Some years ago I applied the term "durability" as a desirable attribute of a well-crafted blog post. I didn't really understand at that time the significance of the long-term usefulness of a daily post.

Unlike articles written in the print media, a blog post is easily searchable and can be referenced for years. It can successfully be indexed by search engines for as long as the page is accessible to crawling spiders and bots.

But durability does not only depend on how the information is indexed. It also depends to a very large extent on how the material is presented to our database of customers and prospects.

A long standing tenet of prospecting is that one of the best ways to keep your name in front of your database is to offer an "item of value" with each "touch." This item of value can be anything from flower seeds to a timely newsletter. It also presents the opportunity for a follow-up visit or call to ascertain whether the item of value was well-received.

Some years ago, I did a monthly mail-out to all of my top prospects and clients. This was time consuming and very costly, as each month a new item of value was sent directly to each "A and B" member of the database. Exactly one week after the mail-out, the follow-up calls were routinely done. It was a slow and tedious process.

All of that has changed since I began blogging two years ago. Now, the information in my blog IS an item of value that I offer to all of my clients and prospects in many different forms.

And since I have people in my database with varied interests, I transform my blog into different forms to maintain a better connection with different clients and prospects. The way I do that is by first syndicating my blog to a variety of websites that may have a unique appeal to one segment of my clientele.

An example of how I do that is my blog on SmokyPhotos.com. It's a controlled collection of my ActiveRain blog posts specifically about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

So if I happen to write hyper-local post about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I send a quick email to all of my database members that have an interest in the topic. It's non-intrusive, and very low-key.

Many email back to say tell me how much they enjoyed the article and photos and to keep letting them know when more are posted. It's not very long before they are looking forward to getting an email from me.

I also have a news site, Coweta Fayette Info that includes all national and world news, and includes a local blog feed as well. Whenever I write a post that would interest one of my news-loving contacts, I let them know that the article has be posted. It's not only efficient, but it adds credibility to what I do.

Additionally, I post links to all of my public posts on both Twitter and Facebook. Many of my prospects and clients follow me and it's an easy way to remind them to click the link and have a look.

The key is applying the right presentation based on a client's interest. It's offer a genuine "item of value" that they can use and reuse over and over again.

And it gives me "face" time unlike any marketing technique that I have ever used in the past! My blog is a permanent resource, full of both useful information and pleasant diversions. But because it's mine, I can mete it out any way that I wish!

And that works for me!