There are many factors to consider in ranking well with the search engines. And, as luck would have it, each search engine has its own recipe (or algorithm) for the criteria that they apply to this end.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “sets the stage” for the engines. Optimizing a website is sort of like staging a home for buyers, except in this case, you are staging for the search engine ‘bots. If you have good content (which is very important) it still needs to abide by other factors that search engines build into their formulas for ranking websites.

Visit this short article on some of the factors that can help put you in good standing with the search engines.

If you would like GraphicalData to assist you with SEO on your GraphicalData website, please feel free to contact us at seo@graphicaldata.com

One of those unpleasant situations you’ll face when you write your own copy.

It happens to the best of them, so I’m told. Writers block. That moment when you sit down to write and nothing comes to mind. You can’t think of a single thing to write. Or maybe you can think of a line, but a single line won’t do.

One tip for overcoming writers block is to simply start writing. It’s easier to fix something that’s not well done than it is to fix nothing. So, just sit down and start writing that property description or homepage copy. Just make sure to take time to edit your work later.

Another tip is to unplug your internet and turn off your phone. Now, you don’t want to be completely disconnected; as a real estate agent, you need to be available when your clients need you. But, if you’re struggling with writers block, one of the best things you can do is to take away distractions.

Did you leave that one line on the page last night when you left the office? Start back in on it first thing in the morning, when your mind is at its freshest and you haven’t had to begin reacting to the incoming tasks and distractions of the day.

Take a walk! Walking will give you a change of scenery, some fresh air, and get your blood pumping. You’ll come back to your desk refreshed and recharged, and while your body was engaged, your subconscious mind may have solved a few of your conundrums.

Well, that’s about it for my tips. What about yours? Do have other methods of overcoming writers block? Share your tips in the comments. I’d love to learn some new tricks!

Common grammar blunders to avoid.

Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with a silly near-homophone to throw into this exposition on its and it’s. Were yurts and tutus as good as it gets? Perish the thought!

Small as they are, its and it’s are rather difficult to learn to use properly, and as a result, quite commonly misused. Let’s see if we can remedy the situation a bit, shall we?

Its and it’s have the same root word: it. It is a gender-neutral singular pronoun used for objects, groups, a concept or abstract idea, activity, animals whose sex isn’t known, or as an impersonal subject of the verb to be, especially to refer to time, distance, or weather. You might not believe me, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is yet another word for which there are many, many entries in the dictionary. I encourage you to look it up yourself

The most likely reason that its and it’s are so difficult is the fact that they’re in reverse of the normal grammatical rules and conventions. Normally, to pluralize a word, we add an s, and an apostrophe-s to show possession, and an s-apostrophe to indicate plural possession. But it is always singular, so no need to make for plural or plural possessive.

So what to do when it owns something? Under normal grammatical rules, we’d just go with it’s, but it is a grammatical black sheep. When it owns something we add the s with no apostrophe and get its.

For example: That dog is angry and baring its teeth. Its hair is standing on end.

So what does it’s mean? It’s is a contraction or shortening of two words, the phrase it is.

For example: You can tell by the clouds that it’s about to rain.

An easy way to remember the correct usage of its and it’s is to replace them with it is. If it is works, use it’s. Otherwise, it must own something and you’d use its.

OK…you have taken a great photo and you want to upload it to your website. The challenge is that with each new generation of cameras, image mega-pixel size continues to increase. Unoptimized images are appearing on websites around the world with sizes in megabytes, bogging down servers and frustrating users. Website page bailout rates are on the rise as visitors are less likely to wait around for slow loading pages.

The solution: down-size your image…this reflects not only the physical size of your photo, but also the kilobyte (kb) size of the image which influences download time. To do this, you need some form of photo editor.

Perhaps the easiest solution for the average user is to downsize the photo with a nifty little program that is available for free from Microsoft. It is called, interestly enough, Image Resizer and is found in their PowerToy section.

Sure, you could do even better if you were an experienced PhotoShop user, but for average website owners who do not have the time or inclination to learn a high end program, this could be the perfect fit.

You can find Image Resizer on the Microsoft website3 and can download it from this location: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Once you have downloaded the small file, just install it into your Program files or wherever, Windows will know where it is located.

The cool thing is that this PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a single right-click. To find the image on your computer…right click on your computer’s  “start” button…select “Explorer”…navigate to the directory where your image is found. Then right click on it…select “Resize Pictures” and either use one of the default sizes provided (probably the smallest), or customize to the exact size you want with the simple “Advanced Feature” setting.

You can either overwrite your existing photo or save as a new smaller image (recommended). And, as previously mentioned, you can save time by resizing multiple images simultaneously.

This is a simple program…but effective. Run through a couple photos and you will have it all figured out.

The Result: Now your website will load much more quickly, and your visitors will be more “happy”. And, you are being “more green” on the web as you are saving bandwidth!

If you haven’t checked out our new website themes lately, time to revisit them! Whatever your region or tastes, we have fresh, modern designs that will give your website a whole new look with just a few clicks.

If you’ve ever looked at your website and thought, “I need to switch this up a bit!” but can never find more than a spare moment, you’ll be delighted at how easy this is.

View this tutorial for easy insight on changing out your look. Both horizontal and vertical styles are available

We are adding new styles on a regular basis, so check back often.

Important Note:  This does not apply to clients who have custom designed websites with their own defined banners and styles.