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TIME FOR YOU TO UPDATE YOUR 1999 WEB SITE?
A few things have changed since you created your web site. There
are probably many things that changed you wished hadn't: 9-11,
dial-up, YouTube.com, the Google stock price, maybe your weight
or even your spouse... Has your web site changed?
Maybe in 1999 you had a web site that you had created by your
next door neighbor's kid. Hey, it's 2007 now, and even if you
still have your site created by the kid next door, the site is
bound to be better as kids are even smarter and the software is
superior.
PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999
I remember as we were leaving 2006 (and every new year before)
and getting close to 2007 that many radio stations were playing
the Prince song, "1999." It was funny that Prince actually
released that song 17 years before 1999. Now that we are on the
other side of 1999, that song will probably get less and less
play, as we move further away.
IS YOUR WEB SITE GETTING LESS PLAY?
Your mortgage web site is also well into 2007 and you should
have had a chance to update your pages. The most common error we
are still seeing is web pages that have copyright 2006 (or 2005
or 1999 or ...) at the bottom of the pages. When your visitor
views your site and notices an out-of-date copyright year or
time sensitive content in the body (Happy New Year) that is
several months past its pull date, the visitor begins to suspect
the quality of your site.
There have been many changes to the internet since 1999, and
what used to work, may no longer be viable, or may now even get
your web site penalized. Let's discuss a few of the changes.
MULTIPLE DIRECTORY LISTINGS
It is in your mortgage company's best interest to have high
quality links directed to your site. Links vary in value, but
generally a link from CNN.com is better than a link from
AuntieSarahsBurgerJoint.com. And a link from
MortgageLinkFarm.com may be detrimental.
DMOZ DIRECTORY
DMOZ (DMOZ.org) is great to be included in as it feeds the
Google directory results. DMOZ is also very unorganized as most
of the categories use volunteer editors who often are too busy
to stay current, or they have their own listing in a directory
and they reason they volunteer is to keep out competitors like
you. Regardless, DMOZ has its value in the Google feed and it is
free.
YAHOO DIRECTORY
To be included in the Yahoo directory, start with finding the
RIGHT DIRECTORY category http://search.yahoo.com/dir you belong
in and then look for the link at the top right of the page that
states "Suggest a site." It will cost you $299 to recommend your
own site, but it is $299 well spent.
WIKIPEDIA
Some companies will even use novel ways to gain additional
links. Most people are not aware that you can easily create a
Wikipedia page for your own business. In example, DiTech uses
Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ditech.com)
to promote its DiTech site.
"Ditech.com is a lender, offering mortgages and lines of credit
as a member of the General Motors family of companies,
specifically General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC).
Ditech.com is a business unit of GMAC Mortgage." |
ABOUTUS.ORG
AboutUs.org is similar to Wikipedia, except that its purpose is
for businesses to insert their listings. Creating a page for
your business on this site will also tend to rank very well for
your business name.
IN-BOUND LINKING STRATEGIES
The Official Google Webmaster Central Blog http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com
offers tips from Google staff members and can be useful in
finding out what to do and, as importantly, what not to do.
GOOGLE RANKING ALGORITHM DEVALUING EXCHANGED LINKS
One of the ways sites would obtain high rankings in Google was
to have many sites link to their site. The thinking was that if
other sites were linking to a specific site, then that specific
site must be valuable to the Google searchers. Over time this
theory became abused with link farms (sites set up to do nothing
but link), paid links (you pay for a link to your site) and
bogus site links (companies create fictitious web sites with the
sole purpose of linking to a specific site).
The Google staff has announced that they have "tremendously
refined its link-weighting algorithms. We have more people
working on Google's link-weighting for quality control and to
correct issues we find. So nowadays, undermining the PageRank
algorithm is likely to result in the loss of the ability of
link-selling sites to pass on reputation via links to other
sites." In short, don't use sneaky techniques for inbound links.
LINK BAITING
Link baiting is a technique which typically takes advantage of
Web 2.0 social content websites and visitor rewarded content
sites like Digg.com. The way the bait works is that you create
high content or useful information as the hook. Hooks can take
on a variety of forms such as: news hooks (what is the latest
interest rates), contrary hooks (why to use a variable interest
rates when fixed rates are 2%), attack hooks (how the Fed
Reserve is ruining the economy), resource hooks (historical
average VA and FHA interest rates) and even humor hooks (10 ways
to tell if your blind date is really a mortgage broker).
Some people link bait their reputation by building an authority
through services such as http://answers.yahoo.com. In this
example a person might answer all the questions posed at Yahoo
Answers (Should I get a fixed or variable mortgage? I have bad
credit, how do I get a loan?) and others viewing the answers
might find that person useful and be inclined to utilize their
mortgage services.
SITE VERIFICATION
See if you site is in Google using their Site status wizard
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitestatus and it will
also tell you the last time the Googlebot last visited your
site. If you are not listed you will find a link on how to add
your site map to Google. Both Google (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/)
and Yahoo (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/) offer site
verification and site mapping.
A couple of advantages happen when you add your site, via your
account, to Google and Yahoo. First, you are more likely to get
indexed. Second, you have access to statistics and error
information about your site.
PARTY LIKE IT IS 2007
By the time you finish updating your site and submitting it to
the various directories you will be ready to party... until it
is time for the next round of updates.
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MortgagePromote.com is a leading Internet marketing web site
that provides hundreds of articles & information tips on web
site promotion, search engine marketing and search engine
optimization; to help loan officers & mortgage companies
increase their online sales. Aries and Farris has been providing
nationwide mortgage leads & Internet marketing services since
1998. Web site: MortgagePromote.com
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