The Mortgage and More Blog

Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

With all of the hoopla over the release of Google’s Buzz  in the past couple of weeks I got to thinking about similar services that already existed. First lets look at what Google Buzz actually does. If you missed Danny Thornton’s recent post on Buzz, you may want to check it out Positive Real Estate Professionals adds Google Buzz; especially the video.

Buzz is basically a social bookmarking site. Once you have created a Buzz account http://www.google.com/buzz you can then begin building your friends’ list. An easy way to start building this is by utilizing your current gmail contacts. This type of bookmarking is a way to create a ‘Buzz’ about your articles and by extension your website and business. You actually setup an integration with various services you use, like , , etc. which will bookmark your posts from these sites to your Buzz account. These bookmarks are then shared with your friends.

I setup a Buzz account within the first couple of days of the service going live. While I appreciate this bookmarking service and what it can do as far as generating more exposure, I have had an account with for quite some time. Like Buzz, FriendFeed is also a social bookmarking site. FriendFeed has similar features in that you build your friends’ list and then share with those friends your posts from both your own sites and posts from sites that you like. There is not supposed to be any SEO advantage to using Buzz over FriendFeed simply because Buzz is a Google product.

Both of these systems are rather easy to setup. Simply visit their respective websites (link to FriendFeed https://friendfeed.com/account/create?next=http%3A%2F%2Ffriendfeed.com%2F and Buzz http://www.google.com/buzz) and follow the instructions to setup your own account.

FriendFeed And Buzz is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved. ©

©2010 Positive Real Estate Professionals. All Rights Reserved.

Do you have a account? Do you use it? How do you use it? In this post I want to examine the benefits that YouTube (and other video service hosting sites) can bring to your business.

Most smart business people already recognize the reach of the internet in getting their business out there. From stand alone websites like Strategic Funding Concepts to sites like RE/MAX Lakeside: Lake Arrowhead Real Estate which take advantage of the SEO juice that a network creates, a huge part of any overall business plan should incorporate a dynamic website. Dynamic websites have new material added on a regular basis.

Adding new material can be easily accomplished through adding new static pages, blog posts, images, or videos. While traditional blog posts are one of the easiest ways to add new content, both photo and video posts are growing in popularity. Here is a great post on the benefits of photoblogging Say It With Pictures – Photoblogs. You can either incorporate photoblogs and videoblogs (vlogs) into your existing blog or you can create an entirely separate blog just for these mediums. Here is a post on the benefits of multiple blogs Increase your SEO with multiple blogs on one site.

If you have a YouTube account (or an account with one of the other video service hosting sites) then using videos on your site is a snap. From walkthrus of your property listings to potential issues home inspectors encounter everyday to a walking tour of a local attraction, it has never been easier to incorporate these videos into your site. All you do is upload your video to whichever service you have an account with. This then places it in your account so that when others view it, they know it comes from you. You can then use your video’s URL to place it in your blog as a post. That is all you do! You have now added to your video library and to your website; this is a win/win on both counts.

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.

YouTube And Your Business is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved. ©

©2010 Positive Real Estate Professionals. All Rights Reserved.

PREP adds tool to speed up owner verification of sites today. Instead of having to get codes from Webmaster Tools, SiteExplorer, Webmaster Center and Siteowners and having to locate the section where you have to insert these codes, we have made it much easier. So, you are asking me how this might actually help you. Well, let me explain it all from the start and lets go over each and every one of the four search engine tools that are listed in this article. Also keep in mind that our real estate network is progressive when it comes to technology. Our goal is to bring our members and our readers the best in technology that we can.

First off, let’s take a look at Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo! SiteExplorer, Bing Webmaster Center and Alexa Siteowners and how each of them can help us. For Google, their Webmaster Tools are designed to provide you with Google’s view of your site as well as help you diagnosis any issues or problems. However, it goes deeper than that by allowing you to provide a link to your sitemap so that Google bots can crawl the site more efficiently. You can also research internal and external links to your site as well as search for keywords that are driving people to your site. With Yahoo! SiteExplorer , you are able to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search. You can also view the most popular pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and find pages that link to that site or any other pages. With Bing Webmaster Center, you can use the Webmaster Tools to troubleshoot the crawling and indexing of your site, submit sitemaps and view statistics about your sites. Alexa Siteowners is really no different except that it allows for you to add detailed information about the ownership of the site.

The biggest question that I get asked when it comes to these four is “Why use all four if they provide almost the same info?”. The answer to that is simple. While they provide much of the same information, they provide it from their perspective. Hence, why you want to use all four. If you walked into your doctor’s office and he told you that you were dying from some serious untreatable disease, you would more than likely ask for a second opinion. With each of these tools, that is basically what you are getting; a second opinion. With that said, remember this fact: each of these webmaster tools provides information that is unique to them.

Lastly, the addition of the tool is simple to setup. For members of PREP, all you need to do is log into your dashboard. Then go to Settings on the left side and look for “Fast Verification”. Once there, click on the link. When it opens, there will be four large blanks. Below all four will be 4 different links to each of the respective sites. Click on each and look for the code that it is requesting in the examples below each blank. As always, if you have issues, please call one of admins. Unfortunately, this is not something that we can do for you. With that said, it is definitely something that I highly recommend that each person uses. In the long run, it can help you show up higher in SEO and SERP.

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.

PREP adds tool to speed up owner verification of sites is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved. ©

©2010 Positive Real Estate Professionals. All Rights Reserved.

Positive Real Estate Professionals adds Google Buzz to it’s list of tools. What does this mean for our members and readers? Well, for the members, it is just one more social outlet that their articles can be shared on. As well, it will create another link on the world wide web, so ultimately, it will provide more Google Juice. For our readers, it will provide an easy and quick way to add things to their Google reader or share them with their friends in their Gmail account. This might be one of the easiest share tools that I have seen in some time. Below is a short video that will help to explain Google Buzz.

It is the desire of PREP and their admins to stay on top of the social media world. The only way for us to do that is to keep up with the social media marketing tools that these social media networks are putting out there. Ultimately, our job is to provide not only our members, but our readers as well with avenues to share articles on our site with their family, friends, and followers. In other words, their sphere of influence (SOI). We will continue to march forward to bring the best of social media marketing to our members and readers alike.

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.

Positive Real Estate Professionals adds Google Buzz is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved. ©

©2010 Positive Real Estate Professionals. All Rights Reserved.

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

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