Eight Tips for Increasing Online Sales via Guest Blogging

There are lots of different search engine optimization (SEO) methods that can be utilized in order to enhance the visibility and credibility of your website. One option which is soaring in popularity as of late is guest blogging. This is a niche of content creation which has benefited from the recent changes to SEO.

© alphaspirit ' Fotolia.com

Even with this budding potential though, for your guest blogging strategies to work effectively you need to ensure that your online sales actually increase. This is to do with your conversion rate, of course. Many times SEO campaigns end up creating traffic increases substantially, while sales somehow lag far behind the potential, this is because a site's  bounce rate is too high in many cases.

Keeping that in mind, read on to discover the top eight tips for increasing online sales via the utilization of guest blogging.

One ' Finding the right blog

You need to make sure that you guest post for relevant blogs. After all, you need to generate targeted traffic. If you post on blogs which are not associated with the industry you operate in then you won't benefit. Moreover, it is recommended that you go for high quality blogs with an editorial focus. These blogs are more credible.

Two ' Quality content

It is surprising how many people overlook the importance of quality content. Of course you want to create links and promote your website. However, people aren't going to be interested if your content is generic and of a poor quality.

Three ' Build strong partnerships

Guest blogging gives you the potential to build up a strong partnership with other bloggers. Make sure you do this rather than posting a blog and then simply dropping it afterwards. After all, you can build up your reputation via other blogs and thus create several loyal viewer and customer bases.

Four ' Find the right balance

Don't brag about your company too much or try and shove your business down the viewer's throat. You can mention it and you will have your call to action of course. Viewers want to read your blog to enhance their knowledge first and foremost, not be part of a sales pitch.

Five ' Share

Make sure that you share the article via social media platforms. After all, utilizing Twitter and Facebook is via to search engine optimization these days. This is a great way to generate more targeted traffic.

Six ' Respond to comments left

When people comment on a post you have wrote then you should take the effort to respond. This works well because you create a bond between yourself and the viewer. This is likely to turn viewers into customers.

Seven ' Call to action

A call to action is a great way to generate traffic because if people are interested in what you have blogged about then they are going to be likely to want to delve a little bit deeper. The problem is that people are so eager to include a call to action so they post it as soon as possible ' leave it until the end of your article.

Eight ' Keyword quality not quantity

You need to use keywords which people are most likely to search to get to your website and you need to use them naturally. Do not use the keyword which gets the most Google searches and do not place it everywhere in your article. For example, if you sell custom made jewelry then 'jewelry' may pull in more search results but 'custom made jewelry' will pull in more relevant traffic and thus works better.

If you consider the eight points in this article then you will be assured to get the most out of guest blogging and to enhance your conversion rate. Guest posting is always considered to be an advantage if you are in a plan to develop your website or blog and enhance your reputation in the online world. If you are unsatisfied with the flow of traffic to your site or blog, you should start guest posting to other sites or blogs and have a look how your influence develops online.

So, this is how postings acts as a benefit for search engines in view of the fact that host bloggers consist of a link to your blog that, over the time, will be beneficial.

About Author : Lisa Jane is a freelance journalist. She used High Position as a resource tool for information on search engine optimization (SEO) for guest blogging.

Property Investment Expert Rick Otton Shares Remote Investing Tips in Podcast

In his latest Creative Real Estate iTunes podcast, property investment strategist Rick Otton shares tips with property investors on saving time and money through remote marketing and investing. As property investors no longer need to see a property when buying or selling it, as advised by the Australian property investment strategist as Google maps along with other types of handy technology turn remote decision making into a reality.

'We're in the business of solving problems for people, so we try and do what it takes to make that happen,' said Mr Otton in the podcast.

Rick Otton's techniques can be quite a time saver and work effectively for long distance property transactions. Apart from technology which helps along, financial transactions are also quite easy to tackle, as the complexities of traditional bank mortgages do not apply. Instead, deposits are easily made and new buyers can move in a matter of days.

The podcast also includes a success story: Melbourne-based Sheree Becker has become a full time real estate entrepreneur after starting to employ Mr. Otton's methods seven years ago.

According to Otton, the true beauty of his creative real estate strategies is the flexibility and versatility that property investors have in each situation.

'You just design 'the piece of paper' to fit all the different situations that come up,' Mr Otton said.

The free full podcast can he listened to on iTunes and it is available at CreativeRealEstate.com.au .

Singapore Pledges Homes Regardless: Red Hot Market Stays Hot

If news from the Singapore property market rings true, the under-supply of housing there may be non-existent. The government has pledged HDB flats for all Singapore no matter how large the citizenry grows.

Yesterday the Singapore Parliament's National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan was quoted as having said:

'We will continue to launch more BTO (Build-to-Order) flats, ECs (executive condominiums) and land sales for private condos, for as long as demand remains strong. There is enough land for such new homes to be built.'

This statement supported by numbers equaling some 200,000 plus units under construction. According to the Minister, some  25,000 flats will be produced each year. Also introduced, a so called 'Parenthood Priority Scheme (PPS)' will help first time buying couples priority to secure homes, with families with children being the focus there.

In correlated news, the Singapore government has recently taken steps to curb foreign speculation in this housing vacuum, BBC reported last month on an increase stamp duty of 15% compared with the previous one of 10 percent. Competition for commercial and residential properties in Singapore has driven prices sky high, further amplifying the plight of the average Singaporean. Furthermore, buyers who intend on snapping up second home or investment properties there can expect to put down 25% rather than the traditional 10% for first time buyers.

Even with the added measures though, most experts agree that Singapore's spiraling population will demand many, many more housing starts in the coming years leading up to 2030, when the county's population is projected to reach seven million or more.

Panattoni Europe Sells Logistics Assets in Poland to LogiCor Affiliates

Panattoni Europe, part of the Panattoni Development Company, one of the largest industrial developers in the world, has sold two portfolios of Polish logistics assets to affiliates of LogiCor, a pan-European logistics platform established by real estate funds managed by The Blackstone Group L.P affiliates. The assets, amounting to 402,000 square meters of space, were disposed of in two separate transactions in Q4 of 2012.

The first transaction was completed in October 2012 and involved four projects from Poland's key logistics markets previously held by a joint-venture between Panattoni and another investor and totaling 218,000 square meters of space. The second transaction took place in December 2012 and involved the sale of a portfolio including nine newly-built logistics assets spread across Poland and amounting to 184,000 square meters. This portfolio had been developed through a partnership with Pramerica Real Estate Investors, the European branch of the U.S.-based Prudential Financial, Inc.'s real estate investment management and advisory operation.

'We are extremely happy to see that, due to its fundamentals, the Polish industrial real estate sector continues to perform well and attracts property investments. Together with our partners we have delivered strategically located, great quality, modern industrial properties that generated interest from such a reputable investor as Blackstone. We are also happy that Blackstone acknowledged the quality of our management platform and decided to retain Panattoni as asset and property manager,' said Robert Dobrzycki, Managing Partner for Central Europe at Panattoni Europe.

'The sale of these assets crystalizes a successful joint venture with Panattoni and further confirms the ability of Pramerica to source and invest in select opportunities across Europe that deliver attractive returns to investors, especially on a risk adjusted basis,' added Ben Penaliggon, Director of European Funds at Pramerica.

LogiCor and its affiliates currently own 2.5 million square meters (26 million square feet) spread among 91 high-quality properties located in the UK, France and Poland. Their assets serve logistics and distribution needs of manufacturers, retailers and third-party logistics solutions providers.

'We are pleased to have been able to expand the reach of LogiCor into Poland, where the market for modern, efficient industrial properties continues to strengthen. We look forward to working with our tenants to support their growing needs for high-quality logistics and light industrial real estate,' stated Mo Barzegar, President and CEO of LogiCor Europe Ltd.

Is America's Recovery Deflated by Crooks? A Ponzi Legacy

Ponzi Schemes and other examples of fraud cast a giant shadow on America's recovery and overall future. Just how prevalent property and investment fraud are is not totally clear, but losing billions to criminals cannot help the American Dream. 

When things get tough, lawmakers and other leaders simply have to make sure business is on the fair and square. In economic times such as these we are all experiencing, the very last thing we need are schemes and illegal dealings that rob our economy of stimulus. The reports below reveal not only how decision makers are dealing with crooks, but also the widespread and frequent attempts by some to game the system, and rob us all. The following list of recent bad dealings is just what we discovered in a brief Internet search. There are literally hundreds more.

Editor's note: We encourage those of you who may be investors of a type to employ the resources below and the links such as this one to SaveANDInvest.org to help you build on your American Dream, safely. Your country and the world needs your confident entrepreneurship.

North Carolina

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is taking a big bite out of real estate investment and other crimes there. According to news from Fayetteville, a budding  real estate investment scheme was stopped in its tracks by Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner. At the crux of this scheme defendants Holly Stevens and the Eddie Peyton Group allegedly told consumers they could profit from buying houses and renting them, when in reality the properties would really be worth far less than the 'marks' would have paid for them. In this case the 'No Money Down' hook to lure investors could not work because of state officials' diligence.

Florida

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month charged give former real estate execs with fraud for convincing investors of potential wins from five star resorts in Florida and Las Vegas. The allegations suggest Cay Clubs Resorts and Marinas raised over $300 form 1400 plus investors touting the potential for a 'guaranteed' 15 percent ROI. Instead of using the collected funds to develop the highly publicized resorts Cay Clubs execs instead posted returns to earlier investors. In this familiar Ponzi scenario perpetrators buy up luxury items and live 'the lifestyle' while the end result for those investing is always the same. Loss. Eric I.

Bustillo, Director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office, offered this via Real Estate Rama:

'These Cay Clubs executives lined their pockets with millions of dollars that they told investors would be used to develop five-star resort properties. They continued to defraud investors as Cay Clubs collapsed.'

The SEC's complaint is filed against the following executives: Fred Davis Clark, Jr. ' president and CEO, David W. Schwarz ' chief accounting officer, Cristal R. Coleman ' manager and sales agent, Barry J. Graham ' sales director, and Ricky Lynn Stokes ' sales director. Readers should follow the news link to the original story.

Arizona

The Arizona Corporation Commission has ordered a dozen real estate related firms to pay over $4 million in restitution for cases of fraud and administrative penalties in connection with securities and other violations. One such ACC case involved defendants of defrauding investors with a promissory note scheme for a total of $3 million. In another, two Tuscon men's intended investment scheme was derailed when a Phoenix stockbroker's registration was revoked even before any harm to potential investors could be leveled.

The Phoenix Business Journal reported on the detailed charges, but indicative of the many was Huel Cox's nearly $100,000 censure for convincing investors to put their annuities and other savings into, among other investments, a casino in Florida. Instead of investing the money for the people, Cox instead put the funds in his personal account and allegedly paid rent and other bills with same.

Before reading on, you may want to watch the video below from KCTS9 concerning how to outsmart those who intend to perpetrate investment fraud.

Maine

A Connecticut man was convicted of fraud in Maine recently for a real estate wire fraud in which he garnered $600,000 in investment from a retiree to do no less than pay the down payment on land in Hungary. Federal prosecutors contend Peter DiRosa (65) transferred a large portion of the money to his private account, on top of having lied about the potential of the investment, and about the people associated with the deal. DiRosa faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of a quarter of a million dollars, plus paying back all the money at sentencing.

According to the Journal Inquirer story, DiRosa was actually the former Mayor of Manchester, Maine.

New Jersey

When David Connolly defaulted on some of the mortgages tied to his Ponzi Scheme, the SEC was alerted to a massive plot to defraud some 200 investors of $50 million dollars. Admitting his scheme, Connolly pleaded guilty the other day to securities fraud and money laundering. He now faces up to 30 years in prison. The 51 year old Connolly assured his 'marks' they would get a massive rental income via monthly distributions. Those distributions only turned out to be the more recent investments of current investors though. Connolly, as is typical, used a large portion of the invested money for his own purposes. Investigations by the IRS, FBI, and the SEC led to the eventual collapse of the fraud.

Spokane, Washington

A complex web dealings by developer Gregory D. Jeffreys and his girlfriend may end up being a Ponzi Scheme of some magnitude if prosecutors there are right in the accusations. According to Federal authorities Jeffreys and his accomplice convinced investors there was gain in a maze of limited liability companies that Jeffreys supposedly set up to perpetrate the fraud. According to the charges investors came from as far afield as Texas, Louisiana, California, Kansas, Wisconsin, Florida, New York and Oregon. Apparently the prosecutors have evidence to prove Jeffreys had investors put up money for properties that do not even exist, and so forth. There also seems to be evidence collected funds were used for Jeffreys' own personal use too.

If we were to search public records and news accounts for every state, there is no doubt investors and taxpayers in each and every one would have been severely burdened by the financial weight of these schemes. And those would say little for the investor confidence which might propel a faster recovery. Jobs, families, little kids, and the future of a nation rest substantially on the ability of government and all decision makers to prevent and punish these crimes. In the end, a Ponzi Scheme and lavish criminal lifestyles in New York, condemn the construction worker in Florida to more months out of work. The chart above shows the trend analysis of fraud in America, things are getting worse, rather than better ' and at exactly the WRONG time.

To learn  more about the multi-billion dollar cost of fraud in America, please visit Fight Fraud in America or the Financial Fraud Research Center. Realty Biz News commends officials and lawmakers for their vigilance. All too often we are quick to judge based on the things we find wrong with our system. It may be high time we looked at what is right, and support that. Let us know your thoughts.

Additional image credit: Charles Ponzi ' courtesy the US Government and Wikipedia

We Want Our Luxist Back: Luxist to Style-less, Analysis of a Suicide in Rebranding

Those with a taste for luxury in real estate might remember Luxist, what used to be an extremely popular online hub for everything upscale. The site became successful covering 'real estate, trends in travel, the art world, shopping, fashion, gourmet food, wine and the spending habits of the rich and famous,' and had a very loyal following. Then came a maybe not so brilliant re-branding campaign, and the Perez Hilton look plus thunder thigh celebrity photos (see below).

Destiny's Child reunited Super Bowl ' via StyleList Facebook

The Estates section of Luxist just happened to be one of their most popular categories, with more comments and social shares than the other topics they covered. It seemed a recipe for success, until it was all shut down, rebranded and moved to a new venue, StyleList.com.

The switch was sudden and quite hard to understand for many. I would never dare (and I doubt anyone would) say the Luxist website did not need a redesign, for surely it did and does.  It could have used some creative work and some added functionality, but from 'tweaking' and upgrades to a complete switch in targeted audience and topics of interest, this is asking for a leap of faith by readers and potential clientele, at the very least.

As the comments on the announcement state, fans were completely disappointed and very few of them followed Luxist to its new home. It made sense, they were fans of the initial editorial coverage and the new direction was completely different. StyleList was just another fashion site, targeting women (or so they claimed, we'd say girls), and there was no trace of the fine living air Luxist was spreading through each article. From luxury estates, fine wine and gourmet dining, it all went to the latest beauty products and celebrity news. In short, a tabloid recipe that AOL advertises as the number 1 fashion website, bragging about lots of fans and followers and impressive numbers of social actions each month.

Yes, there were hundreds of shares and likes on Luxist, but we fail to see it on StyleList. The social counters on their latest articles certainly fail to impress and the activity on their Facebook page is rather low. Less than 10 likes and a comment here and there seem disheartening for a page with 50K fans! And. Even now, two years after the fact, Luxist is a Page Rank 6 site with an Alexa of 45,660. True it is, the new site is even higher (PR 7 and even lower Alexa), but my point is really about what Luxist could have accomplished without sacrificing so apparently many fans, and time.

StyleList was bound to lose most of Luxist's initial readers given the complete shift in focus. But they couldn't stop there and they had to go for an average redesign job as well. If you check the initial comments, you'll see how badly the design has been received and there was a lot to improve on the old design! Failing at that was quite difficult. As for 'feeling the pulse' of the net and trends though, StyleList clears is in tune with the tabloids and celebrity watcher world wonders.

AOL ' StyleList

Since then, Stylist underwent a new facelift process. It's very colorful and there are ads blipping all over the place. It's hard to decide on what to start with and the category names are so faded out it's easy to miss them in the mass of distracting pictures. Did I mention the fact that their logo is boring and that AOL's advertising page didn't even manage to get that right, as the one they uploaded is different from the on the website?

This rebranding process was a great loss for real estate. A great resource was killed off, not moved into a new home. The fans of Luxist did not even get the courtesy of a proper goodbye. They were told their beloved luxury news source had been moved when it had actually been completely shut down. The good news in the end may be, AOL's unfettered search for traffic, any traffic, may have been a success here.

Is There a Real Dark Side of FDI in US Properties?

In case anyone out there ever wonders which man gains from another man's loss, investment news from the UK tells part of this age old saga. Stonehage Investment Partners, advisers to some of Britain's wealthiest investors  comes right out and tells of portfolios built on the backs of US homeowner losses, everyone's losses for that matter. Seeing the overall picture, may be a revelation for some. What if there is a really dark side to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is concerned?

This news bit on Your Money dot com titled aptly; UK's wealthy investors pile into US real estate, may not appear as a revelation to some ' or even be noticed for the matter, but you get bet your bottom dollar taking advantage in this case can be taken literally. With home prices in the US down by half, the conspiratorial mind has to be thinking about now; 'Hey, who caused the housing crash in the first place?' Or more appropriately, 'why?'

Stonehenge says roughly 8 to 10 percent of wealthy people's portfolios of investments there are now into American real estate. Of course Stonehenge and other businesses that help the ultra rich gain advantage, these are not directly focused on buying up your neighbor's foreclosed upon property, nor even the 'paper' on your house ' the method is a bit more round about than this. Indirect ownership of American properties is accomplished via funds and mortgage backed securities. Some big name players in the UK investment world are spotlighted via this document entitled Rich List 2010.

While investment banking and advisement is as you already know from Wall Street a complex and ultimately boring for most topic, any gain achieved at one end of the spectrum can generally be deducted from the other. In short, the 40% yield Stonehenge's Chief Investment Officer
John Veale (at left) spoke of in the aforementioned article? Well, just ask your banker if your house or rental office space is worth 40% more this year than it was last. You don't get the point yet? I know.

Remembering the movie and the book Rising Sun, I now recall seeing reports on 'real' US investment from overseas about the time everybody in America was panicked over Japan buying up the country. The truth then and now was far from Japan buying the American dream, and China doing so now. While nobody can categorically paint the Japan scare as some diversionary tactic (even though it was), it helps the intelligent citizen to know who the real landlord is, at least in my book.

It may interest you to know that the United States actually received more foreign direct investment (PDF) last year than any three other leading industrialized countries combined. And, at the height of the so called Great Recession, FDI reached an all time high of some f $328 billion in 2008 according to the Department of Commerce Executive Summary published in 2010 (PDF). Only China received more inflows of investment than the US in 2011, and the Chinese outflow of investment in its entirety is less than half of what UK investors send abroad. Without looking at the tiny bits and pieces of UK economics though, perhaps the most significant figure to look at is 'investment stocks' in UK as a percentage of their Gross Domestic Product. The chart below from the OECD is interesting at least.

Highlighted excerpt from latest investment figures from OECD

As you can clearly see, other than Switzerland and Luxembourg (banking centers primarily) only the UK is more dependent on investing for survival. Finally, if you download the Investment Outlays to Acquire Established US Businesses from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis here, not only will you find the UK spends more acquiring American businesses, but that the BEA suppresses data about how much China spends. Even despite this suppression, it seems clear UK investors spend more than all the Asian countries combined snapping up American opportunity. According to the 2007 figures, some $56 billion.

Still, as I said before, the complexity of all this is staggeringly boring, and difficult to consumer. If one examines just UK investment flows even, funds going into the 'Americas', versus what was taken out by UK firm subsidiaries there (PDF take note of negative investiture dogma), it almost seems like some sort of collections racket to a casual observer. Such money out, deflate economies, buy back at a bargain ' or at least this could be argued. According to this Wall Street Journal report from the Summer of last year, as that time it was suggested nearly 5 million homes were lost by their owners to the Great Recession 2007 ' 2012. Despite this, on the other side of the pond investors sip the world's most carefully prepared martinis.

The world famous martinis at Duke's ' courtesy the hotel website

 

We are working on our own figures as to how many businesses and commercial properties went into the 'investment pool'. But until then, perhaps the best 'take away' here comes from Stonehenge's polling of New Year's resoluteness from venture decision makers. One in particular, David Charters of Partner Capital, somehow tells as much as any balance sheet about UK investors and taking advantage. His resolution was:

'To drink more martinis (U'luvka vodka, made by Allessandro at Duke's Hotel) and smoke more cigars (Coheba Maduros) than in 2012. Why? Because I deserve them.'