The Mortgage and More Blog

Did you know that you could increase your SEO with multiple blogs on one site? If your answer is “No”, then you are not alone. Many bloggers do not even think that is possible. Now, for the skeptics that think “Oh, not another blog that I have to maintain” it is not like that. Actually, it is very much the opposite.

For a loan officer that has multiple blogs, they can blog about FHA Loans, Conventional loans, or USDA loans all on the same account but have the post directed to 3 different blogs. For a Realtor, you could choose to blog about short sales and foreclosures on one blog, property listings on another, and pictures on another. For home inspectors, you could write about inspections on one blog while another was centered around mold and/or radon. I could sit here and go on and on with this, but I think that you get the picture. For those of you that don’t go to Lake Arrowhead ~ Above it All and check hers out. You will notice that she has a blog under blog, one under photos, and if you look on the left hand side, you will see a picture titled Short Sales and Foreclosures. On Monday, we will be launching her 4th one that will be a Market Report blog.

So, why would I want multiple blogs one might ask. Well, first off, it is all about the refined SEO that one can get. Secondly, it is the ability to tap into additional SEO outlets that most people ignore and just don’t even think about, such as Google Images. Ultimately, the benefits are vast and can make a huge difference in your site.

Now I am sure you are wondering what the catch is. Well, frankly, there is no catch in it for us. While we do charge a fee of $100 to create these additional blogs on your site, there is not recurring charges. In the case of PREP, if you were to add an additional blog, it would cost you a fee of $100 ONCE, and then you would never pay again for that service. The annual membership of $150 would be the only recurring charges. R & D Art is the same. If we build a site for you, you can have as many blogs as you want and they can be as specific as you want.

In closing, take advantage of getting additional SEO juice that these additional blogs can provide you. Whether you have a PREP account, or an R & D Art account, get with your webmaster and see if they can assist you with adding an additional blog to your site. If they can’t, then please consider joining PREP and see what we can do for your business.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Increase your SEO with multiple blogs on one site is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

A few days ago I had a member  of our real estate network, Positive Real Estate Professionals, ask me “What can Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn do for my blog”? I decided the best way to answer this is by writing an article so that anyone else that has this same question lurking can get the answers. Without further adieu, let’s dive into this article.

I guess the first thing that one has to understand is Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and what they are designed to do. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term “microblogging”, this is the best way to identify each of these networks. Microblogging is very different from blogging in that the posts are much shorter. In most cases, your posts are limited in the characters that you can use. For Twitter and LinkedIn, it is 140 characters. This includes spaces and punctuation. For , it is 420 and the same rule applies for spaces and punctuations. The biggest difference between microblogging and blogging is the fact that most microbloggers use “status” messages like ” I am brushing my teeth” or “I am heading to a closing”. While these are fine, they do nothing for your blog.

Having a blogsite that is integrated with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or even FriendFeed, it is easy to have a notification go out to the systems automatically that states that a new post has been created on your blogsite. In doing this, you can actually alert readers to this fact quickly and automatically. Ultimately, this will drive more readers to your site. A integration simply sends a message to the twitter account supplied and allows for it to state that “What can Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn do for my blog” has just been published on PREP, for example. With Facebook, the best integration to use is an application called NetworkedBlogs. It allows for a short excerpt to automatically post to your profile and/or fan page. With , there is an integration to have your blog feed set up.

In closing, the answer to the question is that these networks can drive more readers to your blogsite. Ultimately, this is what we are all after.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

What can Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn do for my blog is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

Over my years of blogging, one of the things that I see people fail the most at is commenting. Whether it is responding to comments on their own blogs or commenting on others’ blogs, they fail. It may seem like it is a painstaking task to do either, yet if people really knew how much it impacted their blogsite, I wonder if they would change their ways. Before we go much deeper in this subject, I have to admit that I was one of the “comment slackers” myself. I used to think that as long as I wrote posts on a daily basis, that was good enough. Well, I am here to tell you that commenting really does matter. So, without further delay, let’s dive in and see what the lack of commenting does to our blogs.

Why should I comment on your blog? You never take the time to acknowledge the comment.

This might be one of the single worst things that a blogger can do. Totally ignoring comments that are left on your site can kill a blog. First off, you typically will piss off the person that took the time to read your blog and then write a response to your article. Secondly, you are loosing out on the search engines that see these comments as being new content. That fact alone makes this a cardinal sin. Eventually the commenter will quit reading your articles because they see how much they DO NOT mean to you. In a nutshell, if you have someone that takes the time to comment on an article that you took the time to write, show them respect and appreciation by responding to their comment.

Why should I comment on your blog? You never comment on mine.

Reciprocal commenting is basically one of the golden rules of blogging. If you want to see your comments increase, then interact with the people that comment on your articles. Take the time to visit their site and read an article or two. Make a comment and create an interaction. You might actually be surprised what it can do for you. You really never know what commenter might be your next client or referral source. If you are not willing to open dialogue with them now, what is going to make them think that you will open dialogue with them when it comes to business?

What good does commenting do for my site?

Believe it or not, I had a potential client ask me this very question. The first thing that I have to stress is that commenting encourages interaction. When you run a blog that is directed and designed to help you generate leads and/or business, then interaction is key. If you do not have it, you can not gain clients. Commenting can have an impact to your SEO as well as to your site’s ranking. What? Commenting can affect my rankings? Believe it or not, the answer is yes. I have watched a website/blogsite lose their Alexa ranking over a three month period for the very fact that they quit commenting. Now, they have decided to start commenting again and all of a sudden, their rankings are back on the rise. Imagine that, the lack of commenting coinciding with a declining ranking. Who would have thunk it?

In closing, how can commenting help you and your blogsite? If that is still the question, then you might want to start reading this article again. Ultimately, you control your destiny when it comes to commenting. Engage your readers and the comments will come. Respond to their comments as well as visiting their blogs and they will stick with you. Ultimately, they will help drive your site’s rankings to another level and that is what will eventually help your SEO rankings.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Commenting Impacts Your Blogsite is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

Many of the Google Apps users received an email yesterday explaining that Google Apps will be phasing out support for many outdated browsers. For most Internet users that are already using Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above to access the Internet, this really has no implication for or to you and you can keep surfing and using Google Apps like you normally do. However, to those that have yet to upgrade their browsers from the dark ages for what ever the reason may be, this does affect you.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser.  Google Apps will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change. On March 1, 2010, they plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor.  After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, Google Apps will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

People that purchase new computers have no issues with this phase out. However, for those individuals and companies that are still in ancient times using Internet Explorer 6.0, it is time to emerge out of the dark ages. Personally, I recommend that you keep your browsers up-to-date by setting automatic updates to always install. In doing this, it will keep you on top of the game.

If you have questions in relation to this process or general questions that our staff can help you with, please feel free to contact us at 865-951-0522 or email Rich or Danny.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Google Apps phasing out old browsers is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

For those of you that are not aware, Google has launched Google’s Social Search and it is changing the face of SEOs and SERPs. The way this works is Google takes the friends that you have on and and uses that to personalize your search so that you can find the sites that are more relevant to what you are looking for. Also, Google will pull from your GMail account if you have one. Ultimately, you could end up with search results of many of your friends.

Now, with that being said, it will also have implications on your individual sites as well. Having a site that is integrated with Twitter and has just became seriously important in the scheme of SEO and SERPs. Below is a video that will be able to explain it a little more.

So, what does this mean for the average Joe or Jane Blogger. Simple. It is important that you work at networking Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and Gmail more diligently. Driving consumers and readers to your site that will leave comments will also help you in gaining steam in the scheme of SEOs. The bottom line is that most of us use the internet to conduct business and the more visitors that we can drive to our sites, the better chance that we have in order to convert those readers to potential clients. Ultimately, it would do you well to have as many connections established as possible via various social networking sites and tools.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

The Ever Changing Face of SEO is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

From Deep Linking to Do Follow v. No Follow links in your comment section, the use of links is an important aspect of SEO. Wordpress makes it easy to add links to your business partners, resource sites, or any other website that your site’s visitors might find of interest. In this tutorial you will learn how to add links to your sidebar’s blogroll. The image at the bottom of this tutorial is ‘clickable’ (and will open a larger version in a new window).

To begin with you MUST be logged into your Dashboard. Once logged on this is the path: Dashboard>Links>Edit or Add New (depending on which you are doing).

I am going to approach this tutorial as if you are adding new links. Editing links works the same way you just have to select ‘Edit’ under your list of links that you wish to edit.

1. After clicking on Add New a screen will open that looks like the screen in the image at the bottom of this post. This is where you add links.
2. The first field on this screen is the Name field. This is where you enter the name of the website you are linking to; this does not have to be the site’s actual name but the best name that you and your site visitors will recognize and remember. NOTE: This is not where the URL goes.
3. The second field on this screen is the Web Address. This is where you enter the actual URL of the website you are linking to.
4. The third field on this screen is the Description. This is a completely optional field. Anything you enter here will appear when someone hovers over the site’s name on your website.
5. The fourth field on this screen is the Categories. This is where you organize your links. Many people choose to place all of their links in the Blogroll category. If you want to organize your links in a more specific manner this is where you can add the various categories you want to use. NOTE: You can put a link in multiple categories if you want.
6. Though this isn’t the last field on this page, the fifth field Target is the last field that most people utilize. In my opinion the Link Relationship and Advanced fields don’t add to your links. The target field allows you to determine how your link will open. I always recommend that you check the top option _blank as this option has your links, when clicked on, open in a new window rather than in the same window (_none).  The advantage to a link opening in a new window is that your site’s visitor who clicks on a link is NOT taken away from your site.
7. The final step is clicking the Add Link button to place and activate the link on your website.

Add A Link To Your Wordpress Website is a post from: Test Account

Linking is an important SEO tool for any website. If you do a Google search for ‘linking’ and you will find numerous blog posts on the subject. This is such an important topic that you can find numerous posts written by the admins right here on Positive Real Estate Professionals:

My Site Is Wonderful, Link To Me – Marketing Your Business Online

Engaging Your Site’s Visitors

Using Comments to Build Links and Drive Traffic – Part 1

Using Comments to Build Links and Drive Traffic – Part 2

Relevant Links and What They Mean To You

Link Farming is just another form of Spam.

Today I want to look at Deep Links. What is a deep link? According to Wikipedia: Deep linking, on the World Wide Web, is making a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image on another website, instead of that website’s main or home page. While the links in your blogroll are great, they by definition are not deep links. Do you see the links to the articles immediately preceding this paragraph? They are examples of deep linking because they go to a particular location (the individual blog posts) and not the overall blog URL.

Deep linking is not confined to linking to blog posts alone, though this is one of the most common practices. A deep link can also link to a non-main page, a bio page, a form, or any other informational page. You can easily create these deep links either externally or internally. An external link connects to a webpage on another website. An internal link is one that links to information on the website where the post is actually written; i.e. linking to a previous relevant post or another minor page on the same website.

Deep linking, like using keywords, should be done in moderation. Deep linking is an effective, and the easiest, of  link building tools. Though deep linking is a good tool to use, it should not become a substitute for reciprocal and one-way linking with other websites.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Deep Linking is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

Recently I wrote a post that gave readers the tools necessary to show up on the Google map when someone does a search; Get Your Business On The Map – Marketing Your Business Online. Prior to that I wrote a post that instructed readers on how to have their business listed for FREE in the online version of the yellow pages; Get Your Business In The Book – Marketing Your Business Online. Both of these posts were part of my Marketing Your Business Online series that was purposely designed to help people improve their internet presence and reach more potential clients and referral sources. With this post I want to build on the information in those two posts with regard to Being Found On PREP and the internet overall.

In addition to the Call To Action that you put at the end of every blog post you write, one of the easiest ways to give yourself and your business the boost it may need is through an effective signature. Here are two signatures that are placed at the end of every blog post these ladies write. Notice that they are stylistically very different from one another but both contain a personal message, contact info, and a means for readers to connect with them on other websites and through social media. In addition to using their signatures on each blog post, they can be used in newsletters and at the end of emails. Be sure to optimize any images you use in your signature with a good image title and description to help the search engines index it; read this post, Say It With Pictures – Photoblogs, to learn how to accomplish this. If you use traditional print marketing, then your signature can also be used there; just remember that if your use images in print marketing you will also need to give the full URLs to websites and contact info (username/userid) for the various social media.

Below is the first example of making good use of a signature:

***  Subscribe to my NEW blog: LAKE ARROWHEAD  ~ Above it All ***

For all your Lake Arrowhead Real Estate needs, call “Kat” @ 909-273-4542

• Search my website, LAKEARROWHEADKAT for Active Listings
• RE/MAX Lakeside in Blue Jay
• Subscribe to Kat’s Blog on Short Sales & More
• First Time Home Buyer Credit

Let me HELP you avoid foreclosure!

Below is the second example of making good use of a signature:

Warmest Regards,
Janie Burnette, Realtor®
Forsyth Realtor
404.626.6540 Cell
JanieB@kw.com www.JanieBSells.com
@janieBurnette - Twitter
www.Facebook.com/janie.burnette
Keller Williams Community Partners
540 Lake Center Pkwy, Ste 201
Cumming, GA  30040

Call me 404.626.6540

In addition to consumers having multiple avenues to connect with these ladies, these signatures also provide a link to their other websites. As we learned in the post Relevant Links and What They Mean To You links are good. They boost the authority of your site, your Page Rank (PR), and your overall SEO. Like your use of keywords, you don’t want to overdo or stuff your signature with too many links; Google, Indexing, SEO, and Love…Lotta Luv. You can consistently use your most important links in your signature while varying less important links from post to post. Your signature definitely has the potential to help you generate more business.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Your Signature’s Potential is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

While a thorough report with detailed info or the best written property description can go a long way towards giving the reader a sense of what you are describing, an image can definitely drive it home. If you are a Realtor®, home stager, interior designer, home inspector, home appraiser, or any of the numerous professions that use photos in their job you should be able to easily understand the impact photos can have. I always encourage people to use images (please make sure you either own the photos or have obtained the necessary permission to use them) in their posts.

Because of the impact that photos can have on an individual post and an entire blog, I wanted to talk about photoblogging. Photoblogging is aready quite popular. From humorous sites like LOL Cats to the serious sites like National Geographic these photoblogs play an integral part in the overall impact the sites have; in the case of LOL Cats, the photoblog is the site.

In addition to using photos or having a photoblog on your main website to help enhance its look and message, a photoblog can definitely help to enhance your SEO. Photos are searchable and indexable by the search engine spiders. There are numerous ways to help the search engines read and index your images. Remember a search engine spider cannot discern the content of a photo. The spiders use the information you provide for the purpose of indexing. Click the image to the right for a visual explanation and to see a larger version of the image. The most widely used photo descriptions come from the image title. The title, whether it is ‘1234 Main Street – Front View’ or ‘JP8546,’ is what is used to index your photo. If you want your photo to be accurately indexed be sure you name it something that is descriptive of the image. Additionally if you want it to return in say a Google Images search also use a description that is likely searched by web surfers. Another option is to use the caption feature to both title and provide an accurate description of your image. A caption shows up immediately under the image in your post. Because some people don’t like how captions appear, many people use the standard title option and the description field to give a brief description of the image. Be aware that anything you place in the description field is visible to your site’s visitors when they hover over the image. Also do not be under the mistaken impression that this is an opportunity to ‘keyword stuff’ your photos. Putting a bunch of keywords in the description field looks bad to visitors who hover over your image. This practice is also considered a ‘black hat’ tactic that will be uncovered by the search engines’ algorithms and may result in a harsh penalty by them. Click the following link for more information:

Google, Indexing, SEO, and Love…Lotta Luv

Search engines love photos. Web surfers love photos. Whether you decide to set up a completely separate photoblog to highlight your ‘before and after photos,’ your listings, your local area, etc. or you simply use images in your posts, take the opportunity to maximize the SEO benefit of your pictures.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Say It With Pictures – Photoblogs is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

Two weeks ago I was speaking with Your East Cobb REALTOR® who not only happens to be a member of Positive Real Estate Professionals but someone I regard as a friend. We were talking about how her blogging style and choice of topics has evolved since she first began blogging last April. I bring up Jodi Smith because her efforts are a perfect example of how blogging can help you to achieve concrete results in terms of business growth. Below are some of the common questions (and my responses) when people ask ‘What will a blog do for my business?’

What Is Blogging?

This is fairly straightforward. Blogging is writing; more specifically, blogging is writing posts/articles online. There is often a common confusion of terms that I would like to clear up. A blog is a collection of posts/articles. When you are blogging you are actually writing an individual post/article. So you don’t actually write a blog, you write a post/article on a blog. A good analogy is that a blog is similar to a magazine/newspaper and the posts/articles on a blog are similar to the articles in a magazine/newspaper. Hopefully this will clear up some of the term confusion.

Why Is A Blog Important?

There is an often used and written about phrase ‘Content Is King.’ I too have written several articles on this very topic and would encourage you to read Content is King for more information on this topic. The main reason that a blog is important for any website is that it is an easy way to add new content. New content to index is what the search engine spiders are looking for. New content and frequent indexing is a contributing factor to a site’s rank, Page Rank (PR) for Google. Rank is one of several key factors in how high a site returns in search engine results. Semi-regular posting to your site’s blog gives you the new content you need to help your site return higher in search engine results. The higher your site’s placement in search engine results, the more visible your site is, and the more likely it will be visited by potential clients.

What Role Do My Content Topics Play?

Your topics are important because they fill out the content vacuums that static webpages inevitably leave. A static webpage is basically an informative page that doesn’t change or changes infrequently. This is fine as long as the accuracy and relevance of the information on that page doesn’t change frequently either. A blog can definitely be a great way to give a deeper insight into various topics that your site’s visitors are looking for. Say for example you are a REALTOR® who deals with a lot of relocation clients, your potential clients will probably looking for all types of information on the area they are relocating to. To get a real feel for the area many people write posts that highlight historic buildings and/or places, local parks and other outdoor venues, restaurants, nightclubs, and shopping. Other people take a broader approach and write less about specific offerings and write instead about local youth and/or adult sports, the various houses of worship, or the availability of public transit. This is a way to make your website a destination for relevant information for your potential client base. This is also a continuing resource for past clients and an easy place for those past clients to refer potential new clients. It is important to also show your knowledge of your industry by writing things like market reports  and legislation that may impact your clients. A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in your clients, or potential clients’ shoes when you are considering a topic for an article and ask yourself honestly if this would be something of interest.

Not The Journals Of Yesterday

I feel that it is important to draw the distinction between the journaling that blogging used to represent and blogging for business. There is absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining a journaling blog or a poetry blog but these should not be confused with a business blog. In many cases people hear the term blog and think of these personal types of blogs. It is true that in the early days of blogging these types of blogs were very popular, and they do remain popular today. I enjoy many personal blogs but blogging for business is far different from personal blogging. If you are blogging to attract clients to your real estate business then the funny thing your cat did, or photos of you modeling that robe you got for the holidays are not relevant nor appropriate at all. These types of articles will probably have the opposite effect of what you intended. Keep your posts on a business blog relevant and you will produce the concrete results in terms of business growth that you are looking for and have heard so much about.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

Blogging Can Produce Concrete Results In Terms Of Business Growth is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals