In my post last night I wrote about how much discussion there was about blogging at the CRS Sell-a-bration in Hawaii.  Blogging a Topic at CRS Convention   

I thought I would continue on the topic a little further.

I have spoken to dozens, probably hundreds of agents about the importance of blogging and Active Rain.  I have sent invitations to many, to have them not join or join and do very little with it.  Isn't that true of people in general?  You can show 100 people how to make more money and 2 or 3 will actually do the work required to take advantage of the idea.

Blogging is the future.  Customers are spending more time on the internet.  They are shopping there long before they are ready to call a real estate agent.  If you want to be the agent they choose you need to meet their internet needs before they call you.  We have all seen the statistics about what percentage of customers are shopping on the internet before they call an agent.  The more important thing about those stats is that they are not only a big percentage, but it is growing and the amount of time they spend on the internet is also increasing.  Customers are shopping much further in advance of the time they will actually be doing a real estate transaction.

Your website needs to be content driven.  Give the consumers what they want (information).  The blog gives them a chance to learn more about you.  Let's call it a silent interview.  They not only learn more about you and needed topics they can also interact and ask questions while still in the investigation stage, without committing to a sales rep.  Standard websites as we know it will be dinosaurs soon.  How many agents do not even have a basic website?  How many of them are in the group of those complaining how bad the market is? 

The most successful agents I know, have professional websites that have useful content.  They also have targeted websites for various segments of the market, like luxury home buyers, waterfront properties, military clients, sellers, etc.  Most of them already have personal blogs and are probably on Active Rain or other similar forums.

With all of this knowledge the question is will we be part of the 2 or 3 percent who take full advantage of this knowledge or we be part of the 97% who have reasons why it is a waste of time and money?

Over the next two months I will be completely redesigning my internet presence.  I hope to be part of the 2-3% that not only maintain our web presence, but gain market share.  Active Rain is the one part I will not be changing much, other than adding the personal blog when it becomes available.

Good Luck and good blogging.