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Real Estate Marketing Shifting to Blogs?

posted on August 31, 2006


ClickZ reports that real estate agents may be looking for a new home for their advertising budgets.

…it may come as no surprise to learn that real estate agents are reducing their print newspaper spends, as was reported yesterday by Classified Intelligence.

While Realtors are reducing their offline spend, the report shows there is no clear winner for online ad spend.

But I know the answer. Want to know where real estate agents are investing their online efforts? Blogging! Yep, I lose track of the number of new blogs that I see each day that relate to the real estate industry. But don’t just take my word for it, take a look at these charts…


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  • rcjordan

    i know something of the “talent and effort” that’s likely to be put forth in the average real estate blog, andy. i think 14 yr old girls talking about their complexions will be the better read.

  • http://www.onebyonemedia.com Jim Turner

    Great post Andy. I linked to your story on WPN. I took the research a litte step further over at http://www.businessblogconsulting.com, and it would be great to get your comments.

  • http://www.onebyonemedia.com Jim Turner

    Sorry Andy I messed up the link the first time so I linked it here instead.

  • http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com Joel Burslem

    There’s going to be a huge shift of advertising dollars onto the web over the next year or so. Realtors are slowly catching on that that’s where their market is now. (Over 70% of people start a home search online these days)

    The smart ones will supplement the PPC ad buys with SEO friendly web sites and blogs.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/19172431 4MySales

    Blogging is turing out to be most agents best online friend. For the most part real estate agent websites are static and really not exciting. However, with blogging agents have a voice and a way to communicate with their clients online.

    BN
    4MySales.com

  • http://www.viewmylife.com Tim Mancuso

    All good points here – we are seeing a major influx of Brokers and Agents marketing via our online community. Key Points: it’s Free and there are no banner ads. a Plus: the major RE Brands are participating as well for the traffic (RE Channel).
    Social Networking sites are an ideal way to attract and retain business, especially when the ability to create slideshows, videos, and online listing presentations is built right in.

    In my 10+ years in the industry (RE) I’ve never seen it better for both consumer and Broker / Agent as far as availability of tools and technology.

    Tim Mancuso
    V.P. Sales & Marketing

  • http://www.realtormarketinginfo.com Jim

    I’ve been trying to tell my real estate clients that they should be blogging. I think it’s the best way for them to get noticed and to keep people abreast of their activities. A real estate blog has so many advantages to their business. I’ve just never seen the statistics as to how many realtors are blogging. It’s the way to go.

  • http://www.famousreviews.com/site_reviews/Online_Marketers/RussDalbey.html Russ Dalbey

    The internet alone is really changing the industry, especially where relocation is concerned. In fact, I know a few different realtors that focus strictly on relocation with their website accounting for the vast majority of their business, something that wasn’t even an option over a decade ago.

  • http://www.cincihomesforsale.com/ George

    I’d have to agree here. Blogging is an excellent way to go ahead and get your business out into the open, in addition to making it seem a bit more accessible. The statistics are fun to take a look at, and heck, they’ll likely continue in this pattern, until either something more useful comes along, or until it evens out.

  • http://www.MyREALTY.com MyREALTY.com – GLS

    Blogging is key, and I would group that also with forums as well.

    There are many tools for today’s agent and broker to utilize to get the word out regarding their specialties, unique value propositions, and key marketing points of differentiation.

    Blogs and forum participation can significantly elevate the rankings, reach, and exposure of the participant, while at the same time adding credibility and a ‘history’ expertise that would be otherwise non-existent, particularly with many of the static web pages so commonly found.

    As far as Andy’s comment on budgetary concerns, it’s a complete ‘no-brainer’ to move toward this and other web 2.0 strategies for this space – the costs are little to none and the returns can be outstanding.

    Tim Mancuso
    MyREALTY.com

  • http://www.propdata.co.za Robert

    Here in South Africa estate agents tend to be much older on average than many other industries. This coupled with a poor telecommunications provider the Internet has been limited for many years. This has seen fewer people of older generations bothering with the internet.

    Trying to explain the power of a blog is virtually impossible to some. Although I’ve been pushing our clients to go this route for quite some time.

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