Totally Redesign Your Active Rain Blog - This is Amazing!

You can see live examples here and here. I ask that you not implement this until I have a chance to speak with Bob from ActiveRain.

Below is the original post

Guess What. You are still on the ActiveRain website! Take a look at the address bar.

It turns out that ActiveRain gives you amazing flexibility in customizing your existing ActiveRain blog! It’s just that no one has taken advantage of it. Ready to customize your own ActiveRain blog? I thought you might, so I wrote a detailed tutorial on how you can do it (for free). I posted the tutorial on my Dakno Blog

Click Here for the Tutorial on Customizing Your Active Rain blog

Link Bait? What Was I Thinking!

A few months ago, I was working late at the office. Earlier that day, I was consulting with a client and brainstorming how to build natural links to their real estate Web site. Now I always try to practice what I preach, so I later started doing some brainstorming of my own. What could I do to create "linkbait" to my my company Web site?

Link Bait? You Evil Doer!

Now, before everyone starts screaming about tricking people and "gaming the system" let’s accurately define what linkbait is. Some people think the term "Link Bait" means tricking people to click a link or some type of "bait and switch" technique. The reality is that "Link Bait” isn't a negative thing at all. Matt Cutts, a guru that works at Google, defines link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention."

Back to the Story

So now that we have that out of the way, let’s get back to the story. I started brainstorming a few different ideas to create some "buzz." Not making much progress, I went to the fridge to grab some liquid caffeine. Before I opened the fridge door, I noticed that someone had used the magnetic words on the fridge door to write some crazy sentence. I had a quick laugh and then the light bulb went off. What if there was a website with real estate related words that allowed people to create their own "refrigerator poetry?" Okay, looking back, I realize that it’s a pretty pointless idea. But, at the time, I thought I was on to something. I figured I could make it social by having the website continually update. In other words, multiple people could watch others move the words around and collaborate on these sentences. I went back to my computer and started building "The Real Estate Fridge." (I still can't believe I thought this was actually a good idea!)

The next day I took a fresh look at my new linkbait and realized that this was not the "next big thing." So what went wrong? Why didn’t "The Fridge" measure up?

Well, linkbait typically has a few common characteristics, and, unfortunately, I was missing some key ingredients. So, what is the magic formula that can get people buzzing about your linkbait? While there are no hard and fast rules for good link bait, there are some attributes that most link worthy pages possess. Let’s look at a few…

What Makes Good Linkbait?

Viral

Good Link bait shouldn't need much advertising. It should be so viral that it quickly spreads throughout the internet. After all, if people are not willing to tell others about it, then there’s little chance that people will link to it. Need an example? The guys over at 1,000 Watt Consulting have really perfected the viral aspect of their linkbaits. Their recent "I am not a lead" video is definitely viral.

Social

Most link bait contains some type of social aspect to it. In other words, it's something that connects people with other people. As much as I hate to admit it, the "Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World" contest is quite a good example of link bait that contains a social aspect! It quickly gets others involved and the competitive nature of people take over.

This is one aspect where the Real Estate Fridge had potential. The collaboration aspect where others can help create weird or funny "poetry" and actually watch the pieces move can be pretty entertaining. That is, if enough people were on the site at the same time.

Unique and Original

It seems to always happen. One person comes up with a really good idea and, the next thing you know, dozens of others try to copy that exact idea. These copycats don't realize that the original was, well, "original" and it’s that originality that makes it successful. Here is a perfect example. Some of you may remember The Million Dollar Home Page. It was a page put together by a then 21-year-old student in hopes of paying for his tuition to the University of Nottingham. The website received huge press. Of course, once the word got out, there were dozens of copycat sites trying to capitalize off the original's success. Heck, you could even buy the Million Dollar Home Page script and have a pixel selling site of your own within minutes. What these copycats didn’t realize is that the freshness of the idea is what made the first so successful.

Where Are They Now?

So where are these copycat sites now? Let's look at two clones that went after the real estate niche.

www.pickyourrealestateagent.com - once made national headlines but is now nothing more than a parked GoDaddy Homepage.
www.bestrealestatebusinesses.com - given the fact that the home page shows a long list of errors instead of the website - my guess is that this site is pretty much defunct.

Simple

While this isn't always the case, sometimes the most effective forms of LinkBait are simple in nature. Again, 1,000 Watt Consulting comes to mind. They created a simple page entitled Real Estate Web 2.0. It’s basically just a single page that lists a number of real estate websites that are taking advantage of "2.0" technology. It probably took them an hour to create. It’s one of those "why didn’t I think of that!" pages - simple but effective. I myself have referred to this page on more than one occasion to keep "in the know" of new real estate sites. That leads me to the next criteria.

Valuable

In the last example of the Real Estate Web 2.0 page, you noticed that I said I continually refer to the page. In other words, it’s a valuable resource – a resource worthy of linking to and telling others about (see viral above). This is where my real estate poetry idea fell way short. Watching people move magnetic pieces around on a virtual fridge isn’t very valuable!

Obviously, not every form of link bait is going to fit all of these criteria. And some of these factors are more important than others. But, the take away is this - It doesn’t have to be time consuming or difficult to be effective. Often, the simplest ideas attract the most link juice.

Brad Carroll

Dakno Marketing
A Real Estate Web Design Company

My New Baby Girl

There are a few things in life that I am very passionate about. At the top of my list is my family. Another passion is online technology. So when my wife let me know that we had a new addition coming, it was only natural that I connect the two together.

Your Going to Twitter What!?

I have never really gotten into Twitter before. After all, I honestly don't think there would be anyone out there with a desire to know when I go to Starbucks or what meeting I am late for. But when it came to the little one, my friends and family would want to be kept in the loop. Since I had no plans to "live blog" the event, I figured Twitter would be a great way to send quick updates with out it affecting my job responsibilities as Steph's Coach.

But We Want Photos!

Let's face it, text is good, but what people really want to see is photos! So I created a flickr account with the ability to send photos from my iphone with a few taps of my finger. The photos then get automatically pushed to the blog that I setup for friends and family.

It Worked

Throughout the night, I was able to push quick updates to Twitter. Our families could stay updated with a simple click. At 4:49am, i tweeted (is that a word?) that Megan was born. And quickly snapped a few photos and pushed them to the website.

My Dad is Such A Geek

And Megan, in case you are reading this years later. Yes. i have always been a geek and No. You may not date anyone until you are 35!

One More Thing...

Something that I just can't figure out that i was hoping someone could offer some insight. I am a pretty tall guy - 6'4. So how is it possible that Megan is not even a day old and she already has me wrapped around here tiny little finger! :-)

Thanks again for everyone's prayers and support. I am now going back to staring at my new baby girl!

Get Inman News for Free!

I keep meaning to join Innman News but I just haven't gotten around to it. I wonder if subconsciously it's the thought of paying for information in a Web 2.0 world. After all, it goes against, my philosophy of free access to information. Heck even the New York Times gives me free information.

A friend sent me an Inman News link. I clicked only to be faced with a page that told me to "JOIN NOW and gain immediate access to this article!" So I pulled out my credit card and was about to drop the $150 when I started thinking about Inman's SEO. I thought to myself, wait a second, Google doesn't have an Inman subscription yet they seem to see all of the great content.

Inman's SEO Loophole!

It turns out, Inman has a page for Google and a page for site visitors. Let me explain. Let's say you want to read about a Miami Realtor who is being sued for $25M. The link to the article looks like this...

http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=65991

Clicking the link forces you to "JOIN NOW" if you want to see the article. but a simple edit to the link removes that pesky JOIN NOW text and gives you full access to the article.

http://www.inman.com/inmanstories.aspx?ID=65991

You will notice that I simply changed the link from "news" to " stories." Ahh free content without JOINING NOW.

Keep It Legal!

Now remember, joining Inman News has more advantages than just having access to stories. Their signup page list them all (including the ability to reprint and conference discounts). Based on these "extras", joining probably still seems like a good thing to do. So I guess I will still drop the 150 bucks and justify the cost by the perks and convince myself I am still holding on to my Web 2.0 philosophy!

It’s Time to Rewrite Your Title Tags

The other day someone asked me. "If you could only make one edit to a website to achieve better search engine optimization, what would it be?" After clarifying that the edit had to be on the site (meaning link building wasn't an option) I responded by saying that tweaking the Title Tag would probably be the first place to start.

Since I am always on the look out for new blog topics, I thought I would pull together some information and create a post about Title Tags. I am sure the topic has been covered a million times on AR but I thought I would throw my two cents in.

I actually decided to publish the full article on my other blog so you have to actually click to read the article.

For all of those that just want the "take-aways" (and all the people who don't want to click), the main points are listed below.

Read the full article about Title Tags

• Title Tags are more than just for SEO, they are also used to get people to click to your website.
• Don’t keyword stuff your title tags
• Try to make your title tag be a complete thought
• Stay away from strict formulas when writing your title tags
• Base your Title Tags off of Google Searches
• Use synonyms to create a consistent theme throughout your website title tags
• Avoid using your name and company name in your title tags
• Don’t use superlatives in your title tag (Best, #1, Greatest)
• Google skips over common words like “the” “in” “of” so don’t waste precious characters with these in your title tag.
• Word order is important, put your critical keywords at the beginning of your title tag
• Make sure EVERY page on your website has a unique title tag

Brad Carroll

Dakno Marketing
A Real Estate Web Design Company

End of Year Website Checklist

As the end of the year quickly approaches, it’s a great time to tidy up and tie off any loose ends. While you are busy trying to finish up your end of the year todo list. Be sure to make time to give your site an annual checkup. Here are a few tips…

Contact Information

Ensure that all of your contact information is still current on your website. Don’t just check the contact us page but all the other places your contact info may appear (including your footer).

Are You Still In Compliance?

Has your company changed their required disclosures or branding requirements? What about your board? Can you still use terms like MLS?

Outgoing Links

Outgoing links all too often become dead links, this is because sites may move content, redesign their site or remove resources. So be sure to check all those links that link to 3rd party sites. And don’t just check to see if the link works. Check to make sure the content is still relevant and that the site isn’t advertising your competition. Yes, it can happen. We saw that one of our clients was linking to the real estate section of the local online newspaper. When someone clicked on that link, there was a huge banner ad for their biggest competitor!

Test Your Forms

It’s always a good idea to ensure all of your forms are still working in proper order. Also use this opportunity to look at things like required fields and confirmation emails. You may want to also ensure that the form properly notifies you of new leads.

Are You Still On Target?

What about your title tags and keywords for your website? Are you still on target? Does your site still have relevant content for your target audience? Are all the resources on your site still up-to-date? Calendar of events, Local businesses, etc. nothing drives people away from a website like old, outdated content!

I know, as if you didn’t have enough things to do already! But remember, these small little things may be the difference between an out dated website and an online lead generating machine!

Happy Holidays!

Your Website Is Trying to Tell You How to Generate More Leads —Are You Listening?

When people ask about getting more traffic to their site, I usually ask, “What’s wrong with the people who are already on your site?” I say this because most of the time the answer to more leads is not more traffic —it’s better conversion.

Imagine, for a moment, a bucket with lots of holes in it. It doesn’t matter how much you pour into the bucket, it’s not going to hold water unless you patch the holes. Your website is the same as that bucket, only instead of leaking water, it is leaking cash. Without the right tools, it's hard to spot the holes so that you can fix them.

Using Analytics to Find the Holes in Your Bucket

Each site visitor leaves a footprint of their visit. This information consists of everything from how they came to your site, how long they stayed on pages, where they left, what town they live in, what type of computer they were using, and even the monitor resolution they have.

Why is this important to you? Because armed with this information you will be able to easily refine your site to correct errors, to make it more user-friendly, and to better customize it to your target market. For example, your stats may tell you that you have a large number of visitors from California using high resolution monitors and the very latest computers. With this in mind, you can create a section on your website geared towards affluent people in California that are planning to relocate to your area. There is even technology available that allows you to dynamically show a separate homepage to these visitors from California. (Stay tuned, that’s a topic for another article….)

Using the Right Tools

While there are many website statistics packages available for purchase, why not save yourself some money? A free product that I use personally, and is one of the most robust packages out there, is Google Analytics. But just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s limited. Quite the opposite is true, you can spend days reviewing the data and still not get though everything! Getting Google Analytics on your site is easy —just sign up, have your web developer add a few lines of code to your site, and you’ll be on your way to finding the "holes".

Now It’s Time to Start Patching

So what happens next? Now that you have all of this data, what do you do with it? First off, you shouldn’t do anything with it. After all, you’re a real estate agent, not a statistical analyst. Sure, it’s okay to keep up with “snapshots” of your site’s performance, but you will find yourself burning up countless hours if you get caught up in all the data. So what’s the solution? I recommend scheduling a quarterly, if not monthly, call with your web marketing company to have them review with you the results of your analytics, and to discuss their recommended action steps based off of the data. This is a key point. Don’t just talk about the stats; make the changes as a result. After all, analytics without action is simply a waste of time and money.

Here are a few key points to cover:

1. Discuss overall “snapshot” of the site - Are things trending up or down? Have there been any major fluctuations? Are these fluctuations related to other forms of marketing?

2. Define trouble spots - What areas of the site need improving? What is the problem? Why is it a problem? What can be done to fix it?

3. What is working? - What seems to be going well? Which of the calls to action are providing the most leads? Can we duplicate this on other areas of the site?

4. Implementation strategy - What changes need to be made based on the analytic data? What strategy is best to correct the trouble spots that were defined? Remember: Being armed with this information does you no good unless you implement the changes!

5. Results from previous changes - Has there been a change in the analytics since previous site corrections? Have those changes had a positive effect? Has it caused other problems in other areas of the site?

Watch Out for New Leaks

The only constant on the Internet is that it’s always changing. Your site visitors’ habits, markets and web trends are always fluctuating. But analytics with action can keep your lead bucket patched and full!