Real Pro Gold websites now have snippets of each blog post on the Home page which provides fresh content that search engines just love. Using the correct keywords and meta-tags, you should see remarkable improvement in your search engine placement. Mind you this will not happen overnight or if you only blog once a week. But with effort it will happen! 

Real Pro Gold and Twitter

Another new feature you will be excited about is being able to submit your blog post to Twitter with the click of your mouse. Yes, you do have to have a Twitter account set up, but after that, tweeting is a piece of cake. 

If you have not heard of Twitter and don’t have a clue what I am talking about…you are not alone. Contact me. As your Real Estate Virtual Assistant, I’m glad to help.

Follow me on Twitter!

1. Advanced search.

Twitter likes to hide some of its best features, such as the ‘Advanced Search’. Scroll down to the bottom of any Twitter.com page. Click on ‘Search’ then click on ‘Advanced Search’. Here you can search specific people, date ranges, places and phrases.

2.  Tweet by texting.

Twitter limited tweets to 140 characters so they could be sent as a short message text service (S.M.S.). When you login, go to ‘Settings’, then ‘Devices’ and add your phone. The Twitter interface will add buttons next to each user you follow so you can turn update on or off. You’ll want to use this feature sparingly so you don’t run up your bill.

You can tweet form your phone by texting a message to 40404.

3. Twitter/Facebook integration.

If you use both Twitter and Facebook, You can add only one status update and have it go to both networks. Go to Twitter.com/widgets/facebook and click on ‘Install Twitter in Facebook’ and work your way through the configuration.

This will work in both directions, but it is a good idea to send your tweet to Facebook. It takes fewer steps and you know you are within your 140 character limit.

4. Favorites.

Want to save a tweet? Mouse over it and a star-shaped icon appears. Click the icon and it will link to Favorites on your Home page.

5. Share photos.

You can’t send photos, but you can send a URL for a photo hosted on a website. TwitPic will store your photos and create the URL. Go to TwitPic.com, use your Twitter user name and password and upload your photos. Share your photo by going to the photo page on TwitPic and tweeting from there.

6. Desktop apps.

Instead of going to Twitter.com to send tweets, you can use a desktop app which is more like using AOL Instant Messenger.

For Windows users, Digsby displays Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and your email accounts in a long, tall window. Mac users will want Twitterrific.

TweetDeck works on Windows and Macs and displays in multiple columns.

7. Phone apps.

There are numerous apps for smartphones. Try Twitterberry for Blackberry devices and Tweetie for iPhones. These applications make it easy to post photos from your phone.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Learn how a Real Estate Virtual Assistant can change your life!

The next question most people ask is, “What is Twitter?” Twitter is a micro-blog that allows posts of no more than 140 characters. As with other social networking sites, Twitter is not the place to sell, sell, sell and jam real estate down people throats, but a place to be yourself, be real and let people get to know you. Can you slip real estate in there once in awhile, sure, but don’t make it all about real estate. Camouflage your business related info and have some fun.

So how do you get started? Below is a Beginners Guide to Twitter to help you out:

1. Sign up.

Go to Twitter.com, click on the large green button that says, ‘Get Started – Join!’

Enter your name, user name, password and email address. Pick a user name that isn’t too cutsey. You want people to know who you are, but using your real name is better than sellyourhomefast.

2. Send your first tweet.

When you log in you will see a large box in the top left corner that says, “What Are You Doing?” Type anything you want here but don’t go over 140 characters.

3. Settings.

Click on? Settings in the top right corner and personalize your account. Add your photo and other information about yourself.

4. Find people.

Search Twitter for your friends, invite other to join, and check to see if friends from other email services have a Twitter account,

5. Follow users.

You choose who you want to follow. Click on the user’s photo or name to go to that person’s page. There is a list of suggested users to get you started.

6. Protect your updates.

You can protect your updates by only allowing people you approve to follow you. It is a good idea not to put anything on the Internet you don’t want your Mother to know about.

7. Search

Click on the ‘Search’ button at the bottom of your screen to search all tweets on Twitter like you search on Google. You can also bookmark search.twitter.com.

8. Notices

Twitter can remind you if you haven’t tweeted in less than 24 hours, email you when someone starts following you, and email you when you receive a direct message (private message just to you).

9. Apps

There are numerous Twitter applications so you can easily find out what your friends are doing. TweetDeck puts a widget on your desktop so you can follow tweets without logging in. It shows you everything you want to see all at once. There are lots more you will want to check out.

Consider jumping on the bandwagon and being where the action is. My user name is ruthannmacklin…I’d love you to follow me!

Don’t have time to set up a Twitter account? Contact me at info@myreassistant.com. As your real estate virtual assistant, I’m glad to do it for you!