I started responding to Brian’s comment and it turned into a blog post…
[photopress:200px_Field_of_Dreams.jpg,full,alignright]I can tell from the enthusiasm I’m seeing around real estate circles and all the action I’m seeing in the beginning of this new year that this will be a breakout year on the blogging front. There are a bunch of different reasons, definitions and ways of viewing the overriding theme, but I’d characterize it by saying we’re definitely seeing a massive swing where agents are now using pull methods of marketing instead of push methods.
Many agents are creating their own blogs, refocusing their content based on lessons learned, focusing on improving the quality of their listings, or taking part in social networks… No longer are agents going to push their message at consumers when they don’t want it (like mass-mailers, supermarket ads, bus benches, etc.), but rather I can sense that more and more agents are looking for ways to reach potential clients when and where they WANT to be reached…
To steal a theme from a classic movie… If you build it (provide good, helpful, interesting real estate information), they will come!
Dustin, If we get to the point in 2007 where their are more consumers actually being “pulled” than blogs doing the pulling, it will be a very good year indeed. We’re not there yet, of course.
dustin – couldn’t of said it better myself.
rudy.sellsius°
I love the movie, one of my favorites. I use a lot of Chinese Astrology in my strategy, but beyond that reference, I think simply building it is not necessarily the right message, from what I have seen and heard from the buying and selling public.
The wrong content can do more harm than good. Like building an ice hockey rink when it shoulda been a baseball field 🙂
That was simply the first, however most useful baseball themed movie that Costner established as a sub-genere.
Hey Dustin, I’m in total concurrence. And although both are required, I do believe that ‘attraction’ is a stronger force in this universe than ‘promotion.’ Its just…well…more attractive. Also, if the blogging efforts don’t ultimately result in a ‘steady stream’ of potential furure clients as Ardell has alluded to in other posts, then something needs tweaked. I believe the ‘consumer’ rather than the ‘industry’ should be the primary focus of our attention and thus the benefactors of our experiences in this profession…readable real estate-centric content is key, in my opinion.
I think the phrase “linkation, linkation, linkation” will be the buzz phrase for the “internet property industry” (READ: weblogs) for years to come.
I am continually amazed at the markets I reach through stories on a weblog. Now that it works, I look to strategies like “linkation, linkation, linkation” and a way to abandon traditional media in my promotional mix
Wow! Thanks Brian for the vote of confidence on the concept of linkation… In the seminars Russ and I have done in the past, I always get a chuckle out of Realtors when I ask…
“What are the three most important factors in real estate… blogging?”
(long pause…)
“Linkation, linkation, linkation!”