Missy... How do you track the info, Manually search & count each month?

As for fixing your columns you can set up a TABLE in Word or just copy and paste from Excel.

I could learn a lot from you on this Missy.  You are right, blogging and this site doesn so much for one's google juice.  I've learned a bunch, yet still have a lot to learn.

Missy - This is a good post illustrating the power of this site. I have been blessed with great placement on Google for several years with my main site (literally the result of prayer), but I my AR pages come up very well for niche terms. Keep up the good work!

Missy,  This is a very helpful post and something I've been thinking a lot about over the past week. Congrats on not only keeping track of your SEO, but also on rising in the ranks for so many search terms !!  Wonderful work.

I need to get working on this myself....I've neglected my website and need to start focusing more on optimizing my business through Active Rain and less on other things. So I'm like you, need  to re-focus on localism type blogs.

Thanks for writing this, I've bookmarked it to read again over the next few days .

Jo 

Missy,

It's good to keep an eye on where you are heading in SEO. If it's down, obviously something different needs to be done. If it's up just a bit, again, revise your strategy. Even when you're doing well, stay active because it's not a permanent situation by any means. Can't sit back and relax. 

I recently started using google analyticals again, along with stat counter to ascertain where my hits are coming from.  I used to be in the top 5 of Google when Macomb County was searched, then dropped off a couple of years ago into oblivion.  (No one to blame but myself, I wasn't keeping up with changing SEO at all. )  Since I started the AR blog I am almost religious about "tweaking" my website and have started climbing again.  That, along with the Google Juice that AR brings is really helping.

I have to laugh though at some of the search terms used to find me:  "macomb county mi bus schedules" (huh?) or "real estate agent time spending" or "help bought home" (that one cracked me up)

Congrats to you on your high ranking!  That shows how hard you've been working at it Missy, and I'm sure your clients and future clients will realize that when you show this to them.

Dan, I do search monthly, that's why I know I need to do more localism posts. I have fluctuated quite a bit. I wish I knew how to do a table in Word.

Jason, there are some excellent teachers on activerain. I've learned the most from Laurie, Brad and Karen George

Jason, that's great, I'll check out your site. I have had to have my web master tweek, tweek, tweek and it still isn't like I want it.

Jo-Anne, It's amazing how we think just because we have a site, people searching for houses will call us. NOT on page 49 !!!

Esko, no contant vigiliance isn't it.

Kris, thanks for commenting. I'm having trouble with posting today. I think the snap shots are causing me fits.

Missy:  I know it takes longer for me to load your blog than others without the snapshots.  As I'm typing, I'm 3 or 4 words ahead of what I see on my screen (if that makes any sense)

My problem is that where you go to leave a comment the tool bar doesn't come up. It' there on this comment but it wasn't on the comments I gave to all four at once, so I couldn't highlight their name. I like the snap shots because I like to see if I want to click over and read the whole thing, but maybe I have too many and they should just be in the posts. As I said, I'm still learning.

Missy, that is so exciting to see your website is doing so good.  We have learned a lot about SEO through the rain.  I like to track mine also.  I'm not as good as you at tracking the terms, what kind of a chart do you use in Word?

I also have learned an enormous amount about SEO, and other things in general!  I do not know where I was, but I know I wasn't on first Google page, now I am #4 on 1st page, but I think #1-3 all pay to advertise.  So I am as high as I will get unless I pay.   But I'm very happy where I am now!!

Tried to dump it in here but as usually A/R is acting up..... Gotta go but will return later tonight or in the morning....

Missy,

Those are some great results! Congratulations on your first 10 months' efforts.

As far as your columns are concerned, I would suggest making a chart in Excel and pasting it in your blog. Your results should be much cleaner.

Marchel, yes we have. I just did a simple word doc with lines, but it didn't come out too well. Dan is helping me.

 Ronald, that is fantastic, What a great place to be right under the sponsored links is my goal too.

Dan, I got the email that you posted it but when I went here, only your comment is in there.  If it is easier than just email me, missy@missycaulk.com  THANK YOU !!

Andrew, thanks but I don't know Excel at all. I wish I did, everyone tells me it is easy but I don't think it is. LOL

Hi Missy - did you kids turn you in for the Pest Inspector link?? LOL

Missy - Oh for God's sake, are you telling me that it is not all random selection? Are you saying that placement on a search is more the case of interweb darwinism? Has survival of the fittest been replace with survival of the seoist?

Methinks I have a lot or reading to do. I like my website, I guess no one else has found it.

Thank you for sharing.

Missy congratulations on your hard work!.  That few blogs and free to boot  LOL

John, huh ?? LOL

Gary, yes they are free, thank goodness.

Missy - that seems like good progress. I was just wandering how you track it. After first 3 weeks on AR I got to middle of Page 1, but next week I slipped, so I am not sure how to track it. Also I am not sure what made me slip - I continued to write on the same topics. On the other hand -there are sites that are static, with no change of content, and they are consistently very high up in organic search. The fact that I don't understand why, shows that I have a long way to go in SEO.

Linda, maybe I did or maybe they did. Weird huh ?

Missy - YOU are ON TOP of list for Google, Active Rain and anyone I know moving anywhere near Ann Arbor!!  Congratulations on your success!!

Missy... Maybe it will work now.  Before your blog wasn't showing all the icons so I could insert links or preview the comment to make sure it worked.  I posted an "Associates Only" blog to illustrate placing text in columns and will email you the two files. 

Faina, I just search those terms in the post once a month. I go up in some and some I slip in. Right now I need to post more on localism with the terms Ann Arbor Real Estate in it and use my anchor text. Just use Word or a piece of paper, the important thing is, is that you track and see where you are. I never searched Ann Arbor MLS and a competitor told me I was on page one for that term so I looked and saw I was, so I started tracking that term.

Susie, well not too far away. I want to take good care of your clients.

Hey Missy,  this is great!  Congrats!  Google likes what I have written...I just need to do more on local stuff. Way to go!!

I, too, have seen tremendous SEO results from my blogging.  Our warm hearted blogging buddies have helped out again and again to spread the word about SEO and climbing the result pages.

Missy- The same thing happened to us. In just 2 months of blogging on AR, our website moved like your from page 49 for our main search term to page 2 and now we are #4 on page 1 of google. We keep track like you do and I work to get one keyword to page 1 then I work to get the next key word there, and on and on, so that I make sure we are controlling the results of the search in a more consistant manner. Great Job Missy! Katerina

Missy - I have gained some and lost some and need to go searching for the lost ones! :) My website tracks what terms people use to get to my site. So far this month, I have about 230 different terms, so I am going long tail hunting with my blogs. I'll see if I can find some of my lost Google rank.

How long have you had your P2A site? I need to do some work on mine - as soon as I find some buyers agents!

Missy, that is absolutely amazing!  Great work!!!

Missy-  congrats on all your hard work and diligence!  I look on with longing...  I'm still clueless, and hope to someday be as all-knowing as you  :)  

Well Done!, This is the next step I must take and no time like the present to get started. Thanks for the inspiration to check this out and learning to optimise my efforts.

This is a great illustration of the power of netowrking online and getting the word out. For our site, www.homsale.com, we have consistently find users accessing our site through active rain searches. Nice post.

Missy, I didn't look in the comments to see if any one added this search term "buying a home in Ann Arbor" or any thing that has to do with buying a home.

Also, If you want your columns to line up here is what I do. Write up everything in Microsoft Word, create a table (put your columns in a table), under table drop down menu there is an option "Table Auto Format", click on that, Choose "Table Web1" "Table Web2" or any of the web options. The simply write in your data, copy and paste into your Active Rain post. Good Luck

it is amazing isn't it - it makes you feel like you are getting somewhere  - my rankings for Google have gone up - but my yahoo has gone down slightly - pretty funny

Missy,

Very good article. Blogging does really help to increase ranking and it does take time.

John

Stephanie, you write very good posts especially on the environment and I've learned so much from you on going green.

Chris, there are so many experts on activerain, we are blessed to have all this knowledge at our hands.

Katerina, that is a great strategy to focus on one key word at a time. I need to be more disciplined in how I approach it, usually I just write what I'm thinking about.

Paula, no buyer agents yet ? I have had point 2 for about 2 years but just started tweeking it not too long ago and it really helped, for certain terms I get better ranking than my main site, which is amazing to me. I think posting some of my blogs on it really helped. The power of blogging, but it keeps the content fresh for the search engines.

Sandi, compared to many of the bloggers here, I know very little, and what I do know, I learned here on activerain. So keep it up, join a few SEO groups and read it all, I apply what I  can and bookmark things to go over later and absorb.

Bill, you're very welcome.

Mana, Thanks I'll try it, Dan sent me over a table to look at too.

Thee sa, hey I'm learning. I rarely check yahoo and don't track it there. I think because I use iGoogle, I think everyone does. When Prudential started their strategic partnership with yahoo I just don't use it. Hard to compete with them, when all their listings come up first.

John, I agree, but it is so worth it. Time is money and I have more time than money so I give it alot of my time.

Hey Missy, you ought to sell a link on your web site to your favorite pest inspector. They can help offset the cost of your site. Nice post, keep up the great work!

Missy.... Had to change the instructional post to Members Only since apparently the Associates Only doesn't work.

Missy- You can still write what comes to mind but in an organized way. Like I am focusing on just Wellington Florida Luxury Homes Right now. SO even though we have listings that we blog in other towns next to ours, my focus is on owning that keyword in google searches. Now that I am sure I am on the first page in google for that term over and over again, making sure I stay on top for at least one month straight... I am #1,2,3,4, 5,  from different sources I use. Google lets you own the first two places from one source. SO my other blog gets two spots, my AR gets 2 spots, my website gets 2 spots, etc. Now I am focusing on a new key word. Katerina

Missy:  First, it is hard to believe that you have been a member of AR since December 2006 - you have done so much.  I check my results from time to time but not the way you have displayed.  This is the way to definitely know the reality of our efforts.  I don't have as much time to blog as I would like and want to start another that is not AR (but not leave here LOL).  So I have recently come to the conclusion that, if I don't have as much time, then Localism is where my priorities lie but I prefer the fun stuff of learning and networking.  Oh well.

Missy- It's funny but I thought that when researching my "name" I was doing great to be on page one out of over 2 million with the same name.....

Well, My Title Rep sure burst my bubble.....she typed in homes for sale and I was nowhere to be found.  that was my first clue that I was doing it wrong.  Colleen K's Buyer Challenge Contest was my first attempt at key words, and that was very successful......I pop up with keywords :) :) It has been a long road for me to learn all this, and I thank Active Rain for all the resources, including your Posts. Every day I get a little better.

Thank you.....

Joe, LOL

Dan, I got it thanks

Cathy, me too. I need to do localism more.

Kathy, quite a shock isn't it. Use different key words.

Katerina, good advice, thanks a good niche market for luxury homes. I didn't know about owning the first two spaces so that is very helpful.

Blog, and blog often. Blog article results will get less popular over time. It is good to revisit old articles and write updates while referenceing the old ones.

Missy - Congratulation on your success with SEO.  You are right google loves AR.

Wow - Blogging has really helped your rankings - (we will recheck ours) - great tips in your post - thank you very much !

Wow Missy,

Congratulations!  This motivates us to keep blogging effectively and track our ranking.  AR has really helped us move up in pages although recently I noticed we went from p.2 to p.??? can't find ourselves! Interesting how that happens.

Tom, thanks for the suggestion.

Jennifer, yes they do, did you read Tom's comment. I do think as more people start to blog it will be harder to stay on top.

Jeff and Grace, you're welcom

Chris and Maria, must be a clitch, you shouldn't fall that quickly. Use anchor and key word text as much as possible.

Missy: I track as well but don't keep track of what I track (does that make sense?). I guess I should. There are two heavy hitters in my office that spend tons of money on SEO placement and sometimes I place above them because of AR. Of course, it moves around. I find the localism posts are the best for my ranking.

Nicely done Missy.  You know you are doing this game well when you have people come up to you and say "I was searching for something on the net and your name came up."  (I get those reactions whenever someone looks for berry picking information near Ann Arbor.)  Ed    

Kelly, sorta makes sense ? I agree localism is awesome.

Ed, I love it, don't you ? I always have people Google me when I an interviewing to list a home. I read your post on berry picking.

Great job Missy!  So glad to hear it and see it!

No thank you, Karen !!

Missy,

Congratulations on those great numbers.  I have seen my own search results improve greatly since I started blogging.  We have some great people on this site who share tips to make it better. 

YEaH Missy - thanks for sharing - it's inspiring. I have some good news to share with Karen George just wasn't sure how to get in touch - but it's good to see she's on top of it all (Hi Karen! - I'm hitting page 1 too - Thank you!!)

I agree AR helps our ranking. I am going to work on localism to improve my position.

Hi Missy-I like to check myself every now and then. Your numbers are awesome!  I can't believe how much Activerain has help me on the search engines.  I am currently revamping everything so it should be interesting to see how things unfold.  Also, thank you for commenting on my post.  I am trying to be better at commenting and think I might found a good way!  

I agree it takes a bit of time but AR does wonderful things for our SEO, I am going to go back and take a look at my keywords again.

Midori, let me know how you found a way, once you find out if it is working.

Linda, it takes time, no doubt but the results speak for themselves.

Great job on the increase in page rank. This type of forward thinking will set apart the haves and have nots. I believe the agents that don't/won't have a web site or even an email address will be gone soon.

Continued success to you.

Nick, we're dropping like flies every day. Our board lost 100 agents last year and the bills come out in Oct so we will see how that goes. But, I suspect more will drop off.

Hi Missy,

Google loves Activerain and we love Activerain too!! Thanks to all of the hard work and learning how to SEO properly you can achieve fantastic results!! Congats on the work and keep doing what you're doing.

Tracy, you're welcome, It is great here isn't it.

Missy,

Thanks for the post. We all need to remember to check in once in a while and make changes before it's "too late."

Missy,

 Excellent  post! It is nice to hear about SEO from a realtor perspective rather than a techie one. It is important to be working at climbing up the search engines and Active Rain really helps in this area.

Ben, I actually check about every 2 weeks to see what is going on.

John, yes activerain helps even for our regular web sites.

I suspect gains from Active Rain activity are much more dramatic for sites that had previously been buried in Google searches.  Does anyone have results they can post for sites that were previously on page one or two of Google searches and have improved thanks to Active Rain blogging?

Phoenix High Rise, my real estate postcard site was on page 3 of Google a year ago...after 2 blog postings on Active Rain it was bumped to page 1.

Will, AR rocks.

Kay, good for you !

With only posting a few newbie blogs that probably dont fit any of the SEO criteria, if you put my name in Google, I come up #1 & #2 one the first page. Hey...you have to start somewhere! :)  Thats enough proof for me right now to step up the blogging and to start doing it right. 

Hi Missy,

Great post and a great idea about tracking your progression up the Google search rankings.  I am going to start today.

Cashflow Coach