Why do we do what we do?
Blogging can be a rather time consuming effort and there are days when you feel like there is nothing left to write about. It’s not always easy and the words don’t always flow as easy as the post before. Sometimes, when you’re finished with a post that you thought would be spectacular, you reread it and decide you’re the worst writer on the planet and that fact seems confirmed by the lack of hits on that particular post. At times, you feel like you might as well just accept that while waiting for your table at the internet, you’re eventually going to hear them call out, “Blogger, party of one.”
Regardless, we real estate agents soldier on and continue generating content, fixing widgets, changing formats and layouts – toying, perfecting, and testing. We want ours to be the greatest real estate blog ever written. We’re driven to find the best combinations of words to help our local areas, generate business, and make new friends. One can also read other real estate blogs if they need advice on the best marketing strategies.
I think most real estate agent-bloggers would agree that one of the strongest pulls is the desire to educate. To help people understand the purchase (or sale) they are about to make and give them comfort that they’re not alone with all the questions bouncing around their heads. Most of the blog posts come from questions and real life experiences we agents have with our own clients. So we share those thoughts in order to help alleviate the stress from the next buyer or seller’s minds.
Of course the age old question, “what’s in it for me?,” inevitably comes up. Very few people in this world enjoy doing something for free (or without some sort of benefit to themselves). We blog to bring real estate related traffic, so that people will search for homes and pick up the phone and call us. We do it so that someone will see our latest listing and say “that’s the one.” We work tirelessly on SEO and worry about Google rankings so that we can be found in the sea of sites that exist. We want to be found and hired.
We also blog to connect – to make friends and meet new people. While that can lead to business, there is something about most real estate bloggers that I know that is a bit more than that. A desire for camaraderie; whether that of fellow real estate agents or that of locals in our town. I know I’ve made some great friends through blogging and the interest in those people and their lives can be quite a strong pull, regardless of where in their personal buying and selling cycle they may be.
All of these thoughts lead me to one more question – why do you read blogs like this one? Are you thinking of buying a new home in San Antonio or are you just curious? Do you enjoy my writing style or are you my mom? Each person will have a different reason, but each one is important enough to consider.
So what is it that compels you to bookmark this site and come back to read each and every day/week/month?
photo of Jay Thompson, legendary real estate blogger, courtesy of Dru Bloomfield – At Home in Scottsdale
