If nothing else, going to conferences like NAR and Inman let you rub shoulders with other vendors in the real estate space. This weekend I was able to track down a number of players in the “Blog Marketing” space at NARdi Gras, ask them a few questions and get their take on what’s happening within the industry.

There are a couple different tactics for how blogs are being implemented in the industry, and they’re well outlined in the following 3 products.

Blogging Systems – Perhaps the most well-known so far due to their relationship with Inman and various other big name associations. Chris Bubny, Director of Opperations at Blogging Systems explained the different ways they help real estate professionals get into the blogging game.

You can create what they call a Community Blog platform, which lets you create a place online that lets other professionals from your geographic community take part in. So, if you were an agent, you might invite individuals from your chamber of commerce, a local mortgage broker, local appraiser, or anyone else that you have an affiliation with to start writing with you in this space. It becomes a local hub of news.

They also offer platforms for bloggers at the company level, internal company blogs, and individual blogs. All-in-all, it’s a very well-rounded offering. Prices start at $1000 setup and a monthly hosting fee that ranges depending upon the platform.

Real Estate Blogsites – Since we shared the same aisle as Real Estate Blogsites, we were able to get to know them pretty well. John Helmering, President and CEO, was very open to answering questions about their platform and let us know how they differ from their competition.

Real Estate Blogsites is built around content. Content is king because of the value that search engines place on it, thereby making your site more likely to show up on the first page of Google. Their fundamental difference is that they provide a great deal of that content to the blogger up front, which makes it easier to manage.

Their packages are set up at the agent level, which means one blog. They also have options for brokers who would like to set up a couple blogs (channels) called “small office” and “broker advanced”. Prices start off at $500 setup and $200/month management fees.

Top Producer – Dustin Luther of Move.com, and behind RainCityGuide.com, talked to me a little about Top Producers product called Top Marketer. They have just rolled out a new feature that allows anyone using their product to create a blog as part of the system.

I think this is a particular interesting way of rolling out a blogging system, because it has a low barrier to entry for agents who are already paying for other services. Blogging has always been a way for the little guy to gain a big voice (if they can write well), so this platform does allow for that. There is the upfront cost of getting into their system, but that might be a cost an agent is willing to take on anyway because of the extensive features available within the platform beyond just blogging.

In Summary

Blogging within the industry has become a buzz topic. Platforms created for that purpose have some very definite value at the business level. However, being a long-time blogger I think that the best blogs will still be those that are written with more than business in mind. So, someone can use these platforms, but they need to be consistent, give their blog a peronality, and remember that blogging is a way to build relationships with people – it’s not just a business tool.

Individuals like John Dalton, Greg Swann and Geri are all practicing real estate professionals who use blogs to show that they really know what they’re talking about. They are just 3 of the first-movers in this space, showing how blogging can be used to transform your business and prove that you’re the expert that your customer is looking for to help them in their real estate transaction.

What’s interesting to me about NARdi Gras is how big it is. If you compare the number of exhibitors and attendees, NAR’s annual conference blows away Inman (in both San Francisco and NY combined). So, you’ve got a lot of potential to network with a wide variety of people. It’s a place to get business done – the size of the expo floor alone is a testament to that.

Then you have Inman. Inman isn’t as big. It doesn’t have that “establishment” feel to it either. Brad has done a great job of bringing in vibrant, new technologies into the spotlight.

When you go to a panel on “Top money making strategies in online marketing” at NAR there is no one sitting on the panel that was born after 1970. When you go to a similar session at Inman you rarely find a person on the panel born before 1970.

So, there is a fundamental difference between the two “big” real estate industry conferences. One is all about change, the other is about the status quo. This makes them both a target for two different demographics within the industry – real estate professionals go to both, it’s just the type of professional that goes to one rarely goes to the other.

As a company going to market with a product, these two organizations have to be met with differing styles. You know Inman is looking for new innovative products that will shake up the industry – if not that, then at least make some waves about old-vs-new. If you’re going to NAR, make sure you’re spouting the NAR company line, and you’ll need to stress how you support and make the real estate agent’s job easier – again, it’s not about change at NAR, it’s about the status quo.

Representing change or defending the status quo are neither good nor bad. In the end, this industry is complicated and has a great deal of history. Change within specific areas is good, and you see a sea-change happening within marketing at the moment because of new media. However, that change needs to be tempered with the understandings of a relationship-based approach to a highly regulated industry that will not allow a “technology lightning bolt” to disrupt it.