Real estate bloggers - finally, a direct channel into the online consumer
Now anyone can write a blog on SoCal's Orange County Register (here's mine). The local paper has contracted with Pluck, the company behind Blogburst that works with major media companies to add blogging functionality and content. Their third party platform makes it easy for the masses to write blogs on OCRegister.com. Simply put, the OC Register and soon, other major news media are finally enabling a "permanent" voice to their readership that goes beyond the news article comments now seen on most online press.
Major media awaken to leveraging their brand names in Web 2.0
Major media were caught unaware by social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit and Netscape that positioned themselves as populist news distribution sources. Of the news organizations, CNN.com and NY Times.com pop up at #111 and #224 in Alexa's top global 500 sites, relatively poor showings for premier media properties. Only recently have the NY Times and WSJ understood that they are no longer news gateways and are eliminating their walled subscription products. They realize that they can reclaim traffic by leveraging their well known brand names... NY Times unique visitors almost doubled two months after scrapping their subscription.
The lesson for real estate brokerages
When consumers think about news, they think CNN, USA Today and New York Times (among others); when they think about real estate, the names ReMax, Keller Williams and Coldwell Banker (among others) pop up. Real estate brokerages have been as blind as major media - they never learned how to leverage their brand names in the Web 1.0 world... note Keller Williams' national website's anemic traffic vis-a-vis Craigslist, Zillow and Trulia.
In fact, as this industry becomes more free agent-centric, once proud brand names are becoming marginalized and the agents themselves the influential marketing factor.
Can brokerages reclaim their brand names on the internet? Umm... this will be hard.... With the advent of the new blogging functionality being offered by local brand media organizations like OC Register, consumers will see that they are buying their houses off Craigslist, OC Register, NY Times and Trulia, not Coldwell Banker. The most revolutionary of brokerages will embrace blogging agents and create their own blog networks, but now, it seems most brokerages are still worried about whether one of their blogging agents is going to write something that causes an FHA violation.
Why the OC Register is the real estate bloggers' Godsend
This is what blogging real estate agents have been waiting for - a way to tap into the consumer readership of local and regional online newspapers. The OC Register has created another blog network, but it's localized to its region of influence... think of this new blog network as an Active Rain for Orange County that includes blogger of all stripes. One more useful feature of the OCRegister.com is its "local editions" - bloggers can register and participate in the local communities of OC - here's the local edition of "Your Irvine News".
A real estate blogger doesn't necessarily need to write new and original content for the OC Register, repurposing (cutting and pasting) existing content from their blog gets that same content in front of new readerships. This is the new lead generation paradigm I've been referring to - leveraging an agent's real time blog content across a number of blog networks to attract a wider audience for lead generation and marketing purposes. And no paying for leads like the Web 1.0 business models (Realtor.com, Housevalues.com ).
A blog is all that's necessary to participate in this new lead generation venue.
Hat tip to Marion Duffy of Orange County for alerting me to the new OC Register blogs.... she'll also be starting a blog. I now have a blog on OCRegister.com and I'll be monitoring it.
Excellent product idea for Pluck and great way for publishers to enter the UGC realm.
My blog has been a blog burst contributor for a long time, it sends me a great deal of traffic and subscribers I would otherwise not have access to via USA Today etc.
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You mention Keller Williams, I am with KW. My blog gets much more traffic than the local web site for four Keller Williams offices and generates more leads. A national web presence does not fit their business model. On some level I am more empowered by having a presence of my own. I am my own brand and can take that presence any where I go.
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I have to back up Teresa on this one. I'm sort of in a similar boat and by coincidence I am a KW agent.
I've made a brokerage move in the last few years and was simply a logo on a business card away from brokerages. My brand & web presence is mine an easily portable.
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Yes, I'm the first one to say that brokers and brokerages are becoming marginal... their utility seems to be in empowering their agent corps, and that's why it behooves them to teach their agents how to blog, at the risk of having them go independent on them.
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Very nice Pat. Right on the homepage. Let me know how it goes. Heres 2 continued success in 2008. Happy New Year!
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Hi Pat -
I've been participating in Jonathan Lasner's Blog at the OCRegister for a while now. http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/
There are a lot of people checking it regularly and he gets a lot of conversations going. When I leave a comment, it immediately spikes the visits to my local blog. I have thought about signing up for one of their blogs, and your article finally inspired me to actually go in to set it up. Thanks -
Vicki
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Hi Vicki, I've seen your contributions on OC Register... you're way ahead of the curve in distributing your content across various blogs.
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The reality is the web provides a ton of sub-niched blog nets that I think we all can use to siphon traffic to our site.
The OC is a great way as you mention to go super local . I think the Ventura Star has one also. Great idea by them to create more content.
The challenge that I am really surprised has not been addressed or emerged yet is bad content. At what point does say Active Rain get in trouble for something said on its blog? They cannot possibly monitor all that. Who owns the content? Also I think there is a real concern thinking that this is your brand when your brand should be on your own url. It is at best an extension of your brand. And while I am in a curious mood, what happens when the LA Times picks up a blog at the OC?It wouldn't. Why not? Would Coke blog on Pepsis blog? Its an obvious no. Then why would we? Because we are smarter? Or is this really an extension of Jay Levinsons notion of Guerilla Marketing? (I pick the latter) These questions are not being addressed anywhere and are what could bring down the house of cards some day.
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Great concepts Tim... one of Active Rain's detractions as a blog network is content overload with its inherent risk of mediocrity based on its open platform. OC Register is the same, anyone can log on. High quality blog networks focused on real estate and other industries will begin to address content quality by limiting or selecting their bloggers. Homescopes.com is a selective RE blog network covering Northern California with a mission to maintain quality.
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Well, quite interesting tips on real estate blogs, it was interesting to read. As for me, i like how the following blog is written: http://fsbo.fizber.com/2007/11/22/whats-your-bike-score-or-the-neighborhood-youre-thinking-of-living-in/
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