Phoenix Marketing Agency

Introducing homesocial.net, A Real Estate Network/Blogging Platform

Todd Helvik — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:43:49 +0000

What is it?

It’s a real estate specific blogging/networking tool.

What’s it do?

homesocial.net members will have the ability to connect with friends and post status/activity updates much like Facebook, follow other members like Twitter and most importantly, have their very own professional designed blog based on the #1 blogging platform in the world, WordPress.

What’s it cost?

Absolutely nothing. From the moment you sign up(takes 1 minute), you can start connecting, creating groups, posting in the forums and blogging all in a snap.

What’s the purpose of homesocial.net?

That is simple. The purpose of this website is to enable real estate professionals to connect with their peers, promote themselves which in turn will further their career all in a professional atmosphere loaded with features and a clean, easy to use interface.

Why?

I developed this site as a tool, not an advertiser driven money making machine. I have many friends in the industry and as I kept hearing about other similar sites either charging or not providing everything they wanted I figured I would step in and make something better, with more features, and free.

The future of homesocial.net

It is obviously unknown. As I role out some of the marketing for this site it will without question attract members and interest. I will continue to market this site both online and off for the reasons of building a great member base and SEO benefit for member blogs as well as the site itself.

Feel free to have a look at this Real Estate Networking/Blogging Tool.

Wish to sign up?
Register Here

Just want to check out the site without being a member?
Click Here

Stay tuned as we continue to market this site in the coming months.

SEO companies proposing SEO work to SEO companies

Todd Helvik — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:37:22 +0000

Title confuse you? I hope it did but read it a few times and it should make sense and yes it is very true. First off, I get multiple emails on a daily basis asking to outsource work, usually from companies in India but it seems people on our own shores are starting to get into the act as well.

SEO company seeking an SEO company

It’s getting so bad that I even get emails from other so-called “SEO companies” with the typical jargon talking about how they know the secrets to traffic or I’m not ranking for x keywords and they can make it happen and I can expect this amount of business. Do plumbers get emails from other plumbers asking if they can fix their sinks? More often than not I just delete the emails but occasionally I take the low-road and write them back because I just can’t resist and they need to hear it from someone.

As a tip for any local business owner out there or just any potential SEO customer in general, delete these emails and please, please don’t buy into the BS you read in these emails and here’s a few popular things to look out for.

Our SEO company is so good we don’t have a website or phone number

1. Getting an email from an SEO company that is so great they don’t even list there business name or phone number and have a gmail account. Do you need a bigger red flag?

We are number one of Google for a phrase that no one searches

2. I love this one. An SEO company that gives you an example of popular keywords they rank for saying they are in the top 5 out of 300,000 results or even 1,000,000 results. This doesn’t mean anything and please don’t be fooled by certain first page rankings, do your homework. Use a little thing called a Google Keyword Tool and do some research on the keywords they’re giving you. This is a free tool and you can find it by simply typing “keyword” into Google and it’s numero uno. What this tool does is give you rough estimates of how many times a month people search certain phrases on Google. It’s not the end-all be-all of keyword search tools but gives a good frame of reference. I can almost guarantee any phrase they give you will return little to no data about how many monthly searches are done for said keywords and most likely they will all be in their domain name. If you ever have any questions about the validity of another seo company please ask, I’m not bias and will give you my honest opinion and have done so in the past and saved a number of people quite a bit of money.

We will submit your site to thousands of places

3. Receiving the numbers emails that shrink up your trousers a little bit thinking about how many places your business will be present around the web. These emails promise you 10,000 directory submissions, 5,000 social bookmarks, hundreds of articles and hundreds of this and that and first page rankings in 1 month for only $500! What a great deal right? Not so much. Your $500 will get you a few irrelevant links and on the longshot they actually submit your site to that many sources they will without a doubt be linkfarms/spam sites/spam directories and you’ll most likely end up banned but the first circumstance is the most likely.

I could go on about all the different types of scams and fraudulent emails there are out there but what really sucks about this is when a legitimate company, although rare, actually tries to reach out to a potential customer with a great service to offer and are often time shunned without a chance because they believe it’s just another scam because of the other 99% of the emails they receive or past experiences of getting screwed by other so-called great SEO companies.

If you ever receive these emails or have a question about potentially hiring a company and have come across this blog post let me know and I would be happy to give you some tips/questions to ask the company to make sure you’re doing your due diligence. Thanks for reading and no I don’t want to outsource my services so stop emailing.

Your online reputation matters…

Todd Helvik — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 04:39:53 +0000

Wish you could monitor your online reputation?

You can. Yext came out with a very simple, yet needed tool for local businesses. You can view, add, verify and monitor your listings around popular local directories with options for email alerts when changes occur, reviews are left or changes to your profile are submitted. Below is a screen-shot of what your feed looks like where you can monitor your changes, reviews, etc.

The next menu option in the top left of the navigation bar allows you to add or edit your businesses. Here you will have the option of monitoring multiple businesses, specifying certain users for certain businesses, adding users and more. The other and what I think is the best feature found within Yext’s reputation management software is the ability to see where you business is listed at and confirm those listings if they are not yet confirmed. Below you will see a sample screen shot of what you will see if you business is or is not listed.

This provides you a very valuable service in that you can not only confirm listings for your business in popular directories but you can also make sure previous listings are up-to-date with you correct contact, website information, etc. Google uses and will continue to use data from reputable directories such as the ones found in this software in their algorithm to rank your business in their search engines so making sure your information is correct and confirmed across the board is pivotal for your business.

Best of all, it is free. Follow the link below to start monitoring your reputation online!

Click here to check out Yext Rep

Don’t put all your SEO eggs in one basket

Todd Helvik — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:23:28 +0000

Far too often seo companies charge fixed amounts based on the number of keywords you want optimized or base their “packages” on a certain number of keywords. It is definitely one way of going about driving traffic to your site but I strongly disagree with it.

Get your SEO strategy laid out first and foremost

Before beginning any seo project I communicate with the client and brainstorm about what exactly it is that they do. On the surface you would think it would be very simple but when you really dissect a business and elaborate on the services they provide you would be amazed. Once you have all the cards on the table you can then figure out how your efforts will be diveed up.

Developing the SEO strategy

I sat down for the first time with a prospective client who was in the home improvement sector specializing in home remodeling and his current website reflected that. We began talking about his business, what he’d like his website to reflect in both traffic and aesthetics and then I asked him again what he did and how he could elaborate on that. From home remodeling it expanded to a few obvious suggestions like kitchen remodeling and bathroom remodeling. We then elaborated much further into things like room additions, countertops, backsplashes and the list goes on. The beauty of doing this is that potential consumers aren’t searching for kitchen remodeling if they just need a custom backsplash done. They aren’t searching for bathroom remodeling if they need a new or custom vanity. You can beat your head against the wall with how many different aspects you can expand on with your business but when implemented correctly, which takes considerable time and effort, you will reap rewards which are traffic and customers, guaranteed.

So is it bad to go after popular keywords?

Not at all. But if that’s all your going after and concentrating all your efforts on said keywords you will be disappointed. Many companies do the same thing with seo that they do with pay per click and that is wanting to be the top dog for the keywords that pull the most searches in their business category. Some customers may get the results that they are content with but what if you do all that work and put in all that time and money and things aren’t working out while at the top? That’s a risk that just doesn’t need to be taken so make sure you focus on your seo strategy before you ever think about starting an seo campaign.

SEO Per Click – A different kind of SEO

Todd Helvik — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:17:41 +0000

SEO Per Click Launched

You’ve heard of SEO (search engine optimization and PPC (pay per click) but this is a brand new concept.

SEO Per Click will deliver traffic to your website or you don’t pay a dime. So what’s the catch? That’s the beauty of this concept, there isn’t one. You submit your website or we can build you one, get a feel for your niche and give you 1 flat rate you will pay only when unique visitors come to your site via search engines/advertisements.

This concept is already in place with a few local clients to give it a test run in the beta phase and they couldn’t be happier. If you have a website, want to expand your business or are looking to establish a real presence online this concept really is a no-brainer.

For more info check out SEO Per Click @ http://seoperclick.com

LeBron to Miami: Owner Reaction

Todd Helvik — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:42:51 +0000

As all of you I’m sure have heard by now, “King James” is heading down to South Beach and I can’t say that I blame him. What he did takes a lot of guts, to leave his home town and life-long friends and family to go take a viable shot at winning an NBA title.

Many people will criticize him and say how he abandoned his hometown and bla bla bla. He set himself up for this very moment when he signed his previous short term deal to give him “options” if things were not going as planned in Cleveland. People love to criticize sports stars and say how they are all about the money and then you find arguably the best player in his sport during his prime sacrificing millions to play for a ring and still people criticize.

He owes nothing to Cleveland

He played there for 7 quality years, won 2 MVP’s, took them to the finals and the best record in the league twice and basically revived one of the worst franchises in basketball by himself. After all of that, do you think his owner is appreciative? Have a look at this letter drafted by the bitter Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert showing absolutely zero class as not only a business man but as a person.

In the letter

He goes into saying how LeBron is deserting Cleveland and it is “such a cowardly betrayal” and how he vows to work harder than ever now to bring a Championship to Cleveland. Too bad he didn’t possess that attitude in the prior years or there would be no question in LeBron’s mind where he would be resigning. By signing washed-up players like Ben Wallace and Shaq who Phoenix Suns fans know first hand does nothing for a team other than run hard down the court after his 1 good play of the game and promise things he can’t deliver on any longer, Dan Gilbert dropped the ball over the past few years and the only savior there, Danny Ferry, is no longer with the team either so championship hopes in Cleveland will soon turn to playoff hopes.

In closing, I can’t wait to see what happens in Miami and it should be a very entertaining season if nothing else and Mario Chalmers don’t make LeBron pay you to wear number 6, he will already be roughing it after his latest pay cut.

Multiple Domains/Landing Pages & SEO

Todd Helvik — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:36:31 +0000

A client asked me today about setting up separate websites/landing pages that all link back to his site and was hoping to help the popularity of his website in the SERPS(search engine results pages). I figured this was as good of time as any to elaborate a little more on this topic.

This type of thing can be helpful if it is done the right way and 9 times out of 10 it is not. Many seo companies and business owners themselves are really jumping into keyword-domain pool and buying up any and everything that has to do with their business with the hopes of being at the top of the SERPS for those particular terms.

Can it work? Yes, IF the keywords are so off-topic or long-tail that the competition is scarce and in which case is not worth the time of building the page/website because not enough people are searching for those terms anyway.

Will it work long-term? I sure hope not and I cannot wait for Google to start penalizing these companies with replicated landing pages across 10 or 15 domains because all it is in my eyes is low quality marketing spam. Something you will find if you take this approach is that you may rank well for a very small number of keywords that are most likely all in your domain name and as I said above, if you do then the competition is scarce and your traffic will be very minimal.

Let me tell you why SEO is not always about ranking for the most popular keywords in your niche.

Because any SEO Consultant that knows what they’re talking about will tell you that a majority of traffic comes from very random/long-tail searches you and no other person would really be able to think of.

Your next question is probably well then how can I rank for these terms?

Write quality copy on your website and keep it coming on a weekly/monthly basis. If those companies spamming the net with replicated domains spent as much time writing helpful tips, additional pages or improving the quality of their own website not only would their be a traffic increase but conversions would increase as well, without a doubt.

Remember, spam is a short term solution(solution may be a strong word) but quality will pay off 10x more in the end.

Young Singer Discovered by Ellen, Greyson Chance

Todd Helvik — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:06:23 +0000

Pretty crazy I must say. This story is about a 6th grade kid with 3 years of piano lessons and zero vocal training. He was captured on film at the school talent show covering a popular song by Lady Gaga called Paparazzi.

Ellen and over 20 million other people have taken notice via YouTube of this young singer and she even featured him on her show while she was searching for talent on the net. Long story short she discovered him, featured him on the show, invited him back for a follow up performance where she also gave him the $10,000 winners check, a new piano from Yamaha and a new record deal from her brand new label.

Well anyways, check out why Greyson Chance’s life has changed, dramatically:

Do I need a blog on my website?

Todd Helvik — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:59:47 +0000

No you don’t need one, but if you like traffic and potential customers having new avenues to get to your site then incorporating a blog might be a good idea. As Google continues to evolve with social media and up-to-the-minutes results visible in search engines via Twitter you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you’re not letting your customers know you’re still there every so often.

Does this mean you need to make a blog post everyday?

No, but the general rule of thumb (just made this rule of thumb up in my head) is 2-5 a month for local businesses.

What should I blog about?

Topics related to your business. Are you a plumber? Tell your customers some popular do-it-yourself tips for a leaky drain or clogged toilet that may save them a service call. Your next question, but doesn’t that take away from my business? Initially yes, but the long-term benefit from helping people and providing a valuable resource for your clients is unparalleled. You give them a free tip, they pass along your name, number website whatever to their friends and you are on the top of their list when anything plumbing may come up.

How do I incorporate a blog into my site?

There’s a few different ways to go about this. There are a lot of blogging platforms out there now-a-days that are very user-friendly.Here’s a list of a few popular ones and if you don’t like what you find with any of these just hop on your favorite search engine and do some research and you will surely find something to suit your needs.

Blogging Platforms

Google’s platform is Blogger and it is 100% free as well as WordPress and Tumblr is also another popular one.

As always, if you have any questions about these or any other platforms or just general questions pertaining to this post let me know, be happy to help you out.

602.705.6050 or todd@toddhelvik.com

SEO Gone Bad

Todd Helvik — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:54:05 +0000

It’s getting pretty ugly out there in the SEO world. Everyday I come across more and more website owners and even so-called “SEO Companies” that don’t truly understand what SEO is about.

I’ll throw out a quick example and since I’m in the seo/design industry I’ll use one referencing what I do and we’ll choose san diego as our city of choice this “company” is targeting. Their opening paragraph includes great and catchy information like “our san diego seo company specializes in san diego seo services for san diego businesses…to contact our san diego seo company xyz name please call us @ xxx-xxx-xxxx”.

To be completely honest there are dozens of local sites I encounter on a daily basis that I could provide great examples of this but I’m sure you’ve all seen them for yourself.

So am I saying that incorporating keywords into your content is bad? Of course not but there is a right and wrong way to do everything. I’m sure if you own a site or do “SEO” as you may think you’re doing, on a site where you keyword stuff and rank that you know what you’re doing, well I’m going to burst your bubble, you don’t.

“But I rank for popular keywords and I get traffic to my site.” That’s fantastic but driving traffic to your website is only half the battle. Do you think a consumer that lands on your site is going to call a company that looks like a 3 year old wrote the copy and 9 times out of 10 the aesthetics match the copy which equals a very poor website that does the exact opposite of what you build websites for. Websites are built as a business front for your business to potential virtual customers, would you buy something from a store that is messy and/or unorganized? Of course not, you’d walk in and scratch your head and be gone before the door even closes and websites work the same way.

SEO is not going anywhere but as the engines continue to get smarter, these type of practices will fade away and I personally hope even get penalized. Make your presence online professional, simple to navigate and with a few other simple techniques you will notice a huge difference in conversions and sales.