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Ignorance ISN'T Bliss!
All of us know that stealing is wrong. If you walk into a store to
shoplift and get caught, you know there will be consequences for your
actions.
What about in a foreign country where
you may not be sure of the rules? If you travel to Singapore, you
should know that chewing gum is illegal. What happens if you don't
happen to know that rule? Unfortunately, Customs Officials may not
like your claim of ignorance about their country's rules and impose
strict fines or other less pleasant consequences upon you.
What are we getting at?
Claiming ignorance is not a good excuse anywhere in the world, much
less in the online world. To survive in THIS world, you learn the
rules. Google, Yahoo! and MSN are worlds of their own. And if you want
to play in their worlds, you NEED to learn their rules. They don't
care what you know or don't know! They are the Customs Officials of
their own worlds and they expect you to read their rules/laws before
traveling inside their borders.
We realize you may not know the rules and that you may not have time
to do the research to find out what the rules are. At Advanced Access,
we DO know the rules and we do the research to find out
what the new rules are as well. Consult with our Customer Support Team
or visit the
Advanced Access Online Forums
prior to implementing techniques you've "heard" improve search engine
placement. That's what we're here for!
Increase your awareness in the online world
So, let's talk about some of the known techniques considered "illegal"
in the world of search engines.
1. Copying Copy
If you wrote a book and someone else put their name as the author, you
would be infuriated.
You
would probably take legal action and
still feel unresolved. Take note of the consequences for copyright
infringement:
NOT ONLY may someone take legal action against you, but search engines
WILL BAN your site from being indexed.
What does that mean? Well, for those of you that have top results in
search engines, you already realize the power of top placement. If you
get banned, your site would no longer have ANY PLACEMENT.
No Placement = No Business. Well at least
not from the Internet.
No Business = No Money. No further explanation needed.
And for those that think "Maybe I can get away with it", they are
wrong. It is easy to find a web site that has duplicated content. It's
also easy to report a site to Google that has duplicated content.
Don't think you can 'fly below the radar'. Anyone can get caught.
Some people have asked if it is okay to copy someone's content if the
agent is not in their area. The answer is no. It doesn’t matter
where we are located geographically – duplicating content from any
website is wrong.
On the other hand, if you believe you have been a victim of
copyright infringement, the best thing to do first is to email the
offending web site owner to request they remove your copy. Most often,
site owners will remove it. If they do not remove it in a timely
manner, email the hosting company of the web site. If it is an
Advanced Access web site, email
Copyright@AdvancedAccess.Com.
Please keep in mind it will be necessary for you to provide proof the
content was originally written by you or for you no matter who the
website host may be.
2. Hidden text or links
Under Google's quality guidelines, they specifically state you should,
"Make pages for users, not for search engines."
Using hidden text and links is a method that used to be popular as a
trick to help improve a page's placement on search engines. However,
as it is NOT something you to do help your web site visitors navigate
your site, it is not a technique that should ever be utilized. If
found out, you will be banned from search engines. Simple as
that.
3. Misleading words
If a page of your site is not about 'widgets', don't add this word
anywhere on the page or within the meta tags of the page. The words of
a page should reflect what the page is actually about. That's it, that's
all.
As
REALTORS®, your web sites
are not only about 'real estate' though. They are also about the
communities you serve. So, it is not unreasonable to imagine an agent
out of the Orlando, FL area may have a page that discusses
Disneyworld. Nor would it be out of the ordinary to imagine an agent
out of Aspen, CO have a page that discusses skiing/snowboarding.
In fact, your web site should really be a mini directory about the
areas you serve. Each page of your site should reflect a theme. Keep
each page on topic.
4. Repeated words
While it is important to 'repeat' important words and phrases
throughout your site, you can easily overdo it. Redundant use of words
on your site can actually hurt your rankings, rather than improve
them. This is where keyword density comes in.
What is keyword density?
This refers to the total number of times a word or phrase appears on a
given page vs. the total actual number of words.
It is still quite debatable exactly what percentage of times a
word/phrase should appear on a page. Some even believe keyword density
to be a myth in the Search Engine Optimization ("SEO") world. Whatever
your views, it IS important to place important phrases strategically
throughout your site so search engines and visitors understand fully
what your site is about.
Since search engines are constantly changing even the smallest
criteria for the acceptance and ranking on websites, even
tiny
changes to the text on pages can either be helpful ,OR possibly even
detrimental to your results. It's a big "it depends" so you need
to be mindful about what you change. Monitor your search engine
results after you make even small changes and make sure you have your
previous worked saved somewhere just in case you want to change
anything back.
Stuffing keywords is not only important to avoid because of the
risk with search engine placement, but also because the copy begins to
look hackneyed and corny. How might you determine whether or not it
sounds this way? Read it out loud. If you feel incredibly awkward
reading the text as if you were speaking to a client, it needs some
editing.
Don't be fooled by poor imitations
5. Link Farms
"One, two, skip a few, ninety nine, one hundred..."
We're sure you didn't like this when you were a kid playing
hide-and-seek, and the search engines don't go for it either.
This is the basic philosophy in the
world of link farms.
A link farm is basically a
page that contains nothing but links to other websites, and those
websites will generally have nothing to do with the subject matter of
your website. A link farm is generally presented as a sort of "trick"
that will help increase your link popularity in little time with
almost no work on your end at all. It sounds great (we'd all love to
skip to the "good stuff" at times) but it turns out it's not so great
after all, and it doesn't work. Search engines, such as Google,
consider a link farm as spamming and they do not give you "credit" for
those links, and they will also count them against you.
Using Link farms to help increase your results in search engines is
like using a cheat sheet on an exam in school. Once you're caught,
you're in trouble. They'll kick you out.
A good rule of thumb
to follow is this:
If you receive an offer to sign up for a link exchange program to
receive 1000's of web site links to your site almost instantly, stay
clear. It's most likely a link farm. Don't get caught cheating.
These are only a brief collection of what has become a large
collection of other "illegal" optimization tactics. Since there are so
many that are not mentioned here, we strongly encourage all of you to
enlist our help or the help of those on the
Advanced Access Online Forums
to decide which techniques will best suit you and your site and those
of which you should veer away from (very quickly).
Getting Caught
Google
will always evaluate the quality of their search engine results using
algorithms and even humans. They will specifically search for sites
utilizing shady tactics to increase their results. Are you in danger
of being banned? We sure
hope not! We know that many of you work hard to ensure your site
achieves AND maintains top placement. Review any tactics you currently
utilize in your quest to achieve top placement to ensure you have not
gone awry. If you have questions about certain tactics you are already
utilizing, don’t hesitate to contact your Advanced Access Customer
Support Department for help. We are always happy to assist you, and
we welcome ALL your questions. And, we are now open 7 days per
week. Call us TOLL FREE at 866-518-1571 or send us an
email;
Support@AdvancedAccess.Com.
No Time? Need your own Internet Marketing Specialist to keep you on
track and updated? Contact our Customer Support Team for information
on our
Premium Marketing Packages,
each of which includes your very own Marketing Specialist. Also, be
on the lookout for more Marketing Tips regarding search engines. We
will be covering many search engine topics; even the very basics which
will serve as a refresher for some, and as a first glance to others.
As always we appreciate your business and support, and remember,
“The Key to Your Success is Our Service.”
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Read the following from real estate
professionals who are using Advanced Access' Marketing Tips to their advantage:
Jane Rost says:
"Jose was outstanding! I knew what I wanted to do, just didn't know
how to get there... He did an outstanding job of first, figuring out
just what it was I wanted to do, and then leading me through the
process. He gets an A+ for this call."
Natasha Lettman says:
"Angela has been so much more than I could express in words. She has
helped me so much that I could not thank her enough. She was
professional, patient, friendly and very eager to jump in and help
me in any way that she could. I wish that all representatives could
be as personable as Angela. I hope that her manager will get this
email because I would like him to know that his company is very
lucky to have her representing Advanced Access and as part of their
team."
Woody Ledbetter says:
"We will be changing our web home page header-photo. Joe told us to
call and he would help us. I find your service to be the best. I
have recommended you to many other agents. You a an AAAAA+
operation. We are very please with our site. We are getting 25 +
hits daily, lately. We send out 25 to 100 letters most days. We
refer everyone to the web site. It's working."
Terri Langdon says:
"So far the experience has been right on the mark. Faster than
lightening response, the website is great, easy to use, lots of info
and the CS reps have been amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Annette Alvarenga says:
"Your reps are awesome. Every time I call for some help, your reps
are friendly and know exactly how to help me get what I need. No
need to change; just keep up the great work."
Advanced Access
8101 East Kaiser Blvd, Suite 300 Anaheim, CA 92808
Toll Free: (866) 518-1571
Monday - Friday, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm (Pacific)
Saturday & Sunday, 7:00 am - 4:00 pm (Pacific)
Email:
Support@AdvancedAccess.com
Website:
www.AdvancedAccess.com
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