Image via CrunchBase
I’ve been teaching some free technology available to REALTORS® this last 2 months with mixed reviews. Since the market is still very soft, I thought that offering these classes on the free technology would be well recd. Don’t get me wrong, they are well recd, but implementation is where it usually falls apart.
There is still a large contingent of agents that will not embrace technology. If you are reading this, you are not one of those agents. The mere fact that you are reading a blog makes you a go-getter in our industry.
That being said, make sure you and your business are listed on Google Places and Yahoo Small Business. I’m unsure of Bing as far as their rules for submitting your business, but it’s worth submitting there too. What else? IDX is free for almost all of Illinois and many other parts of the country from 2 vendors that we work with. FREE!!! Now you can have your own search for homes feature, branded with your info on every listing. More? How about Squidoo or Hub Pages? You can set these up for nothing and it’s easy.
C O N T E N T – how about content? Always free to write about your market, the summer events, the myriad government programs and anything pertinent to your real estate market. Always keep in mind that Content is KING on the WEB….
Part of what we do is teach, the other part is motivational – which can be accomplished by providing stats and a kick in the butt with love……Of course, you can just hire us to do these things for you at a cost that no other company will match….
But whatever you do – you should be helping yourself for next year by working on your website this year when you have time…..How’s 1 hour every 90 days? If you did that, you’d be doing more than your competition and you would reap the benefits of your work – this I can promise……
Google Places, Illinois, National Association of Realtors, Real Estate
Image via CrunchBase
Do it right now – go to Google Places (or Google it) and sign up your business right away! You will be vaulted to the top of the search engines for your markets. Most of your competition is not doing this – so take advantage now. Almost 90% of searches are “local” – don’t miss out!
Have a great weekend…….
Google, Google Places, Local Search, Place Pages, Search Engines, Web search engine
Image via Wikipedia
The new .co domains are available for $29.95 at our site – www.agynt.com – which brings me to the point of this post – there are some AWESOME names that you can grab right now with that new extension.
Some food for thought – if you are buying domain names for a new website – think search engines first, then marketing second with a different name. For example, I would buy something like www.Bartlett-Illinois-Real-Estate.com and use that as my main domain – but I would use my branded name on my business cards and marketing material – example: www.PaulTheRealtor.com and that would forward to the site. Search engines love word separation! (really they love content, but every little thing can help)
Domain name, Illinois, Promotion, Search Engine Optimization, Web Design and Development, Web search engine, Website
You are the community expert in your market and with the changing of the seasons come opportunities to let your readers know about what’s going on in your area. What’s coming down the pike? Here are some ideas for this part of the year:
- Add High School sports schedules to your site
- Add local fairs/festivals to your site
- How about costume ideas for Halloween?
- You can add info on pumpkin farms
- One of the biggest searches coming up will be for Haunted Houses
- Hayrides for the kids
- Oktoberfest Festivals
Sometimes I am asked what does this have to do with Real Estate. Honestly, nothing, but it does give you the chance for increased traffic which will also move you up in the search engines which is the main goal. It also gives the impression that you know what’s happening in your area and increases the chance that surfers bookmark your page for future reference.
These are just ideas – hope you can use some of them.
Anyone can tell you what Google is looking for with regards to site rankings BUT are they right? We honestly cannot say that we know exactly what goes into their algorithm, same with Yahoo and all the rest, but we can say we know what works.
Here’s what I know works:
On page optimization
- Name your pictures with keywords (ALT tags)
- Have concise yet targeted Title and Description tags for each page that are consistent with the content on the page
- Optimize graphics to a manageable size – to say no more than 20 KB – smaller than that is better
- Write your own content – content is KING!!
- Use keywords in your anchor text or hyperlinks – ex: Custom Real Estate Website Design
- Use keywords in your content without sounding redundant (hard part)
- Add content to your site – You don’t have to go crazy with it, but if you spent an hour every two months on your site, you’d be ahead of the curve
Off Page Optimization
- List your site on the search engines (actually this will happen anyways but it’s still best to do it for a new site)
- Get reciprocal or one-way (better) links from local businesses or submit to directories (online phonebooks)
- Market yourself through your social media sites – (This is a subject unto itself)
- Put your website address on all of your marketing material (this may sound obvious, but I can tell you it does not always happen and is another subject that will be addressed)
- If you can, post your link anytime you can, be it a blog, a forum, your company site, community sites etc.
Summary
OK, there is W A Y more to talk about than this, but these are the things that work for sure and I know I’ll need to articulate further on the other subjects soon. Every time I take it for granted that most people know these things, I’m quickly reminded that I’m wrong. Please forgive the vanilla post, but sometimes it’s best to start with the basics and expound from there.
Have a good weekend!
Real Estate Marketing, SEO, Website Content Ideas
I’m excited to present our new Realtor’s blog with information on SEO, website tips, content ideas and so much more. Stay tuned!
Website Content Ideas
