Most of the interest was how to set one up and make it work to develop new business.

First I would like to point out a recent blog published by popular blogger Steve Pavlina. Someone asked him “can anyone make money with a blog”? Steves answer, “”99% will not make money from a blog, but 99% of smart people can”.

Most people are smart. So my response to that question would be more like, focused, motivated and trained people will generate new business blogging.

What Is A Blog?

A blog is a communicating tool, like a phone is a communicating tool. The benefit is that you can communicate personally with many people rather than one at a time.

The key to developing a blog is to learn how to use it effectively. You don’t need to be a genius to get it working for you, you just need desire.

Just like speaking on the phone or meeting someone in person the blog needs to be personal. If you can write like you’re are speaking to someone you are 75% of the way there.

You have heard about the fortunes some people have made with blogs. The reason is they know how to communicate and the blog is a tool for communicating with a lot of people. It’s leverage.

Here’s the bottom line. Blog networks and communities are popping up in every industry. Small companies are using blogs with all the attachments and crushing the big guys overnight. The big guys who develop effective blog networks are leaving their competitors in the dust.

There are 3 components to a successful blog.

1. Quality
2. Consistency
3. Community
   

Quality

Let’s say that you are a manufacturer of Concrete Overlays. You know more about the uses for your product than anyone. You speak to distributors, contractors, architects and consumers probably more than anyone. (You’re The community leader). It’s too difficult to get all your ideas and case studies onto a web site but you can with a blog.

Example

What if a contractor who uses your product got a project to resurface the exterior foundation walls of 200 homes in a new development. The developer wanted a stone pattern but didn’t want to spend $1 million for stone resurfacing but could have a decorative concrete application applied to look like stone for $300,00.00. That a reduction per home from $5,000.00 each to $1,500.00 each. Assume that the project took 2 months and contractor made $150,000.00.

Thats a good story. Thats a story that as many people as possible should know especially your contractors. Using your blog you update the progress of the project step by step. You describe every little detail. As the project moves along your contractor base might have some ideas to add. Now the project gives you some ideas for picking up more of that kind of business. You send some prospective clients over to the blog to watch the progress. The content of the blog engages your community.

Thats quality, relevant information. Maybe Metrocrete does a post about the project. Now the information is broadcast to another community. The information on your blog is now reaching thousands of people. Consumers learn it’s possible to resurface foundation walls with a stone pattern using a concrete overlay.

Consistency

People are always saying they don’t have enough time to update their blog. No problem, your competitors are. Maybe you just want to plod along one person at at time while your competitors are reaching 1,000 people at a time. (Sorry, you really don’t have a choice, blogs are like a runaway train and everyones jumping on).

So be consistent. Keep the blog updated at least twice per week if not daily. You have the information, just write it like you would say it. Add a few pictures to support the content.

Think about the time you spend on the phone. Your blog enables you to communicate with a mass market the way you do with an individual on the phone. Think about all the calls for information. A lot of the questions are probably similar, use your blog to educate your market.

Community

If you create a quality blog with consistency visitors will come back frequently. Your contractor base won’t want to miss it and distributors probably won’t either. Contractors will send their clients to the blog. Blogs create community and everyone in the community benefits.

You will find that you’re meeting people that you otherwise wouldn’t. You will start to hear stories about contractors hooking up to do business together as a result. Distributors will communicate more with you and contractors. Your website doesn’t differentiate you from your competitors but your blog will. Remember blogs are personal. They’re your voice.

Your community will become active. Contractors will start wanting their own blogs to educate and develop their own community. Communities become powerful. In business a community is like a battalion of Navy Seals. Unbeatable with new members joining daily.

Developing a blog takes time and effort but not at the expense of other daily tasks. You will notice gradual changes in the quality of your business, less fragmented and richer. Slow at first, than after about 3-6 months things will change. You won’t be able to put your finger on it but new things will be happening. You will learn things about your market that you didn’t know before. Blogs create target marketing. You’ll learn to pin point where the opportunities are and use you blog to go in that direction.

Facebook

An example of this is the development of Facebook. The founder of Facebook started his own community at Harvard as a sophmore. Same concept as a blog. Within a short time everyone on campus was using it as a social network. It brought together a fragmented community. Now the 23 year old founder is worth $3 Billion 4 years later. When he started his venture he didn’t have a clue it would work out the way it did. He was not aware of the potential size of the community or what they wanted and needed.

Feedback from the community enabled Facebook to respond to what their community wanted and needed. Thats the power of a social network, a community.

I can tell you first hand that this blog has created opportunities for me that I never knew existed. This blog has enabled me to develop new friends, business relationships and ventures that I never even considered. If you’re a business owner take this seriously.

If you are interested in learning about this wonderful tool to enhance your business contact me at tips@metrocrete.com

Most web sites are like online brochures that explain services or a product. Blogs are personal and social. They enable you to create a personal relationship with your reader, more like a one on one experience rather than a tool that is built for the masses.

You have probably heard the term social networking. Unless you have dug into it, what the heck is social networking? Sounds simple, social and networking are terms we’re all familiar with, but what really does it mean? What does it mean to me?

Thanks to www.freefoto.com for the above photograph.

Lets’ take a look at the Random House College Dictionary meaning of Social.

1. Pertaining to friendly companionship or relations

2. Connected with or suited to polite or fashionable society, a social event.

3. Living with companionship rather than in isolation.

4. Pertaining to human society, a body divided into classes according to worldly status, social rank

5. Relations of human beings in a community.

6. A social gathering by an organized group.

Now lets take a look at the meaning of Network

1. Veins, lines, filaments, wires.

2. System of inter related stations , buildings, offices over a large area.

3. A Netting or Net

4. A group of transmitting stations linked by wire or microwaverelay so that the same program can be broadcast or telecast by all.

5. Widespread, highly organized system or activity

6. A system of computer terminals inter-connected with one or more computers.

Now here is the dictionary definition of Networking

1. A supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest.

2. The design, establishment or utilization of a computer network.

That makes it clearer.

So when we put it together a Social Network really means a group communicating via computer about a common idea. That’s powerful!
That’s the real difference between a web site and a blog. Blogs are interactive and social, web sites are not. Blogs are social networks. Just like throwing a party, they’re social and we’re social beings. That’s why they have been embraced universally. According to the Chairman of Google, print media will dissappear, he doesn’t know when, but it will. Blogs and social networking are how products and services are being marketed. It is now and the future.

This is where people are getting their information, not from traditional newspapers and magazines. Even mega papers like The Chicago tribune and The New York Times are seeing their advertising clients move to the internet.

Now, why do you need a blog?

Lets say that you are a manufacturer of products. How about we use a decorative concrete coating that can be applied on vertical walls. Thats a lot of surfaces and not a lot of people know about your product. You know that your product can be used to resurface a building exterior or a residential home, maybe a bridge or a tunnel, a basement wall or wall of a baseball stadium. You have a great product but you need to let the right people know it.

Now if you want to have a social gathering of targeted consumers for your vertical decorative concrete product party who would you want? Keep in mind that when people leave your party you want them telling others about how great your party was. You want others who want to come to your next party. You want Word of Mouth working for you. That way the party keeps getting bigger and never ends.

You’re not the only party in town. You might have the best product but it just sits there because across town someone else has the best party going on.

So who do you want to invite to your first party. Here’s a partial list.

1. You – You’re the host. You want to show off your concrete coating but it doesn’t go up by itself.

2. Distributors – You need to be chatting with them about all the uses of your product, colors, designs, tools to use and which ones work better. Maybe share some ideas for the good of the group.

3. Contractors – They are the ones who put it up. The more they know the more they can do. The manufacturers need to know the contractors and learn what they know or don’t know. More idea sharing. Resources. Contractors need blogs to create their own social network in their community. They can become an organizer and invite others into their network like customers, architects, builders, carpenters, plumbers, electricians. Some might want to put an advertisement on the blog.

4. Architects – Someone has to design the project. So the architect needs to understand the product, where it can be purchased and who can install it. What can the product do, what can’t it do. Architects should have their own social network. Network mania.

5. Consumer – this is the most important person of all. They pay for it. Without the consumer the first 4 in this list don’t exist. So the consumer must be invited to the party. The consumer needs to know as much as possible. Better have a good party for them or they won’t come back and no Word of Mouth.

6. Sprayer Company – Better invite Mr . Sprayer Maker. He has the sprayer that gets the concrete on the wall. He knows sprayers and has lots of different ones. Maybe he can take parts from one and parts from another and make a better one. Mr. Sprayer might have a client who needs a wall resurfaced. He knows who to go to through his network. He needs a blog to educate his network as well.

The list goes on and on. The blogger is the community creator, the networker, the communicator, the social networker. It works at all levels whether you are a large manufacturer or a small local construction company.

Clearly this is the business aggregator of the future. When you hear about social networks you will now know what they are. This site has created a social network. There are companies doing business together that I hear about who met here.

One last thing. No Excuses. You have time to develop new business. If you think you don’t need to keep up then you must read “Who moved my cheese?”

Don’t get left behind!