There’s always something to howl about.

Tag: Real Estate Blogs (page 1 of 1)

Sunday Morning Tribute To Bloodhound

Bloodhound is an astounding blog. Now before I’m accused of buttering up to Greg, let me explain I’m not that type. What I find astounding about Bloodhound is the consistent quality of the work here. It’s amazing a real estate blog can generate such rich material for the imagination, and one reason I think it does is that it transcends, on many occasions, the limits of basic real estate information.

That’s not to say that all types of RE blogs don’t have their place among the RE blogosphere and much valuable information is transmitted all over. Bloodhound itself transmits valuable nuts and bolts information. Along with other sites, Bloodhound transmits good technology tips and is in the loop of the latest news going on in the industry. I think, though, what raises it above other efforts is the transcending part.

I like the fast, informative style some sites have, with a few pithy words, neat pictures and links to good information, but they lack the substance that I think makes a place like Bloodhound stand out. That’s what I’m getting at – rich content, substance, mind food, sparks to fire the imagination. We often praise the informative aspect of Bloodhound, but seldom do I see the content given appropriate praise.

In order to stand out among a field of writers, substantive content is critical in my estimation. Allan Bloom, the great literature critic, feels that being “strange” is what sets great writers apart and makes them immortal. By “strange” he meant that writers like Kafka, Shakespeare, Pynchon and Cervante are different, on the edge, that their content fires the imagination. Not that I’m comparing Bloodhound to canonical writers, but relatively speaking, the concept is the same – in the arena of RE blogs, Bloodhound has the “strange” factor which sets it apart, makes it noticeable, whether you agree with Greg and the contributors and like them or not.

This powerful form of branding is what all businesses, and other efforts to be seen and heard, search for, yet few fully succeed in finding. I think it entails taking a risk, having the courage to express Read more

Gannett’s onto us with Hyperlocals!

A few background facts that need to be entered into evidence:

a) My wife and I are the PROUD parents of 4 kids.
b) All parents with which I associate are PROUD parents. (Vanity thy name is author is accurate, but it has NUTHIN on vanity thy name is parent-grin)
c) Gannett’s 86 newspapers plus USA Today are locked in a desperate battle for advertising revenue both for newspapers and increasingly online. (All battles for revenue are desperate, no?)
d) They are getting creative at attracting eyeballs and MAY actually be listening to some luminaries in the journalism business who have crossed over to blogging success. James Lileks comes to mind. (He lost his column at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune despite being arguably the best blogging asset they had and one of the brightest minds in how to effect the organizational change they needed. He specifically called for them to “go local”.)

OK- So I was at work the other day and I get a call from my wife that our 16 year old son is going to be interviewed and have a two page article done about him in the paper. I inquire from Jen which paper and she replies the Courier Journal. I ask if they have told her which section. She says, the Southern Indiana Clark county section. Hmmm…Interesting. I just heard from a friend at church that his child was recently featured in the Floyd county section…sense a pattern here?

Apparently the reporters have called the local high schools from all over the area and are asking for kids with interesting background stories or who are “exceptional” to do stories about. They are being featured in a way that EVERY parent will tell their friends, family, church congregation and every other local person who knows our family. Very cool.

The article on our son will be published this coming Wednesday.

Other expose’s are being written on LOCAL issues that will appeal to the neighborhood crowd. They are specifically being for the “town square” as opposed to the “rip and read” AP stories.

So the take home lesson from this? REALTORS do not “own” the eyeballs Read more