Blogburst Blog Syndication Service: Traffic And Exposure On A World Stage

Blogburst is a service that any serious blogger must explore. It provides a channel for your content directly to major media news agencies across the globe. The following story is a blogburst success story as it provides exposure for my work, promotes a well deserving friend’s work, and gives many people a look at what they can accomplish. The article on John’s public speaking was written on June 27, 2008.

John Harper of the Harper Team in Danville, California was the subject of my last article about how to become an expert and go to source for your community through public speaking. In the article “Realtor John Harper Keynote Speaking Strategy: Become An Expert And Go To Source For Your Community” I chronicled John’s next workshop and how he is building a public speaking platform within his business.

Blogburst

Blogburst is a content aggregation service aka free lance that is by membership only. You submit your blog, stand alone blogs only sorry, and they determine if you have the traffic and content that would interest their media clientele. Their clientele numbers over 100 publications with some of the big names being the Wall St. Journal; Reuters News Agency; Nielsen; FoxBusiness News; IBS; Chicago Sun-Times and many others.

The article I produced on John today was published on my stand alone blog at deansguide.wordpress.com and on Active Rain.

Great News From FoxBusiness.com

Today’s article on John Harper “Realtor John Harper Keynote Speaking Strategy; Become An expert And Go To Source For your Community” has been published and placed on FoxBusiness News through deansguide.wordpress.com.

Link to John’s article: http://www.foxbusiness.com/blog.html?bbPostId=Cz3n1x0G10FSiB3b1kZdDsSWFCz4TsGs26ij6hCzBKOY7W2RXYO

Congratulations John!

For More Information

If you have a stand alone blog and you are curious as to my experience with blogburst, feel free to contact me. I have over 100 of my deansguide.wordpress.com articles published on Blogburst from Reuters; Nielsen; Chicago Sun-Times; FoxBusiness; Computer Shopper; and IBS which represents many NBC television affiliates around the country.

Google Base: Realtor’s Free Listing Tool, Lead Generator, Product Promotion Machine

Google Base “Shopping Bag” icon

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article June 28, 2008

If you do not want to take on the task of establishing a blog or website there still is a method to get your information listed in Google search results: Google Base. For Realtors this could be a key tool in listing your properties.

What is Google Base?

1. According to Google “Google Base is a free Google service that allows you to publish virtually any kind of information for inclusion in Google search results”

2. According to the blog chiefexecutive.wordpress.com’s, a UK site, article “Google has changed-have you?” Google Base allows a business to list it’s services or products in a different way-via an shopping bag icon and in a product search conducted by consumers:

“The point is Google has changed, there are now opportunities to appear on the list (Google search results) in more relevant and striking ways than the conventional list of blue search engine links.”

Advantages of Google Base

1. You do not need a website or blog to publish your information
2. It’s a free service
3. If you don’t have a website to host your item(s), Google Base will create and host a unique URL (web address) where searchers can visit and view your content.

Google Base For Realtors

According to Google:

“Over 56% of all internet searches on “real estate” and related terms are conducted on Google and our partner sites, and the majority of those searchers are actively looking for listings or referrals to brokers and agents. Google Base makes it EASY for consumers to find your listings or services.”

How Does It Work?

People performing Google searches for Real Estate can refine their search results by adding specific property features (e.g., “4-bedroom”, “pool”, “San Francisco-Pacific Heights”) and seeing their results displayed on a map, focussed on the neighborhood and types of properties that they are most interested in

If a Realtor adds his/her listing(s) information to Google, it will ensure that the right (most qualified) potential buyers will be able to find the properties listed “right when they are most actively looking for them.”

Google Real Estate Tools Link (for more information!)

1. Brokers and Builders

2. Agents

3. MLS’s

4. IDX vendors

Realtor John Harper Keynote Speaking Strategy: Become An Expert And Go To Source For Your Community

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article June 27, 2008

John Harper of theharperteam in Danville, California is the best example, template, for Realtors who understand the value of marketing yourself through public speaking. John is an expert, and I don’t use that term very often, in online networking aka social networking. Even more critical to his efforts is the fact that John is an expert in understanding the value of creating a public speaking platform within your business.

Learn How From John Harper

If you wish to understand how to become a go to source of free valuable information to your community as a workshop or keynote speaker, attend John’s presentation “Strategic Thinking About Your Career” Saturday June 28. The workshop is being held at “CPC” Job Seeker’s Group meeting from 9:30-11:30am at the Community Presbyterian Church ( 222 West El Pintado, Room #100 ) in Danville.

In my article for Active Rain “How To Win New Clients, Build A Contact List, And Become An Expert In A Niche: Employment Networking Groups Your Ticket To Leads And New Partnerships” I outline the benefits of providing keynote speaking-workshops to employment groups.

Benefits of Public Speaking

1. Create Awareness: help people know you and your business

2. Community Resource: Establish yourself as a resource of free valuable information to your community

3. Build a List: Build a client list from your audience

4. Remain in the Public Eye: Remind your community that you are in business and there to help them all the time

5. Hone your Speaking Skills: Practice makes perfect, builds confidence, and creates expertise

6. Blog Content: Now you have a place, speaking engagement, to bring your blog articles to life. In addition your appearances provide blog content

7. Network: Become a go to source to help others network within your community of contacts

Understand Your Readership Tool #1: Alexa.com A Free Method To Understanding Your Marketing Power

The key to online marketing through blogging is understanding how your efforts are working to bring in new leads, sales, and effective viral awareness. One of the best tools of measurement is Alexa.com and it is free!

Alexa.com

Computes traffic rankings by analyzing the Web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources. Information is sorted, sifted, anonymized, counted, and computed, in order to come up with an accurate computation of your blog or website’s traffic statistics.

Traffic Stats

1. Traffic Rank: based on 3 months of aggregated “historical” statistics it is a combined measure of page views and users (reach)

2. Reach: Reach measures the number of users. It is typically expressed as the percentage of all Internet users who visit a given site

3. Page Views: measure the number of pages viewed by your visitors. Multiple page views of the same page made by the same user on the same day are counted only once. Hits mean nothing and should not be considered accurate or even worthy of discussion

Alexa Tools

Alexa Toolbar: This tool when loaded on Firefox provides meters that measure Reach, Traffic Rank, Traffic Trend, and Related Links

Search Engine: This tool searches any input and returns numbers for any given blog or website

Traffic Graph: The most useful tool. This graphs all the stats in increments from 7days, 1month, 3months, max. It allows you to compare your site to 4 other sites traffic and then graphs it. In addition you can download a widget to your site showing your Alexa numbers.

Global Information: here if your site has accumulated enough traffic and data, Alexa will return your numbers globally and how you rank within the US.

deansguide.wordpress.com Alexa rankings as of 6/24/2008: 109,416 (up from 105k last week) in the US and 358,548 (up from 350,233 last week) overall. I receive 75.8% of my traffic from the US and the rest outside. For

Is Your SEO “Expert” Really An SEO Expert: 3 Keys To Verify Their Substance Factor

I am no SEO expert, no marketing expert, and no blogging expert but I do have expertise in all of these categories. In my travels around the SF Bay Area I attend upwards of 10 networking meetings or keynote events per month.

The hot topic is Web 2.0 SEO aka How to drive traffic to your site.

Unfortunately time and time again when I do my due diligence on the speaker’s background, their substance factor, and how their blog or websites rank I have recently been surprised by the results. Many speakers are knowingly misrepresenting themselves in regard to their credentials. Often times these speakers are leveraging their business accomplishments in other categories, unrelated to SEO or Web 2.0, as a means to securing these speaking “gigs.”

Cost

Simply put the average networking event keynote speech here in the Bay Area runs anywhere from $30-$65 per event. That adds up quickly and is of great concern when I am choosing events to attend

3 Key Factors To Check

When an “expert” claims they are going to speak about methods to increase your site’s traffic, Google rankings, and add links to your site you MUST perform some background checking if you want to understand if the speaker can deliver on his/her claims

#1 Alexa.com: Alexa.com (free service) remains one of the easiest, most telling sites in measuring traffic (page views and unique visitors) to a site either website or blog. Go to Alexa and input the url of your “expert’s site” for instant rankings. Alexa will return Global traffic, US rankings, and a mix of page view and unique visitor numbers.

Note: If an expert claims to be able to make your traffic “explode” then they better have an Alexa ranking of UNDER 1,000,000 at the very least.

Note 2: Alexa.com like any other measurement tool can not capture all web traffic. It is best to combine other traffic measurement tools with Alexa for a solid idea of a site’s traffic. Try Quantcast too

In my last two due diligence investigations on SEO “expert” speakers the first one came back with an Alexa ranking of over 19million which equates to about 10-20 visitors per day to their site. The second guy had a ranking in the 6million range which might provide 30 visitors per day

#2 Technorati: Links are considered the measurement of a site’s Google authority and a big part of the SEO formula. If you go to technorati.com (free tool) you can input the url and check on the number of hyper links which are coming into your “experts” site. If your expert has fewer than 10 links and they are old–he probably isn’t writing a worthwhile blog or he is not writing with consistency

#3 Evaluate their site: Do they write a blog? How often do they write per week? What is the date of the last blog post? Do they have a blogroll? Do they have widgets like mybloglog directory on their sidebar? Does the platform look dated? Do you like the way their sites looks?

Hits Myth

If your “expert” begins to speak about “hits” you might just want to bail. The term hits, although that is the only traffic measurement widget offered on wordpress blogs, is out dated and misleading. Hits can refer to any visitor who arrives at your site, clicks on any pictures, articles, or other documents. Each item is tallied as a hit.

You want to understand how many page views your expert’s blog-website receives; how many UNIQUE visitors, and their over all traffic ranking

Remember

If the “expert’s” site does not measure up in these 3 critical ways then how can the expert teach others how to increase their traffic and SEO power?

Smashing Review For Inner Architect: “She Is Writing This So I Can Be My Own Life Coach!”

Author Susan Hanshaw left a successful 20 year corporate career that culminated in a position as Vice President and second in command of her direct marketing firm. During her transition she learned how to step into her current life as author, keynote speaker, and Founder of personal development firm Inner Architect.

The following is a smashing debut review for her latest work “Inner Architect: How To Build The Life You Were Designed To Live.” Reviewer Lori Hoeck of the blog spaceagesage.com succinctly and accurately analyzes Susan’s work; with a honest and impacting style, Hoeck captures the true essence behind this book and the meaningful messages contained within. For further information and to order “Inner Architect: How To Build The Life You Were Designed To Live”

List price: $14.95
innerarchitect.com price: $11.95 (save 20%)
Also available at Amazon.

———-

Lori Hoeck:

“When I started reading Inner Architect by Susan Hanshaw, I was perplexed. Other books I have read on self-help or personal growth immediately delve into meaty matters of mind, body, and soul, such as “Here’s your problem, here’s every reason behind your problem, and here’s the answer to your problem.”

I assumed Hanshaw would follow this pattern in the typical parental or professorial or counselor-type writing style. She does not. After a few more pages, it suddenly struck me. She is writing this so I can be my own life coach! I expected this book to give me just a few new insights here and there. Instead, it gives me the right tools for me to kick my own life into gear.

Her writing style isn’t for the reader to passively ingest words and ideas. Instead:

• It is about taking action.
• It is about taking action right now.
• It is about cutting through the hype and hyperventilation we often use to avoid change.

Her approach challenges the reader to actively progress through change in the form of over 30 fill-in-the-blank exercises. None of the exercises can be completed with superficial thought. For example in the section on Personal Obstacles, one asks, “What frightens you most about making this change?”

Her book is subtitled “How to Build the Life You Were Designed to Live.” Hanshaw uses the metaphors of designing, clearing obstacles for, constructing, and even moving into that life. I liked her stair-step process of beginning from the earliest point of considering a change to embracing, claiming, and enjoying a new life resulting from that change.

As I read more, I could easily imagine a life coach sitting across from me motivating me to think through all the steps. For example, in the finding purpose section, she helps readers find their passion by listing these “Clues:”

• Activities that cause you to lose track of time
• Unique talents and characteristics
• Yearnings and dreams that don’t go away
• Section in a bookstore you are most drawn to
• Classes you enjoy taking
• Complements you often get
• Roles that you naturally take on with family and friends
• Someone whose life you admire and wish you could be doing the same

Because of the straight-forward nature of the book and the mental work involved, readers may shy away from this type of life coaching in a book. If, however, you are ready to make changes and need a guidebook to your new life, Inner Architect will get you moving and thinking in more clearly defined, step-by-step, and motivational ways.”

George Carlin: A Legacy Left Behind–Will You Be Remembered?

How do you want to be remembered? Does creating a legacy feel important to you? Would you like people to remember a contribution you made to your community? If you answered yes to any of these questions then it might be time to begin thinking about your own legacy. This article is written in memory of my best friend Charles Henderson who died of cancer in October 2006–this place will never be the same without these two guys for me.

George Carlin

George left behind a controversial, yet truth filled legacy of making people laugh while examining their own political values. He challenged everything from government, religion, status quo, and how we utilize our language. He was a champion of the little guy and proponent of the truth.

George made people laugh, gave them entertainment value, and he did it in a manner that often left people pondering their own ideals

What is Your Legacy?

Do you want to leave behind something people will remember you for, benefit from, and generally recognize as your contribution?

If you answered no or I don’t care then stop reading and go back to your bag of chips and soda. If you answered “I think so” or “Yes” then take heart you can create a legacy

What Do I Do?

1. Analyze what cause or interest you wish to support

2. Choose a charity or interest you wish to help, raise awareness, or raise funds to help

3. Consider ways your business or personal work can benefit people and how you can bring this to the masses

4. Can you teach?

5. Would you mentor a kid?

6. Create a charity event

7. Model your legacy after that of a person or organization you admire

Now What?

This is the easy part. Once you have decided in what direction to move–just move. Commit time to performing the task(s) that will move forward your cause, your work, or your vision. Bring it to the people. Be consistent and watch your efforts grow.

Remember

You don’t have to be famous or glamorous in order to be remembered. You just need to make an “impact” in one person’s life to begin crafting your legacy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder–go out and create a masterpiece.

Ode to George

I saw Carlin perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. 15 years ago. I have seen some amazing comedians but none as thought provoking as George. May his legacy and magic continue to touch people. We will miss you George!

“Can I Buy You Lunch”: CSIX Founder Hamid Saadat’s Successful Vision

Hamid Saadat was newly out of work and getting restless with his new routine at home. He had just been victim of a layoff during a brutal economic down turn in the Valley circa 2001.

Feeling like getting out, Hamid decided to wander over to a nearby neighborhood Chinese restaurant for some lunch and a change of pace. On his way to the restaurant, Hamid decided that if he could find someone to go to lunch with he might make a new networking connection.

Eying a man walking near the restaurant, Hamid asked “Can I buy you lunch?” With that innocuous question, he unwittingly launched a new career and provided Silicon Valley with one of it’s most powerful networking organizations in the process.

Hamid Saadat is Founder and Chairman of the Board of CSIX Connect. Under his leadership CSIX Connect has grown from 2 people at its inception in 2001, to more than 3000 members, who share job leads, job search resources and mutual support.

Substance Factor

A veteran Silicon Valley player, Hamid has more than 20 years experience with companies like Cisco, Marconi, Network Equipment Technology and Calinet Networks. His expertise lies in Operations primarily in the networking industry.

Hamid holds his Masters Degree in Physics from the University of Oregon.

That Certain Something

Charisma is often a over used and abused word when describing people. In the case of Hamid Saadat it truly fits the man. A gregarious and joyful crowd pleaser, Hamid has that certain something so many people gravitate toward. He is a genuine, helpful, supportive power who’s goal is to help everyone find and land their desired job.

If you want to network, network effectively, create new friendships, and connect with Silicon Valley’s best then you should strongly consider paying CSIX a visit–it’s the place to be.

Guy Kawasaki’s Hard Line: What Is Your Unfair Advantage?

One of the many nuggets of invaluable wisdom offered at last night’s Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs event was provided via a story about irrepresible powerhouse Guy Kawasaki. The story was told by Entrepreneur, Google and Co-Founder of Jaiku charismatic Jyri Engestrom.

As Jyri first explained he was invited to a Guy Kawasaki presentation to a group of entrepreneurs from Finland. Jyri is of Finnish heritage and acted as one of the liaisons. During one of Kawasaki’s talking points, Guy made the following statement:

“What is your unfair advantage?”

First Impressions

Jyri’s first impression of this statement was that it sounded very arrogant and confrontational until he had a moment to process. Then the statement made perfect sense and was one of the most important tips a entrepreneur could adopt.

Your Unfair Advantage

Your unfair advantage is the one powerful piece that makes your business unique, powerful, successful, and the envy of your competitors. Guy Kawasaki’s unfair advantage is the fact that he can instantly reach a huge audience due to his popularity online. When Guy says something thousands of people listen and often follow his lead

I Don’t Have an Unfair Advantage

According to Jyri, Kawasaki’s posit is simple. In the beginning, very few entrepreneurs or new businesses have an unfair advantage. They don’t have name recognition, fame, monster online audiences, or technology that is unique and ahead of the competition.

Instead most entrepreneurs and businesses begin with no unfair advantage according to Guy

The Solution

If your business does not have a unfair advantage or you the entrepreneur do not have an unfair advantage then you might consider the following:

1. Identify the unfair advantage that would make the greatest impact on your business

2. Hire the human capital, technology, or other entity that will provide you with your unfair advantage

Jyri’s Story was a simple case of recognizing a new industry trend, microblogging aka blogging platform for mobile devices (phones etc.) and chance. At a conference, Jyri met a developer he described as the #1 microblogging developer in the world. Jyri immediately accessed the opportunity and hired this man and the rest is Jaiku history.

Newsflash: Denver “Okun Victims” Sue Former IXG Founders

IBS affiliate WX1112.com Greensboro Winston-Salem, NC published this deansguide article June 21, 2008

The plot continues to thicken as swindled investors scramble to recover what few pennies exist from their embezzled 1031 exchange funds, many representing investor life savings, in the fallen Ed Okun 1031 Tax Group “Ponzi” scheme.

A concerned “citizen” sent the following link to a June 20, 2008 Denver Business Journal story “Ex-clients sue IXG founders in 1031 Tax Group Bankruptcy.” According to writer Renee McGaw ex-Okun employees Daniel and Shirley McCabe are the subjects of the lawsuit and controversy.

The McCabes were the original owners of the Investment Exchange Group (IXG) in Denver until Okun purchased the business in August of 2006 through his 1031 Tax Group business.

In the Denver Business Journal article Jeffrey Cohen, attorney for Denver based victims of the McCabes and Okun, stated:

“We believe that the McCabes misused and mishandled funds that were under their control”

Main Source

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/06/23/story3.html