Embracing the web a tutorial

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Marketing Yourself in A Down Economy:
Embrace The Web!
The absolute biggest trend in marketing during the current
economic downturn is Web 2.0 and social networking
strategies.
Web 2.0 refers to the new interactive areas on the web which
includes Blogs, Social Networks, Forums… anywhere content is
user-generated and there is opportunity to make connections
and relationships with other users.
The social web is without question the popular web. It is where people are
spending the vast majority of their time online. It is a great place to build
community and create real, lasting relationships with people connecting to your
services.
So, it’s time to embrace Web 2.0! This document will introduce you to social
web elements, how to use these elements, tutorials, resources and tips.
And for those concerned about our Google rankings… yes SEO (Search
Engine Optimization – the practice responsible for engine ranks) matters.
All those links you get from social campaigns do a lot of good to boost your search
rankings. The two are integrated and reciprocal.
The secret of the web is patience. If you’re patient and driven to succeed, you
can outlast, outrank and outsell your competition.
The table of contents will lead you to the specific information
you want to EMBRACE!

2
Table of Contents
Blogs
Introduction to Blogs . . . . . . . 4
List of Real Estate Blogs . . . . . . 5
Start Your Own Blog . . . . . . . 6
Using Blogger . . . . . . . . 7
How to Promote Your Blog . . . . . . 11
More Populare Blogs . . . . . . . 12
Social Networking
Top Social Networks to Join and Why . . . . 14
LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . 15
Facebook . . . . . . . . . 18
Twitter . . . . . . . . . 19
Warnings About Social Networking . . . . . 20
Forums
How to Use Forums . . . . . . . 22
Real Estate Forums for Agents . . . . . 23
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
A Word About SEO . . . . . . . 25
How to Understand SEO . . . . . . 27
SEO Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . 29
Tutorials
Hot Blogs . . . . . . . . . 31
Hot Forums . . . . . . . . . 32
100 Personal Branding Tips . . . . . . 33

4
Introduction to Blogs
Think you are not web savvy enough to have your own blog? There are free blog
services that almost anyone could set up in a matter of minutes. Really it is that simple.
Literally millions of people blog from around the world. It’s not just something for young
people, or geeks, or cool folk, or Westerners, or even for people with their own computers
- instead its something virtually anyone with access to a computer and the internet once a
week can start up.
Check out this online video which defines blogging at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

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List of Real Estate Blogs
The following blogs are written by individuals who are in the real estate field, yet who also
have become experts in the SEO realm. While some blogs focus specifically on SEO, other
blogs contain a category that holds their SEO articles.
Commenting on a blog relevant to your industry is a great way to market
yourself, increase awareness about what you have to offer, network with
colleagues and potential clients and enhance your professional reputation by
exhibiting know- how.
Here are some top Real Estate related Blogs as recommended by Real Estate
professionals:
ƒ Affordable Housing Institute http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/
ƒ Behind The Mortgage http://www.behindthemortgage.com/
ƒ Brownstoner http://www.brownstoner.com/
ƒ Center for Realtor Technology http://blog.realtors.org/crt/
ƒ Curbed http://curbed.com/
ƒ grow-a-brain http://growabrain.typepad.com/
ƒ Hot Property http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/hotproperty/
ƒ Housing Panic http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/
ƒ Inman http://www.inman.com/blog
ƒ lenderama http://lenderama.com/
ƒ Matrix http://matrix.millersamuel.com/
ƒ Property Grunt http://propertygrunt.blogspot.com/
ƒ Real Estate Marketing Blog http://houseblogger.typepad.com/
ƒ Soapbox http://soapbox.millersamuel.com/
ƒ The Real Deal http://ny.therealdeal.com/
ƒ The Real Estate Blog http://franandrowena.blogspot.com/
ƒ The Walk-Through http://walkthrough.nytimes.com/

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Start Your Own Blog As A Marketing Tool
What is a blog?
A blog is simply a content-management tool that makes it easy to publish information
onto the web. Real estate blogs are typically arranged in reverse-chronological fashion,
with the most recent entries up at the top.
Beyond that technical definition, a blog is also an opportunity for real estate agents to be
more active online and to grow their websites -- without the need for web coding skills.
What is blogging?
It is the act of publishing information through a blog. Real estate blogging has been
around for several years, but it started to become extremely popular around 2006. Today,
there are thousands of agents publishing blogs, all over the United States and beyond.
How do blogs work?
A blog is designed to be operational immediately after you set it up. The features will vary
depending on the blogging program you use, but most of them perform the same basic
functions. To publish information onto your blog, you simply log in to the admin area, type
your message into a box, and then click the "publish" button. Your blogging program does
the rest. It will convert your plain text into HTML code so it can be displayed online. It will
also render any formatting you've included, such as bold text, italics, hyperlinks, images,
etc.
How do real estate agents use blogs?
There are endless ways to use real estate blogging as a marketing /
communications tool. I see new ideas and techniques all the time. Here are five good
ideas (http://www.armingyourfarming.com/realestatemarketing/2008/07/5-ways-to-use-your-
real-estate-blog.html) to consider. You can use real estate blogging as a way to keep
your audience informed about local events. You can use it to showcase properties by
posting digital pictures and descriptions. You can use it as a Q&A tool. You can even use it
to generate a steady stream of real estate leads
(http://www.armingyourfarming.com/knowledge/article57.php) to support your business.
What do I say?
Want to start a blog but not sure what to say? Want to post to a blog but need ideas?
For content tips visit:
http://www.armingyourfarming.com/realestatemarketing/2008/09/content-ideas-for-your-
real-estate-blog.html

7
Creating Your Blog on Blogger www.blogger.com
View a video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryb4VPSmKuo
Blogger.com is one of the most popular blogging sites. It is FREE, user-friendly and
powered by Goggle. If you are looking to create your own personal blog using
Blogger.com, here is a step by step introduction to get you started. Learn how to register
for an account, pick your blog name, design your page and create blog entries with
photos, hyperlinks and various fonts.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
1. You must have a gmail email account to create a blog using Blogger.com. If you
don't have one, simply go to gmail.com and create one. Consider creating a new,
separate email address just for your blog, so that if you get a lot of feedback from
your posts it will not clog your personal inbox.
2. Once you have a gmail account set up, go to the Blogger.com website. You will
notice a welcome page that asks you to sign up for a new account. Click on the
"Create Your Blog Now" arrow. Enter your email address and create a password.
Then click on the "Continue" arrow.
3. Create a blog title. You should choose a name that describes your blog's content,
and gives it individuality. You can also use this name in the url address. For
example if you name the blog, "Testblog" the url address will be
www.testblog.blogspot.com. All blogger account blog pages have web addresses
that end in blogspot.com. You can upgrade to advanced options that include hosting
your blog elsewhere.
4. Create a template for your blog (See following page.) This is the style and look of
your web page. Blogger already has some preset designs that you can use. If you
want to create your own template using your own HTML coding, you can do that as
well.
5. Access your blog's dashboard. This is where you can create blog posts. Under your
blog title there is a highlighted blue button that says "New Post." Once you click on
this button you will open a "Create Post" page, this is where you will write your
content.
6. Use your "Create Post" page to create hyperlinks and changing font styles and
colors . At the top of the post box there are icons for all of these things. To change
the font, click on drop-down box that says font, and choose from the list. To change
the font color, click on the icon that has the letter "T" with a color palette behind it,
and pick your color. To create a hyperlink, highlight the text you want to link, click
the icon with a globe and chain around it, and a small box will pop up. Simply enter
the url address into the box and click OK.
7. To add a photo image there is an icon with a picture of a mountain and the sky on
it. Click on this and an "Upload Photos" window pops up. Within this window, you
can add up to five images at a time, and choose the layout of your photos. You
decide whether they are placed on the left, right or center of your post. You can
upload photos from your computer.

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How to Customize Your Blog on Blogger
Blogger templates are a great way to reinforce your brand. Please use Diane Turton,
Realtors signature blue and green colors to encourage brand recognition.
1. Click on “Settings” link, and enter a keyword-rich title and tagline or description.
Click through the links on the top of the page, under the “Settings” tab to
familiarize yourself with the different customization options.
2. Click on the “Layout” tab to arrange your page elements, edit your template fonts
and colors, edit the HTML, or pick a new template. To add text, ads, or links on the
blog layout, click on “Add a Page Element.” Elements can be changed anytime by
clicking on the “Edit” link in the same box. Click “Save” to save all changes.
3. Click on the “Posting” tab to write blog posts. Enter a title, then type a blog post in
the large text box. Typically, the first blog post would introduce the theme and
mission of the blog. Format the text with the formatting buttons on the toolbar
above the text box if you wish. Click on the orange button that reads “Publish Post”
to publish the blog post to the web. To edit posts or create new posts, click on the
“Posting” tab and click on the “Create” or “Edit Post” links.
4. Publish blog posts with quality content on a frequent, consistent basis to improve
search engine optimization benefits, generate more traffic, and build a loyal blog
community. Encourage interaction and answer questions on your blog. Visit related
blogs and invite them to check out your blog when appropriate.

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How to Update Your Blogger Profile
1. Use your current username and password to sign in to the Blogger site (see
Resources).
2. From the dashboard, you should be able to see your current blogs and latest posts.
You will also see your information on the right hand side of the screen. Click Edit
my Profile to get started.
3. Add as much or as little to your profile as you want, and change or delete outdated
information. You can also change whether your name and e-mail are displayed to
the public.
4. Click Save Profile at the bottom to save your changes.
Diane Turton, Realtors Guidelines:
1. Diane Turton, Realtors leaves blog topics up to you. We ask you to
remain emotionally neutral and trust you will not choose topics of
controversy.
2. Diane Turton, Realtors MUST be listed ABOVE your name.
3. Your DTRE title and all of your DTRE contact information MUST be
included and appear ABOVE personal contact information. For
example:
Diane Turton, Realtors
John Smith
Sales Agent
Office Address
Town, NJ Zip
Office Phone
Office Fax (optional)
Cell Phone (optional)
Evenings (optional)
DTRE eMail (jsmith@dianeturton.com)
Personal eMail (optional)
www.dianeturton.com
Agent Web Page (optional) (www.dianeturton.com/johnsmith)
Personal website (optional)
4. Any additional contact information such as links to your LinkedIn or
Facebook profiles can be included at the end of this list.

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How to Approve a Comment Made on Your Blogger Blog
Want to be sure that all the comments your blog entries get are appropriate? Set your
account to "Moderate Comments" so you can only approve the ones you want. Here's
how.
1. Log into Blogger. Go to "Dashboard."
2. Select "Settings." Select "Comments."
3. Click "Yes" to enable comment moderation. Enter an email address if you want
Blogger to notify you when you have comments to moderate. Save your settings.
4. Click on the "Posting" tab. Select "Moderate Comments."
5. Select the comments you want to approve, click "Publish." Select the comments
you don't want to publish and click "Reject."
Tips & Warnings
• If you sign up to have comments emailed to you, you'll have the option (via links in
the email) to publish or reject them. Only blog administrators can approve the
comments left on blogs with multiple authors.

11
How to Promote Your Blog
If you would like a lot of traffic to your blog then you need to promote it!
Tips for promotion:
1. Social networking! Add your URL address on your social networking profile.
2. Write articles! Write articles about it and add the link to your blog.
3. Site submission! Submit your blog URL to the site submission websites such as:
pingomatic.com and freewebsubmission.com
4. Bookmark your site! Bookmark your blog to these bookmarking websites such as:
Digg, del.icio.us, etc.
5. Write a comment to a popular blog that related to your blog and add link to your
blog! Remember do not spam! You should write a useful comment and not just a
link to your blog or it will be deleted anyway!
Diane Turton, Realtors Blogger Perks!
If you own a blog or you start a blog and remain active for 6 months we
will link to your blog from www.dianeturton.com! We will publish your
name and the name of your blog with a hyperlink so users can access it
straight from our site!
We will also include a link to the Diane Turton, Realtors Bloggers web
page in our monthly eNewsletters to clients and leads driving them
directly to a source for all your expertise!
To submit your blog for consideration email:
jpricci@dianeturton.com
Your blog MUST be active for 6 months to be considered.

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More Popular Blogs
ƒ Active Rain: This link will take you to this site’s “Blogging and SEO” category, where
several real estate professionals and writers offer their perspectives on SEO and
blogging practices.
ƒ Best Practices: Latham Jenkins brings his passion for this field and for Internet
marketing and search engine optimization to readers through his blog.
ƒ Future of Real Estate Marketing: You won’t find “SEO” per se on this blog, but Joel
Burslem is a regularly quoted expert on the impact of the Web 2.0 and real estate
and has been interviewed by the Wall St. Journal, BusinessWeek and the
International Herald Tribune, among others. Follow his advice and SEO is the result.
ƒ Geek Estate: GeekEstate Blog was founded by Zillow as a resource for real estate
professionals who want to learn more about how they can grow their business
through smart use of technology. Topics discussed here range from a review of the
latest cell phone to Website tips for search engine optimization.
ƒ Internet Marketing, Social Media, SEO & PPC Strategies: Online Internet Marketing
topics and strategies.
ƒ Kay’s Real Estate SEO Blog: Enjoy Kay’s real estate SEO blog and get a double dose
with her SEO Diva blog.
ƒ Kevin Harper: This link takes you to all the SEO entries that Harper has written on
his real estate blog. He also provides an SEO Glossary for readers and a podcast.
ƒ OnTheAvenues: Bonnie Burns provides website analysis and search engine
optimization services specifically for real estate websites and shows her expertise
through her blog.
ƒ Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business: Drew Meyers provides his
professional insights on how to utilize the ‘new’ Web to promote your real estate
business.
ƒ Real Estate Blog Lab: A former computer programmer and database administrator
and current real estate assistant related this blog “lab” for other agents to talk
about topics like SEO. This is a good place to begin if you know nothing about
online marketing, let alone SEO.
ƒ Real Estate Marketing Blog: This blog offers SEO tips as well as upcoming courses
on how to market your real estate Website.
ƒ Real Estate Marketing Tools & Coaching: Justin Smith is a coach for the Real Estate
Tomato and employed at the Christian Real Estate Network. He offers his expertise
and sound advice on blogging and search engine optimization.
ƒ Real Estate Search Advisor: Brandon Cornett is a real estate marketing specialist
and long-time Internet publisher. He has published “Search Engine Success for Real
Estate Agents,” and he maintains a blog that talks about SEO management for real
estate professionals.
ƒ Real Estate Toolbox: Brian Rodgers remains “out in the trenches” so he doesn’t lose
touch with what is actually going on in the industry as he writes about online
marketing and SEO management for realtors.
ƒ SEO Web Design & Search Engine Marketing: While Web design and SEO marketing
is the focus, the blog is the most informative and upfront part of this site. Jeff
Hendrickson also leans toward a focus on the real estate market.

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Top Social Networks to Join and Why
"A cord of three strands is not easily broken."
That's applicable where social networking is concerned as well. It's a matter of
strengthening your social graph. Being networked with a given individual in three different
places makes for a strong connection.
Below are the top three. More and more business professionals are using social
networks to build relationships, meet new contacts, and market themselves. For the
uninitiated, however, diving into the virtual meet-and-greet can be daunting. Where to
begin? For first-time users, the answer is LinkedIn. Developed specifically for business,
the site doesn’t run the risk of blurring your professional life with your private one; and
with more than 25 million users, it serves virtually every industry and profession.
ƒ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com
That's your business suit. While LI is not very conversational in its orientation, having
a profile there has become expected. LI lends a degree of professional credibility. It is
also the site that requires the least amount of upkeep.
ƒ Facebook www.facebook.com
That's business casual. FB allows more of a 360 degree view of you, combining both
professional and personal sides. Plus, it's a more conversational platform.
ƒ Twitter www.twitter.com
This is the cocktail hour. Think of after hours social networking events and you've got
Twitter. It's the most informal of the three and allows for the greatest degree of
conversation.
The focus here is on creating three-fold connections to individuals. It's not enough that
you have a presence on each of these sites, but that you leverage your presence to
connect with others who are also present on each.
Social media is about being "social." Each platform offers its own distinctive advantages,
but it takes all three to build the strongest connection. Plus, it gives you ubiquity. You're
everywhere!

15
How to Get Started With LinkedIn
Joining a network like LinkedIn is simple, but turning it into a powerful networking tool
takes a bit of savvy. Here's how to set up a profile, build a network, and put it all to work
— without social-networking anxiety.
How to Create a Compelling Profile
Before you connect to others, you must first set up a profile page at www.linkedin.com.
While your page will detail your work history, don’t assume you can copy and paste your
resume and be done with it. Your profile page should reflect your professional interests,
passions, and ambitions. The site will walk you through filling in the blanks, but you’ll
want to think ahead about two areas:
Join LinkedIn and Create Your Network
1. Visit the LinkedIn Website to start your account
2. Locate the "Join Now" button and click on it. Remember it is free to join LinkedIn.
3. Begin by filling in your name and your email address in the boxes provided for you.
4. Choose a password by entering it into the box provided for you.
5. Confirm your password by reentering the previous password entry.
6. Complete the remaining boxes and categories, along with your country and ZIP
code.
7. Include information on your industry by selecting an option from the drop-down
menu. Next, provide your experience. Your education information is optional.
8. Finalize the process by clicking on the "Join Now" button.
Make Your Account Specific
1. Specify the needs of your account by selecting the checkboxes in either or both of
the categories titled "To Find" or "To Be Found.
2. Check any of the categories that apply best to you and will be most beneficial for
your business needs.
3. Click on "Save Settings" to complete your brand-new account.
Build Your Network
1. Conduct a "People Search" to get things going.
2. Locate the site map. Find the "Name Search" link and click on it.
3. Choose a person's name you would like to add to your network and enter it into the
box provided for you.

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LinkedIn Checklist
Make Sure You Include:
1. A solid headline with keywords relevant to your industry.
2. A picture. People do business with people.
3. How you prefer to be contacted. At the bottom of your profile, you can let people
know how you want to be contacted — through LinkedIn, by e-mail, or over the
phone. Remember, Diane Turton, Realtors contact information should
always come first!
4. What you want to be contacted about. At the bottom of your profile, you can select
interests like reference requests or consulting offers.
Make Sure You Don’t Include:
1. Any contact information you’re not comfortable having your contacts see. Your
contact information will be visible only to those you are connected to, but you
should decide whether you want that to include things like phone numbers or
personal e-mail.
2. Anything that even begins to stray from the truth. Unlike even a resume, your
profile will be seen by a lot of eyes. Did you really lead that project, or did you lead
it along with several others?
3. Anything you wouldn’t want fellow colleagues — current, former, or future — to
know. LinkedIn is for professional relationships, and just like at the dinner table, it’s
wise to keep politics and religion politely to yourself.

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Build Your LinkedIn Network
Connect with others who share your professional interests and can help you
meet your goals.
ƒ After you’ve created your profile, it’s time to begin to connect to others. LinkedIn
will allow you to search for people you know to see if they’re already members. But
once you connect to someone, you can also look at the profiles of anyone they
know, and in turn anyone those people know. Because of these three degrees of
separation, your network can grow exponentially. Fewer than fifty direct contacts
can translate to millions of business users.
ƒ Before you begin connecting, decide who you want to connect to. LinkedIn suggests
in its FAQ, “Only invite those you know and trust.”
ƒ Also consider your position relative to those you’re connecting to. A good rule of
thumb is the more traditional your industry, the less you want to connect to those
very far above or below you on the corporate ladder.
ƒ You’ll need to continually update and refine your profile and your network. The
most obvious way to do this is to add new contacts. Adding new contacts,
sometimes from outside your immediate field or industry, is also a subtly
persuasive way to sell yourself by letting others see how far your professional
sphere extends.
Get the Most From Your Connections
1. Ask and answer questions.
While signed in, you can quickly see a list of open questions that have been asked
by anyone in your extended network. Participating in these exchanges is an easy
way of gaining trust and building your reputation. Asking questions will prompt
informed sources to offer their expert advice (which helps everyone in the
network), while providing answers gives you a chance to show off your own
expertise to others.
2. Recommend and introduce colleagues.
By having a broad range of endorsements attesting to your professional expertise,
you show others that you can be trusted. And make sure to recommend those
you’ve had good experiences with.
Introductions are trickier but also more valuable. When someone contacts you for
an introduction, be sure you understand and approve of what they want before
making the handoff. Likewise, make your intentions clear when you are asking for
an introduction.
3. Learn more about your professional network.
You can quickly learn a lot about a potential business partner or contact by reading
their profile.

18
How To Join Facebook
Difficulty: Easy
Once a social network just for college students, Facebook is now open to
everyone. From getting back in touch with long lost friends to browsing recent
pictures of a buddy's vacation... it is almost impossible for a current facebook
user to be without it. Find out what makes facebook so useful.
Go to www.facebook.com to set up an account. Go to where it says "Sign up for
Facebook" and fill out your full name, the email you want to register, your password and
your birthday. Next you will have to enter the given words for their security check. Click
Sign Up after you're done.
1. A confirmation email will be sent to your chosen email address. Log
into your email and click the link to complete registration. You will be
sent to the getting started page. Here you can look for friends through
your email, or you may click "skip" to skip this step.
2. You will reach the "Fill Out Your Profile info". Enter your info
here or click "skip" to reach the next step. Remember you
can always fill out your profile info at another time. Next is
the "Join a Network" page. You can choose your current
town, your hometown, or you can choose none by "skip".
3. When you reach page protected by copyscape You are done.
What comes next is up to you…
You can search for friends, find some old friends by searching groups of old
schools/teams. You can add plenty of application by clicking application in the left column.
Others things to do with your new facebook account include:
ƒ Setting up your profile
ƒ Putting up some recent pictures
ƒ Joining groups with similar interests to yourself
… the possibilities are endless.

19
How to Use Twitter
Around the Internet, people are talking about twittering. Twitter.com is a social
networking site that serves as a wonderful way to connect with others and follow updates.
Twitter can be accessed with mobile devices for quick posts and updates are limited to
140 characters. Updates can be links, personal stories, comments or replies to other
Twitter updates.
1. Go to the Twitter website and register as a new user. Select a user name that is
distinctive but easy to remember.
2. Upload a photo or graphic to Twitter or select an avatar provided by Twitter.
3. Add your blog or website to Twitter. This will be displayed on your profile page.
4. Click on "Public Timeline" and view the most recent entries. Select the entries or
people that you'd like to follow. Click on the Twitter names and select "follow" to
add those to your "Following" list. Updates from each person will be posted to your
account.
5. Post a Twitter update by typing no more than 140 characters in the Twitter posting
space under "What Are You Doing?" Hit "Update" when you are ready to post.
6. Check to see who is following you in the "Followers" section. Add interesting
"Followers" to your "Follow" list.
7. Select various ways to Twitter. One can Twitter via computer, phone or Instant
Messenger. Mobile Twittering is a great way to post updates when you can't get to
a computer.

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Danger! Danger! Danger!
Five things you should never do on a social network:
1. Leave negative feedback. It stays around for a very long time, so even if you
have a change of heart, it can be very difficult to retract it.
2. Lie. Give a truthful account of where you’ve worked and what you’ve done. Be real.
Be honest.
3. Spam. It’s not a push marketing strategy. Avoid drowning others in your
promotional material.
4. Gossip. Don’t send forth news that may not be yours to share.
5. Oversell yourself. Stay away from arrogance or over-hyping what you do.

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How to Use Online Forums
Forums allow you to post your views, ask questions and exchange information
with other people online. Into beekeeping? Organic gardening? Restoring Model
T Fords? Web and ISP-run forums can be terrific sources for new friends from
around the globe who share your hobbies and special interests.
1. Explore the forums and special-interest groups on your Internet service provider
(ISP) or online service.
2. Use a search engine and look for Websites that focus on your interests. Many of
these will have forums or chats.
3. Read the "posts" (messages) and follow the current "threads" (comments related to
a single topic) for several days. See if the group has a FAQ (frequently asked
questions) document and read it.
4. Write a post of your own once you have a sense of the general style and nature of
the forum, and submit it for all to read. Be prepared for a mixed response.
5. Explain yourself if someone takes exception to your comments, but do not get into
a heated argument via posts.
6. Determine whether your forum companions get together for chat sessions. Join in if
they do.
7. Send eMail to your new friends. Develop relationships over time.

23
Real Estate Forums
ƒ Agents Online: Scroll down to the threads listed under “Successful Web Presence”
to learn about link exchange possibilities and more.
ƒ At Hand 24: Although not heavily populated yet, this forum does contain a topic
that covers “Real Estate and Web Design.” Threads include a Website review,
Website development, and link exchanges.
ƒ Bigger Pockets: Look under the topic, “Real Estate Professionals,” for the thread
entitled, “Real Estate & The Web.” This is where you can discuss link strategies,
search engines, real estate web design, SEO, and anything else related to real
estate and the web.
ƒ Fast Real Estate Forum: If you want to find some real DIY SEO tips, visit the
threads listed under “SEO & Online Marketing” at this site.
ƒ Pro Real Estate Network Forums: An entire topic is devoted to “Search Engines and
Search Engine Optimization” at this forum. You’ll find threads dedicated to search
engines and link building here.
ƒ Real Estate Discuss: This forum contains a “Website Related” topic where threads
about search engine optimization, Website design and more are discussed.
ƒ Real Estate Forum: This forum contains several topics that deal with Website
development and marketing, including a topic devoted to DMOZ and other
directories under the topic heading, “Search Engine Marketing.”
ƒ Real Estate Webmasters Forum: A real estate forum where the real estate agents
and brokers teach and learn about how to generate leads from the internet. This is
the only forum devoted almost entirely to marketing, both online and off, and
where SEO tactics are covered so thoroughly. This forum was created and is
maintained by SEOGuy Morgan Carey.
ƒ RealtyChat: This link will take you to the RealtyChat forums, where you’ll find a
number of topics that cover SEO materials. Click on “Link Exchange,” for instance,
to discover two pages of threads about this topic.
ƒ Wanna Network?: This forum contains a topic entitled, “Real Estate Web Design
Forum.” Threads include SEO, Web design, blogging, link exchanges and more.

24
Search Engine Optimization
(SEO)

25
A Word About Search Engine Optimization
What is Search Engine Optimization?
Where search engine optimization doesn’t necessarily fall under the category of Web
2.0 activities, it is a very HOT topic often asked about… how to I appear on top
when searching phrases related to myself or to my market on Goggle, Yahoo
and other search engines?
Where SEO definitions and techniques often address optimizing a website, SEO tips
and tricks can be applied to your Web 2.0 activities to enhance your exposure online,
ultimately increasing your page rank on search engines and promoting your Web 2.0
efforts.
There are unlimited components that go into Search Engine Optimization and many,
many definitions:
ƒ Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and
quality of traffic to a website from search engines via "natural...
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
ƒ The act of altering a website so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based
listings of search engines. In the past, has also been used as a term for any type of
search engine marketing activity, though now the term search engine marketing is
more commonly used as an umbrella term.
www.anvilmedia.com/search-engine-marketing-glossary.html
ƒ The process of optimizing a web page or a website in order to gain higher positions
or rankings in search engine results (SERP's) for various...
www.callseo.blogspot.com/2007/06/seo-glossary.html
ƒ The process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines
and searchers. SEO includes technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to
find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused
tasks to make a site more appealing to users...
www.searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html
ƒ Techniques that enable your site to appear higher in a list of search engine results.
www.llamawerx.com/webterms.html
ƒ The refinement of website content, the development of inbound links to the
website, and publicity about the website aimed at raising the position of the website
in the SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages). Some companies offer search engine
optimization services, some of dubious value.
www.writerswebsiteplanner.com/resources/glossary.html
ƒ SEO seeks to increase a site’s visibility in search engines and enhance its value to
visitors through topical page design, consistent HTML tagging and focusing content
on core, researched keywords.
www.imperialsoftwaresystems.com/solutions/glossary.php

26
ƒ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) makes your site more appealing to search
engines and gives them a better understanding of who they should send to your
site...
www.studiodog.com/glossary-s.html
ƒ The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring
that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search.
www.keywordmktg.com/Glossary.aspx
ƒ Unique traffic generator The changes that are made to the content and code of a
website in order to increase its rankings in the results pages of search engines and
directories...
www.graphicsguru.com/glossary.php
ƒ Ensuring that your web pages are accessible to search engines and focused in ways
that help improve the chances they will be found. Search engines are one of the
primary ways that Internet users find websites...
www.best-web-design.com/definitions.html
ƒ The art of gaining top rankings in search results for search terms that is likely to be
used by audiences that the marketer is interested in. Also called "Organic" or "Pure
Search" because the results displayed are based on the relevance and popularity of
the site...
www.market-vantage.com/resources/glossary.htm
ƒ Strategies and tactics undertaken to improve web pages so they gain a higher
ranking in the search engines.
www.searchenginegenie.com/search-engine-glossary-s.htm
ƒ Making a Website more friendly to search engines, resulting in a higher page rank.
www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/internet-marketing/2373-1.html
ƒ Techniques undertaken for displaying the website as the top result when someone
searches for a particular keyword in the SE (Search Engine.eg. Google, Live).
www.kiviniar.com/glossary/
ƒ A set of practices that attempts to make a website more attractive to search
engines, thereby encouraging higher visitor traffic and rankings.
www.avtecmedia.com/tools/web-design-glossary.htm
ƒ The process of fine tuning the content of a site along with the html and meta tags
so that it is search engine friendly (and we hope people...
www.cmseo.com/search-engine-terms.htm
ƒ Increasing the number of visitors to a particular Website through a variety of
techniques.
www.go4.ie/articles/web-jargon-explained
ƒ The art and science of enhancing a website’s chances of getting ranked on top of
search engine results pages once a relevant search is performed.
www.seo-hongkong.com/blog/
ƒ The process of attracting more visitors to your website through a specific process.
www.neulandbusinesscampus.com/RC/Glossary.html

27
How to Understand Search Engine Optimization
You'd think that having a quality site dedicated to a specific topic would be enough, but
that isn't always the case. The major search engines use automated "spiders" to crawl
through millions of webpages a day to determine what each site (and page) is about.
Each search engine uses its own algorithm to determine which sites and pages are the
most relevant for each search a user types in.
These algorithms are constantly being updated and are always kept a secret from the
public. Nobody knows the exact formula for showing up #1 in a search result and if
you found it, it would likely change a few months later. Nevertheless, there are a few
things that will always be important in the world of search engines and implementing
these few tips will help you optimize your site in every search engine.
Difficulty: Moderate
Things You’ll Need:
ƒ Time
ƒ Patience
ƒ Content
1. The first thing to remember when trying to optimize your website for search
engines is the goal of the search engines themselves: to provide users with the
most relevant, pertinent information for their search. Since search engines want to
provide their users with the most useful webpages surrounding the topics that the
users are searching for, they are looking for content that is unique, updated
regularly and of high quality.
If you only have a few sentences of general information on a certain topic, you're
going to lose rankings (as you should) to sites with a lot of specific, original content
that is pertinent to the user's search.
Take the time to make each article original and different. If you simply replace a
few words in each article but leave the majority of the content the same, the search
engines will notice.
2. Search engines were built based on the concept of references and linking. Think of
writing a research paper-you have to include your sources in a footnote or a
bibliography. Search engines operate on the premise that the more people
reference a single source, the more important that source must be. This has
translated to links, so the more often people link to your site, the more relevant
and useful it must be. And, the better the site that is linking to you, the more
weight and importance that link holds.

The quality of your links is also a major factor in your site's search engine rankings.
If you can create a quality site and convince other, related quality sites to link to
you, you'll be well on your way to excelling in the search engine optimization game.
28
3. Keywords used to be extremely important a year or so ago. While they're still a
factor, search engines focus more on original, quality content than on repeating
keyword phrases that appear throughout your webpage. With this said, the search
engines do still need to decipher what your website or webpage is about, so using
key phrases and terms where is makes sense in an article is always a good idea.
Don't saturate your site with 60 different ways to say the same thing, but be
strategic about your keyword choice, frequency and placement and you'll be
rewarded with a higher search engine ranking for those keywords and key phrases.
4. It's still important to place your most highly trafficked keyword or keyword phrase
in the URL and Meta Tag of each webpage. The search engines will certainly crawl
this and compare it with the content of the page to determine when and where your
site should appear in its results.
5. While it is important to get quality links to the homepage of your site, it is equally
important to get links to the internal pages of your website as well. An internal
page might be easier to get an inbound link to. Maybe it's more relevant than the
homepage of your site because it's more specific about or focused on a particular
topic.
Your homepage is obviously affiliated with each internal page on your site, so the
better your internal pages do, the better your homepage will do. Don't forget that
the search engines index your internal pages too, which means that you may get a
lot of traffic from a specific internal page having a high search engine ranking even
if the rest of your site doesn't. Depending on your site, the majority of your users
may never even see your homepage.

29
SEO Tips & Tricks
ƒ A Basic Real Estate Website Plan For Visitors and Search Engines: Jim Kimmons, a
real estate broker in Taos, New Mexico, provides a series of articles on how to
optimize your Website for SEO and for visitors.
ƒ Craigslist and YouTube Make Great Roommates: Yes, this article is dated. But, the
premise is current - if you aren’t using YouTube to market your sites, then this
article will explain why you should. While this article doesn’t address SEO directly,
you can realize cloning potential through using another site to market your
expertise.
ƒ Effective Online Real Estate Advertising; Look at What This Sarasota Realtor Has
Done: This article is a bit over the edge, as it’s more of a directory for specific
services than an informative instructional piece. But, it’s an excellent article to lead
you to SEOAware, where you can find numerous articles to help you refine your
SEO skills.
ƒ Improving an East Bay Real Estate Site and Putting a Blog in a Realtor’s Hands:
SEOigloo provides great insight into how they rebuilt and improved a real estate
Website to become SEO-friendly.
ƒ Improving SEO on WordPress Websites For Real Estate Agents: Writer Angela
Parker begins a series of SEO articles for real estate professionals with this article.
ƒ Optimizing Real Estate Websites for Search Engines: This is a free article on how to
optimize a real estate website for search engines provided by YAERD.org.
ƒ Real Estate Paradigm Shifts in Keyword Research for SEO: An SEO expert offers
insights into how shifts in customer behavior can alter how your keywords work - or
don’t work - for your site.
ƒ Real Estate SEO for Beginners: What is search engine optimization and how do real
estate agents profit from basic knowledge about SEO? This article was written by
Toby Munk from Aspen Real Estate.
ƒ Rebuz: With at least 60,000+ visitors and 230,000+ page views per month, this
site can offer tremendous marketing potential for real estate professionals. Find a
place on their pages through paid advertising or through press release submissions.
You also can submit your site for listing in various categories.
ƒ SEO Explained: From the Echo Forum, a site that focuses on real estate. This short
article explains keywords succinctly and offers links to popular SEO tools.
ƒ Terrific Real Estate Search Tools: An article by Gary Price at Search Engine Watch
that talks about search tools which are specific to the real estate industry.
ƒ Top 10 Myths of Real Estate Search Marketing: This is just one of many articles
written for real estate professionals by the folks at The Marketing Shop.
ƒ Using HubPages.com to Improve SEO: This is a YouTube instructional video about
how to write an article and make the links work for you to increase page ranking.

31
Hot Real Estate Bloggers
ƒ 7 Ways Your Site Can Be Sabotaged: Bonnie Burns from DIY SEO chronicles seven
ways unknown forces can sabotage your Website. This list provides the problems
and the solutions, if any.
ƒ 20 Week Course on Link Building For Real Estate Websites: At this point in the
game, Real Estate Marketing Blog is up to week number four. The link here is
pointed at the first article. This guide is specifically designed for real estate
professionals.
ƒ Kicking a New Post to the Top of the Search Engines: Real Estate Blog Lab shows
readers how to increase rankings of new blog entries.
ƒ Multiple Categories and Onsite Duplicate Content: Justin Smith at Real Estate
Tomato clears up any confusion about multiple categories and onsite duplicate
content.
ƒ OMG! You are just like Britney Spears: Real estate professionals, unlike many other
industry professionals, often rely on personal name recognition to market their
goods. Damon Pace, from the Incredible Agent Blog, shows readers how they can
maximize the potential of a name on Google.
ƒ Real Estate Websites With No Frames: It seems impossible to believe that Web
designers still use frames, and this blog entry will tell you why they shouldn’t be
used. Not only will it destroy any online marketing efforts, frames also will cut
accessibility to your site.
ƒ SEO-Friendly Website Templates: If you can’t or won’t afford an SEO-friendly
Website builder, then try a template and do it yourself! This article is a guide from
Real Estate Search Advison on how to use Website templates the right way to
ensure maximum search engine visibility for your content.
ƒ The 7 Worst Pieces of SEO Advice that WILL Kill Your Blog: Mary McKnight offers
advice on how to avoid SEO scams. Plus, she reiterates what reputable SEO
masters will tell you - what worked in the past to increase your search engine
ranking may not work anymore. She also offers a list of SEO experts that she’s
come to trust.
ƒ The Rules: Blog Comments for Linkbuilding: Kay Frenzer, real estate SEO Diva,
writes a guide on how to build effective links as you leave comments on other
people’s blogs. No sense in a long article - the tips are short and to-the-point.
ƒ Web Publishers Can Now Clone Trulia: Joel Burslem from the Future of Real Estate
Marketing introduces “Trulia in a Box,” the real estate search engine’s tool that’s
free for all publishers, including small newspapers and regional media (as well as
bloggers) to use to create their own Trulia portal.

32
Hot Forums
ƒ 10 Ways to Drive Buyers to Your Website: Despite what you might believe after you
read this article, page rank isn’t the be-and and end-all of real estate marketing.
Other tools can be used to drive traffic to your site. This post offers ten tools you
can use outside search engine tactics, with some great responses that include
additional advice.
ƒ Backlinks: This thread at Wanna Network? offers tools, explanations, and methods
to handle your site’s backlinks.
ƒ Determining a Site’s PR: We’re running on the assumption that you know how to
determine a site’s page rank. If you don’t, then this thread at the Real Estate
Webmasters Forum will help you learn how you and your competitors rank.
ƒ Free SEO Tracker: An individual was searching for a free keyword tool, and a few
people responded to the inquiry with some relevant information that you may find
useful.
ƒ Link Building 101: This thread, located under the Search Engines and Search
Engine Optimization topic in Pro Real Estate Network Forums, calls attention to how
links and link building can help page and site ranking.
ƒ Net Success: In this thread at Agents Online, users talk about various ways to gain
ranking on different search engines. Additionally, you’ll find other topics that deal
with new technology as well as other online marketing tips.
ƒ Real Estate & The Web: This is the best topic on the Bigger Pockets forum for
Website marketing. You can ask for a Website review, ask questions about page
rank, and more. It appears that you will receive an answer, although you’ll find
more lurkers than experts in most cases. One thread in particular, Stolen Blog
Material, might interest you in that the issue was posted and resolved in short order
with appropriate actions and results.
ƒ SEO Tools: This post lists several dozen SEO tools that the average person has
access to and can use to help rankings in search engines.
ƒ Social Networking: Instead of being thread-specific with posts from the Real Estate
Webmasters Forum, we wanted to point to an entire topic that covers everything
you want to know about social networking. Is it worth your time and effort? Will
trends change? Discover answers to your social networking questions here.
ƒ Some thoughts on SEO Basics: This is a ’sticky’ thread posted under “Search Engine
Ranking Tips” at the Real Estate Forum. This post puts the Website structure in
focus as one part of SEO success. Outside keywords and links, structure is rarely
mentioned; yet good Website structure, or accessibility (separating code from
content), is one way to obtain higher site rankings.

33
100 Personal Branding Tactics Using Social Media
You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same
decaying organic matter as everything else. - Tyler Durden, Fight Club.
Branding one’s self in an online environment built on entropy and go-baby-go
is difficult at best, and impossible if you forget to take your happy pills.
To that end, I’ve come up with a quick list of 100 things you might do to help
with these efforts.
Listening
• Build ego searches using Technorati and Google Blogsearch
• Comment frequently (and meaningfully) on blogs that write about you and your
posts
• Don’t forget the conversations hiding in Twitter (use Summize.com) and Friendfeed.
Be sure to stay aware of those.
• If you can afford it, buy professional listening tools, like Radian6 or others in that
category.
• Use Google Reader to store your ego searches.
• Use Yahoo! Site Explorer to see who’s linking to your site.
• Use heat map tools like CrazyEgg to see how people relate to your site.
• Listen to others in your area of expertise. Learn from them.
• Listen to thought leaders in other areas, and see how their ideas apply to you.
• Don’t forget podcasts. Check out iTunes and see who’s talking about your area of
interest.
• Track things like audience/community sentiment (positive/negative) if you want to
map effort to results.
Home Base
• Home base is your blog/website. Not everyone needs a blog. But most people who
want to develop a personal brand do.
• A really nice layout doesn’t have to cost a lot, but shows you’re more than a social
media dabbler.
• Your “About” page should be about you AND your business, should the blog be
professional in nature. At least, it should be about you.
• Make sure it’s easy to comment on your site.
• Make sure it’s easy for people to subscribe to your site’s content.
• Use easy to read fonts and colors.
• A site laden with ads is a site that doesn’t cherish its audience. Be thoughtful.
• Pay attention to which widgets you use in your sidebar. Don’t be frivolous.
• Load time is key. Test your blog when you make changes, and ensure your load
times are reasonable.
• Register your site with all the top search engines.
• Claim your site on Technorati.com
• Use WebsiteGrader.com to make sure your site is well built in Google’s eyes.

34
Passports
• Passports are accounts on other social networks and social media platforms. It’s a
good idea to build an account on some of these sites to further extend your
personal branding.
• Twitter.com is a must if you have a social media audience. It also connects you to
other practitioners.
• Facebook and/or MySpace are useful social networks where you can build outposts
(see next list).
• Get a Flickr account for photo sharing.
• Get a YouTube account for video uploading.
• Get a StumbleUpon.com account for voting.
• Get a Digg.com account for voting, as well.
• Get an Upcoming.org account to promote events.
• Get a del.icio.us account for social bookmarking.
• Get a Wordpress.com account for its OpenID benefits.
• Get a LinkedIn account for your professional network.
• Take a second look at Plaxo. It’s changed for the better.
• Get a Gmail.com account for use with reader, calendar, docs, and more.
Outposts
• Build RSS outposts on Facebook. Add Flog Blog, and several other RSS tools.
• Build a similar outpost on MySpace, if your audience might be there.
• Make sure your social media is listed in your LinkedIn profile.
• Add a link to your blog to your email signature file (this is still an outpost).
• Be sure your social network profiles on all sites has your blog listed, no matter
where you have to put it to list it.
• Make sure your passport accounts (above) point to your blog and sites.
• Use social networks respectfully to share the best of your content, in a community-appropriate
setting.
• Don’t forget places like YahooGroups, Craigslist, and online forums.
• Email newsletters with some links to your blog makes for an effective outpost,
especially if your audience isn’t especially blog savvy.
• Podcast content can have links to your URL and might draw awareness back to your
content, too.
Content
• Create new content regularly. If not daily, then at least three times a week.
• The more others can use your content, the better they will adopt it.
• Write brief pieces with lots of visual breaks for people to absorb.
• Images draw people’s attention. Try to add a graphic per post. (Not sure why this
works, but it seems to add some level of attention.)
• Mix up the kinds of pieces you put on your site. Interviews, how-to, newsish
information, and more can help mix and draw more attention.
• Limit the number of “me too” posts you do in any given month to no more than
three. Be original, in other words.

• The occasional ‘list’ post is usually very good for drawing attention.
• Write passionately, but be brief (unless you’re writing a list of 100 tips).
• Consider adding audio and video to the mix. The occasional YouTube video with you
as the star adds to your personal branding immensely, especially if you can manage
to look comfortable.
35
• Brevity rules.
Conversation
• Commenting on other people’s blogs builds awareness fast.
• The more valuable your comments, the more it reflects on your ability and your
character.
• Use your listening tools to stay active in pertinent discussions.
• Try not to brag, ever. Be humble. Not falsely so, but truly, because a lot of what we
do isn’t as important as saving lives.
• Ask questions with your blog posts. Defer to experts. Learn from the conversation.
• Be confident. Asking for external validation often is a sign of weakness.
• Good conversations can be across many blogs with links to show the way.
• Try never to be too defensive. Don’t be a pushover, but be aware of how you
present yourself when defending.
• Disclose anything that might be questionable. Anything, and quickly!
• Don’t delete critical blog comments. Delete only spam, abrasive language posts,
and offensive material. (Have a blog comments policy handy, if you get into the
deleting mode.
Community
• Remember that community and marketplace are two different things.
• Make your site and your efforts heavily about other people. It comes back.
• Make it easy for your community to reach you.
• Contribute to your community’s blogs and projects.
• Thank people often for their time and attention.
• Celebrate important information in your community (like birthdays).
• Be human. Always.
• Your community knows more than you. Ask them questions often.
• Apologize when you mess up. Be very sincere.
• Treat your community like gold. Never subject them to a third party of any kind
without their consent.
• Knowing more about your competitors’ communities is a useful thing, too. Learn
who visits, why they visit, and how they interact.
• Measuring your efforts in building community grows out your brand as a natural
extension.
Face to Face
• Have simple, useful, crisp business cards to share. Always.
• Be confident in person.
• Clothes and appearance DO matter. WIsh they didn’t, but they do.

• Have a very brief introduction / elevator pitch and practice it often.
• Ask questions of people you meet. Get to know them.
• Don’t seek business relationships right off. Instead, seek areas of shared interest.
• Know when to walk away politely.
• Don’t try to meet everyone in a room. Meet a half dozen or more great new people.
• Never doubt that you are worth it.
• If you’re terribly shy, consider finding a “wing man” for events.
• Doing homework ahead of time (finding people’s most recent blog posts, googling
36
them, etc) helps one feel “in the know.”
• Make eye contact. It’s MUCH more powerful than you know.
Promotion
• Use Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us and Google Reader to drive awareness.
• Promote others even more than you promote yourself
• Bragging isn’t useful to anyone besides your own ego
• Linking and promoting others is a nice way to show you care about people
• Don’t digg/stumble/link every single post. Save it for your very best
• Another promotional tool: guest blog on other sites
• Another promotion tool: make videos on YouTube with URL links
• Another promotion tool: use the status section of LinkedIn and Facebook
• Try hard not to send too many self-promotional emails. Wrap your self-promotion in
something of value to others, instead.
• Sometimes, just doing really good work is worthy of others promoting you. Try it.

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