Myrtle Beach Real Estate

Website Linking Strategies- Are Your Efforts Paying Off?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:41:00 -0600

Website Linking Strategies- Are your efforts paying off?

I wrote the other day How to Get Your Website to the First Page of Google which received an awesome response from many. One of the main points I discussed in that article was the importance of linking in your blog posts. I explained how this can be a vital part of your Search Engine Optimization and if done properly can bring great results.

Many questions were asked in the comment section as well as a few practices that were used by commenters that I wanted to address. Before I get into that, let's do a quick review of what I'm talking about. In that post I said:

"The more sites that are pointing links at your page (especially when titled with the keywords you are trying to achieve) will produce a great return. One easy way to get some great links pointing to your site is to make sure you have added your business site to your profiles on any and all networks you participate in. Links from higher ranking sites help the search engines realize that these sites recognize your website."

Many who read the post I believe stopped reading there & rushed off to their twitter profile, Facebook profile and every other social network they participate on and started adding links. But, if you read on, there was a very important disclaimer that went along with that statement. I said: "One thing for sure, you need to be positive that the links you insert places are actually working for you. Many networks block the search engines from following the links to prevent spam."

A common misconception is that when I place a link online, that link is automatically recognized by the search engines and is benefiting me each time I place it somewhere. So, every time there is an opportunity to place a link, the instant notion is to place one. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying do not place the link just because the search engines are not reading it. I always place a link when there is a place asking me. Even if the search engines do not follow it it still can bring a consumer reading that site to me.

So, how do we know whether the link is a benefit or not? What can we do to check? As I have shared in the past, I am huge fan of using Firefox as my web browser because of the amazing add-ons they have to enhance & help you analyze your online presence. Firefox has an add-on called NoDoFollow. This simple add-on can easily be turned on and off and show you whether the links you are leaving are being followed by the search engines or not. Here is quick video showing you how NoDoFollow works:

Try using NoDoFollow and see how effective your linking strategies are. My guess is that you will be surprised by some of the places that links are followed and not followed.

Anchoring Your Links

Another common mistake I see when inserting links is not setting them as anchor text. What do I mean by anchor text? Anchor Text as defined by Wikipedia is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Think of them in the most literal play on words possible, they anchor the link down for search engines to understand what that link is supposed to be. So when you are writing your posts, instead of placing a link like this, http://www.eventbrite.com/event/581158260 you would make a link like this: How to Chug Google Juice & Gain 15 Years of Fame. Not only does this assist the search engines in understanding what you are trying to say, it also assists consumers to know what they are about to click on.

If both of those links were placed in a blog post, my guess is that the one with anchored text would be clicked on at a ratio of around 5:1 to the other link. I wrote how to insert links into your blog a few months back, so if you are not sure the proper way to do so, visit the tutorial for assistance. While this seems like a minor thing, if it is done properly over several hundred posts of content, it can really pay off in large dividends.

Titling Your Links

This is another minor step that can help both consumers & search engines understand what you are trying to convey. When adding a title to the link, it does exactly that, titles the link for everyone. That way when someone hovers over a link, a pop-up appears with what that link is supposed to be. So even though the link anchor might be Jason Crouch, and the link is to his profile, the title is completely different pops up when you hover over the link Jason Crouch. Once again, a very minor thing to do that can result in many more clickthroughs and SEO benefits.

I hope this helps everyone have a better understanding on linking strategies. If you have any questions, let me know. And by the way, 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors offers some really great personal coaching taught by myself and Jason Crouch on this subject. We also have a webinar coming up where we will get into this in more detail. Find more info here.

Photo Credit 1HappySnapper(photography)& John of Austin

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog to keep up to date with my latest posts of tips & tricks to enhance your experience on ActiveRain. If you would like, you can sign up to receive updates via email directly in your inbox.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

How to Add Facebook Fanbox to Your ActiveRain Blog

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:55:14 -0500

**THIS TUTORIAL IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO FAN PAGES. IT DOES NOT APPLY TO A REGULAR FACEBOOK FRIEND PAGE**

Since Facebook announced the ability to have your own personal url for your Facebook Pages, there has been an amazing increase in Fan Pages. One awesome feature that has recently been released is the ability to add a Facebook Fanbox Widget.

Like most new and cool things, I immediately had to try & add it to my page. So, I visited Facebook and noticed that the code was giving as a <script> which is not on the approved widget list yet on our network. But, as I scrolled down a little further, I found a version of the code in <iframe> which is supported by the network.

So what are Facebook FanBoxes?

The fanboxes are almost like mini versions of your fan page. It allows people to become a fan of your Facebook page right from your blog. It also shows some of your fans on rotating basis. The other fun thing is that you can bring in your wall from your Facebook page to show what is happening on Facebook on your blog.

How to install Facebook Fanbox on your ActiveRain Blog.

The <iframe> widget is rather generic and if you just copy & paste the generic version of the widget, it will be too wide & look funny on your blog here on ActiveRain. But, like any good community builder, I have taken the time to make the necessary changes so that the widget will look right on your page.

Two Versions for Your ActiveRain Blog.

The first version includes your stream from your Facebook Page Wall into your ActiveRain Blog. The finished product will look very similar to my personal widget over on the right. The first step is to copy this piece of code in it's entirety:

After you have copied the code above, you will then go to My Settings on your ActiveRain Blog. Paste the code into the Blog Description box. Once you have copied & pasted the code into your blog, it is now time to alter the coding to make it your personal page. Start by opening up a new tab on your web browser & bring up your Facebook FanPage. You are going to need to tab back & forth between the 2 pages to get all the information needed to customize your page.

You will notice 3 parts of the code above that I have placed in BOLD print. The reason for this, is that these three sections you must enter your information or the widget will not work properly. Also, it will be very generic & not customized to you.

The first section you are going to change is Your ID Number. This is found by visiting your facebook fan page. Under your profile picture there is a link to add a fanbox to your site. Click on that link. DO NOT USE THE CODE THAT APPEARS NEXT ON FACEBOOK.

Once it opens, you will want to copy 12 digit id number that is at the end of the URL. This is YOUR ID NUMBER.

Once you have that ID number go back to the code and replace the words YOUR ID NUMBER with the 12 digit number.

The next step is to get the link for your page. If you are lucky enough to have over 100 fans already, You have a custom URL. Mine is http://facebook.com/socialmediatips that would be the URL I would place in mine. But, if you do not have the vanity URL yet, your URL would look more like this: http://facebook.com/Real-Estate-Client-Referrals/101152061373. The number at the end of the URL is very important as that is part of the URL identifier so make sure you include it as well. You will paste the entire URL into the YOUR FACEBOOK URL section.

The third & final customization to the code is to title the fanbox widget at the bottom of your widget. I titled mine Social Media Tips, but yours might be Miami Real Estate, or Denver Locals, whatever you want to name it. The choice is yours. I would keep it to less than 5 words.

After making these changes to the code, make sure to click Update to save changes!

Some of you may not wish to have the wall included into your widget out of fear of what some of your friends might say, or to just make things simpler, so I have also customized the widget without the wall feed included. To make this widget on your blog, you will want to copy this code:

As above, follow the 3 simple steps to Customize your widget on your blog by changing the ID Number, URL & Fanpage Name. Once the changes have been made, DO NOT FORGET TO CLICK UPDATE ON YOUR ACTIVERAIN SETTINGS PAGE.

I will leave you with this final thought. While it seems like this is a rather complex & long laborious process, it really is not. I have already taken the hard part out by making the customizations to the html code to make this widget work properly and look good on ActiveRain.

My guess is that if you follow the steps above you can add this widget in less than 5 minutes. When Clint Miller Contacted me yesterday to add the widget to his Real Estate Client Referrals blog on ActiveRain, we were able to have it up & running in about 2 minutes time.

Also, if you are familiar with HTML codes you can make a few more customizations to this widget. For example, you may not want 12 of your friends showing at a time, or maybe you wish for none to be showing. This coding is fully customizable. If you would like some of those changes but are not familiar with HTML codes, let me know in the comments section and I will try to make the changes & post them below. One suggestion is this. Make sure to keep your friends showing on the widget in multiples of 3. If not, you will run into issues.

Lastly, if you have not already joined the ActiveRain Page, what are you waiting for? Use the Fanbox on the right of my page & become a fan today!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

7 Secrets to Facebook Page Success- Webinar with Mike Mueller

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:35:19 -0600

7 Secrets to Facebook Page Success

I am sure by now we all know that Facebook is an absolute must for your business, but you may not understand why this is so important. Allow me to share a few statistics that might make it more obvious why everyone who is in business needs to have a Facebook page.

General Stats

More than 400 million active users on Facebook
50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
More than 3.5 million events created each month

Many though get confused by the personal profiles and Facebook Pages which are designated for business. If you weren't aware, Facebook frowns heavily on the use of a personal page for business purposes. In fact, I have heard of profiles being shut down because they were being used for the wrong purpose. A client of mine the other week ran into restrictions on his profile because it had too much business dealings taking place for their liking. They made it almost impossible to add friends, join a page, or even attend an event. The other thing with a personal page is that you are limited toonly 5,000 friends. Facebook pages allow you to have unlimited fans and talk about business as much as you wish. Because of these rules that are in place on Facebook, not only are more and more people joining daily, but so are businesses setting up a page is growing at astronomical rates.

Take a look at some of these stats on Facebook Pages:

More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

In a constant effort to provide the best content for our clients, 210 Consulting is bringing in one of the most proficient people on the planet about Facebook Fan Pages, Mike Mueller. Mike has created over 150 custom Facebook pages for clients and is constantly keeping abreast of any changes to Facebook. He has also traveled around the country teaching hundreds the basics of Facebook pages and how to use them successfully.

We are excited for Mike to join us for this FREE 60 minute webinar titled "7 Secrets to Facebook Success" on Tuesday, March 9th at 2PM EST.

To register for this free class, simply fill out the form below. Seating is limited and is on a first come first serve basis. We hope to see you there!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Effectively Posting Your Listings To Your Blog

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:54:06 -0500

Effectively Posting Your Listings to Your Blog.

Posting your listings to your blog is something that any agent loves to do. It provides exposure for the listing which makes the seller happy & also gives your blog an additional posting of content. However over the past few months of being on staff I have encountered this question more times than I can count. "How do I post my listings on my blog?" Because of this I have written this post that will walk you through what you should & shouldn't be doing when posting your listings on your blog.

What Not to Do When Writing About Your Listing

Before I share how to effectively post your listings to your blog, I want to start with a few things not to do. The biggest No No is to just copy & paste directly from your MLS. Copying & pasting can cause coding issues to your blog where giant paragraphs of funny text shows up. Also, this a violation of our Community Guidelines. The second way many post their listings is through using some sort of outside service where you input your listing information & are provided with a piece of html code that creates a pretty flyer like the one to the right.

While there are plenty of wonderful services available to place your listings on your blog, (postlets, vflyer, realbird, etc) they are not always the best way. Before I go any further, let me make this statement: There is nothing wrong with using those services! They are a great for posting your listings to many social media platforms like craigslist, twitter, & facebook. But in order to make your listings more attractive to consumers & also search engines, using those sites hold you back on your blog & here is why.

Lack of content: Many times those services have a limit on the number of characters you can use in the description. They also do not allow you include links in the flyer. Since you can't link you are missing valuable opportunities for link juice.
Lack of Creativity. While they create really pretty looking flyers that can be visually appealing, they hinder you from using any type of creativity in the layout or added features to your listing because of the set template. The ability to add extras to the flyers in out of the question.
Layout Issues. Have you ever placed one of these flyers on your blog & the entire layout of your blog goes haywire? You know what I mean, your profile picture is at the bottom of the page, your post title runs over a picture, and text is going everywhere? Well this is caused by the html coding you inserted having the incorrect dimensions. Most everything you post on ActiveRain needs to remain under 550 pixels wide to keep from encountering this issue. Unfortunately these flyers are normally set for wider dimensions that the maximum allowed on ActiveRain.

Tips to Writing an Effective Listing Post.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, the best way to write bout a listing is to write an original blog post about the home. This way you are giving unique content about the property. You are the creator & can make it look & feel however you want. Here are 4 simple tips to increase the appeal of your listings for both consumers & also search engines:

Include Community Info. Before you take the time to write about your listing, I would suggest taking time to write about some of the other local things in the community. Write about local attractions, amenities in the neighborhood, restaurants, & anything else about the neighborhood. By writing these hyper local posts before writing about your listing you will then be able to incorporate these things into your listing post. This provides great ways to link posts together & build some major google juice.
Post plenty of Photographs. Pictures help showcase your listing. Adding these to the post bring things to life. Remember the importance of labeling your photos when placing them into your post.
Don't be afraid of giving too much information! Many times agents fear that if they give you all the details of the listing that consumers will not contact them. Posts that include more content than the average listing posts will be the blogs that consumers come back to again & again. Because of new technologies, consumers can find just about anything they want to know about a property online. So if you do not give them the information they are needing, they will move onto someone else.
Try adding a slideshow or video for an extra wow factor. Slideshows & videos give just an added dimension to the post. It allows the consumer to take a break from reading & just watch. Be careful though to not make the video too long or you can lost their interest. I would suggest keeping both around 2-3 minutes max.
Title the post correctly. One of the biggest problems I see when looking at a post that is for a listing is that the title is done all wrong. It is so important to Address your listings properly for search engines. If you just title the post "Reduced 3BR 2BA home to $389,000" you are definitely not helping the search engines to understand what your post is about.

Add these 5 simple tips when writing your next post about a new listing & watch the difference in results. Consumers will spend more time reading & learning as well as google will like it more.

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

So what is Jeremy doing in September?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:16:29 -0600

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

35+ Tools to Enhance Your Social Media Strategy Webinar 2/25/10

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:49:51 -0600

It is no secret by now that social media is a huge component to any real estate agents marketing plan. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are so important in generating new contacts and increasing business. But, with the constant changing of tools, new applications, and new platforms emerging, it can become overwhelming quickly as to which are effective and what isn't

Join Jason Crouch and myself tomorrow as we will share over 35 different tools that we implement regularly in our social media marketing plan in two back to back webinars. These 45 minute webinars will be fast-paced and give you a cursory overview of tools we love using in our business. The class times are 12:30 & 1:30 ET.

To register for these sessions, simply fill out the form below and you will receive an email tomorrow with a link to join the session. Here are just a few of the things we will talk about:

Facebook
Facebook Business Pages
Posterous
Google Alerts
Twitter
YouTube
Mobile Apps for Blackberry & iPhone

Obviously, we will be cover a lot more than listed above. As mentioned these sessions are completely free to anyone who wishes to attend. Seating is limited to 25 seats per class and will be on a first come first serve basis. If you can't attend tomorrow's session, fill out the form anyways and we can add you to our mailing list to keep you informed when this class will be taught again. Make sure to fill out the form below completely & correctly so we can contact you tomorrow with the webinar information.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Urban Meets Ocean- The Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (LOCALISM FEATURED)

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:21:08 -0500

The Market Common is one of the hottest and newest things in Myrtle Beach. It is located on Myrtle Beach's former air force base.

Nestled on 114 acres, The Market Common features some of the finest retail shops & Restaurants along the Grand Strand. Some of these wonderful stores include Barnes & Noble, Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Tommy Bahama and many more. Also, there are wonderful dining establishments like P.F. Chang's & Gordon Biersch Brewery.

In addition to all the wonderful restaurants & shops, there are other great things to do including several bike & walking trails, a movie theater and much more.

If you are planning a visit I would highly suggest downloading the Store Directory Map ahead of time.

If shopping and dining is not all you are looking for, The Market Common also have live concerts running all summer long. Check out all of the upcoming events here.

Some other great features of The Market Common include closeness to the Myrtle Beach International Airport, Hard Rock Theme Park & the Beach.

If the Urban Lifestyle is something that attracts you, there are several ways to purchase/rent in and around the surrounding areas. Feel free to contact me for more information.

This is truly an area where you can not only live, but also work and play all day without ever needing to get into your car!

Jeremy Blanton- Myrtle Beach Real Estate Expert

View Larger Map

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

3 Tips to Getting Your Website to the First Page of Google ~ Social Media Advisors

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:57:13 -0600

The concept of getting your website to the first page of Google seems like an almost impossible task to many. People spend months writing more and more content for their site, getting backlinks, and editing things without ever getting your website to the first page of Google. You feel defeated when your site stays on page 17 and just won't budge. Then one day you get a call from a company who promises “if you give us $395.00 per month, we will put your site on the first page of Google.” The part that these telemarketers neglect to mention is that the moment you stop paying them, your website will drop faster than lead balloon. As a former real estate agent, I used to get these calls regularly.

So, how can you actually get your website to the first page of Google? Well, there are a couple of really basic principles that you’ll need to implement. The “basics” are just that – basic. Before I share these, first you need to learn to not over-complicate things. Here are 3 easy steps to getting your website to the first page of Google:

1. Good, solid, keyword-rich content. So what is quality keyword-rich content? Basically, it’s content that gives something of value to consumers and search engines. You need to have keyword-rich posts that answer the questions your consumers have. Do not just spit out some random words and call it a post. If you write just to write and do not really have purpose, you are basically wasting your time if you are trying to get business. Develop a gameplan for your content and stick to it.

Ten well-written, targeted, keyword dense posts will bring a greater result than 100 posts that are thrown together quickly, with topics all over the place, and which contain piles of typos, grammatical errors, and more. This is a prime example of the principle of quality over quantity for the greatest result possible.

2. Writing Consistently on Your Blog. Many times people start working on getting their website to the first page of Google and after the first month or so they simply give up. One of the key factors to getting your website on the first page of Google is to consistently offer fresh content on your site. The easiest way to do this, of course, is to integrate a blog into your page.

You don’t need to have a Masters degree in English to have an effective blog. You just need to publish 2-3 good, quality posts each week that offer valuable content to your readers that are also written with your primary keywords in mind. One of the biggest excuses that I hear is that a business does not have time to write. According to HubSpot, businesses who blog receive 55% more visitors than companies who do not.

Here’s a simple time management strategy: On the weekend or whenever you have a few spare hours, (watching a football game, relaxing by the fire, etc.), sit down and write 2 or 3 really good quality posts. Then, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you can launch these pre-written posts. You can then take the rest of the week to respond to comments, etc. To the consumers and search engines, it appears as though you have written new content on three different days.

This practice is far healthier for your rankings than writing a bunch of content one day, then waiting 7-10 days to write more. Why? The search engines are constantly visiting your page to index more content. The freshness is important when it comes to Google’s indexing algorithm. Also, they see a constant stream of new stuff instead of a bunch on one day, then a week of dormancy until you get around to posting again. This is also helpful for your consumer audience of readers. If you publish 3-4 posts all at once, the likelihood of those posts bringing you good consumer traffic from those subscribed to your blog is minimal. Most consumers will read maybe one post, but will not have the time, attention span, or energy to read multiple posts.

3. Link, Link, Link! The more sites that are pointing links at your page (especially when titled with the keywords you are trying to achieve) will produce a great return. One easy way to get some great links pointing to your site is to make sure you have added your business site to your profiles on any and all networks you participate in. Links from higher ranking sites help the search engines realize that these sites recognize your website.

It is kind of like when Oprah endorsed KFC’s new grilled chicken promo. In no time, there were over 2 million coupons printed and many were left missing out on the promotion because of lack of supply. Links from reputable sites make your own site seem more reputable.

One thing for sure, you need to make positive that the links you insert places are actually working for you. Many networks block the search engines from following the links to prevent spam. (I will be writing more about this in the future.)

Another great way to get links, is to ask your friends and family members to place a link on their blogs, websites, etc. Two things with regards to linking: do not pay a link farm service. Search engines don’t value these links – I could go into great detail about why, but just rest assured that it’s a waste of time and money. The other tip is to not do a reciprocal link when possible. This means, if your brother links to your site, do not put a link back to his.

A detour. An easy alternative to reciprocal links is to have a link triangle. In this case, your brother links to your site, you link to your parents, and your parents link to your brother’s page. All links are one-way and none are going back and forth. The more links you can have pointed at your site, the better it will help in getting your website to the first page of Google. You can think of each link as a “vote” for your site.

If you implement just these three tips, it will help get your website onto the first page of Google. Obviously, there are plenty of other factors that contribute to this phenomenon. If you take these and not only integrate into your website, but also into your blog, the most vital part to your website, you will start seeing results in a rather quick fashion. These three items I discussed alone can make or break the effectiveness of a website.

If you have any questions, let me know. And by the way, 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors offers some really great personal coaching taught by myself and Jason Crouch on this subject.

Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mklingo/245562110/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiderpop/2798740868/

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Giving Consumers the Content They Need to Make Educated Decisions~ Jeremy's Newest Project

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:04:00 -0600

If you haven't heard by now, we are in 2010, (twenty-ten, two thousand ten, or my favorite, oh-ten) and as this new decade begins I see this year becoming more of a shift in the way consumers gain the information they need as well as how other consumers share their experiences with others. I read an article the other day about consumer review based site Yelp being offered 500 million from Google to be purchased. Yelp, however, turned down the offer from Google.

This being said, I really feel that as this year carries forward you will see more companies adopting the principles of consumer based reviews and question/answer sections on their sites. The other day, I heard of a company called Formspring which allows you to easily add a Q&A to any site that you use. This is a free service that takes virtually no time to set up, but could be very beneficial to your business. Why? Well, it is rather simple:

1. Gives consumers an easy place to ask you questions about your business or your area.

2. Gives you the ability to share your knowledge in a non publication type of arena with consumers.

3. Allows consumers to find answers to other questions they may have without needing to fill out a form & feel as if someone will begin spamming them for business. They can simply look through past questions & answers and possibly find what they need.

I said all this to get to the point of my post which was to tell everyone about what I have been up to these days. In addition to recently starting my own Social Media Consulting business with Jason Crouch called 210 Consulting, I also recently started a new job as a community manager for a company called SmartHippo. SmartHippo is a site designed to allow the consumers a place to come and ask questions of lending professionals and receive free top quality answers directly from lenders.

Another awesome feature that SmartHippo offers is a platform for consumers to write reviews of the lender they used to benefit other consumers. This should help to raise the bar of customer service provided by lenders as well as give other consumers a place to come and read unbiased opinions of a lender before making the largest decision of their life. A customer can read whether the rate quoted online was the same they received, the loan closed on time, the lender was prompt in returning calls, etc. SmartHippo's main focus is to empower the consumer with as much knowledge as possible before getting a mortgage through these lender reviews.

The last thing that SmartHippo allows which I think will be very beneficial to real estate agents is the ability to refer your customers to a site where the buyer can compare ALL the rates available in their area. Unlike other sites that offer similar things, they will not be selling the leads to the highest bidder. This means that buyers can see all the rates available in their area and make their own decision based on the reviews of the lender, the Q&A responses of the lender as well as the rate offered by them.

As a real estate agent, I see this being a great new tool to offer to your buyers to assist them make an informed decision on a mortgage as well as keep you from having to "recommend a lender" which we all hate to do for the liability associated with it. You are no longer needing to make up lists of available lenders to share with a buyer or anything. We all know how awkward that moment is when the buyer asks you "Which lender would you recommend?" You simply give the buyer a website and allow them to get all the information they need.

So what are my duties with this new position? Well, as the community manager, I have a few different roles. The first is to help build our community through various different social media platforms. (YouTube Channel, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc.) My other main task right now is to create and manage our community blog that will consist of some of the top bloggers in the lending industry. This includes writers like Ken Cook, Eleanor Thorne, & John Cannata. The community blog known as "The Herd" will provide valuable content to buyers who are in the process of purchasing a home. I hope over the next few months to add several other top notch bloggers into the community.

I am really excited to join up with this SmartHippo and am really looking forward to what the future holds. So, if you are unfamiliar with SmartHippo, please take a few minutes to check out their site here. I think this can be a great tool for your customers to "Join the Herd, Save Money" as their slogan states. Also, check back on my blog over the next few weeks as I will keep you updated about some really exciting features & updates of what is happening at SmartHippo!

Visit SmartHippo Now!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Would you like to learn more about using Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, YouTube, and More?

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:16:57 -0600

This class is going to be jam packed with many of the different social media networks that Jason and myself use in our daily business routines. Not only will we share which ones we use, but also show you how to optimize your efforts on each.

Via Jason Crouch, Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (512-796-7653) (Austin Texas Homes, LLC):

On Monday, February 15th at 1pm Eastern time (noon Central, 11am Mountain, 10am Pacific), 210 Consulting is offering a webinar entitled:

"Cashing In on Your Social Media Investment"

During our (approximate) two-hour session, Jeremy Blanton and I will share a number of items that will help you to better leverage your online marketing efforts. Our first webinar was very well-received, and a good number of students signed up for individual coaching. We have the recorded version available for that one at http://budurl.com/210recording.

For the upcoming class, we will be providing lots of details on specific tools that we have used to make it easier to engage with others. We can also show you some tricks using Twitter and Facebook to connect with others in your geographic area and to find potential clients.

We will be covering the following topics in a fun, laidback atmosphere:

How to effectively listen in order to identify potential clients

How to add valuable content to engage with those around you

Some basic "etiquette" for Twitter, Facebook, and blogging

Techniques for promoting yourself and your events

The cost is $50, but if you sign up by Friday at midnight, you can use the CODE "earlybird" and get a $15 discount! Space is limited to the first 25 people to sign up, and we do offer a money-back guarantee if you aren't satisfied with the class.

Some praise from our students:

REALLY enjoyed my coaching session today and am looking forward to working with you both! Already made suggested changes on AR! - Lori Cain

I picked up some valuable lessons from your class. I have tried a few other Blog platforms including Blogger, Live Journal, Typepad and Wordpress. Wordpress seems to be ideal for what my needs are. Still learning it. Thank you for the class. I look forward to future sessions. - Dawn O.

Here are a couple of full posts that others have written about us:

Want To Blog Better & More Effectively? Check Out These Guys: by Kent Simpson of Tucson

Why I hired Jason Crouch as my social media coach. by Bruce Brockmeier

If you enjoyed this post, why not connect with me elsewhere?

If you're looking for a home in the Austin area, you can visit my primary Austin real estate website at www.austintexashomes.com. Thanks!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Agents Helping Haiti Free Teleconference This Thursday January 28th

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:54:58 -0600

Join Us This Thursday For Agents Helping Haiti, a Telethon to help families devastated by the recent earthquake in Haiti. This 6 hour telethon will feature 30 minute segments with some of the most well known people in the real estate industry. Come listen as they share some of their tools and secrets they use in their daily and support this cause.

12 Top Real Estate Experts 12 BIG Ideas

12:00PM Kendra Todd- Shares of her trip to Haiti & REALTOR® Experience

12:30 PM Jeremy Blanton- How to Write a $10,000 Blog Post

1:00 PM Laurie Moore- How to Keep Your Foot Out of Your Mouth and In the Door

1:30 PM Frances Flynn Thorsen- Risk vs. Reward REALTOR® Foreclosure Pitfalls

2:00 PM Jason Crouch- The Importance of Building an Online Following

2:30 PM Ken Golde- Distressed Agents: Settling Your Own Debt

3:00 PM Jim Cronin- Social Media. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

3:30 PM Special Guest

4:00 PM Joeann Fossland- 6 Figure Referral Business Using Strategic Partners

4:30 PM Special Guest

5:00 PM Patti Kouri- 100% Intention- 100% of Your Results

5:30 PM Jay Kinder- 65 Million in Sales... How to List 500 Homes a Year

Here is How You Can Participate:

Step 1:Write these details down and post them next to your phone so you don't forget.

WHEN: January 28th, 2010

TIME: Noon to 6:00 PM EST

ONLINE: Listen online

DIAL-IN: 773-945-1010

PASSCODE: 506-483-474

Step 2: Donate To Help Haiti Earthquake Vicitims

Click on any of the charity links below to make a donation at their website. A new window will pop-up.

As the Real Estate Community we can make a difference in lives. Join me this Thursday!

Also, please help spread the word by reblogging & sharing this post with all your friends!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Cashing In On Your Social Media Investment

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:16:36 -0600

One of the questions I ask people every time I begin a conversation with them about social media is Why did you sign up for these networks? 9 out of 10 times the response I receive is: To make money of course! But, unfortunately with the ever changing amount of networks and new networks being birthed almost weekly it seems, many become overwhelmed almost instantly. Then comes along the friend requests from your fellow colleagues who asked you to join and you find your resting place.

Once this happens, many begin to lose their focus and reason that they originally joined this network in the beginning and it turns into a cocktail party and fun for you. Now that you have found that comfortable place, you begin socializing with your friends & associates and completely lose focus of the original reason you joined.

If your remember, I wrote two weeks ago about The Importance of Listening with Purpose To Your Consumers and how listening to what consumers are saying on social networks like Twitter and Facebook can lead to increases in business. I mentioned how each network has certain applications available to assist you in tracking what consumers are saying about their needs of your services or goods. The two that I talked about in that post were TweetGrid and Facebook Search.

I decided that today I would share a few other must have tools that I have found to be beneficial in Cashing In On Your Social Media Investment. Of course, a solid blog is before any of these items, as that is your foundation to any social media marketing strategy.

1. Google Alerts- I have Google alerts at the top of my list for a reason. In case you aren't familiar with what it is, let me first explain. Google alerts is a notifying program produced by Google. You can set up an alert to be notified of any keyword/search term you wish. For me, one of the terms I use is my name. Why? I want to know every time Google is picking up my name. It first lets me know if someone has either re-blogged a post of mine, mentioned something good or bad about me, and allows me to know what is being said about me. I have this alert set to notify me immediately. The other day when Jason Crouch wrote about our first webinar, How to Chug Google Juice & Get 15 Years of Fame, I received an alert in less than 8 minutes. In fact, it came so quick, that I received that before Jason's email stating that he had included my name in the post!

Some other ways you could use this is to set up some alerts for the keywords you are trying to dominate in the search engines. That way, you will know when your posts are being indexed for those keywords, and also know what your competition is saying on the same type of terms. Google Alerts are a must have for any business you do.

2. A Solid Twitter Application There are plenty of different platforms available here. I am not going to say one is better than another, but I will say that you need to be running some sort of program other than just the web version. The reason for this, is that applications like Tweetdeck, Seesmic, & Hootsuite are some of the most popular ones and they allow you to filter your lists into different categories. For example, I have an entire column just for closest friends, another for local people, and several others. With these, you can set up different columns for your target audiences and for those who can supply you with great valuable content to enhancing your business or with content to relay onto your clients.

3. A Mobile Photo Blog Normally when I start talking about this one, I begin to lose people. I actually have two mobile photo blogs. Both bring me a ton of traffic as well as some really great connections & Google juice. One photoblog, currently has 490 email subscribers to it. My other photo blog which is hosted on posterous, is currently averaging around 800-1000 views per photo. This is HUGE! One of the beautiful parts of a photo blog like this is that it takes virtually zero effort to post to. Once you have things set up properly, you simply shoot the picture with your mobile phone and email it to a specific email address with the subject line being your photo title. The rest is automatically handled as your photos will automatically be re-sized & formatted to fit well on your post.

Speaking of mobile phones, that leads me to my next point.

4. A Powerhouse Mobile Phone If you are seriously considering taking your social media strategy to the next level, a good smart-phone is essential. I am not going to get into what is the best to use, in the past I have used an Android platform phone, an iPhone, and several Blackberries. Currently, I am back on a Blackberry. All of them though are going to be more than sufficient and offer the same basic features, phone, camera, web, email, and the main social networks applications. The key is to pick what you like. For me, touch screens are hard to use, especially while trying to concentrate on other things. I am a button type of guy, so I like the blackberry more for that simple reason.

Once you have a good phone, it will allow you to begin to participate on the social networks when you have the time waiting at a vacant home for a client, or when standing in line at the Walmart to check out. Also, the ability to connect with consumers quickly & efficiently is priceless. I had someone once tell me that most consumers want to be responded to in less than 2 hours or they will move on to someone else. Having that ability to respond quickly and painlessly, even if it is just a response of: "I am out with clients, let me call you later this afternoon" can do wonders for your business.

5. A Video Camera While this does not seem like a big deal, this one can be so crucial to a social media strategy. Did you know that YouTube is the second most searched site in the world? One of my favorite choices is a simple handy Flipcam. It doesn't have to be a hi-tech machine or anything. These are fairly affordable at under $200.00 and by far are the easiest video cameras to use. Simply shoot the video, flip out the build in USB and connect to your computer. To give you an idea of how popular video is, I have 25 videos uploaded to YouTube that have received a combined 71,000 views!

These are just 5 of the tools I use on a regular basis to cash in on my social media investment. Implementing these tools into your social media plan will definitely help you to achieve your ultimate goal and turn these networks into income producers for your business. If you want to learn more about how to use these tools & many others, feel free to register for our next webinar which will be on Monday February 1st at 1PM Eastern 10 AM Pacific time. To register, click here.

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

210 Consulting- We Have a New Logo

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:59:51 -0600

As many of you have already heard, Jason Crouch and I recently teamed up to start a new venture called 210 Consulting. I am really excited to team up with Jason as social media advisors to share our knowledge with people from around the world. In case you missed our big announcement, we are holding our very first webinar this Monday, January 18th at 1PM EST. Our first webinar is called "How to Chug Google Juice & Get 15 Years of Fame" In this webinar, we will be sharing how to use a blog to:

* How to write posts on your blog to increase your inquiries (and sales)
* How to get Google and other search engines to pay attention to your blog
* Dominating Google for your desired keywords
* What a longtail keyword is, and how it can send you oodles of potential business
* How to garner more subscribers and a loyal audience for your blog

If you are interested in attending, you can register here. The cost is only $50.00 for this 2 hour webinar. You will also have access to a recorded version of the webinar as well as a copy of the slide presentation. Also, if you are unable to attend, we hope to be able to have the webinar available in a recorded form soon.

The reason though for this post is NOT to talk so much about the upcoming webinar or to talk about our new Social Media Advisors company. Instead, I wanted to take a minute to share the new logo for our business! So, without further ado I am proud to share with everyone our brand new logo!

A HUGE thanks to my friend Dave Bartz who designed our new logo! I think it turned out great! Let us know what you think of our new logo, and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday!

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

New Ustream Mobile App~ Using this New Technology to Enhance Your Real Estate Business

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:39:45 -0600

Today was a rather exciting day as I heard about Ustream releasing a new Mobile iPhone App for the iPhone & the Droid. So what is this new Ustream Mobile app, & what is mobile streaming? Well, Mobile streaming is the ability to do a live video feed straight from your mobile phone. This is huge & exciting new technology for us in the real estate industry. What this new Ustream Mobile App does, is allows you to transform your basic iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or Droid smart phone into a live video streaming machine.

The app works really easy & with just a few simple clicks of a button, you are now able to share live video feeds with the world. Since the Ustream Mobile App is created by the makers of Ustream.tv, it also allows you to use their other great features. Which means you can create video & instantly feed it to your Facebook Page, Twitter Account & also to YouTube. The best part of all, is that the Ustream Mobile App, is totally free!

Here are my top features of the Ustream Mobile app:

Uploads straight from phone to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, & Ustream
Integrates the Ustream chat right onto phone while doing live streams.
Allows video to now be recorded on iPhone 3G without needing to "jailbreak" phone.
Save videos to be uploaded later when you are not in a 3G or wifi area.
Ustream Mobile app is free!

So how could the Ustream Mobile App be used to enhance your Real Estate Business? Here are a few ways you might find this type of program useful:

Showing property to buyers who are not in town. You can use your phone to show the property, answer their questions & also show them first hand what the property looks like. So, if the buyer wants to know what color the cabinets are, you can walk into the kitchen & show them the cabinets in a live stream.
Updating a Seller on the Condition of their Property. Especially as we go into the winter season, there are times where you have an emergency with a home that you need to share with the seller immediately to make a decision. I remember one time we had a home where we had a very cold day & a pipe inside the wall had broken. I wish I had something like this to show the seller quickly so we could make a quick decision & save their first floor. Unfortunately, this type of software was not available then, and the first floor ended up needing to be completely redone.
Share Special events with Friends & Family. How many times do you wish you had the ability to share a special moment in video format with friends & family on your Facebook Page? The Ustream Mobile App allows you to do such a thing really easily.

There are tons of other great ways that you could use the Ustream Mobile App. So what do the videos look like from the Ustream Mobile App on an iPhone 3G? Here is a short video I did as a test to see how it worked. While the video quality isn't the highest possible, it is fairly decent & the audio is very good. Take a moment & watch:

Download the Ustream Mobile App for iPhone

New Ustream Mobile App~ Using this New Technology to Enhance Your Real Estate Business

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Social Media Isn't for My Age Group! Really? Some Facts to Ponder.

Jeremy Blanton (210 Consulting~ Social Media Advisors) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:38:49 -0500

One of the most common objections I receive when consulting someone on social media, is "Jeremy, I work in an area that is made up of an older generation. They aren't into twitter and Facebook and all this Internet stuff. So, I don't know if writing a blog would be a big benefit to me." So, I asked a few more questions about the demographics and came to the conclusion that it appeared the average age range she was referring to was somewhere between late forties into late sixties.

So this morning I started to do some research to see what type of age groups are making up social media and if older generations are participating or if they are non-existent. The first place I started was here on ActiveRain. I remembered the wonderful article by Art Kruschka titled: The View from the 84th Floor (which btw, Happy Birthday Art!) in which he wrote about celebrating his 84th birthday on Monday! Art has been a very active member here on ActiveRain. In fact, since starting here in March 2008 at the young age of 82, Art has published 566 blog posts!

Next, I decided I would visit both my Facebook business page & also ActiveRain's to see what the age breakdown looked like. Here are the results:

This first graph is from my personal Facebook business page. You will notice that only 35% of my group is under the age of 35. While 35% of my fans are over the age of 45! Also, I have twice as many fans over the age of 55 than I do between 18-24. That stat really shocked me!

This graph is for fans of ActiveRain's fan page on Facebook. The numbers here were even more astounding. Fans under the age of 35 only make up 18% while there are just as many fans over the age of 55. Fans over the age of 45 make up almost half of the members. 82% of the fans are over the age of 35!

After viewing these two graphs it leads me to believe that while many believe that Facebook is just for teenagers and college kids it appears that the majority of users are those over 45 years old by a long shot. With that being said, I started to doubt the validity in the statement that the older generations are not on the Internet and definitely not involved with social media.

Are you still thinking this might be the case? If so, let me share one more thing that should solidify my results that social media and Internet marketing isn't just for kids.

Ivy Bean just celebrated her 104th birthday the beginning of this month and has become an instant celebrity. Where you might ask? Well on twitter of course! I just followed her on twitter and became her 46,000 follower! At first when I heard about her being on twitter, I thought it was some promotional stunt that someone was trying to just collect followers. But when I investigated things I found out that it was legit. Take a minute to watch this awesome video from Ivy.

So I ask if this statement is true? Older generations are not reading blogs or using other social media platform. I will let you be the judge of that. My personal opinion is that it is the exact opposite, more and more are signing up for these different social media platforms every day.

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I am the Co-Founder of 210 Consulting- Social Media Advisors. If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this blog, please contact me directly.

Also, lets connect on these great social networks: