Kay's Real Estate SEO Blog

Stop Hackers: Protect Your WordPress Blog

2008-07-03T11:46:00Z

You need some serious password protection if you have a WordPress blog.

Your wp-admin directory is not the only part of your blog that needs protection...plugins, scripts, includes and content can all be hacked.

I'm paying more attention to this now because one of my blogs got hacked last week. Hundreds of invisible links for body part enlargement products and porn were attached to one of my blog posts, and the only reason I discovered the hack was because there were so many lines of code they crashed the post. I was lucky that only one post was affected.

Research led me to the AskApache Password Protect plugin. This is a BIG gun - the author says "It's like being surrounded by a small army, a sniper can still get you, but you can forget about the ground troops." It's simple enough to use - choose a username and password and you're done.

I also recommend Replace WP Version. This plugin removes your blog version so virus and worm programs that rely on software versions are foiled.

Login LockDown will record the IP address and timestamp of failed WP login attempts, and will disable the login function if a certain number of failed attempts are made. This prevents brute force password recovery.

WP Security Scan scans your WP installation for security vulnerabilities and suggests corrective actions.

While researching this post I found even more information on safeguarding your blog from Mircea Goia's post Is your Wordpress blog hacked?Why not upgrade to the latest version?

It's a matter of when, not if. Take these precautions before your blog gets hacked.

Keyword Tool, 20% off BOTW, and a Cool Glass of Lemonade

2008-07-02T15:17:51Z

The SEO Diva is featuring a few new articles that you may find helpful in your search marketing efforts.

Keyword Research for the Lazy features an inexpensive and super-easy to use tool I came across that utilizes Google Trends.

Marketing Your Lemonade Stand Online borrows from a children's guide on lemonade stand marketing. The same principles apply to online marketing.

Best of the Web (BOTW) Discount Code for July 2008 is just that - a 20% discount off all their directories and services. Be sure to check out their BOTW Local and add your business profile page to their site.

Online Marketing to Baby Boomers

2008-06-19T09:05:02Z

When you’re designing and adding content to your web site, consider the age group you want to reach. If your target market consists of individuals 45 and older, take a look at the following statistics from a recent Burst Media survey. (Stats are rounded.)

80% of those age 18-34 say web sites are designed for them, but that percentage decreases until only 35% of the 45-54 age segment, and 20% of the 55 and older group, feel sites are designed for people their age. Lest you think older people aren’t using the Internet much, almost 50% of the 55+ users said if they were unable to access the Internet their daily lives would be significantly disrupted.

The percentage is even more dismal when it comes to the focus of online advertising. The 45+ crowd surveyed said only 17% of it is designed for them. This means the population with the most disposable income is being overlooked by online advertisers.

70% of adults age 50 to 64 are online, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 80% of them are on broadband, and their overall usage patterns mirror other age segments.

Internet marketers and advertisers must realize that the Baby Boomers and older individuals, who comprise a full third of the U.S. population and control over 83% of consumer spending, are rapidly integrating the Internet into their lives. In fact, Boomers have been at the forefront of technology for years - they invented a lot of it!

Baby Boomer Online Spending

The Internet is the most important source of information for Baby Boomers when they make a major marketing purchase, such as automobiles or appliances (Zoomerang). Adults 50+ spend an average of $7 billion online annually (SeniorNet), and 42% of all travel industry purchases happen online, with adults 50+ accounting for 80% of all luxury travel spending (Pew Internet and American Life Project).

By 2010, adults 45-years-old and older will out-spend younger adults by $1 trillion annually.
In 2004, people aged 50 and older spent an average of 48% of their family's budget on "nonessentials" (Bureau of Labor).
50% of baby boomers plan to buy a new home after retirement (Del Webb Survey).

Designing Sites for an Older Demographic

Larger, darker fonts, higher color contrast, simple design, and consistent layout will encourage older visitors to stay on a site.

Since the type of content individuals seek varies by age group, a site’s content should be created around their interests:

Age 18-34

Entertainment info 45%

Local/national news 40%

Online games 38%

Shopping/product info 36%

Info for work 35%

Social networks, forums and blogs 31%

Age 35-54

Local/national news 54%

Shopping/product info 45%

Info for work 43%

Health info 37%

Entertainment info 37%

Travel info 34%

Age 55+

Local/national news 60%

Shopping/product info 44%

Health info 43%

International news 39%

Travel info 38%

Food information/recipes 34%

If your target market consists of this Baby Boomer and older demographic, and you want their business, you can’t afford to ignore their wants and needs. Boomer spending is expected to surpass $4.6 trillion by 2015.

Reprinted from SEO Diva.

How to Rank on Google's Local Search

2008-06-18T15:37:26Z

Real estate agents may find Google's Local Search to be one of your most important vehicles for obtaining clients or customers. Google is placing more and more importance on Local Search, including their newly implemented ZIP code targeting.

Is your business listed in Local Search, and if so, have you set it up correctly for best results?

Local Search Ranking Factors is the result of a study that involved 20 experts. The results are extensive and detailed. The article contains a list of 47 factors you need to consider, including negative factors to be aware of. It also has numerous links to further information and guides for Local Search.

Reprinted from SEO Diva.

Keyword Advice for PPC Marketing

2008-06-17T16:43:01Z

If you're running a PPC campaign you know how expensive top keywords can get.

Search Marketing Standard's series on Seven Habits of Highly Successful Search Engine Marketing gives solid and helpful advice on how to spend your online marketing budget wisely.

There are a couple of areas in Part II - Keyword Best Practices - that especially caught my interest.

Create Basic Keywords expands on the 5 types of keyword sets your campaign should encompass:

Root terms
Synonyms
Action Prefixes and Suffixes
Run-ons and Misspellings
Plurals (Google only)

By carefully developing, assessing, and using these 5 types, you will generate a well-rounded keyword universe for your campaign, with many less expensive yet highly effective keywords. The author notes that:

"If you create five root terms, five synonyms, 10 prefixes and suffixes, and use plurals, this will result in a list of 200 keywords. Add in another 20 misspellings and you are up to 220 keywords. Add in all 50 states, specific cities, and combining prefixes and suffixes on the same keyword, and you can see how these five simple rules can quickly build a keyword set for you without ever touching a fancy keyword tool!"

The other area of interest to me is negative keywords. There are two ways to use them. One is to create a list of generic negatives like "lawsuit, complaint, free, cheap, etc." and append the ones that fit your service or product to your keywords.

The second way to use negative keywords is to find semantically related words that are not useful to searchers. You can save a lot of money if you specify, in your PPC campaigns, that your ads not be served if your negative words are part of the user’s search query. The author gives a clever example:

"...exclude the word “one” from an advertisement for “night stands” that are used for bedroom furniture."

I have only highlighted parts of the post - be sure to hop on over to Search Marketing Standard and read the complete article. Your wallet will thank you!

Reprinted from SEO Diva.

SEO Essentials Presentation

2008-06-05T17:18:24Z

At a recent Code Camp for Developers at the University of Advanced Technology, I gave a presentation on SEO Essentials. Below is the PowerPoint Presentation I gave. I hope you enjoy it. It's pretty basic, but gives a good overview of what to do on a website.

SEO Essentials for Web Sites - Upload a doc

Real Estate SEO - Cold Hard Facts

2008-06-01T15:44:59Z

Comment by Michael Sahlman:

Hi I just added you as an associate. I am looking for possible alternate SEO companies or experts to help me. I am not too pleased with my current one. Also am trying to avoid paying an upfront charge for services not yet proved. Thanks for the post.

Michael, I've decided to answer you in a new post, because I have a lot to say about this.

In my opinion, the real estate industry is one of the most difficult for a search engine optimization specialist to tackle. Some reasons:

Fierce competition.
- More real estate agents daily are realizing the Internet is the place to be, and there are hundreds if not thousands of people selling real estate in most locales.
Old, sometimes spammy, domains that are grandfathered into the SERPs
- Google is taking a closer look at these when they are poorly designed and slow to load, but it's still hard to knock them off the first page.
Limited number of keywords available.
- How many ways can you say 'homes for sale'?
Dynamic templated sites that don't allow for proper optimization.
- Some of these companies are making their templates more SEO friendly, but they are still usually cumbersome and make a difficult goal even harder, if not impossible, to achieve.
Lack of money, especially now with sales down.
- The more you can spend on link building and advertising, the easier it is to get rankings and traffic.

With most web sites, especially national ones, I can hit a home run pretty quickly. When it comes to real estate, it's a struggle every time. Not only that, when and if it comes, it takes a long time...often 6-12 months of dedicated hard work.

The following is what I stress, and Michael, make sure this is what your current SEO is doing:

First: extensive keyword research on how buyers search in your area
Your site should be impeccable:
- Clean code
- Proper navigation - no broken links
- Keyword targeted titles - no duplication within the tag
- Original titles on every page
- Meta description that includes keywords and draws visitors to your site
- At least 5 pages of original content with targeted keywords
- Proper keyword density (run your content through a density checker)
- H tags and alt tags that include keywords
- Photos that are named using keywords
- Contextual links to deep pages within the site
- Footer links
- Unique IP address if at all possible
- Domain name registered for at least 5 more years
- No invisible text, cloaking, or anything else that Google frowns upon
Listings in all local directories.
Submission to Yahoo! Directory, Business.com, Best of the Web, and other paid directories that are smiled upon by Google.
Submissions to niche directories.
Regularly updated blog (at least 3 posts per week): on-site if your web site is hosted separately, off-site if you are with a templated site. This is in addition to posting on Active Rain.
Submission of your blog to blog directories.
Participation in Social Media networks.
Buy text links from the demographic you're marketing to, for traffic (if you get link juice from it too, so much the better).
In an extremely competitive market, like Miami, consider Pay per Click ads. They work.

There are no guarantees when it comes to getting on the first page of Google. An SEO specialist can do everything right and still not get there; after all, in reality there are only 5 slots for each keyword. PPC takes hard cash, but there aren't many types of advertising that don't cost money.

Michael, I would never take a job without upfront fees, because of the uncertain nature of the Internet and Google in particular. However, many SEO's will make part of their fee results-based. At the very least, review this list with your SEO, ask them to de-spam your title and meta description, and I strongly suggest that you get yourself an original website hosted with a unique IP address.

Some of the SEO's reading this may not agree with everything I've laid out here, although I'm not sure what it would be. I don't have time these days to enter into debate on any of this (no offense intended). We all have our own ways of optimizing sites, these are my guidelines, and this is all pure white hat advice that can only help a web site.

Al, thanks for encouraging me to continue posting on AR once in awhile.

Whew - now I need to go take a nap!

Kay

SEO Diva ~ SEO Tips and Advice

RSS Feed Readers - Easy Setup Guide

2008-05-27T18:15:43Z

RSS feed readers can save you tons of time if you follow many blogs at all. Every day you can take a quick look, read what you want to, and save or ignore the rest. All on one handy-dandy page!

I know there are Active Rain members that are confused about how to set them up, so I put some info for you on SEO Diva. Once you get your feed reader set up, I hope you'll add my blog to your list of 'Must Reads.'

There's a list of my most recent posts on the widget to the right of this blog.

My SEO Toolbar - Resources & Tools for Search Engine Optimization

2008-04-10T23:11:36Z

I'm all excited about my new SEO Diva Toolbar!

It's so cute, and I loaded it with helpful info in the form of blogs you should keep up with, as well as SEO tools to help you optimize your blog and web site.

You can download it from this link: SEO Diva Toolbar

Here's a hint for you: if you have too many toolbars going on, all you have to do is place your cursor within the toolbar area, right click, and you'll get a list of toolbars installed on your computer. You can turn them off and on that way. I actually have 11 of them that I use at various times, and if they were all activated at one time I'd have no screen left!

Meta Decriptions May Affect Your Google Rankings

2008-04-02T12:12:16Z

Just dashing into AR to let you know I've got a few new postings on SEO Diva that I hope you haven't missed.

The most recent is about your site's meta descriptions. I think these are more important than many people give them credit for. Be sure to check out the post for more information.

I've also listed some great blog and paid directories for you to check out. The most recent is the Clush Directory, which seems to carry some real weight in backlinks and is inexpensive to boot. One of my commenters (another SEO specialist) made a really good point when he said if it generates even a few clicks a year it has paid for itself when compared to other CPCs.

If you sign up for the Diva's RSS feed you won't miss a thing! And don't forget to leave comments at the Diva blog - they're all followed, so you'll get backlink credit for them.

Promote Your Blog With These Two Great Lists

2008-03-20T12:08:03Z

Please be sure to visit the Diva for the two most recent posts.

29 Niche Social Media Sites is a nice list of niche sites. None are specific to real estate, but you still may be able to work your site in sideways. Besides, I know some of you have non-real estate blogs too.

Promote Your Blog in These Directories is a gigantic list of blog directories, in order of Alexa ranking, with the Page Rank listed. This is a great resource, and submission will increase traffic, links, and rankings.

I confess I am really bad about promoting my blogs the way I should, and these lists will be quite helpful.

The Diva misses you!

Stepping Out of the Rain

2008-03-04T12:08:54Z

With regret I find I must cut way back on my posts to Active Rain.

I'm often in a time crunch, with my day job as Search Engine Strategist, and my 20-odd private blogs and web sites that demand more attention than I've been giving them.

I sincerely hope that Active Rain members, and especially my subscribers, will subscribe to my SEO Diva blog, where I'll be posting regularly. Over time I will try to contact each subscriber personally, to thank them and invite them to visit the Diva.

Please don't stop with your comments and questions, either! In fact, unlike AR, you'll receive two links directly to your web site/blog. One when you sign in (be sure to add your URL) and one within the comment itself, where I encourage you to use a keyword phrase. The limit is one link within the comment to prevent spam. The blog is a 'do follow' with a PR3, and I expect it to go higher with more frequent blog posts.

I truly appreciate the chance to meet so many wonderful people on Active Rain, many of whom I think of as friends, and still plan to check in whenever I can do so. Please stay in touch with your emails and comments!

Kay

New Real Estate Search Engine - Add Your Site Free

2008-02-28T10:55:10Z

This is a nicely done free real estate search engine that you may want to submit your site to. I couldn't figure out how to do so, however, so I emailed them, and this was the response:

Thanks for getting in touch.
If you have a feed in XML format (like Google Base or Trulia format) then simply make it available for us to download at some URL. This is the fastest way to go live.
Alternatively, we'll crawl your site as soon as we can. However, given the overwhelming response we've had already, we're forced to crawl agents & brokers in order of the number of listings they have, so it may take quite a while.
Please note that we only accept listings for which you are the listing agent or broker. Listing with us is free, and advertising to the right of search results costs $95 USD per month per state.
Let me know if you need more information.
Kind Regards,
--
Artemi Krymski
a@byteplay.com

Apparently you must email Artemi with the URL or feed of your site. Even it it takes a long time, it would be worth it to get your site in the works, and of course if you already have an RSS feed you'll get included that much sooner.

Negative Keywords for Real Estate PPC

2008-02-26T12:14:57Z

If you are using Pay per Click (PPC) advertising, you should be using negative keywords in your campaigns and/or Ad Groups. Negative keywords are words and phrases that, when used in a search, you don't want your ads to show up for.

When you add negative keywords to your PPC campaigns your ads will not be served if those words are part of the user’s search query.

These words will not only benefit you by saving money on wasted clicks, they will also improve the click through rate (CTR) of your keywords/ads, and a higher CTR can decrease the cost of your ads.

You may not want to include all of these words as negatives, depending upon your goals, but most of them will apply to your real estate business.

about
ale
alone
and garden
animal
apartment
apartments
article
articles
association
associations
blog
blogs
blues
book
books
builders
bulletin
bulletins
case studies
case study
chart
chop
class
classes
cleaning
club
clubs
college
colleges
conference
conferences
construction
contractor
council
councils
course
courses
data
decor
decorating
define
definition
derby
design
diagram
disney
dog
doll
education
example
examples
expo
FAQ
for rent
forum
forums
foundations

full
fumigation
furnishings
furniture
glass
goods
grind
guide
guides
haunted
health care
history
ice
image
images
improvement
info
information
inspection
institute
institutes
insurance
interiors
journal
journals
learn about
license
loan
loans
logo
logos
magazine
magazines
makeover
map
maps
meaning of
metrics
moisture
mold
mortgage
movies
music
news
newsletter
newsletters
newspaper
newspapers
nursing
outback
party
photo
photos
picture
pictures
plans
plants
play

program
programs
remedies
remodeling
rent
rentals
repair
report
reports
research
resource
resources
review
reviews
road
sample
samples
school
schooling
schools
security
seminar
seminars
server
shopping network
speaker
statistics
stats
steak
sublease
success stories
success story
test
theater
theories
theory
training
tree
tutorial
tutorials
tv
universities
university
values
videos
waffle
warranty
what are
what is
white
white paper
white papers
wiki
wikipedia
workshop
workshops

WordPress Guide Series

2008-02-22T09:54:09Z

Do you know how your WP blog works, what files to put where, and how to upgrade to the latest WordPress version?

Read the first installment of WordPress Guide posts to learn how to install your blog to an existing web site, how to upgrade it without messing anything up, and what should be in the various files.

This looks like it will be a great series to follow, so I made sure I was subscribed to the feed.

~ From SEO Diva

Awesome SEO Tools

2008-02-20T12:34:12Z

There's a new post over on SEO Diva about 37 awesome SEO tools that are available to you. (Since I used a naughty word I thought I should leave it there!)

Please leave your comments on that blog this time - I really do want to know if these tools are something you would use if I put them on the Diva blog.

Be sure to insert your URL for a little link love when you leave your comments!

Last Day to Buy SEO Book

2008-02-19T10:30:55Z

Per my previous post, Aaron Wall is taking the SEO Book off the market. I received an email from him last night, and today is the last day you can purchase the book.

At $79 it isn't cheap, but at the same time an SEO specialist will charge you $150 an hour, and with the huge amount of information this book includes, it's money well spent. It industry circles, it's considered the SEO Bible.

Another 'Do Follow' Blog Directory

2008-02-18T18:16:01Z

The link below will take you to another 'Do Follow' blog directory. This link goes directly to the real estate category, since I was feeling especially helpful today.

Do Follow Blog Directory - Real Estate Category

I really like the interface of this directory - it gives the name of the blog, page rank, and a short description. You can also submit your own blog to the directory by clicking on "Submit Link." If you give them a reciprocal link, your link will be featured.

Also posted on SEO Diva.

Become Successful by Helping Others

2008-02-17T19:52:03Z

From SEO Diva

One of the keys to being successful in the social media space is to get involved, extend yourself, and help others. ‘Social’ means relating to human society and its members. When you join one or more social media groups, be it Stumbleupon, Facebook, Squidoo, Zimbio, or Digg, to name just a few of the many that are online, you’re expected to give before you get.

Estaban Panzera (a rising star to keep your eye on) has a blog article with tips from Social Media Marketers, in which Neil Patel says,

“Participate in the community before you try and leverage it. It is one thing to read about a community and how it works, but you need to actually get involved in the community.”

In order to become an active member of a social media community, you must choose which of them you relate to and enjoy the most - no one can do it all. Once you’ve chosen one or two to contribute to, move forward by connecting with others within the community. Learn what motivates them, gets them interested and excited. Before you ask for Stumbles, comments, and clicks, start doing it for other members.

A blog article from July of ‘07 titled A Fable Do Follow and Comments (Real Estate Blog Lab) clarifies how being helpful toward others will benefit you:

“I’ve noticed on the blogs I author and track that posts without comments can move quickly to supplemental results and right out of the Google index. However, posts with comments tend to stay in the active index much longer and some almost indefinitely.”

“The second thing I’ve noticed that helps keep posts in the Google index are those containing links that are contextual to the post. It means you are giving away a link to another blog. It is often called link love because these contextual links are the best kind of back-link to get from another blog or website.”

In other words, share the love. Become successful by helping other succeed.

Note to Active Rainers: You, of all people, know this to be true, by your participation in Active Rain.

La Diva was indexed quickly this time around, and has had a few days to bask in the glow, so now I can include this post on Active Rain (for those of you who know me, yes, I'm experimenting again).

SEO Book - Get It While It's Still On The Market

2008-02-14T14:09:54Z

From SEO Diva

Aaron Wall is changing his business model to a paid private forum. It appears he will also remove his SEO Book from distribution, or alternatively will raise the price considerably.

If you're interested in his book, but have been holding off, I suggest you purchase it now for $79. It's a steal at that price - the knowledge you gain will be priceless.

For Free SEO Tips visit his site, and register. He is currently offering a free email series, 7 Days to Search Engine Success, which is focused toward those who are new to SEO, but I'm sure anyone will find good tips in it.

UPDATE: Today, February 19, 2008, is the last day you can purchase this book.

You Can Syndicate Your Blog

2008-02-12T20:25:34Z

According to Google, if you syndicate an article (or blog post) you can place it on another site without penalty. The key to doing this is to link back to the original source of the article from the syndicated spot.

I've been testing this for a few weeks. I've been posting to SEO Diva first, then placing the same post on Active Rain with a link back to Seo Diva. I then have Zimbio ping my blogs, and delete the AR version in favor of the Diva. The reason I post to my Diva blog first is because she needs Page Rank and more attention.

The results? I Googled "Social Media Mogul Poll" and the Active Rain version shows up in spots 1 & 2, Zimbio comes in at 3 & 4, poor little Miss Diva lags behind at #5, and blogtoplist.com brings up the rear at #7. Pretty interesting. If nothing else, I captured 6 spots out of 10 on the first page of Google LOL, although that's not a search anyone else would perform.

Active Rain is indexed at the speed of light, which I think is why it comes in first. Zimbio is also indexed daily, hence second place. SEO Diva is indexed every few days, so she suffers from that. And I don't know why I keep finding blogtoplist in the top listings, but I need to look at that place a little more closely.

I'll let you make your own conclusions about my little experiment, but if you're trying to run a blog and post to AR, maybe this will give you some ideas.

Meta Tag Redux

2008-02-12T13:52:05Z

Just dashing in and out, with a quick link for you to check out.

Leapfrogg has a terrific article on How to Write Terrible Meta Tags - which is really all about how to write great meta tags. It's beginner level, so if you haven't mastered your title or description tags this is a must read!

They reiterate what all SEO's know but a lot of people don't get - your title tag has mega importance, and if you don't get that one thing right, you've damaged your entire SEO campaign.

Google Search: what is a paid link

2008-02-05T18:36:54Z

Google is leaving that definition up to Aaron Wall. Pretty funny!

From Wiep.net

Social Media Mogul Poll

2008-02-05T16:37:33Z

Are you a social media mogul? Have you LinkedIn, Facebooked, Ninged, Twittered, Zimbio'd and Squidoo'd? Is Craigslist a personal friend, do you check Feedburner hourly, and do you Plaxo daily?

There are so many social network sites, so many ways to tweet and twitter about your blog, site, or product. It's really hard to get it with some of them, much less keep up with them all. So eventually it's time to choose the ones you do get, that seem to bring in the traffic, and importantly, that you enjoy.

What works best for you?

Go to SEO Diva to vote!

Twitter Tweet

2008-02-04T20:14:48Z

From SEO Diva

I am not a Twitter-er. Correction - I was not a Twitter-er. However, after Seth Godin’s faux pas in not claiming his name in Twitter and thereby opening himself up to a faux Seth Godin twit, I decided it was time to give in and start tweeting er… twittering.

Does this mean I must notify everyone on my TwitterList when I’m eating lunch, or feeling down, or vacuuming? Will they TwitterBack to give me menu suggestions, cheer me up, or offer to come over and dust? I have to admit I don’t totally get it, but since I’m supposed to be Internet-savvy, I guess I’ll have to get ~~twit~~ it.

I found a good blog posting titled 10 Benefits of Twitter for Companies, so I signed our company, Terralever, on as Twitter-ers too. I’m going to summarize the 10 points, but you really should go read it, if you haven’t opened a Twitter account. (Remember Seth Godin.)

It makes your company look "open"
It helps you get clients
You can communicate with clients
You can watch your clients
Increase brand awareness of your company
Promote your blog posts
Networking
Announce new offers or products
~~Spy on~~ Get to know your competitors
Reputation management on Google

So hey - when you start twittering send me a tweet - I’m SEODiva on Twitter.