I have been tweaking my website lately and trying to hit that ever elusive top spot in the Google search engines.  I have been focusing on key words consumers/clients might use to locate an appraiser.  I was checking my ranking's today and I see that due to linking to my Active Rain blog from my homepage...I am now in the top 10 for many of my key word phrases!  And quite often, it is my Active Rain profile which is most highlighted!

For anyone who uses Alamode's XSites for their web hosting - may I recommend their new XSites Desktop application!   This little application which can sit in your system tray, not only allows for chat and collaboration from your website - but also has a monitor of your rankings within the XSites Network.

The "Energizer" as it is called, keeps track of where your site ranks against all the others on the network, and offers suggestions to boost your rankings. 

When this first came out, it was almost as fun as the point system in Active Rain!  As you work through updates to your homepage, keywords, etc - the score rises.  Add in some friendly competition with other appraisers, and I was REALLY paying attention now!

But the good news is that this has also impacted my rankings in search engines such as Google as well.

By continuing to make changes to my homepage, keywords, and content - I am working hard to get into the top 5 for my overall search rankings. 

So I may not be #1 yet....but I am working on it!  And I realize, the more I post thoughtful, meaningful content on both my Active Rain blog as well as my website - the better chance I have of consumers and clients finding my services when they are looking for appraisal services in central Florida.  (that was some use of key words there!)

So when you type in phrases like, "home appraiser in Orlando" or Clermont, or Lake county.....I am hoping you will find www.AmcAppraisalsinc.com in that top 10....and hopefully with a little luck and a lot of blogging and work....maybe one day I'll be #1!  

For now, I'll take what I can get and rejoice in the small victories at least! 

Make it a productive day