Blogging’s expectations (it’s local)

This post is untargeted, neither specifically at real estate consumers nor real estate bloggers in particular, so therefore, it’s probably targeted at both. Two recent posts in the real estate blogosphere inspired this entry. First at the Tomato regarding a fellow blogger’s lament that her blogging was not bringing in the “leads”:

… her blog, although noteworthy (30+ hits a day) on a daily traffic scale, was failing to produce leads.  So much so, that after more than a year of regular blogging, she and her partner were losing their zeal as daily contributors to the real estate blogosphere …

Read Jim’s post. It is excellent.

Second was a post at Mike’s site, a request for opinions on the national real estate “web 2.0” sites that led to this comment response:

The business is, and will always remain, local and relationship based. I could come up with a list of dozens of sites that I think do a much better job of providing a good consumer experience at a local level than any national site.

The same can be said for real estate blogs. Many provide an extraordinary top-level view of the real estate industry, with the occasional (not yet rare) post focusing on their local trends. Some of these blogs have moved the real estate conversation forward faster and more intelligently than anybody (at least I) could have imagined.

I have noticed a recent shift in the real estate blogosphere to a more broad-based focus on national and industry-wide trends rather than local real estate trends. There is a dearth of quality local information. For this reason, enterprising entrepreneurs are attempting to corner the respective markets on local search.

My advice to those striving to establish themselves in the blogging world? Focus on your own knowledge base. Develop that. As you read more, write more and think more, you will be better at what you do – selling real estate, representing clients. Read the prominent bloggers. See why they (no longer available) do it. Stay local. It is what people want. As more and more information comes online, the best real estate information may be somewhat self-selecting – readers will visit because somebody else told them to. More on this later.

I have found that local clients do not care so much about one’s prominence nation-wide, but they do care about how much you know about planning, infrastructure, tax bases, employment centers, schools, a property’s potential appreciation rate … all the “stuff” that makes a real estate professional “professional.” If you are an expert, show it. If you’re not, become one.

Blogging is not for everyone. I’d bet that if 500 real estate bloggers (no longer available) were surveyed as to whey they continue to blog (not why they started), that they enjoy it and are passionate about what they do would be in the top two responses. Once it becomes a chore, something that pops up on a “to do” list to be met with a groan, it’s all over.