Stop Acting Like Blogging Is Rocket Science

(Bear with me.)

The avant-garde trend of Blogging Evangelism in real estate blogs has ironically turned quite blase in their ubiquity.  What?
Let me try that again.

It seems that the giving of advice, and the posture of expert, has become so fashionable that it’s impact is lost.  What?
Let me try that again.

Everyone thinks they need to share their expertise, no one is being heard.  Oh.

Teresa Boardman, our resident real estate blogging goddess asks us 21 questions, less as an effort to gain answers, than to point out how irrelevant the concern is.  It seems lately everyone wants to learn from Teresa’s success by assuming they already know where it is coming from.  Fancy talking interviewers are clouding the true point and focus of Teresa’s efforts in their own need to explain it all away.  It’s not about being an expert; blogging is not rocket science, it’s about being yourself, and putting what you have into it.
—

Oh Mr. Tomato, Round and Red, clear up my confusion so I can turn off my computer and go to bed.

Maybe you or your readers can help me with this blog stuff.  Recently I have been interviewed by newspapers, a couple of magazines, some pod casters, and some “big” blogs.  They ask me questions about my blog.  Some of the interviewers have never read my blog and don’t really understand what a blog is.  I answer their questions and send them to the Tomato for information and advice.  Why do they want to know what a blog is anyway?

The questions they ask don’t make sense.  One publication told me that my blog has a good page rank, and asked me about it.  I had to fake my way through the question and change the subject.  After the interview I looked up my page rank for the very first time, then looked up the page rank for my web site and it was even higher, wonderful.  If page rank is so important how come I get most of my leads through my blog but my web site has a higher page rank?  How come I don’t understand page rank, what does it do and why do I need it?

Another blog writer noticed that St. Paul Re is number four in Google.  I have no idea what that means.  I should have asked but did not want to show the world that I know nothing about SEO.   My understanding is that being on top means that people will find my blog first when they search.  This is very confusing to me because I track search terms and there are so many that I don’t understand what being on the top means.  My blog comes up first in Google when I type in Teresa Boardman.  I can’t imagine why anyone would use those search terms when looking for a home.  If I type in “real estate blogging goddess” your blog comes up first with a link to mine.  How can that be?  You are the Tomato.   If I type in real estate tomato your blog comes up first.  Congratulations you made it to that coveted number one spot!  Go Jim!

It gets even more confusing.  Last week my blog was called a little blog and was compared to some big blogs.  After the interview I went and looked at the big blogs.  My little blog gets as much and in some cases more traffic than big blogs do, it is older than most big blogs and has more posts.  Is my blog little because it is about St. Paul instead of about New York?  Maybe it is little because I am a small business owner and not a large corporation.  If you could shed some light I would be grateful.  What is a big blog?  What is a small blog? Does size matter?

If size does matter will you help with a redesign so that I can make it look bigger?  Most of the big bloggers are men.  Can women have big blogs too?  Most are a decade younger than I am.  Is life experience slowing me down, or clouding my judgment?  Is it relevant in the new 2.0 world, or does my age make me obsolete?

It usually takes a several months of writing blog posts for a blog writer to become and expert and start giving advice to others.  Being surrounded by so many advisors and teachers all giving advice is confusing.  How do I know whose advice to take?  There are rarely any credentials posted so that I can determine the credibility and experience level of the advisor. Does experience even matter? I hear the authority in their voices as I read the words they write. They all sound so knowledgeable and I know that if I see it on the internet it must be true, yet some of the advice is not the same as my own experiences.  Whose advice should I take?  Should I take the advice of the best writer? 

When I started my blog it was hard to find advice.  Recently I am learning from other blog writers that I may not be doing this whole blog thing right. Early on I was told that blogs don’t have pictures, I really screwed up, and mine has hundreds of them. I try not to obsess over it because my primary job is selling real estate.  Yet I can’t ignore the remarks because my blog does take some of my time and I really hate to waste time.  My blog doesn’t even look like other blogs. Where can I go to find the rules? Who makes them?  What is the penalty for breaking them? 
—

The moral of Teresa’s post?
Step 1. Find your focus.
Step 2. Write your articles.
Step 3. Go to bed.

Related Must Reads:
Tiger Woods Would Beat Me With A Broomstick
The 8 P’s To Blogging Success

Teresa Boardman is an exceptionally professional Realtor in the St. Paul, Minnesota area.  

Her website: www.TBoardman.com
Her blog: www.StPaulRealEstateBLOG.com
Voice: 651-216-4603

—

Thank you Teresa.  As always, it’s a pleasure having you 'on the Vine'.

Other Articles by Teresa on the Tomato

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Comments

[Ines Hegedus-Garcia (from THE RICK & INES Team)]

Teresa Rocks! Her stuff is always so clear and so direct. Now I have to follow her footsteps and get me a blog of my own.

[Lisa Dunn]

I like little blogs. They make me happy.

[Mariana Wagner]

You had me rolling! ... Like a plump tomato across a smooth granite counter top... Rolling!
It is so true ... all of it .. or none of it. Thank you.

[Michael Price]

I love this post and the whole "tounge in cheek" attitude of it really helps to drive home the point. The topic of advice and blogging has been coming up a lot in conversations lately. I've had a post regarding the issue brewing in my drafts folder for a while now. Drew Meyers and I discussed it via I.M. a couple of nights ago and my latest blog post regarding SEO was inspired by those same conversations of late.

Success with your blogging effort can only be defined by you. It's all entirely too new for anyone to say they have all of the answers.

My thought is to just use common sense and good business judgment. Learn as you go and don't assume that a self-appointed expert's advice is necessarily good. Most of the advice I've seen seems to center around gimmicks designed to create worthless traffic to a blog, some of it very unprofessional in my opinion. It kind of amazes me that so many people seem to be authoritative without any track record to back up a claim.

I also think it's important in a press interview to challenge the interviewer a bit. Establish the expectation of the story up front and don't be afraid to question the relevance of a query. The interviewer will be better off for it if you help her/him through the process.

[Teresa Boardman]

Thanks Jim. I feel better now. Yes I will go to bed, secure in the knowledge that when I wake up in the morning my page ranks will be the same, and that it is O.K. if I decide to post another picture on my little blog.

[Deborah Burns]

You know you could cover your ears with your hands, close your eyes hard, and loudly say: Nanh, Nanh, Nanh until those pesky questions go away, and then go blog!

[Marty Van Diest]

Yes, post another BIG picture on your little blog. I like em.

[John Lockwood]

You listen to blogging advice? No wonder you have trouble sleeping.

Take my advice: don't listen to advice.

If this were a Star Trek episode, you could destroy an unfriendly computer / android with that last paragraph.

[Linda Davis]

Wow! I'm going to take your advice. This is the best advice on blogging advice I've ever read.

[Mark Flanders]

It's a darn good thing it's not rocket science! The following conversation is how Sparky and I started our blog...

"Hey, you want to write a blog together?"
"Uh, Sure, sounds like fun...what do we put on it?"
"mmmmm...just whatever"
"Crabbing?
"Sure"
"Some real estate stuff?"
"Yeah, we probably should."
"How do we set one up?"
"Don't know, we'll just figure it out."
"Okay, sounds like fun"
"Yeah..."

If it ever stops being fun, we'll probably stop maintaining it!

[Sharon Simms]

What's a good blog? is about as unanswerable questions as What's a good book? There are all kinds of styles, tones, subjects...some have illustrations, some don't...some are pure fancy, others are overflowing with facts.
Just keep doing what you're doing, Teresa!

[Tony Arko]

Warren Buffett used to tell people who interviewed him how he made so much money investing. What was his secret? His answer reminds me of Teresa. His sage advice was "Buy stuff you know". Not those fancy computers and silicon chips and cell phones. Buy stuff like Coke and Oil and Insurance. Easy to understand and everyone uses it. Sounds like Teresa was cut from the same cloth.

[Leanne Paynter]

Teresa is at the TOP of the list of bloggers who DON'T need blogging advice. Others should be following her lead. She gets results and what that means in "real estate blogland" is getting buyers and sellers to call you so you can sell them a house or sell their house... and that's ALL that matters.

[Gena Riede]

Sounds like listen to your inner voice, blog and go to bed...all good advice. There will always be those that do Monday or is it Tuesday now, quarter backing.

[Drew Gissinger Andrew Gissinger]

++Editor's Interjection Here++
If anyone would like to see an example of EXACTLY WHAT NOT TO LEAVE IN MY COMMENTS, check out what Mr. DREW GISSINGER felt was appropriate to post:
++End++

Great blog about mortgage loans. There are quite a few useful online sites. Take a look at Countrywide.com, Drew Gissinger

[Maureen Francis]

It seems that most who act like it is rocket science have something to sell. Like a blogging platform.

I guess I have a little blog too. Fits me just fine.

[Terri Lejeune]

Man I love this stuff! As I sit up at midnight, pooling through blogs, and websites, and neighborhood information for our website redesign with your pal Chris Daley.. reading away.. I am humored and humbled once again by your smart insight and Teresa's wisdom. Thanks, maybe I will take a nap...

[Teresa Boardman]

Funny, I love the comments, as always they are better than the post. When I wrote the post I honestly was looking for answers to each of my 21 questions. No matter what I said Jim didn't get it. We even aurgued over the intro, which is rare because I have never before commented on it or had input. I guess I don't need any other answer than the one Jim gave.I wonder how he got so smart? When I wrote the post I was irritated, honestly, there was only one person who interviewed me that seemed to understand blogs and had read much of mine. I think blogs are the flavor of the day in real estate so people write about them even though they don't understand it. In a few months it will be something else, which is why I am working on a wiki. :)

[Cunt and Vaginal yeast]

Boring blog, get a life

++Editor's Note++
This comment was left from the IDENTICAL IP ADDRESS as the one above from a reader by the name of Drew Gissinger. Real Classy. I guess he didn't enjoy being called out for trying use my site as his advertising platform.

[Tim]

This is a great blog. Yes it's boring to you because you're confusing this blog with http://www.rottentomatoes.com. If you want to see why this blog is good, read http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/notablog/story/good_blog/.

I've seen your "articulate" comments on other sites using "interesting" handles on youtube, myspace etc...don't confuse this site with those, this is not http://www.rottentomatoes.com. This is a real estate blog. Have fun and be nice!

[Megan Bangle]

LOL! Thanks for making me smile :o)