Money Maker - noun - the website where you actually convert surfers to prospects and prospects to customers.

Most people do not consider it a "waste of time" to use new media resources, like Active Rain, to build their network of associates, providers and clients. Many AR users have already seen the power of having a well stocked blog when it comes to search engine results page (SERP) positioning. Most of those do not know why and some of those do not care why they are simply happy it works.

Maybe right now your links are coming up in the fourth through tenth position and that's not bad - first page positioning never stinks. Of course being positioned in spots one through three is everyone's goal - or should be. The question is important to note, "search results for which search terms?" In other words if you sell real estate what good does it do to be in the top three for the search term "warts"?

TIP NUMERO UNO

Track your inbound search terms. Almost every web host provides good analytical tools. There are plugins available for almost every content management system from Drupal to WordPress. Knowing what people searched on to find your site is one of the most important pieces of information a web master or content manager can have. If you blog you are a content manager.

Google Analytics is a little difficult to people who don't know much or have much experience but is a good tool. Of course it is free and there is some clue using it will help your site with a little Google juice, too. There are service providers like iCobb who will set up your Google Analytics account for you and teach you how to use it.

TIP NUMERO DOS

Inbound links have a huge impact on search engine juice. In fact it can work for you or against you. If you are linked to from web sites known for black hat techniques it can hurt you if those links make up the majority of your Eigenspace. Study about the value of links and what they add or detract from your ranking. Once you have a fair understanding of the difference between a heavily weighted inbound link and a link that can cause damage you can develop a strategy for where you spend your time posting and linking back to your money maker.

Active Rain has long been proved very powerful for Google juice (especially) for real estate agents and mortgage people but AR alone may not be enough to topple your competitors from positioning above you in your most important key words. Once again if you are number one for "donuts in Minneapolis" that really doesn't quite mean the same as "Minneapolis police department".

Make sure you do your keyword research and apply your keywords appropriately. That subject is beyond the scope of this article but over-saturating your content with your keywords has an adverse affect. Using your keywords appropriately is just as important like which tags do you use for your keywords? Where in the content are your keywords placed?

LA ULTIMA - TIP NUMERO TRES

Getting people to repost your content is not as simple as just throwing out some words but it is possible. Concentrate on the value of your content to your audience. Obviously this requires knowing your audience which would follow from knowing tips one and two which would really help you know your audience. Remember if you study your inbound search terms that will tell you if you are reaching the audience you want and what your audience is searching for. By controlling where your inbound links originate you can better control your audience.

Getting reposted is simply a matter of supplying something of value to your audience. What that is really is up to your audience and neither you nor I. Of course if you have performed well in attracting your audience you should already know what they want to read and share.

WordPress makes it easy to see when your content is shared as does Active Rain. But what if you are using some service that doesn't track sharing? Aha! I am so glad you asked! There are a few third party tools you can use to help track. Many years ago I developed a little Perl application called PageGuard that would tie in with the existing search engines (there was no Google) and web indexes to check and see if your content had been reposted. Of course today we want it to be reposted so long as due credit is given.

You can do a quick search and find a lot of links for things like "guarding your blog content" or you can sign up for alert services on keywords in your content. A trick I use from time to time is to use a very unusual phrase like "keyboard calamity" and set a Google Alert for those terms. Anytime someone cuts and pastes my content Google will let me know about it as soon as they spider the site. That, of course, is only one example - there are many others.

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