Well, after less than a day, I am officially addicted to Google+. But, being the social networking addict that I am, I needed a way to share my Google+ posts on Facebook and twitter. Here is a quick way to add your Google+ posts to both Facebook and Twitter at the same time.
Create a circle and name it ‘ShareFB+Twitter’ (or anything else that you want). Go to your mobile page on Facebook and then copy/paste your personalized upload email as a new ‘connection’ in Google+ and then add that connection to your new ‘ShareFB+Twitter’ circle.
For Twitter, I used twittermail.com to create a unique email address XXXXXXX@twittermail.com and then added that email address as a connection in my ‘ShareFB+Twitter’ circle.
Now when I post on Google+, I can share with my ‘ShareFB+Twitter’ circle and my posts are automatically shared on both Facebook and Twitter.
Simple enough? See, I told you! I look forward to networking with you on Google+!
I came across this post shared by Jason Crouch on Google+. This family is living a nightmare. Please re-blog his post, share, pass this on and help in any way that you can. Even as a mother of three, I could not even imagine the horrible pain that this family is experiencing. My prayers are with the Strodes.
In the past, those of you who read my blog have all been very attentive and considerate when I've posted about people who were suffering or in need. I hope to impress on you today how urgently your prayers and/or support are needed in this case...
For as long as I can remember, I've been sensitive to the pain of others, especially children and the elderly. Now that I am a father of four, three of whom are girls, it's very difficult for me to see kids suffer. A local friend of ours posted on Facebook about some friends of hers (the Strodes) who are living in a nightmare right now. Their 4-year-old daughter was badly burned while they were trying to have a nice family evening with S'mores at their home, and her recovery will be a long one. This family actually lives very near the ActiveRain headquarters, in Kent, Washington.
Here is a letter from the Strodes themselves to their friends about the accident:
"Many of you know, and some may not, that we had a terrible accident at our home last night (Saturday). After an awesome family day of summer shopping and yard work Dave and I and the kids all spent dinner on our back patio and then decided it would be a wonderful night for our first s'more campfire. We waited and tried and tried for twenty minutes to get this fire going. We tried everything. Paper, kindling, wood, pine cones. Dave decided to get some sort of fuel to the fire. He added some and nothing. He added more and the can caught on fire causing a huge flash fire towards Tommy, Brooklyn, Addison and I. Immediately there were screams I saw Brooke's hair on fire and scooped her up and patted her till the fire was out. Dave had already run Addie inside to the sink as her hair and clothes were on fire. By the time I got into the house, maybe 30 second later, there were still flames. I grabbed her and patted her down with a towel on the kitchen floor. Dave scooped up Brooke as I sat with Addie on the floor. Tommy saw all of this and was screaming and crying. Dave called 911 and the paramedics were there withing just a couple of minutes. They took Addie immediately tot he ambulance and started working on her. The second set of paramedics to Brookie. I was able to kiss Addie goodbye and the shut the door telling me they were having her airlifted to Harborview. Dave took off with Brooklyn in her ambulance as they thought they were taking her to Mary Bridge.
Ray and Sally arrived about 20 minutes later. Sally took care of Tommy and our foster son (who had been sleeping peacefully the whole time in his room). Ray took me to Harborview. On the way Dave called me from the ambulance told me Brooke was sleeping soundly in his lap and they decided to keep the sisters together and take Brooke to the same hospital as Addison.
Fast forward to today (Sunday). Brooklyn's burn were superficial. She was discharged this evening and went home with Grandma Sally. Addison is in the Burn Pediatric ICU. She does not look like Addie. She is swollen from her burns but mostly from all the fluid they give burn victims. We will know more tomorrow. They had to intubate her, she has a feeding tube, her face, ears, hands and arms are all burned. For now they tell us that her burns are worse on the wrists. They think her face should heal on it's own. She is sedated. She can wiggle her precious little toes when asked.
This has been Dave and my hardest trial by far. While we would never question who God is and His almighty work we are asking "why?" We know there is no answer. Our beautiful babies have been hurt. Dave feels awful and needs to know that I love him with all my heart. He is the best daddy. We don't understand any of this. It's a nightmare that replays over and over in our minds.
This was a horrible accident. It took 2 seconds to change our entire lives.
Please pray for a quick recovery for Brooklyn. They say she will be as good as new soon. She was running around the halls being her sassy self all day. Please pray for Addie. She is in pain. Pray for wisdom of her doctors. Pray that we can see our sweet little girls face the way we remember it soon.
We have faith in God. We know He is the great physician, He works ALL things together for good. But our hearts are broken.
Dave and I love all our children so very much. We were called to be parents. We have been blessed with our children and we know they are our gifts from God.
Sincerely, The Strodes"
You can read blog posts about Addison's progress by her family at this site:
(There are photos there as well, but I didn't feel comfortable sharing those publicly without their permission.)
If you would like to donate to help defray the cost of Addison's stay in the burn ICU, please make checks payable to Addison Strode and mail to the following address:
Addison Strode Medical Fund
PO Box 5847
Kent, WA 98064
If there are any questions or issues with making a donation to this account, please email Giancarlo & Tamara Papini at papinig@gmail.com.
If you enjoyed this post, why not connect with me elsewhere or subscribe via email?
In this blog I am going to tell you why google is giving away almost 50 MILLION pre-designed, PRE-indexed and PRE-SEO’d websites that are already receiving FREE traffic every single day… I am also going to tell you the reason that you don’t know anything about it… and how you as a real estate agent can profit from these websites right in your local area.
But before I get to that… I have a quick question for you..
Have you seen one of these Secret Codes yet? These black and white boxes are popping up all over the internet and in offline marketing and if you havnt seen then yet then you are already behind the curve.
These are called QR codes which stands for Quick Response. and they are the future of mobile marketing. Within the next 6-12 months these codes will be everywhere and if you don’t have one for your business, you will be missing out on HUGE amounts of potential clients!
So, right now, today if you have never seen one of these or are not currently using one of these in your marketing, then you need to watch this video. Because small companies, large companies, brick-and-mortar companies and yes, even real estate agents are paying hundreds of dollars to marketing consultants to set these QR codes up for them, but after watching this video you won’t have to pay anyone anything to set this up for you.
And How about this? Have you ever seen this before?
Well of course you have, if you have ever used google maps… IN FACT over 90% of people today USE google maps to find a local business.. People are simply NOT using phone books any more!
But, I would like to draw your attention to all of those little dots. What I have done with this map is run a search for port saint lucie real estate agents. All of those little dots are results for real estate agents in my town. BUT only 10 of them are displayed with a place symbol, those little teardrop looking icons with the letters a through J are the first 10 results on Google maps for real estate agents in my area.
Now when I hover over one of these place markers, if the agent has their business setup correctly on google places, their chosen picture, company information and company reviews are all displayed. The best part is that you don’t even NEED a website for this to drive traffic to your real estate business! Pretty neat huh?
Now remember when I told you just a few moments ago that over 90% of people today use google maps to search for a local business?
Well, the sad truth is that less than 7% of businesses have optimized their Google Places listing for these people that are ALREADY SEARCHING for their business... That means that only 7% of businesses have claimed their google places page out of the more than 50 million website pages already out there… that’s right less than 7%... and even less of these businesses are using this in combination with their QR codes.
Now imagine if you had your QR (or Quick Response Code) AND your Google places listing BOTH optimized for YOUR real estate business… this could mean HUGE amounts of traffic for your website. this also gives you an even BIGGER advantage in your local area while these two very valuable tools are largely misunderstood by your competition.
These are just TWO of the powerful tools that I will teach you how to set up and leverage in your marketing strategy during my Social Max Boot camp.
Not ONLY are you going to learn how to use facebook, twitter, youtube and linked in, but you are also going to learn about powerful tools like SEO, Lead Capture pages, email autoresponders, QR codes, Google maps and much much more…
And the best part is that you will be learning a little bit every week, spending about 2-4 hours of time that you manage into your schedule at a time that is convenient for you. Everything is run through a private facebook group where you can work along with teammates to learn together, discuss together and encourage each other through each week of Boot camp. I give you my personal guarantee that at the end of this boot camp you will wonder why you ever waited to learn about social network marketing.
Don’t wait, watch this video, sign up for Social Max Boot Camp and I will see YOU on the first day of bootcamp.
If You Do Not See The Video Above Then Please Press F5 On Your KeyBoard
I Have A Question For You…
How much are you spending on marketing?
How much money are you giving away to 'experts' who know nothing more than how to 'market' YOU into handing over your hard earned money?
They are charging you $$$, so they must know what they are talking about, right?
WRONG!
If a website cost you $5,000 it just MUST be good for your business, right?
WRONG!
REALITY: It's just a website that cost you $5k. The 19 yr. old marketing 'expert' that built it doesn't know a thing about marketing, SEO, SEM SMO or social networks. He just knew how to sell you a fancy website.
Marketing 'experts' muddy the water by using buzz words such as 'search engine optimization', 'search engine marketing' 'social media marketing', 'social network marketing', 'affiliate marketing', 'multiple streams of income'… it's enough noise to confuse even the 'experts' competing against each other!
Marketing Is Evolving To Filter Out The Noise! The Big Players Already Know This!
Google – has perfected search, now they simply concentrate on weeding out spam.
Facebook – has perfected social networking, now they simply concentrate on weeding out spam.
So, Cheryl, Then Why Is The General Public Still Losing Multi-Billions Of Dollars Falling For Spam?
ANSWER: Marketing 'Experts'.
The general public justifies large budgets in marketing and advertising by the pricing that is set by 'experts'.
The general public simply CANNOT GET simple straightforward information so that it can decide to either hire an 'expert' or do it themselves?
3 HUGE PROBLEMS HERE!
PROBLEM 1. 'Experts' use the word 'simple' in marketing to draw you in to their FREE training. In their training they explain to you how difficult 'your problem' really is and then try to 'sell' you on their idea; their product. Expert training is 'expertly' designed to market YOU more training, more products, and more solutions, on something that was supposed to be 'simple'. Good marketing is based on psychology. The psychology of the sale.
PROBLEM 2. Internet Marketing 'Experts' base their training on research and facts from other Internet Marketing 'experts'. Last I checked there is no Internet Marketing 'expert' award accademy, so... how do we know which 'expert' has no idea what he's talking about, which 'expert' never knew what he was talking about, and then how do we know how many other 'experts' based their 'expertise' on the first 'expert', how many other 'experts' went off to form ideas based on the numbers that one 'expert' made up, and then... OMG I am getting a headache... NEXT
PROBLEM 3. Research (especially in marketing) is PAID opinion. Take AdWords for example – people get PAID for their opinions via a betting system designed for and (now with 'research') by people that know absolutely nothing about intenet marketing. Small business owners are spinning the wheels of luck and 'experts' are training YOU on how to follow suit and lose YOUR money playing the same game.
The odds are against you in marketing. The house 'experts' knows the rules and they train you to keep doing it. (Marketing and gambling are both multi-BILLION dollar industries)
The Truth Is There Is NO EXPERT CERTIFICATION For SEO, Social Media, Or Social Networking.
I, for one, am TOTALLY against standardization... Think about it! We would have to recertify every time Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (and a multitude of other social networking sites) made a major change to their site, algorithms, applications etc etc. While this may become a gold-mine of a business venture for the certifying testing authority, it will become a financial nightmare and logistic HELL for those of us actually making a living practicing SEO for our clients.
Oh! You think it's just everyday scammers that try to pass off certification as a reality? Nope! Even the NAR® (National Association of Realtors®) is guilty of trying to make a quick buck off the back of unsuspecting consumers. At one point they too were offering a Social Media Expert 'Certification' to unsuspecting real estate agents! They collected money, scheduled the two day 'certification event' and then suddenly... without notice... they quietly returned everyone's money and cancelled the event. hmmmmmmm???... no further comments there....
THAT'S exactly why most 'experts' are young kids in this industry. There are hundreds of thousands of them out there. Amateurs with keyboards – learning the cheat codes – playing the game – Only THIS game is TAKING your money so they can keep playing!
What They Don't Want You To Know: Marketing Is A Chess Game And There Is No Cheating In Chess.
In an industry where it is our responsibility to our clients to teach them how to grow their business with the least amount of investment and maximum ROI (return on investment), the opposite is profusely true. Marketing 'experts' USE marketing to make more money for themselves, rather than train you how to do it on your own.
Marketing professionals should be ethically bound to make our clients lives simpler, guide them in the right direction, help them grow their business to grow our business through testimonials of the clients we have helped before… not through wild claims, buzz words and hype!
But the opposite is undeniably true in this industry.
The marketing industry is RAMPANT with 'experts' that try to bully you into spending more marketing $$$ to compete with 'big brand marketing'.
REALITY: YOU are not competing with 'big brand marketing'. YOU are competing with your competition. (Other small business owners).
Ever wonder why 'experts' talk about guerilla marketing strategies amongst themselves so much?
GUERILLA (noun) n. A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy, as by surprise raids.
Think about it!
There is a cesspool of con-artists out there planning their next attack on your wallet.
This is exactly why I created Social Max Boot Camp!
Social Max Boot Camp arms you with the information you need to protect your marketing dollars by teaching you to compete in YOUR target market against YOUR competition.
In a large crowd an 'idea' becomes a reality.
The idea is that you have to spend $$$ to make $$$
The REALITY is… NOPE! It's just called work.
Back to basics…. Its ugly, but it works! You don't have to sell the farm or mortgage the house to afford page 1 results on Google – you just have to WORK to get there and Social Max Boot Camp will teach you how to get there without spending $5k, $10k, or even $20k on the promises of the SEO expert that had to use email to get your attention. (How does that work exactly?... They are an 'expert' in SEO right?
What Will I Learn In Boot Camp?
Social MAX Boot Camp teaches you the straightforward way to create an entire targeted social marketing strategy for your business. I give you my personal guarantee that this will be the single most important thing you EVER do for your business.
In Fact if you disagree at anytime, you will have the chance to publicly announce so on MY public profiles.
To give you a better idea of what is entailed, this is what you can expect from Boot Camp.
Boot Camp Manuals
ALL learning is self-paced! There are PDFs and assignments broken into weekly manageble KISS (keep it seriously simple) training sections. You download your Training Guide and assignments once per week and then you have the ENTIRE week to learn, watch videos, discuss and complete your assignments alongside fellow professionals in a private group!!
There is ACCOUNTABILITY! You work at your pace in boot camp, but there are weekly assignments that require you to interact, help, learn from, support and ROOT-ON your fellow 'recruits'. Throughout the week you will need to log on and 'check-in' with your group.
There are NO Specific meeting times. Everything is PDF or pre-recorded video.
WEBSITE REVIEW
As a group, we will go over your site, site content, titles descriptions, anchor text linking and see what needs to be improved. The full scope of search engine optimization is not needed to get great results, no matter what you pay an 'expert'.
PROFILES
We will update and optimize all of your social profiles and will set them up for your business. Your personal profiles MUST have a picture of you and be personalized to you. Your business profiles must be customized to your business. We will not proceed with business profiles in violation of the social networks. Each social network is different and it is my job to help you get your profiles setup correctly the first time.
We will create uniform branding across all of your social networks. If you do not have branding yet, then my graphics team can work with you to design an image that is right for your business. This is optional and you will have to email me to ask my graphics team to work with you. I'm not going to try to sell this to you. If you need it, let me know.
FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS
We will be focusing on the top social networks. (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn)
Everything will be customized and SEO optimized so that we don't lose leads along the path to your business website(s).
We will be working on your Facebook profile, your Facebook business page, twitter profile, YouTube channel and you will learn how to load them all with content that attracts LEADS. All of the bio information will be complete and accurate and have a call to action to identify your target market and draw them into an offer.
CONNECTING
We will be connecting all of your social networks, so that no matter where we pick up a lead, they will be directed to their preference of interaction. Some people are drawn to text articles, some to video, and others to other forms of interaction. Whatever their preference, we will have a way for them to interact with you in their preferred way.
BLOG
As part of the Social MAX Boot Camp, we will be setting up a brand new WordPress blog for your business. We will be integrating your blog with your social networks so that all networks are updated as to your business' blog activity. We will use Facebook and Twitter connect, add security to prevent spam comments and add content to get the blog ready for visitors. We will create feeds both to and from your blog to MAXIMIZE your exposure on the internet. The blog IS the central most important part of your social marketing strategy, so we will be adding content before we ever even try to move traffic. I WILL BE BUILDING YOUR BLOG FOR YOU. So, during week 1 of training I will need you to purchase a domain name for your new WordPress blog.
Again, I am a consultant, a Marketing Professional, not a telemarketer, not a car salesman and certainly not a member of the guerilla marketing militia. I am here as you need me. If you are paying to learn from me and have a question, ask me and i will give you an answer (not the industry norm of a sales pitch for the next product).
FRIENDS, FANS, FOLLOWERS, SUBSCRIBERS
Once we have everything setup and connected. We have added content and we are ready for traffic, then we will then set to work growing your social network. We will be working to attract friends, fans, followers and subscribers using many different approaches. Press releases, articles, videos, blogs... all of these are VERY powerful and a heck of a lot easier than you think. I will provide templates to help and other sources to make this as simple as possible.
IT TAKES WORK!
This boot camp takes about four to eight weeks JUST to get started. Boot Camp is very intensive and we will be making many changes to your social network to make sure that we can attract your target market.
IT FOCUSES On YOUR BUSINESS And YOUR CLIENTS!
Everything we do is business and customer centric. We will make sure that your business and your customer come together in a way that is mutuallybeneficial.
IT'S UP TO YOU
NO ONE else is going to do this for you without a significant out-of-pocket investment. You know your business better than I do, so if this is something that you see directly benefiting you and your business, then by all means... let's move forward and get you registered for Boot Camp.
BUT, THE CATCH IS...
If during training, you do not feel that Social MAX boot camp is for you, if you do not feel that you will have the 2-4 hours a week to dedicate to your business and fellow recruits, if you feel that your business is different, that your business is immune to wasting marketing dollars, or if you feel that this simply just will not work for your business, then that is fine. No one is going to force you. If you do not make it through Boot Camp, there will be NO refunds. With Boot Camp comes accountability. Your fellow recruits are counting on you, so if you give up and drop out and let them down. THAT is on you! No one said Boot Camp was easy! But then again, no one ever complained about the rewards that come with the completion of Boot Camp.
I look forward to working with you during your Social MAX Boot Camp and helping you take your business BEYOND the next level!
-Cheryl
PS - Read on if you are interested in the cost of this program and dont want to click the 'registration' button to find out.
PSS - Comment on this blog with "I LOVE IT!" along with your own thoughts to receive a FREE downloadable copy of the WordPress Manual Video Training Series with 47 Videos on how to setup and configure wordpress.
There is a one time $495 enrollment fee for access to the initial BOOT CAMP training. BUT If you are lucky enough to get in on the first EARLY BIRD registration, you could get in for as little as $149. The price increases as we get closer to the start date. Every second you wait is another second closer to the next price increase.
Then, if you sucessfully complete the Boot Camp program, the cost of Social Max membership, the monthly hosting of your blog, and ongoing personal support is less than the cost of a gym membership and (if you are like me) will get more use than a gym membership! $47 a month gives you access to everything. No upsells, no additional packages, no gold memberships. That's it. When was the last time you were given direct access to a business consultant for less than the cost of a gym membership?
All I ask is that you stay with me for one year, work hard, participate with other members, and approach me when you can't find something in the training or discussion areas.The cost is fixed. You will get out of it what you put into it.
If you have read this far and still have not registered, then, I have to ask, why are you still reading? You know this is something that you NEED to do for your business, You know that you don't want to spend thousands of $$$ for someone else to do it for you and NO ONE is going to do it for free! So get off the fence and get registered today!
Let's get started NOW while it is fresh in your mind.... Next months leads arent looking much better if something doesnt change RIGHT NOW!
This week we will be going back to your website to make some very important changes that will help put your website on the first page of Google SERPs (search engine results pages) almost overnight! In week 8 this will make a HUGE difference in website traffic for your business!
So let’s get started!
Let’s talk about the very first page that most people see when they visit your website. The first page (landing page or index page) of your website should not have a lot of information on it. It should be an introduction with a summary of your services and clear navigation to all the different services or products you offer. If you list your products/services here, then each product or service should have a title with a short (less than 100 words) description. Your index or landing page should also offer different forms of contacting you through your social networks and different ways of ‘interacting with’ you (your website and social media).
What’s The Goal of Your Index Page?
The goal of the index (or landing) page is to lead your visitor to the information they are looking for quickly. What information is the visitor looking for? You need to get them to that information VERY quickly before they lose interest. A very useful tool for determining if you are losing visitors is called a bounce rate. You should have Google analytics installed on your website to track visitor behavior on your site. Bounce rate is a measurement of how many people enter and leave your site on and from the same page without accessing any other pages on your site. Basically it’s a measurement of your site ‘appeal’; both visually and contextually.
Why is This So Important Cheryl?
It all comes down to your website. You all have great expectations of this Social Presence course. I am quite sure that at the end of 8 weeks’ worth of work you expect to get more leads from your website and social presence. Whether you are looking to get more sales, more leads or more investors... Whatever the case may be, you must know where you started to get anywhere.
As a potential customer, lead or investor….
Is the site appealing?
Is the site navigation clear?
Is the information presented clear or confusing?
Did you want to stay on the site for more information or did you immediately want to leave?
Is there a clearly defined goal? (call to action)
This is the ‘human’ aspect of the site. When a human visits your site, what is their impression? How can you improve that impression to get people to contact you about your services? Research shows that you have about 2-3 clicks (page views) to get a targeted human visitor to contact you about your services. So, what I need you to do this week is take a good look at your site.
What it all boils down to is this… we can spend the next 8 weeks writing awesome blog posts, growing your social network, and attracting leads, but when they finally get to your website… will you lose them immediately?
Let’s use this as an example: I could spend all the time in the world with a local ‘Fancy Italian Restaurant’ marketing them: placing ads, sending out postcards, developing radio copy etc. etc. etc about fine food and good atmosphere… but when people actually go there, open the door and its nothing but a biker bar with loud obnoxious music serving spaghetti and beer… those ‘visitors’ will open the door and immediately leave.
THAT is your bounce rate…
So, in 8 weeks, if you come to me and say… Cheryl, I spent all this time working on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and posting my butt off and I just don’t get it… where are my leads??? The first thing that I am going to do is say…
Please send me a link to your website.
If I have to come back and say … “biker bar”… then we are both going to be a little embarrassed. ;)
Search Engine Optimization
In much the same way a human looks at your site, a search engine indexes your site based on the information presented. A search engine does not see your site the same way a human does. It only sees text, navigation and links. So in order to improve your search engine ranking (to get more human visitors) you need to improve your ‘presentation’ to a search engine. I will need you to choose 5 pages on your website to look at. We are going to work on these 5 pages and make them more ‘friendly’ to search engines.
Page URL – Your page URL SHOULD have keywords contained within. For example: www.cherylwaller.com/page 2.html is not going to be indexed as well as www.cherylwaller.com/broward-county-real-estate-for-sale.html
Page Title – Your page title is what is displayed in search engine results (SERPs) at the top of your listing. Keep this at around 65 characters and under 70 so that the entire title shows in search engine results
Page description – If you DO NOT have a page description, search engine indexers will CHOOSE a description based on the text on the page. If the only text on the page is your copyright information (for example) this will display directly under your page title in SERPs. Each of your pages needs to have its own description with keywords contained within. Keep this under 160 characters for each page. EXCEPTION: Google will choose an excerpt of the most relevant information on the page to display as the description. This is another reason why page content is so important.
Keywords – While keywords are not looked at by Google, other search engines do look at them and it will help you more clearly define your SEO goals when working on several pages. List 2-5 keywords/phrases for each page. These keywords should appear not only appear in the URL, title and description, but should also appear early in the content of the page. With latent semantic indexing, avoid keyword repetition. Your keyword density should be less than 1% for your page and text should have lots of relevant content to your keywords. If you find yourself writing about the keywords of another page of your site, be sure to anchor text link to that page instead of confusing the visitor (and search engines) with too much information about varied topics. Stick to the topic (keyphrase) and provide links for additional information.
Headings – commonly referred to as <h1></h1>, <h2></h2>, <h3></h3>, etc., the heading tags on your webpage tell a search engine the level of importance of each title. While the above might look like gobbly gook to you, it’s actually quite simple. H1 = heading of 1st importance, H2 = heading of second importance etc. Like in grammar school, each one should support the others, BUT you can ONLY have ONE H1 or topic for the page. This H1 heading MUST contain the same keyphrase as you are using in your URL, Title, and Description.
For example, let’s say that your keyphrase for a page is ‘Austin TX Plumbing Services’
Your URL should be: http://myplumbinbwebsite.com/austin-tx-plumbing-services.html
Your Title should include the phrase ‘Austin TX Plumbing Services’ EXACTLY in that order.
Your Description should include the phrase ‘Austin TX Plumbing Services’ EXACTLY in that order.
Your Keywords should include the words ‘Austin TX Plumbing Services’ EXACTLY in that order.
Your H1 heading should include the phrase ‘Austin TX Plumbing Services’ EXACTLY in that order.
NOTE: I DO NOT expect you to fix your entire website this week. The entire purpose of this week’s assignments is to fix FIVE pages that we can use in weeks 7 & 8 to direct traffic and get leads and conversions! You have plenty of time to fix the rest of your website and I do not want you getting off track from the course. We need to get this done on five pages and then move on to week 7 to start getting TRAFFIC from your social profiles. In week 8 we will be connecting EVERYTHING together and using a fortune 500 technique to draw traffic from sources all over the internet. So, please… Focus on these five pages. Add content, straighten out the title, descriptions, keywords, headings and content and let’s get your exposure on the internet fully exposed next week!
That’s it for this week and WHEW you have quite a bit of homework this week. Keep in mind it will be well worth it when we get to week 8 with our Fortune 500 Company Technique! Next week, in week 7, we will be going back to your social profiles and connecting these five pages in a way that will open the floodgates for traffic to your site!
See you next week!
-Cheryl
********** Interested in Weeks 1-5 and weeks 7-8 of Your Social Presence Training?
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Building trust is essential to any internet marketing strategy.Unless people trust you - they won't use your services.So, how can a real estate agent build trust and credibility on the internet before that first person-to-person interaction?
Here are 4 tools to use to build trust on the internet:
Use Presentation
Your website is your first impression.Keep it fresh and informative with plenty of anchor text links to additional information on the same topic so that your visitors stay engaged.Remember that your potential client is in the information gathering part of the sales process. If they just wanted a CMA or a ‘free report’ they could have requested one from the 10 other websites they skipped while making their way to YOUR website. What they need right now is a conviction in their decision to contact you. They want to know if they can trust you. They want to know what makes YOU different from the 5 other agent sites they have seen today. This is your one chance to turn that first impression into a phone call or request for additional information. Are you using that chance wisely?
Use Etiquette
When you answer a phone call from a potential client, do you answer “Wht up? Watchu wan frm me 2day?”… OR do you stand in front of their front door with a neon sign from Vegas that blinks “OPEN”? OF COURSE NOT… So, be careful that you are not doing that with your website and blogs. In this day and age of text messaging, tweeting and quick communications we tend to forget that we are not using proper English. We also tend to forget that EVEN if we absolutely LOVE that cute dancing cowboy, he really doesn’t belong in our website design. So, double check your website content and blog posts. When visitors see typos, bad grammar, poor layout and neglected copy, you are presenting a negative first impression. The dancing cowboy and any other ‘neon signs’ need to go too. If you present yourself poorly, you can’t expect to gain trust, respect or authority in your field.
Use Personality
In addition to being great SEO tools, Blogs are a vital trust building tool.They offer the opportunity to present your personality.People are much more likely to trust your website if it has a human presence.Blogs are a great way to build customer relationships too.Keep them coming back for more by providing valuable information with a bit of humor.The technique only works if posts are regular and consistent.If you just don't have the time, hire an internet marketing consultant to help.
Use News
A good way to do this is through the use of SEO’d press releases.People trust news sources more readily than they trust advertisements or website copy. Get into the habit of writing a press release at least once a month and use at least two news distribution services. This doesn’t and shouldn’t cost you more than your time. Not only will it help bring human visitors to your site, but it also helps build strong backlinks to your site. Two free distribution services for you to get started with are http://www.1888pressrelease.com/ and http://www.1888pressrelease.com/
Want more tips? Request a website and social presence analysis and you will automatically be enrolled in my 8 week course '3X Website Traffic in 90 Days'.
Finally! Today it is pouring out here in Port Saint Lucie Florida and WOW did we need it! As I am sitting here, I can hear the crackle of the thunderstorm and the rain pounding heavily on my roof. Just a few moments ago I sat outside watching the rain. That is until the wind decided to play dodge-ball with the drops of rain as its weapons. It’s so beautiful to watch the rain. The only draw-back is that I might actually have to mow the lawn soon… lol
Anyway, I actually started to write this post for a very important reason…
Earlier today, I decided to come up with a few templates that I could customize for a few smart clients that decided to take advantage of a two day special that I am running. I had a bit of an argument with myself since I am a big nay-sayer against using template sites. The biggest reason is that template sites usually come with content (text) and that causes a lot of duplicate content issues when people do not change the original content on the site. Well, to solve that, I decided that I would just reduce the cost to 10% of the normal price and not include content.
Then I thought..
Well, I can reduce the cost of content too and still make this worthwhile to a few smart real estate agents that knew their site needed an update, but were just dragging their heels because of the cost (normally $1K just for the site).
Anyway… Here is where you come in…
If you are looking for a website change, need to integrate your social networking into your website, want a lead generator for your current website OR are just interested in the solution that I came up with…. Well, then you have about another day to check out my social website example before I take it down.
Click on the Image below to see the video!
I would love to keep this going forever but unfortunately I have lost the secret cloning machine and now there is only one of me ;)
Besides, I told my boyfriend what I am doing and he thinks I’m nuts.. He told me that it’s like selling a Mercedes for $99 and people are going to think there is something wrong with it… his advice was… “Don’t do it” “Take it down”.
Well, he doesn’t get on the internet much so I’m just going to leave this up until tomorrow at midnight.
How would you like to get MORE free traffic to your website from the search engines?
How would you like to easily CONVERT that traffic into customers?
Many real estate agents spend THOUSANDS of dollars to SEO, SEM, SMM and SMO 'experts' only to wind up on page 50 of Google SERPs (Search Engine results pages). OR worse, they get random, non-targeted PAID traffic that does nothing more but increase the bounce rate of their site. The results are nothing more than dismal to say the least.
Internet marketing, done properly, is proven to increase leads and profits for smart real estate agents that properly optimize their site for search engines. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project 87% of all internet users use a search engine to find information online. Similarly, according to the 2009 NAR profile of buyers and sellers, 9 out of 10 home buyers begin their search for a home on the internet. 89% of those buyers used a real estate agent for information and 79% closed with an agent.
These savvy internet home buyers are already looking to buy a house; they are just searching for WHOM to buy it with.
According to Google, 73% of online activity is related to local content. So, the simple fact is that your next client is online right now looking for you.
Keep reading...
Is your business listed in the top 10 Google results?
Press F5 on your keyboard if you do not see the video below.
Here are the facts:
Position #1 in Google receives approximately 34% of all traffic searching for a specific key phrase.
Position #2 receives approximately 17%
Position #3 receives almost 11.5%
Position #4 receives almost 8%
Position #5 - receives 6 percent and then it drops about 1% per position all the way down to position 10 at 2.71%
Clearly, you need to have your business at the top position in Google results if you are at all serious about gaining more traffic to your website. But the question is, how do you get your website to the top position for real estate in your area?
The answer is... with strategic planning using trusted Google webmaster guidelines. Play by the rules to win the top spot. Many small business owners (and some unscrupulous SEO 'experts') try to cheat by buying links, duplicating content, using lots of keywords, creating pages that are only for search engines (still rubbing my head on that one - search engines don't buy anything), participating in link schemes etc. etc. etc.
I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE to get YOUR business Website to the first page of Google Results THE RIGHT WAY within 30-60 day's time.
How can I make such a bold statement? Because... I have done it over and over again.
Keep reading...
The simple fact is that most small businesses don't have a clue about SEO. Heck, even most of the web designers I have worked with in the past are absolutely clueless when it comes to optimizing a site for the search engines. They are GREAT with design but they have no idea that the 'home page' should NEVER be called 'Home'. They have never even fathomed what the heck a 'Meta tag' is and they sure don't know anything about titles, descriptions or content. They just recycle the same content that 100 other websites are using.
This is actually really GOOD NEWS for YOU!
Why? Because those clueless small business owners are your real estate competition on Google and those talented web designers (that know NOTHING about SEO) are being hired by your competition to build them a website that is going to do little more than become a bragging tidbit on the golf course. I can hear them now, "Hey George, did you check out my new website?" ""Yeah man, awesome design."
Design means nothing if you are in a dark closet.
Look, you wouldn't have read this far if you weren't at all interested in making more money with your real estate business by optimizing your online presence. So, click on 'Get Started' below, fill in the form and let's get an idea of what your site needs to make it to that top spot. There is no cost and no obligation. You will get an-depth look at your website and social presence AND if I can't do it for you (because maybe you live in geek-ville where all the real estate agents know exactly what they are doing with their websites), I'm going to tell you before you hire me. BUT, no one is going to take that first step for you, so do it now while it is fresh in your mind.
You know you need an online presence. You know you need to blog consistently to get more business. And you know that you are falling behind further and further each day. But, you still can't seem to get the time to sit down and figure it all out.
Does this sound like you??
Below is week 3 of an 8 week e-course that I offer on my website. The course is 100% free and helps you build your online presence in 8 weeks. To get weeks 1,2 and 4-8 just hop on over to my social network marketingwebsite or just click on the BIG button to your right that says 'Start Now' and sign up ;)
Ready to get busy?
Week 3 | Optimizing Your Online Presence
Last week we installed our WordPress blog, fixed our permalinks, installed our plugins and chose our theme for a clean, authoritative look.
This week we will be going over the plugins that we installed, get them configured for our WP blog and set up some syndicated content.
PLUGINS First, let’s go over some of the plugins that we installed last week. First I will explain what each one does and then I will go over syndication to get you started with some content on your blog.
Askimet** Askimetis an anti-spam plugin that has become the ultimate essential. If you do not install this and set the API key, then you will receive MANY spam posts from automated bots. This is very simple to get up and running. Just follow the instructions in the warning that will appear at the top of your site after you activate this plugin.
All in one SEO** All in one SEOdoes several things for your blog to help with SEO. One of the most important is that it allows you to create a custom title and description for each of your posts so that you have better chances of appearing for your key terms. Every time you post a blog, scroll down below the blog and enter a custom title and description that includes your key phrase for the post. You can use my SERP tool to make sure you are using the correct amount of characters. http://www.cherylwaller.com/SEO_SERP_Tool.html
Simple Facebook Connect Simple Facebook Connectcomes with several options that you can activate to integrate with Facebook on your blog. For now we will only be using the fan box with this plug-in. Many of the options require that you set up a Facebook application for functionality. For the purposes of this course, I will not be getting into how to create an application.
Google Analyticator Google Analyticatorallows you to integrate Google analytics into your blog. Simply set up your Google analytics account (www.google.com/analytics) then go into Settings>Google Analyticator to set this up for your blog.
Mailchimp (if you use their service) Mailchimp is optional. Please follow the instructions under settings. This is very easy to get going.
Constant contact (ditto the above) This is optional. Please follow the instructions under settings. This is very easy to get going.
Visitors Who’s Online Maps I personally love this plug in. While Google Analytics is great, you get real time visitor information with Visitors Who's Online Maps. Once you activate this plugin there will be a warning to install maps. Just click on the link provided in the warning and this is all set to go.
WP Captcha Free WPis a great little program that works like a captcha without the user having to decipher squiggly little lines into some type of discernable text. It works in the background to prevent bot spam.
WP auto tagger (oryql autotagger.. pick one.. your choice)** One or the other, using these will help create tags for your posts for better indexing in the search engines.
WP super edit WP super editis a great little plug in for formatting your posts. Once installed, you will have better options for formatting text and graphics.
Yet another related posts plugin (requires template files to be moved into your theme folder) This plugin is great because it encourages readers to stay on your blog and read additional posts about the same topic. The only drawback is that when you install this, you will have to use an FTP to move files from the YARPPplugins folder to your theme folder. If I just lost you with the last statement then just skip this plugin or send me an email and ask for help and I will see what I can do for you.
YouTube widget YouTube Widget allows you to place a YouTube video of your choice in the sidebar of your blog.
Pretty link lite Pretty link lite, once activated, will give you a little tool bar on your dashboard that allows you to shorten links using your own URL.
TweetBacks & TweetBacks helper TweetBacks& TweetBacks helperwork together to scan twitter for comments about your blog posts. It will then pull those in as comments about the post and allow you to moderate those ‘comments’.
Feedwordpress & Feedwordpress duplicate post filter** Feedwordpress& Feedwordpress duplicate post filterare the ULTIMATE essentials for your WordPress blog and we will be using this later to pull content into your blog. Just get these both installed and activated and I will be going over Feedwordpress here in a few minutes.
YD Feedwordpress YD Feedwordpresshelps with pulling images with your syndicated blog content. Again, just get this installed and activated and we will get more into this in a moment.
Google XML Site Maps** Google XML Sitemaps is another ULTIMATE essential for your blog. Get this installed and activated as soon as possible. What this little gem does is automatically build your sitemaps for submission to search engines and then NOTIFIES them of changes for you in the background.
SEO tag Cloud widget Although WordPress has its own tag cloud widget, SEO tag Cloud widget allows you to limit the amount of tags and presents the tags to search engines in a more SEO friendly way.
Social profiles widget** You can list links to all of your social networks with social profiles widget . This is a very easy plugin to use and allows you several options for the buttons that are displayed. You can choose from different buttons and different sized buttons to compliment your WordPress theme.
Digg this O’mine Digg This O'mineadds a ‘digg this’ button of your choice to all of your blog posts. Once installed and activated, just go into settings to choose how you would like the button displayed.
Auto SEO tags Auto SEO tagsis another automatic SEO tag generator. This little guy takes incoming queries from search engines and adds them to the appropriate posts.
Simple Facebook comments(requires configuration with Facebook API) Like with simple Facebook connect, simple facebook commentswill require you to set up an application within Facebook. However, this plugin, once installed properly, allows visitors to comment on your blog without logging into WordPress.
**The plugins with the two stars are the BARE minimum you need to install for this course.
FEEDWORDPRESS SETUP
Now that we have all of our plugins installed and configured, let’s move into content. One of the greatest things about WordPress is that you can syndicate (or republish) content that is relevant to your industry and business without worrying about copyright infringement. By using RSS feeds from other blogs, you can add as much or as little content as you would like.
How is this NOT stealing content?
Simply because that is the beauty of RSS (Really Simple Syndication). With the emphasis on syndication.
When you syndicate a blog, WordPress automatically notifies the other blog that it is being syndicated. This is called a pingback. When a blog is syndicated, this pingback works as a sort of ‘vote’ for the blog you are syndicating. This is good for the other blogs SEO. Now, as long as you setup your syndicated feed correctly (to give proper credit on your blog), you should never run into problems with copyright infringement.
LET’S GET STARTED
So let’s get started with your first syndication. For purposes of this course, I will be using a Wall Street Journal RSS feed.
First, we need to locate a feed to use. So let’s go over to the Wall Street Journal and find one we think has relevant content that will help our blog. http://blogs.wsj.com/
I am going to sort the list by Business and choose a blog about Law just for demonstration.
After I click on ‘Law Blog’, I am going to look to the right of the blog above the authors box and locate the RSS icon. I click on that icon and look for the RSS URL in the browser bar.
I copy that URL and head over to the admin section of my blog. There I’m going to head to the dashboard and scroll down on the left hand side to Syndication.
I will paste the URL that I just copied from WSJ into the feed box and click ‘add’.
WordPress will now locate the feed and show me different alternatives for the feed. I will pick the one that shows the images and where the feed is presented in a visually appealing manner. In this case, WordPress only returns one feed and it looks fine. I will click ‘use this feed’ and then I will work on configuring the feed.
Let’s start with ‘feed’ and then move on to each of the following: posts, authors, categories.
Rather than spend a lot of time here, I am just going to give you the settings for each.
FEED Default Settings
POSTS Just make sure that the permalinks point to the original website and you are not accepting comments or pings. Save Changes.
AUTHORS Click on the radio button for ‘All posts syndicated from this feed…’ and then select ‘Will be assigned to a new user’. A text box will appear. Enter WSJ (or the name of the syndication source) and then save changes.
CATEGORIES First make sure that you are ONLY creating new post tags (not categories), leave the filter on ‘won’t filter’, then scroll down to the bottom.
Here with categories you can use your own discretion. Depending on the feed, create categories that match the topics of the feed, select those categories. Deselect ‘uncategorized’ and then save changes.
That’s all there is to it for adding a feed. Once you have added a few feeds, then we can turn on the automatic updates so that you have fresh new content coming through your blog.
To turn on automatic updates, go to feeds & updates. Select ‘automatically check for updates after page loads' and then save changes.
That’s it for this week! Next week we will start working on your different social profiles and then we will come back to your blog in week 8 to connect everything together. Between now and then you will have accumulated plenty of content to push to the social networks so that your blog does not look empty when the masses of traffic come through to see your blog!
Don’t forget to sign up for weeks 1,2, and 4-8 on my social network marketing website! See You Next week!
Social Media Optimization Business Packages For Charity
Armed Forces Day is Saturday May 21, 2011.
As a US Navy Veteran I would like to do my part to encourage philanthropy toward our military and their families. Many veterans have been severely injured during their period of service and require homes that accommodate their disabilities. Donate $100 or more to Homes for Our Troops (They build specially adapted homes at no cost for severely injured vets) or any charity listed on the 'Support Our Troops' page of Charity Navigator and get ANY SMO package at the extremely discounted price.
Army SGT Austin Burchard was left a paraplegic due to severe injuries caused by a gunshot wound while manning a post in a gun turret in Wardack Province, Afghanistan on March 19, 2009. Upon feeling the impact of the bullet fired from the Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), SGT Burchard began losing feeling first in his feet and then in his legs followed by excruciating pain in his abdomen as his internal organs suffered irreversible damage. Airlifted to the Forward Operating Base, SGT Burchard underwent life-saving surgery to remove his spleen, left kidney, and his lower colon.
In appreciation for your donations, I am offering my SMO packages at extremely reduced prices. These are the same exact packages offered in my products and services. These packages are not watered-down in any way shape or form other than the price. I do not require that you send me a receipt from the organization to which you made the donation, but I do require that you be honest when ordering these packages. Please make sure that you have made the required donation to support home ownership for those that have lost use of their limbs, eyes or worse while protecting our country.
Each package includes a custom personal branding package that is designed based on your current marketing brand and image. Logos, images and styles will be imported from your current website design. Your blog, Facebook business page, Twitter background and YouTube channel will all be customized with your current branding. Blog feeds are imported into your blog from sources such as the Wall Street Journal, National Association of Realtors and local feeds from media sources in your geographical area. Your blog is then automated with Facebook and Twitter. Your YouTube channel is customized and also fed into your blog for automated updating of your blog when videos are uploaded to YouTube. Optimization and automation of your social networks significantly helps improve your ranking on Google and other search engines by feeding consistent and relevant content across powerful social networks.
Domain name for blog must be purchase seperately through your choice of domain registrars. Hosting is $5 per month or $50 for the year.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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