Developing Link Popularity March 4, 2006
John Vanhara
Perhaps, in your efforts to publicize your website and help your web traffic grow, you’ve come across the term “link popularity.” Does this mean your site has to be the homecoming queen of the Internet? No, but it doesn’t hurt to have friends in high (ranking) places. And this form of web promotion is actually free – it only requires a little of your time. To understand link popularity and how to use it effectively to help your site, let’s take a quick look at how Google (the current king of all search engines) ranks websites.
Google is constantly searching for new websites to add to its search results. It does this by sending out “spiders,” programs designed to surf the Net by following links from one site to another. A site with many links to it is more likely to receive a visit from search engine spiders such as Google’s, and the search engine will view the site as being very “relevant” – so it is more likely to index the site with a higher ranking. And the quality of the links is also important: Don’t fall for a “link farm” scam in which your site is linked to repeatedly from sites that are composed entirely of lists of links. Search engines place a much higher priority on legitimate sites with actual useful content.
The first step in achieving link popularity is finding sites that are similar to your own, but not so similar that they are competitors. For instance, if your site is about real estate in a certain geographic area, you might look for sites that offer advice for people considering moving to the area (such as sites with lists of local resources). Make sure that the sites you collect are good quality sites that you wouldn’t mind linking to in return, because you will very likely need to promise them a reciprocal link.
Once you have a list of websites that are good candidates for linking to your site, you’ll need to contact them. First, write up a good form letter that you can easily modify, if necessary, for individual sites that you contact. Tell the webmaster what you like about their site and what your site offers, and propose an exchange of links. If the other site’s links page is divided into different categories, make the webmaster’s job easier by telling them exactly which category your site belongs in. If the links listed have short descriptions of each site, follow their lead and write up a short description of your site in the same format. Anything you can do to make the other webmaster’s job easier makes it more likely that they will actually add your site to their links page.
Finally, on your own links page, check the links periodically to make sure they still work. Other webmasters that you contact regarding an exchange of links won’t be too impressed if several of your own links lead to blank pages that say “Error: Page Not Found.”
Building up link popularity may sound like a lot of work, and it is! However, once you develop a link popularity strategy and a schedule for both contacting new sites and maintaining your own links, you might just find your website bringing in valuable traffic without depleting your advertising budget.
MillionSaverHomes.com is among the leaders in attracting Internet traffic through link popularity. The company creates marketing and management tools for agents to get more leads and close more deals. Link popularity brings a substantial amount of business to the MillionSaverHomes.com website and to real estate agents in markets across the USA.
MillionSaverHomes.com also provides an efficient franchise system to acquire buyers and sellers, and to manage agents. The company invests its own funds in various advertising, including websites, pay-per-click advertising, search engines and marketing partnerships. And there’s no upfront cost to agents; the company is paid by referral fees from closed business deals.
For more information on franchise opportunities with MillionSaverHomes.com, visit http://www.eastbiz.com/franchise
For an example of a successful real estate By Natalie Cooper for MillionSaverHomes.com
How to start your own iPIX virtual tour business February 25, 2006
John Vanhara
I got my real estate license in 2001 and it was difficult to get the business going. There were so many new things to learn. How to write contract, how to do sales, learning inventory and what is available on the market. I realized that even if I find some buyer or seller immediately it will take couple of month to make some money. Therefore I was looking for some additional income to survive that period and it was reason why I started doing iPIX virtual tours.
To start iPIX virtual tour business is not very expensive. Camera costs me about $500 and then you need rotator, fish eye lenses and tripod (about another $600). iPIX now offers unlimited license to create as many tours as you want for $899 per year.
Doing virtual tours was like previewing homes, learning inventory and getting paid for that. I also maid some contacts with other real estate agents, learned city and made money at the same time.
Once I learned what I am doing it took only 15-20 minutes to take photos and another 15-20 minutes on the computer to create the tour and upload on websites. There is also some time you need to get to the house and back home or your office.
I have signed agreement with Homestore.com so I can post on REALTOR.com. I have also created different tools for posting tours so I don’t have to pay for hosting.
If you are in real estate business and looking for supplemental income this is good option.
The best toll free 1-800 for real estate agents January 21, 2006
John Vanhara
If you are looking for great toll free (800, 888, 866, 877) number for your real estate business then check this offer (Kall8). Sign up and choose your number here.
The reasons I really like it:
- Calls can be forwarded to any cell phone. Not every toll free number can be forwarded to cell phone.
- Email notifications. You can set up email notifications for all calls. Even the missed ones. Let’s say your cell phone is turned off. You are showing homes. Someone calls you, but never leaves message. This toll free number will email you caller id information, time of the call and phone number to your email (free).
- Call recording. If you want you can set up call recording to see how your team is handling incoming phone calls.
- Routing. Calls can be diverted to different phones based on hour of the day (for example to the office during the day and to the cell phone during the evening hours). You can also set up ringing on several phones (if the first agent doesn’t pick up it will ring on other team member phone, etc.).
- Web statistics - see calls, minutes, etc.
- Low cost: $2 per month (888,866,877) or $5 for (800) + 6.9 cents per minute.
I use them for myself! That’s why I say I like these toll free numbers. I have different number on each ad in magazines on each website and know exactly how many buyers or sellers is each advertising producing.
The least expensive real estate website January 20, 2006
John Vanhara
If you are not search engine optimization expert and don’t want to spend thousands for pay per click advertising then don’t spend hundreds or thousands for building custom made website! Why? Because no one will ever find it.
Spending so much for the web will totally miss the point. The reason you need a website is to get more buyers and sellers, but if no one will ever come to it you will not get either. The other reason for having website is to place listings. Once you get listing you have to show to your seller what marketing you do and one of the marketing tools is to post listing on your website. But do you need something fancy and custom made for this purpose? What if you get just couple of listings per year? Do you want to spend most of the money on new website? No!!!!
Here is a great option. Nice, clean website for just $35 per year. That is $2.91 per month!
See real life example of one of our agents here.
- Easy editing and set up
- No complicated functions
- Upload listings
- Print flyers, send emails from listings
- Viewer Counter Statistics for each listing
Help with upgrade to Wordpress 2.0
John Vanhara
We have upgraded our real estate marketing blog to Wordpress 2.0. What’s new? Wordpress 2.0 has nice new build-in WYSIWYG editor (you don’t have to know html and type like in MS Word). There is not a lot major changes clearly visible. Most of the changes are under the hood and you should see new and interesting plugins appear soon!
If you need help with upgrading your blog to Wordpress 2.0 let us know. We can also help you transfer blog from different system like Blogger to Wordpress.
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