Whether you are a seasoned blogger or just getting started, its always good to go back to basics and check yourself to make sure that you are covering all bases. I found this article today and wanted to share it with you:

Inspiration for your Company Blog

Pay special attention to the Google Alerts point. Google Alerts is a great tool for getting news feeds straight to your desktop. If you're not familiar with it or are not using it, be sure to check it out. You can sign up to get alerts anytime information that matches your keywords appears in Google. As an example, I am originally from Wisconsin so I am signed up to receive news alerts anytime my city appears. I am also signed up to receive news alerts for the word 'REALTOR' so I can keep on top of what everyone is up to in the news! To sign up, click here.

Where Google alerts is most helpful to your business is when you can get information on local market news. Be the first to share and disseminate the information through your blog or Facebook Fan page and your clients will appreciate that you are a one-stop shop for everything local.

Finally, I also happen to love their suggestion to get guest writers. Check your list of friends and business associates and start thinking about how they could offer your clients beneficial information. Whether its a friend in the mortgage and finance business, real estate law, title companies or maybe even your company's broker, ask them to be a guest to your blog. Decide on a topic ahead of time and be sure to promo your guest to gain interest. Once they've posted, be sure to spread the word through your various social media sites. If you can bring new, interesting and unique content to your blog, you'll be able to capture readers again and again.

Labels: Blog Dictionary, Blogging Ideas, Facebook, Facebook Fan Page, Google, Google Alerts, Real Estate Blog

The simplest definition of a trackback is that it is a comment containing a link to a post that someone wrote and referenced to the original post. Yeah, that made sense, right? Okay, so I'll give an example that does:

Jack wrote a post on his blog about water sources. Jill read that post and then had so much to say on the topic that she went and wrote her own article about wells as a water source. She sent a trackback to Jack's blog, and a comment appeared on his post about water sources. The comment contains a link that goes to Jill's post. So now, Jill's readers can go to Jack's blog and read the post that inspired Jill, and Jack's readers can read what Jill had to say on the topic if they want additional information. So Jack and Jill are both benefiting from the trackback, because now both get additional traffic from each others' sites. Hooray!

Now if you want to send a trackback, here's how you do it:

1. Write your article.

2. On the site you want to link to, find the Trackback URL. Usually if you click on the title of the particular post and scroll to the bottom, you'll find something that looks like this:

Trackback URL:

http://www.cybersunshine.com/blog/2008/11/yourreal-estate-blogging--dictionary.asp

3. Put that link in your post wherever you like.

That's it! The internet elves take care of the rest for you. Congratulations, you have just done the easiet networking ever!

By the way, sometimes blogs are not equipped with Trackback. In that instance, just go ahead and leave a comment on their post with a link to your own post. Usually I write something like, "Great post, thanks for pointing out (insert valid point)! You inspired me to write my own post about (insert your article topic). You can check it out here (insert the URL to the post, not to your blog)."

Other places to read about Trackbacks:

Wikipedia

Reference.com

Labels: Blog Dictionary, Real Estate Blog

Page Rank - n - Page rank is a value that Google assigns to a web page based on the importance of the page on the internet.

Page Rank is a Google feature, owned and trademarked by Google. Basically it's a ranking system that determines how important your website is to the world wide web. In Google's own words:

"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves 'important' weigh more heavily and help to make other pages 'important'."

Basically it's like all the pages linking to you are voting for you, and you're voting for all the pages you link to. Sites that link to you and have a high page rank get you more "votes" than sites that link to you and have low page ranks. It's sort of a popularity contest, but the popular kid's vote counts more than the unpopular kid.

There are other factors too, like your keyword relevancy and the amount of traffic you receive to your site (which is why SEO is important). I know there's some math to the whole thing, but I'm a writer, not a mathematician, so I can't help you there.

Some SEO companies (but not CyberSunshine) will manipulate the Google Page Rank for you, to make yours higher than it actually is. But that's cheating and I wouldn't recommend it. In the long run, cheaters never win. The best way to increase your Page Rank is with good old-fashioned hard work. Get out in the blogosphere and make friends, and hopefully they'll like you enough to link to you. You can even ask people to link to you if you have the nerve. Most bloggers wouldn't be offended by you asking, so go for it! But be prepared to link to them too.

Wikipedia's article on Page Rank

How to check your Page Rank

A complicated article on the math of Page Rank

Labels: Blog Dictionary, Real Estate Blog, Website Tools

RSS Subscription is a term you'll hear often in the blogging world. So for all you novice bloggers, I am going to provide the definition of RSS and tell you what purpose it serves and how it can benefit you.

RSS - n any of various XML file formats suitable for disseminating real-time information via subscription on the Internet; Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication

I like the term Really Simple Syndication best. That is a clearer example of what RSS is, in my opinion. Basically, an RSS is a tool that allows readers to subscribe to your blog, and in doing so, they will get emails every time you publish a new post to your blog. So if people "Subscribe Via RSS", they must really enjoy reading what you have to say. In addition to receiving emails, some people might have a Feed Reader. Microsoft Vista, for example, provides a feed reader, and you can constantly get updates via the feed reader. It keeps track of your subscriptions and posts a link to each new entry on each blog to which you are subscribed. It makes it easy to keep track of all your reading material in one place.

Now if you are the owner of a blog, you'll need an RSS Subscription tool on your blog page. It should be part of the side bar, and it should be prominently displayed on every page of the blog, so people don't have to look for it. People like to subscribe, since it simplifies their lives, and they don't want to have to look for the subscription tool. So be sure to have the tool on your blog, and make sure it's visible. Usually the RSS tool is recognized by the color orange, and a little logo, which I have attached in this blog post.

If you are a blog reader, you'll also like RSS. I, myself, am both a blog writer and a blog reader, and of course I have favorite blogs that I like to read. I'm not telling what they are though. But I do enjoy having the option of receiving emails with links to the new posts, rather than having to track them down myself. It saves time when you get an email, because the email tells you the name of the post, and usually gives you the first few lines of the post, so you can determine if you even want to read it. That way, you don't have to waste time visiting each of your favorite sites to see if and what they have posted lately, or whether you'll even want to read it.

In each of these "Dictionary" posts, I am going to provide useful links that will further your knowledge on the topic. So here they are:

Wikipedia's RSS Definition

Tech-y info on RSS

More definitions are coming to you, so if you have a special request for a term or word that flabergasts you, email it to me. You can remain anonymous in case you feel silly asking.

Labels: Blog Dictionary, Real Estate Blog, Website Tools