You blog. Why? Variety of reasons I'm sure. For business, website rank, advertising, creativity, etc. Most of the time your blog is or should be pointing back to your website for added information on you, your business and area of service, right? Unfortunately I have come across too many websites that commit the ultimate blatant website mistake...... WHERE ARE YOU?
Here's why this blog has been a long time coming. I am on Facebook... a lot. I am friends with hundreds of people I don't know personally, and someone updated their status yesterday stating they had mutual acceptance on an offer and how excited they were. Naturally this caught my attention because of my business so I dug deeper into the agent's profile and eventually to their site. The problem was, I had no idea where they were located or what area they serve!
In the title of the site at the top bar was simply the agent's name. I searched the entire homepage for something that would tell me where in the world they did business. Nothing. I searched the "contact page", the "about me" page and even the search page! Nothing. It's then I went back to their Facebook page and had to look in the "info" section of the profile to see where they were located. I also found this agent on AR. So they obviously want to be found and are doing some things right, but missing the major mark here.
Here is my point. SEO aside, how is any client, visitor or user going to know where you service if it's not front and center on the homepage? They may have found you though some other source that is directing them to your site from an area rep but once they get there how will they know if they have the right area of service?
SEO speaking, this is the ultimate sin. What is the point of blogging and linking back to your site if the site itself falls dramatically short of being optimized at all?
Many SEO blogs and article say keyword research is king. That may be, but not if you're not going to put into practice.
You may not be one of these agents. If not, great. Good for you. Keep doing what you're doing. But I have just come across too many agent's websites where this is the issue and it aggravates me as a real estate website marketer.
If your site does fall short on this level, make sure you have your main area, keywords and service in the title of your site. At the top. The most basic info of the site. Make it clear, concise and relevant.
Here is an example: Columbus Ohio Homes and real Estate
Your name is fine if you really want it, but more than likely most people are not searching for your name. They want a search feature in the market in which they are looking. (Unless you are the most well known agent in the area)
The title should be the very least that you do. Next would be a good amount of keywords in the content on the homepage. Don't keyword stuff meaning every 5 words there is a keyword, but make it flow in the general text of what you do, how you operate and why you love real estate. Here is an example of just one paragraph. (there should be several)
Being an expert in Montana real estate I know what is selling, when it's selling, why it's selling and how much it's selling for! If you are ready to sell your Belgrade Montana real estate or any Bozeman homes, call me for a free listing presentation. Click here for information on what your Belgrade home might be worth in this market.
Then highlight (BOLD) your keywords so the search engine picks those out as important text. Then link a few of them to corresponding pages within your site. Search engines will notice that you have linked your valuable keywords.
Try not to include a list of cities (as in a simple list) as Google will sometimes assume you have just listed your keywords not within content and penalize the site for keyword stuffing. If you want to include all the areas, cities, counties or niches you service have a link from the homepage to the "Areas We Service" and add another page with this information. It will not only add to page quantity but will not harm the homepage.
This is the most basic optimization of a homepage that should be done the moment you get a website. If you advertise your area, someone else will.
I have tweaked this a bit and re-blogged it from a couple months ago because I still see so many websites like this and it's irritating as an SEO pro.
Here are some good examples to get you started:
- Olympia Real Estate
- Huntsville Homes and Real Estate
- Methow Valley Real Estate
- Homes in Santa Fe New Mexico
These other Blogs might help you as well:
"House is not a Keyword... And Other Mistakes You Might be Making"
"How to Use Backpage for SEO Purposes"
"Wondering How Long it will Take For Your Site To Rank on Google? Well, Keep Wondering....."
Comments(19)