Blogger Spotlight: Barry Cunningham
One of the hottest new media offerings in the real estate world is Real Estate Radio USA. It’s a radio quality production, dedicated to real estate, and syndicated over the Internet. One fascinating aspect of the show is how they’ve used it to interact with bloggers in this vertical. In fact, I’ll be a part of today’s show around 4:30 Eastern.
Barry Cunningham has taken the lead on developing their own blog offering and I wanted to get his perspective both as a relatively new blogger, and a top notch podcaster.
Hi Barry, I know you’ve been blogging for a few months now, why did you decide to adopt this medium?
Actually the blog came after we decided to do the radio show. Like most, we started researching and realized that we had a niche that was not being filled so we decided to develop a vertically integrated real estate company. What does that mean..well not to steal Howard Stern’s slogan..but we felt we could create the king of all real estate related media companies. Blogging was one of the components of that vertical integration.
One thing that sets you apart from other new bloggers is the way you’ve used your radio show as a platform to meet some of the top voices on RE.net. Tell us a bit about the power of the interview.
We realized that we were behind the pack. With all of the great real estate bloggers out there I did not want to wait around for a year until the Google gods allowed us to play outside of the dreaded sandbox. So we decided that by utilizing the blog to push the radio show and to utilizing the radio show to push the blog that we could create a synergistic approach to drive traffic and rss subscriptions. It seems to be working for us. Also, in watching late night television, we knew that because nobody else was doing it that there would be a never-ending supply of guests to bring on to talk about pertinent events in the “Business” of real estate.
What are the biggest differences so far, between communicating in audio or print?
It takes more time to research and write a compelling blog posting than it does to produce an entire radio show. Real estate bloggers can sit down and bang out something about their hyperlocal farming niche in about 20 minutes. The posts we mainly write about have to be researched and fact-checked to make sure what we write is accurate. We get blasted a lot by realtors because of what we write but if an individual takes the time to actually read the article and the supporting links and information they can actually see it may be uncomfortable but it is an issue needing discussion. So it’s definitely the amount of prep it takes to write a story that sets audio apart from print. Plus..I am a windbag which makes it easy to do the radio show.
If a blogger wants to start communicating in audio, how would you suggest they get started.
The first show we did, sounded HORRIBLE..we were nervous and did not have a plan. At first it was a “How-To” show. No one wants to hear a how to show. We quickly realized that our future was in talking about the issues knowing the business. So the start of utilizing the audio portion is to relax and the 2nd biggest part is to have fun. If you relax and have fun it comes through on the air. Don’t try to be Walter Cronkite..be yourself. People can tell the difference. To get started we made sure their were at least two of us in the studio at all times and planned the show as a conversation between friends that the listener can eavesdrop on. That’s the best way. Just have fun, talk to some friends and let others listen in. It will sound natural, you will have fun and your audience will relax and have fun with you. On the technical side, their is a small upfront investment one has to make and there are some items you just can’t go the cheap route on. Email me and I’ll give you a list of what we bought to get started. Bit of advice..there are a lot of “blog talk shows” out there that tell you that you can just call in and do your show over the phone. Just imagine if you’d like sitting in front of a McDonald’s drive thru for an hour or so. The audio presentation is vitally important to retain an audience and convert new listeners.
What are some of your favorite blogs?
I don’t have enough room…obviously the usual suspects bloodhound, 4realz, yours, rsspieces (unbelievable info), agent genius, sellsius, xbroker, transparent re, the tomato, teresa boardman’s amazing photos, phoenix real estate guy, the real estate bloggers, laurie manny’s for inspiration and of course..Seth godin’s blog…so many more..but my favorite blog besides our own is the Notre Dame football blog…sweet!
What advice do you have for prospective bloggers who are looking to start a blog?
Talk to those who are successful (i.e see above) and read everything and do what they did and it will work for you. when we wrote our very 1st post on January 2, 2008 we were so apprehensive. We could not imagine where we were headed but then I started reading and listening and following direction…great direction by all of those mentioned above and in less than 2 months we have been averaging almost 2,000 unique visitors per day, and our organic searches are not even kicking in yet as we are still in the sandbox for our prime keywords!
A parting statement.
We blog out of the sheer enjoyment and never force a post. If there is nothing there…then don’t force it. When you have something to say, say it, when you don’t ..shut up. Right now..I am going to just shut up. Ciao!!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Oh No- don’t tell me Barry’s a Domer; I really like him
March 30th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I love the “B&B” show! Great stuff…