I found out my dog has a blog. It was inevitable. It's a dog-blog and he paws his thoughts on some blog website somewhere for everyone to read. Seems he read an article that to get business you need a blog, hence the blog-de-la-dog. But I don't think blogs work anymore. At least as business-getters.

I could be wrong here and there are certainly people out there who write blogs and find business from doing so but in my not-so-humble opinion there are simply too many blogs. How many blogs are there now? 80 million? 100 million?

Let's rewind for a moment. A few years ago hardly anyone had a website, much less a blog. I probably had one of the first websites in the mortgage business. I was even noted by Fannie Mae's own website at the time as having something like a site that had "tons of information from this Texas mortgage banker" or some such. That was around 1996 or 1997. I only got mentioned by Fannie because there were so few mortgage companies with a website.

It wasn't that I had such a stunning website; it was simply that I a website at all.

Take note, I closed tons of loans via the web back then. It really changed my career path and thrust me into a new level of loan origination and put me where I am today. Because I was one of the first. But my website no longer delivers such anonymous traffic.

Why? It's simple. Everybody jumped on board. Everybody got a website. There are about 6.5 trillion people in the world and just over 6.6 trillion websites. This of course includes China but those are my estimates. That number could be off a bit but I think you would agree that there are lots worthless websites containing completely meaningless information.

Okay, now let's get back to the blog thing.

There's a feature Google offers which is a customized "Google search" that lets you put in some automatic search parameters and sends a link to your email address whenever your search parameters pop up.

If I want to be notified of any new web page that featured "trout+fishing+America+hard+boiled+eggs" and every web page that has information about trout fishing in America with hard boiled eggs will automatically be sent to my email address. I haven't Googled those exact terms but I'm guessing that there are a couple of hundred websites dedicated to hard boiled eggs as bait to fish for trout in America.

What I do with that Google search feature is keep track of my book reviews. Any time an article is written about one of my books, I get an email from Google that contains "david+reed+mortgage+book" and I get automatic notices from Google when someone has written or commented about one of my books and posted those thoughts on the web.

What's happening? More and more of those websites that are sent to me by the Google search feature are blog sites that are nothing more than lead generators. Lead generators that get click-fees from websites that pay for click-throughs.

It's a money-thing. (go figure, right?)

I get daily Google emails about some book review and the email has a link to the website containing the review. But the review is nothing more than a small sub-section surrounded by advertisements for mortgage companies, insurance companies or other home loan related businesses. But get this … my book reviews now appear on not just mortgage blogs but I also appear on sites dedicated to such odd-ball blogs such as teeth-whitening.

(I am not complaining about that, it's great for book sales!)

Yes, there are blogs on teeth-whitening. I've seen them. But such sites don't tell anyone about how important it is to have white teeth when applying for a mortgage, they're simply trying to drive traffic to their site, provide links to other sites and get paid for clicks.

I've seen articles on websites that mention my name and articles and have someone else's picture on it but all that site does is provide other content from weird-o sites like duct-tape or appliance repair. (note: I love duct tape) And everyone's doing it. If a tooth-whitening company has a blog, then you must know that everyone must have a blog.

My conclusion?

If everyone tells you, right now, that you must have a blog then it's probably too late, isn't it? Go ahead, start a blog, but don't expect to get any business from it. There are too many blogs to compete with. If you want people to know you, put it on your website.

I'm going to get some emails telling me that I'm wrong about all this, but I didn't just fall off the internet-based turnip truck. I wrote a web page before most had an email address.

I just think blogging has reached its zenith and I wouldn't be too concerned that you don't blog. You can certainly blog if you feel the need, but I would spend more time shaking real people's hands at meetings or taking someone to lunch while your competitors are compiling witty sayings no one will ever read.

And as a matter of fact my dog has been blogging longer than you and he hasn't gotten any business with it. But then again my dog's teeth do appear to be whiter.

Published: January 26, 2007

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, a veteran Mortgage Banker, successful Real Estate Consultant and author of Your Guide to VA Loans, Mortgages 101: Quick Answers to Over 250 Critical Questions About Your Home Loan, Who Says You Can't Buy a Home!, and Mortgage Confidential: What You Need to Know That Your Lender Won't Tell You, is a former columnist and Contributing Editor with San Diego-based Mortgage Originator Magazine. Reed is President of CD Reed Mortgage Bankers, Austin, TX and is a Past President of the Austin Mortgage Bankers Association.