Do You Think Your Visitors Always Understand How to Use Your MLS Search?
If you have a full-featured MLS search (learn more about choosing an MLS search), you know how valuable it is for a visitor to establish their own account on that search. You know how much time a visitor can save by saving their favorite searches and listings. You know that saving favorite homes can help a visitor compare and contrast different homes for sale. But, do your visitors know? Do they know how to set up an account or login once they have one?
MLS searches vary in their user-friendliness. Some searches do a great job of explaining the advantages of establishing an account, and encourage visitors to do that. Some make it easy to register. Others. . . not so much. But, you have an excellent opportunity to promote your MLS search through your blog.
Kill Two Birds with One Stone
It’s always gratifying when you can find an opportunity to help Internet visitors and improve your SEO at the same time. Are you using your blog to promote the tools on your website like your MLS search? If not, you’re missing one of those opportunities. Here are some ideas on how to do both.
Write a post titled something like “Who Doesn’t Want A Quick Way to Find Atlanta Homes for Sale?” Good start, huh? You’ve already got a title that uses one of your keyword phrases. In the post, explain how your MLS search works. Describe the advantages of and mechanics for establishing an account. Assure the reader that you won’t take advantage of them by driving them crazy after they sign up.
In the post, you can logically include a link to your MLS search page on your website. Naturally, you’d use good “anchor text” in that link. That means, rather than writing “click here for more information”, you’d write something like “search Atlanta homes for sale”. Using that keyword phrase in your link to your MLS page will provide a strong backlink to your main site.
Have you set up pre-defined searches for communities in your area? If not, you really should! You could then use the same principles to encourage readers to visit a community page on your website that includes a pre-defined search for a popular community in your area.
And, if you have other tools or compelling propositions that visitors would find useful, there’s no doubt you can find ways to write informative and useful posts to help people identify those things they’d really like to take advantage of – if they knew where to find them!
2 Comments
April 30th, 2010 at 8:19 am
I recently started blogging for a local realtor. Most of my work is done fairly independently and rarely with her input. As I’m not familiar with real estate, I must spend a great deal of time reading. This particular article is extremely helpful, and I am anxious to implement it immediately. Thanks so much!
April 30th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Shelley – glad you found the information useful. A blog, especially if it uses a different domain name than the main website, is only useful for SEO on the main site if you do interlinking the right way. Best of luck with your blog writing!