Marey Hoeppner- Portage, MI- Virutal Assist Expert

My friend Brande Bradford posted this blog about finding a good agent and I thought I would re-blog it as it has some helpful tips. Great information for anyone to know.

My friend Chris wrote this blog about fonts and I thought I would re-blog it, because it is good information for anyone to know. Great blog, Chris!

We all know Google, we all want to be high up in Google. That is because it is one of the most popular or should I say "the most popular" web search engines amongst the internet. Everyone knows who Google is and wants to get their site indexed by Google, but that is just one step to getting ranked higher in it. To show up higher in the ranking search results so that people see and find your site, you need to improve your ranking. There is no easy way out, no "special or magic button" that will help you improve your ranking, there are ways that you can help to make sure your site looks good to those wonderful bots that Google sends out.

Listed below are some good tid bits of information that can and will come in handy to help your ranking improve to satisfy the Google bots!

1. Write for Readers! Let me start by saying, you should ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS write for your readers, not Google. It is important to Google too, that you are writing information that makes sense to readers.

2. Text For Important Content. Always use text for important content, I find alot of people like to use images. While images are easier to use to show important content, the bots dont read images so you are better to use text for that very important content. You can use images as well, but make sure you spell it out too!

3. Valid And Current Codes. Always make sure your HTML is valid and working properly. Meaning there are no errors in the coding and also make sure all the links are current and working properly.

4. Site Map. Offer a page where your readers can go to find the exact thing they are looking for.

5. Text Links. Use text links on all your pages instead of graphic links. All your pages should have text links, and it helps if they have actual keywords for the section the link is referring to other than something like "click here".

6. Strong Introduction. Your first paragrah on your site should be very strong. This means have a solid explaination of what your site is about that also contains keywords you want to focus on.

7. Ordered Headings. This means that your headings should be in order from H1, H2, H3 and so on, on each page.

8. Descriptive Title Tag. This is important too. If you do a search on Google, check for "untitled" you will come up with several million sites that do not have a descriptive title tag. Every site should have a Title tag, its the title of the site when the window pops up. Very Important.

9. Reciprocal Links. I don't care what anyone says about these, they are good to have. Some people say if you link to a persons site and they linkto yours, you rule out your links. NOT ALWAYS TRUE. Now if you are just linking to those sites that are place your link here and put our link on yours for affiliates, scams etc., that will not do you any good. If you use reciprocal linking properly, putting someones ad, article, testimonial, that links to them on your site, you are better off and vice versa. You have to be selective on doing this, but it works. One big key to getting high rankings in Google is having a lot of people link to you. The more people that link to you that are "more important" meaning they are higher up in the rankings than you, this will get you higher ranked for keywords.

10. Don't Over Use Words. Having irrelevant words multiple times on a page doesnt improve your ranking. Most times they don't make sense to your readers and it can hurt your ranking too.

11. Don't Hide Text or Links. Trying to hide text in the background same color of the page, or inside tags and things of that nature. Text must be visible for our wonderful Google bots to consider it.

I will keep posting helpful tips,information and ideas to help you improve your sites ranking, help with marketing, tutorials on how to do things. If there is anything you would like to learn or know, please feel free to contact me at marey@virtualassistexpert.com. Remember we are here to help you!

I am going to be posting an article about Google again, here shortly! Keep a watch out for it!

Where do I begin? Well for those of you here in the rain that don't know, Chris Fisher and I have become very good friends since the moment we started talking here in the rain. We also are working together, well have been for awhile, but just recently joined forces and went into business together. We have been talking alot about getting together and meeting each other in person, since we talk every single day. It finally happened, I got to meet my wonderful friend from California because she came out to help me!

I have been having problems, in alot of pain all the time and it was decided that a hysterectomy would help. So when this was decided Chris tells me she wants to come out here to help me for week when it was done. My surgery was on March 30th and they were able to it the better way so less healing time. Chris was coming in on the 7th of April, that whole night I could not sleep, was excited and nervous at the same time. My boys were the same way, excited to finally meet Chris. David left to go get her at 1am and I just sat here waiting for them to get back, couldn't sleep at all. When I saw him pull in, I walked out onto our porch and when she got to me and we hugged hello, it seemed so unreal that she was really here! I think we both kept saying we couldn't believe she was really here.

It was fun to be able to sit next to each other and work and talk rather than working and talking online all day like we were used too. Now I am used to talking to her with her right here next to me and I do miss it. We had a blast while she was here, although, there was a few days I was very ill, sick to my stomach and what not and Chris was a big help, occupying the kids, helping clean up and cooking too.

This is my middle son Josh with Chris. He had to go everywhere Chris went, it was very cute. He just loved having her here, he is the one that kept asking me, "Mom when is Chris coming?", "Mom just 3 more days and she will be here!" He hung out with her all day, sat out by her in the livingroom, just talking to her about anything and everything. He was even trying to get her to move here. Kept telling her, hey Chris there is a house for sale down the street you can buy that and move there. He really misses her being here now as he has said a few times already and cannot wait to see her again. Because he just "loves Chris" as he says.

To the left is Chris with my youngest son Chris, who demanded to just be called his nickname while she was here, which is CJ. I did forget a few times and when I said Chris, Chris looked but CJ ignored it or would say it's CJ mom. I have told her before that she had a CJ at home, her nephew that I got to see on the webcam reminded me so much of my son. I don't think she really believed it until she was here and saw for herself. She just got a kick out of his goofy, funny attitude and the silly faces he likes to make. He does know how to make someone smile as you can see in the picture he is smiling but has to be different than anyone else. He is such a character, but she loved it!

Of course then you have my boys' friend Kevin on the left of Chris, who is my adopted son as he adopted me as his mom, then my son Davey is on the right of Chris. The boys have been talking to Kevin about Chris on the phone all week and he knew she was a good friend of mine so he just HAD to come stay the night to meet her. Davey enjoyed hanging with her and drew a picture to show her how he would like his website to look, since she told him she would make him one.

I have to say all three of my boys loved being with Chris, she listened to music with them and watch funny videos, showing them the things she liked. They just had a blast walking around the house singing stuff Chris had them listen too, saying phrases of things and just cracking up laughing the whole time doing it. They all miss her now and want her to come back, but next time they want her to bring Rhiannon, her daughter with her. They got to talk to her on the phone and online which they enjoyed.

Okay, now I can tell you, Chris got me watching Absolutely Fabulous, a British comedy, so now with that said, my boys have been calling us the Ab Fab Crew. Her first night here, we sat here talking and laughing, had a few glasses of wine and ended up putting the show on to watch, it was great. Although when we got the wine, we didnt think about a corkscrew, realized this when we were ready to open it. We got one and were trying to open the bottle of wine, the cork wouldnt come out, so David came in was trying to get it out and then he decided to just push the cork into the bottle. Can we say wine shower? Wine splashed all over him, the counter, the cupboards, it was hilarious.  We also have another Ab Fab lover, that is my sister in law kelly.  Who is in pic with me and Chris below.

But even though I am recovering from surgery, I had a wonderful time visiting with Chris and being able to work side by side with her during her stay. I was very comfortable with her here and felt like she has always been here. I wanted to say thank you to a few people because without them, I wouldnt have met Chris and wouldn't have been able to have such a great friend and business partner. So the first ones I think I need to thank, is the Founders of Active Rain, having Active Rain made it possible for us to meet, so Thank you. The next person I really need to thank is Bonnie Westbrook, she sent Chris my way when she needed assistance with some work. We started talking and just hit it off, so thank you Bonnie.

Chris, I want to thank you again for coming out here to help out, in my time of need. It was very thoughtful of you to take time to fly out here and help with everything. I appreciate everything you have done for me and honored to have a friend like you. I want to dedicate the poem below to you.

Helping Hand

As we journey down the road so mysterious,
on occasion, storm clouds cover our sun,
blinding us with terrifying darkness;
leaving us, needing someone to lean on,
A helping hand to guide us, to be our eyes,
giving us faith in our time of need,
supporting us and offering advice;
giving us the comfort we all need,
The day I met you,
God was watching over me,
He knew I needed someone like you;
who would always be there for me,
Through happiness, through sorrow,
Through difficult times, through special times,
Your loving and caring ways will always show;
Never letting me fall behind,
You my friend, I would like to tell you,
thank you for being who you are, I love you.

First off, I guess I should announce that Chris Fisher and I have joined forces completely as StagersLIST Websites, from doing virtual assistant work to building and maintaining websites. We have been talking about it for sometime and finally decided to take the step and go for it! I enjoy working with Chris, she is smart, creative and fun to be around. Things will be changing on my profile, my header and such as well, so keep a look out for that.

Chris and I, have also talked about doing something else as well and we have started that too. Just taking a little time to get it all set up!

You are probably wondering what other thing could we have possibly started. Hmmmm. We have been thinking we would like to help others learn how to do things and write How To's and Tutorials. We have started up our own group called "StagersLIST Strategy and Marketing Time Savers" In this group will be post tutorials and How to's, give great ideas and tips, to help our fellow rainers!

If you would like to join our group click here - StagersLIST Strategy and Marketing Time Savers

If there is something you would like us to write a tutorial on, just leave us a comment on oneof our blogs or on the welcome blog in the group and we will put it on our agenda. As always if you need any assistance or help, just remember we are here to help you! Below are some of the buttons, logos, headers and websites we have made.

A coaching client of mine Brande Bradford and I, were discussing the other day, how people pay for SEO (Seach Engine Optimization) training and don't get what they pay for most of the time. This is what we have both come to see when marketing and reading other individuals information on the subject, all over the internet. Blogging is one thing, but your website is another. Although, one thing about Active Rain or Trulia, when you post in these places, they have SEO built into their systems. So that helps to give it a boost up in the rankings in SEO. This is what gives us all the upper hand here in the rain, when we blog! See how great Active Rain really is? People should be running to connect with others on here!

Of course, your keywords and the phrases you use do have something to do with it as well. But if you look close, all that pulls up the links below it are for just active rain. What about other places you blog and your website if you have one. Paying for SEO training should be able to help you with both, not just one. SEO for your blogs is a bit different than SEO for you website. You need to make sure that when paying to get help with your SEO, whoever is going to help you, they are going to help you with learning SEO over all. Which means assisting you with blog writing, as well as, assisting you with your website.

For example, blogs do not use metatags, only websites do. Years ago, metatags use to be the primary tool for SEO. Today SEO consists of alot of things, but still uses metatags for your page descriptions, your page keywords. The thing to watch for that I see alot of people do not change the description or keywords for each page. Not every page has the same keywords or the same descr, so you should change those to match each page. That will help build your SEO as well.

Just keep in mind that learning SEO is no different than trying to learn and perfect a sport. Whether it be hockey, baseball, bowling, soccer, it doesn't matter which one, although I prefer bowling, hockey or football, when you start playing you don't know what your doing, you have a coach there to help you learn the sport. Then once you know the rules you have to learn to perfect it. Tweak your weaknesses, build on your strengths, to become a Professional.

Same with SEO, in order to use it, you must learn about it first. Practice and get an idea of how it operates and works for you. Then tweak it, to build up your experience which will help you to move up in rankings and get yourself, your site, and your blogs out there. Of course, I would love to list, a list of different categories or sections of SEO for you, however, I think I would rather keep you all wondering and just post about them as we go. If you would like to learn more about SEO and marketing, contact Brande Bradford today!

My friend Chris Fisher, wrote this blog about Kym Hough, another great person I know and get to work with, with Chris of course. I am very happy and excited for Kym and I know this book will be beneficial to everyone in the real estate business.  Way to Kym, excited for you! Wooho!

Do not forget all you Florida Realtors and Stagers, StagersLIST is doing an expo on March 17th, in Winter Park, Florida! For more information click on the link in Chris' blog or contact Chris!

Great blog about Kym, Chris.

I know alot of people here in the rain, know who Brande Bradford is. However, she has started her coaching business as most know from her previous blogs and is using a new name for her business Home Grown Marketing, and I thought I would reblog her first post on her new name to help get the word out.

Brande, way to go on moving forward! I know you will be a success because your main motivation is helping others become successful. You rock!