Wendy Moyer writes for search engine marketing company AuthorityDomains.com. Authority Domains offers a host of Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing services in addition to an SEM Blog.
5 Reasons Friends in Your Social Media Networks Do Matter
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
To those of us who use social networks frequently, or are familiar with the way the social web works, this post will seem self-evident.
However, in conversations with a couple clients and individuals lately who are unfamiliar with social media marketing, this question has consistently cropped up.
The main problem people have is reconciling making friends with possible ROI.
What you need to know is that by adding friends or accepting friend requests, you are taking one more step to building your authority and visibility in your industry, which WILL lead to ROI (in the form of traffic, sales conversions or whatever your goal) as people recognize you as a leader in your field and choose you over possible competitors for services and products they need.
Here are 5 general, point-by-point reasons friends matter on social networks:
1. Relationship building.
The whole reason social networking is successful is because its very foundation is built on creating and maintaining relationships with people.
Start conversations, introduce yourself, do everything you can to put yourself out there and meet as many people as possible.
If you like the person or company you’ve built a relationship with, you’ll probably recommend them to your friends, and vice versa.
If you make friends with someone in a related industry, you’ll benefit from recommending their services to your clients, and they’ll benefit from recommending you to theirs (e.g. a web designer recommends a social media marketer they like, a Realtor recommends a mortgage provider they know is honest and effective, and vice versa).
2. Referrals and recommendations.
You matter to me, and I matter to you, because if I like that really cool video you sent me, I’ll visit the site its from to look for more.
If I digg that awesome article and send it to my friends, or they see I dugg it, they might check it out too. If I get an awesome deal on this website’s service, I’m going to send you there.
Or if I hear from you about it, I’m going to go there. If I find a fan page for a product I love, I might stop by, create a profile, and add myself as a fan, then tell all my friends about it.
You do the calculations.
3. Access to more user info.
Many sites hide people’s profiles until you add them as a friend. Thus, adding someone as a friend is a good way to communicate with them in a more personal setting.
4. UGC, or User-Generated Content.
The more friends you have and interact with, the more content is produced on your site or page, and the more visible it becomes.
If you have a ton of people talking on your Facebook fan page, for example, all that content is adding to your area’s ability to be ranked on the search engines AND attract more users.
5. A large social community.
The more people you add as friends and the more you get to know them, and they you, the more popular you or your social networking profile becomes.
Soon, you have a large community of supporters that further reinforces your authority and leader status in your industry.
What better way to brand your company and communicate a specific message to a mass of people?
Is Discount Real Estate Brokers For Real?
November 14, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
When most people think about real estate, the first thing that comes to their minds is dollar signs. And usually not just one. Several. And it’s just not the actual land or structures that cause the dollar signs to start flashing, it’s the usual 6 percent real estate commission that goes along with hiring a legitimate real estate agent. But does it have to be that way? Are there cheaper ways to buy and sell real estate that can be trusted?
Well, it really depends on how much you know about the real estate game. There are hundreds of companies out there, many of them based on the Internet, that offer discounted real estate services, but they only do part of the job. But can they save you money? Without a doubt. Most of the online real estate companies only charge a few hundred dollars for their services, while the usual six percent charged by a full service real estate broker can stretch into the thousands of dollars.
In Texas recently, major real estate companies have begun to play hardball. The Federal Trade Commission charged a local realtors board with not playing fair with their competition, so clearly, major real estate companies see these cheaper alternatives as a threat. Not to be outdone, there are similar realtor boards in other states, such as Utah, Michigan and Colorado that have done the same thing. They are expecting a review by the FTC sooner rather than later.
The big difference between the way that things have always been done (through a realtor) and the way things are done now is all about availability of information. Many online sites that offer discount house or property listings don’t assist you outright in trying to figure out what points are or try to figure how much your closing costs are going to be, but they do provide the groundwork for how to figure all that out for yourself. They have primers detailing dirty tricks the bank might pull. They have FAQs about the basics of dealing in real estate. Essentially, they have all the information that a real estate agent is going to tell you on their sites so they don’t have to charge you extra.
The ongoing battle between online and “legitimate” full-service realtors is something that is going to be around for a long time. As long as there are self-motivated people who believe that they can do it themselves, online realtors will continue to thrive. The big question to ask yourself is how much do you know about the real estate business and how much responsibility are you willing to take on.
About the Author:
If you want to know more, check out more real estate articles on his site on a WordPress Blog
More about this author in his Free Articles & Free Promotion WordPress Blog
The “Sand Dune” Technique to Double Your Income With LOTS of Followers on Twitter
November 6, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Learn and use the “Sand Dune” Technique to dramatically increase your number of relevant Twitter followers.
First you need to know Twitter’s Two Commandments:
-Thou Shalt Not Follow More Than 2000 Twitterers at the beginning of your Twitter Life.
-When Thou Followest 2000 Twitterers, Thou Must Keepeth Thy Number of Followers within 10% of the Number of those Whom you follow
Now, we can abide by the Two Commandments and also use the “Sand Dune” Technique for growing our Twitter presence.
STRIDE UP THE SAND DUNE
As soon as you open your Twitter account, race out there and follow as many relevant other Twitterers as you wish. If you are a florist in Cincinnati, then find as many single men in that town as you can and follow them all. They are relevant to you. If you are a Realtor who help people buy investment real estate, then race out there and find as many people in your city or your state or in your country who wish to get rich in real estate. Do Twitter searches with relevant key words and you will find what you seek. In this way, you will race up the Sand Dune.
PAUSE AND REST ON THE SAND DUNE
Eventually, you will slam up against Commandment One, following 2000 Twitterers. You cannot follow any more. You cannot race up the Sand Dune any more. You must stop. You pause. You rest.
Soon, some of those 2000 you have followed will open their account and be notified that you have followed them. The Twitter culture is that people openly and willingly like to follow back. So, you have paused at following 2000 others and soon you will have 10, then 20, then 30 followers. Roughly speaking, anywhere from 10% to 50% of those whom you follow will follow you back.
After a few days of pause, you may be following 2000 and you may have maybe 500 followers.
SLIDE DOWN THE SAND DUNE
Now, unfollow the other 1500 you are following. You can tell by clicking on your list of those you follow. The ones with DM mean that you can send them a DM (a direct message). Without the DM means that they have not followed you back. Unfollow those ungrateful Twitterers.
Now, you have slid down the sand to following 500 and having 500 followers.
STRIDE BACK UP THE SAND DUNE
Now follow 1500 different relevant Twitterers.
PAUSE, SLIDE DOWN, STRIDE UP, PAUSE, SLIDE DOWN, STRIDE UP, ETC.
Again you are at your limit of following 2000 but now you have 500 followers. Soon, you’ll be at maybe 900 followers. Keep redoing this process. Soon, you will reach the magic number of 1819 followers. Now you can breach the 2000 ceiling and get up to following 2001.
Eventually, you will have 3000 followers and be able to follow 3300. Eventually you will have 4000 followers and be able to follow 4400. And so on it goes. You stride up, you pause to catch your breath, you slide down and stride back up again.
That is the “Sand Dune” Technique for growing your Twitter presence. Best of success.
Raymond Aaron,New York Times Top Ten Bestselling Author, “Double Your Income Doing What You Love”
Claim your Gifts From Raymond at http://www.GiftFromRaymond.com “to double your income”. It’s free.
Join Raymond Aaron on Twitter @RaymondAaron.
Join “Raymond Aaron Double Your Income” Facebook Fan Page at http://www.FacebookRaymond.com.
The 4 Easy Steps to Double Your Income Using Twitter, the New King of Social Networking
November 3, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
A year ago, almost no one had heard of Twitter. Today, it is catching on. Within a year, everyone will have heard about it. Soon, practically everyone will be on it. So, how can you make money with Twitter? How can you monetize Twitter? It’s easy. There are 4 easy steps.
STEP ONE … OPEN AN ACCOUNT
I know it sounds quite basic, but you cannot get rich until you at least first just show up. So, show up. Join the game. Open a Twitter account. It takes just a minute or so. Choose your name. So, for example, Jack Canfield is jackcanfield. It has to be all one string of letters, no spaces. If your name is taken, like billsmith, then create a version of it. If you are a Realtor in Miami, then try billsmithmiamirealtor, as an example. You get the idea.
Hot tip — be sure to upload a photo because you are not taken seriously on Twitter without a photo. Also, complete the Profile so people can learn a little about you.
STEP TWO … DECIDE WHO YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS ARE
If you know someone by name, then hunt for their Twitter presence by clicking on the FIND PEOPLE button at the top right corner, enter their name in the search box, and search. Try it. As soon as you find me or any friend or client or potential client, click on the FOLLOW button right under that person’s photo. You know for sure that I’m on Twitter so that’s an easy first search which will be for sure successful.
Besides searching for individual people, you can search for lists of potential customers. For example, if you are a florist in New York, find other florists in New York on Twitter and then follow everyone who follows them or whom they follow. Why? Because people who follow another florist are likely clients of your florist company. People who follow another Realtor are likely clients of your Realtor business. People who follow another car salesman or car dealership are likely clients of your car dealership. Just follow and follow and follow. Others will follow you back and your Twitter presence will grow.
STEP THREE … ENGAGE YOUR FOLLOWERS
Send your followers brief messages. These messages are called “tweets” and cannot exceed 140 characters. So, it’s easy and takes only seconds. Just send interesting little ideas or facts about your business.
STEP FOUR … MAKE AN OFFER OCCASIONALLY
Do not overdo this, but occasionally make an offer by sending out a tweet to your followers. They will respond if you have selected relevant followers and if you have engaged them honorably up till then.
This is how to monetize Twitter. Best of success to you.
Raymond Aaron,New York Times Top Ten Bestselling Author, “Double Your Income Doing What You Love” published by John Wiley and Sons, New York City.
Claim your Gifts From Raymond“to double your income”. It’s free.
Join Raymond Aaron on Twitter @RaymondAaron.
Join “Raymond Aaron Double Your Income” Facebook Fan Page at http://www.FacebookRaymond.com .
Top Twelve Real Estate SEO Tips
October 25, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Top Twelve Real Estate SEO Tips
Getting to the top of search engine results pages is such a hard thing to achieve these days and even more so for a realtor.
Do a simple search such as “real estate for sale Orlando” for example and you will be distressed to learn that there are over Twenty Four Million pages on the internet competing for top ten positions in the SERPS (search engine result pages)!
This article is provided so you will find the real secrets of search engine ranking.
It is specifically targeted at Google but will also work just as well for Yahoo.com and Bing.com.
Follow these ten techniques faithfully and you will see dramatic results in your position over time for specific key phrases that can convert for your real estate business:
1) Key Phrase Research
Before you do anything else you need to know what people are really typing when they do a search to find real estate and property for sale in your area.
To find out you need to spend several hours looking through the data provided by Google , Overture (Yahoo) and Bing.
To discover these gems you will need to use such tools as there are available like the Google External Key Phrase Suggestion Tool and Wordtracker.
I’ll do an in depth guide how to use these tools and determine what you really must know in a future post…
2) The Importance of Key Words in the Web Page Title
Once you know which key words and phrases people are really typing then you should create pages that match those searches and add the phrase itself in the title tag of the web page html coding.
Place your title text in between the two title delimiters:
WHATEVER PHRASE & some other words
3) Meta Tags & Descriptions
In the non visible part of the html page there are elements called the “meta tags” where you may add description and key words relating to the particular page in question.
Notice I said to the page and not to the site?
It is important to always remember that what you are trying to achieve is a higher “page rank” not a higher “site rank”…
Simply use your key phrase that is the target of your effort for the particular page judiciously in the “header” part of the html code for the page i.e. in between the part that starts “” and ends “”.
Here you will put two tags:
4) Image Alt Tags
Whenever you add an image to a web page you have the opportunity to add some text in what is known as the “alt tag” like:
<img src=””http://www.xyz.com/the” alt=””WHATEVER” />
5) Key Word Density
Try and achieve a “key word density” of around 1.6% to 2.8% in the visible part of the web page.
To achieve that simply divide the total number of words by the times you need to appear with your key phrase.
( Times Your Phrase Appears / Number of Words ) x 100 = KWD
E.G. Key phrase appears 7 times in a page of 498 words therefore your KWD is calculated:
4/498 = 0.014 then 0.014 x 100 = 1.4 so KWD = 1.4%
6) Key Phrases in URLs
Try to use the phrase itself as part of the Url.
Example:
If the phrase is “real estate listings New Haven CO” then either put the page in a directory called ” real-estate-listings-New-Haven-CO ” and call the page “index.html” or call the page ” real-estate-listings-New-Haven-CO.html”
Alternatively you could also consider buying the domain ” real-estate-listings-New-Haven-CO.com “.
7) Maximize the Value of the First Link
Google reads your webpage like an English speaking human i.e. top to bottom and right to left.
The most important link to Google (the one it gives the most weight to) is the first link on the left at the top.
Many people make the mistake of making this link to “index.html” or similar with the anchor text “home”.
For a realtor the word home can work but better to replace this with your key phrase and make the link to “/” and not to “index.html” (see the next tip!).
8)Avoid Duplicate Content
Google will actually penalize your site for duplicate content.
The problem is that Google cannot tell the difference between a web page at “http://www.yourdomain.com/” and “http://www.yourdomain.com/index.html” and, although they are in fact the same thing, it sees them as two different pages but with the exact same content…
For this reason it is very important not to fall into the “index.html” trap!
9) The Importance of a Good Navigational Hierarchy
Google is very much for making the user experience the best that it can be and for this reason loves a site that is easy for the user to navigate.
To ensure that your site benefits from this preference you need to make the “family tree” of your site very intuitive to use by creating and using sub categories where appropriate and by then ensuring that the top(s) of each tree have easy to follow links that descend into those subcategories.
Obviously the top of the tree should begin on your index.html page.
Create then a “site map” of all your pages (there are many tools available for free to do this like this one http://submitgooglesitemap.com/) and submit this site map to Google at http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools
10) Competitive Key Phrase SERPS Analysis
You need to understand that the top ten sites that appear in Google’s results do so for a reason (or in reality for several reasons) and that it is because they best fit the filtration system applied by Google known technically as the “algorithm“.
Google applies logic and a convoluted recipe that dates back to its original patent over ten years ago where it scores a page or “ranks” a page based on several criteria (many of which are not overtly disclosed!).
The key to your success is in analysing the results that do exists and reverse engineering the possible “whys?” using diligent research to discover what evidence there exists on the web that could show the “hows” of a particular SERP result…
The most important thing is to know (and to understand) what your competitors are doing to achieve high rankings.
Again there is not enough space here to show all the techniques necessary here but essentially you need to work out what back links the page enjoys and then to reproduce the same quantity and quality of those back links to your own site and then add some more…
11) Good Quality Back links
Perhaps the most important part of SEO is in the development of good quality one way links or “votes” pointing to your web pages.
This is one of the most time consuming elements of search engine optimization as it requires literally thousands of these back links if you really want to succeed and finding thousands of site owners willing to link to you without you offering to link back to them is a very difficult thing to achieve as you can imagine.
Not only do you need to get several of them they also need to come from reputable places and getting the wrong kind of back link can actually lead to getting your site blacklisted in Google if you are not careful.
Do not be tempted to fall for the many offers to “submit your site to x thousand directories” or similar as more often than not you will end up with the wrong links from, very much, the wrong neighbourhood.
The key is to do it yourself or to employ a search engine optimization specialist who knows what they are doing. What you cannot afford to do though is ignore it as it is the area of SEO that can and will make the most difference.
12) The Importance of Video and Virtual Tours for Real Estate SEO Purposes
Making videos and submitting them to the right places can make a huge impact both short and long term to the success of your real estate business.
The success of video sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion to name but two shows just how popular video on the web is becoming. More and more people are expecting realtors to have video and virtual tours on their property listing pages…
The good news from an SEO standpoint is that there are three wonderful benefits of this and they are:
a) Virtual tours really do help to sell listings and can make the difference between buying an MLS listed property through your business or someone else’s..
b) The back link “votes” you can get from the more popular video portals is tremendous and, simply put, the more video/virtual tours you create and submit the more votes you can get…
c) Google, having paid $1.6Bn for YouTube is actively seeking many ways of incorporating video into its search results and more and more we are seeing videos and virtual tours on the first three pages of results.
(By the way if you aren’t on the first three pages of results you may as well forget it!)
Following these simple yet time consuming techniques will allow you to compete strongly with most of your competitors as long as they are not actively employing the services of a competent SEO specialist (most don’t) and, thus, you should be able to rank highly in time.
Yes it does take time I am afraid but with the correct strategies you can and will beat your competitors to those elusive inquiries and ultimately to sell more real estate through your web site.
Unfortunately there is no magic wand or silver bullet to achieving real estate search engine optimization but careful research and due diligence will and does prevail time and time again allowing you to seriously generate more inquiries and more sales.
Specialist in turnkey Real Estate SEO solutions and Affordable Real Estate Virtual Tour production.
http://www.est8agent.com
-
FOR SALE
