Did you know that websites that blog 20 times a month receive an average of 500% more traffic? Even if you are currently hitting that goal, are you optimizing your content for Search Engine use? Here is quick checklist to ensure that you are making the most of your Actual Assistant blogsite:

Step One: Before you write word number one, begin by deciding on the focus keyword phrase for the article. This is the search phrase that will help the most possible people to find you on the search engines. Here is where Google AdWords and Google Insights become invaluable.

Step Two: After choosing the search engine phrase that will best serve your article, you can begin writing. That exact phrase should then show up:

• Within the blog title as near to being the first words as possible (title should be a minimum of 40 characters)
• Within a subheading (like a second title or a quote)
• Within the article (at least once per 100 words)
• Within the first sentence
• In your article’s excerpt, or Meta Description (no longer than 156 characters). This is what will be read as the article description when you show up in search engine results.

Step Three: Your article should be at least 300 words (at 800, it’s time to think about a 2-part post).

Step Four: The article should have at least one outbound link (can be to another page on your site but better to link to an outside site).

Step Five: Your article really must contain at least one photo and the image’s “alt tag” should contain your search engine focus keywords. If you are a photographer, getting a photo should be easy. Otherwise, great images can be licensed from stock photo websites like Fotolia and iStockPhoto.

Step Six: Facebook Description: Your Actual Assistant website will allow you to write a separate excerpt for sharing the post on Facebook.

Step Seven: Google+ Description: Your Actual Assistant website will also allow you to write a separate excerpt for sharing the post on Google+. If you don’t have a Google account, how are you using Google Author?

There are additional things one can do to improve search engine rank but following these steps and writing 20 posts a month is a great start. If even 1 post a month seems daunting, Actual Assistant has access to great Ghost Bloggers. So, no more excuses. Go out and get the other 80% of your website visitors!

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Commiting Search Engine Suicide is a terrible waste and illegal in most counties. Here are five common mistakes blog owners make that tighten the noose around their Search Engine results. If you engage in any of these mistakes, it is time for an intervention.

Mistake No. 1 – Hiring a service to write your blog posts for you.

Unless you are paying a ghost writer between $25 and $50 a post, there is a high likelihood that your blogging service is reselling the same post to several clients. Any major search engine will recognize the duplicated posts and will label your website as a “splog” decreasing your search engine rank. Not sure if your service is reselling your content? Copy and paste the first sentence of the last post they wrote into a Google search. Better grab a Kleenex, you will probably not like what you see.

Mistake No. 2 – Using aggregating software to steal content from other bloggers to pass them off as your own.

An aggregator is a plugin or software that combs the internet for content based on your search terms and then copies the articles, pictures and links into your blog as though you wrote them yourself. Not only is this theft, but like hiring a blogging service, you are simply duplicating content. Even if you just post the first 300 words (the minimum for decent SEO results) and then insert a link to read the remaining article at the original post, a search engine will still recognize the duplicated excerpt and drop your rank. If you must offer articles outside of your own blog posts, consider adding an RSS Feed that can open articles in a new window.

Mistake No. 3 – Image deprivation.

A well placed image will add to the reader’s enjoyment of your post. Though a search engine cannot read the photo, the title of the image and its “ALT” tag are searchable. So many bloggers add an image to their post with the default name that their digital camera uses, like “MVC-0107.” If you are using your own photos, take a moment before uploading to rename them something that describe its content and then copy this description into the ALT field (ALT=”add description here”). Under no circumstances should you use someone else’s photo without permission and/or payment. A photo service like Fotolia is a great place to obtain images the honest way.

Mistake No. 4 – Tag Abuse.

The only thing worse than not using tags, is to engage in tag stuffing. Tags are a way for you to suggest to a search engine how they should categorize your post for search results. If your tags do not match the content that you have written however, your post and potentially entire site may become classified as a tag-stuffing splog – relegated to the outer reaches of the search results. Carefully select tags before you write your blog and then make certain to use each of them at least once.

Mistake No. 5 – Not writing at all.

The best way to kill your website is to starve it. Without fresh content, a search engine will generally ignore your site since, every time they crawl your content, they see that nothing has changed. The more frequently you’re posting original content, the more often a search engine crawls your site. Ping services should also be employed so that your site will actually alert each search engine when you’ve added new content.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a multifaceted subject and its best practices are topics for future articles. In the meantime, call your blog down from the rooftop.

The post Don’t Commit Search Engine Suicide – 5 Common Mistakes appeared first on Actual Assistant.

Your Actual Assistant can help by adding QR Codes to your flyer,
business cards or ‘just listed’ postcards. This video explains more…

Find out how your Actual Assistant can
help you with this exciting technology!

The post QR Codes and Real Estate appeared first on Actual Assistant.

Your seller can “share” or “suggest” their home’s Fan Page to their friends and family, taking an active roll in getting the word out. Their network is the most likely one to share the page, helping your Seller reach people who might be looking to purchase real estate.

Neighbors who want a friend or family member to move into their neighborhood may also be a dynamic way to add to the home’s Fan Page views. For that reason, we suggest that the same QR Code you are putting on the Listing Flyer also appear on the ‘Just Listed’ postcards.

An interested buyer, who becomes a Fan of your Listing,  is enabling you to send them price updates and additional neighborhood features to help sway them into making an offer. In your Listing Appointments, prospective clients will be impressed that you are making use of Social Media as a marketing venue.

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