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Blogging Continuing Ed- Make your Blog Better with these Resources

Blogging on any Platform is a learning experience, and one we use to share information. Sometimes though we learn things on other platforms that we want to share with the community of another. That is what this is, some valuable resources I found on another Platform, and wanted to share to help you make your Blog Better.

I have been actively learning new things for months now, and thought I would share a few of the great resources I have been using with everyone here. Yes, I have been blogging for a couple years now, but technology changes, Google indexes things differently, and learning is a never ending cycle.

Resources

Blogging on Active Rain is great for our Business, and great for networking. However it is an insulated platform, where the information we get is mostly from like minded people, which can be good or bad.

How many of us have different Blogs? We start with one and work our way out into the larger web community. Some of us do, and some don't. But bottom line is we want our Blog to improve just like our Business. We blog for business!

Here are 5 Resources I have used recently to improve my Blog, my Posts, etc. I was very pleased when I came back on here and wrote this Post with a colored border to accentuate the main part of the Post: I did that Post in about 10 minutes, and it served it's purpose. Many of you went to the site and donated! (BTW thank you).

My point is: we find resources in different places, and it can help us improve our writing. I happened to find mine on Squidoo- but even if that is in the Title, Google Research is the same everywhere, keywords are the same, etc.

During my over 2 years on Active Rain I learned tons......mostly about our business-selling Real Estate, but also about adding pictures, SEO, Marketing, etc. However, these 5 resources, and a host of other ones really gave me the tools I needed. I felt like I had finally learned what I needed to improve my Blogs. I added the color one because I saw several posts recently that love colored fonts...so that is just for you. The other ones helped me tons, and the borders one I used for many of my writings on Squidoo including a Real Estate Specific lens on my farm area. One lens beat out my Active Rain Blog, and my personal one in Google which both surprised and pleased me because that meant I had learned something ;)

Here are a couple examples of my Real Estate writings that have all done well in Google by using the resources I found, and specifically by spending more time on the pre and post part. Something I have NEVER done before.

Serrano Del Vista is the area I work for Residential Listings and Sales (mostly I was selling land) and it is #6 on Page 1 of Google.The 2nd and 3rd spots are my other Blog, 4th and 5th spots are my videos, and this one beat my Active Rain Blog by 1 place- I have 7 of the 10 spots on Page 1 for my Niche. And all this is from what I have learned from AR and other places.

5 Resources (forget the platform) that can help you improve your Blog, Post, Lens, Article, etc.

1. Make Your Blog be found better in Google

2. HTML codes for Borders and Backgrounds

3. Improve your Blog with Google Book Clip Tool

4. understanding and Improving how you use Keywords

5. HTML Color Guide

Photo Presentation Program

William Johnson just posted this, and it is beautiful. I had never heard of this program, but will be watching for his tutorials so I can use this as a tool for making my Blogs better too ;)

Note: One of the most important things I learned is to have unique content, that is also updated!

** for #3 The Book Clip Tool go to Advanced Search and click on Public Domain (see comment 55 below)

Update: Note go to This SEO and Marketing Blog for Q&A's (the Author of the SEO resource)

By: Kathy McGraw- CELLing Realty in Riverside County CA

Posted by Kathy McGraw, Riverside County CA Real Estate on 10/23/2009 09:00 PM

Comments (78)

Blogging Tips in the ActiveRain Channel

blogs, seo, html

Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: SO CAL Pass Area Communities and other Interests
Post is included in group: POSITIVE ATTITUDE for the Weary Soul
Post is included in group: e-PRO Internet Technology
Post is included in group: Arizona Real Estate

78 Comments on Blogging Continuing Ed- Make your Blog Better with these Resources

OCT

Hi Kathy...You have provided some very interesting and important links. I appreciate your helpfulness.

Kate

H Kathy, You can add one more to your list. I just posted my introduction of SlideRocket.com. I saw your post and wanted you know about this ASAP, not that I didn't spend way to much of time talking to you about how cool it was already,LOL.

Thanks for sharing all the other new resources !

Kathy,

I am a baby at bloging , just created my 3rd. Thanks for sharing all this information, I will definetly chew on it little by little. love the moving water.

Why Hi there Kate :) I got a lot out of several of those lenses...both Spirituality and Sojourn really know their stuff :) Hope all is going well for you.

Hey William- Wow....3 days in a row talking to you LOL....could you please leave the link here, and also a link to your new Group for people to make slideshows :)

Brenda- Oh, I remember so well writing my first Blog Posts....it can be overwhelming, but this is a good community here. May I suggest you join the Postive Attitudes for the Weary Soul Group. It is a good one. Also, be careful of anyone wanting you to part with your money....Active Rain has a search feature and you can find everything you need. If it's not there send one of us an email and we'll help you.

Tags, keywords (bolded), unique content (don't use other peoples stuff) and you should do fine :)

Bout time you got something out here :) This will surely be helpful to everyone here Kathy and I know it'll be much appreciated!

Hey Sally- I have a ton of absolutely great resources now.....the Color one isn't my favorite, but I noticed judging your Contest how many people love those Christmas Tree Posts with all the colors, so I added it LOL :) That lady Soujourn taught me so much.....even after 2 years on here I didn't learn what she taught us in Summer School. I wanted to share with my friends here, as this is the best Real Estate Platform out there ;)

Hi Kathy- This is exactly what I was talking about when I wrote my blog for the PAWS contest. Thank you so much for sharing and I have bookmarked so I can learn each one. :0)

Hi Martha- Did I tell you Congratulations...I loved your Before and After Contest entry :) As I told Sally I have been busy learning new things, and so glad that they can help my friends here too. The keywords thing took me some time, not the lens here but another 2 Soujourn wrote about pre-and post publishing (they are in a little box on the side of her lens). I will do another Post next week with a couple more Excellent ones. Hint: don't use the keywords that everyone is using, narrow it down.....find something where you will get the top Google Spots.

Wo0t....great information.

Great information and I will definitely need to spend more time reading and using the links that you provided. Good job!

Kathy - Thanks so much for sharing my HTML page as a resource for others! That was so thoughtful of you in so many ways. :) It was the lens I had the most fun creating and I get a kick out of knowing when it has helped someone else. Now, lenses I can do - blogs I'm still working on and to your point we can learn from a number of different areas. My guess is no one knows marketing as well as a group of real estate agents so I bet I could pick up quite a few tips from you and your friends! Good thinking! ;)

Thanks!

Kathy congrats on the application of what you learned , and the success which resulted. These are great tips, thanks for sharing,

Kathy, is there enough time to read and do all of the wonderful things that you've suggested? Thank God for the bookmark button. I definitely want to look very deeply into everything that you have mentioned.

Hi Kathy -- I've bookmarked this and am heading off to check out your resources -- a sincere thanks for sharing! :)

Kathy -

Thanks for sharing this info!

OCT

Kathy -- I have bookmarked this post and look forward to reading all the links in your list. Thank you for sharing this helpful information.

These links are AWESOME! This information is extremely helpful to me! I have bookmarked this post and can't wait to start playing around and making all of my marketing more "Google Friendly!" Thank you so much!

Hi Kathy..I used to post to Digg, then the barred anything from AR and said AR posts offered similar content therefore labeled us a spam..I did use posts from my outside blog and they are accepted.

Posting all over helps us in Google, I too have covered a front page.

Cheers, congratulations on your feature!

Hi Kathy - The Squidoo site on keywords and the photo program look interesting. Thanks for the links!

Kathy,

That you for sharing these tips. I've bookmarked them for tomorrow's read.

Hi everyone....I am glad that you like the resources. I know they helped me. I would love to answer each one of you, but it is past my bedtime, and well my poor old eyes are tired, can barely see this page anymore, LOL :)

Night all, and thank you -it's nice to see you have bookmarked this, as it is pretty hard to absorb them in a single sitting ;)

And a very special hello to Erica (Sojourn) who authored 2 of those links ;) Thank you for teaching me and answering my questions, and for coming by to leave a comment too :)

Oh and Fred.....you said it perfectly, that's why we all need Original Content. Everyone writing the same thing ($8,000 tax credit for example) isn't as good as writing something unique, a different angle on it, in our own words.

HI KAthy, This is a very informative post and I plan to use the information, I have one question for you. You are getting most of the spots on the first page of Google. Have you gotten any buyers or sellers your outside blog?

:) wow thanks for listing one of my lenses here. great recap. what I have to add to all this: pay especial attention to the title of your blogpost: it should contain those keywords too.

Thanks much for the tips. It is helpful when we share the info that others may not have. And you are generous and kind to do so here. What a great forum for this. Appreciate it.

Great information Kathy! Sounds like you have mastered blog customization!

Fascinating article. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the great tips. I would like to say thank you for this post.

Kathy, You have convinced me to further check it out. I've spent the last few minutes checking out some of it but will dig deeper a little later in the week-end. Thanks!

Kathy, thank yu very much for these great tips. Our blogs must stand out and this might just do the trick. Thanks,

Jean Richer
Ottawa,ON

Thanks for the information. We really do learn from each other on Active Rain. I appreciate the tips.

I've narrowed down the number of blogs I do now. It took awhile but I found a focus and have concentrated on building my business around it. The tips for ways to make my blogs reach my target audience and look good are always important. Thanks for sharing.

It is nice to share your own way of how you write blogs and obtain content. For me it is Jack and Java. Thanks for the post.

Kathy:

Thank you for providing this useful information. I will definitely be looking into it.

Tip#1: Once you have the Title of your Post-DO NOT change it after posting. This isn't good, and as Katinka (Spirituality- who wrote the above resource on SEO) said in a comment above-put your keywords in the Title. Many of us, I sure know I have, used cutsy Titles before, but this doesn't help. Oh, and you can ask a question on her lens about SEO specifically in the area where it says to. I think you can, sometimes we only check the box that says Squidoo Members only.....but you can try!

Tip #2: No matter what anyone says, nor how cute it looks, all those colored fonts detract your reader. We have a tendency to want to show off everything we have learned, but as my friend so wisely stated in my classs......"less is more!" And a bunch of different colored fonts, or too many different colored borders she called a Christmas Tree Post ( that's what she called mine) so I learned! Keep the colors to a bare minimum, and complimentary to the Post itself. We all want whoever reads us to read the words, or concentrate on the picture, not get distracted by green, blue, red, purple, etc text scattered throughout :)

Tip#3 : Google is flooded with information- and consumers are smarter now, tired of seeing the same thing over and over. Narrow your niche down, then down again. You don't want everybody to call you, but you do want the people looking in "Running Springs" (ex) so why not Title the Post Log Cabins in Running Springs. Or Child friendly Hotels in Denver, or Pet Friendly Parks in Chatanooga......whatever it is, think before you Title it, put the words Pet Friendly Parks in your tags, spread throughout your Post, and BOLD them. Just don't overdo it-keep it reader friendly!

Tip#4: Build your Blog up, use Localism, and don't worry about us, it is the consumer that pays our bills.

This is something I always struggled with, as I love to write and write whatever pops into my head, just like this Post.....I wanted to share after reading all the entries in Sallys contest in the PAWS Group ;)

Sybil- to answer your question- yes and no. I have a current escrow from a buyer directily attributed to my Videos, but if they found them on my outside blog or on Google I don't know. She did tell me she found me by reading something I wrote. I know that my Active Rain blog was never focused on Buyers or Sellers, and even then I got clients from it. Over the past year I didn't get many clients because of not being consistent, or focused, and not to mention my market was pretty dead except for short sales which I don't do (less than 5% close in my area). I can tell you that AR is considered an "older site" and they do get good Google Juice. The localism stuff is what will give you unique content, and just go back and update it every now and then, not the Title, just the body of the Post. Add something new, then let others know you updated it.....use FB, Twitter, but don't only use auto posting as that gets boring.

***Katinka- Thank you so much for coming by. I was reading your Blog and after subscribing knew my friends here would benefit from your extensive knowledge on SEO :)

Kathy, You're right,'learning is a never ending cycle.' This was very helpful. Thank you.

Kathy - I read so much that it becomes information overload at times. This was an excellent post for me. I've learned so much! You have a new subscriber. Thanks so much for sharing with those of us farther down the learning curve.

Well deserved feature!!!!

Thanks for sharing I'll be reading your Google Book Clip tool since I have never heard of it. Great job and keep blogging

You make excellent points here ... thanks for your efforts! I think I speak for all people in all the land when I say, "We appreciate you!"

Kathy, I applaud you for all you have learned, I think it's amazing. I move along VERY slowly but I'm still reading and trying to improve my blogs and want to create another one soon. I'm wondering if I will have time to keep up with everything :) Congrats on a wonderful feature!

Nice Kathy, thanks for sharing your resources. When you say "learning is a never ending cycle" oh that is so true.

Kathy, thanks for pointing us to some more great resouces...

If we stop learning, we stop living. We all must continue this education in order to keep up on our game and you have proved to evolve where others haven't including myself. I admit that though I've learned a lot of things, there is still so much more out there for me to learn.

Todd Clark - www.LivingBeaverton.com

Hi Kathy~ How have you been? Thanks for sharing, I am definitely going to have check it out!

Todd- It is the people that think they know everything already that are in trouble. Everyone that says they have a lot to learn are the ones "ahead of the game" including you and me :)

Carol, Vickie and all- I am well, and hope everyone else is too- thank you everyone for your comments....we all learn from each other! that's what makes these platforms so great is the Community!

This is great!! Kathy, thanks so much for sharing these resources! I can't wait to play around with the colors and borders!!

Thanks so much for sharing a wealth of information. I love it and will mark this for back reference. So much to do and so little time. A big thank you for your post!

William, magnificent! As an aspiring photoblogger looking forward to taking it to the next level.

Thanks

Kathy, I've got so much to learn! Thanks for the blog! Looks like I have a few more things to do this weekend!

Great info. Thank you

You are such a giver, thanks for sharing so much of your hard learned info, wish I knew how to use it:)

Hi Kathy,

My brain is overflowing with so much new blogging info at the moment that I reached analysis paralysis by the time I got to yours.....I've got it bookmarked and will come back to it and explore once I get the brain backup percolating again. Thanks for sharing! :)

Very good points and some things I have been thinking about, but more than I can take in today. You are BookMarked.

HI Kathy, I should have had you SHOW me how to use the google book clipper while at REBCLBG!!! I can search for a book but don't find the clip tool... what am I missing? oh great post BTW! Congrats on the shiny new

Information Overload....boy do I understand that one :) Do one thing at a time- Rome wasn't Built in a day. Just remember to trust your instincts as to time, and how much effort you want to put into Improving your Blog. It takes time...so don't worry that you can't get to everything right away. The Google Adwords Tool is a must though if you really want to help yourself.

Hey, guys. The Google Book clip tool is only available on books that are in the public domain, for copyright reasons.

The best way to find public domain content is to use the advanced search and click teh Public Domain only button.

Kathy, going back and reading each of your mentioned blogs is going to keep me busy this evening but I know it's going to be worth it. I've been working on improving mine and get lost in the details sometimes.

Hey Pam - the comment right under yours is from Kab, the one that wrote the piece on the Bookmark Tool....(comment #55) Also look at the tutorial graphics on the lens, as there are ones to show you how to do it, and where to find the tool (s).

Thanks Kab for coming by to help us out :) Your lens is a good tool for improving out Blogs.

I almost think I need to compile all of these great ideas into a notebook! Thanks.

Kathy, thanks for the links. I have mixed emotions-I want to know all there is about blogging yet I am afraid of getting as involved on Squidoo as I am on ActiveRain. I mean there are only so many hours in a day! So I just 'peaked' at your links but didn't navigate around much. I almost afraid to look...

Thanks, will be putting this information to good use.

Thanks for sharing Kathy. I need all the blogging help I can get.

Kathy -- this is great information. I am bookmarking for future use. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and success.

Thanks for the resources. I wanted to make my comment before I went off to chase those links down.

Thank you for the resources. One of the great things about Active Rain is how willing people are to teach and share.,

Thanks for the resources, I have not written too many blogs, but I am going to write one right now and check out if your resources can help me.

OCT

How cool didn't know about the google books tip! That will come handy I'm sure. Thanks. ~Rita

Hi Kathy, This was an excellent resource. I so enjoyed watching Williams' presentation & your tips about blogging are very helpful. Congrats on the feature! You're bookmarked for future reference.

Good info... thx

OCT

Hi Kathy, thanks for the links and push to advance ourselves even more. I have to really go through these. They look pretty useful. You're right, we have to do all we can to leverage our work on our blogs as much as possible.

Make it a great day.

OCT

Wow, you are popular whereever you go online. This blogpost gave my SEO lens more traffic than it ever had :)

I don't recall saying that titles should never be changed. I DO change titles on a regular basis. It seems to be a squidoo specific problem that changing a title there will also change a LOT of links in one swoop and that may lead to problems with google. For blogs and article sites - Just change the title if you have to. In fact, if you've never thought about keywords in titles before, rewrite every title you ever made...

As for questions... I think it's best if your readers come to my new blog about SEO and online marketing for those: http://www.marketingspiritual.com/ (can't turn that into a link because I'm not a member here)

Wow Kathy. This is great stuff. I am going to have to bookmark this one until December.

OCT

Katinka- again thanks, especially for the claification on the Title of Blogs: and the link for your website if people have SEO questions. Active Rain is a very powerful network for anyone in the Real Estate field :)

To All: go here if you have SEO specific Q's and Katinka will answer them for you Just Go here to her SEO and Marketing Blog. Also Tip #1 above was clarified about changing Titles: apparently changing Titles can affect links so this one I will call Bob and ask him :)

OCT

Kathy, I don't know HOW I missed this and I appreciate the excellent resources and links you listed. I really need all the help I can get along with some inspiration now and then. Thanks!

Hey Russell-Well I'm glad you found it, and hope it helps :)

OCT

Could you explain Squidoo and Lens? I am trying to understand this article.better.

Cheryl- Squidoo isn't the important thing here. It is another writing platform and instead of a Post they make "lenses" (mini webpages with a lot of different boxes called modules to write, add pictures, feature things etc.

The important thing is to use the resources, and the tips given in the comments here (see comment #33 ) to improve your own Blog. Just skip over the parts that don't apply to you or your Blog.

NOV

I have never heard of Squidoo so I had to take a look. Now I want to know what a lens is?! Is that squidoo- speak for "post"?!

Jenny, yes in Squidoo-speak a lens is a Post. They just have more things you put in the Post, and where Active Rain is a Real Estate network, Squidoo is more centered on selling things...( but you don't have to use it for that :)

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