I'm not even going to pretend as if I understand SEO (Search Engine Optimization). My knowledge about this is shallow; but I can tell you that I know much more about SEO today than I did 2 weeks ago. I began working on my objectives for 2009 and one of them is to build an even greater web presence in the Frisco TX real estate market. I knew I didn't have time to work on it, and I needed to hire a company to help me get there much faster than I can myself. But before I could do that (select the right company), I need to understand some basic concepts so that I would be able to tell if a company complies to Google guidelines and truly know what they are doing.

I interviewed many companies these 2 weeks. Spoke to many more web design companies to help me achieve my online presence. Then I realized (in my research) how Active Rain became as powerful as it is. I'm coming to my senses that I cannot hire any company or anyone that could do this better than Active Rain to gain me the presence that I want in the time frame that I want.

Now, this is not a Hoo Haa blog about how great Active Rain is. They know they are great. They don't need anymore pats on their backs from me. But I think I want to unveil what I've found out about SEO and why every step of the way, Active Rain was this secret ingenious system. This is where it got me, I'm in awe!

Caution: You must read the following paragraphs slowly in order to digest the information. But I think it's important for you to understand this so that you could make a judgment call on whether to proceed an Active Rain presence for your business.

So, this point system is really a two-fold motive. One - which is the most obvious. The point system encourages many bloggers to continue to come back everyday to blog for more points. I really don't believe that points don't matter. It does, and especially to ALL of us here on Active Rain as small business owners. We are entrepreneurs and one of the qualities is to be competitive. Getting points and showing up Top Dog in your city is indeed self-serving.

The other underlining objective (that I'm guessing and maybe some of you brighter ones have figured it out) is that these points awarded for links on your real estate website is not really to award you points. It's Active Rain secret to grow to become the most powerful real estate content portal. When you have many genuine links pointing to AR and vice versa, Google gives these two sites higher rankings for content relevance. (As a bad example, if you have your favorite Bag store linked to your real estate website, the content are not related).

Active Rain as the Trusted Site
We - the Active Rain members participate by posting relevant real estate content. Consumers search and find your relevant blog content on the AR platform. Over time, the search results get cited more often, hence building a "trust" factor. So, the next time your future clients google for real estate information, Google will be sure to crawl the AR platform because it had build a trusted presence for reliable content.

If you understand the power of SEO and what it could do your business, your ultimate goal is to become an AUTHORITY in your area - just like Active Rain is an authority for real estate content. You become an authority of your keyword when you see links below your URL. See Realtor.com attachment. An authority shows up first in the search engine result. Try it for yourself. Google Real Estate or Active Rain and observe the difference between the top link with the rest of the links found on the search results. 

Now, if you have time to study and work on your SEO - a multi-facet discipline which includes writing unique and compelling content, links, directory submissions, press releases to build an authority site, would you have time left to sell real estate?

During my quest of making an online presence for myself in my marketplace, I realize it will take me too much time, energy and money to out-do Active Rain. Heck, I helped build the Frisco TX segment. I'm a girl all about her looks, I didn't want to accept the Outside Blog because it couldn't do this or that. Read about my Looks post here.  So why re-invent the wheel when the obvious has been paying off for me over and over again?

Yes, this is a very long answer to Why you could/ should sign up for the paid version of Outside Blog - if you want a pure consumer-centric blog. Based on how I understand this, I could tell my post to go to my Outside Blog instead of my Active Rain platform if I so choose for unique content. Make sure you don't miss Bill Gassett's latest post about Raindexing in Active Rain Outside Blog Will Rock The House With Google Juice. The 2nd sentence should be enough for you to say, Where do I pay?

But if you are like me, you had to get a long answer, there you have it in my explanation up above.

Now, are you convinced? Have you signed up yet?

PS: If you need help customizing your user-friendly Outside Blog, read Dede Maxwell's step by step instruction.

Note: All contents are original. Consider subscribing to my blog for more communities in the greater Frisco TX real estate market. It is my intentions to bring you neighborhood and communities highlights worth your time subscribing to.

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I proudly serve and sell real estate in the northern suburb cities of the Dallas metroplex. If you are thinking about purchasing or selling your home in neighborhoods of Frisco, Plano, Dallas, McKinney, Allen, Little Elm, Prosper, Celina, Richardson, Dallas M-Streets, Dallas White Rock Lake area and other surrounding areas and more importantly, want to work with a local area expert, contact me at your earliest convenience.

It is a competitive market, hence it is important that you choose to work with the realtor who knows these communities like none other. I employ a systematic market approach in selling your home - an intentionally unique proposal that most real estate agents do not use. If you care to be on your way to a successful closing, contact me immediately to see how different my proposition will be.

Contact:
Loreena Yeo
Realtor®/ Broker of 3:16 team REALTY
(214) 783-2210
loreena@loreenayeo.com

Copyright © 2009 by Loreena Yeo (3:16 team REALTY).  The Unveiling of the Love Affair Between Active Rain and Google.

Do Not Copy. Serious actions will be taken. Re-blog is allowed for Active Rain members on the Active Rain platform when the content is taken in its entirety and credit be given to Loreena Yeo and 3:16 team REALTY.