The Real Estate Web is a Big Copying Machine
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I read an article today that blew me away. It starts with this line, “The internet is a copying machine.” I look around the real estate web 1.0 (and parts of 2.0) and that is exactly what I see, a big copying machine. Who can list the homes so that the reader can see them first. But then I came across this part of the post by Kevin Kelly:
As the old joke goes: software, free. The manual, $10,000. But it’s no joke. A couple of high profile companies, like Red Hat, Apache, and others make their living doing exactly that. They provide paid support for free software. via The Technium.
And that is what hit me. Most of the real estate agents are absolutely thrilled to man the copier when it comes to putting information up. Got a IDX listing, put my name up on it and send it to the web. No thinking, just automate and run with it.
The Real Estate Blogosphere is doing things differently. The great ones are interpreting the information. Instead of just regurgitating data like the 99 percent, we tend to think about it and put it into terms for our readers. Some sites will try to aim to explain the nuances of the real estate world for fellow agents, others try to help the homebuyers, and some try to teach those buying in their local communities.
The common thread with all of us is that we are working hard to make a manual for to explain the generic information that the majority put out there without any explanation. And that is how we will make money with the web instead of wondering why it is a money sink.
Please go read Kevin’s seminal post on When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied. to learn how to use the internet to really grow your real estate business.
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Maybe it was kryptonite...
ECONOMIC REPORT
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By Mike ...
I couldn't agree more.
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well, the guy was here illegally.
serves him right. 
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Pingback by Kevin Kelly captures an internet truth in… « 4realz.net on 4 February 2008:
[...] (of REB) sums up the connection to the RE.net with the idea that we’re all “working hard to make a manual for to explain the generic information that the majority put out there without any [...]
Comment by Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice on 7 February 2008:
Tom,
Great article….this is really one of the biggest reasons I felt my static website was just one of the bunch and I was looking for something more engaging for clients and myself. Starting a blog this last year has been as good of move as I have done in the last few years in this business. Too many agents just plug away with the same ol formula…open houses, ads, caravan, few emails, floortime, cma offering etc.
Always enjoy reading here.
take care
Comment by Real estate on 21 June 2008:
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery but who wants to be copied on the net. Uniqueness grows in value inversely to the amount of copy cats.
Give value to get value and as the post above quite rightly pointed out,if you can’t find new data then interpret the old stuff in a new way.