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Blog Titles and Website Copy... Wasted Valuable Real Estate

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Frederick Web Promotions

You want to sell real estate, that's why you got an ActiveRain blog to go with the real estate website you're hoping will translate into real estate sales.

What's the most valuable part of your website and blog?

The title and the opening line of text.

The first words out your mouth need to be what your prospect wants... NOT what you want to say about yourself.

No One Gives a Damn Who You Are

Nor do they really care if you "welcome them to your website"

The most common gross tactical error I see in company websites of all kinds is to open with:

"Welcome to our website"

Your prospects care about one thing and one thing only: What they're searching for and are you local.

keywords + geographical area.

Give Google's customer (it's users, the people who use Google to search for anything and everything) what they want and Google will give you what you want.

The audience to please is, in this order: Make Google's users happy, Give Google what it wants, then give your prospects what they want. You come in dead last in this pecking order.

Let's analyze this: if your company isn't in the top spot in Google, no one will ever see your website. A website's sole purpose, it's only reason for existance is to PERFORM in Google Search Results Pages (aka serps). It's a waste of time, effort and money to craft a website if said website doesn't show up in the top ten, the first page of search results.

To pull this off you have to give Google what it wants... and what Google wants is for it's users to find what they want... and they way they do that is this and this alone:

keywords + geographical area

not keywords + geographical area, people search for X, then quickly discover Google returns search results for X in other states, not where they are. They clicked back and added the geographical area they are located in.

Another gross tactical marketing error on most company websites, real estate websites/ blogs included is:

keywords PLURAL, most business owners selfishly want people to think they are the sole supplier for X in a region. It's human nature, your prospects on the other hand are NOT searching for ONE suppiler, they're searching for the plural of a keyword.

Take lawyers for example, I have attorneys as local SEO clients, our competition is touting themselves as divorce laywer in X or criminal lawyer in X

The people searching for a lawyer are looking for lawyerS, attorneyS not one attorney.

So what text do you open with? How do you come up with a single line that sells the sizzle, not the steak?

Go to a blank Google page, begin to type, Google "suggest" searches before you finish typing, what you're looking at is previous search querries, that tells you someone already has interest in that as a keyword phrase. You might want to use that exact phrase because many people are likely to simply scroll down and search for that.

If that tactic (use Google's suggested searches) doesn't prompt you with ideas for an opening line, you could use Google's keyword tool for ideas.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

I'll close this post with one last pet peeve... I guess I look kinda jaded, ya think? I keep getting local SEO clients that "think" they know what they want, I refuse to help someone commit Google Ranking Suicide. I have too many people on my waiting list to put up with a stubborn client. A consultants job is "horse led to water, drink or don't drink"

Google adwords, I'm sure you know what they are. In adwords companies bid on keywords, the higest bidder gets the top spot... well not really

There is a quality score google uses, if your site's quality score is higher you don't have to be the highest bidder to get the highest rank. If you purport your site is about X and X isn't prominently displayed on your site... your quality score goes down and the price you get charged per bidding goes up.

How do you get a better quality score? make the very first words out of your mouth be the keywords you're shooting for.

The algorithm that determines googlemaps ranking (Google local business listings is Googlemaps) also uses the quality score algorithm,

David Bruce Jr Regional Search Engine Marketing based in Frederick Maryland serving the entire US

Facebook Pages Ghostwritten, Social Media Management, Local Internet Advertising and more.

Google Local Business Listing Ranking Improved $1500.00

240 644-7530 davidbrucejr@frederickwebpromotions.com

 

Bill Gillhespy
16 Sunview Blvd - Fort Myers Beach, FL
Fort Myers Beach Realtor, Fort Myers Beach Agent - Homes & Condos

Hi David,  Realizing we are not the reason people search the internet is lesson one .  Well done ! 

Apr 12, 2010 02:31 AM
Margo Otey
REMAX EXECUTIVE REALTY - Westborough, MA

Since I am currently in Google oblivion, this was a very helpful post!  Thanks and I'll get working on it today!

Apr 12, 2010 02:38 AM
Sharon Paxson
Sharon Paxson, RealtorĀ® EQTY Forbes Global Properties - Newport Beach, CA
Newport Beach Real Estate

Bruce - Thanks for the info regarding SEO, it is always good to find additional information here.

Apr 12, 2010 03:10 AM
Mary Nack
Jameson Sotheby's - Chicago, IL
Vice-President, Sales

You mean it's NOT all about ME? Who knew? ;-)

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

mary!

Apr 12, 2010 03:29 AM
Home Design
Alpharetta, GA
Home Design and Real Estate

Great SEO information David! Thanks so much for sharing!

Apr 12, 2010 03:46 AM
Home Design
Alpharetta, GA
Home Design and Real Estate

Awesome post David!  Thanks for sharing this great SEO information!

Apr 12, 2010 03:48 AM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

David, thanks for sharing. I need to implement some changes.

Apr 12, 2010 04:34 AM
Jim & Maria Hart
Brand Name Real Estate - Charleston, SC
Charleston, SC Real Estate

This is a very thought-provoking post.  Thanks for the tips, and for your candor.

Apr 12, 2010 04:39 AM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

You and I obviously have different kinds of clients.  I find that many of best clients have connected with me "personally" before we ever meet through my blog and website.  I have children in college and I get a lot of parents buying lake homes who comment about me writing about my kids off at college who turn into buyers because I've connected to them in a very personal way.  So maybe your clients are looking for real estate and "don't give a damn who you are", but I'm very happy that my clients connect with me on a personal level and give a damn about who and I am and then trust me to find the real estate they are looking for.  JMO

Apr 12, 2010 05:00 AM
Barb Merrill
Cactus Mountain Properties, LLC - Tempe, AZ
GRI, Associate Broker

Great advise, David, you opened my eyes to more awareness of what prospects are looking for.  Thanks!

Apr 12, 2010 05:07 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

David, I have no idea what you just said but it made a lot of sense to me!  Just kidding.  What you said DID make a lot of sense.  I'm guilty of having designed my own website and not keeping it as current as I could.  I'm also guilty of not applying what I've learned here at ActiveRain re:SEO to my own website.  That said, I will make it a project now. Thanks for your post.

Apr 12, 2010 05:15 AM
Billy Studstill
Victory Realty, first time home buyer, foreclosure - Mount Juliet, TN
First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosure, Luxury

Great tips. Thanks for this post! I'll be making adjustments to my website

Apr 12, 2010 06:24 AM
Terri Adams-Scott
J. Rockcliff, REALTORS - Walnut Creek, CA
Realtor, Walnut Creek CA Real Estate

Great information and also bookmarked!  Thanks.

Apr 12, 2010 07:21 AM
Tanya Nouwens
Immeubles Deakin Realty - Montreal West Island, QC
Montreal Real Estate Broker & Stager

So much to learn, so little time!  Thanks for the tips, David. I paid through my nose for my website, which has been up and running for about 6 months now, and it's still not ranking in the top 10...even though I paid for SEO too. I'm a bit discouraged. My web designer says these things take time.  tick, tick, tick -- Tanya in Montreal

Apr 12, 2010 09:47 AM
Damon Gettier
Damon Gettier & Associates, REALTORS- Roanoke Va Short Sale Expert - Roanoke, VA
Broker/Owner ABRM, GRI, CDPE

This is great informationn for those who need to blog for results!

Apr 12, 2010 01:56 PM
Kathy Schowe
California Lifestyle Realty - La Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California 760-333-8886

Thanks for the SEO info-- my stealth site seems to be faring better than my straight RE site... maybe I should combing them!  Kathy

Apr 13, 2010 04:37 AM
David Bruce, Jr.
Frederick Web Promotions - Frederick, MD
Local SEO Apex Predator

Wow again, lot's of comments,thank you all.

Tim Maitski: you got me there, I've been busy with my paying local seo clients, spending time on them and not on my site. You noticed that my main site: Maryland Search Engine Optimization Consulting had it's title set at geographical area + keywords

I just changed it to keywords + geographical area

I've been getting work from all over the lower 48 states, haven't been updating my site. I took my own advice, thanks for pointing that out:)

Bill Travis: you asked how do the top 500 seo boosted real estate sites squeeze into the top 10 Google search results page?

Two words: Google Trustfilter, Domain Authority

Matt Cutts calls this a "secret sauce" question, meaning they won't answer that.

Links are currency, that's true, but "some links are more equal than others". I'm in Frederick Maryland, Maryland's largest county containing Maryland's second largest city (give or take).

If we got a link on the local newspaper,that's good, if we got a link on the Washington Post, well they're both newspapers but it's easy to see to the casual observer that one is likely to be more "important" than the other.

If Google views you as THE authority on topic X, then your site would "seem" more like the Washington Post compared to your competitor "seeming" like the smaller  newspaper.

Brian Schulman: you mentioned some SEO firms appearing to you as possibly "snake oil".

I can hit any target, some targets are harder to hit than others. If you want to take someone out, you gotta BE THE AUTHORITY on topic X. It costs money to knock a site out if it has google trustfilter assigned to it by Googlebot. It can cost $10,000 to pull that off depending on the target.

Just to get in the top ten is, from our experience, at least 50 man hours of work, @ $50 an hour you're looking at $2500 upfront. we charge a minimum of $100 week to as much as $1000 a month to keep someone there. I realize that prices many out of the market. If you really want to hit a target, that's what it's gonna take. Some targets cost more than others. Anything less than that, in my not so humble opinion, is "snake oil sales".

Another thing: once we take a genre, we're done. If I accept you as a client in X geographical area,and we agree on a fee... someone else can offer me double and I have to turn them down. A deal is a deal.

I can take a podiatrist in Montgomery County Md, and I can take an optometrist, but all other podiatrists have to hire someone else... now if you were a podiatrist in Carroll County... it's game on!

 

Apr 13, 2010 06:33 PM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

David............

You know when you take all the fluff out it, your post is a bullseye and hits the target dead center. Thank you

Apr 15, 2010 10:28 AM
J. Philip Faranda
Howard Hanna Rand Realty - Yorktown Heights, NY
Associate Broker / Office Manager

This is very useful info- I have bookmarked the post for future reference. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! 

Apr 15, 2010 05:48 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

David,

Liked the post, good information. Will go and check my sites. Some of what you say is really common sense and the ability to see what we do with the eyes of the client

Apr 17, 2010 08:34 AM