Also, I know it was half tongue in cheek, but I'd never think to bribe Greg Swann, or anyone else for that matter, just to be a part of their blog. I know from my own experience in recruiting and managing contributors that I'm not doing my contributors any great favor, the benefit goes both ways.

If you're trying to win Greg's heart, submit your good blog posts to his writing contest. If you'd like to fancy yourself as a contributor to lenderama, check out the “Sound Off” page for details on how to get my attention.

I don’t disagree with that premise at all. That said, I’d spring for a bottle of Bushmills

“Also, I know it was half tongue in cheek, but I’d never think to bribe Greg Swann, or anyone else for that matter, just to be a part of their blog.”

Yes, I meant it tongue in cheek — not half, but 100% –, but it does bring another concept to mind. The idea is paying to be a contributor. I don’t see anything wrong with that. In fact, I will go on record as predicting that it will happen. Blogs are getting more and more valuable as time passes (including those outside the real estate arena). As people hop on board to be contributors, eventually there will be too many people who want to write for a particular blog. The blog king will have to make a choice, and one obvious solution is for contributors to pay to be a part of the blog. I think it’s a ways down the road — maybe 10 years or so. If you have 50 quality contributors and you only need 25, what is a blog boss to do? You can cut people, or you can charge a fee to be a part of the blog. If you would have those people as contributors anyway, I don’t see how it would hurt the quality.

“One point I would certainly disagree with is that you need to make nice to big time bloggers …”

I will quote section 0041 of the Google patent directly:

[0041] The existence of the blog document in a high quality blogroll may be a positive indication of the quality of the blog document.

I think it’s important that Google choose to make inclusion in a “high quality” blogroll separate from section 0040, which references blogrolls in general. It does indeed matter to Google if you are listed on the blogroll of a big time blogger. Like links with Google, a bunch of PR0 or PR blogroll inclusions will eventually equal one PR5.

I also want to mention that I did like your original article, and I agree with you that blogging is a great way to reach people, including referral partners. I like your writing too. However, before people jump in, they really need to know what it takes to be successful. Otherwise, they’ll just be wasting their time, and failure isn’t good for anyone.

I don’t remember saying to write to the search engines. What I did say was to write good, quality content. Dealing with the search engines is a separate issue. That requires getting on blogrolls, establishing links, obtaining feed subscribers, posting frequently, etc. That’s separate and does not require writing with SEO in mind. I can’t imagine writing with SEO in mind. It would just be too difficult for a blogger.

Also, I’m glad Rhonda has a Rolodex of clients that she can blog to, but what about the new gal who is trying to establish a client base? She has to keep try to get her posts in the search results.

People like my architectural posts, and no wonder because those are the ones I enjoy writing the most.

Then read, read and read some more to know how you are doing and to learn from the best.

Good article. Well put together. I agree that blogging is not for everyone, but blogging can be a good mix in a loan officers marketing piece. The beauty of blogging is that you define your own success.

I think reading your article I’d be overwhelmed as a first time blogger trying to see if it makes sense to blog. There is certainly a lot to learn. But no one is asking you to be an expert over night. You can learn all that stuff as you go along. Plus a lot of that changes over time too, so its not like you need to know it all before you start.

One point I would certainly disagree with is that you need to make nice to big time bloggers – that could help, but it’s not a requirement. Again the egalitarian nature of the Internet world means the power of many less powerful bloggers is greater than the power of one powerful blogger. It doesn’t hurt to get a linkn from a big blogger, but not a necessity. I guess Todd is making the same point.

I’d also like to add that most blogging systems are pretty intuitive. If you can do e-mail you can blog. The more time you spend on your system the better you get and you’ll be very proficient in a few weeks.

The two areas where I certainly agree with is that you do need to enjoy writing. If you enjoy writing your thoughts and are good at putting together some coherent posts then you’re good to go. You correctly point out that not everyone has that skill or inclination. Also, I agree with Ling that real world experience is very important to a successful blog.

The second area is that it certainly takes a lot of effort to get started and have a good blog in place. That though is a business decision. If you decide door knocking is for you then that too takes a lot of time and effort you don’t get any results until you’ve done it for a while with a certain degree of consistency. Same goes for any other marketing campaign you decide to execute. Again goes back to your marketing mix and how you want to get leads and referrals.

Great post Wade. This is probably the longed comment I’ve every left on anyone’s post. Thanks!

Also, I know it was half tongue in cheek, but I’d never think to bribe Greg Swann, or anyone else for that matter, just to be a part of their blog. I know from my own experience in recruiting and managing contributors that I’m not doing my contributors any great favor, the benefit goes both ways.

If you’re trying to win Greg’s heart, submit your good blog posts to his writing contest. If you’d like to fancy yourself as a contributor to lenderama, check out the “Sound Off” page for details on how to get my attention.