Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Have You Mastered the Blogging Basics?
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Search-engine optimization. Who knew that these three little words could become so important to successful online marketing? Many real estate agents spend several hours obsessing over how they can give themselves the most SEO possible so that they can achieve the ultimate dream: landing on page 1 of Google. As real estate virtual assistants, we completely understand the importance of having a strong, SEO-friendly online presence. After all, several of our clients come to us because they have found us on Google, but our secret wasn’t hiring an expensive SEO company or having search engine superpowers. Our secret can be summed up in one word: blogging.
Yes, blogging is the key to boosting your SEO! Before you scratch your head in confusion, take a second to think about it. Google loves two things:
1. Custom-written content
2. Content that is full of keywords (that people commonly type in to the Google search engine box) that are linked back to relevant pages on your website.
Blogging takes care of both of these things. You or your real estate virtual assistant can write custom-written, informative content that your community will enjoy reading that also features important keywords that people in your area use when searching for a real estate agent. Many agents have a blog, but they don’t really take advantage of all of the benefits that this marketing tool can offer. We thought that we’d take a few minutes to remind you of what you should be doing when you’re blogging. If you follow this advice, we’re certain that you’ll start to see yourself move up the SEO ladder.
• Make sure that all of your content is custom-written. Several real estate agents hire companies that will post blogs for them, but instead of these blog posts being custom-written, they are one article that is blasted out to several other agents’ blogs at the same time. While the content may be interesting, this approach will not boost your SEO. Google places content that is custom-written above that which has been copied and pasted to several areas on the web. If you’re going to blog, take the time to write your own articles, or find a real estate virtual assistant to write them for you!
• Blog consistently. Posting one time every two months is not going to help you get to page one of Google. The more often you submit custom content to your blog, the more Google recognizes your site as having new information, and they will place your site above ones that haven’t been update in awhile. This doesn’t mean that you have to blog every single day, but posting an interesting article that you wrote yourself once or twice per week will be enough to get yourself moving up in the search engines much faster.
• Use keywords and hyperlinks throughout each post. While you want each blog to be readable and not have keywords placed randomly throughout each post, it is important to use keywords often. You want each keyword to be something that people type in to the search engine box when they look for a real estate agent. For example, if you’re in Boston, you will likely want to use “Boston real estate”, “Boston real estate agent”, “Boston homes” and “Boston condos” as keywords throughout each post. You would then link each of these keywords in your blog back to various aspects of your online presence. This is perhaps the most important part of blogging, as it’s how you start seeing your SEO improve. If you’re blogging and not using keywords or hyperlinks, then you’re not seeing any SEO benefits from your blog. This is an important step, so find ways to integrate your keywords into each post!
• Have fun! This is an important step, too! Blogging gives you a platform to show off your personality on your website and have a little fun. Sure, you want to come off as professional and informative, but you’ll also want to have an approachable, interesting voice that will leave people wanting to come back and read more of what you have to say. Don’t be afraid to switch up your posts a little and try some new things. It will give you more traffic, and you’ll find that people will enjoy your blog posts!
Remember: if you want some organic, easy-to-get Google juice, the answer is blogging. There are so many benefits to implementing this in your online marketing, so we hope that you will all start to take advantage of it!
Have a great day!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
Retarget Site Visitors to Maximize Lead Conversion
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
You do a lot of work to drive traffic to your website. Blogging, social media, SEO optimization, pay per click ads, postcard campaigns, drip messaging… It’s overwhelming and probably costs you a fair chunk of your income. Yet for all that, how many visitors land on your site once and for whatever reason, never come back? Well, now there is a way where you can follow up with your site visitors to remind them of your services, and even qualify those leads as you do so! The amazing thing is it’s very easy to do and costs far less than you think…
How Retargeting Works
Humans are creatures of habit. We seek information using certain guidelines or parameters. And, when there is something we are interested or curious in, we tend to notice things that relate to that item more readily. So, let’s say you are considering buying a house, you will search for information on the internet using some term like “buying a home in ______” (fill in the blank with a geographic location). You get a list of real estate websites, and will probably click on the first 3 or 4 before wondering what other resources you can find and try a different search, perhaps ending up on say, Realtor.com.
Now, consider this… You are starting to search around there, when you see an ad offering a custom luxury tour of a neighborhood you were just considering, or perhaps the ability to get greater details on a house you were interested in. Coincidence? Nope! Retargeting.
Because of your cookies, search engines can track every single place you visit on the internet. Google also has a vast network of advertisers, and they only get paid when someone clicks on one of those ads. So by combining these two pieces of information, Google has the ability to present specific ads to select people who have already shown an interest in that particular service or product, thus increase the likelihood the audience will click through.
You can leverage this for your site and business by developing targeted ads presenting tempting offers to entice the lead to return and engage with you.
Implementing a Retargeting Campaign
Firstly, you need to understand there are two different ways you can garner an audience for retargeting. The strongest by far is building your own list – which happens over time as people visit your site and are naturally tracked by their cookies – because you will already know that not only are they interested in real estate, but possibility even what specific kind of real estate. The second way is to use a “preset audience” which goes by established preferences based on browsing history, for example internet users who like horses, in a certain geographic region, and expressed an interest in real estate. This second method is not quite as accurate as the first, but allows you to get started right away.
Next step is to develop your ads. You must have a variety of them, because think about it… If you see the same thing getting shoved in your face over and over, are you really going to say yes the 10th time you see it when you’ve already said no 9 times before? Don’t think so! A templated ad builder is available, or you can have a designer customize and upload them. By the way, ever notice that ads are different sizes at different places on web pages? Some are a banner across the page, some a little box to the corner, some long up and down the side. You will need to have your ads created in all these sizes because Google will select ones that fit the available space.
You can control all aspects of your ads including budget, number of impressions, termination point, etc. You can set your ads to display according to certain keywords, or even specific websites. You can even control what they see when they get to your site, which means you can drop them right in the entrance to your click funnel. For example, here is Progressive Insurance’s general site at www.progressive.com:
Obviously, you see navigation, multiple offers, all kinds of access to all kinds of information. Now, look at what we get after clicking on a retargeted ad:
No navigation, no offers. One purpose, and one purpose only – follow the three easy steps. Note also that the box she is holding says “Auto” on it, because I searched using the keywords “car insurance.” I repeated this exercise using “house insurance”, and in the image she was holding two stacked boxes, you guessed it – one labeled “Homeowners” and the second “Auto.” So you can very simply drop your retargeted lead directly on the landing page for the offer you present, don’t make them think about it.
After launching, you will want the ads to run a couple of months until you saturate your market, then swap them out. It can still be the same offer, mind you – just a different way of presenting it. For example, you may start out with an ad offering a “No Committment CMA,” then go to “See Recent Sales in Your Neighborhood,” then swap to “Check Out Detailed Market Data.”
How Much Does Retargeting Cost?
So, I’m telling you that you can follow up with warm leads on a consistent basis over a long period of time with a single effort of setting up a couple ads. You’re saying, this has got to be yet another major expense to undertake, right? Actually, it costs less than standard pay per click.
To determine the cost of an ad, you have to balance out the per click payment versus its quality score. On the basic level, Google determines the quality score by the number of times a given ad is displayed (an impression) and the number of people who respond to it. If the ad has too low of a quality score, Google will shut it down because the ad is not making money. On the other hand, if you are getting people clicking through but still not engaging, it is not worth any money you are paying and you need to revise the ad.
Now, let’s look at a return on investment. Studies show it takes an average of 7 touches for someone to engage with a site. If you are paying $4 per click to get a visitor to your site using pay per click, but out of 100 visitors only 2 engage, that’s $392 lost. Now, if you can pay a fraction of that to retarget those other 98 visitors over a period of weeks or months, you vastly increase your exposure and the chances of those warm leads returning, thereby increasing your return on the initial investment.
In the end, retargeting comes out less expensive than standard pay per click. PPC is triggered by keyword searches, which although gives you a “best guess” does not necessarily identify any specific need. On the other hand, retargeting is based in the actual content the user elects to view, which is a far more accurate gauge. So Google charges less based on the likelihood being much higher of someone clicking on a retargeted ad versus a generalized pay per click ad.
Best Practices for Successful Retargeted Ads
As always, there are a few guidelines you should follow when creating and launching your campaign:
- Make sure your ad shows on related sites. A guy shopping for lingerie for his wife on Victoria’s Secret is NOT thinking about real estate. Do not waste your time and money displaying your ad to him. Be sure your keywords are specific enough that only sites related to real estate are used.
- Don’t make it easy for your competition. Don’t show paid ads on your blog or site. You cannot control what ads Google shows on your site, and it would be mighty embarrassing to have a competitor stealing your leads.
- Follow good marketing practices. As always, your ads should focus on benefits first and foremost, have big headlines and a strong call to action.
- Give ‘em what they want. Few things are more frustrating to a visitor than having to search for the promised information. If your ad offers a specific product or service, make sure the link takes them directly there, not to your home page landing. The whole point of this is to channel them into your click funnel.
Although some companies have been using retargeting for quite some time, it is becoming more and more prevalent. To find out more about actually implementing retargeting, you can go here: http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/remarketing.html
When used strategically and judiciously – there is a huge difference between retargeting and cyberstalking – this long-term method of marketing to potential online clients has shown itself to have tremendous success.
NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.
Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.OnlineDominance.com and Facebook page at Facebook.com/OnlineDominance
This article is reprinted in its entirety from the December 2011 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark of RUSSER Communications.
Create a Branded Google+ Page!
Friday, November 18th, 2011The long-anticipated day has finally arrived: you can now create a Google+ page for your business! They are called “Branded Google+ pages”, and they are not only very easy to set up, but they’re also another way that you can truly expand your online presence. As real estate virtual assistants, we like to keep you in the loop about the latest technology updates, so when we saw that Google+ rolled out this new feature early last week, we immediately created a branded Google+ page of our own.
We know what you’re thinking: yet ANOTHER profile for me to maintain? Trust me, I understand. It seems like technology is changing every day, and who really has the time to maintain all of these aspects of your social media presence every day? Despite this sentiment, these new Google+ pages are necessary. They’re taking all of the SEO benefits that Google+ provides and taking it to your business. If you haven’t already created a branded page, now is the time to do so.
• Go to http://plus.google.com and log in to your Google+ account. If you don’t have one, you’re going to have to create one. This is easily done by logging in to your Google account on the main page. From there, you’ll create a profile.
• Once you log in, scroll over to the right side of the page and look at the sidebar. Underneath where it says “Hangouts”, you will see a link that says “Create a Google+ page”. Click on that.
• Pick a category. As a real estate agent , you’ll most likely select “Local Business or Place.”
• Pick what country your business is in and put in your office phone number
• From there, you will be directed to a map where your office may show up. If you’re registered in Google Maps, then you will most likely come up. Pick the listing that applies to you and edit your business name to be what you want your page to be named, along with all contact information.
• Select a category that your business falls under, (most likely Home and Construction) and then make your page publicly visible by selecting that option from the drop-down menu.
• Make sure you agree to the Pages terms by checking the box and then click “Create.”
You’re done! Your Google+ page is now created, and from there, creating and editing your profile is the exact same as it is with your personal Google+ profile. You’ll include an introduction with keywords linking to your online presence, add photos and make sure your recommended links go to your website, blog and social media presence. After your page is created, make sure you publicize it on Facebook, Twitter and even your personal Google+ profile! You’ll want to start building your circles on your business Google+ page as soon as you can.
As daunting as having yet another profile may sound, this new Google+ feature is yet another imperative aspect of your online presence. The best part is that this feature is now compatible with HootSuite, so you can maintain this page on the same dashboard that you use to post to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you need any help getting this new page set up, feel free to contact your real estate virtual assistant for help!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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Are You News-Worthy on Google?
Friday, September 30th, 2011
There’s just one problem: many times, when you receive these Google Alerts for your business or company, you don’t see the important stuff, such as your website and blog. Instead, you see seemingly random websites that aren’t relevant. There might be a reason for that: your blog and website aren’t registered to Google’s news feed.
When Google Alerts are sent out, they are pulling stories from websites that have registered their site, YouTube channel, blog, or anything else to Google’s News Feed. This is a simple, quick, and beneficial process, as it will make your content more “relevant” to Google, thus making your stories appear directly on the Google Alerts that are sent out daily, weekly, or monthly!
There are several benefits to taking the time to manually enter your site into the Google News Feed. Here are a couple for you to think about:
Your content will be seen as original and relevant to Google. The more original your content, the more Google loves it. The questions that Google asks you as you submit your URL to their news feed are meant to categorize your site based on content, type of site, and who is editing it. This information is all beneficial, as the more specific information you can give, the more fine-tuned your submission will be, and the better likelihood that your site will go out in relevant Google alerts to prospective clients.
You’ll place yourself in a position to be seen. Google is the number one search engine out there, and if your content is seen as “news-worthy” to their search, then it’s more likely that you’ll move up in the search rankings. Submitting your website and blog as a news item will help boost your web presence and make sure that the sites that you want to be seen are the ones showing up on the search engines. It’s just another way to boost your SEO!
Your real estate virtual assistant considers it part of their job to make sure you stay ahead of the curve in the tech world, and utilizing the Google News Feed to give your website and blog more exposure is one way to put your site above and beyond the competition.
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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Another Social Media Site? 5 Things to Know About Google+
Friday, July 15th, 2011
You’ve probably seen bits and pieces of information surrounding Google’s latest endeavor, Google+. And, like me, you’ve probably wondered “what in the world IS Google+?”.
In short, Google+ is the Google version of Facebook. Now, before you begin to have a slight panic attack about yet another social media site that you’ll have to keep up with as a busy real estate agent; take a deep breath. Google+ is not ready for businesses yet…. but it’s coming.
Forbes.com recently came out with an article noting Five Things Small Business Must Know about Google+. I don’t know about you, but I love concise explanations that give me a run down of something so that I don’t have to stream through a whole article trying to pick out the highlights. So, I’m going to give you these five points that Forbes.com pointed out so that you can get an overview of the latest social media site.
1. It’s a social media site- As we’ve noted, Google+ is Google’s version of Facebook. You can share content (such as text, photos, video, etc.) to a network of contacts. Your contacts can respond and rate your shared content in turn. You can add contacts, block them, connect to other services like Twitter, and much more.
2. It’s sort of like Facebook, but different- Unlike Facebook who’s dealt with their share of privacy issues, Google+ (or G+ as it’s being referred to) has a high sense of privacy. You can create groups called “Circles” and post content that can be seen by only the groups you select. It’s also similar to Facebook in that the “+1” you’ve probably been seeing around Google is like the “Like” button. However, there’s a difference… see point #3.
3. The +1 will probably effect SEO- It’s not set in stone how the +1 button will effect SEO yet, but it will most likely play a role. Google’s definition of the +1 is that “Clicking on it would indicate to Google that you have endorsed that result as a solid source of information for the search term you used.” Google denied that it would affect search engine rankings when it was first conceived about a year ago, but there’s no doubt it will be a part of the future ranking system.
Here’s how Forbes explains it: “With G+ using the +1 button as a way to endorse a post by a contact, the overall vision for +1 is revealed to be a bit grander. Google envisions +1 as the tool that ties together all user-endorsed content across the web. Whether you +1 something in search results or a photo that your friend took of his dog and uploaded to Google+, you’re contributing to your personal version of Google’s search algorithm, meaning that content may eventually be served to you differently based on your +1 behaviors.
This concept is very bold and presents an interesting problem for SEO management, if it does indeed create a personalized set of results which varies wildly for every user. When the SEO community reaches some sort of consensus (or if Google releases more information) then I’ll do a follow-up to this post on how +1 effects Google+ SEO performance.”
4. Google’s not ready for businesses..yet- While Google says that Google+ is not ready for businesses, it doesn’t mean you can’t set up a profile for yourself to become familiar with it. Google is anticipating launching their business pages this fall which are said to be highly valuable for business owners as they will probably entail some type of analytical data that displays detailed looks at demographics. Again, creating a profile for yourself now to get a feel for this social site can be beneficial, but you’ll most likely need to recreate a business one this fall when that launches.
5. Google is putting its full weight behind G+- It seems that Google has high hopes for Google+ and will apparently be fading out some of their current services such as Picasa and Blogger and will be using G+ as the platform for these service instead.
Now, before worrying about this possible change since we use Blogger for many of our clients; I reminded myself that, as with any major company, they will not leave Blogger users hanging. I’m sure the transition, whenever that takes places, will be fairly seamless and will actually work in favor of our active blogging clients who are looking to build their SEO. In fact, Forbes notes that “SEO is going to be influenced by this in a big way. Instead of being an aggregator or a channel to find blog posts about your firm, G+ will instead be both the platform and means of distribution for content.”
So, it appears as though Google+ is here to stay and that our view of how we use Google and work to increase SEO will be changing. Of course your Real Estate Virtual Assistants should keep you updated on the latest G+ news and how you can incorporate this into working for you and your real estate business.
While it still seems that Google is ironing out the details of G+ for business; I at least wanted to give you a little insight into this new social media platform and how it could eventually affect you and your business. I hope this helps!
READY TO GET STARTED? Here is a short video that I created that shows you step-by-step how to properly set-up your Google+ profile to get the most out of any future Google Juice we may get from having a public Google+ profile.
Setting Up Your Google+ Profile – A Video Tutorial
Contact Carrie
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Increase Website Profitability by Instantly Testing It
Saturday, June 18th, 2011
When you build your Website you hope that it will be effective in engaging visitors so they pick you over your competitors. Perhaps you included several unique offers on your site that you hope will catch their eyes and cause them to start clicking on their way to doing business with you. This is all well and good except for one thing. You really don’t know how your visitors are going to react to any particular part of your Website until you test it. Typically, this was a process that only the “big boys” could afford to do. Now there is a way you can instantly test any aspect of your site’s ability to engage visitors, so you know for certain what works and what doesn’t.
A/B Testing on Steroids
A/B testing is the process of creating two or more versions of your Website that are delivered at random to your site visitors and then measures the click-through rate for each version. This is a proven way to have your visitors vote with their mouse as to which version engages them more. The traditional tool for this is Google Website Optimizer which is free. However, it requires that you (or your Webmaster) create the different versions of your Website that need testing which is time consuming, requires a fair amount of technical skill and therefor is definitely not free.
That has all changed now with a new online service called Optimizely. With Optimizely you can create different versions of any part of your Website instantly right from their Website. Its online WYSIWYG editor allows you to make create alternative versions of your site’s copy, images and even move whole sections around in just a few minutes. And the astounding thing is that this can be all done without creating different versions of your Website’s code.
After you have created the alternative versions of your site, you simply add a bit of Javascript code provided by Optimizely to the pages being tested. Once your A/B test is active, Optimizely will automatically and randomly send the different versions of your site to visitors and measure the click-through rate of each one. You just let it run until you’ve had sufficient numbers of visitors to give you a reasonably certain statistical answer to which version more effectively causes visitors to click or convert. And don’t worry about trying to remember your Statistics 101 class because Optimizely automatically calculates the statistical significance for you.
Since videos are worth a thousand screenshots, the following will demonstrate just how easy and powerful this new service is to use:
Your first 30 day’s use of Optimizely costs nothing, after that it is a very reasonable $19/month. Now here’s the thing, you can turn this service on and off at any time which means that for about $19 you can determine what kinds of changes to your site will produce greater conversion of visitors to new transactions. Not a bad ROI.
Of course all of this begs the question as to just what you should consider testing on your site…
Offers, Offers, Offers
Ideally your site has one or more “Irresistible Offers” that are designed to attract your visitors’ attention and compel them to take action. If you are a little fuzzy about what irresistible offers are just check out my earlier REALTOR Magazine article “Make An Offer They Can’t Refuse”.
Often what we think is irresistible is anything but from the consumer’s perspective. So creating different variations of your offers is the first thing you would want to test for conversion effectiveness. Here are some other things you might consider testing as well:
- Copy – create alternatives to copy that compels visitors to take action. For example, one Pennsylvania REALTOR found that he received a far greater click-through by changing “Featured Listings” to “Best Buys”.
- Images – perhaps a different kind of image in the body of your home page will cause more people to click on getting your special report or check out your IDX listings.
- Action Buttons – this is a subtle yet potentially very powerful test. Consider changing the shape, color and/or copy of your clickable buttons and see which version receives the most clicks.
- Reassurance Language – test different variations of the copy above your important forms that reassure your visitors that their privacy will be protected and see which ones cause the form to be filled out more often.
Avoid Build and Forget
The most profitable Websites are under a constant state of refinement. Far too many people just have their Website built and then do nothing to improve its ability to convert visitors into new business. The main reason for this is that it was just too time consuming and expensive to do it the old way. Now with Optimizely you have no excuse for having a site that “doesn’t work”. It’s just a matter of testing different variations until it does.
NOTE: Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors (unless he/they are directly involved with the creation and/or improvement of a vendor service or product), and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.
Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.OnlineDominance.com and Facebook page at Facebook.com/OnlineDominance
This article is reprinted in its entirety from the June 2011 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright © 2011. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark of RUSSER Communications.
How To Turn Your Blog Into A Real Estate Hub!
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Hub: [huhb] noun- a center around which other things revolve or from which they radiate; a focus of activity, authority, commerce, etc… —Synonyms: core, pivot, heart
Does this describe your blog? It should! A great real estate blog can act as the center of your business- it’s heart and core- if you let it! Now, many of you may be thinking, “wait a minute… I thought my website was the most important thing.” It is. Without a strong website that offers valuable information, your real estate listings, what you’re about and calls to action, your real estate business will quickly fade in this technology driven society.
Let’s think of it this way: your website is a riverbed and your blog is the water.
Having your “constant” is foundational. You need your website to be the base of the information about your business. Typically, your website will not change on a regular basis (unless you’re updating listings), and will probably need a “refresher” every 6-12 months.
Your blog on the other hand is the water that brings the riverbed its’ life! Without water, the riverbed is dry, and without a riverbed, the water is chaotic and has no rhyme or reason. They work together to form a beautiful, lively river. They need each other.
So how can you make your blog a hub that brings life to your website? Your blog should be constantly changing and moving great information through its pages. It needs variety, quality and consistency. Below are a few great ways to turn your blog into a real estate hub.
1. Real Estate Content- Whether you’re providing selling tips, home improvement information, the latest market news, monthly statistical reports or advice for first time home buyers- the base of your blog should be real estate information.
2. Listings- Allow your readers to see the great new home that you’re listing or the one that you just sold! Showcase what’s going on with your business and the activity that makes you successful!
3. Community Highlights- Let your audience know that you’re in tune with what’s going on in the community that you serve. Upcoming events, local news that portrays how unique your city is, residents who are making a difference in the community, a feature of the great new restaurant in town- all make for interesting community blog posts!
4. Expert Interviews- This is unique way to draw local attention to your blog. Interview a community mortgage lender, the owner of a lawn care shop, a local home improvement contractor, etc… You get the idea! Grab your readers attention by providing them the information they want for things pertaining to their home or future investment.
5. Videos- Many agents are beginning to utilize this medium, and it’s ideal for our visual society. Whether you’re taking your audience on a tour of your town, highlighting a local bakery or are just giving a market update; videos will always be more of an interactive experience than simply reading a post.
Of course there are many things you could post on your blog- there are really no rules! The key to each post, however, is to make sure it’s still professional (not crossing any personal, political or racial boundaries). You always want to keep in mind that this is still a reflection of your business.
I hope these tips will you in turning your blog into the lively hub that it should be! If you have any questions or need help with your blog, ask your Real Estate Virtual Assistant! They’d love to bring life to your blog and boost your website and online presence!
Contact Carrie
Visit us Online at RealSupportInc.com
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How to Avoid Browser History Sniffing
Friday, April 8th, 2011
Have you ever wondered how online advertisers are able to deliver relevant ads as you go from site to site on products or services you were recently checking out? I did, but thought it was a strange coincidence until it happened one too many times. After hearing about something called “browser sniffing” it all made sense, in a disturbing sort of way. Here’s why it’s important you know about it too and how to avoid it.
It all started when I was looking for solar powered outdoor lights. This is a product that I’ve never bothered to look for previously, so it was a one-time search. Yet for several days after that search, I saw display ads for the very lights I reviewed on news and other types of Web pages. Hmmm, what a coincidence –not. It turns out that some sites are literally “sniffing” your browser history to see where you have been online and even what you searched for recently. Armed with this information the online ad services are able to tailor online display advertising that zeros in on your recent show of interest. Sort of like the movie “Minority Report” where people walk past sign posters that scan their irises for ID and then deliver a totally customized advertising experience. It was creepy in the movie, and frankly I find this somewhat lower-tech version just as creepy.
There are two primary ways these sniffing sites are able to gather this information from your browser:
- Literally read your browser’s history file;
- Ascertain which links and URL’s you clicked on by seeing the change in link color (most sites have one color for hyperlinks that you clicked on, and another where you haven’t yet).
I’m not going to go into specific details of how to prevent the two methods above, simply because someone has already done that quite nicely. Just CLICK HERE to review a recent article about how to prevent these kinds of privacy intrusions for both IE and Firefox browsers. A couple of words of caution however. One of the recommendations for avoiding something called “Link Color History Sniffing” (has to do with the different color links) will cause most of the Websites you visit to appear broken. DO NOT follow the “Uncheck Allow pages to choose their own colors instead of my selections above.”, otherwise you may find most sites nearly unreadable. Also, if you turn off Adobe Flash Cookies, you may find many sites that depend upon Flash to not function properly either.
As far as I’m concerned it’s nobody’s damn business where I Web surfed and what I searched for. Follow the recommendations above and you may still what little privacy you have left online.
How to Develop Your Online Kaizen
Monday, April 4th, 2011
If you had a choice between instant results and “slow and steady” implementation, which would you choose? Okay, now which one is reality? Well for most people it’s neither, but for the really smart ones it’s the latter.
Last night I had a chat with one of my all-time favorite students, Doug Newby. The purpose of the call was to get his permission to include his Website’s monthly unique visitor count for a Realtor Magazine article I’m writing (over 25,000/mo. in case you were wondering).
Our conversation quickly evolved into reminiscing about how we first got together. He was in the audience of a presentation I did on behalf of the Dallas Association of Realtors, way back in the 1990′s. After the session he came up to me and tried to hire me as a consultant (at several hundred dollars per hour) which I politely turned down.
Not one to be frustrated in his attempt to move his online business forward, Doug attended one of my first 3-Day Advanced Workshops in the early 2000′s. Even though he had made some changes to his Website (based upon my first presentation) it had a long ways to go. He volunteered to be on the “Hot Seat” in front of the entire workshop audience –which was a gutsy thing to do. There wasn’t much left of his Website by the time I was through with it, other than the possibilities of something much greater. Instead of feeling dejected, Doug literally glowed with the excitement of what could be. In fact he won a medal from my staff and me at the end of the 3 days for being the one attendee with the greatest possibilities of improvement.
The following year he attended yet another 3-Day Workshop (still in the early 2000′s) and proudly announced that his online business had shot up 300% from the previous year. He has continued to make small, incremental improvements over the years to his Website. And then in July 2009 he took the leap of creating his ModernHomes Facebook page. Though he was very uncertain about this whole “social media thing” he trudged onward with the advice of Brad Carroll and myself. In just over 18 months his fan base for this page went from zero to over 300,000. And as a result of his slow and steady approach to implementing other proven online principles, his Website now enjoys over 25,000 unique visitors a month and has higher Google rankings than even 500 agent firms in the Dallas area.
Oh, there is one thing I almost forgot to mention. Doug will be the first person to admit that he is anything but a techy. He can send and receive email and use a Web browser without getting lost, but that’s about it.
We live in an “instant” world. Instant news, instant pain relief, instant weight loss, instant wealth. There is no pill to take or silver bullet to purchase that will cause your business to flourish immediately.
Doug Newby, with his contagious enthusiasm, sense of wonder and commitment to consistent incremental improvements is a perfect example of what really does work. His Kaizen approach to business is an inspiration that we all could look up to and learn from.
Up Your Google-Juice With PDFs
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
If you have links to PDFs on your site, chances are you are not taking full advantage of how they can improve your Google search ranking. It’s very easy to turn this on, here’s how…
First of all the following process assumes that a) you have the rights to the PDFs on your site, and b) you have access to the full version of Acrobat (if not, find someone who does that can take a minute to do the changes for you).
- Open your PDF using the full version of Acrobat;
- Hit CTRL-D on your keyboard to open up this file’s Property dialog box;
- Enter the Title, Author, Subject (i.e. what the PDF is about) and appropriate keywords/phrases you want Google to pick up.
- Click the dialog box “OK” button and then save the changes to your computer.
- Upload the modified PDF file to the same server location as the earlier version.
Google will index all the non-image based (i.e. non-scanned) text in any PDFs linked to by your site. However, it gives extra weight to your Website by having this “metadata” information (i.e. Title, Author, etc.) completed as well. If the five steps above seem a bit intimidating, then have your VA or Webmaster handle it for you —it is definitely worth it!
NOTE: special thanks to Graphics Designer Nancy Ruzow (Ruzow Graphics) for bringing this to my attention :0)
