I Say ToeMayToe-You Say TahMayToe-At The End Of The Day It's Still A Fruit

That's right a tomato is a fruit. There are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes and they aren't all red.  However at the end of the day no matter how you pronounce it or what your favorite is it is still a fruit.

That's the same way with blogging.  Everyone has the choice to pick not only the platform they use but what they want their blog to accomplish.  Want to use your blog just to post listings?  Want to blog about local events?  Want to focus on short sales?  Want to blog about neighborhoods?  Want to feature your photography?  Go ahead it's completely up to you. 

The biggest questions you need to answer before you invest a significant amount of time on blogging are:

What do I hope to accomplish and how do I calculate my return on investment? 

My ROI has always been focused on the amount of business generated from my blog and my target market.  Yesterday I put my 20th military renter (within 3 years) in a property in Belmont Bay in Prince William County VA.  Military renters are one of my target markets and Belmont Bay is one of the communities I regularly add to my posts to tell them about the area.
  
Don't worry about conflicting opinions about what you should and shouldn't do with your blog.   No one has the answer about what is right for you except you.  There are thousands of examples of great bloggers on Active Rain and also on other platforms as well. Get out and surf the net to find the ones that resonate with you.  You can learn a lot by following them and reading about their success stories. 

Just remember to pick the tomato you like and stick with it.  Tomato plants don't magically produce fruit overnight.  They need nurturing to grow and so does your blog.  One post might not make your phone ring but a dozen might.  Keep at it and you'll be the next success story we read on Active Rain.