How to Write a Press Release Mini Series – Day Three of Five

On Day 3 I want to talk about tools you can use to help you with keywords and LSI keywords.  Here is a list of tools you can utilize through Google to find the perfect keyword(s), keyword phrases and LSI keywords.

1. Google Adwords – use to search for related keywords

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

For example: I ran a search on the broad keyword – IDX. Adwords gave me results of similar keywords and the popularity of each. This way I could focus on keywords that are adaptable to my content and press release but are not necessarily too competitive.

1a. LSI – there is a second chart on the adwords result page for “secondary keyword results” which can be used in LSI (latent systematic indexing). These are keywords that are related to you keyword or key phrase and help Google identify and associate your content with search results from clients.

2. Google Wonder Wheel – provides a visual representation of ideas for different phrases that Google associates with your keyword(s) or phrases.

3. Market Samurai – shows you search indexes and rankings of keywords and phrases. This is a great tool to find out the “power houses” that use your keywords to see if you can match their success or go further than the companies that are doing well with your keyword(s) or phrases. www.marketsamurai.com\

Rule of Thumb: Keywords with search results under 1 million are ideal, below 200,000 are considered ‘slam dunks’ in internet marketing. You want to choose keywords that will produce high traffic with low competition.

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RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

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Will Facebook become the “new” Google?

The word “Google” has become such a well-known name, synonymous with Internet searching. Up until recently, searching for something on the internet has been very “horizontal”. You entered a term you were interested in, and you got results. But as the internet is changing and growing, so is the way many of us look for information.

Facebook as a search tool

According to a recent study, we use Facebook as source to reach news and entertainment sites more than we use Google. Here’s a typical example… a friend of yours on Facebook posts a link to a Youtube video. You didn’t search for that video, but because it appeared in your Facebook news feed, you clicked on the video. You liked it so much, that you clicked the Facebook SHARE icon, so now it appears on YOUR newsfeed for your own friends to see. All without ever searching for something using Google. What better way to navigate the wealth of information on the internet — based upon what your friends are watching, reading, or recommending.

Tapping into Friendcasting

As a REALTOR®, you can use Facebook to attract prospective buyers to your web site for relevant property listings and community information. If you then use your Facebook wall to post current topics in the industry, homeowner seminar information, links to videos related to the real estate industry, you are offering your Facebook friends the opportunity to share those posts with THEIR friends. This is key to the Friendcasting concept. In order for this to work, you must post frequently, and make sure it’s information that your Facebook friends would find useful.

Remember – it does take some time and thought into making Social Networking effective for your business. But if you do it right, the rewards are well worth the hard work.

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RE/Advantage specializes in Website Design, Blogging Solutions, and IDX Technology for the Real Estate industry. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. We feel that no one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

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Is Social Media working for you?

If you’re a REALTOR®, hopefully you have been paying attention to the importance that social media has to have in your marketing plans. You’ve created a blog, setup your Facebook page, and installed a Twitter client on your mobile phone. But something just isn’t right. You THINK you’ve done everything you should have, but you’re just not getting the response that you had hoped for.

All is not lost, though. Most of the time, real estate professionals are simply not aware of the time that is needed to effectively create and maintain there social media outlets. Something else more pressing always comes up.  There are many reasons why your Social Media marketing has not taken off.  The folks over at Inman have put together the top 5 reasons why you may have gone off-track, along with suggestions on how to recover.

If you can recognize the problem and make adjustments, all of the experts state that using Social Media to it’s fullest is one of the best investments you can make in your marketing plans.

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How to Write a Press Release Mini Series – Day Two of Five

Press releases foster a non-confrontational, not too ‘sales pitchy’, avenue to expose the benefits of your business, products and services to your client base. Over the next 3 days I am going to dive into press releases and the tools you can use to create productive releases and newsletters. Google offers many free services that REALTORS® can utilize to find appropriate keywords and phrases to use in press releases and I will be examining these over the next few days – so keep informed and follow along!

The brainstorming and pre-planning needed to create a successful (whether driving traffic to your website or selling a product) is the most important step in writing a press release. In my mind, the second most important step is selecting your keywords or key phrases which will be discussed further in the next 2 days.

Here are the three main key points to follow when you are ready to start your press release:

1. Choose a goal

2. Use Google tools to select keywords and phrases

3. Then craft the release to fit your goal

SEO Triangle

Keep in mind that the SEO Triangle has three points and ALL factors must be taken into consideration for a web page, press release, blog, or any electronic marketing medium to become successful in your line of business.

1. Optimize your web page: this will be important when you are inserting back links into a release or blog article

2. Identify and optimize the keyword and key phrase you intend to use

3. Back links: DO NOT use “click here” as your back link, use keywords instead to enhance the SEO of your release, webpage or blog

Important Tips

1. Your headline or title should contain your keyword(s) and if possible a LSI* (latent systematic indexing) keyword.

2. Your first few sentences should contain your keyword(s) AND at least one LSI* keyword at minimum!

3. The body of your release should not necessarily be ‘keyword’ rich, again when referring to a press release. You should instead just freely write and let the flow of words encompass your product or goal of the release.

*Latent Systematic Indexing (LSI), in my own words, means latent (behind the scenes) systematic (the way something words) indexing (a system or way of finding something easier). So with that, LSI keywords are words or phrases that are synonyms to your intended keyword(s) or phrases, that Google reads as added information to enhance the SEO of your release.

Tomorrow I will speak more about the Google tools that can be utilized to create the best keywords and keyword phrases for you business press releases and newsletters. If you are not an RE/Advantage blog follower yet, simply scroll halfway down this web page and click the “Subscribe Here” button on the right hand column.

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RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

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NJMLS IDX Seminars in May

Get more from the Internet with IDX service.
The sooner you sign-up…the more you SAVE

Attend an IDX Web Seminar in May and see for yourself how the NJMLS IDX service engages visitors on your website and, at the same time, provides you with valuable lead management and administrative options.  Sign-up and save, see special pricing promotion below.

Add an Internet Data Exchange (IDX) Smart Frame to your website and offer NJMLS listing information to the public. With a larger inventory of listings, consumers are more likely to return to your website more often!

Call 201-387-1150 to register.

When: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Where: NJMLS,  Rutherford

When: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Where: NJMLS, Haworth

This seminar is presented by Mark Menzella of RE/Advantage.  He is the Vice President of Development and a key integrator of IDX technologies nationwide.  He has been consulting on IDX, Social Networking, and website marketing to Agents and Offices for over 10 years.

Add a NJMLS IDX Smart Frame today and SAVE!

Have a website?

Just $10/month (normally $19.95/month) with a $25 set-up fee (normally $50) when you pre-pay through the end of 2010.

Need a web presence?

Get it all with our Internet Package

Full-featured website with IDX Smart Frame, web hosting, 1st year domain registration, email. Just $24.95/month (normally $49.90/month) with $199 setup fee (normally $649) when you pre-pay through the end of 2010.

* Offers apply to new IDX Smart Frame Agreement and Promotional Rider signed between 5/1/10 and 12/31/10.  Only available to new IDX Smart Frame customers or accounts that have been inactive for 12-months or more and does not include additional website addresses (URL).

Here is what NJMLS members have to say:

“Internet Data Exchange gives Gentry Realty Associates the competitive advantage in a growing real estate market. Our Web visitors can receive listing email updates 24/7. They are also able to save their favorite listings in our “Home Portfolio Tool.”

- Denise Cerone, Gentry Realty Associates

“Once a visitor has visited http://www.njyourhomes.com, our IDX solution converts visitors to clients by providing them several means of contacting us.  Visitors can ask for more information or even schedule a viewing with you with just a few clicks. This is a great way to establish new client relationships.”

- Zvonko Veskov, New Jersey Homes and Estates

IDX Smart Frame—loaded with features:

Customization Options:

• Supports Multiple MLS Listings
• Enhanced Photo Gallery—up to 15 photos
• Property Mapping (when address included)
• Display Office Listings First
• Listing Statistics Feature
• Consumer Portfolio
• Prospect/Lead Manager
• Text Message Lead Alerts to Agent
• Appointment Scheduler
• Share/Save Listings on Social Networks

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NJMLS Members – Special Promotion for new IDX Subscribers

Get more from the Internet with IDX service.
The sooner you sign-up… the more you SAVE!

Add a NJMLS  Internet Data Exchange (IDX) Smart Frame to your website and offer NJMLS listing information to the public.  With a larger inventory of listings, consumers are more likely to return to your website more often!

2 Ways To SAVE!

Have a website?

Add a NJMLS IDX SmartFrame to your existing website.

Just $10/month (normally $19.95/month) with a $25 set-up fee (normally $50) when you pre-pay through the end of 2010.

Don’t have a website?

Then try our Internet Package

Get a full-featured website with a IDX Smart Frame, web hosting, domain registration, and email.
Just $24.95/month (normally $49.90/month) with $199 setup fee (normally $649) when you pre-pay through the end of 2010.

Here is what you get:

1. Full-featured website from one of the feature rich designs above
2. We will design your website with your office logo, your picture and colors of your choice
3. Over 14 REAL pages of SEO friendly content pre-loaded for you. No template pages here
4. NJMLS IDX Smart Frame
5. Access to our full suite of Agent Management Tools
6. Web hosting
7. Domain registration for the first year
8. Email @yourdomain.com

For additional information call 973-303-4300 or email us at sales@readvantage.com.

Member of another MLS and need an IDX solution, just give us a call or contact us to see if we have a solution for your area.

* Offers apply to new IDX Smart Frame Agreement and Promotional Rider signed between 5/1/10 and 12/31/10. Only available to new IDX Smart Frame customers or accounts that have been inactive for 12-months or more and does not include additional website addresses (URL).

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RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

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