Louis is obviously a smart guy. He has some heavy hitters contributing to the HomeGain blog and is already generating a lot of conversation. There has to be someone reading this that has an opinion about what he put forward in this post.
(now if we can just convince him to start the comments with the first comment at the top, not the most recent comment.........maybe it's just me, but I was confused for a minute)
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Brian,
I'm sure he is just trying to get some people to come out and challenge his thinking.
Danny,
Tell him, not me :-)
Bob - That was an interesting read. I didn't even realize that Homegain had a blog. That must be his attempt at reverse psychology for web 2.0. Clearly, real estate agents that would be reading his blog would recognize the power of blogging for clients.
Our blogging efforts or should I say Monika's efforts are paying off for us. We have picked up a few good leads already this week.
I have never been a Home Gain follower and we won't pay for lead generation.
It's a litle tricky reading backwards. LOL
He must think blogging is a good thing or why would he start one.
Ditto - Rich! I joined HG back in the early days when you didn't have to pay a monthly fee, just a referral fee at transaction close and did have some very limited success. When they changed their business model to everyone paying a fee every month, I chose not to participate.
My one year anniversary on AR is coming up soon, and I can emphatically proclaim that due to the consistent level of business I have received from participating in AR (especially localism), I would be willing to pay a monthly fee. :)
The fact that Louis only knows of three bloggers who have profited directly from their blogs, show just how out of touch he is with the blogging segment of agents - but hey - we don't have to pay for leads, (even though some like Missy make the choice to do so) - why would he know us?
It must be another attempt by HG to acquire more juice. Stir up the controversy and the links and juice will follow.
Bob.... thanks for bringing this to our attention. I didn't read the whole blog, because it was just way to long and somewhat repetitive. But I will have to agree with a few, it sounds like reverse psychology. One thing that I don't care for is someone stating facts when they only have a few to supply. Lack of research doesn't get a gold star from me. He mentioned 3 names... and I have talked to about 25 people personally, that blogging has been about 50% of their business. In 2008, it's about 80% of my business, behind referrals from past clients/repeat clients.
Overall, you just have to wonder if this is just another way to stir up publicity for HG. For the most part, I disagree with what Louis talks about. The internet, with the combination of blogging is and will be the wave of the future. It's been proven to me. Besides, it sounds like they want to control part of their site to be a true lead generator, turning around and selling leads to realtors and other services. Personally, I think that would be a bad move.
This is what I said on BHB in response to comments from Louis on Brian Brady's post about Louis's post. (like that wasn't confusing...)
Basically, I'm not impressed. I'm sure he's a great guy, but I just don't think he likes free flow of information.
Bob- Well, I don't care what he has to say because I don't like homegain, been there, done that, move on. I came by to say hi :)
ah, and thanks to you and all the team at AR; I am too busy making money, getting listings and sales to take lose my focus on someone like him or anyone else that does not realize the value of blogging, the proof is in the pudding, and you need laser focus to get what you want in life!
Katerina
Bob, I think he has a dying model and he doesn't like it. In the final analysis all evidence and learning is anecdotal so why was he lambasting blogging with this epithet? I was really surprised to see so many ARers commenting there.
Bill Roberts
Well you know, the nice thing about this world is that we're not all the same... wouldn't that be boring. Therefore, one size does not fit all. We can all do whatever we please to find success, and there will be a variety of methods. One man's blog is another man's poison. To each his own.
Blogward and upward!
Bob, the reason I did not want to tell him was I did not want to add to his conversation. If he truly believes this, then he is full of it. I have to believe that he wrote it to drive people to him.
For those on ActiveRain, you can search the tag ActiveRain Success Story and find people that rant about what this does for their business. but it does not stop there and there is a group that was created that is about Applauding ActiveRain.
Wait, why in the heck am I telling you this. You already know it.
Let me see...I can learn to build a blog and gain customers. These are customers that seek me out through their efforts. They contact me, we work out the details and make a deal happen.
I can pay for leads. Call the leads to find out they have no idea why I am calling or were just messing around on the net. Now I have wasted my money, time and am pissed off.
I am far from a pro at it, but blogging is building my business. AR is definitely worth the time and effort we put into it. Someday, others will understand. Until then, we just know the best kept secret. Let the rain continue.
Interesting, only three people are making money from blogging? Well hell, I guess I'm going to have to stop working with all my clients that I've gotten thanks to Activerain, because clearly I'm losing money.
Are they idiots?
Ok I give in, we've got to get the reverse chronology fixed on our blog!
More on blogging and HomeGain's view on it in a future post.
Thanks for the comments
Louis
General Manager
HomeGain
http://blog.homegain.com
Louis,
Thanks :-) Makes it a little easier to read!
Everyone Else,
Thank you for commenting. I know that many of you have had success with your blogging efforts so I was hoping you would stop by Louis' post and let him know of additional success stories.
Indeed I thank those that are sending me their blogging success stories. Stop by the blog and you will also hear homegain success stories!
We have thousands of customers AND there is no long term contract so our customers chose to be with us.
If you would like to post your success stories I can create a separate part of our blog devoted to your successes so others can read and learn.
Of course I disagree, but then again, his content got me to read his blog. So I guess that is worth something.
I wonder if that is really his opinion or it if was truly a PR move. My guess is the latter which makes putting these types of opinion out in the RE.net almost like a lie on a website that is supposed to be a trusted resource. His points all too conveniently align with HomeGain products for me. My hope is that readers will be to see the post for what it is. My fear is that they will not. I would hate for an agent to miss out on a chance to make some money because of this ill information that contradicts many well-sourced studies.