Interview with Kinetic Knowledge & Real Estate Blogsites Chris Frerecks about how Blogs can serve as effective marketing tools.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Chris Frerecks of Kinetic Knowledge & Real Estate Blogsites about how Blogs can serve as effective marketing tools. Having worked with Blog solutions since January 2003, Chris has insight toward how these solutions can & should be leveraged.

Allen: What do you think the primary value proposition of Blogging is for a Business?

Chris: If used correctly, a Blog can be the most cost-effective means to generate online visibility, discoverability, brand recognition, trust and an unlimited number of direct connections. And that’s all with one tool!

Allen: With regards to search engine discoverability, what is your opinion about ‘The Long Tail of Search’ as it relates to a business online and how does a Blog help?

Chris: Well, a blog is a fast & inexpensive web publishing tool . It’s a simple, non IT- resource intensive means to transfer timely business knowledge to the web. The ‘Long Tail of Search’ relates to how consumers actually search. According to Google, a quarter of the searches that occur are completely unique, proving that people are searching much more specifically these days. What it means is, being optimal for ‘Manhattan Real Estate’ isn’t the whole picture anymore. The proven theory of ‘The Long Tail’ as it relates to search is that if you’re writing consistently to cover your marketplace you’ll get indexed for many keywords & phrases. As a result, you can be prepared in the indexes for many different searches. Also important to mention: home buyers that perform more specific [or long tail searches] are in theory more knowledgeable about what it is they actually want. It means they are potentially more qualified as leads. While someone may get 100 leads for ‘Manhattan Real Estate’ and only five for ‘Trump Tower 52 Street’ those five people may actually be closer to buying than the person searching the more popular phrase.

Allen: In other words, blogging helps "filter" leads to get you better ones?

Chris: Exactly. You can view this all as a natural lead filtering system that allows you to connect with the people that really appreciate what you have to say and who know more about what it is they want. In all, a business may generate less search discovery per variation of ‘Manhattan Real Estate’ but the collective impact of all those key phrase variations [with so many search queries being non- specific] can easily amount to a much greater success.

Hainge: Do businesses need to promote themselves as experts or ‘thought leaders’ online?

Chris: Good question: I’d say that as a REALTOR(r), you may not need to be ‘the intellectual blogger’, for example, on the subject of ‘Manhattan Real Estate.’ In fact, this may be accurate for most businesses and their target market. I’m certain some will disagree, but most people seek the gratification of immediate answers and they aren’t necessarily searching for the deepest thoughts. Rather than worry about being the most wonderful writer, a business person may want to strive to be the most trusted, enthusiastic or generous. If they share what they know, what they see and what they have to offer, they can achieve this. In fact, this strategy may appeal to more home buyers & sellers simply looking for knowledgeable providers. I would add, one should strive to have good spelling, grammar and that they should try to be informed, but that most consumers probably aren’t judging too hard. Let’s face it, we all search, research and even interview providers of products & services before we get in touch, simply because we can. It’s easy, reliable and free! In order to be prepared for this reality, good marketing via a Blog is great strategy, but don’t ever be intimidated. REALTORS(r) all have great local knowledge, so my suggestion is to make a concerted effort to share it.

Allen: Can you speak a little about Disintermediation and what that can mean for folks?

Chris:  Sure. Traditionally a business counted on media with a good audience to distribute their advertising message. Now, with simple Internet marketing tools such as Business- Blogs, the search and the RSS channels can get your knowledge to where it is needed. Simultaneously, this cuts a middle manager [of sorts] out. Now, anyone can search and find the specific information they want, and anyone can subscribe directly via RSS to the sources of information they want, such as your real estate blog! That is disintermediation! What’s more, traditional advertising messages are challenged by limited space & time, whereas a business Blog has no limitation.

Allen: Can a Blog offer cost advantages over traditional forms of advertising or even Pay Per Click?

Chris: I’m biased, but I think so because traditional advertising forces a cost per eyeball [or CPM], which translates to paying for a lot of wasted eyes that either don’t care at that moment they see the add or they just don’t care period. Pay Per Click doesn’t have that waste because the adds are only viewed [in theory] by interested searching parties, but PPC is getting very expensive. In most real estate markets, a click can cost anywhere from $1- $10. My friend is a developer in Belize, and he tells me he’s paying over $50 per click. What’s also interesting, Comscore recently released data about Googles paid-click-through percentage [for when folks are searching] saying it is 13%. Yahoo is supposedly 11% and MSN 8%. It means that for all that searching, 87 to 92 in 100 people are choosing the left-hand organic [or natural] search results. I’d add that despite the cost, I do believe PPC is great for advertising campaigns that require immediate success; whereas, the Blog may take a while to penetrate indexes and to achieve rank. Also, if you want to cast a wide net to ensure visibility for the most sought after phrases PPC may be the safest immediate bet versus blogging which works in a much more dynamic environment. Blog content, however, can be much more sustainable than PPC. With Blogs, the potential for visibility, discovery, clicks and direct connections in the organic search results lasts and is virtually unlimited. Depending on your effort and time commitment, the cost of a Blog is pretty much fixed.

Allen: Great stuff Chris. Thanks very much for the insight and folks if you ever want to speak with Chris you can find him here.

Chris: It’s really my pleasure. Thanks for having me Allen.

 

 

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