Blogging to the "Competition", That's like showing the other team your playbook....IS IT?

While I was writing endless amounts of blogs the past few months; I often found myself questioning, WHY? I could be making phone calls, writing personal notes or prospecting for more business. Nope, I was spending hours writing to an online community of Realtors. The same Realtors that were out previewing properties & writing offers, while I was typing away on the keyboard. I put allot of time and effort into my blogs that were meant to benefit my competition. (Insert conflicting comment on competition from a EXTREMELY friendly Realtor here).

I would tell co-workers, friends & family that I was really enjoying writing my blogs. Their immediate question was, "Are your clients enjoying them too?" After admitting that I was blogging to other Real Estate Agents, they immediately questioned, WHY? If you're going to "waste" your time blogging, shouldn't it be to potential buyers & sellers? That is a fair statement, but nope, I enjoyed blogging to a group of individuals that I've never DIRECTLY benefited from.

Obviously, this blog has a happy ending, so I will move on from the NEGATIVE WHY & start to tell you the POSITIVE WHAT. As in what happened and why I will continue to blog to the "competition."

As I would participate in the Active Rain Blog-O-Sphere, I would read the featured blogs (why waste your time with anything less). Active Rain has a unique eye in deciding what blogs get featured. My goal was to pin point why a blog was selected. I started increasing my Real Estate IQ at an extremely fast pace. I would read other professionals experiences, helpful hints & ideas. I found myself talking more about real estate and coming up with creative ideas to grow my business.

If I needed material for a mass e-mail or mailing, I would search through Active Rain and find pertinent information to pass along. Pertinent meaning -information that is more useful then telling your client that interest rates are down & you should buy now, because I said so. The e-mails I send have actually generated responses which have led to a more active client & REFERRALS. Yes, when you stay top of mind and provide useful information, there is a chance that your client may refer you to their co-worker that has been sitting on Realtor.com the past 3 months.

Although no one has given me a direct referral via Active Rain (Don't you want to be my first?) I contribute the success I've had over the past few months in part to the Active Rain community.

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY!