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Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Web Design |
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SEO Is Not An AfterthoughtA popular misconception among Realtors is that SEO or Search Engine Optimization is something to consider or add on after the Website is set up. This kind of thinking is somewhat like a homebuyer purchasing a home on Main Street and then thinking it is no big deal to move it up to Ocean View Avenue. So, maybe it can be done but maybe it cannot be done. Is Your Website Ready for SEO? Find out if your Website can easily be optimized by visiting me online at http://www.sellrealestate.net/seoscore.asp. Get Your SEO Score and find out exactly what needs to be done to get your Website on Page One of Google. Think Of SEO as an Approach to Real Estate Web Design Websites, just like homes, start with the foundation and as you know, not all foundations are alike. The foundation or structure for many template Websites is based on a design element known as Frames. It is called a frame because that is what it does. It serves as a frame for another Web page. With this design element a Website may look like it has a lot of content when in reality all it has is a frame that is used over and over to link to many other pages that actually reside somewhere else. A structure like this is not something that can be overcome. In other words, internal SEO cannot be effectively added to this type of structure. Web Content Makes A Big Difference Imagine a city with many tract homes arranged in a grid and a smaller section with a few unique custom homes on curving, tree-lined streets and tell me where you would rather live. Now, think of Websites as somewhat like tract homes and custom homes and imagine which sites the search engines are going to like better. Remember all search engines tell us they do not like duplicate content. Is it any wonder that they choose the custom real estate Web designs over template sites that are full of duplicate content? Deferred Maintenance Leads to Lower Value A home that is well maintained will sell faster and for a higher price usually than a similar home that hasn?t been painted in years and has leaky plumbing and a weed infested lawn. Search engines equate a Website that hasn?t changed in years to that home suffering from deferred maintenance. What search engines do like are Websites that are up-to-date and cared for. This means it is important that your Website be constructed in such as way that automatic updates occur and that your Webmaster or hosting company provide you with constant updates. Where The Idea Comes From I suspect that the idea that SEO is something you add to your Website once it is set up comes from awareness of what is known as External SEO. The elements mentioned above are all part of what is known as Internal SEO because they are part of the site?s structure and content. External activities can and do occur after the site is created and all these external efforts are designed to lead to one thing: Backlinks. As you know, a backlink occurs when some other Website links to yours. Search engines evaluate the links coming into a site and if they like what they see, it can cause them to give the site a higher placement in the index. While this is a part of SEO that actually can be added later, backlinks alone will not propel a poorly optimized Website to page one for any kind of competitive keyword phrase. |