anna baron: Google Sells Search Engine Optimization side of Performics
- 04/04/08 03:12 PM
Since Google acquired Performics, many SEO guru's have been concerned about the ethics involved with Google acquiring the company’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) division. Google has just announced that while they intend to keep the affiliate marketing division, they have decided to sell the Search Engine Optimization side of Performics. For more information, read Google’s blog post about it This is good news - to the "little guys" like me! Plus with Google's claim early on that "search engine rankings can't be guaranteed" this would really have been a conflicting, dare I say unethical, division to add to their fold. SearchFeature.com provides … (1 comments)
anna baron: SEO vs. PPC
- 04/04/08 01:52 AM
An associate of mine contacted me a few weeks ago asking me to handle a PPC campaign for her and I refused. I don't do PPC! PPC is a temporary (and expensive) fix to having your site found in the search engines - and more often than not, your ROI is rarely recouped. I told her if her client wants to throw away her money like that, just send ME a check for doing absolutely nothing instead of sending it to the PPC companies who are already making tons of cash off of people/companies. While a PPC company returns virtually nothing in … (4 comments)
anna baron: New visual search engine: SearchMe
- 03/24/08 08:05 AM
I’m not sure how many of you have seen this new search engine that is in beta testing right now – but it looks freakin’ amazing. http://www.searchme.com/
The importance of a good design is going to be an essential part of marketing your site in the future. Now that SearchMe is coming out, I see this as making a huge impact on the way people literally *view* your web site and decide whether or not to visit. Originally when I started designing sites, I was heavy on the flash and graphics, but started drifting away from that when I started … (4 comments)
anna baron: SEO: Is the word "and" a "stop word" for titles?
- 03/24/08 07:20 AM
An important thing to remember in search engine optimization is that using the word "and" in a page title means you should have two different pages as opposed to combining two phrases on one page. What does this mean? If you're an agent who supports many cities in a particular area/county, you (or your webmaster) may have combined city names (or counties) in your page title. For instance your page title may read: "North Dallas and Collin County homes for sale" This is not the right way to market your page. The search engines when crawling your page will delete the "and" from your page … (6 comments)
anna baron: Google now offers SEO services
- 03/19/08 06:27 AM
Google has acquired DoubleClick Performics (http://www.performics.com). So what does this mean? There's no sure-fire way to tell at this point, however I have heard both good, bad and indifferent comments regarding the acquisition. Amongst talk groups, I've seen comment such as "who said a search engine optimization company couldn't guarantee rankings?" and "...the era where someone can rank a site strategically without Google financially benefitting from it is going to come to an end." Others don't see it as anything to be worried about "...it seems to be one very minor part of the company, and very basic at that." One thing is … (5 comments)
anna baron: Settlement Room was Sold?
- 02/14/08 04:39 AM
I must of missed something somewhere. I just heard that SettlementRoom was sold about a month ago. Has anyone heard anything about this? We think it was sold to Emphasystems but I can't find anything on the actual sale to verify that. Has anyone else heard about this or have any additional information?
… (12 comments)
anna baron: Webographers Certification
- 01/14/08 03:19 PM
Have you heard of the Real Estate Webographer certification? REW offers three different certifications for Agents, Brokers and Virtual Assistants. This Real Estate Technology Certification program has come highly recommended to me by another member of IREAA. I've personally started this certification for the Virtual Assistant course as a part of my continuing education for 2008. If this certification is something that would be of interest to you. I have now been contacted by Scott Lau, VP of Marketing with a discount code good for the next 5 people who sign up for the certification course. Each course normally costs $199 but … (5 comments)
anna baron: IREAA Group
- 01/11/08 01:40 AM
IREAA is the organization for virtual assistants and in-house assistants that support real estate professionals. IREAA has just created an IREAA Group here at ActiveRain. If you're a Virtual Assistant or a real estate professional with an in-house assistant that can use a organization for training and ideas to help you in your business, consider membership at IREAA and joining our ActiveRain Group. … (2 comments)
anna baron: The Year in Review
- 01/02/08 05:23 AM
2007 was an exceptional year for the Real Estate Virtual Assistant industry. Rather than do my own run down of the year, check out the REVA industries Year in Review, written by none other than the fabulous Laura Monroe! My self-created tagline for Laura - "those in the know, know Laura Monroe!" I'm flattered and thrilled to be mentioned in Laura's review. Thanks Laura! Here's wishing you all a safe, happy and PRO$PEROU$ 2008! … (2 comments)
anna baron: NAR: Win a .mobi web site or Flip Video Camera
- 11/04/07 08:12 AM
Wow, is NAR really just a week away? If you're going to NAR, stop by the IREAA Booth #3951 to register to win a .mobi web site or a flip video camera. We'll be giving one away each day of the conference! Additionally we have several members of IREAA who will be available to answer any questions that you may have about using a Virtual Assistant. Our members are as diverse as the services they offer and we invite you to come meet and mingle with the VA of your dreams! … (2 comments)
anna baron: You just kissed that easy sale goodbye!
- 10/03/07 06:02 AM
I wonder how some real estate agents ever get or keep clients - seriously, if you have an "I know it all" attitude and treat inquiries like they're *bothering* you - then why the heck are you in this business? Here's the scenario: My mother-in-law retired earlier this year. She wants to relocate from Nevada to Texas to be here with the grandkids. I want her here desperately - I absolutely adore my mother-in-law and can you say babysitter? She's been fixing her house up this year to sell and she's ready to put it on the market. So it's time to start looking for … (9 comments)
anna baron: Who gives a Flip? IREAA does!
- 10/02/07 11:16 AM
Who gives a flip? IREAA does! IREAA is going to be demonstrating the Flip Video Camcorder at NAR - Booth 3951. Stop by our booth and register for your chance to win! We'll be giving not one, but two flip video cameras away. The Flip Video Camcorder is a must have for real estate agents. I thought this recorder was like all other camcorders but it's not. I can instantly see where real estate agents can take that extra step by using this cool tool during a listing presentation. Simply video some of the homes most outstanding features and you or your … (2 comments)
anna baron: :-) turns 25 today!
- 09/18/07 07:39 AM
This post is not technically savvy, nor does it provide industry information to set your business apart from others, but I would like to take a minute to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the smiley. Where would we be without emoticons in today's world of e-mails and electronic messages? 25 years ago today, Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman proposed the usage of :-) for messages with humor. Now 25 years later we have an enormous amount of smiley's :) and winks ;-) which have morphed from the original smiley, as well as other emotions such as the sad emoticon :'( If you'd like … (6 comments)
anna baron: The .mobi Google site is live!
- 09/13/07 07:21 AM
Scenario: A businessman is offered a new position out of state. Excited at his new future, and now the need to find housing, he picks up his Blackberry and searches for a real estate agent. Will he find you? If you have not snatched up your .mobi domain name, now is the time to do so. The .mobi Google site is live and Blackberry/PDA users are using the .mobi Google site to search for everything from new homes to restaurants. If you want the "edge" over the competition, now is your chance to jump in and buy domains such as "DallasRealEstate.mobi" or domain … (6 comments)
anna baron: Mobile Web Site - .mobi
- 09/10/07 08:20 AM
The future of the internet is mobile! With the increasing number of people using Blackberry's and PDAs, the need for user friendly mobile web sites is increasing daily. Make your mobile web easy to use with goodies such as bookmark me, call now options, GoogleMaps with directions to your location and many more features. We offer custom templates with custom graphics and a look that will get you noticed, remembered and bookmarked! Right now, you can get your mobile web site, and one years registration of a .mobi domain name and hosting for the incredibly low price of $399. Visit my web site for more … (2 comments)
anna baron: Your assistant needs an IREAA Membership
- 08/16/07 05:14 AM
As a co-founder of IREAA, I'm looking for information from agents on what they would want from an assistant? See the entry here. If you will spend 5 minutes responding to my questions for information, you can win a one year membership to IREAA (www.ireaa.com) for your assistant! I will announce a winner on August 20th. Good luck!
… (1 comments)
anna baron: HP Online Classes
- 08/13/07 02:32 AM
If you're looking for some online classes, Hewlett Packard (HP) has some free classes that are worth looking into, you can see the classes available by clicking here. Just to name a few: » Security solutions » Tune up your Windows XP PC » Protect yourself from spam and spyware » Security boot camp » Understanding Windows® Vista® Home Basic and Home Premium » Home office » Setting up a wireless home network NEW! » The wireless mobile student » Understanding Windows® Vista® Home Basic and Home Premium » Creating a distinctive identity: business cards, stationery, and more » Intermediate Microsoft® Excel 2003 » Personal … (0 comments)
anna baron: Blogging and Joomla and SEO
- 08/11/07 06:40 PM
I recently changed my web site over to Joomla (Content Management System). As a web site designer, this was very hard for me to do and I'm still learning the ins and outs of Joomla on a daily basis. Deciding to go to a Joomla format was very scary, I'm a designer, not a programmer and it was more than a little intimidating...but I did it! Here's my site: www.TheVirtualLink.com. Yesterday I decided to try out an extension for Joomla that displays the titles of your latest blog posts. It took maybe all of about 10 minutes to set up. I was floored. Now, each time I … (5 comments)
anna baron: What do you want from your Assistant?
- 08/10/07 05:17 PM
I know agents that spend several hours per week reading industry e-zines and articles, reviewing new softwares and technologies as well as researching the latest in technology and industry gadgets. The results? You spend hours of your time researching tools and techniques that are rarely put to use. So what if you instead delegated the task to your assistant by providing them with an organization that consists of both virtual assistants and in-house assistants who are highly knowledgeable in the latest and greatest tools and techniques being used in the industry? IREAA (International Real Estate Assistants Association) is an organization that I co-founded … (1 comments)
anna baron: Going Green for the environment
- 08/09/07 01:59 PM
FROM http://www.kimhughes.com/go-green.htm with permission: In today's society we are hearing more and more about global warming and that we must take action now in order to save the earth for future generations. Interesting fact: Virtual Assistants are going green everyday! How do we do this? We do not pollute our air with carbon monoxide Spend money on gas commuting Save trees by using electronic files as opposed to paper files Use artificial lighting Use recycled materials Travel is not expected Little did we know that we were already helping our precious environment by going Virtual! There are lots of ways to go green and … (0 comments)
Since Google acquired Performics, many SEO guru's have been concerned about the ethics involved with Google acquiring the company’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) division. Google has just announced that while they intend to keep the affiliate marketing division, they have decided to sell the Search Engine Optimization side of Performics. 
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