I learned how to build a website for the first time in 1999. I had just got my insurance license and I started to work at an agency that didn't have a website and had no plans to have one. I knew it was important to have a website so I decided to build my own and that's what I did.

I found a free web-host and followed some of the tutorials. It took about a week but by trial and error I learned enough HTML to build my very first website. Of course as many of you know, If you build it they "might" come if...! I wasn't fortunate enough to have the SEO knowledge to get myself good search engine placement and I didn't get lucky.

That website ended up being just an online form I would send people to that wanted to get an insurance quote when I couldn't take their information right  away.

Well I took that experience into real estate in 2002 and I had taken the position that websites are just for capturing information when I couldn't take it on the spot. I have always heard of people getting lots of leads off their website and I always wanted to know how they did it. I knew that PPC advertising was only temporary and since I rarely click on a banner ad myself, I figured it was a waste of money to go that route.

Over the last week or so I've been reading blogs about SEO and so I decided to take a couple of ideas and try them out. I still don't know exactly what I did but I goggled a couple of the keywords I decided to target and voila, today I showed up on the first page. Whoo Hooo! The keywords are buy a house in renton, renton home search, sell a house in renton, buy a renton home, sell a renton home, and a few others.

I am eternally grateful to the Active Rain community. I owe it all to the information shared here on Active Rain by agents who are willing to share what's working in their businesses with everyone in the real estate community to use as we wish.

This community is a testament to what's possible when people are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others. As I continue to grow in my experience here, it is my intention to pay it forward and make a difference to someone else.

Thank you Active Rain Community!

"KS" Kotambu Shabazz, Renton Real Estate Agent & Loss Mitigation Consultant

http://www.kshabazz.com/

http://www.seatacinvestments.com/