That’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. Different people blog for different reasons. Some do it to build their brand as a leading and influential voice in their industry (e.g., Fred Wilson from AVC). Some do it to create great content for SEO, which in turn drives clients. I do it mostly for therapy, and because I have stuff to say and my ego believes that people might want to hear it. I’ve never met a microphone I didn’t like, and a blog is like having your own microphone that's always on.
But I was pondering this question the other day from an agent’s perspective, and asking myself: “Would I recommend to a real estate agent that they blog?” And sadly, the answer was “probably not”. The fact is that blogging – especially blogging well – is incredibly time-consuming. It takes ages to build up a sizable audience. And it can be a lonely and discouraging pursuit, until you have a large community.
It is true that the top 1% of agent bloggers (e.g., Kris Berg, Jay Thompson) get a lot of business from their blog. And I’ve spoken with many agents who can directly attribute tens of thousands of commissions to their blogging efforts. But for every successful agent-blogger, there are thousands more who are wasting their time, basically talking to themselves when they blog. That time could be better spent prospecting for clients and working their sphere of influence in other ways, and blogging just isn’t a good ROI for them. Of course, if they're like me, then perhaps that’s ok – I would probably blog even if no one ever read it. In the old days, we used to call that a “journal”, and there’s a reason those have been around as long as cavemen have been writing on walls.
Is blogging working for you?
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