Reserve your free tickets at: http://ignitedover.eventbrite.com

Learn more about the event at: http://www.ignitedover.com

The new interface for the website was designed within the first week of the contract signing, and will begin moving online very soon.

Cities interested in upgrading their websites and gaining better management tools are encouraged to contact Delaware.Net at 888-432-7965, or you can inquire for a quote on our website at http://www.delaware.net/free-web-design-quote/.   Examples of our applications for municipalities can be found online at http://www.civic-logic.com.

It took a while, but Realtors are finally coming around to Web 2.0, Web 3.0, social networking, whatever you want to call it. It is becoming clear to Realtors (finally) that building a website and waiting around for Google to find it simply doesn’t work. This is a good thing! It means that they are waking up to the reality that we are LEAVING THE INFORMATION AGE and that we are ENTERING THE PARTICIPATION AGE. While this is a positive step, and Realtors are using more of these social solutions online, many see them just as a tool for profit instead of a tool for SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE and building credibility.

Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0. What does it all mean?

Web 1.0 was the “information age”. In regards to the web it was from 1995-2001. Building your website, getting a domain name, and having a presence with email were about all a Realtor could do with Web 1.0. Adding meta tags to your website and some other formatting is what web designers did to get you found on search engines. There were a LOT of search engines back then. Today there are just a few. The old meta tag days are gone forever. It will never again be that easy to spoof search engines and become #1 on Google with a meta tag or even a blog post.

Web 2.0 is about shared content, online applications, and syndicating content. It was also about mashups and the new nature of syndicating, cataloging, and making data discoverable by using tagging to create a more democratic search. Mainly, it was about applications and new ways of posting and sharing data. For Realtors it was the MLS systems, blogs, photo sharing sites, and other websites that are now indispensable tools for Realtors.

Web 3.0 (to me) is about relationships. It is the “participation age”. It is about much more than building applications that automate marketing (Web 2.0). It is about knowledge currency. Trust. Honesty. Transparency. Reputation. Networking. But you can’t have any of that if you don’t understand the unwritten rules of being a good net citizen, known as Netiquette.

Yeah, us geeks are full of ourselves, and we talk too much.

Well, hey… there is a lot to know with all this stuff. So in this article, I will answer the fundamental questions that I am getting from Realtors as to how to best use these new methods of networking to grow their real estate sales. How to come up high in Google. How to really use a Blog. And why how you use Facebook matters to your reputation.

Rule #1. There is no simple path to coming up number one in Google.

It can be a little draining explaining to folks how to come up high in Google because most people don’t want to hear the truth. Everyone wants to believe that there is a quick fix or trick to coming up high in Google, but there isn’t.
Some Truths:

• You need a site that has a lots of content.
• You need a site that has an old domain. The older the domain the better.
• You need a site that has well-formatted content.
• You have to have ORIGINAL content. Lots of it.
• You have to have a high Google PageRank, which can take quite a while to develop, and Google doesn’t update it often.
• There ARE formatting things that you can do to your website, like text linking, deep linking, adding a Google Sitemap, better page titling, and MUCH more.
• To get your Pagerank higher, you have to GENERATE A LOT OF INBOUND LINKS to your websites.
• You have to have time to wait – it sometimes takes a generous amount of time, especially to develop your site’s PageRank.
• There is more.

Stop thinking of Google as “something to be done” or handled, and think of it as a report card of your online work. ALL of your online work.

There are no free lunches with Google, no quick and easy tricks. But there ARE tricks and techniques. Most small web development shops don’t know all them. The more experienced web developers that understand how Google works charge a fee to work on your website.

Your blog can help you with Google. Your Facebook page can help you with Google. Simply adding tags to your blog posts WON’T MAKE YOU NUMBER ONE ON GOOGLE! But if you do them right, then they can help. I really want all of my clients’ websites to come up #1 in Google. But only 1% of my clients are willing to do the work it takes and wait for it to happen. This creates a natural conflict for us, especially because it is complicated to make happen. This is why there is a strong cottage industry of thieves that will take your money to “get you ranked in the top 10″. I have looked at many of them, and 99% of them are thieves.

I will focus on additional things that you can do to come up higher in Google outside of Blogs and Facebook in a future article.

Rule #2 Your website solution company should be your SEO consultant too, not just your web designer

It is up to YOU to contact your web design company, perhaps every 4-6 months, to give your site a checkup. Going to Google and typing in some words to see your ranking is NOT how you should be testing your site. Did you know that when you are logged into Google they change your search results based on what they know about you? It is true. So typing words into Google is not the way to test your site. There are many tools for testing your site outside of Google.

Rule #3 If you use a template company for your website, your Google Pagerank WILL suffer.

There are a LOT of companies out there offering turn-key Realtor websites with MLS listings in them. For the non-technical Realtor on a budget, these sites are an easy way to get a site live with listings. A Realtor was in my office the other day, and we pulled her site up to look at it. She is a friend, so I wasn’t charging her. I was just taking a look at what she has. Her site is build by a company that does Realtor template sites. So I check her Google PageRank, and her ranking is ZERO out of 10. That’s right – zero. So no matter what this company can offer her, the site won’t come up high in Google. I pointed this out to her, and she quickly back-peddled saying “most of my sales aren’t from my website anyways”. But it is pretty obvious that this is a copout, because why have the site if it isn’t going to generate leads?

So you might be wondering, why do template sites get penalized form Google? Duplicate content. Google is now smart enough to notice when a bunch of websites all look the same, and it hurts your score when your content isn’t unique.

Rule #4. Blogs are great for SEO, but are you using your blog correctly? Probably not.

I recently had a Realtor asking me for tips to make their website come up higher in Google. It happens all the time. Looking at their site, I saw a lot of things right away that could be done to make them come up higher in Google. It would take me….. 5 hours to explain all of it to them. It would take…. 20+ hours of work to implement it all. At $110 per hour, that gets expensive. Would they pay for that? Probably not. But some of my clients do. So, an easy to fill, glaring gap in their online marketing efforts that I saw was to add a blog link to their website. Why a blog? Because a blog makes it easier for the Realtor to add UNIQUE, ORIGINAL CONTENT to their website. Rich, juicy content that Google will respect when it reads it. Is that all there is to do? Fire up a WordPress blog, enter some articles, and sit back and wait for the Google gold rush? Hell Friggin No. There is still lots to be done.

Your blog needs articles that people actually give a shit about. Articles like this one! A rule in the new web world is that you have to stop holding onto your “secrets”. If you are an expert, you have to prove it with valuable information and less hype. The realtors that blog about Obama’s stimulus bill and who post their opinions about politics or their political affiliations on Facebook and their blogs are COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT OF HOW THEY CAN HELP MAKE NEW RELATIONSHIPS. Why would you alienate 1/2 of all of your prospective customers by being political? Leave your ego and your confrontational political opinions at the door in this new web world. If I am a potential home buyer that wants a Realtor that can be trusted (and some can’t be), then SHOW ME that you are an expert and that you can be trusted. TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD KNOW about what it is like to live in this area. Posting a list of links to area parks and restaurants is a cop out.

OK, so how to choose content for your blogs…. Ask yourself “If I was a home buyer, will this content help me?”. If the answer is “no”, then don’t post it. Also remember that blogs are chronological. They are for telling the story of the moment. The top ten tips of the moment. The top recent problems that you are solving for customers. The top resources for customers, etc. etc. It is OK if these get old over time, because if you are a TRUE PROFESSIONAL, then you will constantly have new subject matter that is unique, easy for you to write, and relevant for your customers. THAT is what blog content should be. Content like link pages, information on neighborhoods, taxes, employers, zoning, entertainment, restaurants, mortgage lenders, all that content that isn’t time sensitive – that content should be on static pages in your website. That content is not time-sensitive. It isn’t storytelling. It is resource stuff, not blog content. Don’t repost listings into your blog – it looks desperate. It looks even more desperate on Facebook.

Rule #5. Blog Content Needs to Be Described AND LINKED to Be Found

So you wrote a great post to help potential home buyers. Terrific! Then you go to Google and you don’t see it. Not even a month later. Something must be wrong, you say! My web designer led me astray with all of this blogging malarky! Those bastard web designers. Well, before you blame the web designer, you have to ask yourself these questions:

1. did I add tags to my blog posts?
2. do I even know what the hell the tags are, how they work, and what they do?
3. does my blog have a decent number of posts in it?
4. am I linking my blog to other blogs?
5. are my tags formatted as complete keyword phrases?
6. am I linking to my blog from lots of other websites?
7. am I emulating this blog content and posting strategy to match the leaders of my industry?
8. have I created adequate categories in my blog so that I get the quality text links in the blog?
9. is my blog IN my company website, or is it linked from my company website? (hint: link it).
10. am I using the right blog software? is it the latest version?
11. am I using link directory websites like Digg.com, delicious.com, Technorati.com, and the other MANY sites?
12. am I tagging and linking words WITHIN my blog posts to other websites? hrm?
13. am I getting press coverage to get inbound traffic and links to this valuable blog content?
14. am I tweaking the permalinks in my blog posts to create adequate search engine safe URLs?
15. am I using Wikipedia to lookup all this crap that John McKown is telling me?
16. if I don’t want to learn all the blog crap, can I honestly blame my web designer for not doing it for me for free?

Digg.com and Delicious.com are nice, solid ways to get your blog content indexed by Google. It isn’t foolproof, and no SEO tip is. They are all part of what is required today.

Rule #6. Facebook is a powerful networking tool. But no one wants to be friends with a jerk Realtor.

Am I bashing Realtors? No. I am not bashing Realtors. There are a lot of great Realtors out there, some are my close friends. Some, unfortunately, are jerks. There are also jerk web designers and definitely jerk mortgage brokers. Hang with me here…. I think it is great that Realtors are using Facebook. I have a Delaware real estate license and I pay the National Association of Realtors and KCAR dues. So I AM a Realtor, at least technically. So are you a “Jerk Realtor” you ask? Well, that depends totally on your behavior. If you joined Facebook because some guy in a marketing seminar told you to add everyone in your address book to your Facebook account to make money, then yeah, you might be one. My point is, I will help you. I don’t care if you are a Realtor or not. I help people because, quite frankly, when I do so it ends up helping my business and it makes me feel good to share what I know. My ego likes me being considered an expert. I’d be a jerk web designer if I used my knowledge to exploit people like I see happening EVERY DAY from other companies in my industry. If you are HONESTLY interested in me, my experience, what I have to say, how I can help you, then great. Add me as a Facebook friend and I will accept you. Again, I really don’t care if you are a Realtor or not. If I help you and gain your trust by doing so, then you should return the favor and recommend me as an expert too. But….. if you sponge me for information and then blame me because you didn’t do ALL of the things that Google and Facebook and your website require for online success, then you are a Jerk Realtor. If you use your Facebook account to post all your listings, then you don’t look professional. Why do I want to see all of your listings in my Facebook account? I don’t. And you will be removed from my friends list in a hurry. I bet other people feel the exact same way. Relationships are built on trust, sharing, and listening. Not by adding a hyperlink to someone. Use Facebook, but don’t be a ….. you know.

You are on Facebook. Is your company?

You can create a FREE business page for your real estate company. I added one for Delaware.Net, check it out and become a fan real quick: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dover-DE/DelawareNet-Inc/41553338643?ref=s . This a great way to get traffic, and to mass email your friends list with news from your organization. But BE CAREFUL. Don’t overdo it. Add content that matters, and don’t do it too frequently. Get all your business friends to add themselves to your new business page. There is a link at the bottom of the page when you look at my business page. That is how you can add your business site to Facebook.

Are you syndicating your OWN content?

If you are posting a good article to your blog, you should also use that article for an email newsletter. You don’t have an email newsletter? You should. The content that you mass email people is almost as sensitive as what you blog and post into Facebook. One thing that email newsletters are better at, is letting the visitor choose what content they want to get from you. For example, they could chose to get emails about new properties. So it is totally acceptable to email them property information. It is much different to dump your listings into your Facebook account.

Build a link share network – it is important

Earlier in this article I mentioned getting inbound links to your website to build your Google Pagerank. Google Pagerank can be thought of as a multiplier. Meaning, if your site has lots of jucy articles and keywords, but your Google Pagerank is a 1 (out of 10), then you are going to get beat in the search results every time. So your Google ranking can be thought of as this formula: Google PageRank * Relvance of Content = Ranking. One of the things Google looks at to determine how “important” your site is, is by measuring the number of websites that are linking to yours. It also takes into account RECIPROCAL LINKS. This is critical. So you should link to other large websites that have a good pagerank, and most importantly you should try to get them to link back to you. Start to look for sites that have a high pagerank, and then try to get a reciprocal link between their site and yours. Now repeat this dozens or hundreds of times, and you will start to see your Google Pagerank climb.

I wrote this in one sitting while watching TV. Ask me questions about any of this and I will do my best to answer you and explain further. Use the form below this story to post your questions. Thanks for reading, and I hope it helped.

This is why I am especially proud that we have been selected to build the new City of Rehoboth website. We were up against two other good firms for this project, and I am happy that we won. Our pitch for this project encompassed what we saw as the true needs for the city moving forward, including specialized hosting needs dynamic applications, and data security needs.

This is a special project for us, and it will use all of our latest web applications. The City of Rehoboth already uses our Team-Logic system for their Intranet, and the new website will allow us to integrate the two systems (website and Intranet) to provide a total end-to-end system for the city. One of the ideas that came out of our meetings with the city is very innovative, and we are underway now. Keep an eye out for this new site!

I purchased the Delaware.Net and Delaware.com domains about 7 years ago, and I used the Delaware.Net domain for our web development company, and I’ve always had a plan to use the Delaware.com domain for a local portal. That plan is being put into motion as I write this post.

The real estate directory is but one of many features that are going to be launched in the site this spring. For example, this week we plan to launch a business directory CMS module that will contain thousands of Delaware area businesses when it launches. Our new Content Management System that just launched also feeds into the Delaware.com portal. This means that area businesses will be able to post jobs, syndicate their products, and market their businesses in new ways – AUTOMATICALLY.

Combined with our exceptional Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work that we perform for our clients, we can now provide our local clients a Delaware-Centric portal that will greatly enhance their local marketing efforts. With our best-possible local domain name (Delaware.com), our cutting-edge database applications, and our reasonable advertising pricing, we feel that we can offer a much better value than other Delaware-area portals.

If you are interested in marketing your company on Delaware.com, or if you have a question about the new portal, post a response below and I will answer your questions.

Three years ago, I came up with an idea to get a little more local exposure for us, and to also help out area chambers of commerce. The idea was to have a business-to-business (B2B) trade show, where businesses that sell to other businesses could mix and market. On March 5th, we held our third one. It went great!
Thanks to all of our customers, friends, and partners that attended the Third Annual Delaware Expo Trade Show. The weather was perfect yesterday and we had over 1,000 attendees at the show. The exact number was close to 1,200. Our show is now the largest business-to-business networking event in the state of Delaware, with over 120 exhibitors. We got a lot of positive feedback on the show, and some ideas that we will use to make the 2009 show even better.

I was interviewed by WHYY television from Wilmington, and there were also several newspapers that were present that did stories on the show. We landed a spot on the front page of today’s edition of the Delaware State News. We are waiting for the pictures to come back from the photographer, and once those are available we will put them on the web site.

This show was planned and executed entirely by the Delaware.Net staff. We also sold all of the booths using our new Store-Logic Ecommerce engine.

We gave some presentations on search engine optimization, blogging, and more. Here is a picture of me giving my presentation:

Here is Greg, our SEO guru giving his presentation:

One of the coolest surprises for us came when Monster Racing brought their new NASCAR race car to the show, complete with a Delaware.Net logo on the side of it. They will leave our logo on the car for the rest of this season, so in a way we have our own race car.

We used a new thermal name badge printer this year from Zebra, and it really helped us get the name badges printed faster. We didn’t anticipate the number of walk-ins that we had, so for 2009 we will get a second Zebra printer so we can print them even faster. Those printers are like $600, but they really made registration faster. Special thanks to the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce for bringing additional badge holders when we ran low.

As usual, the staff at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino did a superb job. We also used a new pipe and drape company called Diamond State Party Rentals. They did a great job as well.
Our team did a fantastic job pulling the show together.

Election years can be dangerous times for business owners that have strong political views and little self-control. Especially for those who force those views down the throats of their customers, employees, and peers. While I feel that it’s commendable for anyone to be passionate about their convictions and views (I know I am), there is a proper time and place to voice those views. Email makes it painfully easy for anyone to instantly forward a political view, comment, article, video link, etc. in the blink of an eye, automatically alienating at least HALF of the people that they are sent to. Recently, a local business owner did just that when they sent me a politically-charged email.

More after the jump.

The email that I received was one of those typical hysterical emails where the sender insisted all who received it then send it on to their friends and family. Obviously, I can’t get into what the email contained, but it was 180 degrees from my own personal viewpoint. The sender is a business owner that should know better. Another problem is, the business owner used my email address in the “TO” field, along with a bunch of other local business owners that know me personally. This makes it appear that I might share the same viewpoint as the sender does, which makes it even more inappropriate that it was sent it in the first place.

In the workplace, there are those common four taboo subjects that shouldn’t ever be discussed in detail; sex, money, religion, and politics. Recently, at a party, my wife and I were talking about schools that my wife and I prefer for our kids, and I would add school choice to that list of taboo subjects as well (a school principal was at the party – lesson learned).

I would add that you should never assume that people you speak with are being honest with you about their true political views. I personally know someone who is a staunch supporter of one political party, yet I have witnessed some of his peers speak to him assuming that he is a member of another party. And he is smart enough to let them believe what they want and just smile while they are talking to him. He knows that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is probably the best policy during an election year if you don’t want to alienate customers and peers.

Political lawn signs and car stickers are another no-no for business owners for the same reasons. I’ve made that mistake years ago in previous elections myself. This year’s election is sure to be electric, and hotly debated. Get out there and vote, and let your vote do the talking. Sending a politically-charged email, making a politically charged comment, or sparring with those that you don’t agree with will surely cause damage to your company and your reputation that will last long after the November elections. Just be careful out there.

Looking back at 2007

After a relatively flat 2006, we approached 2007 with a refined game plan. Specifically, to get the best talent I could find for our four teams; creative, programming, sales, and engineering. Mission accomplished. We now have 15 professionals, all working to bring the latest web technology to our clients. We are also looking for more employees to join our technical on-site team.
Some of the smaller office upgrades for 2007 include painting our office, getting all new computers for our staff, upgrading most of our software, and getting large dual flat screen monitors for everyone. We upgraded our office kitchen with new appliances and food choices. In the data center, we purchased a bunch of new HP and Dell servers, Cisco switches, and additional storage devices and drives.

Looking ahead to 2008

For 2008, we have some exciting new services and technology for our customers. Some of it I can talk about here in my blog, and some of our plans are proprietary and I can’t give too much information (yet). Here are some of the highlights…

1. New corporate web site for Delaware.Net, Inc.
   We’ve built so many web sites, that unfortunately we have had very little time to keep our own web site up to date. Now that we have a larger staff, that is all about to change. The conceptual designs for our new site is already complete, so you will see the new site in early 2008. We’re using this opportunity in redesigning our site to show our commitment to web standards, our newest applications, and more (the secret sauce).
2. New micro sites for our applications
   In addition to our new company web site, we are also working on new, smaller versions of our site for our applications. These sites will launch after our main site, and will contain more resources for our clients.
3. Team-Logic 2.0 AJAX Beta
   We completed our new AJAX-powered Intranet system in the fall of 2007, and it’s fast becoming our new web application hosting platform. When compared to commercial Intranet and ecommerce systems from other providers, there simply is no comparison because we offer more features, a better application, and for less money. We are undergoing live data testing in-house, and also with select customers now. This is going very well. In early 2008 we will add more functionality to this system and officially launch it with it’s own new microsite.
4. NEW – Mail-Logic Newsletter Server
   Starting at just $12 per month, our new newsletter server sets the standard for sending value and performance when you need to send out email newsletters to your customers, and your staff. Unlimited groups and mailings, automated bounce processing, web site signup, and HTML generation makes sending newsletters easier than ever.
5. NEW – Updated Real Estate Applications
   After leaving our real estate applications alone for years, they are undergoing a complete transformation. It is no longer good enough to simply have IDX listing feeds in a real estate site and call it a day. Our new real estate suite combines rentals, MLS feeds, lead tracking, content management, and local portal advertising. The new applications will launch in February, in time for the spring real estate season. Existing Delaware.Net clients will get special upgrade packages.
6. NEW – Updated Vehicle Dealership Application
   We’ve been rebuilding our dealership applications to use our latest CRM, email marketing, and content management applications. These will also feed used vehicle inventories to Delaware.com.
7. New Delaware.com Marketing
   Can’t talk a whole lot about this yet, but suffice it to say that we are building a local portal that will compete with other popular area web portals. We won’t be satisfied unless we create the best marketing portal for local area businesses.
8. Lots More
   More detail on our latest applications will be released soon.
9. Dream Home
   On a personal level, My wife and I have begun building our dream home, which will be complete in 2008. It is an exciting time for us as we pick out all of the options for our new home. We have already purchased a one-acre lot in the most prestigious neighborhood in Kent County, and our architectural plans are complete as well.

In a nutshell, here is the problem:

Let’s say for the purpose of this example your domain name is “MyCompany.com“.
A potential customers hears about your company, and decides to check out your web site and learn more about your company.
So the customer goes to their web browser and types in “http://MyCompany.com”, and hits “GO” expecting to see your web site.

Then – Nothing. Your site doesn’t appear.

Realizing their mistake, more savvy web users realize that they forgot to put “www” before your domain name. So if entered correctly, the domain would look like this: http://www.MyCompany.com. But many, many, many people are too lazy to enter the entire domain name into their browser. You may assume that both domains are the same, but in actuality they are not. The “WWW” part of the domain name is called the hostname, or the subdomain. These are setup on the web server, and have to be entered by your hosting company when they setup your web hosting.

All about subdomains

It’s important to note that when you buy a domain name, your are buying the MyCompany.com portion, but you can put WHATEVER YOU WANT as a subdomain in front of the domain. At the very most basic domain name setup, you should have the WWW and empty hostnames setup so that they both reach your web site. But there are other subdomains that you should consider for your web site, as each subdomain can be used for a part of your web site, an application (like a blog), or for separate web sites entirely.

Sample subdomains

• WWW – again, every site has this to reach your home page. Sample: http://www.MyCompany.com
• MAIL or WEBMAIL – this is an easy way to create a link to your webmail program, or your email server. Sample: http://mail.MyCompany.com
• BLOG – obviously enough, you can use a subdomain to point to your blog. Sample: http://blog.MyCompany.com
• HELP – this is an easy way to give your customers a reference site for help in using your site or services. http://help.MyCompany.com
• CLIENTS, MY, or EXTRA – this is an easy way to make a client area where your clients can log into your web site. We use “extra”, which is short for “Extranet”
• INTRA, or STAFF – use these subdomains to create an Intranet site for your staff to access. Call Delaware.Net for information on how to create an Intranet.

Do lots of subdomains help with search engine ranking?

No. Neither does purchasing many domains. I’ve seen companies purchase domain names with the word “delaware” in them hoping this will help them with local search ranking, and it doesn’t. Domains help with memorizing how to get to your company’s web site, and that’s it. Its better to have one good domain name than to have many. I own “delaware.com”, and it is amazing how many people simply type it in to reach it. A big portal is a coming to that site soon.

So don’t forget…

Make sure all of your sites come up without the “WWW” in front of them. It can save a lot of missed web traffic! Good Luck.

The examples in my presentation included AJAX, ColdFusion 8 tags, Spry widgets, and more. I demonstrated how we are using these technologies in current web projects, and I also spent some time explaining how we win projects, how we manage them, and how we bill for them. Typically this is an area most web development shops don’t like to talk about, but we don’t have any secrets in this regard.

I demonstrated a couple of Delaware.Net’s latest on-demand applications, including our AJAX-powered email newsletter management program called Mail-Logic. During my first web design presentation with Adobe, there were a ton of Q&A questions about our web-based project management system that we use to help us manage our projects. With this presentation, I got into a little more depth on how we use this tool to manage over 100 projects successfully. That system is called Team-Logic, and yes, we do sell it.

A lot of folks sent me emails after this last presentation asking me about the CSS design resource links that I mentioned in the presentation. If you would like a copy of those, shoot me an email and I will send them to you. Sign up for this blog and I will send an alert when the on-demand version of the presentation is also available.

One last thing – the Adobe Acrobat Connect product that Adobe let me use for the webinar is straightup AWESOME. I highly recommend this product for giving webinars.