How does reality fit into the lifestyle of a marketer?
When the marketer digs their hands into the dirt and is willing to be covered in soil, pulling up the weeds, planting the seeds, watching them grow.....learning their story.
Last August I began blogging to consumers online as a cororate blogger for an online internet advertising company. Blogging opened up a whole new internet world to me. Admittedly, the interactive web was skimming right past me and I needed to change fast.
2008 Blogging Observations and Reflections: How Blogging to Consumers Opened My Eyes
You can empower consumers and make a difference.
I wrote three blog posts about LIHEAP (Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program)for low income families.
It didn't matter that I didn't gain any direct feedback from consumers. I had traffic to the posts so I knew people were reading. If I helped one person or one family in need, it was well worth the effort to write these posts.
The power of the internet is a mighty thing. The posts about LIHEAP will continue to remain on the internet and have a shelf life. They could help more people in need.
I wasn't enslaved to the search engines to get results.
Through the use of keyword research and discovery I was able to still write for content first, then go back and adjust my content to make sure I repeated important keywords in places that made sense.
As a result I was able to attain keyword search results that were hard to get with old web 1.0 strategies. A post I wrote about real estate in Las Vegas won me the keyword term, buying a house in Las Vegas on Yahoo and Google, first page SERP (Search Engine Results Page), so I'm talking top 10, for weeks.
I got to the point where I had fine tuned my keyword placement to a fine science and would easily be able to find posts I had written turn up in web and blog searches on Google for the keyword terms I was aiming for. Good-bye internet enslavement. I was also pleasantly surprised the first time I found that my consumer posts were re-indexed by the search engines quite regularly.
The term Shelf-life takes on a very meaningful definition online. New prospects can continually find you through well written archived posts.
More people were reading my posts than I knew.
My first clue was when my daughter's karate instructor 
told me one day that he was reading my blog to stay abreast of real estate information.
My second clue was when I spoke with longtime friends who I didn't regularly talk to who would suddenly bring up a blog post I had written in conversation.
My third clue was seeing email addresses of former employers and new email addresses in my feedburner account that were from ip addresses locally and abroad.
Commenting on my consumer facing blog was infrequent but traffic was increasing. Consumers were reading.
I would never be able to do justice trying to blog about local real estate on a national platform.
I tried by including newsworthy real estate events and broad topics. I interviewed real estate agents about their local markets.
I could never cover local real estate as well or even close to the depth and degree that local real estate agents can. Did I try to blog Local Market conditions and real estate home values? Forget about it. My feet are only planted in Wisconin and well traveled though I have been, relocating nearly 30 odd times in my lifetime, I don't have my feet on the streets today in local markets across the nation.
Local agents will win the local blogging scene every time if they commit to consistency, content delivery, and building relationships with their readers. A blogger's and reader's paradise is a true and transparent community.
We all have common driving factors but we still seek to express and protect our individuality.
When you write for real estate it is wise to consider that not all homeowners are selling for the same reason, not all home buyers want the same house or consider a certain housing style a good deal or a bad one, not all renters are future homeowners. Some topics can and should have generalizations but take care not to lump consumers into one size fits all categories.
Write from your gut and your experience and invite your readers to voice their opinion. Don't assume they will tell you what is on their mind.
Encourage your readers participation. One way conversations are boring.
Conversations are for everyone.
I have read many posts that state blogging is not for everyone. I agree that writing may not be for 
everyone, but conversations are a must for everyone. If you don't want to blog and can't find the motivation to try, don't.
Find a way to have conversations with people.
All these three methods can be used as a standalone, in tandem would be better, to have conversations with consumers. All three can be syndicated to blogging platforms. All three can be part of your social media marketing strategy.
Microblogging, video blogs, podcasts are all conversation starters and they are all effective.
As you set your course for 2009 think about your blogging strategy.
My 2008 Blogging Revelation: Blogging to consumers opened my eyes.
Do you have a blogging revelation? Please share your story by commenting below.
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There is so much media to grab hold of, master and use to promote, cross promote and market your AREA and your property! Good post!