ActiveRain Tutorials

Website Linking Strategies- Are your efforts paying off?

I wrote the other day How to Get Your Website to the First Page of Google which received an awesome response from many. One of the main points I discussed in that article was the importance of linking in your blog posts. I explained how this can be a vital part of your Search Engine Optimization and if done properly can bring great results.

Many questions were asked in the comment section as well as a few practices that were used by commenters that I wanted to address.  Before I get into that, let's do a quick review of what I'm talking about.  In that post I said:

"The more sites that are pointing links at your page (especially when titled with the keywords you are trying to achieve) will produce a great return.  One easy way to get some great links pointing to your site is to make sure you have added your business site to your profiles on any and all networks you participate in.  Links from higher ranking sites help the search engines realize that these sites recognize your website." 

Many who read the post I believe stopped reading there & rushed off to their twitter profile, Facebook profile and every other social network they participate on and started adding links.  But, if you read on, there was a very important disclaimer that went along with that statement.  I said: "One thing for sure, you need to be positive that the links you insert places are actually working for you.  Many networks block the search engines from following the links to prevent spam."

A common misconception is that when I place a link online, that link is automatically recognized by the search engines and is benefiting me each time I place it somewhere.  So, every time there is an opportunity to place a link, the instant notion is to place one.  Don't get me wrong, I am not saying do not place the link just because the search engines are not reading it.  I always place a link when there is a place asking me.  Even if the search engines do not follow it it still can bring a consumer reading that site to me. 

So, how do we know whether the link is a benefit or not?  What can we do to check?  As I have shared in the past, I am huge fan of using Firefox as my web browser because of the amazing add-ons they have to enhance & help you analyze your online presence. Firefox has an add-on called NoDoFollow.  This simple add-on can easily be turned on and off and show you whether the links you are leaving are being followed by the search engines or not.  Here is quick video showing you how NoDoFollow works:

Try using NoDoFollow and see how effective your linking strategies are.  My guess is that you will be surprised by some of the places that links are followed and not followed.

Anchoring Your Links

Another common mistake I see when inserting links is not setting them as anchor text.  What do I mean by anchor text? Anchor Text as defined by Wikipedia is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink.  Think of them in the most literal play on words possible, they anchor the link down for search engines to understand what that link is supposed to be.  So when you are writing your posts, instead of placing a link like this, http://www.eventbrite.com/event/581158260 you would make a link like this: How to Chug Google Juice & Gain 15 Years of Fame.  Not only does this assist the search engines in understanding what you are trying to say, it also assists consumers to know what they are about to click on. 

If both of those links were placed in a blog post, my guess is that the one with anchored text would be clicked on at a ratio of around 5:1 to the other link.  I wrote how to insert links into your blog a few months back, so if you are not sure the proper way to do so, visit the tutorial for assistance.  While this seems like a minor thing, if it is done properly over several hundred posts of content, it can really pay off in large dividends. 

Titling Your Links

This is another minor step that can help both consumers & search engines understand what you are trying to convey.  When adding a title to the link, it does exactly that, titles the link for everyone.  That way when someone hovers over a link, a pop-up appears with what that link is supposed to be.  So even though the link anchor might be Jason Crouch, and the link is to his profile, the title is completely different pops up when you hover over the link Jason Crouch.  Once again, a very minor thing to do that can result in many more clickthroughs and SEO benefits.

I hope this helps everyone have a better understanding on linking strategies.  If you have any questions, let me know. And by the way, 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors offers some really great personal coaching taught by myself and Jason Crouch on this subject.  We also have a webinar coming up where we will get into this in more detail.  Find more info here.

Photo Credit 1HappySnapper(photography)& John of Austin

Join Us This Thursday For Agents Helping Haiti, a Telethon to help families devastated by the recent earthquake in Haiti.  This 6 hour telethon will feature 30 minute segments with some of the most well known people in the real estate industry.  Come listen as they share some of their tools and secrets they use in their daily and support this cause. 

12 Top Real Estate Experts 12 BIG Ideas

12:00PM Kendra Todd- Shares of her trip to Haiti & REALTOR® Experience

12:30 PM Jeremy Blanton- How to Write a $10,000 Blog Post

1:00 PM Laurie Moore- How to Keep Your Foot Out of Your Mouth and In the Door

1:30 PM Frances Flynn Thorsen- Risk vs. Reward REALTOR® Foreclosure Pitfalls

2:00 PM Jason Crouch- The Importance of Building an Online Following

2:30 PM Ken Golde- Distressed Agents: Settling Your Own Debt

3:00 PM Jim Cronin- Social Media.  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

3:30 PM Special Guest

4:00 PM Joeann Fossland- 6 Figure Referral Business Using Strategic Partners

4:30 PM Special Guest

5:00 PM Patti Kouri- 100% Intention- 100% of Your Results

5:30 PM Jay Kinder- 65 Million in Sales... How to List 500 Homes a Year

If you haven't heard by now, we are in 2010, (twenty-ten, two thousand ten, or my favorite, oh-ten) and as this new decade begins I see this year becoming more of a shift in the way consumers gain the information they need as well as how other consumers share their experiences with others.  I read an article the other day about consumer review based site Yelp being offered 500 million from Google to be purchased.  Yelp, however, turned down the offer from Google.

This being said, I really feel that as this year carries forward you will see more companies adopting the principles of consumer based reviews and question/answer sections on their sites.  The other day, I heard of a company called Formspring which allows you to easily add a Q&A to any site that you use.  This is a free service that takes virtually no time to set up, but could be very beneficial to your business.  Why?  Well, it is rather simple:

1.  Gives consumers an easy place to ask you questions about your business or your area.

2.  Gives you the ability to share your knowledge in a non publication type of arena with consumers.

3.  Allows consumers to find answers to other questions they may have without needing to fill out a form & feel as if someone will begin spamming them for business.  They can simply look through past questions & answers and possibly find what they need.

I said all this to get to the point of my post which was to tell everyone about what I have been up to these days. In addition to recently starting my own Social Media Consulting business with Jason Crouch called 210 Consulting, I also recently started a new job as a community manager for a company called SmartHippo.  SmartHippo is a site designed to allow the consumers a place to come and ask questions of lending professionals and receive free top quality answers directly from lenders.

Another awesome feature that SmartHippo offers is a platform for consumers to write reviews of the lender they used to benefit other consumers.  This should help to raise the bar of customer service provided by lenders as well as give other consumers a place to come and read unbiased opinions of a lender before making the largest decision of their life. A customer can read whether the rate quoted online was the same they received, the loan closed on time, the lender was prompt in returning calls, etc.  SmartHippo's main focus is to empower the consumer with as much knowledge as possible before getting a mortgage through these lender reviews. 

The last thing that SmartHippo allows which I think will be very beneficial to real estate agents is the ability to refer your customers to a site where the buyer can compare ALL the rates available in their area.  Unlike other sites that offer similar things, they will not be selling the leads to the highest bidder.  This means that buyers can see all the rates available in their area and make their own decision based on the reviews of the lender, the Q&A responses of the lender as well as the rate offered by them.

As a real estate agent, I see this being a great new tool to offer to your buyers to assist them make an informed decision on a mortgage as well as keep you from having to "recommend a lender" which we all hate to do for the liability associated with it.  You are no longer needing to make up lists of available lenders to share with a buyer or anything.  We all know how awkward that moment is when the buyer asks you "Which lender would you recommend?" You simply give the buyer a website and allow them to get all the information they need. 

So what are my duties with this new position?  Well, as the community manager, I have a few different roles.  The first is to help build our community through various different social media platforms.  (YouTube Channel, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc.)  My other main task right now is to create and manage our community blog that will consist of some of the top bloggers in the lending industry.  This includes writers like Ken Cook, Eleanor Thorne, & John Cannata.  The community blog known as "The Herd" will provide valuable content to buyers who are in the process of purchasing a home. I hope over the next few months to add several other top notch bloggers into the community.

I am really excited to join up with this SmartHippo and am really looking forward to what the future holds.  So, if you are unfamiliar with SmartHippo, please take a few minutes to check out their site here.  I think this can be a great tool for your customers to "Join the Herd, Save Money" as their slogan states.  Also, check back on my blog over the next few weeks as I will keep you updated about some really exciting features & updates of what is happening at SmartHippo!

Visit SmartHippo Now!

In case you weren't aware, yesterday ActiveRain held their second annual Raincamp in San Francisco, California.  Now, if you were like me, you were stuck in your office all day seeing others brag about how awesome the day was and thinking to yourself how you wished you could be there to participate. 

While I was rather bummed that I didn't get to take part in yesterday's event, I was able to keep track of what the people in attendance thought and was able to see all their pictures through twitter. Unofficially, there were 131 people who mentioned #Raincamp on twitter yesterday.  There were over 430 tweets about #raincamp as well.  So, if you were unable to make it to yesterday's event, here is a list of all those who tweeted about #raincamp in San Francisco.

Now, instead of having to sit & click each name individually to follow on twitter, I have collected & placed all of these names into one easy step to follow all quick & instantly.  You can do so by visiting Raincamp San Francisco on TweepML.  In a single click of a button, you will have 131 new friends from ActiveRain to follow. Then, make sure to send them messages and hear all the good details on Raincamp San Francisco!

So connect now with all those who were in attendance!  And don't forget, Raincamp NYC is right around the corner for all of you going to Inman Connect in January!  Read Bob's post for details!

So in case anyone was wondering, where in the world have I been?  Well, the past 7 days have been nothing short of a whirlwind!  Last Friday I awoke at 4:30 in the morning for a last minute decision to head to REBar Camp Raleigh-Durham aka #REBCRDU.  I drove the quick 3 & a half hour drive and was instantly greeted by many of our wonderful members.  I got to enjoy a wonderful day Lori Bee, Daniel Rothamel aka The Real Estate Zebra, Kathy Carson, Thom Abbott, C-Tann Starr, Lane Bailey Debe Maxwell & so many others. 

David Patterson did a great job opening up the event & gave ActiveRain some major props.  As the event began, in true Barcamp Fashion, I was asked to participate in a Blogging 101 Session. It was great to share about all the wonderful features of ActiveRain as well as how a blog can be used to increase your business.  I had a great partner for this session in our very own Debe Maxwell.  There were about 125-150 in our class with standing room only.  

Then, on Monday I headed out of town for Washington, DC to speak to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Mid-Atlantatic Region.  The drive up north was great and I really enjoyed traveling up I-95 and seeing all the fall colors of the trees lining the highway.  It reminded me of my days of living in Pennsylvania and traveling to the beach during the fall.  The vibrant colors of the leaves always put a smile on my face.  In fact, the hotel I stayed at had some wonderful colors right outside my window.

Tuesday morning I joined Victoria Baker & Darrin Friedman at an even that Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage hosted called Real Estate in the Round.  It was an event that had over 400 agents in attendance from all around the Baltimore/DC metro areas.  Once again, I was given the opportunity to share all about the benefits of ActiveRain and how this wonderful network can be used to increase your bottom line.

This was a great opportunity to meet many wonderful agents and introduce them to ActiveRain.  Many new members signed up that day and before long will be experiencing all the same types of success stories that so many of our members already have. 

On Tuesday Morning, I headed to Reston, VA for an opportunity to share my Blogging Basics 101 class in person with about 20 Coldwell Banker Agents.  I shared with them in person the tips to writing a successful blog to make it show up well in the search engines while having an appealing blog for consumers.  After we finished in Reston, VA we then drove to Columbia, MD and did the class again for another branch of their brokerage.  In total, over 20 new members signed up on Wednesday and are trying out ActiveRain as a new Rainmaker!

As if my week had not already been hectic enough, as I finished up my final class in Columbia, I received a call from my father & my wife.  In panic, I quickly excused myself from the classroom to see what was going on.  I was greeted on the phone with some really shocking news!  My father informed me that I was about to become an uncle again! 

My brother & sister-in-law that were expecting in December had made a visit to their Dr. that day and she made the decision that it was time to have the baby now!  So as I drove home on Thursday from the DC area, I was constantly informed with progress reports on the birth of my nephew.  Then around 4:30 I received the big news. 

My nephew Jace Gabriel was born at 4:12 PM.  He was 7lbs, 5oz and 20" long.  Both him and mom were healthy & doing great!  I was delighted to hear this news, so as I drove home from DC in the remnants of Hurricane Ida, I knew I would have to add a stop onto my already 9 hours of driving at the hospital and see the newest addition to the family.

I was glad that I did.  Here is a picture of him that I shot at about 5 hours old.  He is beautiful and wonderful.  It reminded me of the day my little girl was born and my life forever changed. 

So while in the last week and a half I have driven over 1,800 miles, spoke in front of almost 1,000 people, it was all definitely worth it!  The new friendships formed, the great knowledge I learned & also shared made each & ever minute spent valuable to me.  Not to mention the blessings of a growth in my family while gone! 

So in case you were wondering, I am still alive, I am still teaching the basics of blogging. I have been busier than ever while loving every moment.  Over the next few weeks I have several other brokerages & MLS's set up to speak about ActiveRain & the basics of blogging 101.

So, if you have a brokerage or MLS that you wish for me to teach the basics of blogging to, feel free to contact me and we can see what we can do to schedule something over the next few weeks. I'd love the opportunity to share about all the wonderful features of ActiveRain as well as the power of having a blog on the world's largest real estate network!

As a staff member here at ActiveRain, I probably read anywhere from 100-200 posts a day.  Well, not really read the entire post, but I look through at least that many daily.  One of the things that baffles me daily are the titles of posts.  Have you ever seen some posts with titles like these?

• Just Listed 3BR/3BA home for $199,900
• Hurry, 8,000 Tax Credit Expires soon!
• Home Sales Increasing, Buy Today!
• Now is a Great Time to Buy!
• Great Custom All Brick Home
  

I could continue on but I think by now you get the idea.  If you notice, all of these types of titles are nothing more than a cheesy tag line used in advertising.  Unfortunately, your blog is not meant to be used as an advertisement.  The point to writing your blogs is to share with consumers information that they want to know. 

I have covered this topic in my webinars the past few weeks for our new members that have not yet become a Rainmaker.  Many people over look the importance behind the title of your post and do not place a lot of thought on it.  The title is one of the most powerful parts of your blog posts for search engine optimization or SEO.  If you are using generic sales ad statements in your title then you are missing the ability to use your keywords & help your post to rank well in the search engines.  Also, I am not exactly sure how many people search for things in Google by phrases like: Just listed 3BR/2BA home on Cul-de-sac, Now is a great time to buy.  Why?  Well see what happens when you type in Now is a great time to buy.  When I just did that, the results brought back 307 million results.  Or, if you search for the term Just listed 3BR/2BA $199,000.  This brings back homes for sale in California, Philadelphia, and who knows where else.

So, instead of these very general sales ad titles, how should you be titling your posts?  Well, it is actually rather simple.  You want to be more specific on the title of your post.  Also, be sure to include your longtail keywords.  For example, if I was going to write about a new listing, the title should be something more along these lines:

Home for Sale in The Farm at Carolina Forest in Myrtle Beach, SC~ 123 ABC St. Myrtle Beach, SC 29579

The example above is targeted on my Keywords.  My keyword is the community, The Farm at Carolina Fores in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Also, by including the address in the title, it allows consumers who drive by the property and write down the address of the property to find my blog post.  If neither of those pieces of information is included it makes it very difficult for consumers to find the blog post.

In the example Home Sales Increasing, Buy Today, the title should be changed to something resembling this:

Sold Homes in The Gates Austin, TX increases by 12%. An Austin Texas Real Estate Market Report

This title once again Targets on the longtail keyword which is Sold Homes in The Gates Austin, TX.  Also, we have used other keywords that someone might use when doing a real estate search by saying Austin Texas Real Estate Market Report.  

These are just two basic examples of how to attract more readers to your posts just by making some simple changes to the title of your posts.  Use this tip and watch how your posts will begin to receive more traffic and better results in the search Engines.

As I have mentioned over the last week or so that I have recently started teaching some webinars for our non Rainmakers.  In these webinars I am teaching them how to write effective blog posts to rank well in Google as well as be appealing for consumers.  Yesterday, I taught a class that included one of our new members, Leilani Souza.

Leilani took some of the tips I shared during our webinar and has implemented them beautifully!  One of the things I always try to do is keep an eye out on my students to see how I can help them and how their posts rank.  Well, last night, only 10 hours after our class was over, Leilani sent a few blog posts public that have already claimed the #1 & #2 spots on Google!  Google has already indexed her blog and placed her at the top of the search engine where she belongs.  See below:

I am so proud of my student taking the basics to blogging and putting them into action.  She can already see the results and things will only get better from here!  On the other hand, I am guessing today that the agents that have dominated those positions are quite upset to see them lose rankings so quickly.  This is a great example of the power of being a rainmaker and how it can increase your online presence dramatically.

If you have been sitting on the fence on whether or not becoming a Rainmaker is right for you, sign up for my webinar and start seeing results like Leilani's Blog.  I guarantee it will be the best $5.00 you ever spend!

To make things easier, I have included the form below to sign up

As I mentioned last Friday, ActiveRain Announced Blogging Basics 101 Webinars for our new members.  The response has been tremendous so far!  Tonight at 6PM I held our first webinar and the responses from our members who attended were fantastic.  Here are just two of them.  Also, after you read their comments about the webinar, please take a minute to visit our new Rainmakers and give them some encouragement as they begin their blogging careers. 

"From my first phone call with you this afternoon, I knew the Webinar would be a success for me! You were approachable, kind, patient – all things I needed to overcome my fear of starting to blog. I think I’m up to the challenge – keep an eye on me!!"- Debbe Perry Carolina Property GMAC Real Estate

Thanks so much, Jeremy for tonight's webinar on Blogging Basics.  You nailed the subject perfectly for the novice!  I've heard "the fuss" about blogging for over a year now, and could only ask myself what on earth I'd find to say everyday, and why the world at large would want to listen.  Now I get it.  Thank you.  It opens up a whole new world of possibility!- Barbara Beers Re/Max United

Thanks to everyone that attended today and remember, if you are a new member here at ActiveRain that has not already upgraded to a Rainmaker account, feel free to click here and fill out the form at the bottom. Spaces are limited and are on a first come first serve basis.

Also, if you are a broker of your own company and would like to have a webinar to give your agents a jump start to their blogging career, contact me directly for more information.

Last week I wrote about the exciting new one on one training program that ActiveRain is offering for those who want to become a Rainmaker.  Well the response has been so great that I have been very busy with those sessions.  But, many have asked if I can do this as a live webinar so they can see things live as I point them out.

With that being said, I am proud to announce that I will now be offering Live Webinars each week for those that are new to blogging and have not yet become a Rainmaker.  These webinars will be on Monday & Wednesday every week. In the beginning there will be 3 sessions per week. Monday will host 2 webinars, one at 1PM EST and another at 6PM EST.  Wednesday's session will be at 1PM EST.  Each webinar is limited to only 25 seats, so the make sure you register immediately.  The sessions will last aprroximately 60-90 minutes in length.  Unfortunately, if you are already a Rainmaker, this class isn't for you.  But, there is a great training session that Steven is offering for those that are currently a Rainmaker.  Check out his full schedule here.

What will be covered in the Webinar?

How to Optimize Your ActiveRain Profile.
How to Insert Photos into your Blog
How to Insert Hyperlinks.
Setting up Your Outside Blog.
How to write effective blog posts for consumers & search engines.
How to use your blog to connect with your community.
Topics to write about on your blog.
Question & Answer

How Much?!? How Much?!?

This is the greatest part, these webinars are only going to be $5.00 per person! But wait, theres more!  The $5.00 that you spend to join these webinars is not going to go to waste.  Not only will you receive a top notch training session on how to write blogs effectively to show up in the top of search engines which is worth much more than $5.00 in itself, you will also be given one full month to try out our Rainmaker Membership.  That includes your posts being indexed by search engines, the ability to send those posts to Localism and also posted to your personal Outside Blog.  As a final bonus, you will receive 1,000 bonus points for attending the webinar.

Why do I want to be a Rainmaker?

There are plenty of reasons why everyone should want to be a Rainmaker.  I am going to share just a few.  First, becoming a Rainmaker means that your posts will have the ability to harness the power of our 160,000+ members and the massive amount of search engine dominance that ActiveRain possesses.   Over 75% of ActiveRain's 2 million visitors per month come directly from the search engines.   Also, Rainmaker accounts consistently outrank members personal websites in searches.  Our Rainmakers posts average 500 views per post.  Others are receiving much more traffic (25,000 views!).

How do I sign up?

Well signing up is rather simple.  Simply fill out the form below with your contact information and I will send you an email confirming your session and also how to register.

If you were wondering why you would want to be a Rainmaker, here are 6 reasons why everyone should be a Rainmaker. Also, here are some awesome results from a member who took my webinar: Take Rainmaker Webinar today, the #1 spot on Google 10 hours Later!

Syndicate Your ActiveRain Blogs with RSS

What is syndication and why should you "Syndicate Your ActiveRain Blogs?"  Driving traffic and exposure to your Blog is the primary reason.  RSS - Really Simple Syndication is a great way to connect your ActiveRain Blog to other Blogs and websites.  Members on ActiveRain have an RSS feed button located on the sidebar of their Blog.  Click on it to see your options and how it can be used to expand your reach to a larger audience via other sites and locations on the web.

Adding an RSS feed to your ActiveRain Blog on your ActiveRain Blog is nice, but no where near the value and benefit of having an RSS feed in other locations. Do you have a website?  Do you use an email signature?  Are you utilizing online marketing?  Take advantage of this tiny little tool so you can get BIG results.  That's why it's here.  If you're not familiar with RSS Feeds, Readers, and tools etc., here's a really good post that will give you more details and an explanation.

RSS is a great way to syndicate your Blog posts and get them out there and in front of a larger potential audience. Using RSS feeds is also a great way to have information and great content delivered back to you without having to go out and look for it. This will save you valuable time browsing the web for content and information that you might be interested in. 

Personally, I use Google Reader for all my RSS feeds to the sites I like to get updates and new information from.  This allows me the ability to scroll through hundreds of articles from various sites and blogs easily and conveniently without having to go to each site and see what's newly published. You can also share certain posts and articles with others that you follow, and they can share with you. 

If you're looking for some ways to get back-links and Web Traffic, I just watched THIS VIDEO that explains how to do this using FeedAgg.com. You can see how many other RE professionals have done this already by Clicking Here. You can search their site for various Real Estate type RSS feeds that have already been added to the site. Why not add yours while you're there.  It's just one more way to syndicate your ActiveRain Blog.

Teaching your clients how to subscribe to your Blog via RSS is a valuable tool, both for them, and for you.

DON'T FORGET TO DO THIS WITH THE RSS FROM YOUR ACTIVERAIN OUTSIDE BLOGS TOO.