Citizen media is the fastest growing trend on the Internet, from movie making to journalism. Now blogging is hitting the real estate industry like a tsunami.

So how widespread is the real estate blogging phenomena? Even Donald Trump has jumped on the blogwagon. Other noteworthy real estate blogs include: activerain.com , dailypundit.com , and walkthrough.nytimes.com to name just a few.

Blogs can be an amusing diversion between professionals but they can also be a successful lead generation tool. Like websites, blogs need marketing and frequent upkeep, or you lose your audience. So, how do you go from converting this technological fad or hobby into a way to generate more business?

Like speculators in the Internet economy in the late 1990s, who bought up domain names and sunk millions into ventures that were doomed not to make them any money, many real estate blogging companies or enthusiasts seem to be missing this basic question.

"We truly believe that if a blog doesn't lead to more new business, then it's a waste of time," said Rusty Lindquist, vice president of broker and agent products for a la mode, Inc. , a real estate technology company based in Oklahoma City. "If blog visitors aren't being treated as leads, then blogging is really a waste."

Lindquist believes his company has come upon an idea that squarely answers the question on every broker and agent's mind: "Why am I doing this if it isn't going to help my business?"

A la mode recently introduced a blogging tool -- and made it available at no cost to all of its website customers -- that enables blogs to be posted on its agents websites. The blogs have been integrated with the company's lead capture system and its suite of online marketing tools.

This means that someone who subscribes to a blog is automatically converted to a lead and will begin receiving personalized marketing information from the agent. Additionally, the site owner is notified when a visitor subscribes or posts a comment to a blog and a lead is generated. In fact, listings can even be integrated and published on an agent's blog.

"Blogs are a great way to create awareness, position yourself as the local market expert -- what we've done takes it to the next level by making it a lead generation tool that is integrated into a web site," Lindquist said. "Listings of homes for sale are also integrated into the blog."

In this era of ubiquitous information, Lindquist warns that when it comes to blogging and turning it into a business building tool, quality of visitors is more important than quantity.

"RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds of blogs certainly get your information in front of more people, but they don't help create leads. That's because subscribers via RSS are anonymous. With RSS, the blog owner will never know who exactly is reading the blog, thus they can't convert that person into a lead. This is another example of companies and website owners glomming onto a fad without considering their bottom line," Lindquist says.

Agents need to continually look for ways to differentiate themselves and use technology to better serve their customers. What they don't need is to invest time, effort and especially money into technology that won't translate into more leads and sales. Blogging can be a highly effective lead generation tool -- but only if it's treated like one.

Editor's note: When adding real estate news or editorial to your blogs, be sure to ask permission of the author. Blogs are publications, and publishers are liable for any material used without permission. Any blogger may post links to any Realty Times story, but we do not allow copy/pastes of our stories into blogs. With links, traffic is counted by our advertisers, which pay the bills around here, but with copy/pastes, we can't tell our advertisers how many people are seeing their ads. Thank you.