Real Estate SEO Made Super Simple

This checklist was written to help truly ambitious realtors succeed with search engine optimization (SEO). Moreover, this Real Estate SEO checklist was written for anyone with zero technical know-how or internet marketing skills. If one just follows our instructions exactly you will outrank about 90% of your competitors.

There is an expression, “Just Follow the Darn Instructions.” If you do, you will succeed in improving your internet presence.

Real Estate SEO 101

While internet marketing seems this fast-paced and complex world, it all can be boiled down to two core components:

• Content
• Links

Content is any type of digital property that can be found online. This would be a video on YouTube, a blog post, a website, a post on Facebook, an article on LinkedIn, podcasts, eBooks, eCourses, tweets, Infographics, photos, etc.

In essence, content is information

While keywords are an important factor within your content, simply “stuffing” a bunch of keywords into your website is an outdated and ineffective method of ranking your content high within search engines. Keywords are an important element, but they must be used wisely within your high-quality content.

Links are clickable words or photos that connect to other content. These links can lead to other websites or to additional content within the website one is already in.

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Google and other search engines determine the value of your website and/or by the quality and quantity of its content and links. Quality has become the dominant factor lately, as search engines want to ensure that those who are searching online rapidly and easily discover the best content possible.

How Do I Create Quality Content?

Remember, I wrote this checklist for truly ambitious realtors who require no internet marketing skills. I did not write this checklist for computer geeks or Chief Marketing Officers at Fortune 500 corporations.

The best content there is video. Video content will be 80% of the consumed internet content by 2019. Moreover, your video content can be transcribed inexpensively and then turned into a blog post, a webpage, or even as part of a book.

Video content does not need to be complicated to be effective for SEO. Here are some options to create quality videos that you can put on YouTube.

• Google Hangouts on Air. Google Hangouts on Air is a free service. All your “Hangouts” will be recorded onto your own YouTube channel and then can be shared on social media. Moreover, it can then be embedded into your blog. There are many tutorials on YouTube that can show you how to use Google Hangouts on Air effectively.
• College students. Many colleges now offer courses in video production. For a lower fee than a professional videographer, these college students can be hired to create extremely affordable videos for you.
• Your Mobile Device. The quality of mobile devices allows one to record high-quality videos that can be uploaded to YouTube. Affordable apps, such as Videolicious, offer a simple solution to creating professional quality videos.

Video Content Ideas

Now that you know how to create videos easily and inexpensively, the next question that most realtors ask is, “What should I make a video about?”

For a realtor, the best ideas are to feature your new listings, as well as answer commonly asked questions from home sellers and buyers. Also, producing videos about local resources, events, and locations (schools, churches, shopping centers, tourist attractions, etc.) makes for great content. Google and other search engines love websites and blogs that feature content about the community you serve.

Another perfect topic for your videos is a success story and endorsement from happy clients. Nothing sells your realtor brand better than happy, satisfied people.

Transcribing Your Videos

Next, you want to transcribe your video with Rev.com. It only costs $1.00 per minute to transcribe your video. Once you receive your transcription back, which usually takes 1 to 2 days, you can polish it up and then place this content onto your blog as your next post.

Creating Links

There are many methods to creating links. Most are quite complex, but some of the best links to be had are right there in your own network and neighborhood.

My SEO services help your rankings by building some of the most complex links to your website and/or blog. I provide these SEO services because I know that you should be concentrating your valuable time on listing new properties and servicing your home buyers.

While I will continue to provide these link building services, I do know that links can be generated by you which have tremendous value in the eyes of Google and other search engines. In fact, these powerful search engines LOVE links from other local businesses and organization within your own community.

Here are some places you can generate some valuable links to your website/blog:

• Friends and family who have websites or blogs.
• Fellow business contacts and partners that have websites.
• Local schools, universities, charities, and clubs. They will offer links to those realtors who donate a small amount of money.
• Chamber of Commerce. Join and get a link.
• Sponsor a meet up group at MeetUp.com.
• Local bloggers. They can be contacted and asked to do a story on you or to list you as a local resource. These can be found by typing in “Your City Blogger” in Google.
• Share content and news on Patch.com.
• Reach out to local media. Find a reason to feature you on their news blog.

While more local links are better, even just a dozen or so of these types of links can have a powerful effect on increasing your blog’s rankings in local search results.

Distributing Your Content

Truth be told, creating content is only half the work. Now it is important to distribute your content so that it is found, consumed, and that inspires people to contact you for business purposes. Once your content is created you want to share it through:

• Your email data base
• Social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.)
• Paid advertisements on Google and Facebook
• Blog posts

In Conclusion

Creating quality content and links becomes easier over time, once you get started. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.”

I will always offer premium contentand link building services. But this is no reason why you cannot also contribute to your marketing success with the above checklist.