Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
How to Get High-Quality Inbound Links
Provided By KW Blog
One of the fastest ways to improve your search engine rankings is to build high-quality inbound links—links from other websites to your website. In fact, successful search engine optimization (SEO) demands a focus on inbound link building, also called backlinking.
Here’s why: Although Google (and other search engines) evaluate scores of factors as they rank your site against the thousands of other agent sites on the Internet, inbound links are among the most powerful determinants of where your site will show up in the list of results.
And here’s another reason to focus on inbound links: Getting more relevant links to your website also increases the chances that real estate consumers looking for your type of services will find you as they naturally surf the web.
How Not to Build In-Bound Links
Before I give you the eight ways to get inbound links, let me warn you of a tactic from the early web days that could backfire today: link trading. Also known as reciprocal linking, trading links with relevant peers can be helpful to your efforts. But joining a link farm could be SEO suicide.
A link farm is a collection of websites that each link to every site in the group. Don’t be enticed by automated programs that promise to get you hundreds of links. The links are bound to be irrelevant and the search engines will punish you for trying to outwit their algorithm. In fact, Google may even ban you. Build inbound links the right way and you will gain credibility with the search engines.
The Right Way to Build In-Bound Links
Here are eight KW-sanctioned strategies you can begin using today.
1. Launch a Blog
You can use a free service like Blogger or Wordpress. Blog about your particular niche, i.e. luxury condos, foreclosures, vacation homes, or trends in your city or region. Linking from your blog to your website offers relevant inbound links.
2. Craft Strong Content
Content is still king online. If you produce interesting, relevant content, people will link to it. Let your service providers and partners know you are blogging or adding content to your site and invite them to share it with their customers in exchange for a link.
3. Consider Pay-Per-Click
Narrow in on your niche audience, choose a budget and launch a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. The text ads link to your site, giving you a potential boost in the rankings while also driving qualified leads.
4. Submit to Directories
There are many web directories you could list your site on, like Merchant Circle and DMOZ. There are free and paid web directories. You can find them by doing a simple search online.
5. Join Organizations
When you join organizations like the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce and industry associations, you can often get the group to link back to your site.
6. Employ Article Marketing
Have you seen sites like ezinearticles.com? You can repurpose your blog content to submit to article marketing sites, position yourself as an expert, and get reputable in-bound links.
7. Get Social
When you join communities like Facebook and Twitter and post links to your site in status updates, you set the stage for high-quality links and relevant traffic to your website.
8. Write an E-book
With Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can include links back to your site in an e-book and post it on sites that host e-books, either as a free offering or for a small fee. This also positions you as an expert in your niche.
A final note: The text of the link makes a difference. Ask those who link to your site a to link on relevant terms like “Chicago real estate expert” rather than “click here.” The more descriptive the text is, the better Google likes the link.
One of the fastest ways to improve your search engine rankings is to build high-quality inbound links—links from other websites to your website. In fact, successful search engine optimization (SEO) demands a focus on inbound link building, also called backlinking.
Here’s why: Although Google (and other search engines) evaluate scores of factors as they rank your site against the thousands of other agent sites on the Internet, inbound links are among the most powerful determinants of where your site will show up in the list of results.
And here’s another reason to focus on inbound links: Getting more relevant links to your website also increases the chances that real estate consumers looking for your type of services will find you as they naturally surf the web.
How Not to Build In-Bound Links
Before I give you the eight ways to get inbound links, let me warn you of a tactic from the early web days that could backfire today: link trading. Also known as reciprocal linking, trading links with relevant peers can be helpful to your efforts. But joining a link farm could be SEO suicide.
A link farm is a collection of websites that each link to every site in the group. Don’t be enticed by automated programs that promise to get you hundreds of links. The links are bound to be irrelevant and the search engines will punish you for trying to outwit their algorithm. In fact, Google may even ban you. Build inbound links the right way and you will gain credibility with the search engines.
The Right Way to Build In-Bound Links
Here are eight KW-sanctioned strategies you can begin using today.
1. Launch a Blog
You can use a free service like Blogger or Wordpress. Blog about your particular niche, i.e. luxury condos, foreclosures, vacation homes, or trends in your city or region. Linking from your blog to your website offers relevant inbound links.
2. Craft Strong Content
Content is still king online. If you produce interesting, relevant content, people will link to it. Let your service providers and partners know you are blogging or adding content to your site and invite them to share it with their customers in exchange for a link.
3. Consider Pay-Per-Click
Narrow in on your niche audience, choose a budget and launch a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. The text ads link to your site, giving you a potential boost in the rankings while also driving qualified leads.
4. Submit to Directories
There are many web directories you could list your site on, like Merchant Circle and DMOZ. There are free and paid web directories. You can find them by doing a simple search online.
5. Join Organizations
When you join organizations like the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce and industry associations, you can often get the group to link back to your site.
6. Employ Article Marketing
Have you seen sites like ezinearticles.com? You can repurpose your blog content to submit to article marketing sites, position yourself as an expert, and get reputable in-bound links.
7. Get Social
When you join communities like Facebook and Twitter and post links to your site in status updates, you set the stage for high-quality links and relevant traffic to your website.
8. Write an E-book
With Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can include links back to your site in an e-book and post it on sites that host e-books, either as a free offering or for a small fee. This also positions you as an expert in your niche.
A final note: The text of the link makes a difference. Ask those who link to your site a to link on relevant terms like “Chicago real estate expert” rather than “click here.” The more descriptive the text is, the better Google likes the link.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
KW Marketing
Provided By MyKW
Keller Williams makes it easy to market your listings online- when you want, where you want through KWLS!
Click here to get started!
Keller Williams makes it easy to market your listings online- when you want, where you want through KWLS!
Click here to get started!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
How Rising Interest Rates Will Impact Affordability
Provided By KW Blog
In a recent Forbes blog post, multimillionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson declared that today’s record-low interest rates made this the best time to buy homes in fifty years. “If you don’t own a home, buy one,” Paulson said. “If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.” Why should we care what Paulson thinks? Well, he was among the few to accurately predict the subprime collapse and, while no one has a crystal ball, a closer look at the numbers supports his call to action.
Historically low interest rates are the key…and they aren’t likely to hang around for long.
As we wrote in SHIFT, buyers who “choose to wait until prices come down more” are gambling that interest rates will hold steady or drop. The truth is even a 10 percent drop in home prices is nullified by a 1 percent increase in interest rates. The figure below illustrates how this works for a $250,000 home purchase and the relative likelihood of each scenario.
To figure out which was a smarter bet–counting on home prices to fall further or interest rates to rise–our research department took the last ten years of monthly home price and mortgage interest rate data and ran the numbers to see which was more likely: an increase in mortgage rates or a further drop in home prices. Here’s what we found:
A one percent increase in mortgage rates is ten times more likely to happen than a ten percent drop in home prices.
A one percent rate increase more than offsets a ten percent reduction in home prices.
When interest rates fall by one percent, the total interest paid is almost three times more than the interest savings from a ten percent drop in home prices.
The probability of both happening at the same time is ridiculously small, and homeowners would still pay 15 percent more in interest over the life of the loan.
Interest rates have dominated the news in recent months as we’ve shattered record low after record low. Potential home buyers need to understand the positive financial impact low interest rates have on the cost of home ownership and the thousands of dollars that can be saved over the life of a typical mortgage loan. For those who can afford to buy, trade up, or invest, our current market presents a lifetime opportunity.
In a recent Forbes blog post, multimillionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson declared that today’s record-low interest rates made this the best time to buy homes in fifty years. “If you don’t own a home, buy one,” Paulson said. “If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.” Why should we care what Paulson thinks? Well, he was among the few to accurately predict the subprime collapse and, while no one has a crystal ball, a closer look at the numbers supports his call to action.
Historically low interest rates are the key…and they aren’t likely to hang around for long.
As we wrote in SHIFT, buyers who “choose to wait until prices come down more” are gambling that interest rates will hold steady or drop. The truth is even a 10 percent drop in home prices is nullified by a 1 percent increase in interest rates. The figure below illustrates how this works for a $250,000 home purchase and the relative likelihood of each scenario.
To figure out which was a smarter bet–counting on home prices to fall further or interest rates to rise–our research department took the last ten years of monthly home price and mortgage interest rate data and ran the numbers to see which was more likely: an increase in mortgage rates or a further drop in home prices. Here’s what we found:
A one percent increase in mortgage rates is ten times more likely to happen than a ten percent drop in home prices.
A one percent rate increase more than offsets a ten percent reduction in home prices.
When interest rates fall by one percent, the total interest paid is almost three times more than the interest savings from a ten percent drop in home prices.
The probability of both happening at the same time is ridiculously small, and homeowners would still pay 15 percent more in interest over the life of the loan.
Interest rates have dominated the news in recent months as we’ve shattered record low after record low. Potential home buyers need to understand the positive financial impact low interest rates have on the cost of home ownership and the thousands of dollars that can be saved over the life of a typical mortgage loan. For those who can afford to buy, trade up, or invest, our current market presents a lifetime opportunity.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Team Leaders: Your Perfect Day Makes a Difference
Provided By KW Blog
Mega Leadership 2010 was the best yet! Each panel and presentation provided superb practical tools leaders could immediately employ in their businesses. I especially loved the power panel of Mary Tennant, President and COO, KWRI, Gene Frederick, Team Leader at Austin Northwest, and Melanie Kennemann, Team Leader at Reno North. This exceptional group ran through the impact and construction of a Team Leader’s perfect day.
Gene Frederick began by pointing out the Team Leader job description is essentially to make a difference in people’s lives. He said that when Team Leaders spend 80 percent of their day focused on their 20 percent, they’re consulting their great agents, interviewing new talent, training both to build bigger businesses, and investing in their own education. With this high-minded focus, he ends his work day energized and excited to take on the next day.
Melanie Kennemann said she focuses on mindset on Monday mornings to get herself and her Market Center ready for a week of results. She’ll send a short message to everybody like, “Do you have an indomitable spirit?” Their mindset in check, the remarkable agents in this Market Center then do what needs to be done with determination and zeal. Melanie also makes a point of starting every day the night before. Before she leaves the office, she writes down her 20 percent for the following day. When she gets in the next morning, she has a quick, focusing meeting with her staff, and then they’re off, taking the actions that lead to positive impact.
Mary Tennant said that when she was a Team Leader an extraordinary staff enabled her to grow the Southwest Market Center from 142 to 800 agents. Surrounded by A+ talent, Mary empowered her staff to deliver superior service to each associate in the Market Center, while she focused on taking the Market Center to new heights through training, coaching, recruiting, and community building. Though her Market Center was large, the associates in it felt connected through smaller groups, like investment and cooking clubs. Mary added that they also bonded through shared joy. She said practical jokes in this office were abundant! Whether the furniture was upside down, Mary’s relaxation fountain had bubbles in it, an office was filled with balloons, or an ALC member was presenting a ballet in full costume during a team meeting, associates in this Market Center were smiling while they were achieving.
If you’re planning your perfect day as a Team Leader, look to what matters most. First help those around you succeed at the highest levels—and then plan your retaliatory practical jokes!
Mega Leadership 2010 was the best yet! Each panel and presentation provided superb practical tools leaders could immediately employ in their businesses. I especially loved the power panel of Mary Tennant, President and COO, KWRI, Gene Frederick, Team Leader at Austin Northwest, and Melanie Kennemann, Team Leader at Reno North. This exceptional group ran through the impact and construction of a Team Leader’s perfect day.
Gene Frederick began by pointing out the Team Leader job description is essentially to make a difference in people’s lives. He said that when Team Leaders spend 80 percent of their day focused on their 20 percent, they’re consulting their great agents, interviewing new talent, training both to build bigger businesses, and investing in their own education. With this high-minded focus, he ends his work day energized and excited to take on the next day.
Melanie Kennemann said she focuses on mindset on Monday mornings to get herself and her Market Center ready for a week of results. She’ll send a short message to everybody like, “Do you have an indomitable spirit?” Their mindset in check, the remarkable agents in this Market Center then do what needs to be done with determination and zeal. Melanie also makes a point of starting every day the night before. Before she leaves the office, she writes down her 20 percent for the following day. When she gets in the next morning, she has a quick, focusing meeting with her staff, and then they’re off, taking the actions that lead to positive impact.
Mary Tennant said that when she was a Team Leader an extraordinary staff enabled her to grow the Southwest Market Center from 142 to 800 agents. Surrounded by A+ talent, Mary empowered her staff to deliver superior service to each associate in the Market Center, while she focused on taking the Market Center to new heights through training, coaching, recruiting, and community building. Though her Market Center was large, the associates in it felt connected through smaller groups, like investment and cooking clubs. Mary added that they also bonded through shared joy. She said practical jokes in this office were abundant! Whether the furniture was upside down, Mary’s relaxation fountain had bubbles in it, an office was filled with balloons, or an ALC member was presenting a ballet in full costume during a team meeting, associates in this Market Center were smiling while they were achieving.
If you’re planning your perfect day as a Team Leader, look to what matters most. First help those around you succeed at the highest levels—and then plan your retaliatory practical jokes!
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