Bring The Blog [Product Review]

Great review. Love Dan Green, he’s a helluva guy. I still have a little problem with the whole “it’s not you thing”. Yes, blogging is about business and marketing, but a lot of that business and marketing IS about you. Blogging is the single best way to get your personality out there for others to see — and decide whether or not they want to use YOU as their agent. So much of blogging is about YOU.

Full disclosure that the posts aren’t written by you is (or should be) mandatory. But I still see something missing as the individual “voice” is gone.

Fantastic tool as a “supplement”. But as your only stand alone blog, I’m not so sure. As for the solution of customizing, well, if you’re going to take the time to do that (and a huge percentage won’t) then why not write it yourself?

“they’ll be introducing a new blog post algorithm that makes each post inherently unique. If duplicate content is a major concern of yours, it won’t be a concern starting in 8 weeks.”

And what makes one feel Google isn’t smart enough to see this? Doinking with algorithms to beat Google at it’s own game is a frightening proposition. At least to me….

@Matthew – “It looks well done and easy to use!”

Is is very well done. And easy-peasy to use. And the articles are extremely well written. All that speaks volumes for it. I *love* the idea of supplementation (is that a word)?. I’m still not quite sold on it being a turn-key solution as ones only stand-alone blog (if left unmodifed).

@dearest – yes, I think for the frightened noobie, it’s clearly better than nothing, and provides a “fright-free” entry into what can indeed be an often frightening world. As a sometime coach and instructor for folks not familiar with blogging, I think it’s my job to reduce that fright factor. And this solution may just be perfect for that. It’s simple, and well done, and allows one to dip their toes in the water.

As a sometime coach though, I think I’d be remiss if I said that you could use this tool, and this tool alone with no modification and become a “successful blogger”. Not that anyone said that, but I assure you there will be a certain percentage of the population out there that think exactly that — that they need do nothing more than write a check to be “successful” — happens with every tool provided to/for agents.

PS: Sleep is over-rated. 😉

@Dan – There are some that will sign up for anything and everything that just remotely promises success. There was an agent in my old office that used to literally pull her checkbook out of her purse during vendor presentations. She bought it all, without ever really thinking about if it fit into her business model (because, well, she had no business model). Not surprisingly, she’s no longer in the business. When she left, she said – and I kid you not – “I can’t afford all the crap you have to have to succeed in this business”.

I’ve never seen or heard you promote BTB as the end-all solution to independent wealth and fame, and there is clearly nothing you can do to stop people from feeling that way.

I do love the idea of using BTB as “supplementation” and as a “kick-start” for some that are new to blogging. Hadn’t really considered that before. Will now!

I was under the impression that this might be sort of an ezinearticles.com for real estate.
Does anyone know if there are any services out there like ezine but with a real estate focus… and not trashy like ezine? I figured since we were on the subject this would be the appropriate time to throw such a dangerous question out there.

My thought on this is that you could use it purely to give you a topic and some information on that topic as a starting point. Really that is what many bloggers do anyways by reading other real estate blogs…ever notice a string of posts on the same topic across multiple blogs?

“they’ll be introducing a new blog post algorithm that makes each post inherently unique.”, would have to see it to believe it. The software that takes a blog post and rewords it to make it unique that I have seen always ends up sounding like a 1st grader or non-English speaking person wrote it. Will wait and see before assuming, just making an observation based on past experience.

BTB sounds like it is a super concept. For new bloggers especially, it’s definitely a great way to get started and I very much like its simplicity and ease of use – very reasonable price tag too. A great point was made earlier that blogging is essentially a marketing tool and a lead generator first and foremost, but that being said, it’s only one part of an overall marketing strategy.

It is my voice on my blog that brings me business and the people who find me are great to work with. Just got through writing an offer for a woman who live just half a mile from me who found me on my blog. We instantly clicked and it is like we are old freinds. I would love to pay someone to write my blog if I could find someone who writes exactly like I do and has the same personality and attracts the same kind of clients. Anyone interested?

I’m off to check it out – cause sometimes I just need an idea to get me going.

I’m back – for $400., I’m sure I can think of something:)

Okay, I’m going to explore Paula’s idea that $400 is a lot to spend for Bring the Blog.

1. $399 is Bring the Blog’s annual membership fee
2. There are roughly 260 weekdays in a year.

Therefore, Bring the Blog costs roughly $1.53 per post, 260 times per year.

If you spend 30 minutes posting every day (and you should be posting every day), that values your blogging time at $3.06 per hour. You could cold call the White Pages and get a better hourly wage — just ask Chris Johnson and he’ll tell you how.

Or, rather than use Bring the Blog, you could hire a personal writer who will charge you $400 per MONTH and probably won’t write as impactful content as Bring the Blog will for you. Remember — you’ve got the benefit of having a writer that knows how to make blog content connect with a reader.

I can understand Teresa’s position and Ines’ take on this, but balking at the price of Bring the Blog is the one opinion I can disagree with and have libraries of time management books to back me up.

The goal is blogging is to get a return on your time and money investment. Bring the Blog accelerates that return.

I read Bring The Blog Content everyday in my feed reader. It’s that good. There’s a Mortgage Broker I know that uses it just like Dan’s AP analogy. Some content is her’s, some is BTB’s. The blog is better with the BTB content than it would be without it.

If I were to start another consumer focused mortgage blog, (with three years of blogging experience and nearly twenty years in the industry), I’d buy BTB.

I’d disclose that it wasn’t my content. I’d write plenty of my own content. I wouldn’t worry one bit about the SEO of it all. I’d have it because I’d want my readers to enjoy their experience on my blog, and BTB does that.

Dan, I understand the model and I wasn’t slamming the quality of your writing. I think the home protection company blog content would be inferior (unless you sell your service to them when the market turns). My question is whether the proliferation of blogs, particularly inferior blogs (read: “other people’s content”) would dimish the public view of RE blogging. How many consumers look forward to receiving a newsletter from an agent? It seems like respect was lost at some point.

Again, this isn’t a shot at you, but if you and your clients succeed, others will follow. The people who have spent hundreds of hours building their blogging skills may see blog proliferation as a form of vindication in the short term, but in the long term it levels the playing field at their expense. Right now they may feel like they are shouting in the desert. If your model succeeds, they may be trying to shout over the din at consumers who are put off by all the noise.

Sorry, I meant BTB, not BHB.

Uh..oh..here comes the Code of Ethics injection…@ Danilo..blogging IS about marketing. But you don’t see Nike running an almost identical, if not identical version of Puma’s commercials”….

That is the central problem with the real estate industry. Everybody (for the most part) doing the same thing that everybody else does. That’s not marketing!

@Danilo:
No one said that BTB is approved by NAR – What I said was that you need to provide a true picture in your representations to the public. I agree with you that for people to pass off the product of another writer as their own is improper. But I still think that adding the content and acknowledging that the content was written by someone else is no big deal.

For example, I have a DIlbert widget on one of my blogs. Its obvious that I didn’t write or draw the cartoon. Therefore its not an issue to have it as part of my content (unless you don’t like Dilbert). I’m not as accomplished a photographer as Teresa Boardman, so I use creativecommons.org for graphics when I need them and then credit them to the creator. I think, if its properly applied BTB can be a useful tool. I don’t think it takes the place of original content.

I’d like to disagree without being disagreeable 🙂

How many real estate agents bought a template website and didn’t do anything with it and actually think they have a website.

Do you really expect anything different with BTB. A blog is a web log. A journal of *your* thoughts, not content for contents sake. One important reason to blog if you are using it to market for new clients is to give people an opportunity to get to know you.

They say the entry barrier to real estate is low and sadly it is. The barrier to success in real estate is a bit higher, it’s called hard work. And that’s the way it should be.

Open up your hometown newspaper this morning and take notice of how many articles came from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Thompson Newswire.

The reason you can do that is because the source is properly attributed. You can’t compare this to a news wire if you allow everyone to take credit.

If people pay $400 and use most of the 260 to get their money’s worth, the weaker sites will have dupe content issues. Other agents will just rip it off, NAR membership or not.

Wow, interesting debate that I have been missing. First off, Dan Green is a great guy and has great material, so BTB is a product I would look at if I decide to venture that way, which I might seeing as my time is getting rather “lost”.

That being said, I still feel that blogging is best when it is an extension of yourself, as if you were talking with your clients (or prospects) face to face, or at least close to it. I do think that you can still receive content from a source like and personalize it, so long as you understand the subject. How woul dit feel if a prospect or client called you up to discuss something on your blog and you knew very little about it?

My preference is to do my own thing, covering topics that are on my mind at the time, especially about what is going on in the mortgage market regarding rates. As my free time dwindles, though, I can see the potential value of BTB and may even look to join myself simply to maximize my time to more immediately profitable functions.

Dan broke down the cost to $1.53 per post. That is very reasonable. Even if it cost $400 and you only used one post all year on your blog, but that one got you one deal, it definitely paid for itself. Also, look at it this way. If it saves you 10 minutes (or more) per day on your blogging, isn’t $1.53 worth it? If you think not, then you expect to make less than $9.13 per hour and maybe you shouldn’t be in this business. (Yes, I am a numbers guy).

I just heard about this at Family Reunion from a friend, who supplements when she is busy but adds her voice to it.

I have always been against this type of stuff, but as time has gotten away from me, I am considering.

I like Todd’s comment it is for our readers and can be supplemented.