Who are you writing for?

There's been a lot of talk online, about who we should be blogging for.

The most successful use of blogging, according to consensus at least based on interaction and potential for transactions, appears to be blogging for local consumers.... in other words "Localism".  Writing about local events... new restaurants, fairs and celebrations, concerts, etc... along with local marketing reports.  Those seem to get the most eyes, and thereby the most calls.  And hopefully, at least for some, those turn into transactions.

I'm sure that's true... but I've never been much of a reporter of local events... I have written a few localism posts, and while they do seem to generate a whole lotta hits, they haven't, at least for me, turned into transactions.  When I wrote about Evanston's much-celebrated 4th of July Parade, it did make my phone ring, but the calls were almost a year later, and they were inquiries about who to contact in order to register an entry into the parade.  Or what time the parade starts.

I have written a few posts about local restaurants, and those are always enjoyed, but I'm more interested in generating comments on my blogs, and since those are local, they generate less interest in the comment stream than articles that resonate with readers from just about anywhere.

I know there are successful bloggers who are predictable as Old Faithful, and they do their marketing reports on Mondays, a local interest piece on Tuesday, something about food on Wednesday, Interest Rates and Mortgage on Thursday and Open House listings on Friday.  I'm just not interested in being that predictable.  I write what interests me, what tickles my funny bone that day, and often it's about a recent issue that came up in a personal transaction, or that of a colleague.

I guess, you could say, I write for me.  I write what I want, when I want and when the mood strikes.

That hasn't caused consumers to flock to my blog (although many have found it)... it hasn't caused buyers and sellers to call me in droves... but what it has done is make a strong connection with other members of Active Rain, and it has generated (after a slow start) referral after referral after referral from people who've liked what they've read, and have someone buying or selling in my area, and want them represented by the guy they've come to know online.

I can live with that.

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