Some time ago, Todd graciously contributed to my Loan Officer Survival Guide. I asked him to write the ‘how to’s’ on starting a blog, a topic he’s well qualified to write on since he seemingly starts a PR4 (or above) blog once every 12 hours. Later, I got on Jonathan Dalton a little bit for calling blogging ‘prospecting.’ (It’s still not).
I’m still watching a lot of nonbloggers enter the fray to start a blog, and sometimes the posts start really solidly, then degenerate into a morass of ‘now is an excellent time to buy or sell real estate,’ uselessness to them and their readers. The blog gets abandoned and life moves on. 80-90% of the people that blog get no benefit out of actually blogging…but they support those of us that do.
Blogging can be the biggest, most distracting time suck in the history of time sucks. But, if you can power through, it can be one of the most invigorating and rewarding ways to get business, refine your voice, help others, and put yourself out there. Realize that the law of ratios still applies; just as 90% of the practitioners that enter lending and real estate fail, so do 90% of the people that begin to blog. Here’s how to not be in the 90% that screws up.
- Realize It’s 100% OK not to blog. There are relevant, thriving 1.0 businesses out there. Lots of ‘em. You’re free to be relevant and thrive and not blog. It’s 100% OK.
- Have A Goal For Blogging. It’s okay to blog as a hobby, as a way to refine your voice, and if that’s your goal, God love you. But, if you’re blogging for business, make sure that the blog supports that idea. I have many blogs because I have many goals for this thing.
- Give Value First: Consumers desperately need a clearly written easy to understand way to figure out what the heck to expect on a blog. Write that for ‘em. Give ‘em a reason to come back and talk, not a friggin’ sales pitch.
- Get A Return: Don’t hesitate to give a sales pitch. I know, I know, contradictions. This starts with The illustrious Teresa Boardman advocates being seriously easy to find. I’d agree. Put all of your contact information on every single page and even at the bottom of your RSS feed. You want people to contact you, make it simple, don’t worry about spam because Google aps takes care of that.
- Edit Every Post: I let things sit, and reread everything. I’m not perfect but this keeps the obvious hanging sentences and malcommunication out of what I write.
- Focus On Quality Content, Not Post Frequency. Yaro talks about the ‘pillar post,’ as a way to really post. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. You want to post often, but you can just do link posts.
- Cap Your Social Media Time. It’s easy to let it be a time suck. I use a series of timers to cap how much time I’m spending (I have 24 minutes to finish this post). You don’t want it to be a serious time suck, and your focus will be laser sharp if you cap your time. WE ARE SEEKING ROI, NOT A WAY TO AVOID REJECTION.
- Look at Feedback. No, it’s not when trendy bloggers think you’re cool (but that’s fun), look at search traffic, bounce rates, etc. Figure out what it’s taking to get the traffic you want engaged. See #5. Every practitioner has something to give, so let’s do it.
- Link to Good Stuff. A lot of bloggers don’t link out because they want to ensure they keep the traffic. OKFINE, but the reason I’m on Bloodhound Blog (and here, etc) is because I could count on the various lists and awards to call the best of the net to my attention. If you become a Trusted Filter…that’s enough to get traffic. (See Earth’s most efficient blogger, Dustin Luther, for examples).
There’s no guarantee for success, but this formula is presently working for me. I made a lot of missteps when I started getting beyond the simple livejournal stuff that started me on this path. I’ve made tons of mistakes, and had I started with that advice…
Well, my 24 minutes have lapsed.
Chris Johnson trains Loan Officers at LoanOfficerSurvivalTraining.Com.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice, Chris!
Just because it doesn’t serve as prospecting for you, Chris, doesn’t mean a blog can’t serve as prospecting for anyone.
I can give you a dozen or more examples of real estate agents whose primary client acquisition comes through their blogs.
That, simply put, is prospecting.
JD-
I never said it didn’t serve as client aquisition. There are some semantic here, but it’s neither prospecting nor is it even LIKE prospecting. don’t think it’s efficient, but it’s rejection free
-Chris
Chris: Love this post. Blogging is brain networking. It’s mind to mind 24/7 without some of the usual distractions. It’s the right form of communication for a new generation of consumers.
The linking to good stuff part is the most important thing. Blogs can’t provide as much value as mainstream media outlets, but you can still link to them, and others, while adding your own voice to it.
I like the number 1 item “Realize It’s 100% OK not to blog”. I meet a lot of people that think “they have to be online and have a blog”. But when I look at the most successful companies in my area they have a small or non existant online presence.
“Hi my name is Paul and I’m a non-blogger”
Audience, together: “Hellllloooo Paul”
LOL
On a more serious note, I’m going to add a point #10, which is arguably already covered in Chris’ point #3…
#10 Do something positive with your blog
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