New Members: Why You Should Optimize Your Active Rain Profile for Better SEO Results
Lately, I have been getting out of my comfortable office chair and pushing myself into areas outside my comfort level.
I have been making it a part of my list to call at least two new members from Active Rain on a daily basis. This person suggested it in her blog a few months ago. Since I have moved into a new (bank) office that allows me to work for agents in 48 states (48 is more than one), I can now go outside of Florida to help other professionals.
What do I do when I talk to someone. You see, most members are not Rainmakers. So they have the free account that allows them to only post to other members. The first thing that I review is their profile page. I would estimate that of the profiles I have reviewed, less than 5% are optimized for Google, Bing, and the other search engines
So Let The Class Begin
Active Rain Profile Page Optimization 101
GOALS:
By the end of this class, you will know how to optimize your profile page on Active Rain
By the end of this class, you will know why that is important
By the end of this class, you will understand why you should become a Rainmaker
By the end of this class, you will learn how to become a Rainmaker for $1 for the First 30 Days (for those of you on the fence)
Where is that Profile Page at anyways. Do you see the Blue bar running across the length of your screen at the top? Look at the right corner -- See "My Home" in white. Click on that button
What now. There are a lot of places to click. Do you see on the right side, 3rd Block down, "My Profile (Edit) -- Click There, (please)
Good Job, Grasshopper! You have now successfully negotiated the challenge of locating and manuvering to your Active Rain Profile. Here you can upload an HD Picture (for more points) and create your own unqiue customized, optimized Active Rain Profile
SEO Techniques
Step One:
Add one or two key phrases after your name. These terms must be very specific. These can be location (geographically) specific or title specific. For example -- "Short Sale Specialist" or "FHA Loans in Tampa, Florida." Get the idea? Your typical "Homes for Sale" just won't cut it, after all everyone else is doing that. But "Luxury Multi Family Homes under $200k in Bergen County New Jersey"
Step Two:
Lather, Rinse, and Repeat Step One, but this time do it in the "Company Name" Field
Step Three:
Most common mistake is what to put into "Address Lines 1 and 2". (Hint: It is NOT your address that you want!) Instead of actual company location, insert your market area. Bigger is NOT better here. Instead of the cities or metropolises, do Suburbs, Communities. Instead of Florida or Tampa, I should have Temple Terrace, Easton Park, Hunter's Green, Riverview, etc. Make sure that you seperate each with a comma. Again - Lather, Rinse, Repeat one address line #2 for shinier results!!
Step Four:
You now see three larger form fields. This is where the bulk of your information about you is going to be at.
But Chuck, I don't know what to say? No problem -- Use this model - WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY - Essentially -- Who the heck are YOU.
- WHO are you
- WHAT do you specialize in? What niche product or market
- WHERE do you offer your services at? Remember, geographically specific is good
- WHY do you do what you do? (That's all you, cause I am not inside your mind, not yet at least)
- REFER BACK TO STEP One Thru Three: Repeat Key terms from the key phrases your added in your name and company name. Repeat also locations from step three
- Make those Key Phrases Stand Out: Make those phrases stand out by either bolding, underlining or italics. If you add images, put those key phrases in the title.
- Linking: Second Most Common Mistake (I think this is the NUMBER ONE BIGGEST MISTAKE. Employ proper search term anchoring. What is that you ask - Find a phrase that people search on. Again, specificity is best here. NEVER, NEVER, EVER, NEVER (ie - don't do it) make a link of "click here" or "email now". Make a link with the phrase of "Luxury Homes for Sale in Tampa, Florida - Hunters Green" (See Below for an imaged example)
Rinse, Lather, Repeat, Rinse, Repeat Again: For a Flake Free, Shiny Profile and Blog - Repeat once per week (minimum) by adding new content and incorporate terms into those articles (blogs). Not sure what to say, Talk about Listings, Programs, Industry News, Community Events -- Still Not sure what to see - Here are 101 things to talk about. My point is, everything you do (or don't do) will have a consequence - Optimization of Your Profile without additional content pointing back at it, will do nothing for you.
The more often you talk about the same subject (and associated keyowrds) the more times you take someone else place on page one of google!
Check out the Continuation to See the Results of Optimizing Your Active Rain Profile
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Chuck Ward
Executive Director Florida Mobile Fusion |
Office: 813-388-9181
Email: chuck@floridamobilefusion.com Web Address: http://floridamobilefusion.com
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Thanks for the information, you have some great tips.
Great tips! I am printing this out, and redoing my profile as we speak!
Do you suggest stopping at a certain amount of communities?
I LOVE this! I've been on ActiveRain for a while but these tips are always a good thing to go over. Good job!
Nice job with this Chuck, very informative and easy to follow. Bookmarking.
@Cindy -- You are welcome, remember me before your next listing appointment and for your next client
@David -- Let me know if you would like some one on one help with it
@SCA -- Depends on your business model and plan. Lets sit down one on one and put something more definitive on paper
@Peggy -- Thanks (I feel loved today) If you found this helpful, please reblog it
@Ricky -- You the man, brother
Step 3, helped me much, Chuck! I had the usual business address. I just changed it, so thank you!! :)
Very powerful instruction here Chuck! I can't wait to implement these ideas!
I forgot to mention
Employ ALL the steps - Then remember to rinse, lather and repeat with updated content (articles, blogs, video, etc) or you will not reap the rewards that you want
@Sonja, thanks for reading and implementing -- I will look you up next time I am home in Kingwood, Texas
@John - Let me know if I can help
I should have put in there my Facebook Page
Guys, Come and Join my Facebook Fan Page for More Great (Free) Tips and Marketing Strategies
Chuck Ward on Facebook, Florida RealEstate Society
(It does not matter if you are in or outside the state of Florida. Anyone can use this equally!)
Have a great weekend
CHUCK - YOU ARE AWESOME! GREAT INFO!!!
Thank you for this information Chuck! It is great and I'll get right on it.
Wow, thanks for the great info. Chuck! I am printing this out & following up on it now!
http://www.lynnetteboudet.com/home.asp
This is a great recap on some basic Active Rain SEO techniques. Thanks for posting.
Seems so easy to do that I wonder why I haven't done it yet...thank you for the timely advice.
Appreciate the pointers. Looks like I'll be changing a few things on my profile. Thanks for the help !
Mr. Florida Home Benefits, That's an interesting name you have. Also, does your mail actually get delivered to you if I send something to the address in your profile?
Is it really just that simple. Remember to update as necessary too.
Hi Chuck. Thanks for the tips.
I think I have my profile a bit better, but it will take more work!
Thanks for writing,
Ken
Great tips!! Bookmarked for future reference and I'll be going back over what I've done in the past.
I am overwhelmed by all the positive responses
Don't be surprised if I call you just to help you out
@Angela == My thoughts exactly when someone else showed it to me
@Tim == Yes My mail does get delivered if you email me or snail mail me
Good info! I think I do all this already, but I bookmarked it so I can check, just in case I'm NOT doing it!
Excellent advice, Chuck. And... you made it super easy to understand!
Kathy
Great info. One of the problems I have is always over thinking things. Like my profile page, for instance. How can I determine if it's good enough the way it is or if I need to put more effort into it?
Thx. Super tips. I already made a few adaptations. I think I'll do some more tomorrow.
Chuck ~ Thanks for the great tips! Thinking outside the box. I really hope you hold another class soon! Woot!
Thanks for the good tips. This has been on my mind to improve.
Excellent advice, even for us oldies! I wrote my profile when I signed up a couple of years ago and have added stuff on occasion but never went to this depth
Execellent tips & tweaking tips for all of us...thanks for the refresher!
Thanks Chuck! I followed Diane's link here and enjoyed the post very much.
Off to fix a few things...
Good information for all of us. Thanks
Chuck - Excellent information on how to optimize an ActiveRain profile.
Hi Chuck, I was hanging out over at Diane Phillips' blog and she said you had this great class going on over here. I'm a bit late, but I've taken my notes and see that I have a bit of homework to do.
Chuck, always looking for ways to improve my SEO. Thanks for the tips.
Chuck, great information not just for new members, I have just been updating some of my profiles that I have.
Chuck,
Now I've got to do this, otherwise, I'll have a voice in my head for the next several months saying "you gotta up your AR profile"
I could do it for smart business, but really, I'll be doing it to keep my inner voice satiated.
I'll have this as my guide. Thank you.
This is not just for new members. Even the old timers should review and implement your recommendations.
This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for - awesome and thanks!!!!
Chuck, you nailed it. I see so many areas that have room for improvement. Will work on this tomorrow. Thank You!
Great tips, thanks. I enjoy your sense of aplomb.
Thanks Chuck, Just started actually using my account that I've had for awhile and your sugestions really helped. Look forward to learning more! Laura
Chuck- found you via Debbie Gartner's reblog and thank goodness. I'm now going back to read this thoroughly and check out my own profile.
Just updated a few things in my profile. Gracias =)
Thanks for the great tips. I learn more and more everyday from these tips.