Today I am starting another new series that will run for the next several weeks about the great widgets that are currently available for your ActiveBlog (outside blog). We will dive into the details of how to maximize the functionality of these widgets as well as some of the benefits of running them on your blog. I will be using my outside blog http://myrtlebeachhomesblog.com as the the example over the next few weeks. So, keep checking back to see the transformations and changes.
For this first post, we are going to discuss the Local Posts Widget. While this widget seemed kind of trivial and boring when I started studying it, I found out that it can actually be a very productive and beneficial widget.
This widget will take all of your local content/Localism posts and categorizes them into various groups. For agents that work in more than one state, it will break things down into the separate state level. Or, say you work different counties & cities, these will be grouped together. It will categorize things all the way down to the neighborhood level.
As you can see from my local posts widget, I wrote about many different communities, in a few different cities. You can also quickly identify which communities I farm and focused my business on. For a consumer this is a great way for them to find more information about an area.
Remember, unless a consumer is subscribed to your blog or are a regular reader of your material, the main way that most people who land on your blog are coming through a search on google on a particular subject. So, someone may land on my blog by searching for information about a community, and then after viewing the community, they want to see what else you have on it. So, they click on the link on the local posts widget to find you have more articles including information about the amenities in the community, your listings in the community, and even market reports!
You have instantly become the local expert on the neighborhood with this buyer/seller and chances of winning their business has just increased exponentially.
Now, lets shift gears a moment and talk SEO. The other major benefit of having this widget running is that it creates individual pages for each and every area that you write and categorize on your outside blog. This means more links on your blog. Which means google will pick up more things on your blog making you a greater authority on that subject. To see what I mean, simply scroll over any of the links in the local posts section of my blog and you will see each and every one is it's very own individual page for just that community. How cool is that?
So, if you have not set up your Local Posts widget on your Outside Blog yet, go get to it now! If you are not sure how do this, as usual, Brad has written a tutorial here.
You may wish to Subscribe to my Blog to keep up with this series. And remember to check back tomorrow for New Theme Thursday!
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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly. Also, please visit my other online consulting blog for more social media tips, tricks and enhancements.
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Thanks for the tips Jeremy. I will look forward to additional help on optimizing the outside blog so that it gets more traffic.
Jeremy - I'm new to blogging so I expect your series wiill be most helpful. Thanks for sharing. - Mike
Jeremy,
We're all glad that you're done wildfire fighting and are back here putting out AR fires.
Oh this is cool! This is far easier and more convenient.
I didn't realize this was available. The navigation is based on the county, city, and community we select, and not on our tags, correct?
Thanks for this information - I've been out of the Rain for a few weeks and have left my outside blog hanging - this is good stuff.
Thanks Jeremy......you're keeping both me and m assistant very busy. Whew!
John- with this widget it is based on that...the Categories widget does it that way!
Jeremy: I have the Local Post already on my outside blog.. Not sure how I did it.. LOL
Question... Why do my post there not look nearly as nice as my AR Blog ? Same content.. different lay out.
Jeremy--Heading over to see if I have this on my outside blog or not...Thanks for the tip. SEO is so important. :)
Hi Jeremy...I don't need a widget. I need a wizard to help me do all sorts of things to improve my blog.
Do you know any wizards and if so, will you be writing about any of them soon?
Help.
Kate
Thank you Jeremy, I will definitely be watching for more to come in the series. I just took a class on a bit of this today...my mind is in the right place.
Krisy Clayton
Keller Williams Realty, Puyallup, WA.
You are an angel. For people like me that are still learning about technology, I have to say, I really appreciate your tips.
i will have to pay more attention to that and make sure I am using it correctly
Jeremy, I haven't gotten the last widget you talked about done yet. How am I to keep up with you!?
I've got this widget...can't wait to see more tomorrow.
Thanks Jeremy! Great post:)
Looking forward to learning more from u !
with appreciation, II.
Sounds good to me.
Hi Jeremy; Thanks you for the tips, I am looking forward to learning more in the future.
Jeremy,
Thanks for the update. I think about the time I became inactive on AR some restrictions were being put in place on widgets on the AR blog. And I know some changes have occurred on the outside blogs, but I'm behind the curve on them.
Need to search for the various new features.
Will enjoy learning about the use of effective widgets.
Richard
Going Lolco now opps i mean local
You mention SEO & I am all ears. I have this one running on my outside blog and look foward to learning more about all of them - I'm sure I am not utilizing them to the fullest. Thanks
Jeremy - Rock on ! That is already set up on our outside blog ! We love it and see we need to add some more local content. I am glad I read this as I did not know that that info came from Localism posts. Makes sense now !
I so need to be more technologically savvy! I have not worked with widgets yet. My husband is a computer geek and he just smiles when I get frustrated that I am not an analytical person in any way near what he is.
Jeremy - Glad to see you are safe from the fires. Thanks for posting this. I have bookmarked and will come back. Got to go back to work first. Just took a listing and need to get that out of the way before I do this. But thanks.
Jeremy - looking forward to the series. I do have a number of the widgets in place but expect I can do more with them, and also better understand how to maximize their value. Keep the tiups coming.
Jeff
Jer...
I use this feature and I am surprised at how many places I have written about! Too cool.
How cool - widget wednesday and theme thursday!
Jeremy- I love how easy it was to set up this widget and what I love more is it is all done automatically for you once you set it up which only takes a minute. What a time saver!
Jeremy- I have overlooked this one... I'm off to get it going- a big thanks!
Great information-thanks for sharing!
Great info..i am not sure I am understanding this all...I am subscribed
..hope you and your family are well.... thank you
HelpfulHannah your Friend in Philadelphia
I just got my outside blog, so now I have to figure out everything about it. Thanks for the info, I will come back to follow your advice
I am now following this theme and am researching the benefits of the outside blog. As you know, AR is a massive training tool in and of itself and I intend to keep up with this thread.
Thanks for the information. I appreciate it. Now the tricky part is to see if I can implement it.
I don't use too many widgets but I think I am going to give this one a try, thanks for sharing!
Jeremy, I really need to follow your tips on outside blogs to make mine more effective. Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed!
Jeremy, thanks for the great tutorial and showing us how to maximize our outside blog. Looking forward to more.
Jeremy - I can also use this widget to make sure that I stay focused on the specific cities that I should be concentrating on, and not stray too far away. I think this will be good for me, and for anyone visiting my blog to see that I am focused on specific cities as well as neighborhoods.
This is what I've been looking for a way to catagorize my blog. Awesome
Jeremy, can an agent also add widgets with thier own html? Not only the ones AR supplies?
Julianna- Unfortunately, not at this time. Hopefully in time that aspect will come available, but at this time there is not definite timetable as to when that will happen.
Thanks your blog was very helpful!