August 18, 2006

Article: Terri Murphy
For North Shore Barrington Association of Realtors®

Title: Blogging, Business Bonus or Business Bust?
Can blogging really increase your business and your bottom line?

Blogging is one of the hottest new forms of Internet communication, promising to bridge the gap between a company and its customers and prospects. But, does it live up to the hype? This article will answer some of the basic questions surrounding blogging and help you understand its value as a business marketing communications tool.

What is a blog?
A blog consists of short, regularly updated commentary based on observations, hot issues or points submitted routinely in words in a “web log,” usually in an informal, open type of style. It is designed to encourage response and feedback from the community of people that regularly “visit” the blog, allowing a space for customers, prospects, and even employees to share ideas, thoughts and information.

Blogs have been around for the past six years and started out as personal online diaries, then evolved into soapboxes or “bully pulpits” for political pundits and media personalities. They have now ensconced themselves comfortably into the arena of business communications and are being used as a tool for real estate marketing. “Blogs have evolved from a highly personal form of communication on the Internet to a powerful medium for business,” states Richard Nacht, CEO of Blogging Systems Group (www.bloggingsystems.com), a service specializing in blog marketing for the real estate industry. “Not since Procter & Gamble invented branding back in 1931 has there been so much excitement about a fresh model for doing business.”

What does a blog do?
A successful blog provides a more direct, personal form of communication for your business with customers and prospects. It is one of the best ways to create competitive differentiation in your marketplace and, with the right slant, can position you as an industry expert and valuable resource to your community or farm area.

As you “build” community, your brand becomes more powerful and blogging provides a new level of marketing for you, your company, and your real estate services. It puts a personal “face” on the blogger, allowing for the medium to build trust, provide approachability and provide a place to hear from your community, which could include past clients, current customers, prospective buyers/sellers, your farm area, etc.

How do you start?
A blog can be created in one of several different ways, depending on your technical savvy and budget. For those on a tight budget, there is no need to cash in your 401K to get a blog, as a number of free or low-cost blog platforms are available, the most well-known being Blogger.com.

For a turn-key system specifically designed to match the needs of your business, the company mentioned earlier, Blogging Systems, offers a number of products and services designed especially for the Realtor and real estate industry. The company provides training and on-going technical support as well, something you won’t find with free services.

Attracting people to your blog:
Why would anybody be interested in what you have to say? With a ton of email, junk mail and paperwork, your blog has to have some value to the reader, or it won’t generate responses or traffic. However, when you provide a platform to discuss issues and exchange ideas that affect a particular community, your chances of building a strong following increase substantially.

The type of blog you are seeking to start and who it will target play a big part in deciding on the content included. Your goal should be to write about issues that affect the community in question, and which will stimulate response from its members. Writing your own private thoughts may interest a few friends and family, but unless you are a celebrity, don’t count on getting a ton of traffic! Keeping your community in mind as you write, you might be surprised to see what level of response your blog will generate!

(A word of caution: Choose your words carefully because your platform is GLOBAL and, once posted, your message is out there forever! Learn from other successful blogs before painting yourself into a corner.)

Not only is the type of content important, but the amount as well. “It’s an imperative that blog content be updated at least once or twice per week at a minimum,“ says Blogging Systems CEO Nacht. “Keeping the blog site rich in current, up-to-the-minute information on issues of interest to the community creates ‘stickiness’ causing visitors to return over and over again.”

Aside from human audience interested in the topics being discussed on your blog, there is another -- search engines. Google, Yahoo!, and MSN (to name a few) are constantly “spidering” your blog to find new and updated content. For that reason alone, it is important to update the blog with well-written, keyword-oriented content on a regular basis. Doing so helps search engines become your marketing partner to drive more traffic to your blog.

Just as major search engines like the ones mentioned above help people find your website, the blogging world has an impressive group of over 150 blog directories and/or search engines that allow people to submit their blog site address to at no cost.

The most popular blog directory, Technorati, tracks and scans millions of blogs publishing the content almost in real time. Within 15-20 minutes of writing your blog post, Technorati has found and indexed it for the world to see.

Blogs as a branding tool
One of products offered by Blogging Systems is a ready made, fully-branded multi-blog community site, specifically designed to target the local area serviced by the Realtor.

The Realtor® invites local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, United Way, or schools to post content on the community blog site with the idea of getting 20-30 community contributors, thus branding and positioning the real estate agent’s community blog as the “go-to” site for local news and information.

Having a representative from the Chamber, school district, Habitat for Humanity chapter, or even the mayor’s office posting blogs makes the agent’s community blog a powerful medium for competitive differentiation, personal branding and high exposure in the local community. An example of a community blog site is Michigan Realtor Ralph Roberts’ Macomb County Voice at www.macombcountyvoice.com.

Blog tips and traps
It’s clear that if you are willing to invest in a blog both financially and from a time perspective, this is a medium that can propel you into your marketplace. Here are some tips for a successful blog:

1. As with any success, be sure you are consistent with your postings. Without fresh content your community will lose interest.

2. For business purposes, it’s best to keep your blog interesting and consumer-centric. Be aware of what reader responses are telling you about your company, product or service.

3. Create reciprocal links between your blog and your company website. Give visitors the option to link back and forth for more traffic.

4. Do some homework: Check out other blogs and bloggers to get an idea of what you want your blog to look like, sound like, etc.

5. Schedule time every other day to check you blog. Don’t bother to start if you aren’t willing to schedule the time.

6. Send out an email blast to your customer base introducing your blog and invite them to give you a “piece of their mind.”

7. Submit your blog to the blog directories to ensure “searchability” and to enhance traffic.

In the not too distant future, blogs may become as necessary to the health of your business as eating vegetables and working out daily are to you personally. One thing is for certain, the benefits to blogging far outweigh any negatives.

Visit Terri’s blog at www.RealBlogging.com/WomenInBusiness.com

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For information about Terri’s programs, services for coaching, sales training and small business consulting, contact her at: Terri@TerriMurphy.com or 901-767-0000.