Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

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There is a common misconception among real estate professionals that a newly or even a recently launched website with a new domain name should rank well fresh off the shelf. To exacerbate the problem, some agents also have unrealistic expectations that if they launch a website and upload a smidgen of content to the site, it will rank well and receive a flood of site visitors (traffic). Warning, my “snarkiness” is about to begin! No Dorothy, you can’t “click your heels three times” and have your site rank well for Topeka, Kansas, real estate; you’re not “the Lone Ranger” and there is no “silver bullet” you can fire to have your site gun down your competition and appear at the top of the search engines for Cheyenne, Wyoming real estate; nor is this “The Matrix” and there is no “blue pill” you can take to magically achieve quick search results for a new site (and your new domain name) in Gotham City! The good news is there are tools you can use and best practices you can adopt to gain the much sought after traffic you want.

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The genesis of this post came as a result of an email I recently sent to Dakno client and Iowa City real estate agent Toni Rubin. Do you find yourself recycling emails as post? You should! That’s how blogging works. Many of the best post you will ever write have already been written! They are sitting in your sent folder of your email client dying to be shared so your readers can benefit from the information. If you have used the same email to answer the same question asked over and over by home buying and selling consumers, retool that email into blog post!!! That way the next time the same question comes your way you can say; “here is the link to a post I wrote that answers your question.”

Thank you Toni for being the inspiration behind this post!

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I’m writing this blog post as I head out to Blog World and New Media Expo. I’ll be on a panel talking about things to think about when hiring a Vendor. But strangely enough,  this blog post isn’t about my session. Instead it’s about the session that’s happening directly after. Reggie Nicolay of My Tech Opinion will be talking about Integrating everything into “One Site”. I’m really looking forward to the session as it’s a topic that I 100% agree with. I think it’s vital to real estate agents building a successful online marketing presence.

Seamless Integration Across All Sites

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Okay, Real Estate Agents, it’s officially time to start taking Facebook seriously.

Facebook isn’t Killing SEO but…

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Bobby and I arrived in the city by the Bay for a big week of RE BarCamp San Francisco, Beer for Bloggers, Blogger’s Connect and Inman Connect! If you can’t be here for these incredible events you can experience much of what this week has to offer at Dakno’s new Facebook resource! If you aren’t a Dakno Fan, please consider becoming connected to one of the most dynamic groups of peeps in real estate.

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Can you say traffic, traffic and more traffic to your blog/website. I’ll never forget sitting in the NYC real estate bar camp and hearing the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Jay Thompson offer a presentation on his Google Analytics and say how many visitors (big numbers!!) went to his blog as a result of his fireworks post he wrote.

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Photo blogging can be a great way to quickly and easily build credibility with both site visitors and search engines. With this in mind, we wanted to give you a few options for photo blogging and show you step by step how to setup your own photo blog. Read the rest of this entry

I know this will come as a shocker, but video for real estate is a pretty hot commodity! With so many low-cost cameras (like the Flip) and video editing tools available to agents and brokers, video can be easily integrated into most real estate blogs and website platforms. There are a couple of real estate brokers and mortgage brokers who really get video and know how to use it very effectively. I highly recommend everyone checkout:

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This is a commonly asked question among real estate agents and brokerages. Social media sites are great tools to grow your SOI (sphere of influence), to connect, show value, and get to know others in your community. Notice I never mentioned offering your services. Be guilty of that and you’ll develop a less than favorable reputation in the community. You’ll be marked with the scarlet “S” as a “spammer”! Unfortunately, it’s happening all too often-asking for business on social media sites.

Welcome to the Big Cocktail Party Called Social Media!

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What a privilege it was to be invited on the Tamara Dorris Blog Talk Radio Show on Wednesday, March 24th. Over the next 2 post I will share with you my notes from Tamara’s show. I thought it would be helpful for you to have access to this Neighborhood Marketing Plan for your little corner of the world.

1. While it’s awesome to get those great keywords like city name real estate (example-Dallas real estate), too many real estate agents overlook neighborhood keywords (long-tail searches). And the reality is that people who are searching with those neighborhood-centric keywords actually make stronger, more qualified consumers. Why? Someone searching for “Dallas real estate” is just browsing (tire-kickers) in broad generalities while someone searching for homes for sale in the Dallas neighborhood of Preston Hollow are looking for – well, homes for sale in Preston Hollow. There’s a strong probability they may be 30-60 days out instead of 18 months.
2. If a RE Pro will provide this unique, SEO keyword-rich indexable content it will offer so much search power for the site owner

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