Is Blogging Dead?
Wired magazine's article last month Twitter, Flickr, Facebook makes Blogs look so 2004 posits the "death of blogging". Why?
Scroll down Technorati's list of the top 100
blogs and you'll find personal sites have been shoved aside by
professional ones. Most are essentially online magazines: The
Huffington Post. Engadget. TreeHugger. A stand-alone commentator can't
keep up with a team of pro writers cranking out up to 30 posts a day.
In general, mainstream blogging in essence has lost its cottage industry status... the new blogs are professional, mass media properties. However, most real estate blogs don't aspire to be revenue generating entities based on online traffic, their mission is lead generation. With this mission, the objective for the average agent is simply to get as fast an online presence as possible in the least amount of time.We know building a content rich real estate blog, with how-to articles and tips, takes a lot of time. With so many agents already thinking that the blog is the new new website, I think the rules for real estate blogging are now being rewritten. Yes, blog articles can make fine reading, but what your clients really want to know is how the housing market is doing at this very minute, tips to save money, and secret stuff about their neighborhood. All in an easily processed sound bite. Instead of writing a how-to article or an explanation on the mortgage application process, just spend a few minutes citing and complimenting someone else (who you hopefully know and respect) who has done a fabulous job explaining it.
Over at HomeGain blog, I've posted nine tips on how to make your blog timely and content rich, without having to write long blog articles.
Blogging is not dead, it's changing.
Related articles: I delve further into the changing nature of blogging with the article "The Portability of Content" at MediaTransparent.com
I have been watching Blogging the past couple of years and believe that its not dead, but bloggers are finally realizing that blogging alone will not build a real estate business. Real Estate businesses can be built using the Internet as my Brokerage is living proof of this. Blogging on the other hand is a great tool to keep your visitors loyal to your site.
Over the past few years I have seen so many Agents tout the benefits of how blogging will revolutionize the Real Estate industry. I have said since day one that I didn't see how it could be a sole source of lead generation. So, Blogging is not dead, it's just finding it's place in Real Estate as a supporting character.
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You may have noticed my blog has always had short articles, almost no in depth reporting on national re trends. Real estate blogging has not changed at all. Most people just don't understand how it works.
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I read that wired piece weeks ago and had to discount it. The article focused on broad category blogs looking for large audiences targeting very general keywords.
A LOCAL real estate blog should be just that - LOCAL, very focused on your NICHE market.
Our blog is creating business for us, but it is only one online source of lead generation.
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Fantastic tips,I enjoyed reading your post.
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Thank you. I have announced this your post in philipphine forum,this is a nice forum.
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You have some good reminders to keep real estate blog information focused and local to stay competitive with the trend to large blogs with a team of writers. Seems to me that the bigger the blog the more generic the information is and also less interesting to me.
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Blogs have never been a big winner on the traffic list at Alexa or anywhere. The mistake most small businesses make is that they strike too conversational, even too personal. Thus, forgetting their purpose as a business creating entity.
Blogging isnt any more dead than the website. Because the real blog is nothing more than just another website.
The mistake that most bloggers make is trying to be the next Problogger or Dave Taylor who sells stuff online. Forgetting that the purpose is to funnel buyers and sellers into their wheelhouse. With this singular purpose there is no room for frittering words that do not serve the sites larger purpose.
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