The debate is over and has been over for a while now!  The strong tag does NOT weigh more heavily than the bold tag or visa versa as far as Google is concerned.  In addition, the emphasize tag does not weigh more heavily than the italic tag or visa versa.
 

If the debate over strong vs bold and emphasize vs italic has been over for a while now, then why talk about it?

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Posted in SEO | Search Engines, Google

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I enjoy reading other blogs that inspire me to blog. Every once in a while, I want to introduce you to a blogger who is making things happen. Today, I want to show why Darren Rowse of ProBlogger should inpire anyone who blogs. ProBlogger is one of my favorite blogs. Darren has a way with giving you great insight as to what can help you blog better without making you feel like you are stupid, even when you have been blogging for a while. He usually posts on such things as how to increase traffic and how to make your comments work for you. 

So why am I telling you this? Because last week, Darren became very transparent with his blogging, life outside of the blogosphere, and stats with his post, Best of ProBlogger 2006. He shared with us why his blog, ProBlogger, was so successful in the year 2006 and how he managed to post so often. He gave us numbers on posts and stats per month and encouraged bloggers around the world to blog for “real”. He told what was going in each month and what made each month so special. 

Along with personal stuff, he shared the most commented posts and most popular posts. Don’t forget, sometimes, they are very different. 

So what does this have to do with real estate? A lot! Look at the numbers and types of posts Darren highlighted. These posts are the cream of the crop as far as making your blog better. He gives great tips on how to increase traffic, comments, and reader participation. Don’t forget, the difference between comments and reader participation is that as a reader, I will come back and make a comment often on a post that has a good comment thread going. If you as the moderator don’t participate, you will get a few comments and then it will die down. So make sure you participate in the discussion. Your readers want to know you are listening to what they are saying to you. Commenting should be a two way street. 

Also, Darren’s post is a great example as to letting your readers know you appreciate their readership. Without traffic, you are writing for yourself. As a Realtor®, your goal in the blogosphere is to turn readership into online leads. Figuring out what your readers want to hear is the number one way to get your blog ranked high in the SERPS and increase your returning visitors. This will get people familiar with you as a Realtor® and make them want to work with you. After all, isn’t that the main goal for what you do? Telling your readers that you noticed what they wanted and giving them a highlighted version is a great way to do that.

So thank you, Darren, for showing us all how to make the most of the Blogosphere and enjoy what we do that much more. For an idea of how Darren organizes his day, check out his post on his daily blogging schedule. 

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Posted in About Us, Blogging

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Your time as a Realtor® is valuable.  We all know that.  So how do you determine how to spend your most precious commodity?  Most of the time, you are showing houses and trying to get new listings.  So when will you have time to use the wonderful marketing tool of blogging?  Well, if you are like any of my Realtor® friends, you do not have much free time for blogging.  So let's look at some of the advantages of hiring a professional blogger.

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Posted in Blogging

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Podcasting has become a popular part of blogging. All you have to do is search on Google to find more than 33,300,000 hits on podcasting. But for the average realtor®, what can podcasting do for you? Let’s look at a fresh new idea for your blog to see how it can help you.

A simple definition of podcasting from SearchVoIP simply states that

podcasting is the preparation and distribution of audio files USING rss to the computer of subscribed users.

You can then download these files to any iPod, mp3 player, or other multimedia player.

As a realtor®, you can do so much with podcasts that a regular blog can’t offer.

• You can do a simple podcast of the homes you have for sale to entice a potential buyer to want to see the property. All you have to do is put together a virtual tour of your home and add a podcast to make your home come alive and spur interest.
• You can create a local event podcast to try to explain why relocation to your area is desirable.
• If the idea of podcasting each property sounds daunting, do you have a particular property you want to highlight each month? Potential buyers will keep coming back to see what you have available if you have a podcast that walks them through a home.

Podcasting just makes your website seem more personable. Buyers and sellers want to know that you are above and beyond the regular real estate agent. They want to know that you are current with all the latest and greatest advantages to sell their home or offer them the latest available property. What better way to do that than to show them your website that has the best media going. Show off your technical savvy without stressing over the “technical” part.

If you want more information on how to get started with podcasting, contact Mary at RSS Pieces and she will be more than happy to talk to you about how adding podcasts onto your blog can increase your ability to be seen on the web and increase your online leads to sales.

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Posted in About Us, Blogging

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We at k2Media want to wish all you hard working realtors a very Merry Christmas. The holiday season is a time of rejoicing and reflection. Just think of where you were at the beginning of the year. You could have just been getting started in the industry or you could have been coming off a spectacular year. However your year went, I hope you have had a good one. 

This year has been a roller coaster for us as well. The one thing I have really enjoyed is getting to know all of you. Blogging for a niche is exciting and invigorating. You should have already found this out by now. The real estate market is booming with new technologies.

• A fabulous new blogging platform at RSS Pieces
• Zillow’s announcement of a new Home Valuation Tool and such ingenious features such as Make Me Move and Post a home for sale
• Active Rain making it easier to add groups

Take some time over the holidays to make sure you stop and smell the spices. Not only the spices of the holidays, but also the spice of the market. The holidays are a great time to sell houses. The houses that are on the market are staged to sell and the buyers out here are serious about purchasing. Nobody has extra time these days to window shop for houses. So if you are showing houses, the buyers are very serious. Take full advantage of that and I hope you have a Merry Christmas this year.

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Posted in About Us, Blogging

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