The title of this post was a quote from yours truly during the recent Real Estate Barcamp in Houston 
during a discussion led by Paul Chaney about social media and its effectiveness. This pretty much sums up my personal perspective on the act of blogging as it applies to my business.
When I first started blogging four years ago on another platform, I used it just for personal opinions, rather than anything that I thought could actually help me make money. You may be surprised to learn that many of my posts were political in nature, considering the fact that I have written exactly ONE post on that topic here on ActiveRain, and that was yesterday!
I was invited to join AR back in December 2006, so I set up a quick profile, then proceeded to do.......absolutely nothing.
Well, I did write one post in March 2007, so that must be when I really got rolling, right?
Wrong.
I didn't return again until August 4, 2007, when I wrote this gem of a post:
Truthfully, that might just have been my shortest post on record. Perhaps there are those of you who long for me to return to such simplicity. :)
After I got the hang of things around here, I started regularly posting 10 times/weekly, with very few exceptions. This may seem like drudgery or highly time-consuming, but it is neither. I sincerely enjoy writing, sharing information, and making new friends, which I have since found out is the essence of a solid social media strategy.
I am happy to have received a good number of leads, referrals, and closing from my ActiveRain blog, but I would probably have continued consistently posting even without the concrete results.
But why?
Well, that's easy. This network has brought me so much good knowledge and so many friends that it has been well worth the investment of my time. Since the economy has been much less strong over the past year, this has enabled me to devote a certain amount of time every week to blogging. When the market makes a turn (and it will likely turn around in Austin before many other areas of the country), I feel that I have done a reasonably effective job of getting my name out there to other real estate professionals who have the potential to send me business, all while having fun, too. How great is that?
So, if you're new to blogging, I have a few words of advice:
-
Write a lot - It doesn't even matter what you write about, as long as it isn't offensive - just do it. The process of committing to a certain amount of content will make you a better writer over time.
-
Read a lot - There is a wealth of terrific advice, tips, and news here to be found. It's much like having a stack of real estate and blogging textbooks at your fingertips 24/7.
-
Don't expect immediate results - This is not the type of thing that will necessarily bring quick leads/prospects. Don't be discouraged by that - continue to plug away and it will happen.
-
Take advantage of the Google leverage that AR has developed - you will be found! Post it and they will come.
-
Explore other sites, too (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc.). I have received leads from several of these during my foray into social networking over the past 16 months or so.
-
Don't worry about comparing yourself to others, or trying to model others' writing style. Just be you (and I know that sentence isn't grammatically correct - who cares?).
I hope this stuff comes in handy for you. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. Thanks for reading!
My RSS feed is http://activerain.com/jasoncrouch/rss
Comments(109)