While this will hit the wire tomorrow in the AM, we’re truly excited to announce a new relationship with renowned REALTOR®, Author, Teacher and Speaker Ralph R. Roberts as spokesperson for our comprehensive Kinetic Knowledge business- blogging services platform. Ralph has been called "the best-selling REALTOR® in America" by TIME Magagine. A born motivator, he can often be found working alongside Federal authorities to help educate state and local law enforcement and financial institutions on the problems associated with Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud.

Having the chance to bring Ralph on as spokesperson is not only an honor, but a chance to align our customer focused model with one of the great American business blogging success stories. In addition to speaking on our behalf to Real Estate industry professionals, Ralph is going to help develop original consumer-facing content for our clients. This partnership only furthers our commitment to help today’s professional in an ever challenging marketing environment.

Additionally, we have built a new corporate website making it easier to learn about our comprehensive business blogging services.

We have a number of Real Estate Industry clients [Residential, Commercial & Mortgage] and it’s common to hear them say they’re not completely confident about what to blog. While client education is very much a commitment here, even confident folks need some guidance toward developing a productive ‘business blogging voice.’ It’s very important because most buyers & sellers want to believe their Realtor or Mortgage Broker is a local authority on the Community. With a Blog it’s easy to develop recognition as a trusted local authority… and it couldn’t be more affordable  

Here are some neat ideas for locally focused content:

I. Blog answers to everyday questions: Have you answered any questions related to your Real Estate or Mortgage business this week? It’s likely you have, via phone and/or email. Those answers are valuable education to many and your authoritative knowledge is the greatest content to share. Rather than sharing answers with just one person, take notes so that you can Blog those same answers to the web. Like- minded individuals are searching for them everyday!

II. Blog new or improved services: Are you adding new, or improving existing, Real Estate services? New or improved service is an important development that needs promotion and defining it certainly makes for good content! Why wouldn’t you continually blog to update the folks who listen via subscription or those likely to be searching for those services?

III. Blog client successes: Client success stories help to establish credibilty. Do you have special client success stories? Have you solved a clients’ problem? Have you improved something for a client with your service? If so, why not share the successes Home Buyers & Sellers have had so that new prospects can trust your skill?

IV. Blog for local PR: It’s a great PR strategy to notify local news journalists, particularly those that cover Real Estate, of your Blog’s existence. Newspapers are challenged for content these days so they’re always looking for good information sources. Someone will be recognized for their local knowledge in the newspaper, so be proactive by letting them know you exist on the web… and it might just be you they recogonize!

V. Blog on local news: One way to engage a community is to cover important local, community or, in cases where it has local relevance, national news. Careful, positive coverage is generally the best course because leaning in one direction can cost you the trust of half or more of your visitors. What’s more, you don’t want to alienate the local news folks who can be your best friends [see bullet IV above.] However, there is NO reason that you can’t tactfully add commentary to top local issues covered by the newspaper. It demonstrates knowledge and will bring you into important conversations, which are likely followed by many new prospects!

VI. Preemptive Blogging: Have a listings presentation coming up? Why not Blog on the area or even Blog something great about the street the folks live on? It can establish an indexed presence for that development, area or street. Good local bloggers want to be indexed for everything they can, creating a huge net for local search queries. It also shows your prospective client that you are on the ball, likely to generate exposure for and interest in their home!

VII. Blog on local communities, neighborhoods & developments: Whenever possible, share what you know, hear & see in the surrounding areas of the community. Are their new developments, buildings, parks, community resources, doggie Parks, landmarks, historic buildings, unique architecture, local heroes, events, fundraisers, races, transportation, parking tips and opinions on local news of note? If so, Blog about them!

VIII. Blog about new local businesses: Are there any new intriguing local businesses getting started in your area? Have you eaten, shopped, or received exceptional service somewhere locally lately that you really liked? If so, get in the habit of sharing your local community experience. You can be assured folks are searching for those products, services and, often, those very businesses. Be there when they do with some great local insight!

IX. Blog local business interviews: As a local business person, there’s no reason you can’t share lots of community- oriented information. Why not interview other business owners? Why not be the one to share information about their products, services & intentions? 5 questions will do, but it demonstrates local knowledge, authority, team play, makes for great content and it adds value for those interested in the community! 
 
X. Blog with locally relevant images: Take local photos regularly. Uploading them to your blog should be easy. Share them with fun descriptions and interesting facts, demonstrating your enthusiasm for the community. It could be a great house, a development, a park or a local event with a description about why it’s special. And by the way, people really enjoy visual content!

XI. Blog local sales data: Solely regurgitating local sales data all the time isn’t going to differentiate you, but a monthly post with good data is welcome. Interpretation of that local data, normally limited to insiders, demonstrates an interest in sharing and being a value- added provider of Local Services! 

XII. Leverage commenting and social networking to generate interest in your Blog: Identify good local news sources and, if they are interactive [as most blogs are], add relevant thoughts with links back to your own blog. Try to link to a post related to the subject your commenting on. The author may appreciate your interest, but the audience might have a look and develop interest in you too!

XIII. Blog about new listings, open houses and on closings: Write about business successes like a new listing or what happened to get the listing and why the experience is, was or will be positive. Demonstrate not only success, but a willingness to learn and to share what you have learned!

Having a discipline for Blogging is really very easy and it’s also important to your business. You’ll serve it by being in the search engine indexes, prepared to help people looking for the answers you have… and they need. That or you will help all those folks already subscribing to your Blog in anticipation of your useful information. In all, make a commitment to blogging and you’re likely to be perceived as the authoritative, forward-thinking, open & honest local business person… that you truly are!

Our great friend Allen Hainge of Allen F. Hainge CyberStars® recently honored us by requesting an interview. We couldn’t have been more excited to share in a really cool conversation on the value proposition of Business Blogging and its use as a cost- effective marketing tool for Real Estate Professionals.

If you’re interested in subjects including the value of Blogging for a Business, Search Engine Discoverability, ‘The Long Tail of Search’, Thought Leadership versus Trust, Disintermediation and the potential cost advantages of a Blog… it’s a quick & painless read.

Thanks so much for having us Allen!

The web affords all consumers power to find and to manage information on their own terms. They search, research, expect the gratification of answers and they are confident they can make informed decisions. With traditional marketing / advertising messages marketers are challenged with limited space & time to get a consumers’ attention. A Business Blog affords us marketers the ability to generate visibility, discoverability, trust, brand and direct RSS connections… affordably and without limits!

Our friend Tim O’ Keefe of Spider Juice Technologies recently asked to chat with us on the subject of Business Blogging. Obviously, we were honored.

No surprise here, but we discuss subjects including the value of Blogging for a Business, Search Engine Discoverability, Trust, Online Brand, Direct Marketing, RSS, ‘The Long Tail of Search’, Disintermediation, Web 2.0, potential advertising cost advantages and [even] the possibility of relying on search [to connect provider with consumer] less and less in the future

I’m afraid I’m not the most cogent speaker, but hopefully the conversation is user- friendly / less techie and, if any of the above subjects sound interesting, maybe you’ll find something useful 

Why Business- Blog in a down market? In today’s world people with responsibilities are increasingly time constrained. They are overloaded with invasive information and they don’t have time to read through lots of newspapers & magazines. In a down market, if a business leverages a Blogs potential, it is the most affordable vehicle to generate visibility, discoverability, trust, brand and direct [RSS & Email] connections …in a world where virtually all consumers are searching!

• Que: What happens when a business can publish unlimited, useful information to the web?
  Ans: A business that Blogs can market almost anything affordably, particularly the merits of its’ business, to anyone and everyone that needs that expertise, those products & those services [= online brand development]! 
• Que: What happens when consumers can search and find any information they want whenever they want it …for free?
• Ans: A business that Blogs can be discovered directly, often, for many things, without any constraint and by the most qualified prospects [= search marketing/advertising]!
• Que: What happens when business prospects can easily subscribe to any publishing source of information they want or need?
  Ans: A business that Blogs can open an unlimited number of trusted, ongoing RSS & Email connections[= direct marketing]!

The web gives consumers the power to find & gather useful information on their own terms… and to make informed decisions. Most consumers are searching and they want they expect the immediate gratification of answers! Unlike traditional marketing / advertising messages, which are challenged to grab the consumers’ attention in limited space & time, a business that Blogs’ has the ability to generate visibility, discoverability, trust, brand and then direct [RSS & RSS to email] connections… affordably and without limit!

Here is a lite contrast of Social Networks, Blogs & Social Media

I. Social Networks

A Social Network’s architecture is comprised of a series of sites linked together around that Social Network’s identity. Active Rain, MySpace and FaceBook, for instance, are built around individual presentations of personal information inside that framework. Users can easily communicate with others in these environments using any number of applications, but those individual sites are NOT independent of the Social Network. Put in another way, it is a user’s place online… but it’s not really their own place. If free, the user helps to build a database of content for the Network, which may leverage the content outside the control of said user and in various other ways [i.e. Advertising Sales.]

II. Blogs

A Business Blog can offer its’ owner a way to communicate openly, to communicate directly and also to collect information, via comment oriented conversation, with an unlimited no. of people; however, it offers an independent presence or online brand that is entirely in the control of its’ owner. One may use it personally or for advertorial marketing purposes, but the Blog’s look, feel & ultimate destiny is completely in the control of its owner.

III. Social Media

A great example of Social Media might be YouTube. YouTube is built on individual presentations or independent pieces of content, which become available for all takers. Those pieces of content can be indexed for search, organized into category channels and commented on mostly within that framework, but they are not necessarily organized into sites and they are not independent of the Social Medium itself. Like Social Networks, YouTube offers a user a place to present content online, but it’s not really their own place. YouTube can also leverage content outside the control of its’ creator for things like advertising.

In each case, there is a potential audience… and value! In fact, a multi- layered approach to sharing content via Blogs, Social Networks & Social Media might be a great way for an individual or for a business to build its’ audience

Great post on proper [Business or Advertorial] Blogging and how search engine’s value consistent and relevant content over at Grokdotcom:

"…If you are selling Piñatas, talk about piñatas; how they originated, the different materials/manufacturing techniques being utilized, market share, growth opportunities, or give examples of when and where it’s appropriate to have one. Show piñatas across the world, client testimonials, the most commonly used characters, licensing issues, what NOT to put inside them, the best sticks used to break them, how to liven any party, how to grab the kid’s attention during a birthday party . . . you get the picture."  Juan Tornoe

Obviously, the Internet has emerged as a giant marketing platform. These days, consumers search and subscribe because they can. It’s reliable, quick, easy, convenient and it’s free!

If the opportunity to research products, services and the appeal of a particular business exists, why wouldn’t any consumer search or subscribe prior to getting in touch? For your business, it’s an obvious marketing challenge. You have to do your best to be visible in the search engines and a well- positioned Blog will get you there, but you’ve also got to convey authority, trust and that you add value in order to capture their attention and their direct subscriptions!

• What is authority? How about blogging to demonstrate an undeniable knowledge of your business in your area.
• What is trust? How about credibility, demonstrated by blogging an emotional connection to your business in your area. Consumers will appreciate the human approach and how you convey a sincere interest in serving them.
• What is value add? If you aim to serve your paying customers reliably, and with accountability, simply blog to demonstrate how you do things better & different than the rest! 

Let’s face it, as marketers we’re all selling and Internet users are highly sensitive to us. Are you skeptical of the marketing messages pushed at you every day? For instance, when you search, which side of the results page - organic OR pay per click - do you value the most? If you’re like me and 99% of the folks we speak with everyday, it’s the organic results [left side] I trust more. 

In this environment, stale marketing messages won’t cut it like they used too. In this environment consumers are looking to interview you before they make contact. Embrace change by blogging who you are and how you add value! As a business, if you understand folks are searching and search engines are indexing all the new content they can find, why wouldn’t you consistently share what you see, what you have to offer and what you know about your business in your area? Blogging is a cost- effective answer! With a blog you can build online visibility, discover-ability, local brand recognition and a potentially unlimited no. of direct RSS or ‘RSS convert to email’ connections.

Give us a holler and ask about our affordable solutions, our service, our dedication to ongoing education… and please don’t hesitate to ask about our Business Bloggers Bible free offer!

As a business person looking for new customers, have you considered your own web behavior? What makes your prospective customer any different than you? Folks, your clients are searching [and subscribing] for answers & information just like you do.

In this day and age, we search [and we subscribe] because we can. It’s easy, pretty reliable and [save the ads] it’s free! Because of Google, for instance, we can do a bunch of research really quick. To a degree, we interview businesses and research their services prior to pursuing them & our interests. We’re all human, we want to get the most valuable service and a fair shake for our hard earned money. 

Considering people can search and they can subscribe [via RSS or ‘RSS convert to email’] to virtually all the information they’ll ever need in order to research product & service decisions, we must accept the playing field we’re forced to market in. With the consumer [like you!] in control, including an almost immediate ability to compare product & service information, what are you doing to show them you offer value? As a consumer, what would you expect… of yourself?

Times have most definitely changed; regardless of old school relationships or methods, if you’re not transparently sharing your knowledge- base of information, including what is timely and new, you’re already losing the long term competitive battle to win their attention and trust.

In our somewhat biased view, all professionals will have to publish or Blog to the web in order to be available direct [via RSS or ‘RSS convert to email’], to be visible, discoverable and, ultimately, to be worthy of trust. And this isn’t an exercise in Search Engine Optimization because simply being there isn’t necessarily enough. This is about performing, just like you would want others too when you are the consumer. It’s about making a commitment to be transparent, to share knowledge and to demonstrate you are a value added product and/ or service provider. Life is a two way street….. have you considered you own requirements? Have you considered your own web behavior?