Val,

I have been saying that for years!  If you are going to blog, there MUST BE A STRATEGY!  If you don't have a strategy, it does not do much for you, regardless of the zillion ADD WORDS, you buy, or the ADDS on Facebook...You had to a brand, a niche, and know who you are writing to and for.  A.  

Many do not blog, but many do.  Some not on AR, but on their personal sites.  Or they write for local media outlets -- there is more than 1 way to skin a cat, and a blog is just one form of media.  It's really about exposure, which you can certainly get through blogging & SEO, but there are other ways, too.

I would say that top producers are also likely to have budgets to take on more expensive options, whereas blogging is cheap/free and offers good ROI.

Top producing does not mean that they are making money, anyone can produce if they spend enough on advertising, leads, assistants, etc.

But do they have anything left at the end of the month.

Blogging is cheap, but other things may just get the edge if you are willing to spend your whole check to get there.

Each of us do what works for us.  A lot of top agents have blogs on their personal websites.  I find that many more of my clients read my website blog than the one I have here.

Hi Val Evans .  I think this is a multi-layered answer.  

Many agents do not have the patience to blog long enough to actually start reaping the benefits.  Therefore, they don't understand how effective it actually is and that it has long term benefits (unlike paid advertising).

Perhaps some of them get so busy they no longer have time for blogging and roll on by focusing on referrals and past clients.

Many people don't like to write and (not realizing the value) don't even consider hiring someone to write for them. 

Perhaps, like me, LIFE got in the way.  I blogged prolifically (borderline obsessive) for several years.  My husband was ill for a long time and I had to shift my focus.  When he died in 2011, I totally lost my muse and stopped blogging altogether.

The possible reasons are as numerous as ways to cook hamburger.  

When I was on a team the Broker paid for different blogs to be posted and was a producer; however he was always mad at me as I did not spend a dime and rated ahead of him in different towns on Google.

Another reason they have become fat cats  and think they will stay on top.

When we started in 2006 on AR the results - new business - were immediate and lucrative.  Then we got very busy and drifted away from AR.  We've been back on and off over the years - this stint since August?? being the longest.  We're at a cross roads.  Life got in the way of real estate these past couple of years (with a few exceptions that came our way on their own) - and we're deciding whether to relaunch - and if so - the best way to do so.  We enjoy and appreciate the sharing of information on AR, and think it's the best place to get answers to questions from others who have "been there done that".

May depend on how they have built their business over the years.

I think you've gotten some good responses above, so I'm not going to rehash that there are many ways to get to the top. 

And, yes, there are some top producers who do it through blogging.  (BTW, Ben Kinney is one who does use blogging and there are many others...and many doing on their own site which is often more lucrative).

Bear in mind that many top producers have gotten there through year's of work...and over time, a higher % of your business comes from repeat and referral (for any biz)...that's just how the #'s work (assuming you do a good job).  The real question is to how to feed that initial and ongoing pipeline.  and, there are many ways to do it.

Now, getting back to your q's/responses to others, it is not the number of blog posts that you do!  It is the quality and targeting of those blog posts.  Many on here just write quantity (and just go for points) and that really won't do you any good.  Your blog posts need to be targeted for your ideal customer and their search terms.  In general, it's better to do fewer but high quality blog posts.  Those will both rank better in google and provide customers w/ the info they need and establish you as an expert/valuable resource and make them more likely to call you.  Only a small segment of AR members are doing this and doing it well.

My wordpress site kicks butt.  It is a constant source of business for me.  I get over 50,000 unique visitors a month, and probably around 5 appts/week because of it (maybe more this year). It represents about 1/3 of my business (and the amount of closed business from it is up 50% vs year ago).  It is a constant stream of incoming business and the leads are strong.  This in turn leads to more repeat and referral as my base gets larger each year.

How many blog posts do I have?  I think 146.  I try to make each high quality (and yes, there are probably 10-20 that are low quality and some that I think are high quality that don't get much traffic).  My goal is simply to write 1 high quality epic post/month.  (I was doing around 1 per week at the beginning).

The key is to have "evergreen" posts as these will continue to bring in traffic month after month and year after year.  Many of my best articles are from 3-4 years ago (and then each year, I probably end up w/ 2-3 more big hits).  My top 10 articles account for 55% of my clicks.

It does take time to build up your site, but once you do, it become more maintenance and just feeding it once/month.  Also, I recycle the content in my email newsletters, direct mail, CRM, social media, so it gets a lot of use.

My site is TheFlooringGirl.com in case that helps.

I come on here to learn and have fun...and get more marketing ideas.  Plus, for me, networking w/ realtors leads to more business.

As I said before, the key is targeting and focusing your efforts (and learning the SEO to be able to do that).  I learned how to blog on here, and it's a great starting point. But, no it is not the end point.  I started my own blog 1 year later.

As with anything, you have a bit of the 80 for 20 rule.

They are not the believers.  WE are!

I noticed that too! and it is interesting for me as well, since they often have an army of assistants in their disposal.

Blogging takes consistency and many never give it a real shot and give up way too soon calling it a waste of time.

I know some great top producers...I also know that they spend mid 5 figures to get there.  Blogging only costs some time....I don't need to be top dog that bad that I need to spend so much to be on top

Blogging/social media helps consumers 'get to know' the broker. There is, and will always be, a perception among the public that real estate agents are less than trustworthy. It's easier to hire someone when you feel you know them. Having said that, I only blog my listings on this site now. I have written many posts that I took down . . . some are still on my WP blogsite, though.

One would think so.  I have never blogged to get clients.   So I'm anxious to see what others have to say 

too lazy

Val Evans - I am all about the face-to-face but, oddly enough, just this week, I got two leads from ActiveRain - one was from an agent and the other, a buyer who read one of my neighborhood posts.  One of them is already under Contract!  

So, for me, I do work diligently to operate primarily face-to-face but, the ActiveRain leads sure are icing on the cake!  It takes about an hour a day to participate in the Rain and for me, it's totally worth it!  (And, I'm not even touching on the life-long friendships formed here in the Rain!)

Val - First and foremost, different strokes for different folks. There is certainly more than one way to be successful in real estate, and many agents do not, and have not, ever needed to blog. They are doing fine without it, so why not continue doing what has made them successful. There would be no reason for them to start blogging and discover that they were not good at it, and were not getting as much business as they were before they started spending all their time blogging. Do what works for you.

Also, blogging for the sake of blogging will not generate more business. I think you are confused with the idea that just because you blog, a certain number of posts will generate a certain number of phone calls, or potential clients. It doesn't work that way. You need to do things right, and that has a lot to do with quality content, evergreen content, consistency, SEO, keywords, writing things that will target specific prospects, etc...

Also, you cite top producing Realtors based on something you read on the Internet that says they sell over 100 homes a year. You have no idea how they got to that number, or even if that number is true. Perhaps they only sold 37 homes, and in so doing, they spent $50,000 in advertising, and have a brick and mortar office that costs them another $30,000 a year in rent. Perhaps they are working with a team of 10 agents, and on average that means they only sold 10 homes each. Perhaps they have franchise fees, and all of their home sales are under $200k (37 transactions/yr x $6k avg commission - $50k advertising - $30k rent = 142k).

Is that as lucrative as an independent broker that blogs (basically for free), works out of their home office, and sells 13 homes a year, all over $400k (13 transactions/yr x $12k avg commission = $156k).

Which one is really more successful? Top producing does not mean they are making the most money, nor does it mean they are the best at what they do.

Lastly, if one was blogging for business, they probably wouldn't do it here on AR.

I find that my autoposted blogs get traction on the social sites.  No idea how many of my AR blogs get traction from the public, but I do get at least one "Click #50 on post..." email from AR each weekday.

The others have given you good answers. Many top agents work by referral only . They have been in the business long and most of the clients are either repeat clients or by referral.

This is important, "What DO you see the heavy hitter, the top producers, the mega agent, doing?"

It varies.  I think we get burned out, worn out then we rest up and return. I've taken a couple breaks over the years from blogging.  

I think that one must have a strategic plan. Shotgun approaches do not work.

Val Evans I am sure the 'Top Producers' here in 'Rain can answer this!

It's the passion that counts, not production - when it comes to blogging.

The ones in my area think they are so good that they don't think blogging will help, but in reality, they are just too lazy!

To each his own. There are lots of ways to build business

The most effective use of my blogs during my most productive years was to use the same material in my mass emails that did bring in the calls.

Effective blogging is an elusive challenge for a high percentage of real estate agents.