Interview: Russ Cofano - Realtors & Blogging
Russ Cofano of Realty Objectives from the Seattle area answers questions regarding real estate blogging. He's a contributor to the Rain City Guide real estate blog and along with Dustin Luther at RCG have been conducting what they've dubbed "Bloginars". Bloginars are seminars designed to introduce Realtors to the world of blogging.
MP: Why Should A Real Estate Pro Start A Blog?
RC: Two major forces are converging on the Web. First, real estate "data"
is becoming more and more available and ubiquitous. Second, buyers and
seller are migrating to the Web as their initial search tool for
brokerage services and homes to purchase, thereby increasing the
importance of developing an online relationship with that prospective
buyer or seller. Agent web sites cannot compete with their own
brokerage company web site nor with large players in the real estate
data space. Not gonna happen. So, how can they compete? By providing
information and content (not data) that cannot be provided by larger
organizations. Blogs are the vehicle to providing this information and
content.
MP: How Much Time Should Be Dedicated To The Effort?
RC: The benefit that agent bloggers have is that they "experience" their
blog content every day. As they do their job, they find out interesting
information about local areas, events, trends, etc. So spending time to
research things to blog about is not where you need to spend a lot of
time.
I think the more regular you can be (e.g. daily), the better. However,
by no means is a daily post required. I think a half-hour a day is
probably a great place to start.
MP: What is Your Idea of Good Realtor Blog? (Examples)
RC: I like to think of good or bad based on the types of posts. Here is a
list of 10 posts that make for great blog content:
Stories
Data (Charts, Tables, Maps)
Book Reviews
Current Events
Neighborhood Descriptions
Local Events (Fun Stuff!)
Links
Interviews
Advice for Buyers/Sellers
Advice for other Agents
MP:Bad Realtor Blogs? (Examples)
RC: In line with the above answer, the following make for less effective
blog posts:
Bubble Articles
Attacks
Cut-and-Paste
Automated Content
Obvious Self-Promotion
Questions
Link-less
Listings
"Brochure" Type Information (leave that to the web site)
Incoherent Rambles
MP: What Are The Benchmarks For Blogging Success?
MP: Great question. Some bloggers blog just because it provides them a
"voice." Others do so because it leads to business. The individual
blogger needs to decide why they blog and then make the outcome meet
that objective. For those wanting more business, real estate bloggers
can build trusted online "relationships" with their blog that will
generate better leads. Put another way, it is building the personal
brand with unique content and perspective.
MP: Should a Realtor Promote Listings in Their Blog?
NO! Unless you take a very unique listing (like a famous person's
house) and obviously with the consent of the seller.
MP: What Are The Best/Worst Platforms (Tools) For Blogging?
RC: You must first answer whether you want a "hosted" blog or you want to
arrange the hosting yourself. If you are less technical, a hosted blog
(e.g. Blogger) may be the trick. The major downside is the domain
because it will be "(name).blogger.com." I chose Yahoo to host my blog
and they don't force the Yahoo domain on me. They have a great one
click Wordpress blog which I prefer because it is (relatively) free and
because there is a gigantic open source community building on the
Wordpress platform every day.
MP: What is a "Bloginar" and Where/When Will The Next One Take Place?
RC: The Bloginar is a "Seminar" about Blogs for Realtors, hence Bloginar.
It is really a how to course where we empower each attendee with the
information and skill to create a blog right after they leave the class.
Of course, we also provide some background information on blogging as
well as why we think blogging can be a great tool for building a
Realtor's business.
We just finished a Bloginar in LA and are about to finalize a date in
San Diego for late September. We will be in Seattle in early October.
More dates will follow. We are very open to working with companies and
Realtor associations to put on a Bloginar in their local area.
MP: What Are The Top 3 Questions Asked In Your "Bloginars"?
RC: Why should I blog?
How do I drive web traffic to my blog?
How much does it cost?
If you're interested in attending a bloginar, click here to contact Russ.
Background: Russ Cofano is a real estate and technology attorney. Russ has represented state and local REALTOR associations in Washington state as well as Multiple Listing Services across the nation. As Washington REALTORS legal hotline attorney, Russ has answered thousands of questions on all aspects of real estate and brokerage. Russ has extensive experience with technology and currently operates a consultancy, Realty Objectives that provides advice to real estate companies moving to the next level with real estate technology.
MP: Why Should A Real Estate Pro Start A Blog?
RC: Two major forces are converging on the Web. First, real estate "data"
is becoming more and more available and ubiquitous. Second, buyers and
seller are migrating to the Web as their initial search tool for
brokerage services and homes to purchase, thereby increasing the
importance of developing an online relationship with that prospective
buyer or seller. Agent web sites cannot compete with their own
brokerage company web site nor with large players in the real estate
data space. Not gonna happen. So, how can they compete? By providing
information and content (not data) that cannot be provided by larger
organizations. Blogs are the vehicle to providing this information and
content.
MP: How Much Time Should Be Dedicated To The Effort?
RC: The benefit that agent bloggers have is that they "experience" their
blog content every day. As they do their job, they find out interesting
information about local areas, events, trends, etc. So spending time to
research things to blog about is not where you need to spend a lot of
time.
I think the more regular you can be (e.g. daily), the better. However,
by no means is a daily post required. I think a half-hour a day is
probably a great place to start.
MP: What is Your Idea of Good Realtor Blog? (Examples)
RC: I like to think of good or bad based on the types of posts. Here is a
list of 10 posts that make for great blog content:
Stories
Data (Charts, Tables, Maps)
Book Reviews
Current Events
Neighborhood Descriptions
Local Events (Fun Stuff!)
Links
Interviews
Advice for Buyers/Sellers
Advice for other Agents
MP:Bad Realtor Blogs? (Examples)
RC: In line with the above answer, the following make for less effective
blog posts:
Bubble Articles
Attacks
Cut-and-Paste
Automated Content
Obvious Self-Promotion
Questions
Link-less
Listings
"Brochure" Type Information (leave that to the web site)
Incoherent Rambles
MP: What Are The Benchmarks For Blogging Success?
MP: Great question. Some bloggers blog just because it provides them a
"voice." Others do so because it leads to business. The individual
blogger needs to decide why they blog and then make the outcome meet
that objective. For those wanting more business, real estate bloggers
can build trusted online "relationships" with their blog that will
generate better leads. Put another way, it is building the personal
brand with unique content and perspective.
MP: Should a Realtor Promote Listings in Their Blog?
NO! Unless you take a very unique listing (like a famous person's
house) and obviously with the consent of the seller.
MP: What Are The Best/Worst Platforms (Tools) For Blogging?
RC: You must first answer whether you want a "hosted" blog or you want to
arrange the hosting yourself. If you are less technical, a hosted blog
(e.g. Blogger) may be the trick. The major downside is the domain
because it will be "(name).blogger.com." I chose Yahoo to host my blog
and they don't force the Yahoo domain on me. They have a great one
click Wordpress blog which I prefer because it is (relatively) free and
because there is a gigantic open source community building on the
Wordpress platform every day.
MP: What is a "Bloginar" and Where/When Will The Next One Take Place?
RC: The Bloginar is a "Seminar" about Blogs for Realtors, hence Bloginar.
It is really a how to course where we empower each attendee with the
information and skill to create a blog right after they leave the class.
Of course, we also provide some background information on blogging as
well as why we think blogging can be a great tool for building a
Realtor's business.
We just finished a Bloginar in LA and are about to finalize a date in
San Diego for late September. We will be in Seattle in early October.
More dates will follow. We are very open to working with companies and
Realtor associations to put on a Bloginar in their local area.
MP: What Are The Top 3 Questions Asked In Your "Bloginars"?
RC: Why should I blog?
How do I drive web traffic to my blog?
How much does it cost?
If you're interested in attending a bloginar, click here to contact Russ.
posted by Michael Price at 6:01 PM
2 Comments:
Hi,
I just read about blogging realtor on German and on american webpages.
I want to develp my website and use technologies like Google maps. The Imprint already uses Google maps.
Now I want to start blogging.
I'm a realtor in hamburg, I don't know if I should just blog about real estates or hamburg or financing. And I want to embed the blog in a new way. Not in a Subdirectory like /Blog
In my opinion, it is worth spending extra time on developing a wordpress site. I'm venturing out with worpress and as far as i have read the instructions are fairly easy to understand and lots of free resource available. It was recommended by a friend.
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