Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that may literally drive traffic to your site overnight, search engine optimization (SEO) strategies take time to pay off. That’s important to understand so you don’t become frustrated or discouraged and abandon your SEO efforts while you are on the brink of success.

In the last article in my SEO series, we’ll explore four important time-related SEO factors: the age of your domain, the age of your site, the age of your content the age of inbound links. Understanding these issues will help you stay patient while you wait for the reward. Continue reading ‘Being Patient with SEO Pays Off’

By Alexis MacIntyre

Are you committed to your dreams? I thought I was.  Then I had a mindshift.

My husband and I had our first child, Violet, in December last year and I came back from maternity leave in March.  Shortly after my return, I attended Leadership and Motivation with Master Faculty Trainer John Davis.  In that class, you write down your dreams, without limitations, in order to translate them into goals.  I started writing…”Be completely debt free…Travel to Italy…”

Then, things started to get intense.  I began thinking about Violet and all the dreams I had for her.  I had aspirations before about starting a family and our life together. But now she was here.  She was a real person in my life – for whom I now have more emotion than four silly little letters in the word “love” could ever describe.  And the dreams I starting writing for her and for her life were powerful.  I had trouble holding back tears as I wrote—I was so deeply, emotionally invested.

Continue reading ‘Are You Committed to Your Dreams?’

By Guest Contributor Patrick Woods, CEO and Team Leader of the Sacramento Metro office

When I first heard of the iPad, I was sure that it would be a monumental disappointment. As I began reading the blogs though…I got sucked in (like sitting on the sofa as my wife is watching The Bachelorette). After much deliberation I decided that the iPad would be a tremendous investment, if only for the “Buzz Factor.” The amount of press that this device received in recent months, how could it not be a conversation piece? I wouldn’t really have to do much on it, the mere fact of owning one would cause people to start a conversation with me! So, I bought one, and….

I was right!

No matter where I am people are asking “Is that the iPad?”, “I have never seen one up close!”, “Do you like it?” Buzz Factor accomplished.

I knew this would be a great device to create a buzz, but how would it hold up to actual real world application for real estate? While some things (honestly) are still to come, I have compiled a quick list of must have apps to make your iPad really work for your real estate business. You get the advantage of me spending an enormous amount of time and a small fortune on Apps only to delete most of them.

So here are the Top 10 Apps that I would recommend for the iPad:

Continue reading ‘Tips for Using the iPad for Real Estate’

Google may have emerged victorious in Viacom’s landmark $1 billion copyright case over infringing YouTube videos, but don’t misinterpret the ruling. YouTube was under a Safe Harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FACT: Cutting and pasting articles for use in your real estate marketing efforts don’t fall under that Safe Harbor—and it could get you sued. Recently, there had been an onslaught of lawsuits filed against individual bloggers and companies with websites that copy material from newspapers.

To protect yourself and your company from liability, never display, reproduce or distribute copyright protected works. This rule applies as equally to blogs, website articles, and social media postings, as it does to good, old-fashioned written and printed material.

Continue reading ‘Caution: Cutting and Pasting Could Get You Sued’