While it was with every intention I planned on sharing this presentation at the RainStorm this past weekend, somehow my final decision to do so was influenced by the environment, the ambiance, and the folks I was fortunate to be surrounded by at the Ultra Heat Lounge in Anaheim.  There was a great line-up of speakers and topics, but at the end when it was my turn to present, I felt moved to share something a bit different.

So for those of you who came to “RainStorm” to hear the presentation about “Building Blocks for Better Blogs” and didn’t get to, I decided to share it here instead, where there is likely to be less distraction and excitement from all the real life and in person social networking that was taking place in the nite-club style environment.  To those of you who couldn’t or didn’t make it, it was a great turn out and spectacular event.

Building Blocks for a Better Blog

Tips and Take-Away Overview

1. Make your Blog title, description, and URL Count.  Be descriptive, direct, and short as possible.
2. K.I.S.S. – Keeping It Simple Sells – Less really can be more in many cases.
3. Be There. Allow Questions, Chat, and Live interaction.  This is the best way to Capture contacts.
4. Content is always king. Give the greatest value possible to your readers and audience. Period.
5. Make sure you have some form of contact capture or what is the point of Blogging for Business.
6. Use a good CRM or contact mgmt program. To rely on your memory alone will cost you business.
7. Implement Inter-active value-added tools and widgets that update themselves and deliver content.
8. You’re a consumer, so when building your Blog for Business, ask yourself what works best on you.
9. Some ideas and tools to provide a consumer that might be interested in buying or selling include:
    
     (Various Samples of FREE widgets, tools, and content to consider)
     a. Demographics and Local Real Estate data and information
     b. All the newest listings in the neighborhood or community
     c. Share the most expensive homes allowing your audience to dream
     d. Provide all the recently sold homes keeping it real for your buyers and sellers
     e. Give them tools to compare stats and areas, after-all they’re going to live there
     f.  Let your readers search your area for “All homes for sale”
     g. Let them search other areas too so they don’t leave your Blog to do so
     h. Using home value estimation tools will create digital handshakes and opportunity
     i. A virtual walk through the neighborhood with a “walk-score” makes an impression
     j. Providing Loan and payment data with the ability to compare is valuable and useful
     k. Provide a stream or feed of live and local news and your Blog will really kick butt

There’s a sample Blog you can review at SFBayAreaBlog.com if you’d like to try these tools live and see how they work.  You can create and do the same here on ActiveRain, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous, etc.  The best part is that everything I’ve shared here is FREE and easy to do if you have the resources and knowledge.  Now you have the knowledge, and you’ll always have me as a resource. 🙂

Footnote:
My presentation at RainStorm was very short and simple.  All things are simply tools and a means to an end. Social media, the Internet, mobile technology, almost everything in your life online and off are just tools to help you cultivate and create relationships and build rapport and trust with people.  The greatest and most memorable moments in your life are built on emotions, passions, and connections. You can always use tools with people, but never use people as tools.