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.’
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