Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

Is your web site gaining ground – inching its way toward that elusive page one location? If so, you probably want to find some easy ways to give it an extra shove in that direction.

One such way is to give extra attention to your title tags. You know, those words that sit up there at the top of each web page, virtually ignored by all human eyes.

You may ignore them, but the search engines don’t, so they’re a perfect spot to add some SEO juice.

Each page on your site should have a unique title tag, and it shouldn’t say “home page,” “about us” or “services.”

It should use your best keywords in a clear statement that indicates what that page is all about.

I said a “quick” boost – but that isn’t exactly true. Making the change on your website is quick, but you should spend a little time composing that statement. You have about 65 spaces, and should use them well. Try to put the keyword at the beginning.

For instance, instead of saying “About Sue Smith, Atlanta real estate agent,” turn it around to say “Atlanta Real estate agent Sue Smith.”

Another easy boost is adding alt tags to all your photos. No matter what kind of picture you use on line, you can think of some way to put your keywords into a description of that photo. The reason it’s called an “alt” tag, by the way, is because those are the words that will show up in place of the photo if for some reason it won’t load.

While you’re there, check to see that you’ve included your best keywords in your visible page title, and in the first paragaph of your copy. If you have to, keep turning your copy upside down and sideways to get them there. (But don’t stuff!)

Also, check your page length. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard from several sources lately that in order to help your SEO, your copy needs to be at least 250 words on each page.

By the way, if your site is still not even close to page 1, these methods will help get it moving. Google rankings remain a mystery, but we each need to do all we can to sensibly make our web sites easier for Google – and our clients – to find.

I think we owe it to those clients to make the effort. After all, we have good things to offer!