Purpose Driven Mortgage Blogs, Social Networking, and Realtor on Realtor Action
September 23rd, 2008 categories: Mortgage Blogs / Social Media
REblogworld was awesome this weekend. Just wanted to say thanks to Todd Carpenter, Jason Berman and all of the presenters for sharing their insight.
It was an excellent seminar and I feel that I have a much better understanding about the future of technology and new media marketing in the mortgage and real estate industry.
My goal for this weekend was to ask everyone I met - “Why?” - Why do you blog or play on social networks?
Mortgage blogging and social networking will give you more exposure.
Well, this is the typical answer that some industry professionals will give for participating in social media.
The big problem that I have with this whole social networking, blogging, and Realtor on Realtor love fest is the lack of purpose most people have for their efforts online.
Just being found on Google when someone searches for your name or company doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a bunch of business. This huge quest for exposure is fueled by our industry’s love of self.
We put our photos on cards, billboards, and magazine covers. In 2005, I had my ugly mug on 80 bus stop shelters all over Vegas. I’m talking about my entire face, and then a little phone number. I could have probably designated more space on that sign for my number, but I’m a Leo and had to keep it real.
If a famous NBA star didn’t already occupy the top 32 pages on Google for my name, I would probably be consumed with that noise as well.
The people I spoke to at reblogworld were actually able define their purpose for exposure.
Tod Carpenter designs high traffic platforms to build strong networking relationships and enable the success of his contributors.
Dan Green communicates directly to mortgage clients through his blog for the purpose of establishing himself as a mortgage professional that his clients and referral partners can trust and be confident working with.
Mariana Wagner blogs about Colorado Springs real estate for the purpose of generating new business from buyers and sellers who find her in the search engines.
Dustin Luther had the same objective as Mariana when he launched his RainCityGuide.com. He just took the angle of creating a group blog so that several local professionals could leverage their combined content for the purpose of building a high traffic site.
There were several other great presenters and they all had a purpose behind their web efforts.
What is your purpose for building a mortgage blog, participating in social networks, and commenting on all forms of social media?
Justin Smith, a social media marketing coach, posted a video about the value of commenting on other high traffic blogs for the purpose of building relationships with new audiences. Even though there are strategic SEO and SEM benefits, his main objective in this social networking video was to explain the value of tapping into a wider audience.
Brian Brady, a San Diego Mortgage Broker and contributor on Bloodhoundblog.com, is active on social networks for exposure. His goal is to be everywhere online a customer may be searching for real estate related advice vs waiting for someone to find one of his blog articles in a long tail search on Google. Brian’s objective is simple, he wants to have 10,000 people in his permission-based email marketing database.
Tony Sena, my partner in crime, launched a real estate social network in June of 2006 for the purpose of SEO. Yes - networking, education, conversation, referrals…. all of that too. We really love the members of our community, but the purpose was to create a high traffic authority site that our members could leverage for SEM and SEO value. “Link Building and Click Through Traffic” for those of you who are lost. We still have people who don’t get it and just show up to spam profile pages with banner ads. It’s OK though, technology has hit this industry so fast that it is going to take a little while for everyone to figure things out. We’re doing our best to raise awareness about the proper etiquette for participating in social media.
Exposure, SEO, and Networking are the benefits for participating in real estate social networks and blogs.
Just keep your purpose clear. Dan Green spends an hour a day blogging, while Mariana said that she can easily spend 5 to 8 hours. These are two examples of industry professionals who are generating almost 100% of their business as a result of some form of blogging, social networking, and SEO.
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Mark Madsen
Mortgage Blogger
Raintree Mortgage
Las Vegas, NV
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702-496-5626
mark@myfhablog.com
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Mark
This is the best post on social networking I have seen. I really agree with keeping your message very clear and to the point. I even believe that picking that specific niche will drive the traffic that YOU want to do business with to YOU! The more specific, the more you will reap the rewards!
[...] just got back from Reblogworld and the main idea that stuck with me was “Having a Purpose.” What is your purpose for exposure? [...]
Thanks Tim. We all have been guilty of getting caught up in the noise. At a certain point though, we have to decide whether we are mortgage professionals or Internet marketers. It’s kind of difficult to be effective at both.
Mark, I see blogging as a way to avoid costly brochures and flyer’s. That is not to say those items are not valuable, but a blog can serve in that capacity for the originator on a budget; however it is critical that we maintain balance and not lose focus of our main goal - closing deals. We brought that up on our 45 day accountability factor call tonight. John Maxwell said that he made the decision to focus 80% of his time on high pay off activities and if that is good for him, then that is good enough for me. Keep up the great work!
Mark, Thanks for the writeup. I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Blogging and online social marketing should replace some older less effective 1.0 methods.
One other point that I try to keep in perspective is that our job is to communicate to our clients. The blog is the most effective way to do that in a real-time and sincere manner.
Great meeting you last weekend. Look forward to more discussions down the road with you on Web 2.0 and its intersection with the Mortgage industry. JB
Thanks Jason. Great show you guys put together.
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[...] blogging leading to money in the bank or exercise in futility? [...]
Social media is all about building relationships with people. Realtors and mortgage professionals are really in the “relationship business”. We connect with buyers, sellers and other professionals to form a bond of trust and credibility. Written and video blogs build trust and credibility as well.
Bloggin is the missing link
So many despise internet leads bcz there is no relationship. the problem with total offline business approach… not enough vloume. blogging is the missing link PERIOD!
Know your target, dont get distracted… create trust online before you ever talk!
DONE
Chris the implementer
colorado fha mortgage…
Interestingly, this was on CNN last week….