Archive for Link Building
Real Estate Websites: The Parable of SEO
· CommentsI am continually amazed by the fact that people who have real estate websites, those who help people build real estate websites, and 
people who do SEO for a living, all seem to have a limitless capacity for arguing over what should be done to get websites ranked well in search engine results.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that in the world of SEO (search engine optimization), there is no concensus. It reminds me of the parable about the blind men who wanted to “see” an elephant. Here’s the short version:
The Blind Men Describe an Elephant
- The first blind man felt the elephant’s broad side and said: “The elephant is very much like a wall”
- The Second felt the elephant’s trunk and said: “The elephant is very much like a spear”
- The Third touched the elephant’s trunk and said: “The elephant is very much like a snake”
- The Fourth reached out to the elephant’s knee and said: “The elephant is very much like a tree”
- The Fifth felt the elephant’s ear and said “The elephant is very much like a fan”
- The Sixth grasped the elephant’s tail and said: “The elephant is very much like a rope”
You’ll find a very similar situation in SEO discussions. There are some things that – I don’t think I even dare say everyone – almost everyone agrees on.
But, everyone involved also forms their opinions or theories based on their own experience. Some people say you must blog. In my experience, that’s not true, by the way. Other people say linking is key, and the list goes on.
I think that each person touches a different part of the SEO equation, just like the blind men with the elephant, and latches on to something that worked for them. Then, many of those people decide that the technique they latched on to is the final answer. The silver bullet that is going to shoot everyone who follows along to the #1 spot on Google for their keyword phrases.
Keep in mind that it just ain’t so.
This whole problem stems from the fact that the search engines themselves carefully guard their algorithms for ranking sites. In the absence of clear direction, we all run about trying to make sense of the SEO universe.
So, the next time you see SEO experts arguing, or you read someone’s rant about blogging being the only way to have a successful Internet presence, take ALL of it with a grain of salt.
As a whole, real estate websites are notoriously ill-prepared to be ranked on the search engines. There’s a lot of opportunity out there to drive traffic to your website by being found on the search engines.
Whether you’re doing your own SEO or hiring someone to do it for you, do your due diligence. Evaluate the advice you get and do what makes sense to you, or hire a company you trust.
Remember, once you’ve achieved ranking and have traffic to your site, the next thing you’ll need to concentrate on is turning traffic into leads.
So, don’t expend all your energy on the SEO wars!!!
Learn more about real estate website SEO and link building.
Software to Help You Build Links by Posting on Blogs
If you haven’t heard anything about software that helps you find blogs where you can leave a comment and get a one-way incoming link to your website, here’s some information you’ll find useful.
I looked at a software program called Comment Kahuna. I think that software and others like it are good tools to use if, like everything else related to SEO, you make a commitment to wear a White Hat when you use it.
Things to Keep in Mind
1. Leaving generic comments on a blog isn’t a White Hat strategy. If someone leaves a comment on this blog that is something like “I really love this blog. The information is very useful.”, I will delete it and I think anyone else would do the same. The purpose of commenting on a blog is to establish or continue a dialog on the topic of the blog post. Generic comments aren’t helpful.
- The commenting software allows you to store “profiles” that consist of an author name, email address, URL and comment. The software will automatically insert the information in the profile into a blog’s comment fields.
- But, if you aren’t going to actually read a post and come up with a valid comment, then you’re abusing the system. I’d suggest using the first three fields, but writing a valid original comment for each blog post.
2. Building backlinks by posting blog comments only works if the search engines put a value on the links. There are two places where the search engines could be instructed to ignore an outgoing link.
First, there could be a tag in the header on a blog page that looks something like this: rel=”nofollow”. Second, there could be an argument added to a specific link: rel=”external nofollow” or rel=”nofollow”. The bottom line is that if there is any type of a nofollow tag on a page, the odds are that outgoing links will not be acknowledged by the search engines.
- Comment software can be used to find sites that use the nofollow tag on their home page. But, you’ll really need to evaluate each website yourself to determine whether links are set up as nofollow. Here’s why:
- The software can spot a nofollow on the home page of the blog. However, most blogs don’t display comments on the home page. So, if there are no comments, the software can’t tell if the links are set up as nofollow or not.
- The best thing to do is to use the comment software to identify blogs on a specific topic. Then, for each blog that is identified as being nofollow-less, you will need to:
- Find a post that has comments.
- Go to the page with the comments on it.
- Look at the source code for that page (View-Source or RightClick-View Source)
- Do a search for the characters nofollow (Edit-Find in a notepad file)
- If nofollow is discovered on the page, mark the blog accordingly
What Comment Software Can Do
Commenting software can be helpful in finding blogs on related topics and automating some of the tasks required to submit comments. But, you can’t just use the software in the hopes that all the work will be done for you.
If you’re going to use blog comments as part of your link building strategy, make sure you select the right blogs and that you put the effort into writing useful comments. Part of the result from commenting on other blogs is that real people might visit your website, as well as the search engines.
Thoughtful or insightful comments will go a long way toward encouraging other blog visitors to visit your site, too!
How Long Since You Wrote a Press Release?
· CommentsWriting a press release is a great way to get incoming links to your website and exposure for your business.
If you haven’t written a press release lately, now would be a good time to get one put together. The biggest question when it comes to press releases centers around finding something that you think merits a press release.
What is Press Release Worthy?
An online press release can provide two benefits. One is to get one-way incoming links to your website – that’s good for SEO. Another benefit is that other websites will pick up on the press release, and your information will get published on several or many websites.
To get the second benefit, you need to write about something truly newsworthy. And, I don’t think something newsworthy comes along all that often. However, to get incoming links to your website all you really need to do is write a well-optimized press release that is about something that you are doing.
Press Release Topics Don’t Have to be Newsworthy
I have a Google Alert set for the term “real estate marketing”. So, new pages that Google thinks is important for that term are sent to me in an email every day. Last week Google included a press release in one of those emails that announced ”Real Estate Website Offers New Way to Search For Properties”.
And, what was the new way to search? Using a Google map to display where homes for sale are located. Hmm… sounds like a map search that is available on lots of real estate websites. But the point is, who cares? If a consumer comes across that press release, they will know that the agent is Internet-savvy and has an easy way to search for homes available.
I’m not sure that lots of other websites will pick up that press release. Maybe a small newspaper in the agent’s hometown? But, the search engines will notice the links going from the press release to the agent’s website.
So, don’t wait until you have something to write about that is earth-shattering news. Have you updated your website lately? added a new team member? published a new market report? started a blog? The possibilities are endless.
And, you just never know who might find your site from seeing the press release, or from seeing your site as it climbs higher on the search result pages.
