Daily Archives: January 25, 2011

5 Fast Tips to Improve Internal Links

This guest post was written by James Hay, Social Media Coordinator for Fasthosts Internet Ltd.

Playing to your strengths is an important part of SEO, and before going out and spending all day endlessly pursuing external links, it is important to look at your own site.

You control what is displayed on your site and the SEO tips below provide a number of ways to increase your rank strength and improve your blog’s internal link architecture.

Just in case you’ve not come across the phrase “Internal Linking” before, here’s a quick definition from SearchPath:

The process whereby words or phrases within a web page are linked to other pages in the site. Internal links are considered important in SEO terms, as they are often spidered and displayed by Google.

So here are my top five tips to help you improve your internal link architecture.

1. Use keyword-relevant anchor text

Ensure that the keyword(s) you’re trying to get ranked for is used as your anchor text (the text within the link). For example, if the phrase you are trying to get ranked for is “Internal Links”, and the page you want people to find for that phrase is your article “Guide to Internal Linking”, then use that phrase as the anchor text for your link. The search engine spiders will then understand what your target page is about, and it will increase the content’s ranking strength for that phrase.

2. Use absolute URLs

Although there is no empirical evidence to say that search engines spiders prefer absolute URLs (i.e. http://yourdomain.com/pagetitle.html) over relative URLs (i.e. /pagetitle.html), it is good practice to use absolute URLs. It help spiders determine exactly where the page is located on your site, and if your content gets copied, then at least the links will point back to your website.

3. Improve your site’s speed

The speed at which your pages load certainly affects your page rank. I recommend using Google Webmaster Tools and adding a sitemap to your blog. You can then look at your site performance and how quickly your pages load. Google seems to regard 1.5 seconds or less as a good load time. Compress any large images and refine unnecessary code to help speed up your site.

4. Use text menus

Although search engines are improving all the time, the search engine spiders still have difficulty crawling non-text navigation menus. It is advisable to use text menus rather than those that require Flash or JavaScript.

5. Clean up your links

It’s important to keep in mind that search engine spiders love to move freely and quickly through your site, which is why I’ve provided the tips above. But one thing that spiders really dislike is hitting a dead-end, and broken links are the cause of this. The Google Webmaster Tools can also identify broken links on your blog. Go through those links and either remove them, or change the anchor text and redirect the link to a valid page.

These are my top tips for improving internal links on your blog. What others can you add?

This article was written by James Hay, Social Media Coordinator at Fasthosts Internet Ltd and the main contributor to the Fasthosts Blog which provides advice on everything from B2B Marketing to Social Networking.

Calculated Risk: House Prices and Months-of-Supply, and Real House Prices

This morning S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price indexes for November (a three month average). Here is a look at house prices and existing home months-of-supply, and also real house prices (2nd graph).

House Prices and Months-of-Supply

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows existing home months-of-supply (left axis), and the annualized change in the Case-Shiller composite 20 house price index (right axis, inverted).

House prices are through November using the composite 20 index. Months-of-supply is through December. Based on this general relationship, I expect house prices to fall further.

The months-of-supply declined to 8.1 months in December, but I think there is a good chance that the months-of-supply will increase again in the spring of 2011. The months-of-supply uses the seasonally adjusted sales rate, but the not seasonally adjusted inventory – even though there is a clear seasonal pattern for inventory (low in December and January and higher during the summer).

We will need to watch inventory and months-of-supply very closely over the next few months for hints about house prices.

Note: there have been periods with high months-of-supply and rising house prices (see: Lawler: Again on Existing Home Months’ Supply: What’s “Normal?” ) so this is just a guide.

The following graph shows the Case-Shiller Composite 20 index, and the CoreLogic House Price Index in real terms (adjusted for inflation using CPI less shelter). Note: some people use other inflation measures to adjust for real prices.

Real House Prices

In real terms, both indexes are back to early 2001 prices. Also both indexes are at post-bubble lows.

A few key points:
• The real price indexes are at post-bubble lows. Those who argued prices bottomed some time ago are already wrong in real terms, and will probably be wrong in nominal terms soon.

• Don’t expect real prices to fall to ’98 levels. In many areas – if the population is increasing – house prices increase slightly faster than inflation over time, so there is an upward slope in real prices.

• Real prices are still too high, but they are much closer to the eventual bottom than the top in 2005. This isn’t like in 2005 when prices were way out of the normal range.

• Prices will probably fall some more and my forecast is for a decline of 5% to 10% from the October 2010 levels for the national price indexes. We will need to watch inventory (and months-of-supply) closely over the next few months to forecast house prices.

U.S. Home Prices Fell 1.6% in November, Most in a Year, Case-Shiller Says

Home Prices in U.S. Dropped

Residential real-estate prices dropped in November by the most in a year, signaling housing has yet to join the U.S. rebound. Photographer: Jim R. Bounds/Bloomberg

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — Sireen Hajj, an analyst at Credit Agricole, discusses the November S&P/Case-Shiller index of home values and the outlook for the U.S. housing market. Residential real-estate prices dropped by the most in a year, according to the index. Hajj speaks with Betty Liu and Michael McKee on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Residential real-estate prices dropped in November by the most in a year, signaling housing has yet to join the U.S. rebound.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home values in 20 cities fell 1.6 percent from November the prior year, the biggest 12-month decrease since December 2009, the group said today in New York. The decline matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Mounting foreclosures will probably throw more properties on the market this year, further depressing prices, homeowners’ equity and construction. The lack of a sustained housing rebound and unemployment above 9 percent are among reasons the Federal Reserve may announce this week it’ll complete a second round of stimulus that will pump $600 billion into the economy by June.

“The housing market is in a state of hibernation,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York. “We have a very severe foreclosure problem. Prices are going to keep weakening this year. Weakness in the housing market is likely to keep the Fed relatively cautious in its statement tomorrow.”

Consumer confidence rose more than forecast in January to the highest level in eight months as Americans grew more optimistic about job prospects, another report today showed.

Gaining Confidence

The Conference Board’s sentiment index increased to 60.6 from a revised 53.3 the prior month that was higher than previously estimated, figures from the New York-based private research group showed. Economists projected the January gauge would increase to 54, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

Stocks pared losses after the confidence report. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.1 percent to 1,289.74 at 10:03 a.m. in New York after declining as much as 0.4 percent.

The median forecast was based on a survey of 26 economists. Estimates ranged from declines of 2.1 percent to 0.1 percent. Year-over-year records began in 2001. The decrease followed a 0.8 percent year-over-year drop in October.

Prices fell 0.5 percent in November from the prior month after adjusting for seasonal variations, following a 1 percent October decrease. Unadjusted prices dropped 1 percent from the prior month as 19 of 20 cities showed declines.

Preferred Gauge

The year-over-year gauge provides better indications of trends in prices, the group has said. The panel includes Karl Case and Robert Shiller, the economists who created the index.

The Case-Shiller gauge is based on a three-month average, which means the November data was influenced by transactions in October and September.

Sixteen of the 20 cities in the index showed a year-over- year decline, led by a 7.9 percent drop in Atlanta. In November, prices in nine markets dropped to fresh lows from their 2006, 2007 peaks.

“With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, said in a statement. A double-dip would be reached when the 20-city index sets a new post-peak low, which may happen in the first half of this year, said Blitzer.

Washington showed the biggest year-over-year increase, with prices rising 3.5 percent in the 12 months to November.

Credit’s Influence

The industry is trying to regain its footing after demand plunged following the expiration of a buyer tax incentive of as much as $8,000. Sales slumped in mid-2010, causing prices to slide and builders to pull back.

For 2011, most Districts anticipate “continued weak conditions” in residential real estate, the Fed said Jan. 12 in its Beige Book report, based on anecdotal information. The New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco areas mentioned “distressed properties placing downward pressure on prices,” it said.

Fed officials, starting a two-day policy meeting today, may push ahead with the planned securities purchases even amid signs the recovery is strengthening. The world’s largest economy probably grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, up from a 2.6 percent pace in the previous three months, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before a report later this week.

More Foreclosures

Industry projections reinforce the concern about housing. The number of homes receiving a foreclosure filing will climb about 20 percent in 2011, reaching a peak for the housing crisis, said RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based data seller.

Home values may drop as much as 11 percent through the first quarter of 2012, which would put them 36 percent below their 2006 peak, according to a Dec. 8 Morgan Stanley report.

Developers remain cautious. Housing starts fell in December to the lowest level since October 2009, Commerce Department figures showed. Miami-based Lennar Corp., the third-largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, is among companies bracing for a slow rebound.

It’ll be a “long and bumpy” housing recovery, Stuart Miller, chief executive officer, said on a Jan. 11 conference call with analysts. “Shadow inventory and foreclosures will continue to impact individual markets on the supply side, while the pace of recovery in the job market will influence consumer confidence and demand.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net

Making Facebook Work For You | Bedford NY Real Estate – Robert Paul’s blog

01/25/2011

Making Facebook Work For You | Bedford NY Real Estate

Survey1

 

5 Ways to Make Facebook Smarter for Business   |  Bedford NY Homes

Facebook has been touted as a great tool for real estate professionals to connect with customers. But having a Facebook profile page alone is not enough.

Charlie Engel, vice president of sales at the online classified ad company Oodle Inc., and Nicole Nicolay of Agent Evolution recently spoke at an Agent Reboot conference in New York City by Inman News about how real estate pros can broaden their reach on Facebook.

Here are a few of the strategies they addressed:

1. Create lists to organize your contacts. You can have separate lists of your contacts by geographic location, topic, or type (e.g. first-time home buyers and move-up buyers) to better organize your contacts on Facebook. But be careful what you call your lists–some friend lists can be made public and even notify your contacts about it. However, the benefit is that once you have friends designated in groups, you can select your lists to sort your news feeds and target your communications.

2. Get a vanity URL. You need at least 25 people to “Like” your Facebook business page until you can get a vanity URL for it (such as facebook.com/username). The benefit of a vanity URL is it is easier to add to your marketing materials so you can promote your Facebook presence.

3. Have a landing tab with extra info. You can create a customized, branded landing tab on your Facebook page so that you can include newsletter information or your listings. You’ll need to have a tab developer who is savvy in Facebook Markup Language (FBML).

4. Start your own group. You can create a Facebook group to get other Facebook users to gather over shared interests, with options to make the group public or private. Start your group here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/

5. Details, details. Allow others to get to know you better and connect with you in other ways. Include photos, basic personal information, friend lists under “Featured People,” education, your philosophy, arts, entertainment preferences, activities, interests, and work credentials. And take advantage of a new tool that allows you to add “info” links that will appear under your username.

 

Bedford NY Homes

Bedford Luxury Homes

 

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by:  | 

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

This weblog only allows comments from registered TypeKey users. To comment, please enable JavaScript so you can sign into TypeKey.