Your Name in Lights in Google Base

Since January of this year ('06) GraphicalData has been feeding listings into Google Base on a trial program. GraphicalData feels it is so important that when someone is interested in your listings on Google they are directed back to your own website where they can find every available property in the MLS...as well as all the other information and lead generating systems you have on your website.

"Your name in lights" as you can see in the image to the left your name will appear on all of your listings. All of this with you being the primary point of contact. As buyers are becoming more and more rare, and competiton is heating up for buyers and sellers, this is just another arrow in your GraphicalData quiver.

This service is available to any GraphicalData client who chooses to take advantage of it and wants to incorporate it into their marketing program. If you would like this additional service, there is a one time $50 assessment to set up your account with Google and to prepare your nightly feeds. You will also be given access to your Google Base Admin so you can track your traffic from Google to your website. This service is not time sensitive and can be started at a later time if you like.

How to Post Rentals onto Your Site

It is easy to post rentals onto your site and it only requires a couple of main steps.

The first step is to create your rental page onto your website. This is easily done by going into your admin center and selecting "Website". Create a new button...standard type of page. Create a free form page, and then "shoot over" the "Rentals" module. This now sets the stage for any content that you add. Of course, you must turn on the page for it to show when ready to do so, and perhaps arrow it up or down to achieve the order that you would like the button to be displayed.

Next, and on any subsequent additions, modifications, or deletions of rentals, visit the "Listings" tab found in your admin center at top just a couple tabs left of the "website" tab...and then select "Rentals". Just follow the 1-2-3 setup. First select the title you would like for the rental (ie West Seattle View Home). As you click through, you will add the address, rent, deposit, description, rental status and most any other information that you would like to impart. You can also upload a photo to accompany your rental listing.

You can upload any number of rentals. And the public picture/information display of the listing is great.

Showing Well in the Search Engines

Understanding how to show well in the search engines can prove to be a daunting task for most website owners. You need to be knowledgeable in what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves...and stay up with the changing trends and algorithms. Even then, anything less than specializing in this new "art" may not be enough. Most folks have no idea how to improve their ranking...and even for those that have taken notes at a seminar or the like, I have found that many times, the speaker's notes are out of date.

Many criteria and strategies change frequently...others last longer. Visit this article to find procedures you should follow to climb steadily to the top of the search engines, while still ensuring that you attract traffic that will be interested in the content of your website.

Another Method for Adding Text to Your Website

One of the nice features of a GraphiclData website is that you have the ability to add pages and content to your own site. We often use the "Page Layout Tool" (found in the Page Content Options)when adding content to your website pages since it has a friendly interface (like a simple Word or Publisher program) that you can use.

There is another means to add plain text, or paste simple HTML, directly into your website called the "Text" tool found near the bottom of the Page Content Options. This is a good vehicle to use if you have created the text in Word, for example, and you are going to paste it into your site.

Sometimes the "Page Layout Tool" tool can modify content the next time you open the page in it. In other words, you can paste something into the editor...save it...and all is cool until you open it again to tweak or the like. On opening, it tries to "clean up" or "modify" certain pieces of HTML that it perceives as incorrect, and in the process things may change from your original look. This can be confusing and frustrating.

If pasting HTML into the "Text" tool, it leaves the code intact. And if pasting text, it goes in easy too. Of course if you know some basic HTML you can embellish here as well.

This tool might be worth experimenting with, if you have a challenge with the "Page Layout Tool". You could create a test page with the light bulb turned off so that it doesn't show to the public, play with it and see how it works for you. Worth considering those few times when things seem to not work correctly with the other Editor tool.

Good Writing Makes for Good Search Engine Rankings

I like to compare optimizing a web site to that of staging a home. The home must first be sound and in good condition or buyers very easily might pass on it. But if you do have a home that is sound, well-located, will be priced right, and you have taken the listing for an adequate time frame to achieve a normal sale, then all you have to do to it (other than the other types of normal promotion) is make sure it shows well. And we know how to stage homes that show well thanks to folks like Barb Schwarz.

A web site is really no different. Sure, there are a lot of things we do when "staging" a web site for the search engines (SEO / Search Engine Optimization), but the web site must be well built on the front end, and one of the requirements is ensuring that you have plenty of relevant, keyword phrase body copy.

To understand this concept better, visit a recent article entitled Search Engine Optimization, It's All in the Writing. This is an article that is pretty good at showing how important that is if you want to show well in the search engines. If you get the basic content right, we can optimize and get your site showing well on the search engines.