Kinda like Nuprin, but it’s a different color.

But I digress.   Five words with regard the Google +1 Button:  Get One OnYour Website.

It’s an important part of your long term SEO and Internet Marketing strategy.

Some months ago, an article appeared online (and disappeared rather quickly) with a headline that was something like “Use Google +1 Or Kiss Your Ranking Goodbye.”  While that’s harsh, there’s a lot of merit to it and I’ll show you why.  While you read this, keep in mind that over 260 million people have Google accounts.

The Google +1 button sits there next to the Facebook “like” button, StumbleUpon button, Reddit button, Digg button, and the other social media sharing buttons on a web page or blog post.  All of those buttons are very valuable in getting your website viewed by a much wider audience and building your following online.  The Google +1 button might just be the most valuable of all, as it can affect where you appear in the search engine results of people who click on it.

The way it works is when a visitor has a Google account and clicks on the +1, it will give them a little message that says “You publicly +1′d this as (their name here).”  From that point forward, whenever they do a search for your kind of business you will rank higher in their search because they publicly +1′d your site.  Basically, Google takes the fact that they gave your site (or a page on your site) a “thumbs up” in the Google platform and factors that into the algorithm of their personal search.

To illustrate this, look at the search results picture above.  Bob is ranked near the top of page 2 for the search “Elizabethtown PA real estate.”   Now look at the search results picture below.  He’s in the middle of page 3 for the same search.

The difference?  I did the first search while logged in to my Google account, hence the +1 and my avatar next to the search result…AND hence the higher placement.  Searching while being logged in personalizes your search.

More and more, this kind of “personalized” searching is becoming the norm.  It only figures that Google will work their own offerings (i.e. Google Places, Google Plus) into the algorithms and reward those of us who are smart enough to use them.  Google is by far the largest search engine with 75% – 80% market share.  Don’t take that lightly.

Get the button, and if you don’t know how just give me a call:)

Contact me at 717-538-8940 with any questions about Internet Marketing or SEO, email me at marqeteer@marqeteer.com or visit my website:  Top Real Estate Coaches/Top Internet Marketing Consultants

Proper SEO consists of your onsite SEO (keywords, titling, tags, content management) and the aforementioned offsite SEO.  As with all proper SEO, link building isn’t the magic key in and of itself, but if you use it right or have an SEO professional do it right for you, you will build your search engine presence and improve your ranking.

My good friend David Brown (the REAL Neo) shared with me this SEO Link Building tool he and his team created that will help you build links to your website, while offering links as well.  It’s completely free to use.

Reciprocation.  Just like a REAL relationship. lol

Click on this link: Free Link Building tool

From there, just follow these instructions:

1.  In the “keyword” box, type your business/area of interest (“real estate agent”, “farm equipment,” etc.).  If you want to be area specific just add your desired area, i.e. “farm equipment lititz pennsylvania.”

2.  Click “continue.”

3.  The page will then appear with a list of websites (you may have to scroll down) that have link pages.  The link page URLs will look something like “www.buyhomesfromme.com/agent-referral.”

4.  Start on the top of the list and click on each link, fill out your informaton for them to link to you, then you will get the info to link to them on your site.  That’s pretty much it:)

5.  In SEO, content is king and linking is queen.  Links tell the search engines, basically, that you have friends and you’re ok.  Set aside 20 minutes a day or at least 3 days a week to do this, or hire someone who knows what they’re doing to handle it for you.  But please…make sure it’s someone who knows what they’re doing and are doing it properly or it could hurt your ranking.

Contact me if you have any questions or if this just isn’t making sense.

This is a great example of the reciprocal relationships that the search engines promote through their algorithms.  It’s really quite amazing…just remember that the primary goal of the search engines is to keep a level playing field for all business.

Contact me at 717-538-8940 with any questions about Internet Marketing or SEO, email me at marqeteer@marqeteer.com or visit my website:  Top Real Estate Coaches/Top Internet Marketing Consultants

While there are some insightful arguments made, I could not believe the rash and juvenile expressions (he calls social media consultants “blood sucking hucksters” among other colourful adjectives) this supposed professional used in burning the concept of social media consultants at the stake.

Pure and simple, social media consulting is necessary deprogramming.  It’s the purging of all the narcisistic and “money motivated” sales tactics we’ve been subject to for the past 30 years.  Consumers are sick of it and have progressively distanced themselves from it.

Think about it.  From throwing away junk mail to screening calls to voice mail to do-not-call lists, consumers have been trying their hardest to filter out pretenders for years to find those professionals they can trust.

Now, with the social media era, we have to learn the art of “people helping people” all over again and forget the sales ‘tactics’ we’ve been alternately taught and been subject to over the years.

What’s sad is the verbage that Mr. Yiannopoulos uses in the article.  Always remember as a consumer and as a business person:  People who are confident in their work and earnest in their purpose never have to result to condescension and name calling.  Mr. Yiannopoulos represents himself as the very kind of individual that social media forums and social media consultants are there to protect you from.

The proverbial bully.

If you are looking through your sphere of influence contacts and are prone to do a purge every so often, don’t be so quick to remove people from your contact list.  Everyone has their own timeline and as a professional, you have to be ready and willing to negotiate all phases of all timelines.  Here is the original article:

There’s hardly a day that goes by where I don’t encounter a handful of real estate pros who “purge” their database of people who haven’t return contacted them in the past 90 days.   In years past this may have worked, but considering the resources for long-term contact that we have at our fingertips today it’s an almost ludicrous strategy.

With the CRM technology available to salespeople of all realms, there is more power in the hands of the individual today than ever before.   Sales has always been a “numbers game,” but how you manage those people-formerly-known-as-numbers in your database is more important than ever.   CRM’s make it easy and very affordable to maintain long-term contact with a larger database than you’ve ever been able to manage previously.

When email drips are used properly, they’re a valuable tool for maintaining long-term contact.   CRM’s make email drips easy.   Don’t purge your database…that is your marketing microcosm!   Instead, make sure everyone in your database is receiving some kind of monthly email drip to let them know you’re still there.

Forget: The “7-Year-Itch” Rule that has been pounded into our heads for the past 2 decades and states that “the average homeowner moves every 7 years.”    Think realistically:  The average homeowner will need you once…maybe twice in your lifetime.   You need a lot of people in your database.

Remember: If you purge your database, you’re shrinking the number of people who will be aware of you you’re making it easy for people to assume you’re no longer in the business.

Your database is your own marketing microcosm of people who will, over time, become familiar with and comfortable with (and ultimately care about) your name in whatever business realm you’re in.   Time can build credibility inherently.

If you’re new to CRM’s and could use some advice on what to look for, drop me a line at marqeteer@marqeteer.com or 717-538-8940:)

Yes, Facebook has made quite a few changes over the past months…many of them unnecessary.  But that’s what fear and panic will do for you.  Panic and fear distort your ability to determine what is really necessary when making changes to your product or service.  In Facebook’s case, they’re panicking a bit because it’s Google.  And Google will probably keep on trying until they hit on something that’s successful.

What’s interesting, though, is the fact that in this scenario Google has a lot in common with Bing in the search engine scenario.  Will Bing ever overtake Google in the search engine market?  Probably not.  But there’s room for Bing to have a reasonable market share, build their own following and maintain a level of success.  Google is basically the Bing of the social media market.

Truth is, if you try to be all things to all people you will spread yourself too thin and quality will suffer in your services.

While Google Plus may not offer much functionality to make it a necessary part of your social media marketing mix, it’s important to remember that it is a Google product and can inherently help your Google search engine ranking.  It’s not something Google really likes us to discuss, and there has already been one article concerning this that strangely disappeared from the Internet a month or so ago.

Think about it logically…Google has 75% – 80% search engine market share.  If you’re using their social media service, it only makes sense that it will help you in their search engine algorithms…much the same way your Google Places listing does.

Is Google Plus necessary from a functionality standpoint?  For most people, probably not and I don’t see it seriously challenging Facebook’s market share.  However, from the standpoint of SEO and search engine ranking you most definitely want to have a Google Plus account.

For more information on Google Plus vs Facebook, including a link to a direct comparison, click here.

This is great advice because first of all it’s the simple and honest truth, and secondly it really brings to light some of the so-called “solutions” that many businesses pay for.   It’s one thing to pay a top social media consultant or Internet marketing consultant to manage your Internet presence properly to build your profile and following.  The problem is that most business owners don’t have the patience for that to work.

And that’s a shame because they then wind up on a never ending chase (kinda like a hamster on one of those wheel-thingy’s) for short-cuts.   You see, lack of patience leads to a search for a shortcut.  At first the shortcut might work, but it’s only a matter of time before that shortcut runs its course and one must find the next shortcut.  And so forth and so on.

Two important facts about short cuts in Internet marketing:

1)  They never last. “Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms for indexing content to prevent people from gaming the system.” – David Zimmerman, Web Developer and co-founder of MIND Development and Design. What’s worse is that your business could be blacklisted by the major search engines if your methods are considered too shrewd or “black hat.”

2) They never build a following that lasts. Not only do the shortcuts themselves not last, by this very nature they cannot build a large online following that lasts or truly cares about your business.  Imagine AC/DC making a dance album…or hip hop album…or a {enter your favorite trend here} album.  They would lose their core audience and wind up attracting an audience that will leave them for the next trend.  But no, love them or hate them, AC/DC keeps cranking out the 3 (and sometimes 4) chord rock and roll songs that built them a following in the 1970′s, strengthened it in the 1980′s (and allowed them to survive a slip in popularity in the late 80′s) and through to this day where they are still playing large venues.

Why?  Consistency.  Yes, you may be reading this and thinking “I hate AC/DC!”…and that’s good.  There are people who may feel that way about you and your business.   It’s important to recognize that and remember that you’re not going to please everyone.  Be consistent in what you’re doing in your social media marketing and Internet marketing efforts and more people will get to know your business and ultimately care about it.

So, in essence, a business owner who chooses shortcuts in Internet marketing is leaving themselves vulnerable to and in control of trends and is choosing to not build a solid and lasting foundation for his/her business.

I originally posted this video almost two years ago and felt compelled to revisit it, as with my focus on SEO and keyword/content marketing I am once again encountering much misunderstanding of how to communicate with visitors to your website (whether clients or prospects) online.

The thing to remember is that the general public is tired of being sold.

Period.

The sales “tactics” taught over the past 20+ years have created a large gap between business owners/salespeople and consumers.  Consumers are more skeptical than ever today, simply because they’ve heard it all before.

And they’re just looking for someone who will shoot straight and tell them the truth.

With that in mind, I present to you the educational video below to put things in perspective. It comes from the 1987 comedy film “Amazon Women on the Moon” (some of you already know my sense of humor) and is a great example of how consumers now view salespeople in all realms…including real estate.

Think of Steve Guttenberg as the realtor/salesperson and Roseanna Arquette as today’s skeptical consumer…

Always remember that today’s consumer wants more information when they first meet you.  What you want to do with your website is establish yourself as a reliable resource for information that visitors to your website need.  This is what leads to return visits to your website and visitors bookmarking your website.   It requires consistency, whether you do it yourself or have a social media marketing/internet marketing consultant manage it for you.

Maybe your track record with your clients is good…even stellar.   Just don’t lose sight of the fact that a new prospect meeting you for the first time is going to have questions…simply because they don’t know you.

It’s not about memorizing the right lines or finding a dialogue “formula”…it’s about sincerely caring enough about people to try to help them:)

Google sync and the Google mobile app are just two of the seemingly endless features covered and explained in wonderful visual detail on this site:   http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/

If you have a Google account and would truly like to get the most out of it, I hope you all find the site to be a valuable resource.

I remember my father telling me about this concept as a young man when I could barely comprehend the idea.  Back then  it was more tangible items, like today’s digital cameras which are built not so much to last as to be somewhat “disposable.”  You know the line:  “It would be more expensive to fix it than to just buy a new one.”

Strange how several hundred dollars can be “disposable.”

Now fast forward to today and the arena is technology…especially cellular phones, which really are now mini computer/walkie talkies.  When you decide on your cell phone, whether it’s a Droid, iPhone or whatever, it’s important to understand that what you bought will be old news in a matter of months.

That’s ok.

The latest and greatest technology may not be all it’s cracked up to be, depending on how much you really NEED and USE the capabilities of your phone.  Yes, the graphics are cool and access to the Internet is wonderful, but are you USING the technology in your business and social media marketing efforts?  Or are you spending more time on time wasters like those games whose graphics are that much cooler when you can hold them in the palm of your hand?

My client Bob English is a real estate professional in Elizabethtown, PA and showed me one of the best uses of the new technology for business.  He can whip out his phone (I believe it’s a Thunderbolt)  and have instant access to his MLS to look at properties with buyers.

Something that simple can be worth more than the price of the phone  and while Bob says he’s not the most computer savvy person out there, you don’t have to be to get the benefits of your chosen cell phone or other piece of technology.

Before you buy, know what you really NEED and what you really will USE.  Something seemingly better will come along soon, I promise you, but all that really matters is that in your business and Internet marketing efforts you are getting what you truly need.  Everything else is gravy.

SEO Pedia has some great root advice on this:  Don’t ignore Google’s, Yahoo’s, Live’s and Ask’s image search functions. In many cases, you can get more traffic from the image search engines then from a standard key word search, especially if you have a website that is content-rich.

Whenever you upload images to use on your website, there are places for you to fill in information like the name of the picture, the title, etc.  Don’t ignore these…they can help you greatly:)

The bottom line:

1.  Always rename images you use with relevant descriptive key words.  Don’t go too crazy and cram a bunch of words together…2 to 4 words is plenty.

2.  Use the  title attribute on links that surround the images

3.  Use the ALT attribute on the actual image tags.