Day 7: Website Submission
I am going to end my 7 part series to a better SEO with site submission. It a simple concept, yes, but one that is often overlooked. While some companies out there offer a free submission service to hundreds of sites I prefer to at least manually submit to the major search engines myself. Also the other 100 or so they speak about comprise of less than 2%-5% of the total searches and are not worth your time. Focus on the ones that count.
Website Submission
Submitting your website to search engines is very important for obvious reasons but sometimes is not as easy as it looks. As a REALTOR you need to consider 2 types of search engines. Mainstream such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing Portal sites such as the Real Estate Library and REALTOR.com Submitting to the major engines is not always as simple as it seems and finding the other smaller focused engines might even be more challenging. Here are some instructions to submitting to the Major Search Engines:
Google- Google is pretty straight forward. Just navigate to this page and then choose what you are submitting; website, sitemap, or local business information
Bing- Bing is Microsoft's newest search engine. If you want to submit your site here you first need a Microsoft LiveID. If you do not have one you will be asked to create one. To begin go to the submission page. In order to complete the submission process Bing requires authentication to ensure that only the rightful owners are provided with information about their websites.
Yahoo- To submit your website to Yahoo go to this page. You will also need a Site ExplorerID which you can sign -up for when you submit your site. Here are some real estate portal sites you might also consider. I do not endorse any but they are a good way to get a relevant link. Some of these sites charge a fee for inclusion.
Real Estate Specific Sites
The Real Estate Library - Contains all the tools that real estate professionals and clients need. We currently have more than 100,000 resources essential to building your career and keeping it on track.
Zillow- Zillow.com is an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information.
Trulia - Trulia is a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process. They also now have a Agent directory.
REALTOR.com- Of course everyone knows this one. All REALTORS who are NAR members are already included in directory but they do have ways to enhance your presence.
Linking
Before I close this series I also want to emphasize the importance of linking. Getting quality inbound or reciprocal links is also a very important aspect of any good SEO campaign. Probably the most overlooked aspect when you are trying to do your own SEO optimization. Quality links can be as important in terms of SEO value as content sometimes. Try searching for other websites and blogs that would be associated with your keywords by preforming searches on the major engines listed above. These websites are already indexed by the search engines so by linking your website to some of these can give you some important relevance rankings. Also it can serve as an alternate path for the search engine bots to find you if your site is new.
Linking to other websites
If you find a really nice site that is using your keywords or perhaps is in your industry, make contact and ask for a link. Inbound links are the best but most of the time you need to settle for a reciprocal link. Maybe a builders website in your market would be a target for a reciprocal link. Perhaps an inbound link from a mortgage company you work is also another idea. However you do it, links are important. Google says so very clearly. The more relevant inbound links you have the more relevant Google will consider you.
Blogging
Be a contributor on related blogs. When you make comments you can also enter your website address. Now you might have heard a lot of blogs have a no-follow attribute when you enter your website. This is true, but not all do and the worst case scenario is that you are getting your name out there and adding to your sphere of influence and building creditability.
Article Writing
If you have the time Article Writing can be a very rewarding experience. There are many sites that allow you to submit articles for inclusion on their site. These articles then have a section about you where you can add an inbound link to your site. These articles are then used in other sites giving you the credit and link back. Some examples of article sites are; EzineArticles, GetMyArticles, Go Articles, and The Real Estate Article Directory. So give some a try and see what results you get. The important thing to remember is that this is an ongoing process and you should always be working on your SEO. I hope you enjoyed this 7 part post and check back as I will continue to bring you other tips on website development and optimization.
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RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate web site design and Internet technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.
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