real estate blog lab

For most people buying and selling real estate isn’t a hobby.  It is something they need to do in order to fill a need or desire in their life.  Once they have made the purchase they move on to the next need or desire.  But a hobby, is totally different.

What Do you Mean a Hobby?

Let’s take one of my hobbies.  Photography, I love photography,  I buy photography books, I subscribe to photography magazines, (several)  I buy photo equipment (cameras, lots of cameras).  I love all things photography.  I can’t seem to get enough of it.  HDR, I love it.  HDR and Photo post processing software? Got several.  This is what I mean by a hobby.  It is something in which I have an ongoing and continued interest.

Buying a Toilet

Not a glamorous purchase, but at one time or another almost everyone has to buy one.  The last one I purchased involved internet searches, multiple trips to Home Depot and discussions with friends and relatives about any recommendations they might have.  I didn’t buy the cheapest and I didn’t buy the most expensive (Did you know there are toilets that cost as much as a Nikon DSLR?).

I finally decided on the Super Flush 3000.  Picked it up at Home Depot and one weekend I installed it.  Great success story, best toilet I’ve ever owned.  But, I haven’t searched on line or at Home Depot for a toilet since.  I don’t subscribe to any Toilet magazines either.  I made the purchase and moved on with my life.

Buying A House is like Buying a Toilet

First, what do we need, or what do we want.  Then lots of time on the internet searching and looking for homes that meet our criteria. Learning about the community and the various subdivisions and community activities.  All these things help us decided where we want the home to be located.  And once we make our purchase and move in our search is over till our needs or desires change.

What’s the Point?

The point is, your blog, is it a real estate blog about buying a house.  For most it isn’t a hobby to keep buying houses.  The implications for us as Real Estate Bloggers is this.  Don’t expect readers to be regular readers once they have made their purchase.  They read because they had a need.  Once that need is fulfilled so is the desire for information.

Is That All There Is?

Good question.  The answer, “It Depends”.  Figures.

“It depends on what?”

“It depends on the Focus of your Real Estate related blog.”

If the focus is “Getting Leads” and “Making Sales” then yep that’s probably all there is.  Because that is what your content will be focused on and once the sale is made they have made their purchase.

However, if the focus is on the Community.  The rules change.  Why?  Because now your blog provided more than just information about buying and selling real estate.  It provides valuable information about other things people in your community are interested in.

“Like what?”

Take for example where I live.  Here in the desert Southwest people want to know about a lot of things.

• Why do they say if you don’t have termites you will get them?
• Are scorpions dangerous?  (do they really glow in the dark?)
• Where do you go for camping, hiking, biking, theater, hospitals, community service?
• What yearly local events and national events are going to be coming to our community?
• Is there a zoo?
• Why is it so dark around the city, there really is a dark skies policy? Why?
• What are the names of these green trees? and those flowers?  And all those cactus?
• Etc. etc. etc.

It doesn’t matter where your community is located there is information people living there and planning on living there want to know.  Be an ambassador, provide that information and they will keep coming back to your blog to find out what you are writing about.  They will come because it is more than just “How to buy a house” or “How to sell a house.”

There’s a paradox in this type of blog.  The focus is outward, toward the community, providing desired information.  It isn’t an inward focus of “Getting Leads” and “Making Sales”.  Here is where the paradox comes in.  The more you focus on giving to the community the more leads and sales come to you.  Because you become an ambassador for your community.

Taking Down the Barriers

Let’s face it, people don’t instantly trust those of us in the real estate business.  Almost every one has a horror story to tell about a real estate transaction.  Therefore, we don’t encounter people with a neutral bias.  Usually there is a huge wall between us.  Being a representative of our community and sharing information about the next air show in the area or when the firefighters are holding their annual chili cook-off for charity slowly takes down the barriers.  Sharing that the green barked trees are Palo Verde and in the spring they fill with the most amazing yellow blossoms, now that peaks their interests.  Put a picture of it in a blog post and they can’t wait for spring to come around so they can see the valleys fill with yellow blooms.  Show a few amazing sunsets, some wildflowers and with every image and every post, take down the barriers.

Buying a house is like buying a toilet, but living in a community is ongoing. The question is: “Do you want to sell toilets or be an ambassador for your community?”