As regular readers of our popular, free twice weekly emailed news update know, 2012 was a record year here at MHProNews, as we completed the first full year of our new web-media format. That said, 2013 is blowing 2012 away! We have already had more visitors and more page views this year than all of 2012. That's good for the Industry, as we are sharing success here in a variety of professionally beneficial ways, as you will see.

There are a variety of reasons for the rise in visits and readership. The numbers show our Daily Business News, Featured Articles, dozens of exclusive A Cup of Coffee with… interviews with industry newsmakers and leaders, our Blogs (like this one) are among the many free features and resources on MHProNews fueling the reality of our tag line: Industry News Tips and Views Pros Can Use.

Just the Facts!

We tell our marketing and sales clients that the only way to share numbers is to make a comparison that creates a reasonable context.

With that said, the numbers per Webalizer are as follows:

2012 Site Statistics (January 1 – December 31)

• Visits:  1,331,681
• Page Views:  9,256,002
• Files: 17,741,858
• Hits: 22,925,763

According to information provided by or about other industry sources, the above dwarfs all other 'national' trade media platforms (think Jim Visser's Journal, MHI's news, MHARR news, Ken Rishel's and George F. Allen's various blog and reports, etc.) in our industry combined.

When you are reading here, other pros like you are too. But that was last year! This is 2013, by the numbers.

2013 Site Statistics (January 1 – August 19 at 8:01 AM)

• Visits: 1,540,549
• Page Views: 12,704,255
• Files: 20,537,198
• Hits: 25,263,228

At the current pace, we should finish 2013 with about a 40% rise in readership (visits) and page views. This is good for MH business! Why?

• It is valuable for promoting industry events, such as the 2014 Louisville Show, whose countdown clock is already live on the in-process updates on their website. We will once again provide promotion and coordinate educational seminars for Louisville. FYI, the Louisville Show has once again reigns as the MH Industry's best attended event, something which Show Coordinator Dennis Hill and others attribute in part to our promotion, see this link.
• Valuable for the Tunica Show, for which we will once again provide educational content for and which also enjoyed a nice rise in attendance in 2013.

Boosting outcomes at Louisville, Tunica and at other events means in turn that we are directly or indirectly part of the solution of driving more bottom lines results for industry firms, including organizations like yours.

In addition, the combination of our consulting, web and sales training services plus News, Tips and Views Pros can Use are among the reasons that literally hundreds of Industry Pros have given us recommendations on LinkedIn, by letter and more. Please see the link above and go to MHC-MD.com.

Image Building Updates on ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com!

As noted before, we tell our marketing and sales clients that the only way to share numbers intelligently is to make a comparison that creates understanding and appreciation via a rational context. So let's compare:

• The National Communities Council (NCC) self-reports 10,000 page views monthly.
• National Modular Housing Council  reports 50,000 page views monthly, both per MHI's media kit. Both of these sites have been online for many years and thus enjoy good SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• In our second month since the launch of version 2.0 of ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com, we had 71,123 page views, more than the NCC and Modular Council's sites combined!
• Less than 2/3 through August, 82,828, or over a 40% growth over July's hot numbers.
• Because ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com is public focused, and also draws industry pros by the thousands too, we fully expect in time that our public-image site will surpass the traffic MHProNews.com has achieved. Each of ours sites serves a complimentary, but unique purpose to support factory built housing's image and professionals.

In the coming months, watch for more business building features on both MHProNews.com and on MHLivingNews.com.

As an FYI, MHLivingNews.com also has these URLs (web addresses):

• ModularHomeLivingNews.com
• MobileHomeLivingNews.com

and many others! They all redirect visitors to ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com.

Why This Matters to the Industry, Your Organization, Location and Company

MHLivingNews has become the factory built housing Industry's de facto educational and image building campaign. We are tackling meaty topics, as well as lighter ones, with the general public in mind; creating a nice mix already proving to bring back visitors.

Here is an example.

This popular video, embeded on this page linked here, isn't Academy Award winning quality, but it is getting the job done until someone or some company is ready to sponsor and commission a slicker and more professional video.

Upcoming on MHLivingNews.com website, we plan the following:

1. People connect with other People! More A Breakfast with... exclusive interviews with Industry personalities. These are already a popular read, just as the A Cup of Coffee with interviews on MHProNews.com are wildly popular. People connect with other people! Think about all the “People Magazine” type publications and websites out there. We believe that A Breakfast with… Tim Williams, Mary Gaiski and a host of others we have planned will be one of the many draws that will bring the public and pros alike back to this site again and again. And RETURNING VISITORS are a key for the success of this project.
2. Featured Homes. This is the 'eye candy' that is an absolutely necessary element for the success of image building. This could become a weekly or even bi-weekly feature. We look for manufacturers, retailers, communities and builder/developers to provide photos of properly decorated models. We plan to archive the featured homes to create an ever growing web gallery. When a company formally 'sponsors' a featured home, they can add an article, videos and more to compliment the home and of course their company name, website etc. This feature will typically be finished drywall homes. Low cost, good, long term impact. A real No-Brainer.
3. Featured Entry Level Homes. This would be similar to the more residential style homes featured in the current image slider found on the home page to the right of the main image slider. The Entry Level Homes would be VOG homes. Properly decorated entry level homes will wow those on a budget, and these days, that means millions of potential people.
4. Featured MH Communities. We want to create a category like the featured homes, but with a land lease community focus! Like #2 above, these will be sponsored, will include copy (text) can include photos, videos, graphics and more.
5. Featured MH Retailers. Same idea as #4 above, only with street retailers in mind! We can do the same thing with builder/developers too.
6. Mobile and Manufactured Home Makeovers. Think “This Old House” for Mobile and Manufactured Homes! Same idea as 2, 3, 4 and 5. But this could become one of those red-hot gems! We will need MH re-modelers, retailers, communities and others to step up to the plate and sponsor and provide the content for these.
7. Interviews with Manufactured and Modular Home Owners. This may be one of the more powerful features that we plan to roll out. To pull this off, we need factories, retailers and communities to work with us. There will be obvious advantages for those who do.
8. Featured Articles that are NOT directly factory-built home related. Some have asked us, why are we doing destination or other articles that have no direct tie into MH? Good question! The answer is that these are also drawing traffic. In a sense, it doesn't matter what draws someone to the ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com, because once someone is on that website, they are more likely to look around and see how great today's manufactured homes are. With this in mind, we plan to have an ever wider variety of content over time, and are open to teaming up with those who want to provide this content.
9. Teaming Up with associations, companies and more to drive home shopping traffic into local markets like yours.
10. RSS feeds, Facebook, Pinterest, Tweets and website link backs are growing, and we encourage and appreciate those who will link up ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com. FYI, as a savvy association exec told us, RSS feeds from our site to your websites makes good sense, because we generating free content to keep other sites looking less static. That helps your traffic and a 'third party' site like this gives more credibility and value to you.

These are just some of the concepts that will make those who work with ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com more sales and thus boost their bottom lines.

We are pleased to say that we have new sponsors working on their banner ads for MHLivingNews as I write this!

We want to thank those who have already sponsored MHLivingNews.com or MHProNews.com for their support. Please support our sponsors, because they are making all of these free use websites possible for you.

Last Thoughts For Today

We hear from time to time from voices that – quite correctly – suggest there is a need to discuss topics of general or specific industry interest.

We agree.

The question has always been, how and when to do this? How to keep the costs for discussions down and make participation as broad as possible?

When you go to a trade show or other event, you tend to be busy. Even at an event, if there is a panel and a discussion, most only get a chance to say a few words for a few minutes. That makes it difficult to express all that one might want to share.

MHProNews.com is a proven vehicle well suited for just such discussions. Nothing else can even come close. Here, a professional can sound off on a topic in an interview, or in an OpEd guest column on Industry Voices or Featured Article. Heck, a pro could do a YouTube or Vimeo video and share their thoughts with us that way too!

As current examples, we have two broadly interesting and important topics going on right now:

http://www.MHProNews.com/home/featured-articles/august-2013/137-financing/5983-manufactured-housing-and-captive-finance-can-it-be-done-successfully-in-todays-environment-part-ii

This one above has had follow ups linked here and here. Marty Lavin is the latest expert who has sounded off on this topic, see:

Captive Finance Redux: Are you dealing with the Gestapo/NSA or Colonel Klink?

As a quick note, Lavin's commentary take pains to point out his belief that many players will continue to do well, notably the larger ones.

From our perspective, we are solution oriented at MHProNews.com. So we hope everyone will look at Marty Lavin's column as a cautionary tale and redouble efforts in concert with associations to make HR 1779 a reality.

Then there is this new topic:

The Lack of Sales Training in the Manufactured Housing Industry, with the lead off article by Industry veteran Jim Carpenter, but other articles are coming from other writers!

The interview with Hall of Fame Retailer Mike Evans also sheds keen light on this sales training topic that could mean billions of more in sales for the Industry, when associations, professionals and companies get this one increasingly right.

We welcome YOUR thoughts on topics you think the Industry needs to tackle. Your thoughts can be shared with the industry at large via the Industry Voices Guest Blog. Send them to latonyk@gmail.com with “Industry Voices” in the subject line, with my thanks.

Profitable Conclusion

It is with a mix of pride and humility that we share this Masthead post, because we know that this place in cyber space has become a haven for factory built housing investors, owners, professionals, thinkers, leaders, rank and file and all those who hunger to know and grow.

For the past few months, we've been building step-by-step the pieces of the puzzle that will be our contribution – mindful of all of those writers and sponsors who make this possible! – to the advancement of manufactured housing into the future.

Will there be risks, stumbles, bumps and road blocks? Sure, and we've all had them, endured them and here we still are, better and stronger together.

But the combination of news, tips and views directly and indirectly reveal best practices professionalism on MHProNews, plus the image and educational thrust of public focused MHLivingNews.com are a key one-two punch that will help associations, companies and pros like you to advance and do more.

We are “better together.” The rising tide lifts all boats.

Here, we are truly sharing success with one another. Thank you so much for being or becoming a part of the solutions that will advance our industry's potential in the months and years ahead. ##

PS: Check our many Exclusive and Red HotFeatured Articles for August and see the other new stories at MHLivingNews.com too.

L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
ManufacturedHomeLivingNews.com | MHProNews.com |
Business and Public Marketing & Ads: B2B | B2C
Websites, Contract Marketing & Sales Training, Consulting, Speaking:

MHC-MD.com | LATonyKovach.com | Office 815-270-0500 |

Connect on LinkedIN:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach