The internet is hitting every industry on the planet like a global tsunami, and real estate is no exception. Real estate is moving online in a big way: listings data is becoming aggregated and widely available. Even Google is getting into the game. This makes life very… interesting for real estate agents.

Most agents don’t blog. My advice: start, or start figuring out how you’re going to survive on foodstamps. But even agents who are blogging aren’t going to have an advantage for long if all they’re putting on their blogs are listings. Nobody needs your blog to see listings, anymore. You cannot fight the forces of automated listings data aggregation. You may find that disheartening, in which case you’ll be surprised that I don’t even think it’s a problem.

It’s an opportunity—an opportunity for you to differentiate yourself and dominate your local market.

How? By providing blog content which puts you at the center of the community… and which can’t be automated. It’s time to move beyond listings.

What the Travel Channel Can Teach Real Estate Blogs about Content

Have you ever watched the Travel Channel? This Old House? Fine Living? Martha? Chances are, you’ve seen at least one of these networks or shows. Let me ask you something: are they about real estate?

No?

Are you sure?

They may not be about real estate per se, but they are about place. They’re about lifestyle. They’re about content. When people want listings data, they can get it, and not necessarily from you. But what makes people want to move somewhere, and what makes them trust in one agent over another?

Pictures, video, stories, and content about a place help people to fall in love with a destination. Data does not. People are not just moving to a place, they’re moving into a community. People want to do more than just live, they want the perfect lifestyle. Who is going to provide the content that aids in these important decisions?

A real estate blog that provides only listings isn’t much help at all.

So… what if your site didn’t look much like a “real estate blog” at all? What if it was a lifestyle destination that just happened to have listings, too? What if the site was valuable to people in the community who weren’t even in the market to buy or sell property? Because you all know that eventually, they will be in the market, won’t they? And who will they trust, then? Some real estate blog with automated listings they’ve never heard of, before, or the people who are dialed into the community and living the lifestyle of that community they’ve been visiting all along?

Stop thinking of your blog as a listings machine, and start thinking of it as the Travel Channel about your community.

How to Make it Happen: Capture, Don’t Create

I was emailing Christian Russell of Next Level Blogger about real estate blogs (he’s got experience in the industry) and he brought up a great point I’d like to share with you that addresses a big concern agents have. Being an agent takes a lot of footwork. You’re pounding pavement and shaking hands. There’s a lot of driving and lot of showing and a lot of paperwork. When do you have time to create this magical content I’m talking about?

You don’t create it, you capture it. You’re already doing it:

• You’re already previewing, so bring a camera, preferably one that shoots video and stills, like the little Canon PowerShot that fits right in your pocket.
• You’re already interviewing people during the sales process, so why not capture that on video to get testimonials.
• You’re already meeting with lenders to review loan programs, so bring an mp3 recorder.
• You’re already fielding questions, so turn them into blog posts.
• You’re already attending community events, so record them on video and write up a quick paragraph or two.

When I said “channel” I wasn’t kidding!

You may not think you have what it takes to do video, but I can tell you from my own experience that video is stupidly easy. You are not Hollywood, and nobody expects you to be. Just point, shoot, and start talking. Upload to YouTube and grab the video’s URL or embed code. Paste that code into your blog post. Write a couple paragraphs. Hit publish.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

It’s About the Community, Not You

If your blog becomes a community destination, then the community itself can help you create and maintain content on the blog. You don’t have to create all the content–the community can help. In fact, you personally may be creating the least amount of content! The reason why this can work is because when it’s really about the greater good of the community, everyone benefits.

Here are some examples:

• News about community politics, written by those involved
• Local business owners can write up profiles of their businesses
• Local school children can research and create historical articles about the community
• People using local parks can be interviewed about why they love the park
• Keep a local events calendar that others can update (talk about a great reason to subscribe!)
• Cover local events (you were going to go anyway, so bring your camera)
• Interview teachers at the local schools
• Link to local newspaper website articles
• Link to local bloggers’ posts

You get the idea. What does any of this have to do with real estate? Nothing… and… everything.

The Evil, Purely Selfish Benefits You Get

Make no mistake, all this feel-good community stuff will deliver immense benefit to your real estate practice:

• There’s no reason for other sites to link to a “listings only” blog, but a million reasons to link to community lifestyle hub. You’ll get links, which means your traffic and your search engine rankings will blow away your competitor’s websites.
• You’ll attract local and non-local searches: people moving within the community and people moving to the community.
• You’ll build trust, which is vital to closing deals.
• You’ll be at the center of your own community, which is exactly where the best and most trusted real estate agent around should be.

Who’s Doing It Right

If I may steal an oft-used phrase of Chris Brogan’s, here are some folks who are doing it right:

• Clearwater Florida Real Estate provides valuable community information and writes about the lifestyle of the residents. They also use lots of video. I’ve known Cindy Haydon for over two years as an “online friend,” and she told me they’ve been doing extremely well (yes, in “this economy”).
• The Phoenix Real Estate Guy has tons of photos, uses video, and writes about local community issues.
• Bucking the Real Estate Trend has many posts featuring community and lifestyle content.
• The Shandrow Group highlights area restaurants and much more than just listings.

The Tools to Make it Happen

The tools to make this work are easy to come by and easy to use:

• WordPress on your own domain for your blog software. All the blogs above are running WordPress.
• Headway so you can build your blog quickly and easily with rotating content and other items without being a designer or a programmer.
• A YouTube or Blip.tv account for video hosting and an additional way for people to find you.
• A Flip camera, Kodak Zi8, or Canon PowerShot (I don’t know if smart phone video is really “there” yet) for “stupid easy” video and uploading.
• Social media to be dialed in to your local community: Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• A good blog consultant would help, too, to help you craft your strategy, design your blog, and make it work for you.

What Say You?

Are you involved in real estate? What are your thoughts about what I’ve outlined here? Your comments (good or bad) are welcome.