Kindle Lovers… This is for you!

Amazon’s Kindle allows you to download and read thousands of books, newspapers, magazines and now blogs. This is great news for people like me, who read multiple blogs daily.

There are tons of blogs listed in categories ranging from arts and entertainment to business and investing to travel, lifestyle, culture and more.

And as of today, the Real You Incorporated blog is also available on Kindle blogs!

Other blogs available for download include: The New York Times- Latest News, Huffington Post, The Onion, Seth’s Blog (Seth Godin) and Vanity Fair’s VF Daily Blog, among others.

Blogs downloaded via Kindle blogs provide you with full text content and images and are updated wirelessly throughout the day. To learn more, visit Amazon.com and download your Real You Incorporated Kindle blog!

Personal Recommendations Beat Out Online Sources

As I was reading my daily marketing news, I ran across a study that found most online purchasers bought because of a personal recommendation from a friend/relative (34%), followed by spouse/partner (25%), then a blogger (5%) and a chat room (5%).

Truly, this is no surprise to me. Personal, one-on-one connections are gems. These are the people you trust and depend on. If Oprah tweeted, “Acai is amazing”, but my friend Jane said, “I tried it and it’s not worth the price,” I’d go with Jane. Sorry, Oprah.

If you’re out there trying to make a splash in cyberspace, get the movers and shakers talking online and off. And talk to women! Women, your most valuable consumers, are twice as likely as men to recommend a product/service to a friend.

Start with a core group of “sneezers”, as Seth Godin calls them. These are influential people who are sure to tell their friends when they’re into something new. Then keep the momentum going. Ask those people to write online reviews or blog about your product/service. This will begin your online and offline publicity.

Are you looking for more tips on getting your product/service seen and heard in the marketplace? Sign up for my tip of the week, delivered to your inbox every Friday!

It's never too late to tell you about trends, is it?

Ok, here's a funny story. My friend Stefan Swanepoel is THE real estate trends guy. He publishes a well-researched, well-read Trends Report each year and the industry folks who are smart, read it. I realize it's April, and first quarter is over, BUT I am finally reading the report! In my defense, for some unknown reason, it took two months to arrive from California to my mailbox in Ohio. (Yes, even reports don't want to visit Ohio if they're from Laguna Nigel.) But enough excuses. I learned a lot, and here are the trends that resonated with me:

1. Real estate is in the "transformation years", and those years will continue until 2012 (yikes!)

2. Social media is a real estate agent and company's friend! (yay!)

I'm not going to dwell on the negatives surrounding point 1 above, as I'm sure if you live in a home or know someone who does you've heard just about enough even if you aren't a real estate agent. But point 2 is exciting! As Stefan writes, "some 530 million individuals are now participating in some sort of social networking . . .and each person on average belongs to two or three social networks."

That's huge, in my industry and yours. If you aren't out there blogging and tweeting about your expertise in a meaningful and helpful manner—as a real estate agent it is your local market knowledge and your niche knowledge-you're missing out on customers. As Stefan writes: "Real estate professionals have an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this emerging trend by influencing others through creating meaningful content and releasing it through blogs, online communities, wikis and social networks....only 18 percent of online Americans actually create content or publish an article or blog at least once a month."

So get out there and get writing. You are an expert in your field, and you have something your tribe wants to read about. Write it, and they will follow!

Have you seen one of the best blogs for marketing to women?

I’m excited to share with you that I have recently become a contributing columnist to eBrandMarketing—the No. 1 blog on marketing to women—published by Glam Media, which reaches 77 million unique visitors. You’ll hear from the foremost authorities on women, like Fara Warner, author of Power of the Purse.

My column, called (you guessed it!) Real You, spotlights what women are looking for in a brand experience. I share my thoughts about how companies can do a better job connecting with us through emotional branding, authenticity and understanding women’s purchasing power.

Check out one of the most read blogs on eBrandMarketing: Real You: “Ladies” you can ride, look pretty, but you cannot drive, and come back every Friday for a new Real You column!

Real You: Learning the lessons of blogging

Sure, as a writer, blogging comes fairly easy for me. I like sitting in front of the computer, with a white space to fill with words. The problem is, if nobody else reads the words, it's sort of like writing in a diary. Helpful personally, but not likely to help grow my business. So that's what I've been focusing on the last few days. Learning how to link, maximize, post, syndicate the content, and most importantly, find more readers who could benefit and learn from the content I love to share.

My message to you: don't be afraid. Jump in. Learn the lessons of blogging and connecting - so you aren't just blogging to yourself!

Ok, like this example?? This doesn't look good to you or me? Hopefully, I'll be able to fix it, but at least you know I'm trying. Go ahead. To grow your business, you've got to grow your confidence online.

Like me, you just have to keep learning!