Are you blogging yet? This is the perfect time to plant marketing seeds that will flourish soon

No doubt you've heard the statistics: Over 80% admit to searching for properties online, according to the National Association of Realtors. The latest statistic is that the number of real estate professionals networking online has doubled since last year. No doubt you've heard about some of the social networks for real estate professionals, from ActiveRain.com to MyDealBook.com. There are also the general market social networks, like LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com. And then there are those marketing themselves through blogs, webinars, and podcasts. How are you doing with all this stuff? It's not a fad. And every month, every week, you are falling behind or leaping ahead. Are folks actually doing business online? Or are they wasting their time? Well, as the market is what it is, this is the perfect time to plant marketing seeds that will flourish into a great bounty...soon. Surely most real estate brokers have websites featuring listings. That's not what blogging and social networking is for. A blog (for example, mine: PracticeMarketingBLOG.com) is meant to share expertise, insights, links, or feature audio/slides/video of seminars, etc. It's the fastest growing form of marketing for lawyers. For the second year, the American Bar Association just featured their list of TOP 100 bLAWgs on their magazine cover. For agents and brokers, blogging requires a totally different mindset. The lucrative era of "transaction middleman" is over. The Internet is the great disintermediation. Consumers are able to go around brokers in every industry; real estate is no exception. Rather, you have an opportunity to do what insurance brokers have done. Use the transaction commission as an afterthought. Focus, rather, on your expertise to plan, manage, and advise on the real estate acquisition, development, and transfer that businesses and families will do throughout their life cycles. As a "real estate advisor," your personal brand - or reputation - based on your expertise and experience is far more valuable than keeping the buyer and seller from talking directly, without your involvement. Thus, blogging and social networking, comes more naturally to real estate professionals who don't work primarily as agents or brokers. So, will it be time consuming? Blogging, like social networking, takes time to develop relationships, reputations, and a following. But it need not take any more than 1 or 2 hours a week. Your first step is to start with an e-newsletter: a real one that is educational, not just featuring properties. To reduce time and content pressures, instead of starting a blog on your own, consider starting one with other professionals you tend to work with often. You can start a blog for free using Wordpress.com, Typepad.com, or Google's Blogger.com. What's the difference? It's minor: Wordpress is like Coke. Typepad is like Pepsi. And Blogger? I consider it to be Sam's Choice Cola. But, this is from a marketing geek's perspective. Your readers won't really care. Next time, we'll talk about how to gain a following for your expertise-based personal brand. Vikram Rajan is a practice marketing advisor with CoGrow, Freeport, N.Y.