These are notes from the 10 minute presentation I will share at Xplode Austin. If you have anythoughts or suggestions, I'm all ears. Thanks.

When blogging Might Be A Time-Sucking-Vortex - When You Have A Smart AndModern Business Plan. You're Working And It's Working. Yea!

Congratulations if this is you. If you're connecting and conversing, sharing, solving, serving andsuccessful; rock on with what you're doing. Don't distract yourself with the additional commitment aprofitable blogging business strategy requires. Do keep blogging on your personal radar for thereasons I'll share in a minute. Again, if this is you, well done, keep going.

When blogging Might Be A Time-Sucking-Vortex - When You're Retiring Soon.

If you've enjoyed a fruitful career and you plan to retire in the next couple of years, blogging might be awaste of your time. Smart, disciplined and interesting online sharing, aka blogging, canattract serendipitous opportunity right from the get-go - but the benefits of smartly blogging accrue andaccelerate overtime with every blog post. Blogging successfully is kinda like growing a garden, youcan't pluck-up a salad on day one . Like I said, if you're retiring soon, good for you, I wouldn't sweatstarting a blog. Focus on the good things you've been doing.

When blogging Might Be A Time-Sucking-Vortex - When You're Career MightNeed Immediate Defibrillation.

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[caption id="attachment_4734" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Maybe blogging isn't the bestidea if your real estate career might need the paddles."]

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I've been in the real estate business since December of 1979. I've enjoyed three booms and threebusts in the past 30 years. These past two years have been the hardest, most painful and mostsobering of them all. Congratulations to all of us for surviving. Having said that,most everyone believes that our economy is clawing it's way out and up, 2011 is going to be better.

If you're hanging tough by a few worn threads, investing your attention on starting a blog would not bea wise use of your resources. Keep blogging on your radar, but don't take your eyes and yourattention off the smart things you can do today to create an immediate impact.

Now let's talk about why blogging for some is like owning a SUN.

Authoring a blog is like owning a Sun. Sharing and becoming “sharable” is sunlight for your onlinesolar system.

Think of everything you do to attract, uncover and discover listing and selling opportunities as yourpersonal real estate solar system. You and your blog are at the center of your business solar systemand the planets in your solar system would be the networks, tribes, niches and online communities thatorbit around you. I'm talking about your In-Real-Life (IRL) spheres, Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com,

Youtube.com, SlideShare.com, Twitter.com, Flickr.com, your neighborhood and all the places you

Youtube.com, SlideShare.com, Twitter.com, Flickr.com, your neighborhood and all the places youprospect for business.

In todays modern and moving online real estate universe, authoring a blog is like owning the Sun foryour real estate solar system. Like our real Sun beams sunlight to all the planets, your blog beamssunlight to all your important prospecting communities, tribes and networks. The intensity, illuminationand warmth of your sunlight is determined by the quality and frequency of the things you share on yourblog.

Your blog is where you can show-instead-of-tell others who you really are. What you're about . Whatyou stand for and against. How knowledgeable and helpful you are and the emotional and logicalreasons why someone should choose you to help them with their real estate need. You doing this bysharing stuff on your blog. When you hear people talk about creating content for your blog they'retalking about the things, information and opinions you share on your blog. It's that simple, content issimply the stuff you share on your blog. Specifically, stuff like neighborhood news, photos of the park,Catfish Festival, market updates, local restaurant reviews, answers to commonly asked questions andthe like. Blogging is one of the best ways to share and beam your persona throughout your solarsystem.

In addition to beaming sunlight, once you hit the "Publish" button on a blog post, your "Share"becomes part of the online information ocean and becomes sharable via perma-web-link. Once you'veshared (published) something on your blog you and your friends and friends of friends can nowbroadcast share your stuff around the inter-webs and within your/their social circles, using your perma-web-links. For example you and others can share and cross-post your permalinks with your/theirtribes on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, etc.. Also your blog provides you with a powerfulopportunity to showcase and further enhance your online presence by including share-tools likeFlickr.com for photos, SlideShare.com for presentations and Youtube.com for video - all for free.

Your blogs sharing power also provides a friction free and convenient way for your friends and friendsof your friends to re-share your valued/interesting/relevant "shares" with the friends of their friends. This is what ReTweets, Facebook Likes, Shares and Comments is all about.

Bottom line, blogging beams your personal shade of sunlight stuff to your IRL spheres, networks andtribes - as a bonus, it makes your stuff sharable by others. Which is a beautiful thing. But there'smore...

Blogging Pours Your Online Shares Into The Information Ocean.

[caption id="attachment_4736" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Blogging pours your sharinginto the Ocean Of Online Information"]

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Every blog post is catalogued, indexed and ranked by Google, Bing, Yahoo and others. The morefrequently you share and are shared by others, the greater your presence within the InformationOcean. This is supremely important today, even more so tomorrow because. . .

Your Blogging "Shares" Make You More Findable and Discoverable

[caption id="attachment_4737" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Your blogging shares add tothe Ocean Of Information. The more you share the more findable and discoverable you become."]

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Let me ask you a question. If you're single and you meet an interesting someone new or a friend setsyou up, what do you do? Do you Google or Facebook them? When a foodie friend recommends ahot new restaurant, do you Yelp or Google it before you book it? Of course we do. Everyone usestheir favorite search engine, like Google, to find answers to their questions, check things and peopleout, confirm character, eliminate pretenders and avoid time wasters.

If you're not blogging what you're adding to the Online Information Ocean maybe slight. In contrast, ifyou are blogging, your presence grows mightier by the "Share". Your's, your friends and the friends oftheir friends.

Adding information water (your "Shares") to the Online Information Ocean make you . . .

Discoverable

Because your blogging "Shares" across the inter-webs are catalogued and indexed according thesubject matter of your blog post, the things you "Share" are discoverable by complete strangers acrossplanet earth. If you share information (text, pictures, video) about the Clover Park neighborhood, whensomeone types a question about the Clover Park neighborhood in their Google Search Bar, there'sa possibility your "Share" may be served up. You've created a virtual-introduction. Who knows whatcan happen next. Being discoverable is a blessing.

Findable

The easier it is to find what we're looking for online, especially when we like what we find, the easier,faster and more likely we are to make contact or choice. When civilians consider who to hire as a realestate agent, do you think they go online for a little research and character confirmation? I do and ifyou do to, you're right.

In addition to becoming Discoverable and Findable, equally important, a well-tended blog will makeyou Visible and Choosable.

Blogging Is An Anti-Secret-Agent Strategy. "Shares" Make You Known, Liked and Trusted

Personal experience and observation, plus survey results published in the NAR 2009 Homebuyer andSeller Survey reveals that 70+% of the sellers and buyers only contact one or two agents when theyare ready to act. That's an eye-opening reality. If someone wants to make contact with you orcompare you to a competitor and they do this online by entering your name in the Google Search Box -are you happy with what they find? If you're absent online, the harsh reality is you're a Secret-Agent. When given a choice, would a seller or a buyer choose an agent who appears interesting and online-omni-present or invisible? If there are hundreds of agents to choose from and they don't think of youfirst or second or can't find you, you're sunk. Right?

Blogging is an Anti-Secret-Agent Strategy and most important of all, when done smartly, bloggingcreates Top-Of-Mind-Awareness and makes you Choosable and Referable.

creates Top-Of-Mind-Awareness and makes you Choosable and Referable.

Blogging Creates Top-Of-Mind-Awareness, Making You Attractive, Choosableand Referable

Top-Of-Mind-Awareness isthe most valuable possession and aspiration for a real estate agent. Top-Of-Mind-Awareness worksthe same way with all products and services, Top-Of-Mind-Awareness is the object/person/brand thathas first mental recall in a particular category. With all the real estate agent competition in your marketplace, creating indelible Top-Of-Mind-Awareness is supremely important.

Top-Of-Mind-Awareness is created by making Relevant, Remarkable and Repetitious contact,interaction and impression. Consistent sharing on your blog accomplishes this important task.

Another important factor included in the NAR Homebuyer and Seller Survey is the answer to whyhomebuyers and sellers choose to contact the agent they did. The reasons make total sense, theychoose agents they believed to be trustworthy, reputable and knowledgeable. This begs the question,how do you currently make Relevant, Remarkable and Repetitious contact, impressions andinteraction that demonstrates that you are supremely trustworthy, reputable and knowledgable? Ablog is the perfect tool to showcase yourself; your talents, your personality, your character and yourknowledge - this makes you attractive, choosable and referable.

In conclusion. . .

If you're working a smart modern plan, getting ready to retire or creating I-Need-A-Deal-Right-Now is a

If you're working a smart modern plan, getting ready to retire or creating I-Need-A-Deal-Right-Now is apriority, don't sweat blogging.

Everyone else, if you're In-It-To-Win-It long-term, then Blogging Is Brilliant - it makes your stuff sharableand you findable, discoverable, attractive, choosable and referable.

If you've started blogging, but you've been slacking, consider a rededication.

If you're not blogging, consider it. To get started, I'd recommend that you observe what others aredoing. A convenient way to do this is visit the AgentGenius.com blog. The AgentGenius.com blog ispowered by the collective contributions or real estate agent guest writers. You'll find the articlesinteresting and informative, but what I want you to do is visit the individual blog sites of the authors. Atthe top of each article you'll find a By Line and the author's name hyper-link. Click on the author'sname and you'll be whisked to their profile page. There you will find links to their individual blogs. Visit those and observe what they share, how they share and everything else you can learn.

Then pull the trigger and Be Brilliant.

Thanks for reading.

©2011 Ken Brand - BrandCandid.com | Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors - 9000 Forest Crossing, The Woodlands,TX 77381

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