Generous Realtors donate several hours of their time each week so that companies can make a profit. These dedicated men an woman give selflessly of their time so that sites like Trulia, Zillow, Active Rain and others can be successful. User generated content is needed to populate the sites with information.
How do these companies get so many writers to write for free? Easy they convince them that if they provide content to external corporations they will some how get more business. It is working, every day more Realtors write for web sites without understanding that it isn’t the web site that is getting them some leads, it is their own content.
These companies are not the first to get people to work for free. It is becoming a common practice in the internet world Time Magazine has an interesting article about getting rich off of those who work for free. There are products like the browser I use, Mozilla Foxfire that are created and developed through the mutual cooperation of people who work for free. Wikis and Linux work the same way. How much work will people do for free? That is the big question. I can see my self working for free to help create something of value that could be used by many, or to raise money for charity or for some other worthy cause. I just can’t see myself doing it for real estate web sites when I have one of my own.
There are several successful Realtors out there who get business by writing on their own blogs, and do not provide free content for other companies. I provide some free content to other companies but not much and the local content that drive my business stays on St. Paul Real Estate Blog becasue it really is one of my most valuable business assets. I would consider selling it, but not giving it away.
My local content is somehow more valuable if it can only be found in one place. People have to come to my web sites to read it. I get traffic and generate business becasue of it. I don’t have to share the stage with my closest competitors, or depend on another company for an internet presence. It is really very empowering to be my own rain maker.
Now housevalues.com has become an investor in Active Rain, with 65,000 members and maybe 1000 active real estate professionals working for free to provide content for Active Rain and their Consumer Site Localism. It was a smart move on the part of housevalues.com They can see the value of unqiue content provided by industry experts and are willing to invest 2.75 million.
I know that I am a late comer to the party here but I have begun to explore some business models where I get people to work for free so that I can make more money. Active Rain apparently has not made a profit and I don’t know about Zillow or Trulia or the others but I suspect there is some money to be made off of the free content. This blog is open for anyone who has something to say. I could sell ads on it and beef it up a bit. Make it the go to place for people who want to go on a rant.
Thousands of real estate pros will continue to give away their content and perhaps that will create more opportunities for someone to make money. They do not understand how powerful there words are and that they alone can beat out the bigger companies and have a strong internet presence in their own market. They don’t understand the value of what they give away or that they don’t need to give it away to make it work for them.
There is nothing wrong with working for free. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. The writers on Active rain may own the content but I think Active Rain owns the web site. They can delete it, sell it, change the domain name or do anything they want to it. They could go out of business and just shut the whole thing down. Writers who contribute to active rain’s Localism site are helping their competitors attract readers and if they have another real estate blog they are competing against themselves and their own blog.
I do love the idea of getting people to work for me for free and I welcome anyone who would like to do it.
I think you have it wrong T. The idea is not to make any money, but convince an angel investor that some day you will. then you get all your money upfront. :p
However, the idea of an open source version of Active Rain is worth pondering.
I like the way your mind works Todd. you know maybe we should go into business together. I think I know where we could find an angel investor, and yes an open source active rain. We can maybe get someone to create it for free.
T –
You know you can always count on me for the other perspective. 🙂
Consider that the last time I stopped by your blog you didn’t charge me for the excellent advice I found there. I hate to break this to you but you’ve been working for free … at least for me. But it doesn’t end there; corporations are getting rich off your blog. Google for instance has been monetizing your efforts since your first blog post. 😉 I guess you’re “working for free” after all.
The information that consumers find on your blog is attributed to you in much the same way that the information posted by Realtors in RE communities is attributed to them. They receive contacts from clients as a result of the stuff they write in pretty much the same way that you do. Frankly, the only significant difference between these two marketing strategies is that you’ve taken on the added cost of publishing and of marketing your publication. Now, who is being generous? 😉 Of course, your reward for the extra time and money spent is the certainty that comes with controlling the way your content is published … but frankly, that’s an intangible benefit which only has value in the (highly unlikely) scenario that publishers stop attributing user generated content to authors.
The other side to this coin is that I’d caution you not to let finding an audience distract you from your core business of helping people buy and sell homes. This is very simply why businesses partner with media companies; because popular publications often offer the most direct and cost effective route to reaching your client. For instance; imagine what happens when you don’t answer the next question asked about St. Paul real estate by a homeowner on Zillow. Does that consumer then search and search until they find your blog or will your local competitor simply provide an answer?
Now obviously my take on the whole “working for free” thing is said with tongue firmly in cheek. Frankly, if you are not “working for free” you should be worried. Information wants to be free and sharing your knowledge is the most important marketing strategy of the new Millennium. A Realtor who doesn’t find an audience for their free information will probably not be doing much business in five years. So, definitely look for the optimal way to share your knowledge for free.
P.S. For a great view into the debate about Realtors working for free, see this discussion on Zillow and pay attention to the comments by the consumers who are observing the debate:
http://www.zillow.com/forum/site/ViewThread.htm?tid=12125.
P.P.S. If that link doesn’t work it’s ‘coz the stop got attached somehow. Try this:
http://www.zillow.com/forum/site/ViewThread.htm?tid=12125
David,
Another way to look at it, is if Teresa doesn’t answer the next question on about St Paul on Zillow, maybe that customer will find T’s competitor, or maybe they’ll find nothing at all. Then the customer decides Zillow isn’t the place to be asking those questions. And if T doesn’t answer questions, and people decide not to ask, then Google never indexes the content that drives in customers to Zillow in the first place.
David, first let me say thanks for stopping by and virtual hugs to you.
I like what Todd said above I could not say it better myself. I am going to have to pusuade Todd to go into business with me so we can take over the re-blogosphere and maybe even the world.
In my small business it may seem to some that I am working for free. I give a potential seller a price opinion for free and they list with someone else. I show a buyer 10 homes in sub zero weather and they buy nothing. All for free and all part of my job. I write blogs for free too. That is how my business works, I need appointments to get sales but do not make money directly from each. It is a business where I have to give to get and I have to meet people to win business.
The added cost as you say for my blogs is almost nothing. The work is in producing content. It is the same amount of work to produce it here as it is to produce it on zillow or active rain. when I produce it on St. Paul re I am working for myself for free, when I produce it on active rain I am producing it for them for free. Like Todd said if they don’t exsist consumers either find one of my competitors or they find me.
Writing any where is part of my business. Just like some agents do open houses and other mail post cards. Writing is less expensive and easier for me. Not only is not a distraction but it helps me think critically and is actually a way to decompress. I am not finding audiences, they are finding me becasue they are looking for me. If it were a distraction from my core business I think writing on Active Rain or answering questions on Zillow or Trulia would be just as much of a distraction.
Honestly David you don’t need to caution me about any thing. I know exactly what I am doing and I do it well.
I found this blog because of a Google news alert – and I am glad I did. The fact remains Teresa that Zillow, Yahoo and Trulia had millions of consumers going to their sites BEFORE they added community sections. The way to use these sections to your advantage is to farm from them, by providing enough information – and driving consumers to your blog. Why do we advertise in papers? Why do we PAY to put our listings on other sites? Why do we do all these things that cost money, and never question their viability – but immediately jump on FREE things as evil? look I know the addage, nothing is free, yadd yadda – you’re right – it costs time. But you have already invested the time creating the content – but no one is reading it.
The fact is that the consumer will never go to one site, they will always shop around, online and off. By being a part of AR, Trulia and Zillow you are merely fishing with multiple hooks – and if you know what you are doing, driving consumers to your site and letting new consumers discover you.
THIS is why they work, I read a post on FOREM a few days ago about an agent that got a lead from Trulia – so why not find a way to leverage your old, unread posts on these active sites, without recreating content?
Here is exactly how to leverage your content:
1) Find a question that you want to answer -but answer it on YOUR BLOG.
2)Then copy a small segment of the answer, paste it into Voices or QnA, or AR and then reference your COMPLETE post on YOUR site.
3)That’s it! A win, win. You provide an answer, and get traffic from consumers that are really interested in reading or learning more.
my two cents.
Thanks for stopping by. Someone is reading my blog. I get about 4000 visitors a week and most of my business comes from it. This is not my main business blog. I do have profiles and links to my blog on all of the sites I mention and many more. I do get some traffic from them. The content stays on my blog. Persons using the internet are attracted to the content, not the web site. I have put links to answers to questions on my blog too. I am just not willing to spend too much time at it. The amount of traffic I get because of my links is so insignificant that it is almost unnoticable. I guess my point is I can “win” with out them but they can’t “win” without me.
In fact everything you have written here is an example of what I am talking about. The belief that outside sites are needed to drive traffic to a blog. It is the content that drives traffic to a blog and keeps people coming back. That is why companies will invest 2.75 Mil so that they can make money off of our free content.
I just saw Drew on my blog. I thought this case was assigned to David G. 🙂
AH! Now I hear you – yes, you are right. You need to build a local following for sure. But agents just starting out in the “blog” world, may need to “steal” traffic from these sites first and then as their own blog gains popularity, just focus on staying active once a week or so. Nice blog, I learned a bit here. Keep writing – although I am sure I don’t need to tell you that 🙂
-A.Y.
🙂 think you are right about using the sites to get a good start. I just worry that some of the agents spend so much time on active rain that they forget about the importance of local consumer content on their own blog. I like to help agents who are starting a blog and am actually looking for a way to help promote agents blogs . . for free of course and I have no intention of making money off of it. Why would I do something so ridiculous? Because I can.
Teresa so if you angel investment, does that mean that we’ll get free hot dogs? 🙂
Tony
Tony – on this blog cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand all things are possible. 😉
Virtual hugs right back at ya T.
I agree that your blog is awesome and as you know, I’m a advocate for blog-based marketing. That’s not the point. The point is that successful online marketing is not an either/or proposition. If 100% of your traffic comes from SEO, you’re missing a huge opportunity. And if 100% of your traffic came from participation in social media I’d be advising that you focus on SEO. My point is simply that an optimal online marketing strategy is usually a balance between the two. That balance will differ from person to person (not everyone was born to blog.) Participation in real estate communities actually compliments a blog marketing strategy very nicely and the irony here is that as you mention, you are already participating via your profile pages (thank you.)
I understand that Todd’s scenario could simplify things but it really is a dream. The reality, as Andre points out, is that consumers will be everywhere online.
If you truly believe that using other sites in your marketing strategy could somehow hurt you as those sites succeed, I recommend you read up on abundance theory (it’s Stephen Covey’s 4th habit of Highly Effective people.)
Todd –
Andre’s right; you’re totally missing the fact that 3+ million people were visiting Zillow every month before a single Realtor chose to participate in the site. As you choose which media companies to partner with it’s important to be skeptical and ask them what they bring to the table but it’s equally important to be able to recognize value created by the media companies who offer you free marketing opportunities.
David – I totally agree that having a profile on your site, and a little content is a good thing. I even uploaded a few of my best photos. There is a difference between doing that and hanging out on the site and contributing a lot of content. Like you say there needs to be some balance. I think it is best to use sites like yours for a little linking but to put the content and the conversation on my own site. If you google my name you will find that I am indeed every where on the internet. My competition hates that about me. They say I am relentless and I market my properties the same way. The trick is to take advantage of site like Zillow but at the same time keep the unique local content and become the go to site for that. I don’t think I am missing any boats. I am sure that my train will arrive on time if I can just get to the airport.
Thanks I needed that hug. caught a nasty cold at that conference. Hope I didn’t catch it from you. 🙂
I wasn’t missing that fact David. I market on Zillow precisely because of that. I’ve uploaded more than a hundred pictures of modern homes in Denver.
All I’m saying is that I don’t look at it as a favor on Zillow’s part, that I can do it “for free”. My time is not free.
Todd 🙂 Gee here they are trying to help us out and all we do is complain. 100 photos? I better get 94 more up. Don’t know why I am so competitive.
T, you DO help agents with their blogs. 🙂
Thank you.
Thanks Sarah – by the way the weenie is open to anyone who has something to say and I allow most any type of content as long as it isn’t a personal attack on an individual.
OK, I’m wrong. I just looked, and actually, I only have 42 uploaded. I tried to check earlier, (when I wrote the comment) but Zillow was down. I have more than a hundred I need to upload. Just need the time. I’ll work on this tonight.
http://www.zillow.com/profile/Denver-Modern-Homes
Great, I can get 36 uploaded in no time assuming Zillow can handle it. 🙂
Preface: Random thoughts ahead. No logical order. Oh well.
I guess it pays NOT to be in a larger market with a lot of competition. I like to blog on AR because my (easily held) #1 area status has gotten (and keeps getting) me business directly from that site. I plan to keep offering my content for free because I AM getting rewarded … even 16 months into my membership.
… and not to mention, if it weren’t for AR I would not have met all the new people that I now admire and like to refer business to.
HOWEVER, the one thing that you bring up that has now perplexed my ambition is “My local content is somehow more valuable if it can only be found in one place. People have to come to my web sites to read it.”
I have to chew on that one for awhile. But until I act on that, I plan to continue to use AR as a tool in my business. At least until my role as #1 is challenged. Then I’ll quit. (I’m not a great sport, am I? LOL! Too busy to be competitive, you know…)
Maybe I am the only one who looks at it this superficially, but this view works for me … at least for now.
I think it’s a control issue – once that control is challenged then users start questioning.
It’s also about ROI – after a year in Active Rain, if I’m not getting one single lead, then my time is not well spent. Same goes with Trulia (which I have been testing for the past few months) – I get traffic into my site, but no real business from it.
I do agree that these places are great for agents that don’t have an Internet presence, but once they establish one, it’s a matter of really studying where business is coming from.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun blogging, but I do it for business. (and it helps that you can help people on the way)
Before blogging the template website providers would tell us to get onto as many directories as possible and have us paying for useless linkage. The directory pages turn up with no page rank or PR0 pages with our info on them = useless backlinks. Who knew the difference back then? It was all new.
They said this was the way to get to the top of the engines, be found and get leads. We all complied. The net result? The directories jammed the first 5 pages of Google leaving the Realtor sites to be found beginning on unfindable page 5 or 6 or so.
There are so many new sites all craving our input; Zillow, Trulia, ActiveRain, Realtor/com, etc… They are already displacing many Realtor sites at the top of the engines with many new contenders coming up right behind them.
They are successful at this website placement because of the locally focused content that Realtors are adding to their sites and because of the listings that are being fed to them by both the Realtors and the broker load.
The listing that are fed to them are placed on their sites without no follow tags and are floating individually up on the engines. The leads are going to the brokers and fees are being charged. There is a lot of money being made here.
With the exception of a listing post, we little Realtors have not had the ability to place the same kind of feeds on our individual sites that would allow other peoples listings to float individually to the top of the engines and lead that traffic back to our sites. These monster sites have that power because Realtors and Brokerages are giving it away to them and burying themselves. They have that power because both Realtors and Brokerages are giving it up to them.
None of these sites are in the business of selling real estate. They sell advertising to Realtors and others in the business to monetize their sites. They sell Realtors leads back to Realtors for huge referral fees, witness the Prudential deal with Trulia and Yahoo. Broker load to the sites, leads back to broker to be sold to agents for a whopping 35% referral fee which Trulia, Yahoo and Prudential all share in.
Excuse me, but as the listing agent I take great exception to this practice. I sweat to get that listing, I paid for the advertising, marketing and branding that brought that listing in. Those leads should be mine. If I list my listings on these sites the broker load overrides them, why waste my time? Why would I add any local content to these sites? Why would I build their sites and put the placement of my site in jeopardy?
If NAR were a more effective governing body and actually had the best interests of Realtors in mind perhaps they would actually try to educate and organize Realtors across the country about how all of this works. It is unfortunate that they actually have a stake in the largest participant in this group.
Blogging to other Realtors and letting them know how this affects them seems to be the only way to reach even a small percentage of our ranks. It is unfortunate that Realtors are not more organized and that the only massive flow of information to them – across the board is tainted.
OK, thats my rant.
Nice rant. I say we keep our content. 🙂
I definitely don’t like to work for anyone else for free. I joined AR to learn how to blog, then really stepped away to focus on my wordpress blog. I have recently started posting on both, because I have been told it will help make sure people find me and improve my stats on google. I have jumped significantly recently, I am not sure if it is because of my links on AR or because i am posting a lot more on the other blog. I am so confused about what is right. I like the interaction with other agents on AR. I have not ventured on to Zillow or Trulia (sorry David and Drew!)
Agents are finally waking up, well at least the smart ones. If those sites are competing in your market, they will be soon. By “participating” you are giving sites like Trulia, et al legitimacy as a real estate resource. They will happily take your content, listings, answers to real estate questions and send you a few piddly hits to your site. All the while they gain traction in the organic serps for major markets….and then happily sell you those leads generated from your content for a measily 35% referral fee….and for doing almost nothing for it.
Richey – most do not see it that way. I of course agree 100%. I predict it will get worse. new sites launching all the time and people contacting me to give them content.
Used to be a huge AR particpant. But, I’m trading in points for time spent on my own blogs and websites. As fun as active rain was, and as caught up in the competition I got, I get much more out of spending time on my own turf.
With three outside blogs and a website, I am pretty busy. AR participation has dropped not only with me, but with many of the big timers. But that is just how things go. Trouble is, I now don’t have time to visit other peoples blogs to let then know I am alive!.:)
Jennifer – I have the same problem. It is hard to find the time to read. Happy to hear that you are still alive, kind of thought you were. 🙂