke on my wheel of business–you know?
WHY though, do people blog for approval? The approbation of some 26 year old somewhere will NOT cure the hole in their soul. Talk about a path that I damn near went down. How much can you earn for being approved of by a Real Estate Blogger 1200 miles from your home town? Blogging is still novel and new enough that it’s profitable to cover a hyperlocal market–if you do it with a ton of style. Betcha Joe gets business from his blog, and I’ll betcha the “RE Bloggers that blog for others” don’t. But it feels like work. It non trivial to churn content. It’s easier to seek the weak praise of people by moaning the same ‘me too’ content. Posts (like this one) delude good agents into thinking they are working…because the reward at the end is an attaboy from someone they digg.
So–and I want to know–why are you blogging? Because you’ve been TOLD to? Because you HAVE to be web 2.0? Because you’re afraid to call your customers, and you want to do something that feels like work?
Blog with a purpose that you care deeply about. Doesn’t matter what your passion is–if it’s worthwhile, if it’s interesting, everything else will follow. Seek Ye First…and all shall be added.
So…I ask you all: What are you here to give?
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