My reply: Yes, and certainly NO. Those who treat a blog like their website are engaging in direct marketing. If one uses a blog as a direct marketing vehicle on the road to success, it will indeed be a bumpy ride and you might better invest your dollars in traditional ad venues and a good copywriter. But this is not what I think successful blogs like RCG do. They are NOT direct marketing. They are “telling” not “selling” and that distinguishes their blogs from direct marketing venues.

I would also argue the case for the indirect marketing benefits of blogging. This involves things like being linked to by A-list (well read & regarded) blogs which gives one access to their readers and authors. Also, being cited or featured by mainstream news media, being interviewed in trade journals, hired by big companies (like Move.com), speaking at industry conferences and a vast array of other venues by which one may become, and I hate to use the word, “expert”. People want to hire experts. Heck, you may even land a book deal. (I even heard 2 bloggers from NYC got paid to take a roadtrip across America.) In a way, it reminds me of building your resume in school, or the practice of realtors (like Greg) displaying their designation badges to consumers in order to get hired. Your blogging efforts may provide the credentials to set you apart from your competition. And I have not even addressed the educational or networking value of blogging as it relates to business success.

Hugh MacLeod of GapingVoid has often spoken on how blogs make good things happen indirectly– “becoming an authority on something, and using said authority to enhance your already-existing business”.

So, rather than wake Greg Swann from his dream of a direct marketing blog utopia, I would advise real estate agents NOT to use their blogs to directly market to consumers who are wise to the plan and will see right through it.

Inlookers: If, like Dustin and major brokerages, you are producing on-line content in order to attract leads that you will then sell to third parties, by all means go viral. Your acquisition cost is low, and the consequences of low quality contacts are borne by others.

If, on the other hand, you are a guerrilla, a grunt on the ground producing on-line content to attract clients to your own business, you are engaged in direct marketing. The quality of your contacts matters a great deal, since focusing your limited resources on the wrong people will cost you the money you would have earned by working with the right people.

And remember: Your objective in taking on your own marketing is not buying leads.

Interestingly, I was inspired to think about local niche sites after Marlow showed me something she was doing in the Capitol Hill area a long time ago… However, after some more searching, I simply can’t find this site and either Marlow took it down or I was remembering details from the more generic site: Seattle neighborhood Guide. Hopefully Marlow will stop by and clear up my memory of her sites.

CHS is operated by:
Justin Carder
Kristin Boraas Carder