Reality Homes: Meet Our New Contractor Building Quality Homes With 100 Percent Financing In Oregon And Washington
September 29, 2007
Our new Contractor building quality homes with 100% Financing for new homes in Oregon is Reality Homes!
Very soon, you wil see their new blog, and their optimized website on page one of Google for this search: 100% Financing for new homes in Oregon ; and for this one: new home builders oregon; new home builders washington; 100% financing for new homes in Washington state
Remodeling Designer In Seattle Proves Blogs Can Be Beautiful:
September 26, 2007
Our regular templates did not impress PH Baird, (otherwise known as Pamela Hodnefield) probably one of the most talented custom remodeling designers in Seattle; she wanted a minimalist theme that would show off her work (not to mention to come up on Google for remodeling designer Seattle, remodeling designer seattle wa and others).
So we made a minimalist custom theme using our system, and she started blogging and displaying her beautiful design work, kitchens, bathrooms, etc: remodeling with an eye for design.
If you type her searches into Google, you will always find her on line one or two.
Web Hosting Contracts- The Hidden Nightmare
September 25, 2007
At Social Media Systems, we deal a lot with various online projects that cover an entire range of requirements.
As online marketers, this puts us in a 3rd party vendor relation as many times we promote a site that we have not originally created. In many of these instances, we discover helpful, bright, and supportive design/hosting personnel. In other instances, we discover companies that have painful ways of destroying the relationship… by holding the mutual client hostage with their own information.
Video Seo And Traffic - Early Adapters See Larger Results
September 24, 2007
The earlier you make the jump to video the larger your initial gains in traffic will be. Eventually, not having video will kill your site - by making it appear to be very old fashion, in the same way looking at a static website of 7 years ago looks now.
We recently added a lot of streaming video to our website and incorporated it into our main services page. I thought many of you would be very interested in knowing what happened to our stats since we did this. Read more
Why Your Business Blog Should Absolutely Not Be On Blogger!!
September 24, 2007
Here are just a few reasons why your main business blog should absolutely not be on blogger.com or really any of the free blog sites.
• Blogger is notorious for spam blogs and blogger has a (next blog) by default
• Can’t upgrade or add features because you don’t control the software.
• Splits link popularity
• Everyone knows it’s free, harder to attract links with a free blog or something that shows less commitment.
• Your Co0branding your site with blogger which can mucks up your marketing message
• Since you don’t own your blog software, it can’t be leverage and sold the same way custom sites / domain can ( website are just like real estate)
• The default settings are attrocious for search engine optimization and social media marketing, so you’ll have to spend tons of time and have technical knowledge to fix this. Most people don’t, so their blogger blog dosen’t rank very well or spread on social media sites.
• Most of the design templates are overused, so your site will be recognized as a “generic” template which makes it way less impressive.
• Makes achieving any kind of wow factor difficult.
• Your allowing your content to profit / benefit Google.
• You account comes with a default subdomain - whatever.blogger.com
• None of the cool kids are doing it. (ok this one isn’t entirely true 
)
Enterprise Social Media Forecast And Analysis
September 21, 2007
Having been a consultant regarding online media for over a decade, I am constantly growing very weary of informational white-paper companies that are charging top dollar for “analysis” of an industry that is forever changing. In my previous life working at a Fortune 50 company on interactive projects, I can tell you that far too many “big boy” companies are absolutely relying on the wrong informational sources to make huge decisions. This old-school system is leading more and more companies down the path of digital suicide. Read more
Which Resolution Should Your Website Look The Best On?
September 14, 2007
The answer most web designers will give without even a hint of thought is 1024 X 768. While on the surface that may seem like logical choice since according to most website’s analytics, it’s the resolution group with the highest amount of visitors. The problem with this answer is it doesn’t take into account who the visitors are and what their conversion rate on your site is. It’s turns out that (depending on the site) about 30-50% of your visitors at low resolutions will probably not be from the U.S., which is great if your target market is international, but not especially useful if it’s not.
I’ve also found a correlation between low conversion rates and low screen resolutions. Although 1024 X 768 may be the most numerous group, it may not be the most profitable. I would take a look or have your professional web designer / developers take a deep look at your analytics and help you figure that stuff out, it’s important. We provide analytics and analysis for our customers as we help them try to get the most of their website and target the right visitors.
Ideally I want a website to look it’s best in 1280 X 1024 and above, because those are the customers that are the most likely to convert and are the wave of the future as all resolutions are constantly increasing. It is important though, that a modern website be viewable and readable at 1024 X 768, in addition to working on mobile devices like the super hyped (and super cool) iphone.
Build Your Social Media Site With Open Source Scripts - Don’t Go Proprietary
September 14, 2007
Occasionally I talk to progressive companies that have taken the leap into social media and have implemented full social communities with lots of features that enable users to interact on the site, but when I look at their site I discover a proprietary custom scripted website. In most cases this is a GIANT Mistake.
I simply don’t understand why you wouldn’t build “on top” of an already existing open source content management platform. It’s much faster to develop, and more importantly much easier to upgrade and keep up to date. Things change online everyday, if you have a custom solution you’re spending tons of money to have developers keep it updated and add new features. Also, if you want to change developers, you’re screwed - it’s going to be slow and expensive for them to learn your system and then code for it.
Why not harness the power of thousands and in some cases tens and hundreds of thousands of developers constantly improving and updating possibilities by building on an open source content management system and then customizing it from there. It’s much faster to deploy, is more stables, has more features, and cost 1/10 as much. That’s what we provide. I got a lot of questions about our backend with many of the old school tech people expecting me to say we use proprietary scripts, - we don’t . We customize and modify on top of open source scripts and bundle everything with strategy and promotion which results in faster development and better sites.
Content Mixed With Advertising - The Future Of Internet Advertising
September 14, 2007
Many of the old industry thinkers seem to have a hard time understanding that in the age of filtered information where you can instantly reference what you want and when, it’s becoming less and less effective to force or push ads on visitors. Study after study show that the more savvy a user becomes the less and less they click on PPC or other advertisements. This trend is referred to generically as “banner blindness” and as it increases, I each targeted user who does click / respond tot he message becomes more of a commodity and the price for that response goes up as well.
This has created a situation where the most profitable way to monetize website content is by blending it with advertising or creating some type of a merger where you get both together. I’ve written about this “new” internet advertising model before and I wanted to blog about it again, because it’s so important, yet seems to be overlooked by most of the mainstream media at their peril.
An example of this type of merger is the local news solutions we put together for RISMedia that involved local content authors sponsoring a local real estate area which they live and getting their message out there. We push these advertiser produced content areas with the full power of RISMedia - a real estate authority so the individual content ranks well and instead of banners, visitors get a nice consistant experiene with more content to digest. It’s a win win. The simplest example of content mixed with advertising is publishing a blog where you give away real information and advice while also promoting your marketing message. Your advertising yourself and your services by creating informative valuable content.
Not all examples of content mixed with advertising are good ofcourse. Bad examples are literarlly flooding Google blogsearch right now and infesting hte web. Go ahead and see how many blogs on viagra are out there. They don’t really contain any good or unqiue / valuable information, but are more like reguritates crap posing as a real blog or information to lure click to affillaite sites. There are a ton of these out there.
In the last few years we also saw the birth of sponsored blog posts wher ethe author was paid to review a product or service, witch I think works decently nice, except blogs thqat engage in too much of that risk losing their crediblity and reader base, So ideally it would have to be balanced with lots of very organic content.
As many newspapers face extinction they’ve begun to start more aggressive monetizing their online content with afilliate offers. The problem is many of the offers that provide the highest returns also are the most spam / catch 22 / like free credit checks, credit cards and other like stuff. I believe we’re in the infancy to the middle of this trends and it’s only going ot get stronger and strong er with hundreds, then thousands, then millions and more. It’ll be fun to watch and see how slick this content bundled with advertising we plan on slowly unraveling more product offers like RISMedia’s Local program that allow our visitors to take advtange of this trend. If you’re running a large website that creates a lot of content, I’d definitley look into providing solutions that combine content and advertising in a more seemless way than soley banner or ppc ads.
Spam- A Brand Abused Like No Other
September 13, 2007
This article was original published on RISMedia.com this past week. Due to the response and commentary there I felt it would be a good read for many of our other industry related readers here. Like many other things, some good articles are lost in cyberspace amongst millions of pieces of clutter, just like good e-mail being devoured by your SPAM filter.
There are many companies that strive to mold and change the way they are perceived through brand identity and control. In the 90’s the company that officially lost a huge chunk of “online identity” was SPAM®. One would think that a food item as wondrous and amazing as SPAM would hold its own, but in the meeting of the electronic world and the brand of the old, new terms like Spammer and Spamming took on entirely new meaning.
Read more
Real Estate Search Marketing Advice From The Rismedia Real Estate Leadership Conference
September 10, 2007
As I typed the first draft of this post in the airport, my head was still buzzing from the wild energy at the RISMedia Real Estate Leadership Conference, where Social Media Systems was an exhibitor. As head of technology and product development at Social Media Systems, it has been awhile since I did face-to-face networking. It was fun to chat it up and pitch pros from the top real estate companies in the United States. Like blogging and social networking, the conference was all about the conversation and we created a large buzz. Read more
The 12 Do’s And Don’ts Of Website Usability - Seo Basics Part 5
September 6, 2007
In this article we’ll take a look at some of the dos and donts of website usability.
First, lets explore the dos:
Do make the call to action more prominent visually and make it stick out more on the page.
Do include a one sentence tagline that says what the site or company does.
Do add a search box to any website over one hundred pages.
Do give the visitors at least one call to action on each page, because each page should specify what it wants the user to do. For example, a call to action would be a link under an article that says “read more on this topic” or “read more.”
Do use color to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.
Do ensure that people are able to find what they entered the site or page looking for within three clicks. If you have a large website, this is more difficult, but keep it as low as possible. Also, even though you might have a hundred or more pages, you can still arrange the individual pages on your site to have information readily available in three clicks.
Now that we’ve heard some of of the dos of web design, let’s take a look at the donts:
Don’t make the font on your page too small. 12 point font and up is the way to go if you want to avoid straining people’s eyes. Also, stay away from fancy, hard to read, or all bold text. Go with web standards like Verdana or Arial. Remember that both Verdana and Arial were developed through hours and hours of research by Microsoft to find the font that was easiest on people’s eyes. And there is a reason these fonts are used on many major websites. These legibility problems are a major factor in the usability of a website.
Don’t have text that in one long block. Breaking it up into paragraphs, and better yet, paragraphs with headers, makes it easy to scan with the eyes. Text that is one long block is difficult and often annoying for users. People want information quickly and efficiently. Bold key words and break your information into paragraphs under specific headers to help your users find what they need.
Don’t have graphics and animation that don’t connect to page content. This is important for cohesiveness, and if its lacking, everything else on your site will be far less effective.
Don’t have a website that is compatible with some browsers and not others. Your browser needs to work in all major programs, like MozillaFirefox and Internet Explorer.
Don’t make your users fill out big, long forms. People hate long forms that take forever to fill out, and you probably agree. So stay away from them when optimizing your website for usability.
Don’t forget to check the log for your website periodically to see what pages your customers are entering and exiting on your site. If you find a large amount of customers exiting on one particular page on your website, that can be a sign of a usability problem.
For previous articles in our SEO basics series, please see below:
Creating a Usable Website That Converts - SEO Basics Part 4
Researching Your Keywords - SEO Basics Part 3
What is Search Engine Optimization? SEO Basics Part 2
What is a Search Engine? - SEO Basics Part 1
Creating A Usable Website That Converts - Seo Basics Part 4
September 6, 2007
If you’re SEOing your website, you’re obviously trying to draw visitors or customers from the search engines to your website for a purpose.
Usability is a measure of how easy it is for a user to find information they are looking for or complete a task like buy something from a website. It’s basically ease of use, and can include customer or user satisfaction.
It’s extremely important to SEO for three main reasons:
One, You’ll make money and actually get something from your search engine traffic if your Usability is good.
Two, almost all off-site SEO will be enhanced if the quality of the website is increased. So usability will increase visitor satisfaction, which in turn increases traffic, which then increases your link opportunities.
Three, search engines are slowly factoring usability into their rankings.
For example, one past client had a website with no additional product information, just an off the shelf shopping cart. It ranks with targeted traffic, but guess what? Hundreds of targeted visitors, NO sales.
The most important step in ensuring the usability of your site is having people use it after it is designed and check for what people like, what they use, and what they don’t. You can never totally predict what customers will do, but by testing your site and avoiding some common errors, you can increase the usability of your website, which in turn increases your traffic and conversion ratio.
One way to get usability information tips is to visit competitor websites and identify what you liked about the site and what was annoying. Tell friends, family and colleagues to do the same, and consider their complaints and compliments as they navigate your site.
For past articles in our basic SEO series, please see the links below:
Researching Your Keywords - SEO Basics Part 3
What is Search Engine Optimization? SEO Basics Part 2
What is a Search Engine? - SEO Basics Part 1
Seeking Business Development Managers
September 3, 2007
SocialMediaSystems.com internet advertising group is seeking regional business development / sales managers to help ride a tidal wave of market growth in online and search marketing.
As a sales professional for this company, you WILL NOT be representing one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies selling garbage web sites, links, banners, pay-per-click, and generic search marketing campaigns.
You will be working for a motivated, successful, and industry changing company. An elite team of nimble and talented professionals offering services that establish our clients using social media. Our services and products place clients on-top of search phrases for competitive keywords on sites like Google, Yahoo, and MSN, it also allows them to leverage online communities like Myspace, Digg, and LinkedIn to find new ways of connecting with the marketplace.
Social Communities?
Been there, done that.
Podcasting?
We love to hear ourselves talk. (Hey, we are honest and clients love us for it!)
Online Video, YouTube?
Every one of our clients is a possible video star waiting to happen.
This is not a “sit back and relax” position.
It is “hands on and in the trenches” with a team of top-forming and talented members. The position requires the ability to deliver strategic leadership as well as stay involved in tactical execution.
Our services and products are in a niche category of online marketing that is explosively growing. The fundamental root of our company is based on awesome and dynamic personalities, able to make quick decisions and dance to a different beat on a moments notice.
When clients asks us about the latest technology, we look at the bleeding-edge of the online marketing world and ask “does that make sense for this client?” When it does, we leverage our like-minded clients to produce an economy of scale and entirely new service.
Sound interesting yet?
This is a great opportunity for a professional who can address the pain in a client’s current marketing and advertising solutions, and who is comfortable partnering with clients to utilize the latest and most effective cutting-edge technology.
What is in it for you?
That depends on how good you are. This is a sales position after all. For someone who knows how to address the top questions and ask for a signed contract, the realistic earnings for this position are well over 100k. For someone who has the right connections or knows how to source for the right decision makers, the sky is the limit.
Our sales compensation rides a line between sales and account management. Our commissions are on-going for the life of the client. That means our sales force is constantly in contact with a client and has the ability to make more income for themselves by growing existing clients, and are very interested in seeing a return in investment for everyone involved.
Do you know how to manage?
If you do… we’ll put you in as a sales manager and let you grow a team with people underneath you to drive results on a larger scale. Successful sales managers have the ability to establish regional sales teams that generate a lot of growth potential off of on-going clients, as well as developing niche products that focus on specific industries that they have previous experience with.
So to be blunt:
This business development position is a demanding opening for a unique and well-rounded professional with enthusiasm, talent, and personal drive. Ideal candidates have a track record of selling online or intangible marketing services, and have an understanding of online marketing with search engine advertising, branding, and some overall web savvy.
Fast-learning individuals with a business development or marketing background that want to evolve into a more lucrative position having a wide spectrum of development routes are encouraged to apply (everyone on our team has an entrepreneurial spirit!)
• “hunting” skills - willingness to prospect for new clients through calling and networking
• A “self starter” able to produce with minimal supervision
• Outgoing and extroverted
• Affinity for technology and experience with Internet technologies
• Problem solving skills or experience - the ability to understand general business problems and develop solutions based on the tools that will be made available to you
• Strong work ethic - willing to put in extra hours to acquire necessary skills, and for the right sales opportunities
• Professional demeanor and appearance
2007 Real Estate Leadership Conference Cattle Call In New York:
September 3, 2007
In my 53 years on this earth, one of the most fascinating phenomenons I have ever witnessed is the buying frenzy and sheer buzz created annually at the RISMedia (Real Estate Magazine) Leadership conference in New York held each September (September 5th and 6th this year); and the subsequent NAR (National Association of Realtors) Conventions in November and at mid-year.
These heavily promoted gatherings where thousands of Realtors, vendors, coaches, and media connect annually for the one of the biggest exchanges of money and ideas in the world are amazing: you should attend if you can just for the education.
According to this article in the Arizona Republic quoting Remax insiders and industry reports: Read more
New Testimonial From Local Author Beta Tester After 60 Days:
September 1, 2007
New testimonial form Local Author beta tester after 60 days:
“Bill and I had been looking around for a blog for awhile for our real estate company, Legacy Real Estate Brokers, Inc. We realized blogs are the future and that it is a fundamental tool for realtors, we just weren’t sure what we wanted to spend or what kind we wanted.
Then we found Social Media Systems.
From the get-go they were professional, helpful and courteous, willing to bend over backwards to help us; we got the best quality for the best price and great customer service. Our Social Media Systems consultant easily contacted the company creating on our main site and worked with them to come up with a great solution for it.
On top of that, we decided to become expert authors for RISMedia’s local news area through their joint Social Media Systems package and got results that are simply amazing.
In just two months, we’ve now quadrupled the amount of leads we get off our website; currently, one of the deals we’re working on is a $2 million deal that came directly from an article we wrote on RISMedia.
The more we posted and wrote, the more qualified leads we got. The best part is that we’re getting pre-qualified leads that are educated about what they want and need, and are thus easier to close. They read our articles, take them to heart, call us and we take it from there.
We couldn’t be happier with the results we’re getting; we would recommend Social Media System’s/RISMedia’s Local Area package in a heartbeat to anyone looking to:
Increase the amount of traffic to their website and get more educated, qualified leads that are easy to close.”
That about says it!
Do you understand that they rank within a few hours on Google for anything they write about?
