1. Virtual Tours – Sure not all properties need a virtual tour, but there are those properties that people just have to see in order to believe the value.   These tours can be uploaded to popular video sites such as YouTube to increase the exposure.

2. Multi Site Dispersement – There are so many places online where a real estate agent can have a listing placed.  Some of the more common at this point are Zillow, Trulia, and Homes, these of course are in addition to the real estate agent’s own web site and the web site of the agency they are working with.

3. Blogging – Not only can a real estate agent showcase a property they can now use tools like blogging to showcase their expertise.  In many cases real estate can require an agent with very specialized skills, what better way to highlight the availability of those skills than blogging about the topic.   In particular, there is a very specialized skill set required for commercial property, blogging allows the real estate agent to educate the market, provide helpful information, and in the end become a resident expert in the community.

Where would all that information go?

Most of the time information online is put out in isolated spots and not really connected together.  Add in some print advertising that maybe has a web site and the waters are muddied even more.  A real estate agent has to be coordinated in order to be effective.  A mere hit and miss campaign will not create the web of interfaces and touch points desired to effectively reach potential customers.

The title of this post was QR Codes for real estate, and yet this is the first mention.  The ground work of understanding had to be laid in order to see how QR Codes can impact a real estate agents current marketing.

5 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Use QR Codes On a Sign

1. Video – Video walk through can be directly linked using a QR code to any print material that you are using.  Imagine a prospective buyer driving up in front of a home for sale and being able to scan a code from their car that would take them on a virtual tour of the home.
2. Extended Brochure – That same buyer may also want to scan a code that will give them an extended brochure, maybe they don’t even want to get out of their car to go pick up a print brochure and the only way to get information to them is through an easy virtual means.
3. Contact Form – Send the potential buyer to a very specific page that allows them to contact the agent about that specific property.  Make it a simple form so the buyer is not trying to fill out ten fields on their smartphone, but rather the basic information needed to establish initial contact.
4. Other Properties – Take that potential buyer on a tour!  Have a QR Code that points to a map of the next property.  This allows the real estate agent to virtually hand hold a potential buyer through a tour of like properties.
5. Coupon – Coupon in real estate?  Why of course!  Give the buyer a reason to buy from you!  Look at ways to offer the buyer added value for knowing how to use your QR code, maybe it is a free inspection, or appraisal.   It doesn’t matter what the offer is, as long as the buyer would find value in it.

Yes the picture of this real estate sign is a little exaggerated.  A QR Code can be effective in a 2 inch square!  This sign is just an example of how an agent can put a QR Code on a real estate sign and have it point to a virtual tour.  In this case it is a tour of rather nice home that is being offered by a Keller Williams agent local to Grand Junction, Colorado.

Why stop at one?

A QR Code is a very effective way of virtually reaching out and giving a prospective buyer a handshake.  How many potential buyers have just driven by the property, or even worse they took down the information and lost it somewhere in the car!

Truth be told, that potential buyer has to be snagged into a lead capture system before they leave the property!!

With that said, consider a combination of the above five mentioned ways to use QR Codes on real estate signs.  In the end, it is all about making it easy for the potential buyer to connect with the real estate agent!

The sign is just one place to start, take a look at the article 10 Ways to Use QR Codes in Print Material for more ideas.

Have more ideas of how to use a QR code on a real estate sign?  Leave a comment, I would really like to hear your ideas.

We are sitting here at the Mox & Dom’s headquarters for a blogging class.  Today we are learning the basics about what a blog is and how it differs from a website.

Later this evening – this post will be updated with 5 things what set a blog apart from a traditional web site.

****After Class Update*****

During class this post was created to demonstrate how easy it is to blog, now it is time to get down to some of the nuts and bolts about blogging that make it different than a website.

1.  EASY! - Blogging is easy compared with hunting through tag ridden code to try and find where the new text is supposed to go.  With blogging you open up your admin panel and five minutes later you are well on your way to creating content.

2.  Affordable! – Most business owners schlep all their ideas over to a web designer where the answer is always, “Yes, for a price.”  Looking at what you can get with a blog there is no comparison, and the answer is still, “Yes, for a price.”  It is just that price tag is a lot smaller.

3. FUN – Yes, I said fun.  Blogging is a way to convey your passion about your business.  Passion is something that can’t be bottled or sold to the highest bidder.  If you are passionate about what you do than it is time to let the world know, you have things to say about your company – so say it on a blog.

4. ENGAGING – A traditional website can have a lot of bells and whistles, it may even have a place that talks about current news, but a blog is something that can suck a customer in for hours if your content is great.  If you have ever gone to YouTube to watch one video and ended up watching them as if you were eating potato chips, you know how easy it is to get lost in engaging content on a subject that you are interested in.

5. Lasting – When it comes down to it, the archival process of a blog is incredible.  It will save those pictures from the company picnic for years to come, even though you may prefer that they ended up in the virtual shredder.  Content is simply added to.  Sure you can delete things, but why?  Give your message a legacy and steal the show!

There you have it, five ways that a blog is different than a traditional website based on a little ol’ blogging class held in Grand Junction, Colorado.

QR Codes can be fun and with a little imagination you can turn your print material into a treasure hunt for your customers.  In the end the marketing power of a QR code goes well beyond the novelty and it crosses into marketing with your customers through a secret handshake.  As clandestine as that sounds it is a way to connect with customers and develop conversations that last long after the ad in the paper or the billboard – yes I said billboard.

Before further ado, here are 10 ways that you can use QR codes in your print advertising that will connect people to your online presence and the call to action that you want them to see.

1. Billboards – in Japan it is not uncommon to come across a billboard with a QR code on it – it may be new here in the Grand Valley, but innovation does have its benefits, getting people to use QR codes will eventually happen through a partnership in educating the community and the implementations.  A billboard is a very BIG way to step into using QR codes.

2. Business Cards – Go beyond a phone number, email, and address, use the back of your business card to put in a QR code that points people to a very specific welcome page.  Again a little secret handshake that lets they know you are happy to have them investigating your business further, and you would love to sit down and have coffee to learn more about their business.

3. Newspaper Ads – No your add does not have to take a quarter of the page, actually a QR code can be effective in as small as a 2 1/2 square inch footprint.  This means that you could extend your advertising by pointing to a coupon that is only available through using the QR code that makes your advertised special even better!

4. Brochures – Take your potential customers on a treasure hunt through your business using QR codes.  Sure this is a little more advanced, but done right your potential customers can take that tour with or without the QR codes, but either way they will see that your business is fun to deal with.

5. Trade Show Flyers – Ever want to continue the conversation with people past a trade show.  Give them something to think about when they are at your booth that would require action after the trade show.  Putting a QR code on a flyer with a special trade show deal will encourage those that attend to connect with you after the show, even if it is through the click of a button.

6. In Store Signs – Give your customers a hidden coupon.  Hint that somewhere around the store is a killer deal and print a sign with a QR code that when scanned on their smart phone gives them a coupon that could be used that very day to save on their purchases.

7. Event Posters - Having an event?  Give people a way to get a deal on tickets by using the QR code that you printed on your posters.  Maybe it is just getting something free when they mention a code word that was given to them through the QR code.

8. Direct Mail Pieces – Getting people to see information that is only meant for them is possible using the combination of personal URLs or purls and the QR code!  This is extreme power that can be used to hit a target spot on with information that is custom designed for the individual receiving the mailing.

9. Real Estate Sales Signs - Ever want to capture a person that is walking by the house you have for sale.  Do it through using a QR code to walk people through a virtual tour of the house.  They can sit in their car, click on the QR code and instantly be taking a tour of the house, and probably taking that very next step of closing the sale!

10. Information Kiosks – There are times when we can provide information somewhere, but we can’t be there manning the station to answer all the questions.  Take the curiosity of those walking by and use a QR code to point to a video of you talking about the product they are interested in.  Talk about making sales without even needing to be present!

QR codes are a way to connect with your customer in ways that you have never been able to connect before.  They may be new in the Grand Valley, but just imagine if your customer could easily make a couple of taps on their smartphone and be watching a video, seeing an exclusive welcome, grabbing an extra savings through a coupon, or any of the other ways discussed above.

The only way your sales could go is UP!  Have fun with QR codes and I hope you enjoyed our QR code presentation.

I encourage you to call Steve (970-250-8182) at Mox & Dom and let him show you how QR codes could be put into use in your business.

I concur.

Every web presence needs sufficient amount content that is engaging for readers to understand the passion the blogger has.

Hopefully the writer’s passion can be spread across to the entire Internet.

Because without content, there isn’t much to any web presence.

A blog post can be very effective if there is an outlet to distribute content quickly in various places on the Internet.

Example – Retirement Investing Vehicles

Imagine an Investment Broker wrote a business article on his company’s blog about investing for retirement using different saving vehicles.

There are a number of ways in conveying that the Investment Broker could distribute the article on the Internet.

With a 1200 word article on “Investing for your retirement” being on the company’s blog as a main hub, the article can be sliced and diced to give different social media platforms a taste of the article.

Want to know how to slice and dice an article?

The Investment Broker could let people know about his article by the prehistoric way- email.

Emailing somebody a brief summary about his article and then asking the reader to forward the information to who they know, might be less effective in getting the article out.

A new way of spreading the good word.

With social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the Investment Broker can update a status or tweet within minutes of his original posts to those who follow him on Twitter or are like his company’s page on Facebook.

For LinkedIn, he could share his knowledge with other Investment Brokers to give their feedback on the article.

Additionally, if the Investment Broker uses Ping.fm, a general message about his content can be simultaneously sent to Facebook and Twitter within seconds. Just by hitting the “Ping it!” button.

People learn visually

For some people, reading can be a tiresome task and watching a short explanation or a short demonstration of what Investment Broker’s content is about on YouTube can be an effective way to reach visible learners.

People learn by listening as well

As the Investment Broker thinks about he rides to work and listens to podcasts on the latest news about investments, he realizes by doing a podcast that the information about retirement vehicles could be valuable to people who are on the go.

Also, since he some of his clients are visually impaired, a podcast would be useful for them as well.

Google becomes aware

Either by using your actual article or using pieces of the article in short messages when pinging to numerous platforms, or by doing a video on YouTube, and/or by recording a podcast, Google becomes aware of where your information is popping up.

After Google sees the Broker’s article showing up on various places on the Internet, the theory is that Google moves your site up in their rankings.

The reason for moving the article up in rank because Google sees the article being authoritative on many platforms around the Internet.

All from one article post?

Yes, all from a post which proves that “CONTENT is still KING!!”

Usually when I get done writing a post for Mox & Dom, I literally feel like that guy doing that Funky dance from the Dave & Busters commercial.

Do you ever get this feeling?

Even if you do get this feeling, don’t celebrate too fast, you have one more concept to ponder before posting your blog – SEO.

Now, as my boss mentioned SEO to me, I felt my excitement going away as my chin on found a resting place on my fists while I begrudgingly asked, “What is SEO?”

If you are feeling the same way right now, I completely understand.

But hey, cheer up  – I’ll tell you about SEO.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a Web Presence that search engines perform that are commonly free.

The acronym “SEO” can also stand for Search Engine Optimizers which are consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of people who want a great web presence.

Here’s an Internet marketing tip.

SEO considers how search engines work and what kind of information people are searching for.

Optimizing your blog involves editing your blog’s content, HTML, and the coding of your blog to increase the relevance to specific keywords. By doing these three concepts for your blog’s SEO, this helps the Internet with indexing activities that most common search engines have for ranking your web presence.

SEO tactics should be incorporated into your web presence’s development and design.

As you are thinking about what you want  to write on your blog, there are two definitions to consider:

1. Keyword saturation and
2. Keyword stuffing

These two definitions are on the opposite ends as far as writing goes.

Definition of Keyword Saturation:

Keyword saturation is the percentage of target terms in relation to the rest the content of a page. Saturation levels do play a crucial role in the ranking of your pages.

An example of Keyword Saturation:

You may have notice that I have used these three words over and over, “Search Engine Optimization” or “SEO.”

Search Engine Optimization is the theme of this article and I am using these three words over and over in a conversational way that has contextual meaning to my article.

Another definition that goes along with keyword saturation is keyword density.

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web presence compared to the total number of words on the page.

For SEO purposes, keyword density can be used as a factor in determining whether a web presence is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase.

In most situations, the writer will use keywords or keyword phrases without noticing or thinking about how he/she is writing.

If a writer tries to force or thinks about using keywords or keyword phrases, writing the article will become very difficult to write. When I force my writing, my words do not flow as naturally as they should.

Definition of Keyword Stuffing:

Keyword stuffing is the total opposite of keyword saturation and is considered to be an unethical SEO technique as bloggers will use keywords out of context in their writing content or bloggers put their keywords or keyword phrases in the meta tags.

A few years back, web designers and bloggers figured out that Google looked for keywords on a web presence and would type in the same words over and over without having any contextual meaning.

Bloggers would type something like, “Grand Junction, Grand Junction, Grand Junction,” in hopes that their site would rank higher on search engine like Google.

Recently, Google has combated keyword spamming by creating a plug-in that looks for keywords in a contextual sense called, “Latent Semantic Indexing” or LSI.

What’s LSI?

LSI is based on the principal that words are used in the same contexts have similar meanings or has the ability to extract the conceptual content of a body of text by establishing associations between those terms that occur in similar contexts.

In other words, the words in a sentence must have some of the same contextual meaning in order to meet LSI qualifications.

Using keywords or keyword phrases in the right contextual meaning in a sentence, helps Google determine page ranking.

If Google finds that a blogger has been keyword spamming, Google will move these web presences to the very bottom of Google’s SEO list.

Example of SEO

If you were a small business owner in Grand Junction, Colorado with a desire to establish a web presence as a reputable company that sells the “New Cure-all” product for the best household cleaner ever.

As you were doing research on the Internet, you see thousands and thousands different web presences claiming that their product is the “Best of the Best.”

The purpose of you web presence is to tell people about the products on the web presence, new features about the products, and that customers can leave testimonials about your products.

After you written several articles and these articles are ready to be posted, you read an article about SEO and figure out quickly that you need to do some modifications to move your presence higher up on Google’s rankings.

You do these modifications so when Internet users type in ”New Household Cleaners”, into a search engine, your web presence will be the one of the first sites seen.

Also in your readings, you find out that posting articles regularly will help your web presence be ranked higher than the other household cleaning sites in the SEO rankings because Google likes web presences to be updated frequently.

Within a couple of weeks and working on your SEO tactics, you are getting a reputation of having the “New Cure-all” household product on the Internet and you couldn’t be happier.

Now, you are definitely ready to make your web presence known over the Internet.

With this knowledge, you can finally bust out a few moves as you are ready for business, until your next blog post.

HAPPY BLOGGING!!!

WOW! ITS OFFICIAL!!!!

Facebook announced Wednesday morning that Facebook.com has now passed 500 million member mark.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, posted on Facebook’s blog, “I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago. I want to thank you for being part of making Facebook what it is today and for spreading it around the world.”

As Facebook crosses the “500 million users and beyond” mark – that’s half a billion people – it’s time to give a little history of how Facebook has become the kingpin of social media platforms.

The Origin of the Name

According to Wiikipedia, Facebook received its name from founder Mark Zuckerberg, where he borrowed the concept from his old prep school, Phillips Exeter Academy.

The Academy produced an annual manual of all students and faculty that was unofficially called the “face book.”

Facemash – The Beginning

In October of 2003, while attending Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash.  According to the Harvard Crimson, Facemash represented Harvard University’s version of the ”Hot or Not” game.

After being dumped by a girl, Zuckerberg was blogging and trying to think of something to do to get the girl of his mind.

With the help of being liquored up and hacking into the University’s directory, Zuckerberg started comparing people’s profile pictures to animal pictures and asking viewers to decide which of the two pictures were hotter.

If you want to read some hilarious quotes from Mark Zuckerberg, read the History of Facemash on Wikipedia as he went through the process of making Facemash.

The Harvard Crimson reported that Facemash used photos from the online face books of nine houses placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the ‘hotter’ person.

The initial site generated 450 visitors and 22,000 photo views in the first four hours online.  Also, Facemash mirrored people’s physical community with their real identities, like Facebook does today.  Now I know where those funny question-answer platforms come from.

Anyway, after Harvard learned about Zuckerberg’s new social platform online, which was emailed to several groups around campus, Harvard shut down Facemash.

Concurrently, Harvard also threatened to expel Zuckerberg for breaching security, violating copyright laws, and violating the students’ personal privacy.

Ultimately though, the charges were dropped by Harvard’s school administration.

2004 – Creation of “The Facebook”

After making Facemash in the fall semester of 2003, Zuckerberg started writing code that the University of Harvard had been talking about developing.  He developed the new program and called it “The Facebook”.

Zuckerberg told the Harvard Crimson, “I think it’s kind of silly that it would take the University a couple of years to get around to it.  I can do it better than they can and I could do it in a week.”

When Zuckerberg finished the site, he told a couple of friends and one of his friends told him to put his site on the Kirkland House mailing lists that had 300 people on the list.

Once the site made its way on the Kirkland House list, several dozen people joined who in turn told people at the other houses around Harvard University.

By the time the night was over, Zuckerberg and his friends were actively watching the registration process.  After a 24-hour period, “The Facebook” had somewhere between 1200 to 1500 registrants to their site.

In August of 2006, Sid Yadev wrote Facebook – The Complete Biography for Mashable.com where he told the history of Facebook.

When “The Facebook” phenomenon spread across the Harvard campus with an overwhelming response, Zuckerberg extended Facebook to Yale University and then out west to Stanford University where Facebook became widely endorsed.

Zuckerberg was soon joined by two fellow Harvard students, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, where the two helped grow The Facebook site to the next level.

Months later, Facebook became a national student network phenomenon. Consequently, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to pursue their dream in running Facebook full time.

In August of 2005, “The Facebook” was officially changed to what we know as Facebook and the Facebook domain was purchased for $200,000.

In September of 2005, Zuckerberg launched a high school version of Facebook where high school networks were required to have an invitation before joining.

Facebook later expanded membership eligibility to several big name companies including Apple and Microsoft.

A year after Facebook opened its membership eligibility to anyone who was 13 years or older with a valid email address, Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million.

With Microsoft ‘s purchase, Facebook had a total implied value of around $15 billion. Microsoft’s purchase included rights to place international ads on Facebook.

Numbers Don’t Lie

When reading Yadev’s article in 2006, Facebook was the newcomer on the block and trailing only MySpace in terms of traffic to each of the social platforms.

Yadev wrote about how in 2006, Facebook only had extended membership to 30,000 + recognized companies, colleges, universities, organizations, and companies within the U.S., Canada  and other English speaking nations.

Yadev stated since Facebook wasn’t available to everyone, Facebook had a relatively low user count.

Now Facebook stands on top as the kingpin of social media platforms leaving MySpace somewhere in – well – outer space.

With Facebook breaking the 500 million user mark, I think that Facebook finally figured out how to fix their low user count problem.

The following bullet point illustrates how many millions of people have joined Facebook and how long it took to get there (Numbers from Facebook on Wikipedia):

• 100 million- took 1665 days  (August 28, 2008)
• 200 Million- took 225 days    (April 08, 2009)
• 300 Million – took 160 days   (September 15, 2009)
• 400 Million- took 143 days    (February 5, 2010)
• 500 Million- took 166 days    (July 21, 2010)

Enough history, let’s have some fun!!

Last year about this time, I finally gave in to the Facebook phenomenon as I was invited by my mother to join.  Now, for those who really know me, understand that sharing my comments through written media whether it be publishing posts or writing quick emails, know writing is easier for me to communicate.

So reluctantly, I hit the accept button to start filling out my registration for Facebook and when I finished entering my information, the lightbulb came on in my head that I was stepping into a place where I could find family and friends easier than by email.

After a couple of weeks finding friends and family that I were easy to find, I begin looking for old friends that I have lost contact with for 10years or mored.  And, yes, I looked up old flames just like Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg said users do during a conference surrounding social media.

FaceBook Connecting One Person at a Time

In my first article for Mox & Dom, I cited an article by JD Lasica as he stated as of March 2010, Facebook had:

1. More than 400 million members (this is bigger than all but two nations on earth),
2. Over 200 million people log in everyday with the average time on site of 55 minutes, and
3. Members uploading 10 million videos and about a billion photos every month.

Now, I don’t know all the in’s and out’s about social media, but having over 200 million or more logging onto Facebook everyday and uploading 10 million videos and a billion photos every month, that is a lot of people being social.

My mind cannot even comprehend all those numbers growing as membership grows.

Don’t forget about all the instant messaging, commenting on people’s status’s, and all the games and fun apps that are found on Facebook.

To me, Facebook is my own little clubhouse where I can play games, talk to my friends, find people who I haven’t seen or heard from for years, and I can get a sneak peak at what my friends are doing without picking up a phone and calling people one by one.

Facebook wants to hear your Facebook story.

Facebook has a created a website called Facebook Stories that invites users to submit their stories.  Each story is asked to be as long as a regular Facebook status of 420 characters. Facebook will separate the stories out by location of the author and the theme of the story.

As Facebook celebrates passing this historic bench mark of having 500 million members, Mox & Dom would like to leave with a quote from Facebook’s marketing guru, Randi Zuckerberg, as she told All Things Digital BoomTown Blog, “While previous announcements of this nature have been about the numbers, this time the company wants it to be all about the users.”

Congratulations to Mark Zuckerberg and the staff at Facebook!

As I returned to work today from a little vacation in the Rocky Mountains with my parents and daughter there was a story I read last Wednesday that reminded me of one fact – social media and tending to my child have very similar qualities.

Social media and parenting were compared in a nice  article written by Paul Sutton “Nurture not Nature” over at Social Media Today.

Sutton listed 4 similar qualities between social media and parenting:

1. Both require round-the-clock care.
2. Both need lots and lots of TLC.
3. Both grow at a rapid rate.
4. Both need a diaper.

Interesting Comparison – social media and children… hmmmm let’s do our own comparison -

1. Round-The-Clock Care

Now, even though my daughter is heading into her pre-teen years, I can concur with Paul that social media and her need for round-the-clock care.

If a blogger leaves his web presence or blog alone for an extended amount a time, then he may be missing out on the latest news because – hey – let’s face facts – Facebook,Twitter or even the entire Web doesn’t wait for anyone.

My daughter, she waits for no one either.  I have to call out to her to wait up for my wife and/or myself.  Unless she’s on a basketball court, then and only then, I let her go crazy and do her thing.

2. Both Require Tons of TLC

A web presence needs to be updated with fresh content and features that make the web presence appealing to view and read.

If a blogger doesn’t update his blog every now and then or if somebody doesn’t update their Facebook status, the web presences might became outdated.

Keeping fresh material lets viewers know that you, as the writer, are serious about what your web presence stands for.

My daughter always asks me to take her to the store for clothes and shoes.  Now while most clothes will make my daughter stunning beyond her years, I want her dressed appropriately as well.

Thus, I need to remind my daughter of modest dress so she remembers who she is – daddy’s little girl.

3. Both Grow at a Rapid Rate

I remember when my daughter watched her first Monday Night Football game with me when she was a couple days old. Nine years later, she’s making touchdown saving tackles as a defensive end.

Man, times have changed.

Social media grows like wild fire for me.  As a writer of social media, keeping up with all the different nuances can be overwhelming.  Hopefully, as my social media intellect grows, my ability to write in a way that relays my knowledge can roll easier.

Being fast doesn’t always mean being the best.

4. Both Need a Diaper or Filter

I know, my preteen doesn’t need a diaper, but she does need a filter to separate the knowledge that she wants from the knowledge she doesn’t want.

Sometimes as her dad, I help monitor this information for her so she is protected from some of the things that aren’t age appropriate. The boy thing, I am not even going to try to figure that one out.

In social media though, I agree with Paul, you need a DIAPER! If I go on a lengthy vacation and I write a lengthy article on a controversial topic, I would hope I wouldn’t get spam comments and somehow, the comments get posted on my blog.

This instance would just smell like a leaky diaper and the cleanup would take a long time.

Sometimes though, your personal social media gets entangled with your professional social media. Take for an example what happened to Debbie in a compelling slide show from Paul Adams off of slideshow.net.

Oh Debbie, be careful!

The story of Debbie is that she moved to San Diego from Los Angeles.  In San Diego, Debbie trained competitive swimming to ten year-old children. Debbie made a Facebook group for her swimming group to share comments and pictures with one another.

Back in Los Angeles, Debbie has a group of friends that work in a gay bar.  No biggie, right?

Debbie’s friends missed her so much that they posted pictures of male strippers dancing on tables. Debbie often left comments on these pictures.

When Paul Adams asked Debbie what she does on Facebook, Debbie was shocked when she realized that the children from her swimming group could view all of her comments that she made on the pictures.

Debbie was mad at Facebook for allowing this to happen.

HUH? HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH COMMON SENSE, OVER!

I shouldn’t have to say my thoughts about Debbie. I think the line above shares my exact feelings.

My closing point

Social media is exactly what Paul Sutton said, “Social media is like caring for a baby”.  If good parents nurture and love their web presence like they nurture their children, the Internet should have tons of great information.

If parents neglect their web presence like some parents do their children on occasion, the Internet may be without a lot of valuable talents and knowledge.

This is a part II of  my two part series on my first experiences with WordPress, where I left off with questions like  ”why is WordPress Free?”,  ”What’s the catch?”, and “Did I do something wrong?”.

As I was riding in a wheelchair taxi on my way to the Mox & Dom office, I had three annoying questions coming back to me from last night:

1. What is PHP?
2. Why wouldn’t WordPress 3.0 install the right way?
3. What did they mean by “FREE”?

Even though these questions were annoying to no end, they really couldn’t get to me because I had started my blog, “Maniac’s BLVD” at WordPress.com.

I was excited to tell The Moxie Maven and The Dominator that I was creating my own blog on “living with a disability” by using WordPress.com.

I thought my bosses would find it cool that I was trying to create my blog on my own time. Then, I freaked out.

I freaked out as I remembered that I wrote a draft article really praising WordPress on being thoughtful of new bloggers trying to set up their own blogs using the 5 minute download they advertised on their Website.

The “5 minute Download & Install” link seemed almost comical as I remembered my hardships of the night before. I freaked out even more as I remembered that The Dominator was going to look at my post last night and if it was approved, it would go live on MoxDom.com.

Thoughts of writing a retraction to the article flooded through my mind and then, I realized, my creditability would be questioned by all.

So as my taxi pulled up to the office, I began to feel a little anxious to see if The Dominator made my article live. Then, I saw The Moxie Maven walking to the front door and I thought, “Well, here goes nothing.”

After the usual morning salutations, I proceeded to tell her that I started a blog on WordPress.com and all my troubles with downloading the “5 minute download & install” feature on WordPress.org. Then I started to tell her about my new blog at WordPress.com. She said, “Wow, you’re in the cloud, eh?”

I shuttered as chills went up and down my back as I remembered my article that I wrote about Google Docs vs Office 2010, you remember right – the fight of the year?

Anyway, Google Docs has cloud storage too which means all your work is stored somewhere on a server that a company has.

Now, WordPress.com had cloud storage too.

“Oh no, the cloud thing again?” I asked and The Moxie Maven just nodded her head.

I must have started to turn pale because I quickly remembered about The Dominator coming back in the office the night before to post articles on MoxDom.com; I felt like I was in the extended version of the “Hangover” as my WordPress’ experience kept getting worse by the minute.

I meekly asked, “The Dominator didn’t post last night, did he?’

“Go check your email,” she replied. I wheeled over to my desk and read that The Dominator hadn’t posted my story yet because he had more pressing issues to tackle that night.

Whew!

“YES! I’m not dead yet,” I thought to myself. My creditability would still be in tact. I took a deep breath as I thought about my issue facing me with WordPress and I was troubled still.

The “5 minute download & install” feature still bothered me to no end because either I didn’t understand the 5 minute claim or WordPress didn’t tell me something in their 5 minute claim.

More Questions

What was the matter and why was I so confused?

WordPress.org and WordPress.com, what was the difference between the two?

Lastly, why did I end up on WordPress.com starting a blog when I really wanted to be on WordPress.org?

My Findings

WordPress.org advertises a 5-minute download & install feature for users. What WordPress really means is that if you have a server and a Website already, then go ahead and download this upgrade.

For an intermediate user, the process probably take 5 minutes to download and install. For a new user, like me, see and read step 1 very carefully. Step 1 simply reads- “Find a Web Host.”

I thought that WordPress was being very cool by giving new users a list of different web host that a new user can go to and pick a search engine to host their blog.

What WordPress is really saying if before a new user downloads their product, that a new user needs to find a paid server or a Web host to read WordPress’ indexing language “PHP.”

Ah – AH!

PHP is an indexing language that allows WordPress to talk to a server and then the server indexes your information so that the server can find your information again. Oh, no wonder why I couldn’t download WordPress 3.0. I didn’t have a server to read the PHP indexing code.

So if I couldn’t use WordPress.org’s download feature, I had to jump over to WordPress.com services where the Web hosting is “FREE”.

Oh! I get it now

When I jumped over, the services of Web hosting became “FREE”. In addition to WordPress.com being a free Web hosting site and being in cloud storage, WordPress.com doesn’t allow people or frown upon people who try to sell products on WordPress’ “FREE” site.

Conclusion -

If I was a new small business owner, I wouldn’t want to use WordPress.com if I wanted to sell a product online. I would want to use WordPress.org to do business on the Internet.

So for me, getting a blog on WordPress.,com made since if I only wanted to let people know about my books. However, if I really wanted to sell my books online, I needed a Web host before I download and install the new version of WordPress 3.0 on WordPress.org.

I finally understood my frustration from last night and like most times in my life, after my frustration comes to an end, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This is, until I plop right in front of my home computer so fired up to write and then, I say to myself with a dumbfounded look, “What was that thought? Man, this might be harder than I thought.”

Unfortunately, this happens to me quite often and over the last ten years as the thought of making a Website or a blog so I could promote my books to a vast audience to reap the benefits of millions of potential customers seemed like an awesome ventured to travel on.

Then suddenly, as violent shutter goes through my body as I think back to the old HTML codes and the hundred of hours that I spent on my first Website trying to promote my first book “Don’t Wait For The Movie” on Aolpress123.

I still have nightmares about the whole process. I thought the nightmares were gone forever, until last night. Let me explain.

Reason for My Journey

I have been writing articles for Mox & Dom for a little over month now and with the hoopla surrounding the release of WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”, I wanted to investigate on my home computer the new features of the new WordPress’ upgrade.

Seriously, I thought I would go home and start my own blog about living with a disability because hey, WordPress says, “It’s Easy as…” with a three step process you can install WordPress within 5 minutes!

“5 minutes? Ummm. Let’s do this,” I thought.

So I scrolled down to the bottom of the WordPress page  read the following list and when I clicked each step to learn more about each step before I downloaded the software.

This was I thought reading as I read each step:

1. Find a Web Host- oh cool, WordPress is giving me a list of web hosts that I can go to and have my blog hosted on for different prices.

   Hey-hey wait, WordPress offers to host my blog for free. WordPress really wants me as a user!  WOW!

2. Download & install WordPress- here’s the “5 minute” saying again and wow, they are even offering me a handy guide to walk through the download and installation processes.

   Oh wow! They even offer a guide if I had a previous version if WordPress, this is awesome. If all else fails, WordPress has a blog forum where I can ask questions to expert bloggers on WordPress.org, that’s helpful.

3. Consult the Documentation- Really? WordPress has a “how to” table of contents that I can go where I can look up concepts from the easiest to the hardest.

   For a newbie like me, this will really help me to create a blog I always imagined.

This sounded as easy as running a fullback dive on 4th & goal from the one inch line, right?

Not so fast, WordPress stumped me from the beginning.

And now, the rest of the story.

After I made several attempts to install WordPress 3.0 from the Website, I thought something was definitely wrong and beyond my comprehension of computer language.

I should have waited to ask my boss today what was the matter, but being stubborn and curious to figure out my own problem right then and there. I pressed on.

DANGER AHEAD!

I kept reading something about not finding or connecting to my server and that my computer wasn’t set up for PHP Language. So my thought was that finding a PHP language shouldn’t be that much a problem.

Again, something this easy shouldn’t be that hard to find – a phrase saying something like, “You can find PHP…” should be on the next couple of lines of the Website.

30 minutes later and having gone to a couple of different Websites, I was completely sacked and looking for an alternative to start looking at WordPress 3.0 had to offer.

In football, when the quarterback doesn’t like what the defense is showing before he gets set, he will call an audible for a better play. My audible, well, I should have gone to bed so I could wake up to fight another day.

Yet again, I am too stubborn to quit.

My audible popped in my mind after I remembered, “Hey-hey, the site said something about a “FREE” blog, oh yeah, here it is- WordPress.com.”

So I journeyed over to WordPress.com and started filling the registration out to get my “FREE” blog going. I was so excited because finally, I could go see WordPress 3.0 had to offer. I was only minutes away from seeing all the new Apps, menus, features, and what not; this would be cool.

After I filled out the necessary lines, I was there getting to give my “FREE” blog a name that would fit my personality and my writing style, “Maniac’s BLVD”.

I was really pumped and I even selected a theme for my blog.

An hour and a half of fighting with the installation of WordPress 3.0, trying to find what PHP stood for, and finally making some head way in starting a blog on WordPress.com, I felt good calling it a night.

But just before my eyes closed for the night, a feeling that I forgot to ask about the “FREE” part because nothing is really totally “FREE.”

Read Part II of my WordPress Journey

Social media on the Internet should be totally different from a salesman’s mentality of  ”Sell! Sell! Sell!”.

A business owner with a web presence on the Internet should be thinking of communicating in a genuine voice to relay a message that would compel the reader to listen and engage in the conversation.

The Golden Circle

Look over Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle to understand how most companies use common methods of communication with their customers and why most great leaders of the twentieth century reverse the order when delivering their message to people.

The traditional way to use the Sineks’ Golden Circle starts with “what”:

1. What - Every organization knows what their organization is about or what they do.

2. How - Some organizations know how they work.

3. Why - Very few organizations really know why their company does what they do. ( and to make a profit isn’t really a why)

Most organizations think by going from step 1 to step 3 when delivering a message to customers.  In most organizations, however, the organization doesn’t get past the “what” layer because this is where companies sell their product.

Want an Edge?

In the same video by Simon Sinek’s,  Simon discusses the value of thinking in reverse when trying to get customers to believe in a business’ purpose before costumers buy their products from the business.

Reverse Your Way of Thinking

1. What – What’s your business purpose?  Why do you get up in the morning?  Tell customers what you believe.

2. How – Some organizations know how they do work.

3. What – Every organization knows what their organization is about or what they do.

Simon describes how Dell uses build great computers and how Dell wants customers to buy their computers.  Simon also describes how Apple tells the customer why Apple builds computers and iPods, then Apple asks the customer to buy one of their products.  For Apple, asking customers to buy a product is almost an afterthought.

Application To  Social Media

While using  social media, a business  should think about using the Golden Circle to convince customers of the business’ sincerity when a customer is viewing the business’ web presence.  This way, the business can have an edge over their Internet competition.

If the business’ web presence includes FaceBook, Twitter, or a business home page and a client can sense the sincerity in a genuine purpose of your organization, customers will come back for more because they believe in what your business stands for.