Real Estate Web Design and Marketing Blog

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It’s been very interesting following the drama with Trulia. In case you missed it, here is a quick recap.

The other day, I noticed Trulia had fallen out of the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Eric Bramlett did some research and noticed that a blog setup on a subdomain of trulia.com was hacked. He put two and two together and assumed because the hack injected hidden text, Google applied a penalty. To be honest, I would have immediately thought the same thing. But I recently consulted with an agent who also had their Wordpress blog hacked. Like Trulia, the blog resided on a subdomain. And while yes, it did result in Google penalizing the subdomain, the main website was not affected. This led me to think Trulia’s low ranking and their hacked blog were two separate issues.
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While on a client call yesterday, I was conducting a review of their search positions and their competitive landscape. When I pulled up their search results I noticed a major player that was notably missing – Trulia. I looked back at my ranking logs and verified that Trulia had consistently ranked at the top for this search term. After the call, I decided to test a few more keywords. Every search that I tried yielded the same result – Trulia missing from Google’s search results.
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Ever since the “Page Rank is Dead” post hit Broker/Agent Social, we have received several emails and phone calls from worried Dakno Real Estate Marketing clients wondering if “the Google Sky was falling”. Before anyone panics, here are a few quick thoughts. Yes, the article in general is accurate (headline is borderline sensationalistic). Please don’t think for a minute that Google is going to suddenly flip a switch and all of this is going to come online at once.

Business as Usual!

It could be construed that the author of this post is misleading his readers when he says that Google is getting ready to push an update (although I do commend him for pointing out the frequency of updates). Google has been doing these items for quite some time. Nothing here is really new.

• Universal search has been around for a while (showing video, news and blogs in the search results).
• They already track bounce rates (mouse over a search result link in Google and look at your status bar. Notice that they don’t directly link to the site but rather a page that they can track in case you hit the back button!)
• IP address based searches are already in place. The next time you talk to a friend across the country, try both doing a search for the same term. Chances are you will get two different result sets. That’s because of two things… 1) Google’s data centers have different algorithms (they continually test) and 2) IP based results.
• Google announced almost 2 years ago that they do “intent based” searches. Especially for people who are signed into your Google Account. Google actually “learns” based on your search habits and delivers results accordingly.
• The article title is a buzz generator (and judging from the amount of people emailing me, it seems that the title worked!). PageRank is NOT dead. But let’s hope that everyone’s competition actually believes this and stops building backlinks! Those who implement sound backlink strategies would skyrocket to the top.

Same Old Debate – SEO is Dead!

The whole “SEO is dead” debate comes up all the time in SEO forums, chat rooms and blogs. I think that’s just as logical as saying the Music Industry is dead because of MP3s. No, the SEO industry simply evolves. Today more than ever we focus on the entire aspect of online marketing, we evolve. Three years ago it was all about stuffing tons of keywords and trading links. Now we talk about Social Networks, YouTube and viral marketing. Just like the Real Estate and Music Industry, we evolve. It just helps separate the people who still cling to the old and people who embrace change.

Sergey and Larry Just Woke Up!

The good news about Google is that they never make any drastic changes. Everything is slow. Much of the reason is PR (Public Relations not PageRank). Think about it for second. So many companies depend on high rankings for their income. Imagine if Google rolled out sweeping changes that totally changed search results. Not only would site visitors get extremely frustrated because they could never find (nor rely on) the same thing twice, but companies would be outraged that they lost their placement because “Sergey and Larry” woke up one morning and decided to dump any site that didn’t contain video.

Yes – Video is Your Friend

So in summary, yes, it’s smart to incorporate video into your site (just look at this search result – although admittedly it’s a easy keyword) but it does give you an example. Embrace all the new ideas, just don’t think that Google has a clock counting down to launch a “game changer”! If they ever do, they would go to great lengths to let everyone know (and we would be sure to let all of our Dakno clients know too).

All the best in 2009,

Brad

A Word About Missing Keywords

Often our clients will create new pages, and write a bit of copy with their easy to use Agent Backdoor site editor. Maybe the article is about “New Construction”. When you write the tile “New Construction” always place a geographic reference in the tile for search engines and site visitors. The same is true when you write copy that includes references to “Realtor” or real estate agent. I suggest you add Raleigh Realtor, then link that phrase to your “About You” page.

Make the Call – The Call to Take Action!

I love it when real estate agents include a strong call to action at the end of their articles and I always suggest you conclude each page with a strong call to action:

Contact me to get a free copy of my new construction guide and to take that first step in building your next dream home.

Take a good look at that sentence. How would you improve it from an SEO perspective? That’s right, add the area keyword and a sense of urgency; “Contact me today to get a free copy of my new construction guide and to take that first step in building your next dream home in Raleigh.“

One Voice!

When adding new content to your real estate website via your Agent Backdoor, be careful to ensure you write consistently in one voice. I like reading web copy in the first person and not third person. It’s more personal when information is written in the first person. If you add new web pages to your website be consistent and avoid leading your site visitor to believe you are schizophrenic. It’s really strange to see some pages written in the first person and some written in the third person!

Fonts – Keep Them Clean and Simple

Also be consistent with font styles, sizes and colors. One sure fire way to make a website look less professional is to add web content that looks different with yellow highlighted text, or text in loud bolded underlined colors. It makes your website look like it was built in the 80’s.

Time to Take a Closer Look at Your Real Estate Website!

Now would be a great time to take a closer look at your website. Does it have a variety of wacky font styles, colors, weird bolded words that are underlined for no apparent reason. If your website suffers from these issues, make the corrections now.

Stay tuned for even more tips on website design and SEO.

Bobby

P.S. My thanks to Raleigh real estate agent Jenn Nowalk and her husband Rich for being kind enough to be placed in the Dakno website review “hot seat”.

Recently I’ve been sharing recently with our Dakno clients and my friends over at Active Rain about the need to expand their Internet presence by exploring the awesome applications available on the iPhone. Yes, you to can begin to broaden your web presence by using the tools that power the iPhone apps.

Map It Anyway!

Even if you don’t own an iPhone, you can begin to map your properties, your favorite restaurants, your area’s bike repair shop, or any other significant location by adding it to the website called Platial. Once the business, neighborhood school or your condo building is mapped and properly “tagged”, you’ll begin to enjoy enhanced search engine ranking as well as maybe a few more site visitors who happen to click over to your blog or website to view more information from their iPhone.

Demonstrate You Are a Tech-savvy Giant of an Agent!

The next time you have a listing appointment, say this to your potential client, “Because it is my fudiciary responsibility is to deliver the absolute best home selling results by helping you sell your property quicker and for maximum value, I utilize every means available to expose your property to as many potential buyers as possible. One of the many ways I accomplish this goal is by syndicating your property on many high-traffic national websites, and I also target the mobile computing tools available on the cell phone.” Follow that by saying; “There have been more than 3 million new generation 3G iPhones recently purchased by tech-savvy consumers and many of those same consumers will utilize their iPhone to help them search for their next home. To ensure your home is visible to those users, I will upload your home to numerous iPhone application powered websites like Trulia.com and Nearby (powered by Platial.com). That way I know your home is reaching even more potential home buyers.”

If You Use Those Lines!

If you happen to mention what I suggested above and you secure a listing, by all means come back here and leave a comment. Now go map your area and dominate your market (and think about buying a new iPhone especially if you close on that listing you just secured :>).

Until my next post,

Bobby

P.S. For a slightly different take on the same topic, be sure to visit my Crystal Coast Blog – it’s your Emerald Isle Real Estate and Rental Resource!

Post Update!

Scottsdale real estate agent Heather Tawes Nelson emailed me to say she dug into Platial.com and discovered from their “Terms & Conditions” that the site doesn’t permit commercial advertising. I suggest you refrain from “advertising” your listings on Platial.com. To take advantage of the Google power and the potential additional eyeballs you could capture, I say work the “I recommend this restaurant” or “this condo building is really close to this awesome gym.” The way you play by the rules. To me mapping schools, recommending businesses and the like are fairgame. Thanks Heather for the email – good call!

I have seen many real estate agents in this scenario. They leave one real estate company and join another firm or start their own company. When this happens, real estate agents go through the typical song and dance. They update marketing materials, Web site information, etc. Even if a real estate agent hits all the highpoints of their Web site (footer information, contact information, etc.) their old information can still permeate throughout the internet long after they are settled into their new surroundings.

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Blogging Boot Camp – Your Incubator for Blogging Ideas

Each week during our Blogging Boot Camp we share creative blogging ideas, discuss how to implement blogging best practices and offer helpful tips to best use the WordPress blog editor with our real estate agent/broker students. The exchange is fun and the ideas that flow out of our time together are always very interesting. During our recent boot camp call (Thursday-week #7), we shared this idea we thought would benefit the “masses”. Just as a helpful reminder, when blogging, think globally but write locally.

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