How Google Ranks Page Speed

We all know that content is king.  That will never change.  However, it is interesting to learn how Google ranks page speed when considering the value of a website.  While a higher loading page with little to no content will never outrank a page that is full of great info that happens to load at a slower speed, Google can give a little more weight to a page that loads faster than one with similar content but a lower load speed.

So, how do you keep good content without sacrificing page speed?  Don’t overdo it.  You want to keep your site easy-to-use and not hard on the eyes.  Using too many widgets, videos, slideshows, etc. bogs down the load time.  Not everyone has high speed internet access.  And even those that do can find some pages taking a long time to load because of all the info the program has to read first.  Focus on the key elements you want your viewers to see and direct them to another interior page to get more details.  If a person gets antsy waiting for your page to finish loading, they will head on over to the competition that won’t make them wait.

Google’s goal is to rank the most relevant information highest in their search engines.  How quickly or slowly a page loads doesn’t affect that at all.  However, making your website both user-friendly and quicker will not only keep your audience engaged, it will also help you stay above your slower competition in Google.

In the end, how does Google rank page speed?  It’s not more of a priority than relevant content.  But, it is something that should be considered in your website’s overall design.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

Videos Aren’t All About What You See

Videos aren’t all about what you see.  With the popularity of video positively exploding in the last few years, people tend to focus only on the visual aspect of the video and almost completely forget about the audio part.  This is funny, considering the bulk of information provided on a video is through what you hear, not what you see.  If what is being said can’t clearly be understood, what is the point of making the video, right?  Following a few basic rules will help you make a more professional sounding video and make sure that your message gets across clearly and concisely.

1. Don’t rely on the built-in microphone on your camera for your sound.  This basic microphone is not meant for higher-quality sound.  Instead, look for a camcorder that includes a jack for an external microphone.  Most of the more professional cameras have an XLR connector while others utilize 1/8″ or mini-jacks for their external microphone feeds.
2. Cheaper isn’t better when it comes to sound.  While you don’t have to spend thousands on a high end external mic, don’t go for the $35 low end either.  They aren’t much better than your built-in camera microphones and will usually pick up all the sound around you, drowning out whatever you are trying to say.  Lavalier mics (similar to the small mics used on the lapels of newscasters) are excellent so long as you place them near the face (on the lapel or collar of a shirt) and away from anything that can rub up against it, causing disruption in the audio.  If there will be several people being recorded on camera, you may want to consider several microphones with a mixer or a boom mic.
3. Make sure the high or low impedence of whichever microphone you choose matches the technical aspects of your camera to avoid feedback.
4. Use headphones to monitor audio sounds when recording.  These will help pick up any outside noises that you may not be able to hear while you are videotaping but sounds that the microphone will pick up easily, such as traffic, phones, etc.
5. Monitor your video in real time.  This will allow you to see exactly what the camera is seeing and avoid costly retakes when possible.
6. Check the microphone levels.  If the level is too high, it can create distortion.  If the level is too low, you may not be able to hear what is being said.
7. If necessary, rent professional equipment.  If you find that you will only need the higher end camera and audio equipment once or twice, it is more cost effective to rent the equipment.  However, if you are looking to make professional style videos more often, it is well worth making the investment.

If you plan on creating and utilizing videos for your online marketing, you need to remember that videos aren’t all about what you see.  Invest in proper audio equipment so that your message can be heard.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

Is Linking Considered Copyright Infringement?

Is linking considered a copyright infringement?  Some news organizations want you to think so.  Now, to be clear, I am not talking about plagiarism or using copyrighted photos as your own.  I’m actually talking about simply linking to an outside source, whether on your site, in a blog post or even through an email.  News Corp, one of the largest media corporations in the world, is considering blocking search engines and feeds from utilizing its content.  It considers all of its content copyrighted intellectual property, including links.  While the content itself is, indeed, the property of the person who originally wrote it (and rightfully so), why would they consider a simple link to the article an infringement on their copyright?  And why would they want to block their content from being linked?

As you know, SEO is partly dependent on good links.  Linking to a good site, article, etc. that carries weight in the search engine algorithms can help increase the weight of your site, bringing your site up in the rankings.  If search engines don’t have access to these reputable sites, will that have an affect on your site?  It might.

Some people who are against News Corp’s stance (primarily journalists) say that this is a way to control what people read instead of allowing freedom to see differing viewpoints.  They believe that this opens the door for online news media to negotiate with corporate search engines, giving them “exclusive” access to only their online media that includes only their opinions and blocking out others that don’t agree.  Since journalists are relying more and more on digital media for source material, limiting access to information hurts them.  Other opponents believe that, if the information in question is freely available to some members of the public, it should be available to all.

Not all news organizations agree with News Corp’s argument, however.  Many media companies understand that links drive traffic to their sites, increasing their audience and adding value to their contributors and content.  And, the whole point of creating online content is to drive traffic to your business, isn’t it?  So, do you consider linking to be a copyright infringement?  Please let me know.  I’m very curious to see what you think.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

Get Organized Online with OfficeZilla

Since January is National Get Organized Month, I found a great way to get organized online with OfficeZilla.  OfficeZilla provides a private and secure online area for your company or organization to share files, calendars, forums, tasks, phone messages and more absolutely free.  The unlimited space allows for any sized files that you need to be shared amongst as many people as you choose to have access.  You can even assign people to “groups”.  Only the people assigned to the group you create can have access to the information in the group.  This information is not shared to any outside source anywhere else.  Also, you are in control of everything: what is seen by whom, giving permissions, etc.

Why should you use OfficeZilla?  With more and more people and businesses communicating via technology: email, faxes, phone, teleconferences, etc., it can be difficult keeping up with changes to important projects or information being passed around.  OfficeZilla provides a place to store all up-to-date information for any project, discussion, etc. and keep all involved parties “in the loop” at all times.

No matter how many members, no matter how large the size of the file, OfficeZilla is the perfect way to keep yourself, your staff and your company on track.  Get organized online with OfficeZilla today.

Pamela Cendejas, your Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

OnlyWire is Great for Online Syndication

Are you looking for a way to get your website and/or blog content sent to dozens of social networking sites easily and automatically?  OnlyWire is great for online syndication.  OnlyWire uses four content syndication tools to get their online publishers exposure to the internet’s biggest social networking sites:

Browser Tools – With their Browser Button, you can submit web pages to OnlyWire directly from your web browser.  They have browser buttons for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera and Google Chrome.

Bookmark and Share Button – By adding the Bookmark and Share button to your website or blog, you are allowing all readers and visitors the ability to bookmark the post or page so they can visit it again with ease.  You are also giving your readers and visitors a chance to share your content with other parties, ensuring your content gets more exposure.

Developer API – OnlyWire API allows you to use your content management system (CMS) to automatically submit a bookmark to all social bookmarking sites you already use as well as those that OnlyWire already has made available.

Account Management – You can manage your OnlyWire account, view your submission history, finalize all your bookmarking submissions and set up the social networking sites you use in one easy place.

OnlyWire offers two separate kinds of accounts: Free and Pay.  The free version requires that you add the Bookmark & Share button to your blog or website.  However, your bookmarking buttons will also contain ads from OnlyWire sponsors.  If you choose the Pay version, it will cost $2.99/month or $24.99/year.  But, it is totally ad free.

Gaining exposure to your business is the reason you have a website and/or blog.  Syndicating your content helps you gain more exposure.  See for yourself how OnlyWire is great for online syndication.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

The Truth About Ghost Tweeting

I just read a great article by Mike McDonald at Web Pro News where he talks about the use of ghost tweeting on Twitter.  What is “ghost tweeting“?  This is where the tweets being tweeted on a person’s account aren’t actually being tweeted by them.  Just like hiring a ghost writer for blogs, articles, copywriting, etc., many Twitter users have taken to using ghost tweeters to handle their Twitter accounts.  Is this moral, ethical, trustworthy?  You have to ask yourself whether you are following someone because they are a “name” or because of the content of their tweets.  If you are following the “name”, then you might be disappointed.  However, if you are following them because you value their tweets and the information they share, does it really matter that much if the tweets are actually tweeted from their very own fingers?  The information is the same, right?

Truth be told, ghost writing has been going on as far back as literature itself.  With all the social media outlets on the internet, it can be hard for busy people to keep up with everything themselves.  The fact that someone sees the value in places like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. shows that they understand the importance of social media in modern marketing.  So, don’t be surprised or even disappointed to find that you are following may not have actually formed the words that are being written.  If the information is valuable, the source shouldn’t necessarily matter.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

Press Releases Are Valuable Marketing Tools

Quite often overlooked as an SEO tool, press releases are very valuable for marketing yourself.  Press releases aren’t just for celebrities, government agencies and news forums.  They are amazing ways to market an upcoming company event, open house or any other announcement you may have.  Press releases are crawled by search engines, which, in turn, can help drive traffic to your website and/or blog.

One great place to create a press release via PRWeb.com.  They have several different news release distribution packages ranging from $80 per news release to $360 per news release, depending on how much visibility you wish your news release to have.  PR Web has found that when press releases were used in conjunction with social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) by simply adding a link to the press release on their social media sites, their customers experienced on average a 50% increase in web traffic.  In one case, a client experienced as much as a 400% increase from just one press release on two different websites.

PRLog.org is another place to create press releases.  And, they are absolutely free to the public.  PR Log allows you to create your own press room and distributes all releases to Google News, several search engines and RSS feeds all across the world wide web.

Not only are press releases easy to create, they are a great way to drive traffic to your website, creating great potential to increase sales.  Also, journalists are continually scanning press releases for the latest news in their area.  When a journalist sees your press release and writes about it, that increases your web presence and advertises your event, announcement, etc. even more.  So, take a look at any of the online press release companies available.  No matter which way you go, just make sure not to discount the value of a press release to your marketing.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

New Local Business Page Features on Google and Yahoo

A couple of months ago, I spoke about the pros and cons of Google Place pages.  It appears that Yahoo has taken notice of Google Place Pages and is now doing something similar to its local business pages.  There are now new local business page features on Google and Yahoo.  Google recently announced that they will be allowing more details for reviews on businesses as well as letting people rate individual aspects of a business listed on Google Place pages.  They also started to show when a business has been verified with a large checkmark at the top of the page that says “Owner Verified Listing”.  If the business has not been verified by the owner, it can be edited by users.  So, you will want to verify your listing as soon as possible so that you can stop anyone from writing harmful things about your business on your page.

Yahoo! has also made some changes to its local pages.  Users can now search businesses in an area without being too specific in the details.  For example, if I search “doctors in Kingman”, it will bring up the doctors listed on Yahoo! in Kingman, Bullhead City, Needles, Golden Valley, Fort Mohave, Lauglin and Mohave Valley (the areas closest to Kingman AZ).  You can narrow your results by clicking on one of the links of the cities to find more specific information.

Make sure that your Google Place page is up to date and validated so that you can have complete control over what is put on your page and when.  If not, you may not like what you see.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

How to Whip Your Website into Shape

Like waistlines, websites can get soft if you don’t keep working on them.  Here are a few tips on how to whip your website into shape for the new year and beyond:

1. Control Your Movements – You need to have a website that has a user-friendly back office.  This means that you can add pages, videos, customize forms and feel comfortable working with it.  You don’t need to have a total knowledge of exactly how a website works.  But, you need to feel comfortable knowing that you have the ability to “get your hands dirty” if you need to instead of relying completely on an I.T. person to get the job done.  Virtual assistants are great in helping with these things as well.  Another thing to look for is that the company you are getting your website from has a real live person you can speak to about any customer service-related issues.
2. Pump up the SEO – Make sure your meta tags, keywords and descriptions for all your pages are optimized to their fullest effect so that search engines and, in turn, potential clients will be able to find your site when looking for their real estate professional.
3. Create the Image You Want and Work It – You can work traditional advertising to fit in with your online marketing by creating a consistent look and brand to both.
4. Become a Social Butterfly – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even Trulia are just a few of the great social media outlets that you should become a member of.  They also allow you to add links to your website and blogs.  You should also add links from your website to your different social media profiles to help create “stickiness” (capturing a reader’s attention and keeping them interested).
5. Just Breathe – As you and your business evolve, so should your website.  At least every six months or so, you should go through your site and look at it from a fresh perspective.  The real estate market can change dramatically in six months.  What was the focus then may have shifted to something else now.  Make sure all links work properly and that your images still appear correctly.  Add new information and delete outdated stuff.

Why wait until the new year to start working on your site’s image?  Contact me now to see how I can help you get your website in the best shape it can be so you can hit the ground running in 2010.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

How to Create a Superb Email Campaign

Have you ever wondered how you can create a superb email campaign?  It’s not as easy as just sending an email blast out to all your contacts every other day and hope for the best.  Today’s customers are much more savvy than in the past and need to be treated as such.  With that in mind, here are just a few ways you can create a superb email campaign to capture leads and keep them coming back:

1. Allow the Reader a Choice – Don’t use sly “tricks” to try to capture leads, like automatically checking a box on the registration forms on your site.  If someone is filling out a form and doesn’t see that this box has been checked, the emails you send them might be considered an invasion of their privacy, turning them off of using your services.  When a subscriber reaches the 12 month mark, send them a quick email to ask if they wish to continue receiving your emails as a courtesy.
2. High Email Volume = SPAM - An ISP sees a high amount of email as possible SPAM and can penalize you for such by marking them as possible SPAM to the recipient or even blocking your email from being sent altogether.  To avoid looking like SPAM, make sure any “unsubscribe” requests are followed within the 10-day window required by law, monitor any SPAM complaints you may receive and resolve them, use a unique IP address when possible and create a double-opt process for your forms (after someone clicks on the submit button, have a pop-up window ask them to confirm that this is what they really wanted to do).
3. Keep Mailing Lists Up-to-Date – They say that “cleanliness is next to godliness”.  The same is true for mailing lists.  A “dirty list” is one that has several bad, duplicate or out-of-date email addresses on it.  Go through your list at least every few months to clean up your list.  If you send a monthly newsletter, some services will send you a list of emails that were bounced back.  You can use this list to clean up your address book.  This will keep your email campaigns running efficiently.
4. It’s the Quality, Not the Quantity – It doesn’t matter if you have 1,000 names or 100 names on your email list.  If the contacts aren’t of any quality, those 1,000 names don’t mean much.  Focus on who your core demographic is and add those people to your contact list.
5. Respect a Reader’s Privacy – Make sure to include a privacy statement with your opt-in form.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate.  But, a few words can go a long way in reassuring someone that their information will not be shared or sold to anyone, creating a sense of security. 
6. Format the Email for the Recipients Inbox – If the reader can’t find the information they want quickly, they will delete.  So, make sure that you put your company name in the “from” line so the reader can easily recognize it, create a quick subject line that grabs the reader’s attention and gives a quick description of what the email is about in no more than 50 characters, use text and html colors/layout instead of lots of images in the email in case the images are disabled and put all important things at the top of the email instead of at the bottom (such as a call to action or newsletter contents).
7. Use Yourself as a Test Subject - Always make sure to send yourself a test email before you send out the entire campaign.  This will allow you to fix any errors that may arise.

These are only a few tips on how to create a superb email campaign.  There are several more.  If you have any questions about your email campaign, please contact me.

Pamela Cendejas, Real Estate Virtual Assistant - Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!