Special offer

It must be Magic

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. BRE# 000872112

I was reading Sharon Simm's post about Website Content and was wondering why is it that sites like Advanced Access that host so many of the Realtor websites rate so high with the search engines when their content is essentially the same.

These websites look the same.  They feel the same.  The links are the same.  The writing is pretty much the same.  Yet... they are popping up high in placement.

Only a few Realtors I know actually update their Advanced Access sites to personalize them.  The rest do not.

So... the question is why is it that these sites rate so high with placement and usually show up on the 1st or 2nd page of searches?  What are they doing that is so special?

Can someone enlighten me?

Comments (13)

Laurie Manny
Long Beach CA Real Estate - Long Beach, CA

Hi Irina,

AA sites do not automatically rate high, no canned site will.  AA has a fabulous customer service department who will walk you through adding custom pages and anything else that you need.  Purchasing just the site in itself will not do much for your rankings, they do however offer a marketing package, which I utilize.  Even with that I still did not get to the top of the engines as promised.  Until I added tons of custom content, started blogging and cross linking, working on meta tags and keywords, on every page of my website - I went nowhere. 

I now rank very high for many of my custom pages as well as my home page.  Many keywords will show my website on page 1 or 2.  Sometimes I get 4 placements on page one with a combination of my website and active rain profile/blog placement, depends on the day.  Some days it is only 2 or 3, do you see me complaining? 

I don't want you to think that this was not a lot of work.  It is a tremendous amount of work and it requires a lot of mainenance.  Part of the problem with people purchasing websites it that they think it is all done for them, it is not.  You are purchasing a basic website with basic information on it.  The same information that every other AA customer has on it, nothing original - the spiders will not love you.  They only start to love you when you add content. 

This is my AA website:

Check it out.

I hope this helps.

Feb 10, 2007 04:11 PM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Hi Laurie,

I love your site!  It certainly looks very different from the rest of the AA sites.  You obviously spent a lot of time and energy on it.  Love the ocean background as well.

Thanks for the explanation and advice.

I love AR.  I've learned so much from the community here.

Thanks much!

Feb 11, 2007 01:08 AM
Dick & Sandy Beals
Wilmington Real Estate 4U Wilmington, NC - Wilmington, NC
We tried a AA site....lots of problems, poor customer service, and it did not perform well.  This could just be a individual problem, however I don't think so.  Some areas they work well, for my money Number 1 Expert sites are the best for a template site.   We have made a lot of $$$ with this site, they are expensive but they work.
Feb 13, 2007 10:12 AM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Hi Dick & Sandy,

Thanks for the feedback.  Number 1 Expert sites are quite expensive.  What have you found that they do differently that enabled you to make lots of $$$s?

Thanks,

Irina

 

Feb 15, 2007 01:40 PM
Anonymous
Pete Elsner
If you find out, let me know will ya?  Thanks!
Feb 15, 2007 02:48 PM
#5
Dick & Sandy Beals
Wilmington Real Estate 4U Wilmington, NC - Wilmington, NC

 Irina,

 #1 Experts sites have quality staff, writers, and include lots of content.  We have had the Expert site for 9 years, back when they were exclusive (only one expert per locale).  As the web presence grew (ours and #1 Expert sites) their criteria changed and we now have 3 Experts for our area.  That is OK, there is plenty of business to go around...IMO tenure on the web has a lot to do with why it works well, however, I don't think most web sites are not structured to obtain customers, they are just to pretty.  Our site does have pop-ups to encourage lookers to sign in and receive more information.  We have it set up in order to see a virtual tour you need to sign in.  I resisted this in the beginning, but thought why not and the leads did increase.  There are lots of folks doing lots of different things in this business, but a good web presence is paramount to success.  Not to influence you, or boast, but in the realm of giving, here are some of the numbers......15-20 sign in leads per day, 2-3 per week who request more info and need more follow-up, 2-3 sales per month.....some months more, some less, income is in excess of 100k per year for last 6 years JUST FROM THE WEB SITE!  We do advertise the site on everything, and try to create ads to get consumers to go to the site, some ads have house pictures, most just say go to the web site for more information. Feel free to give me a call if you want me to elaborate, and oh by the way, I do not receive any sort of compensation for this endorsement

 Dick Beals

 

Feb 15, 2007 11:10 PM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Dick, thanks so much for the info!  I might take you up on the phone call.

Thanks again!!!

Feb 16, 2007 03:06 PM
Aziz Abdur-Raoof
RE/MAX Rewards - Columbia, MD
Howard Co. Real Estate Scoop
Thxs for asking the question and Dick --thxs for your answer.
Feb 16, 2007 03:09 PM
Win Singleton
Summit Web Design and Long & Foster Realtors - Falls Church, VA
Web Designer & Associate Broker

There is no real "magic" to achieving "organic" or "natural" search engine rankings at all. Getting found in the search engine rankings is not just a question of content (even though some would try to convince you that it is) - as you observed with template sites all offering the same content pages. Instead, it goes back to the basics of good search engine optimization techniques. Some templates allow for the template owner to do this kind of optimization work, as Laura Manny has done, but some templates just don't offer that capability. AA sites also currently offer their subscribers, for an additional fee in their menu of services, the Premium Marketing Service for $2499.95/year, so that could be another reason you are seeing some of them rank so highly.

To learn more, you might want to read my posting - Is Your Web Site Being Found?. Hope it helps.

Feb 17, 2007 04:14 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate

Good topic Irina.  One thing I have done to get my site rated on the 1st page of Yahoo is to post all my listings on Craig's list and add a link to my site from my Craig's list ad.  I do one thing myself.  I go to Craig's list and click on a property of mine.  I then click my link that takes me to my site.  This process took me from the 10th page to the 1st page of Yahoo in 2-3 weeks and has kept me there.  Google is another nut to crack but this sure works for Yahoo.

Take care,

George

Feb 17, 2007 05:59 AM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Win, yes... you are so right!  Forgot about the extra service that AA offers.  I'll be checking out your post shortly.

George, what a great idea!  I use Craig's List all the time, but didn't think about clicking on the link myself.  Also just found a new service that posts to Craig's List, Trulia and other search engines and the ad looks great.  It's called www.postlets.com - check it out... it's free and works great!

Feb 17, 2007 06:07 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate

Wow Irina,  Thanks for sharing about postlets.  I just went onto the site and I will try it out.  I just started posting my listings on Google base and according to postlets I can write on ad and it will link it to Google base, Craigs list, Yahoo etc. all at the same time so I only have to write one ad!  Thanks so much for the tip!  P.S. Yes, remember to always put a link on every ad so that consumers can link right to your site.  Not only do you get the value of getting customers to your site but Google, Yahoo and other search engines look at this big time and the more people link from other sites you yours, the more you site will move up the ladder on many of these sites.

Good luck!  George

Feb 21, 2007 01:36 PM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Hi George, yes... I just love www.postlets.com.  I think it's an amazing service and it's FREE.  And, I've been clicking away - trying to follow your advice.

Thanks!!!

Feb 21, 2007 02:38 PM