Saturday 30 June 2012

Beyond Building Your Website – Understanding SEO

New businesses understand that to succeed these days they need to be on the web. But the reality is, just getting a website up is not enough. This is because the other half of this equation is that a website should not only work well and be informative, but anyone who wants what you are selling needs to be able to find it. The rules for how to build a website that can be found are called search engine optimization or SEO. Like many, you have probably heard the term but weren’t quite sure how it works or why it is important for you.
Working with Google
Although there are other search engines on the web such as Yahoo and Bing, Google is really the big dog that everyone tries to please when it comes to websites. That is because the majority of people who go on the web use it to find what they want. Google likes websites that are easily readable by their bots. These are little software programs that are constantly searching the web to gather information for its database. This is why search engine optimization rules exist. They are there to make it easy for search engines like Google to find your website and identify your audience through choicesyou make on your site.
Three Basics for SEO
Although the rules for search engine optimization often change, there are basics for any website to be easier to find on the net. Some of the basics can be done quite easily if you know your way around a website, and others require a bit of help. It is really up to the individual how much they want to handle on their own.
1.    Use keyword research to identify your target market.
2.    Optimize your site using those keywords so Google can tell who your target market is.
3.    Let the rest of the web know what you have to offer with guest blogs, directory submissions and social media.
Let’s say you have a Websites for real estate agents that is all about selling real estate in Dayton Ohio. You want people who are looking for real estate agent websites in Dayton Ohio to find your site. A search engine optimization expert will do some keyword research to find what key words people use to find such a site. Then they will look at your pages and tell you just what needs to be changed so that Google’s robots will find your site easily and know that is what your site is all about. This is called keyword identification and is the cornerstone to search engine optimization. They will look at several key items such as your titles, the number of times certain key words are said in each page, what tags and links are on the page and how your files are named. These are all important to Google and make your site easier for it to find.
Finally it is important to make sure that you get the word out by doing a blog of your own (Google loves blogs and ranks them high), make sure that relevant directories for your market have your site listed and that you use social media for real estate to link to your site. These are all going to help you be seen and Google will know you are legitimate when they see this kind of activity around your site.
Keeping up with Search Engine Optimization
All of this may sound pretty complex to someone who is new to the world of SEO, but in addition the rules change constantly. They change for a good reason; Google wants to be sure that the sites with the best information are always rated on the top of their searches. This will mean that people return to Google to find what they need because it gives them the best and more informative sites when they search on it. But to do this Google is constantly looking for ways that people try to beat the system. That is why the best way to rank high with Google is to follow their SEO rules and offer good information on your site. It is also why even the best search engine optimization experts need to update sites from time to time to make sure that those sites are following all the latest SEO rules from Google.
This may all sound pretty intimidating, but a good search engine optimization expert can help you to keep your site up to date and ranking high with Google. Once they have worked with you to optimize your site, it is a simple decision to have them check your site on a regular basis anytime they know the rules have been changed to be sure your site is still optimized and your potential clients can find you on the web.




Tuesday 24 April 2012

How internet can help Real Estate Agents generate leads!

How would you like more qualified leads for your real estate business and Paveya can help your real estate company market your homes easier and also more efficiently Four Tools to Succeed in Real Estate

With today’s emphasis on instant information, we are still seeing the average home buyer spending 12-18 months searching online before they ever reach out to a realtor. Most of this research is done on a computer, but more and more of it is done on smartphones or tablets. So what is the best way to make sure you are the one they reach out to when they are ready to start talking abouthome buying?

Websites Define Your Area
Most of us know that having a website is a given in the real estate business, but is your website one that homebuyers will gravitate towards? Most homebuyers are looking for local information, and your site is your chance to shine as the expert on your local area. Take time to do some research on local information that homebuyers want.Include links to local school information and transportation or better yet information right on your site. Highlight services in the area and let visitors know that you are their go-to person for any information they need before buying that next home.

Facebook is your Friend
Do you have a business page for your real estate work that is separate from your personal page?This is a vital tool for connecting with potential clients and building a community who will come to know and trust you. So how can you make it work for you? One of Facebook’s best tools is lists, in particular a “close friends” list. As opposed to your news feed which has everyone on it, this isa shorter list of key people whose posts you don’t want to miss. It is easy for important contacts to be lost in your news feed list, but managing lists in Facebook can be a great way to stay in touch with potential clients.

Moving into Mobile Marketing
While many homebuyers use the web as a major source of information, the key market that you want to reach frequently use cell phones as their primary source of all marketing information. For the real estate market, which was one of the earliest adaptors of cell phones, this means more ways to get that vital home market information into the hands of those who need it. Use text messaging to keep interested parties up to date on the latest listings, create mobile friendly versions of your website that will allow users to cruise your site for new listings on their smartphones or even look into pay per click advertising targeting the young mobile-savy user who is getting ready to buy that first home.
Search Engine Marketing Tricks
You want your website to be visible to search engines so clients can find you. There are several ways to do this. Link building will give your site more credibility with search engines and the easiest way to do this is by participating on social networking sites and exchanging links. Blogging is an effective way to give your page ranking a boost, and also helps to build visitor return ratesfor your site. And don’t forget videos. Video marketing has come to be a great tool, and in real estate the old saying of a picture is worth a thousand words is even truer when it comes to video. All of these can help a website be more successful as it moves to the top of the search engine page.
As you can see, it is a whole new world out there for many real estate agents who are harnessing the new media to stay in touch. We are just beginning to understand the many ways to keep our clients and potential clients only a short text message or click call away from the perfect deal. More and more, the sky is the limit.