Start a Newspaper? Really?

That’s what Seth Godin is advising real estate agents to do.  Of course, he’s not really talking about a newspaper.  He’s talking about an email newsletter.  There’s a huge difference.

I also think he way underestimates the effort involved.  Do an interview in just 10 minutes?  Assuming you can (and I’m skeptical), how long does it take to find the interview subjects?  To find a time that works for both of you?  To actually write up the interview?

And requiring each agent to sign up 20 email subscribers each day?  Wow.  If I had agents that could do that, I think I might get out of the real estate business and go into list building.

However, as is always the case with Seth, there is gold in this post.  Here’s what I love.

Focus on Local Interest

If you’re building a local site, you have an inherent advantage: content that very few (if any) others are focusing on.  Forget national news.  Give your audience something they can’t get anywhere else.  Go hyper-local.  The guy that owns the bakery: what’s his story?  How about the woman who owns the flower store?  How’d she get into that?  I’d love to know more about the people and places around me.

Incremental Efforts

If you focus on getting 500 subscribers (or visitors or whatever), it can be overwhelming.  Focus instead on small goals.  Get to just 10.  Then get 10 more.  And then get 10 more.  Don’t try to bite it all off at once, or you’re liable to get so frustrated you’ll just quit.

This also has the benefit of letting you move between different tasks so that you don’t get into a rut.

Genuinely Interesting

As with anything, your content has to be genuinely interesting.  Many real estate agents are just like so many wannabe dot-com moguls: they think if they publish anything and package it well that we’ll want to read it.  Take a step back and look at what you’re doing with fresh eyes.  As Simon says, it has to be a real resource, not just content for the sake of content.