Regina P. Brown, e-Pro Realtor®

Since we've been participating in monthly MasterMind group sessions, I've been blessed to meet a lot of great folks like Karyn Greenstreet. My friend and business associate Karyn recently sent me some great tips, which were so AWESOME that I just had to share with you, my fellow bloggers here on AR!

When people search for you on Google, does your site show up on page 1 -- or on page 20 -- of the search engine results?

Since 84% of internet traffic goes through search engines, being ranked highly by search engines will send you a huge number of prospective customers.

Are search engines sending you enough traffic to build your business?

For instance, for the phrase "mastermind group" (which I rank #1), Google sends me 23,000 visitors per year. For the phrase "small business coach" (which I also rank #1), Google sends me over 10,000 visitors per year. Just those two search phrases alone send 30,000 NEW visitors to my site each year.

What if you could do the same for the keywords you want to target

Optimizing your site to get it ranked highly on the search engines can be a complicated subject. To simplify things, it's helpful to first understand how search engines add sites to their database. Then we'll cover some tips that you can put on your own website that will help you to get listed on search engines and get a higher ranking.

The Major Search Players

Let's start off with the major search engines, the ones that most people use. Google is the most widely used search engine, getting between 55-65% of all searches. Yahoo Search and Microsoft Bing lag far behind with a total of 15-20% each.

While there are thousands of search engines, it's always a good idea to start with submitting your website to the three largest. Why? Because 95% of all searches go through either Google, Yahoo or Bing.

How Search Engines Read Your Site

There are two ways search engines read your site: automated search engine spiders (also known as crawlers and robots) and human-entered (directories).

Spiders follow the links found on your site and enter your site into their search database based on text they find on your pages. This text is either found on your public pages, or the text keywords found in behind-the-scenes "meta tags".

Keyword Density is the number of times your keyword appears on your page as compared to all the text on your page. The higher the density, the higher your rankings. But in case you think you can load your page with keywords in order to fool the search engine, think again. Search engines are smart and you can be penalized for "spamming" keywords on your website. While there is a lot of controversy in the SEO world around keyword density, for plain ease-of-reading for your visitors, don't crowd your website pages with the same keyword over and over again.

Human Directories are few and far between. Just imagine hiring enough people to research the millions of website on the Internet! It's no wonder they're steadily being replaced by automated spiders. Yahoo and DMOZ are some of the most famous human directories, where real people actually evaluate your site and categorize it in their search engine database directory. Getting your listing in a human-entered directory for free (such as DMOZ) can take months. Some human directories, such as Yahoo Directory, are charging a fee for business sites to be included in their directory.

How Search Engines Index and Rank Your Site

Search engines use several techniques to determine which category your site belongs in and what keywords people will use to find your site when using the search engine.

When they crawl your site, they check for repeated keywords in your text, looking for a clue as to the purpose of your site or a particular page. Search engines can not read the text in graphics, so if you are using a graphic-based navigation or have your keywords on a graphic next to your logo, the search engine will not notice that text. There are special ways to code a graphic to insert keywords, called ALT tags.

Some search engines will rank your site based on behind-the-scenes coding called "meta tags." Each page gets a meta tag for a page title, page description, and keyword list. While not every search engine will read meta tags, it certainly can't hurt to use them. Most search engines will read your Title tag. Google's Matt Cutts says that Google definitely reads your Description tag as well.

There are about a dozen more SEO techniques you can use (which I teach in my SEO For Everyone class), but for now, the above techniques should get you started on the path to good SEO.

Submitting Your Site to Search Engines

Once your site is primed and ready for the search engines, then you have to submit it to them. You have two choices: either go to each search engine and submit your site individually, or use a search engine submission tool.

Remember that the majority of searchers use either Google, Yahoo or Bing so consider submitting to those first. You'll often find a link on their main page where you can add a site to their search engine. If you want to automate the process, use an automated submission tool. Make sure the submission search tool you select will analyze your site to tell you if you're really ready to submit, then submit your site to the top search engines for you.

Submit your site to the search engines:

· http://www.google.com/addurl/

· http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx

Preparing your site for submission to search engines can feel like a daunting task. With the above tips in mind, you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration when it comes time to submitting your site and rank higher in search results.

Karyn Greenstreet is an internationally-known self-employment expert and speaker. She has taught over 260,000 people worldwide and is extraordinarily passionate about helping self-employed people to increase traffic, sales and profits through internet marketing. Visit her website at www.PassionForBusiness.com

Back in “the day” the more unusual the card, the more likely people would remember you, right? But today, the rules have changed! As people seek methods to consolidate the plethora of incoming data, business cards are now quickly scanned into cell phones (using iPhone or Blackberry apps), or scanned contact management software such as ACT! Which means that our business card design must be SCANNABLE. The purpose is much different than before.

Today I received a black business card with the Century 21 logo. Once scanned, the black background overpowered the card, the text was way too tiny for the software to interpret (meaning I had to type it in manually), and the logo was not readable when scanned (so I had to type in the company name manually). It made me think about what is needed to meet the requirements for today's business cards!

When you design your business card, the most important purpose should be for scanning; and therefore, endless contact retention! Here's some tips to help you design better cards:

Do:

• Use a sans serif font (such as Arial).
• Leave white space.
• Use a white background.
• Put your real estate license # on the card.
• Include your email, cell phone, and twitter handle.
• Realtor® registration mark.
• Max. 3 designations or certifications
• Company name printed as text, not just a logo (logo won’t scan as text)

Don’t:

• Use a black or dark background.
• Use tiny fonts.
• Cram words together.
• Put important info on the back.
• Include your street address (it's irrelevant).
• Include your fax # (very rarely used since most offers are emailed or uploaded).
• Put your name and title on the same line, it's hard to distinguish between them when scanning.
• Use fancy layout, such as a fold-over card, an extra-big card size, or text on an angle.
• Use thicker-than-normal paper or flimsy paper, these don't scan well.

What to put on the back of the card? It's a pain when the back of the card is glossy because it's to slick to write on. Also when the back is black or a dark color, it's annoying that you can't write on it. Always use white background, with a matte finish, so you or the recipient can write down notes to follow up. Here's ideas for the back of the card:

• A mortgage payment chart
• Appointment reminder on the back
• QR code link to your web site
• Simply leave it blank
  

Ready for the next topic: what type of card reader/ scanner is best?

Regina Brown

You're a real estate salesperson, so your job is marketing, right? Of course you attend networking events every week. You come back from an event with a handful of business cards, pull them out of your pocket and place them on your desk. And after a while, those cards start to pile up, and overtake your workspace.

Then, when you need to find a phone number or an email address, you have to search through your stacks of business cards. You haven't typed them into your contact database because it's so time-consumer... isn't there an easier way?

Yes, why not simply scan your business cards into a system that uploads them to your contact database -- the ultimate use of technology to REALLY save you time & energy!

Well, what do you use for scanning your business cards? And how do you sync the cards to your contact database?

We have a DYMO device from CardScan. I love their scanner because it’s so simple to use. Here’s where you can buy it:

http://sites.dymo.com/Solutions/Pages/Seg_cat_lndg.aspx?cat=CardScanCMS(DYMO)&locale=enUS

Also there is ScanShell which scans directly to ACT! database software and a few other types:

http://www.scanshell-store.com/scan-business-cards-to-act.htm

Now, you need to find a phone #? Just enter the contact's name and it pops up with all their information, including a picture of their business card! What could be easier...

And even better, it can help to automate your email drip system and your mailing / phone calling campaign. It's all at your fingertips and on auto-pilot!!!

Regina P. Brown
Real Estate Instructor

As we are putting together a Tech Bootcamp, we brainstormed a myriad of ideas that we (and our fellow Realtors) may be interested in learning more about. Take a look at the list, and vote on the items that YOU would like to find out more about.

We grouped the topics into sections: Social Media, Office Tools, Transactions, Marketing, iPad & Cell Phones, and Other for a total of 33 topics! Isn't it amazing to realize how much technology impacts our daily business, and quite honestly our business would run without it.

	Topics
	Social Media:
1	· Blogging
2	· Facebook
3	· Twitter
4	· Linkedin
	Office Tools:
5	· File security & access
6	· Online office / “paperless” office organization
7	· Mobile office / laptop
8	· Cloud collaboration (dropbox)
9	· e-fax
10	· Back-up system (cloud)
11	· Email organization
12	· Accessibility (LogMeIn or GoToMyPC)
13	· PDF documents
	Transactions:
14	· Transaction management software
15	· Real Estate Dashboard
16	· ZipForms / C.A.R. forms
17	· e-signing
18	· Short Sale submission software
	Marketing:
19	· IDX / RETS feeds
20	· Videos / YouTube
21	· Online reputation management (yelp etc.)
22	· QR codes
23	· SEO / Web page
24	· Contact Database
25	· Email drip system
	iPad & Cell Phone:
26	· iPad apps
27	· Blackberry phone
28	· iPhone
29	· Droid phone
	Other:
30	· Lockbox software / hardware
31	· MLS Green features
32	· MLS reciprocal access
33	· MLS tips

Got Referrals?

At our new membership site, www.RealtyProAgents.com, we do! Our goal is to build a large network of reliable carefully-screened real estate agents who can refer business to each other. Join us today and you can give and receive member-to-member referrals from buyers and sellers!

All information is available to RealtyPro Agents members and your most important sales features are also available to the public, so you can get found through SEO results and Google juice. Our database boasts the most comprehensive categories to help you GET FOUND, GET CONTACTED, AND GET PAID!

Metro cities served - Enter the names of the cities you serve, and the general metro areas you work in. For example, you may live in a small town like Pismo Beach, but you want the name recognition of a metro area like San Luis Obispo.

Counties served - For members who serve more than one county, this is a bonus because most membership sites only allow you to enter one county. For example, a member who is in Los Angeles County may also serve Orange County and Riverside County.

States served - Some real estate consultants are licensed in two or more states, so this field allows you to select multiple states that you serve.

Zip Codes served - We know that buyers often search for homes by zip code, as well as city or county. Entering all of the zip codes you work will help you get found by more buyers.

Realtor® Associations - If you serve a large metropolitan area, you probably belong to several Realtor® Associations. List all of them here so you can be "found" by members looking to refer buyers and sellers to you!

MLS Memberships - Often a referral member will have a listing in a geographic area and require a specific MLS. By entering all the names of all the MLS's you belong to, you increase the opportunities to receive referral business. For example: Central Coast, Sandicor, Southwest Riverside County, Fresno, SoCal.

Specialty Niches - What are your areas of specialty? Whether you work with first-time buyers, investors, or luxury home sellers, you'll find your niche listed here.

Designations & Certifications - Select from the most comprehensive list of NAR designations and certifications, including the ever-popular GRI designation and the brand-new GREEN certification.

Professional Associations - We've included the minority professional associations, such as NAHREP, but also a few other of our favorites, including military veteran owned businesses.

Languages You Speak - If your referral buyers prefer to work with a real estate consultant in their native language, you can quickly and easily locate a member who speaks that language.

For maximum ability to get located and earn business, be sure to fill in all fields completely.

Join RealtyPro Agents today and become a TOP 10% Real Estate Consultant! Join for FREE with a Bronze "Achievers" level membership for a limited time. Or upgrade for maximum benefits!

Compare our pricing and plans and select the best option for you. Remember you can always upgrade later.

Boost your business and skyrocket to success this year!

Regina P. Brown
Author, Instructor, Broker