Google caffeine has been launched and the results that I have seen are excellent. Of course everything I do is based around the real estate industry and real estate websites, but even with that in mind, I have been posting content and seeing my titles indexed sometimes within  a matter of minutes. Writing excellent, targeted titles with quality content is now part of your life as a real estate professional and you need to embrace this.

Google is hyped on caffeine and you better give your WordPress website a good cup of joe if you want to keep up!

Lets take the idea of having a cup of coffee with friends. It’s relaxing and enjoyable. It is also informative as you discuss the market, real estate, gossip a little, and talk about other topics that seem to be on the minds of everyone these days. In a simple discussion with friends, you will almost always find something of interest to write about. And better yet, if it’s something your friends know more about, ask them to write it and give them or their business credit for the contribution. Either way, you will benefit from the content.

There is always a great article or post presented to you every day. Just learn to listen!

What about those interesting topics that are closely related to real estate? Nearby parks and recreation, sports facilities, local fishing areas and boat rentals. And what about shopping malls and centers? All of these areas can be added to enhance  simple post about a listing you have or a home you have researched and want to share with your readers.

Make a list of everything you can think of. This will help you organize and get the creativity started. Even if it is something you may write about at a later date. Write down the topic or idea.

Also, include in your list events of local businesses. Is there a Triathlon or major race taking place, a concert, a charity event? All of this should be included in your “scan” for content.

GOOGLE CRAVES FRESH CONTENT and it is your task to provide it and make it relevant to your industry.

WordPress makes this easy!

Happy Writing!

Now is the time to get your real estate website under your control and working for you.

The fact is, many agents are complacent when it comes to their website, even though they are quickly falling by the wayside.

The fact is nearly everyone uses the internet for both buying and selling their home. Buyers, of course are looking for easy solutions to search for property and sellers are looking to see who to list with. You need to realize that sellers are most likely internet savvy and if they don’t find you in the search engines, how are you going to convince them that you are up-to-par with the latest technology to sell their home.

Building a real estate website that is informative for buyer and offers a plethora of  search tools, email alerts and more, will also let the seller know that you are not a dinosaur when it comes to the internet. It boasts that you are knowledgeable and take advantage of all the latest web trends and social media to help them sell their property. Especially in a tough market.

Now is the time! There has never been a better time to build a powerful real estate website and start claiming the “Broadway” and “Park Place” in the search engines. Yes, it takes time and dedication, but the results can be real, profitable and sustainable.

WordPress 3 offers new and unique ways for real estate agents to reach target specific markets while using up those great domains that are gathering dust as “Parked Domains”.

The new multi-user feature that can be manually added to your main site allows you to manage multiple sites from one dashboard. You can now manage multiple “TARGETED” websites all from one dashboard. You can target specific types of property like Condos, Golf Homes, Water Front, etc. and have each site indexed individually.

The below Video is an introduction to WordPress 3.0. Pay special attention to the end where it talks about running several sites.

Give us a call at 850.502.0698. We will show you how you can have one of the easiest and most powerful real estate website combination to help you come out ON TOP!

I get asked the same question multiple times per day

“What is the best wordpress theme for real estate?”

The fact is, there are many quality themes that can be used for real estate. Some are free; most are premium themes that can be customized to your liking.

If you are thinking about using wordpress for your real estate website with IDX integration, than I can tell you with complete confidence -  StudioPress themes. And not necessarily just the Agent Press theme. I have used and customized Agency, Corporate, Lifestyle, Agent Press and Executive themes for real estate clients with great success. The themes are a more advanced than free themes and offer a robust back end for making  changes.

Our system for integrating IDX and customizing themes has been extremely successful for easy management and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Each theme can offer a distinct look that sets you apart as a web savvy real estate agent. With nearly everyone who is looking to buy a home starting their search online, Don’t you think you should be found?

If you want to a real estate website that can put you way ahead of your competitors, you owe it to yourself and your future to give us a call. Our solutions are precise, powerful, and according to our customers: “The best solution they have found!”

Call us today: 850.502.0698 or EMAIL

WordPress Pages with IDX for better SEO

One of the SEO tactics we use is to create many wordpress pages and add either IDX thumbnails to the page or a details page link. This depends on whether we are creating a “Property Page” or a “Target Area Page”.

The “Property Page” is dedicated to writing about a single property on a page using rich keyword phrases. The writing should be your content, not copied from MLS or other listing information. Include photos to keep interest and make the content more colorful. (Be sure to use the title and ALT information for the images) Keep in mind while writing your copy that Google uses something called “Latent Semantic Indexing” or LSI which helps Google and other search indexes rank your page by similar words. For instance semantically related words for Beach Front Property can be Coastal Property, Beach Property, water front, Gulf View, etc. Use them in complete phrases within content. So, the following steps will help in creating a “Property Page:

• Find a property you want to write about. Search the MLS gather photos, review the MLS content and write about the property in your own words.
• Add photos. This can be with NEXGEN photo gallery, or whatever you decide.
• Create a link to the IDX details page and re-iterate the title and or address such as: “See all the details about ??? here” Link this to the detail page
• Create a title that will get indexed. Use prominent keywords.
• Add an H1 tag at the top using a keyword phrase

NOTE: You may not want this page to be displayed in the navbar. If not, make sure you download the EXLUDE PAGES plugin. This will give you a checkbox to exclude the page from the navbar.

The Targeted Area Page is a little different. We write a paragraph about a specific area, neighborhood, condominium, development, etc. and add IDX thumbnails to the page. This is great for your readers as it gives them information they may be seeking along with the listing of property for sale in that immediate target area. We have found that the response to these pages is extremely positive. These pages are better served in the NAVBAR under a main category such as Local Neighborhoods, Developments, etc. Simple setup:

• Write about a specific target area. Include information about parks, location amenities, nearby shopping, schools, etc. Try to write about 200 words if possible.
• Add IDX Thumbnails at about 3 columns and 5 or 6 rows as a teaser.
• Add a link at the end of the thumbnails to “Search all homes in ???” This links to the full listings list for that specific area. Also helps with SEO.
• Once again give allot of consideration to the title tag. Think about what people would search for. For example, in Destin Florida (the main city), you could have “Name of Community-Destin” , etc.

Good luck and Happy Writing!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us!

Never Underestimate the Title Tag

When you are creating posts for your real estate site, remember, so is your competition. They are after the same market as you are. And with the increased knowledge  and understanding of the internet and SEO among agents, you have to be creative and savvy when posting.

Don’t discount what is so easy. Your Title Tag is what search engines see first. Therefore it makes sense to write a great title tag.

The “THINK ABOUTS”

• Think about the post content and make the title tag relevant to your copy
• Think about what the public might search for to get to your post. What keywords, phrases, etc.
• Think about using the title tag as a question that a reader might ask. For instance if you are writing a post about buying a short sale property ( I know, over done), you may turn it into a question: Buying a short sale in Destin? Need help?

Avoid the common real estate ad titles. Number of Bedrooms, Baths, etc.  i.e. “Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath home in Destin”. This is a wasted post that will not get you very far. Considering you can find this same text thousands of times in your local listing index.

Simple but powerful!

The word is out for wordpress. IDX Broker has a great plug-in that can help a real estate agent get started with adding IDX to their wordpress site. The IDX Plugin is a great way to get started with wordpress.  Below are a few things you can do beyond the plug-in to help get higher positioning in Google.

1. Rather than adding a simple link in the navbar that leads to an IDX page, think about how you can use that page to generate index-able text by Google. For instance, if you are creating a navbar link for the area Destin, FL (where I live), you would create a page “DESTIN” and add information about Destin on this page. Right around 200 words is good.
2. Then you will want to add an IDX thumbnail set of homes in Destin. Generally I use 3 columns by 4 rows. Many of the agents we design for however want to show 10 rows, and this is ok. This adds to the page what your readers are actually looking for.
3. Add a link at the top and bottom  to “View All Homes in Destin”. This link will be a targeted IDX link to all results in Destin.
4. Add “Price Range” links to offer your readers  more precise “quick links”. For example (100k-150k) (150k-200k) etc., etc.
5. Use an alertnate “Title Tag” as a header tag in the text box. Use H1 or H2 from the FORMAT dropdown. Make this header tag keyword rich!

The above 5 steps are very basic things that can be done to help you with gaining page rank.

If you are interested in a robust, advanced setup and gaining top positions in Google, feel free to contact us for more information  by email or by phone: 850.502.0698

The WPIDX Video Library consisting of a complete set of training videos for real estate agents is almost complete. My goal is to give real estate agents the knowledge to master the management of their websites.

The WordPress IDX library will include videos about operating and managing a wordpress real estate website, as well as adding and managing your IDX and wordpress integration. SEO tactics will also be discussed and presented througout the series.

Launch date has been targeted to be June 1st, 2010, and will be FREE with our PowerSite Options two and three.

I get asked the same question multiple times per day “What is the best wordpress theme for real estate?” The question itself is so broad and depends on several factors. Are you experienced with wordpress enough to make any customizations that you would require?  Some themes have quite a bit of great features built into the theme. You will still need to customize the theme and add IDX to any theme you decide to start with. Are  you using a professional wordpress designer? Are you planning on adding IDX to your site? Make sure that your designer understands the real estate market, what works for SEO and is knowledgeable about integrating IDX services.

There are many options available and most of the top themes we have purchased developer licenses for. We start with a great theme and then customize it to be a real estate PowerSite website with all IDX features. The customization we do  brands the real estate site to you and your area; concentrates on gaining better rankings in Google for organic local search, incorporates social media  and has the all of the publishing, article, post, pages and benefits of wordpress.

If you want to a real estate website that can put you way ahead of your competitors, you owe it to yourself and your future to give us a call. Our solutions are precise, powerful, and according to our customers across the country -  “The best solution they have found!”

Call us today: 850.502.0698 or EMAIL

IDX is a great tool for bolstering your SEO efforts. In fact, we have used it to get clients to top positions in Google and other major search engines. Face it, the real estate listings on your site are why people are visiting to begin with, so it makes sense to try and get indexed under as many organic search terms that you can that can relate to what your potential buyers are seeking and searching for.

The first thing we do is analyze your market area and gather the organic keyword people use to search for homes. We look for both popular and extremely targeted words. This list can include communities, developments and neighborhoods, golf homes, foreclosures, etc. and can get extremely targeted such as targeted areas and price ranges.  Once we have the list, we create custom thumbnail pages with slide shows and IDX quick links to the target search keywords. This is highly optinized for SEO and can get your site indexed under organic search words for your area.

Next we show you how to create listing “picks” that generate both content and ping Google and other search engines of the content updates.

These are just two things we do when we build your Real Estate PowerSite with IDX. Ease of use, Maximum Search Tools, SEO.

Feel free to give us a call to discuss your Real Estate Website needs:

850.502.0698