Dictionary.com says ‘media is the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people.’ Let’s add Business Blogs to that mix: they can easily reach and influence people! We can probably conclude that virtually all consumers search, and thereby, they research or even interview their future purchases prior to making them. If, rather than constantly hunting for customers, businesses can simply make their practical knowledge of a specific subject [i.e. Hilton Head SC Real Estate & Community] available to those already hunting for it online than there is a very large & efficient advertorial media opportunity with a Business Blog

That’s right, a good Business Blog will evolve as media, but let’s look at how that might go.

I. Business Blog Visibility: For starters and because of a modern day [unconstrained] landscape for the distribution of practical knowledge, a business should commit to blogging enthusiastically about what it sees, it knows and it has to offer. By being on topic and consistent, this business blogger will attract attention from search engine spiders; thereby, it will penetrate search engine indexes for subject topics, keywords, key phrases. As a result, search engine visibility, discoverability, traffic and targeted consumer page views shall ensue.

II. Business Blog Brand: From here, recognition by a targeted audience as a knowledge- able, authoritative & enthusiastic provider of products and/ or service information begins to resonate. Word of mouth and/or blog may even generate recognition including from inbound linking, which can improve all of the above. Awareness, trust and an online brand with targeted consumers is established!

III. Business Blog Direct Connections: Then, via RSS and RSS converted to Email, direct connections from amongst the targeted audience emerge. And, by the way, direct to prospective buyers is the most valuable form of advertising. Again, media is a means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, magazines and now blogs, that reaches or influences people. By using its’ Blog our business has attracted eyeballs, developed brand & trust and [now] generated direct subscription.

In effect, our business has partly established itself as a subject specific advertorial media company. As marketers I ask you, why wouldn’t a business want this? When you consider the fact the cost of content creation, content discoverability and direct content distribution has reached negligible lows… it’s simply a smart strategy for the knowledge- rich business

For our purposes here ‘practical knowledge’ means the topics, keywords, key phrases & content that make up a web presence, but because of blogs, reliable search and RSS there is nothing stopping a business from creating and then distributing any and all of its’ useful knowledge direct to those who want and need it. It’s important to have a business blog solution that not only calls to search engines each time there is new content created, but that supports crawling with good meta data presentation, internal & external linking and the presentation of topics, keywords & key phrases. In addition to relatively standard RSS Subscription capabilities, it should also offer visitors the choice to subscribe by email. And most important here, there should always be an enthusiastic effort to blog the useful business information that will ultimately attract a targeted audience… very much as media always has 

If you are attending the 2008 Colorado Realtor Rally please stop by booth #036  

Also look for us on the ‘Blogging for Business’ panel at 2PM 

Business Blogging translates to successful Real Estate sales in the Santa Clarita & Valencia CA area.

Realtor success data points:

• Business Blogging Goal: Web-based branding & search visibility in the general Santa Clarita & Valencia CA area
• Time [independent] Blogging: 3 months
• Pages indexed in Google: 325  [04/16/08 update 638 pages indexed]
• Inbound Links according to Yahoo: 215  [04/16/08 update 507 inbound links]
• New Business: 15 New Clients
• Sales: 4 in escrow and a 5th immediately pending [03/24/08 update 4 sales closed, 1 pending repairs]

Realtor success validation points:

1. "Since we got started blogging we actually have 15 new clients, 10 relocations from other states. I have a few traditional websites, but we don’t use a lead vendor and we discontinued Yahoo & Google Pay-Per Click a couple months ago. In each case, they volunteered that they had found us on the web and that they read our Blog. I’m convinced our commitment to sharing lots of good local information via the blog allows for people to find us and develop a comfort level and more importantly to see if we would mesh with their personality type." Connor MacIVOR [http://blog.paris911.com.]

2. "Prior to affiliating the blog with our primary domain we weren’t having too much success in the Search Engines. 15th page of Google was pretty much the case. We didn’t know how to develop an online brand cost-effectively. Since we integrated the Blog both our basis domain & blog have seen dramatic improvement rank-wise. For the topic indexing we target, you can pretty much find us on the 1st or 2nd page now." Connor MacIVOR [Search: Flipping Homes Santa Clarita.]

3. "My advice to others is to be real and not plastic. The visibility in search engines is only part of the equation. People want flesh and blood – not someone else’s ideas or bland reporting on the Real Estate market and trends. If they want that all they have to do is tune into the six o’clock news. No, we have some really “rough around the edges” and “gritty” testimonials that attest to the fact people don’t want to be caressed - they want to be dealt with straight." Connor MacIVOR.

In his most recent newsletter, Kinetic Knowledge was honored by nationally renowned technology speaker/trainer Allen Hainge 

Here are a few excerpts:

• "A new blog service, Kinetic Blogs, a recently launched and affordable blog solution impresses me. Kinetic Blogs constructs and hosts your blog site and combines this with a commitment to ongoing service and education to help you maximize your blog’s effectiveness. Lots of features at an affordable price!"
• " ….If you don’t feel confident about blogging or if you’re just too busy, the Kinetic Blog folks can direct you to someone else who can help with the writing."
• "….One of the things that impresses me the most is their educational effort: lots of good posts on maximizing my blog’s effectiveness, written in plain English, not “techie talk”!"
• "…This is a blog service you want to check out."

Obviously, we’re incredibly appreciative. Especially because The Allen Hainge CYBERSTAR® organization has not only committed itself to educating top Real Estate sales associates and companies on how to make money leveraging today’s technology, but they’ve done it successfully for 14 years! They have 190 regionally exclusive members and over 12,000 recipients of the Allen F. Hainge CYBERSTARS® News & Views monthly newsletter. 

And by the way, if you’re looking to be a part of an incredibly forward- thinking educational organization yourself, the CYBERSTARS® have regional openings!

Basis Domain: http://www.paris911.com
Integrated Kinetic Blog: http://blog.paris911.com
Months Blogging [independently]: 2 / Pages indexed in Google: 100 / Inbound Links according to Yahoo: 129

Connor MacIvor Interview comments: If I could sum this interview up, it would be with the phrase ‘Connor Macivor bleeds trust!’ Connor is the type of person who raises your spirits by the infectious’ nature of his positive attitude. Honestly, a call or an email from Connor will improve my day. He wears honor, hustle, heart, accountability and reliability on his sleeve. And by the way folks, Connor’s sharing of knowledge isn’t remotely calculated; however, with a business- blog he’s able to put the nature of how he serves a client on display for all to see. He is the definition of transparency, which allows Connor Macivor to demonstrate one of the many ways Business- blogging can serve as a powerful marketing tool. For his effort, Connor and his wife Paris are seeing great new business opportunities… so please read on.

Q: "Can you describe your business?"
A: "We are not geographic farmers. We farm by employer. We founded our business where I worked for 17 years, at the LAPD. We have expanded it to serve all law enforcement agencies and the military as well [see lapd911.com,  lasd911.com, chp911.com, usmc911.com, navy911.com, army911.com, usaf911.com, uscg911.com, ocsd911.com and it goes on  and on."

Q: "How did you get into the business?"
A: "We were actually taken advantage of when we purchased our first home, back in 1996. In order to figure out how I was taken advantage of, this human lie detector, I went to Real Estate school at night and worked LAPD during the day. After obtaining my real estate license I was able to get the agent to come clean. I then was asked by  some of the police partners I had at LAPD if I could help them buy and sell real estate."

Q: "When did you first establish a web presence?"
A: "Near the beginning [2004] we had a very simple site built. With a domain name that I thought was pretty fitting of who we were. About 3 months after the website was working, just up not obtaining any leads, we were hit with an 8 million dollar lawsuit for having “a deceptively similar trademark”. Never appreciating the value of doing research before you purchase a URL, this happened to be a strange circumstance by someone else that was working the same Non-geographical farm, so it was not like we wanted to be Microsoft and sell software and  computer stuff – Microsoft would have a great case as they did (recent past). This was entirely different and  what I call the price of doing business. But the experience was invaluable. It saved our marriage and put us on  the map with the police department and our business blossomed. So instead of killing us it made us very strong.  So hence the True Federal Registration on Paris911®.  Pull one on me once, shame on you. Pull one on me twice,  shame on me."

Q: "How about a Blog presence?"
A: "The Blog started after I resigned in March 2007. March 29, 2007, the day I went into Parker Center, handed in my badge and swapped it for a Reserve badge and ID.  I went into the building armed and was thinking about walking out unarmed. But as a reserve I did not have to cross that bridge. I started blogging in April, it was a hokey non-personal blog, a free service. I started writing and then found Active Rain and shortly thereafter, Jeff Turner with Real Estate Shows. Enter stage left Chris Frerecks and Kristen Veraldi – and you have history being made."

Q: "Do you have any techniques, strategies or discipline for keeping your Blog content fresh?"
A: "Pictures are worth a thousand words and emotion even more. I have a lot of experiences in Real Estate on a day to day basis that I can share I wake up in the morning and think about what I am going to blog about. Having that thought in the back of my mind, I come up with something interesting. Usually based on the ‘human experience’."  

Q: "How are you benefiting from blogging?"
A: "Blogging hits very hard. I can post something and hyperlink the content, to add more value to the blog, not with the intention of tricking search engines, and have it show on Google within several hours. Also when you write enough (142 blog posts on Active Rain), you start to develop a certain personal style. I am unrefined and to the point. I am also a positive and happy realist. I have had comments that people cannot understand how I can be so consistently happy. I am real like everyone else. I just have a rare ability to find the good in everything and to be thankful for it!"

Q: "Why did you choose to pay for a blog solution versus counting on one that is free?"
A: "With the free blogs, try to get someone on the phone when you have a problem. Good Luck. Furthermore, a strange side effect was the conversation that I had with Kristen. She gave me information about Internet blogging amongst other things that made the price worth that alone. I started to look at the Blog as a free bonus. Her  information was invaluable and has amplified what I was. Plus look at the other blogs, mine is custom and I can  add all of the stuff to it I want. Much Cleaner – and much more effective."

Q: "What value do you see in the Social Networks like Active rain for your business?"
A: "Social Networks and Active Rain have been great to our business and my Internet presence. We are blessed to have come across it. I will continue to blog there due to the huge amount of information that I get on a daily basis. The experience on the Rain is fantastic. You can search for a topic that you are having trouble with and you will find someone that has the solution.  If you cannot find it then you just ask and to you it will be given.  Very helpful people. You just to step around some of the inflated egos.  But that is what we do in the Real  Estate business as well!!!"

Q: "Are there differences between the value of Social Networks and having your own blogging voice?"
A: "I think my own blogging voice is different. I write things in my own blog that I would never write on Active  Rain. I would be offending those others that have a transactional approach to their business. I am all about the relationship and the experience. I actually am interested in finding out how someone ticks. I also would never  write on Active Rain for people to wait to buy real estate. I would not write not to wait either. But on my own  blog, I am absolutely out side the box. Uncensored and straight from the mind of a 17 year police veteran. I have had my share of close calls with death knocking on my door. 4 ambulance rides that were touch and go. Fear has its  place, but that place is under lock and key. You only should use fear when you have no other options, but scared  people do some really crazy and dangerous things. Scared people have been known to kill millions, a scared person did so in the middle of the 1930’s and 40’s. So I reserve fear for a time when I have no other choices. Never forget: a scared man dies a thousand deaths, a brave man dies but once. I cannot take credit for that one, but my Dad did!

Q: "Has blogging shown a return for your Real Estate Business?"
A: "I have leads that are generated from my blogging. I have developed some really great relationships with those people that read me. I am also very honored when someone takes the time to see what I think. I am pretty ignorant and I have no ego to bruise. I also know that without my strong belief system I would be worthless as a Husband, Father, Servant or Realtor."

Q: "If so, can you site any specific examples?"
A: "I had a couple in here two days ago that were speaking with Paris and I. After we were finished the wife asked us if we wondered where they found us. They were not law enforcement, fire department, teachers, federal or military, so we were curious. She told us that she found us on the web and found my blog (that was the one that Chris and Kristen built). She was hooked and read and read, citing some pretty embarrassing examples of how to the point I can be, but she told me she had never seen a Realtor wear so much truth on his sleeve. We were both honored by their comment and by being given a chance to earn their trust."

We want to help our clients to be as productive as they can be so we’re adding Captcha to all Kinetic Blogs! We feel that Blog comment moderation is a business requirement! We’ve written about some of the more obvious reasons, including vindictive comments, comment spam and search engine mistrust here. Let’s face it, professionalism is a requirement of your business and if your Business- Blog is riddled with corrupt comments it only serves to lower those professional standards. Logic would have that moderation, where comments can be reviewed prior to their becoming a public piece of a Blog’s overall content offering, is a required business exercise

Unfortunately, we’ve found there is another problem with comments and that is an intolerable amount of comment spam. These days, it’s not only the humans that comment on Blogs: bots do it too! Regardless of an ability to moderate, the exercise of reviewing hundreds of corrupt comments spread by uninvited bots [software existing to place degenerate comments with links] every week is unproductive for a business

So, we’re adding Captcha to all Kinetic Blogs! Now, in order to post a comment, Captcha will require visitors to answer a simple challenge/ response test, thereby helping to prove [at least] they are human. Now, Kinetic Knowledge clients will be moderating productive comments that have a potential to add value to their blog 

Top 16 Reasons to be concerned about investing valuable time & effort in a Free Blog Platform

1. do I own my long term destiny with a free blog?
2. will my free blog host ever change policies, standards or sell?
3. will my free blog host ever decide to monetize my blog with advertising (potentially competitive)?
4. do I own my own content, does the host own it or do we both own it?
5. am I really just part of someone else’s user- generated content?
6. can I use a domain that serves the brand of my choosing?
7. am I just helping to build someone else’s brand? 
8. is my domain a sub domain of the host’s network?
9. do I have the flexibility to present content in a variety of different ways?
10. do I have any blog look & feel design flexibility?
11. do I get all the features I want or need?
12. is there any blog writing, features, search engine, branding or direct marketing education?
13. if not, can I succeed as independent business blogger?
14. Google is always evolving… is my blog solution?
15. is there an effor to secure my blog?
16. is there any customer service?
17. who is truly accountable to my business requirements?

Folks, the chances are you won’t like the answers. In fact, unless you’re very skilled it’s likely you’ll need independent programming help with hosting, design & features and that still leaves you without ongoing service or education. As a business with the never -ending need to reduce cost, we often forget that a lot of what we’re paying for is service & accountability.

In this day and age, people search because they can and to some degree they’re looking to interview businesses long before they actually make direct contact. Considering a Blog can offer your business tremendous Search Engine, Public Relations and Direct Marketing visibility with one solution, can you really afford to trust core assets such as these [including independent online brand identity] solely to a free service?

There are many free blog solutions; however, in one way or another we often get exactly what we pay for. Not to suggest that some of the free blog solutions are lacking as content management systems. On the contrary, there are good free systems out there and some offer unique & valuable propositions, but as a business person with many challenges, needs & responsibilities [including your own online brand identity] you may want to ask yourself the following questions before you go the free route.

An incredible feature of a Blog is that it formats your content for movement around the web. You may or may not have heard the acronym RSS or the phrase ‘Really Simple Syndication’, but it will serve you as a publisher and as a marketer in many, many useful ways!

For instance in the previous post we suggest how useful an RSS Reader can be for your own blog publishing production,

"Subscribe to multiple sources of relevant content as a means for new ideas. You have access to trade- oriented information and, with a little research, you can identify lots more useful news & information in your area of professional expertise; however you may ask, “who has the time to review all these sites one by one when they’re ready to blog?” The good news is you don’t have to worry if you grasp RSS & subscription to useful feeds. By setting up a free MyYahoo, Google Reader, MyMSN, Bloglines, Newsgator or one of the many online / desktop Feed Reader services you can have the latest content from as many sources as you like. The information will gather in one orderly place for your review… when you’re ready to blog."

Just as for you, RSS makes it equally convenient for your existing & prospective clients to subscribe to you I’d argue this is the most valuable form of marketing because, if they identify & subscribe to your RSS feed you not only know your content is reaching highly qualified individuals direct but voluntarily!

Common Craft Productions does a terrific job with this educational video interpreting RSS, RSS Readers and the ease with which anyone can set up the actual ‘customization of personally relevant incoming information’.  Have a look:

Some additional information:

Registering Your Real Estate Blogsite with RSS Feed Engines

It’s well known that search engines favor consistent, on topic content and that blogs make publishing to the web easy, but [regardless of professional knowledge] if you’re like most of us producing the next great post is, at times, a challenge. Here are some ideas for keeping your Blog current:

• First off, use what you’re routinely sharing in your Blog. You field questions by phone & email almost everyday and you respond with local expertise, opinions, facts & information. As a priority, you should be blogging those same snippets of information every chance you can. This way, and rather than with just one person, you may serve your business with hundreds of people who are searching for the same answers
• Second, interview other [maybe non-competitive] professionals. Why not ask other professionals for their opinions on current professional issues and events? It makes for great content and you’re not limited to being the sole producer of great ideas. What’s more, they may appreciate the exposure making future reciprocation likely
• Third, subscribe to multiple sources of relevant content as a means for new ideas. You have access to trade oriented information and, with a little research, you can identify lots more useful news & information in your area of professional expertise; however you may ask, "who has the time to review all these sites one by one when they’re ready to blog?" The good news is you don’t have to worry if you grasp RSS & subscription to useful feeds. By setting up a free MyYahoo, Google Reader, MyMSN, Bloglines, Newsgator or one of the many online / desktop Feed Reader services you can have the latest content from as many sources as you like. The information will gather in one orderly place for your review… when you’re ready to blog
• Fourth, use alerts. Google Alerts is a fantastic way to set up continuous or persistent searches on virtually any specific subject. By setting up relevant keyword & key phrase queries [IE: contemporary los angeles architecture, modern art in manhattan, new development los gatos, st petersburg AND property OR homes OR real estate, etc., etc.] you’ll have all the specific coverage on subjects of your choosing at your disposal… when you’re ready to blog
• Fifth, supplement with Blog Writing Services: If you’re simply too busy, we offer experienced ghost blog writing services so that you’re always fighting the competitive search engine marketing visibility & discover-ability battle.

As the cost of Pay Per Click rises often to well over $1 per click in local markets, business people must inevitably turn their attention toward organic search engine indexing. In fact why wouldn’t they when ComScore analysis shows Google’s paid click percentage for when folks are searching to be 13%, Yahoo’s 11% and MSN’s 8%?

At 87 to 92 organic clicks per 100 consumer searches, a business person can easily see where they may want to place some focus. As local organic search awareness is raised, the competition for relevant organic search engine index placement will heat up more and more. In order to establish rankings, it’s important to be proactive in developing a strategy NOW and a locally focused Blog is the cost-effective answer!

It’s certainly easy to blog consistently on local business knowledge and the opportunity to establish search engine relevance, rather than trying and catch up later, is still very available and ‘for the taking.’ For our clients, who have the lowest monthly business-class blogging cost, there is an unlimited ability to blog, to cover local professional goings- on, to transfer knowledge, to establish keyword & key phrase search engine indexing and to generate broad discoverability.

What’s more, blogging can generate valuable long tail search engine topic, key word & key phrase indexing naturally. Long tail are terms affiliated with one’s primary search target terms, that may generate less individual discovery than the primary but more impact collectively. When blogging is consistent and on- topic, search engines will favor it offering indexing longevity where pay per click won’t. Addititionally, by being a transparent blogger who shares good local information, trust can be created with target markets where advertising [particularly PPC] never will.

In all and if marketing costs are a concern, why compete for only 10- 20% of the search traffic [Google Search Clicks: PPC 13% / Organic 87%] and pay hundreds to thousands when blogging can be a more valuable and cost- effective answer to search engine marketing?