The Future of Real Estate Blogging
Lockhart Steele is up on stage to keynote Bloggers Connect. He’s a great choice, being one of the most successful consumer-focused real estate bloggers on the web. Curbed is an example of what a dedicated group of good writers can do with a real estate blog.
Lockhart talks about how blogging is at it’s heart just a publishing platform. How the most successful bloggers realize that, and how it’s interesting to see people getting lost in the technology. Some of the best blogs from yesteryear look the same after 8 years and are still successful.
Three points:
1. Editorial
Curbed is obsessed with getting things “first”. It’s about getting the news out there as quickly as possible.
Let’s get comfortable with the idea of readers adding and extending the story (ex: boomtown)
2. Aggregation
A lot of casual readers can’t keep up with everything. Learn to radically link to others, even competitors, to do roundups of the news going on in that niche.
For many real estate bloggers it’s the quality of analysis and what they add to the conversation, not just breaking news which is what Curbed is known for.
3. Video and Podcasts
Lockhart is skeptical, it’s not what they’re good at. It has to get really easy and really cheap for it to work.
Other thoughts:
No one blog will be the place for all local conversations - each area will likely have it’s own blog that is the central node for community interaction. Curbed is doing it in NY and a few other cities, but there is room for this in other cities as well.
There are some commenters known for just being a good commenter. They don’t necessarily have their own blog/site. They can be seen as “sub-bloggers” on larger blogs, or across niches.
Some quotes:
“My greatest hope for the future is that blogging always stays fun.”
“The Curbed team works hard to write about fun things in the local community and it tends to bring in a lot of non-real estate readers.”
[Catch the streaming video of the talks at the Sellsius Blog.]
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6 Comment(s)
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- From Blogger Connect Recap - Zillow® Blog - Real Estate News and Analysis | Jan 9, 2008
- From Le ultime notizie più succulente dal mondo dei blog - Edizione del 10 gennaio 2008 | MondoBlog | Jan 10, 2008
- From You need a blog to get ahead in real estate marketing | May 22, 2008
RealEstateCafe | Jan 9, 2008 | Reply
Picked up this link on Twitter:
jburslem Blogged at FOREM The Future of Real Estate Blogging http://tinyurl.com/2nwcl9
Excellent summary, Erik, thank SO MUCH from those of us who are participating in ConnectNYC08 online!
Glad Lockhart sees rolls for first to break news and slower in-depth analysis:
“For many real estate bloggers it’s the quality of analysis and what they add to the conversation, not just breaking news which”
EXAMPLE: Posted this graph two days after the story broke in Boston, and as Lockhart suggested, readers are sending in requests to stretch the original analysis of MLS data:
Expired & canceled listings soar in MA as Petitions to Foreclose approach MLS sales
http://tinyurl.com/yqzfzl
Thanks to Sellius for streaming video, and FOREM for quick summary. Takes the sting out of not being in NYC to participate in person!
hobby or business | Jan 9, 2008 | Reply
thats great. I hope it stays fun? so is blogging just going to continue to be a hobby or a business. I have yet to see one blog site, including this one, that will ever come near the traffic volume necessary to generate more then $100/mo in revnues. how is lockhart paying his bills on the few thousand visitors a month to curbed?
jdquicksand | Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
Are you kidding? TechCrunch for one. GigaOm for another. PaidContent.org generates reasonable revenue. And the Gawker network of blogs (link below to an article speculating on revenue) probably generates more than Zillow. This is where Lockhart was the top editorial guy before coming back to grow Curbed.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/08/yesterday_someone_calling_them.html
Ashley Rigg | Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
It’s nice to break stories first but not essential to build audience and loyalty. Providing concise interpretation and insights into current topics that your audience care about is more important.
I try to put complex topics in clear English and provide analogies and comparisons to add colour and bring my stories and posts to life. I wrote an article yesterday on “Why America blogs” to provide some insight for my European real estate audience on blogging. http://www.globaledge.co.uk/news/details/why-america-blogs/17078
I suppose I am not strictly a blog but my site is opinion led with the objective of creating thought leadership in my niche.
Your point about aggregation is spot-on. There are so many media sources these days and there is real demand for websites that can round-up and interpret developments. If you can do this, you have a brand.
I love your site by the way. It’s where I come first for my US real estate fix.
Ashley
lil7 | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Good luck with timing the market.
Dee Copeland | Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
So I’m starting a new blogcast where the tagline is the “Virtual Water Cooler for all things Austin real estate”. I noticed that my audience at Texas Realty Blog like to hear about hot issues, breaking news, market updates, builder news, etc. so I’m moving to focusing on it only for Austin.
I also found that readers want to interact more, which is why I’m starting a podcast. I want people to voice their opinions on the listener line so they can truly have an interactive experience.
I’m excited to see more real estate podcasts in 2008, but we’ll see how many podfade.