How Has Blogging Changed Your Real Estate Career? – Brad Nix and the RETechSouth Event

Today’s interview is with broker, Brad Nix of Maxsell Real Estate.
Maxsell Real Estate “is the only real estate company in Metro Atlanta exclusively servicing the I-575 Real Estate Corridor of Northwest Atlanta.”
Brad joined the Vine in late February of 2007.  He was a great choice for today’s interview because of just how much his business and use of technology have changed in just 12 months.

Here’s his story.

Tomato:
You know the drill… you still working with the traditional marketing strategies of print and mail?
Brad Nix:
Very little.  We are definitely using a lot less of all of it.
If we do anything [in print], it’s simply to drive traffic to the site.
But for example, we used to buy a 1/4 page, every week, in the local paper here in Atlanta.  That along with some many less effective print ads have all been left behind.
Tomato:
How has the blogging and focus on technology made an impact to your brokerage over the last year?

Brad Nix:
That’s the thing… without a doubt it has been a huge part of our growth and philosophy.
Last year, before we met, we had just 6 full-time agents.
Since the blogging, we have grown to 21 agents (and counting).
We are attracting agents that recognize that we have a finger on the pulse of the future, and they want to be a part of that.
They come to us impressed by our tech savvy, understanding of SEO, blogging, and commitment to adaptation.
Tomato:
So how many agents are participating on the blog and to what capacity?
Brad Nix:
Right now there are 5 of us that post regularly on the site, so about 20%.  But we are just getting started.  I am really looking forward to some developments; tying the whole company into the back-end of the site, and encouraging them all the get involved.
Once we move to using the back-end as a forum/intranet for the company’s announcements, updates, stats, etc, I believe it will get more participating, more regularly, simply because they are now just a click away from writing an article.
Tomato:
How else have you used the Internet and blogging to your advantage in ways you hadn’t prior to this new approach?
Brad Nix:
Well, our Listing Presentations are so technology centric now.  We take the time to explain how we embrace everything blogging, to social networking to Trulia and Zillow.  Instead of being fearful of something like Zillow and the objections and challenges it can present, we actually are embracing it for the benefit and exposure of our clients’ properties.
Tomato:
Are there any topics that you are finding are working better for you than others when it comes to generating leads and clients through blogging?
Brad Nix:
Actually, yes.  By taking a bit of a commercial approach, and blogging about local developments in our region have had a great effect.  Whether it’s a new project getting started, or new stores that are coming in… the effect is amazing.
The perception is that I’m the expert and they contact me for all sorts of reasons.  Concerns such as when projects will start, what roads will be needed, what businesses are coming in to the area and how to lease commercial space… but the curious thing is that we’ve actually been generating listings because people don’t want to live in the area any longer, and need someone to sell their home.
Tomato:
Now, I know you have a big event coming up that has really caught tread… this has to be perhaps one of the most relevant ways that blogging has changed your career… organizing a big tech event, drawing huge industry names, filling 100’s of seats… look at you.
So what’s the low-down?
Brad Nix:
Well, Matt Fagioli (another Tomato Blogger and Atlanta area Broker) and I have gotten together to try and educate the local real estate community here in Atlanta about all the technological advancements that are taking place in the industry.
It’s coming up fast (March 27^th), and that initially was of some concern to us, as to how we were going to pull it all together and create enough of a buzz about it to make it a success.
And that’s just it… you won’t believe how fast things came together.  In literally a week, we had already established a huge buzz online in the RE.net community, but even more impressively were able to land some Big Names as panelists and speakers.
Dustin Luther of RainCityGuide and 4Realz.net, Michael Simonsen of Altos Research, Mark Warner of RealESpace.com, David Harris of GeekEstateBlog.com, Christian Sterner of WellcomeMat.com, Rudy Bachraty of Trulia, Jason Benesch of your Real Estate Tomato, Pat Kitano of TransparentRE.com, Kevin Boer from 3OceansRealEstate.com… and maybe even you, I have heard.
Tomato:
Maybe….
Brad Nix:
The thing is, how this all came together so quickly just endorses the fact that things don’t need to be planned 6 months in advance to get the attention they deserve.  The buzz that social networking and blogging can create is unbelievable.  It’s amazing what has happened in just the last 7 days with this event.
Tomato:
I know you all have a video promo for it, so I will be sure to include that here at the end of this.  Thanks so much for your time today, Brad.  I am really excited for you and Matt, pulling off such a great 1 day event in such a short period.
For more information on the Tomato sponsored event, simply go check out their website: RETechSouth.com
RE Tech South Conference in Atlanta — Real Estate 2.0 “Southern Style”
 

We’d love to hear from you about how blogging has changed your real estate career.
Feel free to post below, or email me to interview you directly for a future post.  I’ve heard some great stories, so stay tuned!