We’re not the only ones helping people discover web2.0 and the power of using a blog backend to get your message out- Debbie Weil is pushing her book “The Corporate Blogging Book” as a way to help CEO’s reach their markets.
The first chapter is available for download- and has the top 20 reasons why you should be a corporate blogger.
While we haven’t had a chance to read the book- we looked at the first chapter- and it pretty much says a lot of what we’ve been saying- except- we believe that RSS and Content Management Systems are the future of all websites- and that WordPress is the bomb (note- Debbie uses WordPress for her site).
She doesn’t seem to mention the power WordPress has for Google placement- which is another reason to use a blog to manage your site, but if you’d sign up for one of our seminars- you’d see that in action.
If you must insist on buying her book- here’s a link.
A common complaint we get about using WordPress to run a site is “I don’t want my site to look like a blog” which generally means- I want the same old content up – and nothing ever changes. Chris Pearson talks about the Information Architecture of RSS – and how it can stop readers from finding content- Pearsonified | Best damn blog on the planet.
It’s worth reading- as are the comments- but, here is what Chris is missing- there are only 3 ways people find your site:
- You spend a ton of money building your brand and promoting your URL
-or-
- They find your site through search- which means you have great content and great search engine placement
-or-
- you’ve built great link networks, or are heavily linked to (hopefully not by spamming comments)
That’s it- once they find you- they either bookmark (favorite) you conventionally- or they subscribe to your feed. If they do the former- they may never come back- if they do the latter- hopefully, they’ll keep coming back as long as you deliver the content that interests them.
If they are smart enough to use RSS- then they know they can search your site for more data- a different layout, or navigation structure won’t matter at all.
However, after reading this, it made me want to add some plug-ins for most commented articles to The Next Wave site.
My solution, would be to use a variation on webstats to drive the most popular pages- not based on comments- or, to put some kind of rating system into the post options- so that you could use a theme switcher type plug in to re-order the site in different ways.
Either way- read what Chris wrote- it should get you thinking.
Maureen McCabe may not be the best Realtor in Columbus- but she’s got the right idea when it comes to getting to the top of search- and building a community around her.
It seems so many Realtors are ready to spend a ton of money advertising in throw away classifieds section- when the web is global, pretty much eternal, and allows you to write as much about your listings- or your expertise- with no additional cost.
The real estate listings in the newspaper are typically nothing more than price and product ads- with a grocery list of “features” attached. Considering a home is the biggest investment most people make, it seems sad that this is the best that Realtors can do.
So- if you are shopping for a Realtor to sell your home- start asking them about how they plan to market your house online- who is in their “Network” – and how big their audience is? If they can’t tell you about the key search terms to their site (not the corporate parent)- or the number of unique visitors (not hits) and show you who links to their site- move on. These are the keys to having a successful web site- and unfortunately, most Realtors still don’t get it.