Google Puts Social Results in the Mix! - 01/30/10 11:01 AM
If you are one of those people still skeptical about the business uses of social media, you may be interested to know that Google's Social Search is no longer just an experiment. Though it does have the beta tag on it, it is now mainstream. This is something we've all known would come sooner or later, but now it's here.
If people were already seeing different search results from one another before, that is really going to be true now, now that Google is plugging results based on the individual's social circle into any given SERP. This is one of the … (5 comments)

Realtor.Com FREE App for iPhones! Get Yours! - 01/28/10 12:26 PM
Not only can you instantly access over 4 million homes for sale with the touch of a button, whether you aredriving or walking through a neighborhood, you can also see:
Homes for sale nearby your current location with your GPS enabled iPhone Open house times, dates and locations Homes for sale on a map, even the neighborhood you're standing in, instantly Multiple photos, property details and pricing on nearly any home for sale More homes for sale than any other real estate site in America Information you can trust - because it's the official listing site of the National Association of … (1 comments)

Should I Blog about my listings? - 01/27/10 09:38 PM
 
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
Yes, yes and yes again.  You should Blog about your listings.  Every listing should have it's own Blog post.  Here is what you should include:
1.  Address of listing and the neighborhood it is located in.
2.  Information about this listing but not all of it.  Give them a link to the listing so they have to go to your site to read more .  This drives traffic to your site
3.  At the very least a few pictures.  Use just enough pictures to wet their appetite to see more.  You want them to go to … (4 comments)

My top reasons for why you need to BLOG! - 01/27/10 09:37 PM
"I am getting calls constantly from all over the U.S., people coming here to vacation and buy properties. Between my posts and your SEO -- OMG  I can't keep up with it. I had to call in other associates to help me, you created a monster!"Diane Sonenson

Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
1.  Convert readers of your Blogs to clients
2.  Drive traffic to your website
3.  Backlinks, Backlinks, Backlinks
4.  Become an expert in your field
5.  Provide useful information to the reader
 
Now go Blog!
__________________________________________
Wayne GollidaySEO RedefinedReceive Your FREE Website Analysis!  
SEORedefinedOnlineMarketingServicesForRealtorsFirstCoastDesigns.ComCustomized Social MediaPoint2 Agent Website Customization
… (1 comments)

Long tail phrases and your Blog! - 01/27/10 09:36 PM
 
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
Long tail phrases come in very handy when Blogging.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs (found here) long tail phrases have an advantage over the short tail cousins.  For one long tail phrases are easier to rank high for and they have a much higher conversion rate.
When you are Blogging about your listings the address and neighborhood would be considered a long tail phrase.  Be sure to use this information within the tags as well.  People searching for that neighborhood or specific street  will find your blog much easier if you include these items. 
… (2 comments)

Shhhhhh! TV ads need to keep it down... - 01/27/10 01:57 PM
Just read an interesting article in Consumer Reports...
"For anyone annoyed by ads that seem louder than the show in which they're embedded, here's good news: The House of Representatives voted in December to level off those abrupt spikes in volume.  The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act was supported by Consumers Union, non-profit publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS.  an identical measure was introduced in the Senate. 
Current ads can be no louder than the loudest parts of the program they're with, but a quite scene can be followed by an ad as loud as an earlier explosion.  The new bill requires the … (5 comments)

How Many of You Think Point2 Agent is 'the MLS'? - 01/27/10 08:51 AM
Whenever I talk to a prospective client, I make sure they're aware that Point2 Agent is NOT THE MLS.  Your listings have to be entered into Point2 Agent's database in order to get them syndicated with their syndication partners...which is a lot of partners! 
Your listings do NOT automatically get "fed" into your Point2 Agent website. But I see it over and over again...agents and clients getting frustrated that they have to enter their listings more than once - meaning once they enter a new listing into their Realtor.com or MLS, they have to copy/paste the text from that listing's description and … (45 comments)

A real Hero with an incredible attitude and lesson for us all! - 01/23/10 08:36 PM
 Truly inspirational!!  
 
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
__________________________________________
Wayne GollidaySEO RedefinedReceive Your FREE Website Analysis!  
SEORedefinedOnlineMarketingServicesForRealtorsFirstCoastDesigns.ComCustomized Social MediaPoint2 Agent Website Customization
… (2 comments)

IDX - Do I Co-Brand or Not? - 01/21/10 05:00 AM
I get new clients who already have IDX that has been co-branded by their IDX company - meaning that they've copied the client's header and footer to show above their MLS searches and results.  It's really not a good idea to do this because anytime you add a page, delete a page, change your header or footer, you've got to contact them to change it.  They say it's no problem to change, however, I've seen it take weeks, and sometimes just not done at all.  Some IDX vendors allow you to control this in the admin panel of your IDX, but really...how many … (1 comments)

Increase in online searches but not for Yahoo! - 01/18/10 10:09 AM

Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
 
Google Inc. (GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in December again saw a slight increase in their shares of the U.S. online-search market, according to market research firm comScore Inc. (SCOR).
Americans used search giant Google for 65.7% of their 14.7 billion core searches last month, up from 65.6% in November. Microsoft's share was 10.7%, compared with 10.3% in the prior month.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) fell 0.2 percentage point to 17.3%. Ask Network, owned by IAC/Interactive Corp. (IACI) captured 3.7%, followed by AOL Inc. (AOL) at 2.6%.
The total number of searches rose 2.1% in December … (2 comments)

Latest Addition to the Portfolio... - 01/17/10 08:34 AM

Jesse is new to the whole blogging scene and I can't wait to show him the ropes with a new WordPress Blog and Facebook Fan Page!!!
… (2 comments)

AOL Top Ad Network for December 2009 - 01/17/10 07:56 AM

From WebProNews...
comScore has released the top 15 ad networks based on their reach among U.S. Internet users in December 2009."The ranking found AOL Advertising remains the top ad network, reaching 187 million U.S. Internet users, or 91 percent of the total audience, followed by the Yahoo Network (180.9 million) and the Google Ad Network (178.1 million).
The fastest growing ad network by audience reach among the top 15 was Microsoft Media Network, which grew 31 percent compared to a year ago, followed by Collective Network (up 22%) and Audience Science (up 16%)."Ad networks continue to be a powerful mechanism … (0 comments)

Is It Okay To Say NO To Twitter? - 01/17/10 07:38 AM

OF COURSE IT IS!!!  You don't "have" to use Twitter to be successful.  We normally set up Twitter for our clients just so other "things" can simply feed directly into it.  The client never has to even open Twitter unless they are checking profiles of who's following them.
"Tweets" are time consuming and I can certainly think of better things to do with my time!  Twitter, in my opinion, will probably be in the shadow of Facebook by this time next year!  Just like MySpace was so hot for a while, but now it's just a shadow to Facebook and … (6 comments)

How Google Rates Links from Facebook and Twitter - 01/17/10 07:26 AM
From WebProNews...

"Essentially, Matt says Google treats links the same whether they are from Facebook or Twitter, as they would if they were from any other site. It's just an extension of the pagerank formula, where its not the amount of links, but how reputable those links are...While Facebook and Twitter links may be treated like any other links, they do still come with things to keep in mind. For one, with Facebook, you have to keep in mind that a lot of profiles are not public. When a profile is not public, Google can't crawl it, and it can't … (1 comments)

Credits in Your Website... - 01/15/10 12:01 PM
One thing you, as the owner of your website, want to watch for is credits in the footer or bottom of your website that don't open in a new window or "take over your site."  You're the owner, not them.  This applies to web designers like myself or SEO firms since that's what I see the most.  Make sure this isn't happening to you.  If it is, you'll definitely want to contact that firm and let them know to have their credit link open in a new window.
Say a viewer in your site is curious and clicks on the credit link because they like your site or … (3 comments)

Is Google becoming a National MLS? - 01/15/10 10:50 AM
Hmmmm....makes one wonder.
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
Inman News is reporting that Google has told them during an interview held this week that they have no intention of becoming a National MLS.   It does make one wonder what Google is really up to here.  Currently they are sucking up every Real Estate AD that their bots find and indexing them.  Within moments you can then find them on the searchable maps that Google displays with each search.
If they are not trying to become National MLS then my guess is that at the very least this is going to turn into … (0 comments)

Google News - 01/12/10 08:19 AM
I was sent an article by a client and had my SEO guru (husband) check it out...here's his findings!
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
Back in November during an interview Matt Cutts did an interview where he reveled that Google (MAY) start taking into consideration how long it takes your website to load.  This would be another factor for their algorithm to use when figuring you Pagerank.  A short time later Google came out with a tool that analyzes the speed at which your website loads.  You can find this tool at Google Page Speed
I have been playing with this for a while now and we blog about it … (3 comments)

Does your website reside in a bad neighborhood? (Part 3) - 01/12/10 05:27 AM

Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
 
 
So I have explained to you how to remove your website from a “Bad Neighborhood” link but how do you know if you site is linked to a “Bad Neighborhood” or not?  Lucky for us there are a couple of pretty good tools that can help with this. 
One of the tools I highly recommend is called the Text Link Checker Tool and can be found here.  This tool is designed to check your back links and  will tell you if your website is linked to a questionable website.  The FAQ does a very good job of explaining how to read the … (1 comments)

The Basic Google Process - 01/12/10 05:26 AM

Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
People often wonder where those Google search results come from.  So being a somewhat smart individual I thought I would try and explain it to those of you are interested.  
The process for Google is actually a three stage process that includes the following stages:
1.  Crawling
2.  Indexing
3.  Serving
Google has something they call a "Googlebot".  Sometimes this is also called a "bot", "robot", or "spider" but they are all the same.  These little bots are what crawl the internet looking for websites.  Anytime one of these bots finds a new link it will generally … (3 comments)

SEO Contracts! - 01/12/10 05:26 AM

Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
SEO Contracts have become much more common over the last few years.  Just 4 of 5 years ago people could sign up for SEO Services and did not have to sign a contract of any type.  This has changed tremendously and most SEO Companies now require a one year contract for SEO Services.  Many of these contracts are every bit as iron clad as cell phone contracts.
On a weekly basis I hear from new clients on how they are paying $400 or $500 a month for SEO Services that fall flat on promises or show … (0 comments)

27 Degrees in Coastal Georgia! Unheard of... - 01/10/10 09:40 PM
Here in coastal Georgia we don't worry about covering our pools in the winter or protecting the flowers and plants outside...newsflash! I'm sure we're not the only ones with dead plants at the bottom of our flagpole and backyard, worrying about the pool's survival...Anybody else experiencing very unusual cold?????
… (5 comments)

Trying to Raise Your Google PageRank? - 01/10/10 08:39 PM
PageRank is nothing but the measure of a website's visibility over the web. So the only way to get a higher PageRank is by getting some quality backlinks to your website. One very important factor to keep in mind is the fact that Google is against attempts made by webmasters to unnaturally increase their PageRanks.
This means Google is against link farms, link selling and any other practice which has been specifically developed to increase the PageRank of a website in an unnatural manner. Google considers such attempts as a manipulation of its ranking algorithm and can even penalize websites found guilty. … (3 comments)

Picking the right key phrases - 01/09/10 08:43 PM
 
Via Wayne Golliday (SEO Redefined):
Everyone has heard about how important it is to pick the right “Key Phrases” for your web site.  You have to optimize your website with the most relevant search terms or your chances of ranking well in a Search Engine are much harder.  How do you pick the best key phrases for your site?  That is a good question.
 
There are many definitions out there for “Key Phrases” but I think it is best described as the phrases that people use when searching for information via aSearch Engine.  The second most important definition would be that … (7 comments)

Google PageRanks for 2010 - Good News! - 01/09/10 11:14 AM

It looks like Google has updated the PageRank around the web.  The majority of my websites experienced significant PageRank increase...
Website Design Gal - from 0 to 2Nancy Golliday - from 0 to 4SEO Redefined - from 0 to 4First Coast Designs - from 1 to 4
I was surprised to see the jumps from PR0 to PR4!!  What about you all, did you notice any changes?
Click here to check your Google PageRank!
… (9 comments)

A 7 Year Old's Goodnight Prayer... - 01/09/10 09:56 AM
Our youngest son has had the same goodnight prayer since I can remember...
"Dear God,
Thank you for mommy, daddy, and teachers...thank you for taking us to the Alligator Farm...and thanks for getting us home safely so I can play batman and spiderman...goodnight God, goodnight Jesus...I love you."
So I mentioned that he really should change his prayer and be thankful for whatever that day (to help him think of something)...
"Dear God,
Thank you for mommy, daddy, and teachers...thank you for taking us to Walmart...and thanks for getting us home safely so I can play batman and spiderman...goodnight God, goodnight … (4 comments)

Getting Your Listings to Automatically Post to Your Point2 Agent Blog - 01/09/10 08:18 AM
When you enter a listing into Point2 Agent, you're given the option to "Write a Blog Post" about listing this property.
 

 
Check the box.  It will then appear in your Online Office under your "To Do List" as "Publish Draft Posts."

Click on the Publish Draft Posts link in your To Do list and you'll be taken to the posts page of your Point2 Agent blog.
 
Click on the post you want to publish - the text and description will automatically appear.   
 
All you have to do is tweak the tags to reflect the town or neighborhood to the … (7 comments)

Point2 Agent Websites - Domains Reverting Back to Sub-Domains...Update!!! - 01/08/10 01:39 PM
Back in October, 2009 I posted an article about domains reverting back to sub-domains in Point2 Agent websites.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1277481/domains-reverting-back-to-sub-domain-in-point2-agent-online-office-
I'm seeing it happen about 90% of the time and ended up calling Point2 again and have been letting them know since October...Richard let me know that yes, it has gotten worse, however, there are things we need to "not" be doing on our end so they can do their troubleshooting.
When this is happening, I know I've been going back to the "Default Domain" tab and re-clicking the domain and a couple days later it would be fine.  Richard has asked … (5 comments)

 
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Nancy Golliday

Saint Marys, GA

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Address: St Marys, GA, 31558

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