Writing Good Blog Titles

How do you know what title to use when writing a new blog article?

As a rule, you combine two elements:

1. What keyword/phrase variation do people search for, and


2. What phrase will lure people into clicking

It's not enough to just pack your keywords into the blog title, and hope that it shows up at #1 on Google's listings. You have to write the title in such a way as to make people want to click on it. To do that, figure out what will make the title SO compelling, that it convinces people to think that your page is the best page.

Writing Compelling Titles

A compelling title is a combination of two things;

1. Providing the right phrase that Google searchers will connect with, and


2. Not saying too much, so as to create a hint of mystery.

In other words, you want your blog article title to sound like it will answer the questions that searchers have in mind, yet be vague enough to make them want to click. Maintaining some ambiguity in the title makes searchers ask themselves, "Hmmm, I think this has what I want, let me check to see if it does".

A title that "connects" with Google searchers is one that acknowledges their question. For example, if you searched Google for, "how to write a good blog title", and among the results you saw one that read, "Writing Good Blog Titles", those words immediately acknowledges your question.

The "compelling" component is simply keeping the title short enough, so as not to give away too much. That mystery makes people want to investigate.

Finding the right keywords and phrases

This is mostly a matter of using Google's keyword tool, punching in a word or two, and seeing what shows up.

When I wrote this article, I entered "blog titles". The results showed me phrases containing those two words, as well related phrases. I simply sorted them by most popular, and then examined the top 10-15 to find patterns.

Ideally, you could do everything I outlined above, on every new blog article you write, and maximize your Google referrals.

Online Real Estate Marketing Increases

Borrell Associates, a research and consulting firm that tracks local advertising and helps online businesses develop marketing strategies, published a new report on the state of online real estate marketing...

http://www.borrellassociates.com/ reportDetails.aspx?prodID=91

The report has to be purchased, but I was able to get a free synopsis.

It says that real estate agents, who initially tried to appease home sellers by advertising more on traditional channels, this year cut their print budgets and pushed more money into the Web.

In short, total ad spending on real estate declined 3% this year, while spending on the Internet grew 25.8%, hitting $2.6 billion. The company projects online real estate advertising to grow at 12.4% next year while total real estate advertising continues to decline.

By 2012, Borrel believes that agents and brokers will be spending more ad dollars online than in newspapers.

Real Estate Ad Revenues ($ thousands)
	2007 Forecast	2012 Projection
Newspapers	$4,842	$3,295
Online	$2,582	$3,453
All Other	$4,038	$4,458
Total	$11,462	$11,206
Source: Borrell Associates, Inc., November 2007

What Borrel didn't say (in the synopsis) is that the current slump has forced agents and brokers to find new ways to market their services and properties, and this is what is driving the online marketing spend. Should the market bounce back to a seller's market, I'm sure newspaper marketing will bounce back.

And as for newspaper advertising, Borrel goes on to paint a grim picture. They project that coming off last year's high of almost $5.2 billion in print advertising, there will be a 6.8% decline this year, almost the same again in 2008, followed by a 16% fall in 2009, and 13% in 2010.

This analysis is pretty consistent with other reports I've read.

So, let's assume that Borrel is correct, and that the real estate industry will largely market itself online. We can look at existing tools, like Zillow, Trulia, blogs, and RSS feeds.

But every ten years, there's a total paradigm change in the way we perceive reality. Ten years ago (1997) you probably didn't think you'd be sitting here learning Internet marketing. Obviously, ten years from now, it's too difficult to predict where we'll be.

I tend to believe that Wi-Fi networks will greatly evolve into marketing tools. Imagine driving by a house for sale, and a broadcast appearing on your car's LCD monitor, showing you the video of the interior. Or, pulling into a Starbuck's drive-thru, seeing the menu on your car's GPS display, and punching in the order right there. This sort of thing already exists in limited applications, using Bluetooth.

I'm sure Google or Yahoo is going to get in on the real estate business, and buy up Zillow. Imagine being a Google real estate agent!

The 18-35 year old market is the most computer savvy of all. Eventually, they'll be wanting to buy a home, and no doubt they'll turn to the Internet before even thinking about calling an agent. So, where will you be in all of this?

Blogger or WordPress - Which?

A big debate on blogging is often on which platform to use, Blogger or WordPress.

I've built up a successful business using Blogger blogs, one of which is the blog you're reading now. They're really easy to set up, free to use, and they seem to get indexed faster into Google.

Let me clarify that again, they get indexed faster, I didn't say they get a PageRank boost.

Google owns Blogger. There has been much discussion in SEO circles on whether or not Google gives Blogger blogs any extra weight in PageRank. I don't believe so. But does Google give Blogger blogs any other kind of advantage?

I think they do, in the form of speedier indexing.

Blogger is tied into Google Blog Search

Google has its own dedicated blog search engine, "Google Blog Search", and Blogger has a pipeline into it.

Blogger provides its publishers with a control setting called, "Let search engines find your blog"...


This setting allows you to get your blog indexed by Google Blog Search. By default, it's set to "Yes".

This tells me that a Blogger blog and its articles will automatically get into Google Blog Search, instanteously, within seconds. And once in Google Blog Search, it's sure to get into Google Web Search.

But the truth is that WordPress blogs can get into Google Blog Search too. It's just that it's not joined at the hip to it. Instead, WordPress blogs have to ping Google Blog Search to get in there.

So the question is, how fast is Google's ping service? I don't have the answers to that. But I have done my own tests to get some circustantial evidence.

One such peculiarity I often find is that certain extremely popular blogs, such as Gizmodo for example, will have their articles syndicated on other blogs, in full. Many times, Google Blog Search will index the articles on those other blogs, before it indexes the same articles on Gizmodo. Assuming that Gizmodo is pinging Google Blog Search, how is it that its content doesn't show up there before the syndicated content?

Bottom Line

What all this means is that when people run searches on Google Blog Search, they're more likely to find Blogger content before they find WordPress content.

And while this does provide Blogger blogs with a small advantage, it's not a significant advantage by any means. The fact is that many WordPress blogs have become very popular blogs. But so have Blogger blogs.

I'd wish that more SEO consultants would start a discussion on the connection between Google Web Search and Google Blog Search, to see how the two influence each other.

Using AdSense Heat Maps

AdSense Heat Map is a chart showing website designers the areas of a webpage where visitors are mostly likely to click on an ad. It can help real estate agents make decisions on where to place key elements on their websites.

On my AdSense blog, I've written in more detail about the AdSense Heat Map in an article entitled, "Best AdSense Placements".

Here's what the Heat Map looks like...


The orange areas are the "hot zones". These are areas where visitors are most likely to click on an ad. The darker the orange, the hotter. Google created this map based on actual AdSense performance data.

Of course, you won't probably won't have ads on your agent website. But there certainly are elements that you want your visitors to see, and click on.

For example, you want people to notice your property listings. Place them in the orange areas, I'd suggest at the top, just below the navigation bar.

If you have something special to say, put it in that darker orange area.

Your contact info would best go on the left-side, towards the top, in the orange area. You certainly want people to find your phone number, street address, and e-mail address.

Just below your contact info, and still within that orange area, place a link to a webpage outlining your credentials and expertise.

If you find that the website template you're using is not really set up to take advantage of all these hot zones, remember that you don't have to utilize every hot zone. In fact if you did, more than likely the visitor will be confused on what to focus his or her eyes on. It's better to pick just a couple of hot zones, and emphasize those.

Real Estate Blogs

Google created a heat map just for blogs...


I'd make the following recommendations...

First, the navigation column should be switched to the left, just like the design of this blog you're reading. Remember the general heat map showing the orange zones, and you'll understand why left-hand columns are better.

Second, in between blog posts, I'd recommend not stuffing anything. Just let the articles flow one after another. You can post a few links to your other websites from within the body of the article. That'll actually work better for both SEO, and referrals.

Third, treat the blue "Link Units" and the gray, "Links" column as navigational links to other areas of your blog, and to your other websites.

Real Estate Web Forums

And in the off-chance that you might be hosting your own web forum, Google has a heat map for those too...

"cityof" Domain Names

A "cityof" domain name is simply a domain name with the words "cityof" up front. Here are some examples...

cityoforange.com
cityofscottsdale.com
cityofboulder.com

I believe that Google holds some "magical" value for any domain name that has "cityof" at the beginning, AND, in which the city mentioned in the domain name actually exists. I think Google uses some kind of master list of place names.

Here's my observation on why I think this is so...

I publish a hyperlocal news blog, "Menifee 24/7". In my town, there are a few others who compete with me, publishing other Menifee-related portal sites, and news sites. Thus far, I have the one with the highest traffic volume. However, I don't have the site that ranks #1 for "menifee".

That dubious distinction belongs to a website called, "City of Menifee", using the domain name, "cityofmenifee.com". This website is NOT the official website of Menifee. Menifee is not an actual city, it's an unincorporated area of Riverside County. It doesn't have its own government. But it is found on various lists of place names, including the US Geological Survey, DMOZ, and others.

I think Google gives a great rankings boost for sites that represent the official website for government. Official state websites, county websites, and city websites, are given a big boost, because they're supposed to be highly relevant if someone searches for a particular state, county, or city.

So, since Menifee doesn't have an official government website, Google gave that title to cityofmenifee.com, recognizing that it is an actual place name. I think the Google guys have something in the algorithm that allows each state, county, and city to have one official website, and gives it a big boost to make sure it doesn't get overtaken by unofficial websites.

Here are some facts to prove my point...

• City of Menifee is a PR3, Menifee 24/7 is a PR4


• City of Menifee has 10 backlinks, Menifee 24/7 has 294 backlinks


• City of Menifee gets minor updates about 2-3 times per month, Menifee 24/7 is updated about 20-30 times per month


• City of Menifee mentions the word "menifee" less than Menifee 24/7.


• This only happens on Google. Yahoo and MSN doesn't put cityofmenifee.com at the the top, instead both giving that honor to the Menifee Unified School District

As it stands now, if the guy that runs "cityofmenifee.com" can exploit this Google weakness to his benefit, then so can you. Look for unincorporated communities, with nary a presence on the web. Register a "cityof" domain name, and just publish some content, in my theory it should shoot right up to the top.

Use Local Forums to Build Reputation

One of the advantages of participating on local community web forums, is that you can leverage them to build up your name recognition.

One of the problems about marketing yourself as a real estate agent, is that you're largely "transparent" in the community. No one needs you, until they actually need you. Unlike a restaurant, or dry cleaner, no one notices your store front while driving down the street, if you even have a store front!

Most towns have some kind of web forum somewhere, where local residents hangout to talk about what's going on in their town. By simply participating in the discussions, and signing your name, business name, and website address, on each message you post, will "brand" your name.

The idea is that in time, other community members will remember your name, and will think about you when they actually need your services.

On top of that, signing your website address on each message gives people the opportunity to find your website. Google will actually "crawl" these messages. In rare cases, Google will actually credit these links as backlinks to your site.

Topix is a very large news aggregator, that happens to have set up a discussion forum for just about every city in the USA...
http://www.topix.com/city

Aside from Topix, there are other independent forums that offer the capability of creating "signature pics" or "sig pics". A sig pic is a photograph, or graphic, that serves as a signature. The forum will also let you create a hyperlink on the sig pic. Thus by creating your own sig pic (with your face, business name, and contact), and hyperlinking it to your website, you can drive traffic to your website.

To find some independent forums focusing on your town, do a Google search for something like, "oakland forums". Something will usually show up.

Does Reciprocal Linking Work for SEO?

In short, yes, it works, for SEO.

But it depends on which site you're linking with.

First, Google doesn't count every inbound link to your website. It only counts the links from websites that it feels has a certain level of authority. Spam sites are not counted for obvious reasons.

There are also many websites that Google cannot index for a variety of reasons, including slow responding servers, or an inability to resolve a domain name on a dynamic IP address. If these websites have links pointing to your site, obviously they won't be counted.

Google doesn't index links contained within Javascript.

Content duplication is another reason why so many inbound links are not counted. If the same list of links is duplicated across several websites, it doesn't count them all. The same with Blogrolls duplicated across all pages of a blog. Google will only count a few of the pages.

But I do know that one-to-one reciprocal linking works because I've done this with many of my websites, and I can see it in using Google's "link:" operator. This is how you can tell if reciprocal linking helped your overall SEO, by seeing if the inbound link shows up on this search. Type "link:http://www.yoursite.com" to see which inbound links Google has credited to your site.

How to Choose a Reciprocal Link Partner

Trade links with websites that publish unique content. Two real estate agents trading links with each other is perfect. Both will get an SEO benefit.

However, if your website has a higher PageRank than your link partner, it's true that you'll pass more PageRank into their site, than what you'll get back. But not always.

The amount of PageRank that gets passed through to another site is determined by the number of links on that page. If you're linking to another agent's site from your homepage, and your homepage has a total of 20 links, including links to other sites and links to within your site, the PageRank that you transfer is divided by 20. So, if your homepage has a PageRank of 1,000, you'll transfer a value of 50 to the other site.

But if your partner's homepage has a PageRank of 600, but only had 5 links on their homepage, then he'll transfer a value of 120 to you.

Hence, a reciprocal link where you give out 50, and get back 120, is a pretty good deal. Who says one-to-one reciprocal linking doesn't work??

Remember that "PageRank" is a different animal than the PageRank you see on Google's Toolbar. The real PageRank I'm referring to is the much larger number that Google uses in its algorithm. The single-digit number you see in the toolbar is just an abbreviation of the real PageRank.

Get Links from Blogs

When discussing a reciprocal link exchange, often times I request a link from someone's blog. Google seems to love blogs.

I'll just ask for a mention within a blog article, which most bloggers feel is pretty easy to do.

Blogrolls are ok to reciprocate links from, but watch out. But some blogs have very long lists of blogroll links. In order to maintain them, bloggers often utilize a blogroll management system hosted by a third-party, such as Blogrolling. This third-party then gives the blogger a piece of Javascript to deliver the blogroll links. Google doesn't index Javascript, thus you're not getting any SEO value from it.

Also, bloggers tend to edit their blogrolls, and over time, they may forget about your link exchange, and remove you. This is why getting linked through a blog post is better.

Link Partners to Watch Out For

Be skeptical of trading links with link directories, or agent directories. Most of these won't earn you any SEO benefit. It's not always a black-n-white decision on which directories will work for you, but generally, Google counts links that were created by the publisher's choice. Most directories don't reflect personal choice, rather they're sites where anyone can get a link for some kind of consideration, such as payment, or reciprocal link.

The reason why reciprocal linking works between two agent websites, is because it mutually agreed upon by each agent, and because agent websites are not directories!

I used to have a partnership with Advanced Access, a company that creates real estate agent websites. They maintained a directory of links to various real estate information sites, and included a link to this site (RealEstateHow). They placed that directory on every agent site they created. My site was linked up from hundreds of agent sites across the USA. In return, I linked to back to each agent site from an agent directory that I maintained. In the end, I didn't pick up much benefit from this. Google didn't credit any of those inbound links to me, with the exception of a few. Meanwhile, I was passing through thousands of PageRank points to Advanced Access' clients. I was giving out PageRank, and getting virutally none back. Now, I don't do that anymore, and Advanced Access doesn't link to me either.

REL="no follow"

Google provides an attribute for the anchor tag called, REL="no follow". It tells the Google spider not to follow this link. Here's how you use it...

<a href="http://www.realestatehow.com" REL="no follow">Real Estate How</a>

Another website can insert this attribute to a link pointing to your website. It will negate any SEO value to you. If you conduct a link exchange, you'll want to check the inbound link (look at the source code), to make sure they didn't put this attribute in there.

For More Linking Tips

Read my archive page of linking tips, and Backlinks.

Aloha Whistler - Website Review

This is a paid review.

Aloha Whistler Accomodations is the name of an accomodations broker that provides condos and chalets for skiers travelling to Whistler, BC. Their website is called, "Whistler Accomodations", and is where tourists can go to book accomodations.

Ahola's website has been online as far back as January 1999, according to the Wayback Machine, so they've had quite a bit of time to make improvements. The company itself has actually been in the business of providing accomodations to Whistler tourists for the past 27 years.

A look at their on-site SEO efforts and website design shows that they've done quite a bit...

• They've made heavy use of the "whistler" and "accomodations" keywords.



• They utilized tabbed navigation at the top of the page, which most usability experts agree is the most easiest form navigation for website users.



• They've made their telephone contact easily visible in a red side panel.



• They've even embedded a Whistler news blog into their website, which I've said before is best way to use a blog as a marketing tool.

But there are still a few improvements they can make. Here are my suggestions...

• They haven't used the "canada" or "british columbia" keywords on page. Google's keyword tool shows that such phrases as "whistler bc", "whistler british columbia" and "whistler canada" all have average search volumes. While the company has used these words in the META tag, they need to place them "on page", that is, within the readable text. Whereever they print the word "Whistler" replace it with "Whistler BC" or "Whistler British Columbia". It carries a lot of weight when keywords are actually being used on page.



• The Home page is too static. Add a "What's New" section below that displays the first paragraph from their last three blog posts. Note that Aloha is already doing something like this, but are instead only showing headlines, and they've done this through Javascript (via Feedburner). Unfortunately, Javascript is not indexed by Google, and as a result, Google sees the homepage as totally unchanged. Instead, deliver these headlines and paragraphs through some kind of server-side scripting, like PHP or ASP, so that Google can detect it, and consider the homepage as being constantly updated. This will result in higher search engine rankings.



• Add the word "whistler" to all the filenames. For example, their Accomodations page has this filename, "accomodations.php". Instead use this, "whistler-accomodations.php". This will give you a little better search engine ranking. Use it on all pages.



• Create pages for all popular "whistler" keyphrases, and link these pages through a "Resources" or "Site Map" page. Other phrases that Google's keyword tool shows as having average search volume, "ski whistler canada", "whistler blackcomb", "whistler condos", "whistler packages", "whistler hotels", "whistler lodging", "whistler ski resort", "whistler vacation", "whistler weather". Aloha should create a page optimized for each of these phrases. This will have the effect of casting a wider fishing net to capture more clients.

Gay Friendly Real Estate

There apparently is a faction of people searching Google for "gay friendly real estate". More specifically, they're searching for this on specific locales.

Here's a list of search phrases that I found on Google's keyword tool...

tucson gay real estate
gay tampa real estate
palm springs gay real estate
gay real estate los angeles
fort lauderdale gay real estate
gay atlanta real estate
gay real estate chicago
gay real estate columbus
houston gay real estate
gay real estate new york
gay florida real estate
san diego real estate gay

Google shows "low" to "very low" search volume on these phrases. But still, there's a minority of home buyers and sellers who want to sift through listings and agents to find one that's "gay friendly". It's an opportunity you can cash in on.

What does "gay friendly" mean?

In my opinion, the term "gay friendly" is a oxymoron. Technically, most people are gay friendly, in that they'd treat gays just like they'd treat anyone else. And if I'm correct, I think that's what gays want. If anything, there is only "gay unfriendly".

Also, there's no such thing as gay friendly property. If a gay or lesbian is specifically interested in buying a home in Omaha, NE, then technically he or she is interested in ALL Omaha properties (not just the gay ones). If you happen to be an Omaha-based agent, you can show them any property.

How to Take Advantage of This

All you have to do is create a new website focused on the "gay" word. Make sure to use other words like, "lesbian" and "LGBT". Make heavy use of the term "gay friendly".

If you're working the Omaha, NE market, you might use a website title like, "Gay Friendly Omaha Real Estate". You might use a domain name like "gay-friendly-omaha-real-estate.com". Put the "gay-friendly" up front because it's more likely to be noticed there.

The website will list all the same properties that you're marketing right now. If you wanted to, you can make it look exactly like your main agent website, but with some necessary changes, like incorporating the term "gay friendly", and showing some tasteful photos of gay couples in the suburbs (you can find these on Google Image search). Find a graphic of a rainbow, and display up top in or near the header. These elements are "signs" that you're a gay-friendly agent.

Link to this "gay friendly" website from your main website. But don't do the opposite. Just keep it as a one-way link. You don't want your gay clients going to your main website, noticing that you've listed all the same properties.

Use Google AdWords to market your "gay friendly" website. There are thousands of websites where gays congregate, that also display ads from Google AdSense. You can get your ad displayed on these sites by setting one up in AdWords.

Real Estate Websites Cash in on Desperation

When home sellers are desperate to get out of a home, particularly in these times when the market is down, real estate agents can harness their knowledge and use their websites to cater to that desperation.

Desperate home sellers, who have become "Internet savvy", often seek solutions on their own by running searches on Google, trying to soak up all the information that they can. They, they try to make informed choices, on which real estate agent to hire, how to spruce up their homes, or even attempt an FSBO.

So Here's What You Do

Basically, you're going to create webpages or websites (preferred) to capture desperate people who are searching Google for answers. By crafting pages that acknowledges their need, you can pull them in from Google, and market yourself to them.

Use Google's keyword tool to find out which phrases are the most often searched for.

Do some simple on-page search engine optimization to help boost its rankings.

The webpage/website titles should clearly acknowledge a specific need. If you want to capture people who are desperate to sell their home in 30 days, then use a title such as, "Tips to Selling a Home in 30 Days". Try titles like, "Five Big Mistakes of Home Selling", or "The Reason why FSBO's Don't Work". Make it no-nonsense.

Then, get this webpage and/or website linked up from as many of your websites as possible.

Finally, consider advertising this webpage/website through Google AdWords. Use highly compelling text that acknowledges the needs of home sellers. Use the same or similar text as the examples above, "Tips to Selling a Home in 30 Days".

The Reason Why This Works

Successful Internet marketers know that the single biggest factor towards marketing success is catering to an urgent need. When someone is desperate for something, they'll gladly pay money to get it. So, what you're doing is catering to someone's need to sell their home right now.

This is why certain niches like weight loss, love, job searching, are so lucrative for marketers. How many decades, or centuries, have people been cashing in on these needs?

You're simply going to capture those people who have turned to Google for answers.

The key to making it work, is to use titles and headings that acknowledges their need. When people run a Google search, they search for titles and descriptions that match the search terms they typed in.

Use a Webpage or Website?

I'd recommend creating a new website just to serve this purpose. You might want to get a domain name called, "denver-home-selling-tips.com". You could even launch another website as well, perhaps called, "easy-home-selling-tips.com". The words in the domain name itself acknowledges a need. Each site need only contain a few pages.

Then from your main agent website, point links to each of these mini-websites. Each mini-website can link back to your agent website. But don't have any of your mini-websites linking to other mini-websites.

Here's an illustration of this linking arrangement...


The reason why you don't want to link from one mini-site to another, is because these mini-sites will likely not be updated with new content on a continuous basis. Google can detect over time if a website is being updated regularly. If not, any interlinking between several non-updated sites, runs the risk of being dubbed a "link farm". This is not a problem as long as you maintain the linking method illustrated above.

On the other hand, if you plan to update the mini-sites regularly, perhaps once-a-week with new pages, then you could interlink them, and avoid the link farm penalty.

If you have any other websites, such as a blogspot blog, or a personal website, link to the same mini-websites using the same method. Just replace "agent website" with "blogspot blog", and link away.

Real Estate Website Reviews

Listed below are paid reviews that I have written for various real estate companies. These are reviews of their websites. Some have asked me only to describe their websites, while others have asked for tips on SEO, design, and usability.

If you'd like me to review your website, and have it published here, visit my page "Purchase a Paid Review from Me".

• Trade Winds Realty - Dec 13, 2007


• Aloha Whistler - Nov 13, 2007


• My Moving Quote - May 16, 2007


• Automated Homefinder - Mar 2, 2007


• Texas Gulf Coast Online - Feb 13, 2007


• My Reno Real Estate - Nov 26, 2006


• Hightower Realty - Nov 22, 2006

Here are some reviews that I've done for free..

• How Does Keith Byrd Get 681 Visitors Per Day? - Dec 3, 2007

How to Write for the Internet

Writing for Internet audiences is different than writing for print.

The main difference is that when people read stuff online, they tend to have short attention spans. Thus, as you as you lose their interest, they start scanning the rest of the article quickly, and then leave altogether.

So how do you maintain their attention from top to bottom?

Start by acknowledging their need right away. That is, the title of your article should clearly identify its purpose. Take a look at the title of this article, "How to Write for the Internet". That's about as clear as I can get. It's gets your interest, at least for the next few paragraphs.

Second, the first couple of sentences of the article should deliver the "money" statement. This is the piece of information that delivers your biggest point. The rest of the article simply goes on to explain this point.

And that's what I did in this article. The first sentence acknowledged your problem, so that you believed this article will tell you what you want to know.

The second sentence delivers the "money" statement. I didn't waste any time in telling you what you wanted to learn.

Imagine being in a library, looking for a book on lawnmower repair, and getting lost in the card catalogue and bookstacks. But what if a book actually spoke out to you, "Lawnmower Repair!" You'd bypass all the other books, walk straight to that one, and read it.

That's what you have to do.

Use Teaser Sentences

A teaser sentence is usually a short, one-sentence paragraph. It's purpose is to keep you reading further. It transitions the reader from the last paragraph to the next one.

The third paragraph of this article is a good example. Doesn't it make you want to read further?

Use Subheadings

Notice how I have broken up this article into subheadings. This is another good way to maintain a reader's interest.

The idea is that by the time you've provided the details of your "money" statement, the reader will start scanning the rest of the article for items of interest. Using subheadings is a great way to focus their attention to interesting topics.

Search Engines Are to Blame

People seem to know that the Internet has the answer to EVERYTHING. This is why they have short attention spans. When they run a Google search, they know the answer lies somewhere in those results. They don't want to waste time surfing through the wrong webpages.

If one of the results doesn't acknowledge their need within 5-10 seconds, they click on the "Back" button of their browser, and try a different result.

Hence, you can end their quest by acknowledging their need in the title, and in the first couple sentences.

It's the Opposite of Newspapers

Newspaper articles tend to do things the other way around. The title of the articles are designed to picque your interest, not acknowledge them. And the articles themselves spend two to three paragraphs of background and commentary, before deliving its "money" statement.

The reason why this works with newspapers is because people are in "exploratory" mode, as opposed to "search" mode. They pick up a newspaper to find out what's new in the world. Hence, they're relaxed and ready to spend an hour of reading.

When people are in "search" mode, they're eager to find the answer as quickly as possible.

Using Keyword Search Tools

Keyword search tools are perhaps the most popular tools in an Internet marketer/publisher's arsenal. They tell you what keywords and phrases are most often searched for.

Knowing what keywords and phrases that people are typing into Google will tell you what domain names, filenames, and titles that you should be using on your website. Using the most popular keywords and phrases will put you in front of the largest audience.

Google has the most widely used keyword tool...
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Wordtracker is also another popular tool...
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Google's tool will also show you how much AdWords competition there is for a keyword or phrase. Wordtracker, however, will show the exact number of searches per keyword or phrase.

If you're a real estate agent in Sacramento, California, should you get a domain with the words, "sacramento homes" or "sacramento real estate"? I ran a search on "sacramento homes" using Google's keyword tool. Below is a sample of the results...


Notice that "sacramento homes" has higher search volume than "sacramento real estate" (listed at #11). Yet interestingly, "sacramento real estate" has higher advertiser competition. That is, real estate agents and businesses are competiting more heavily for the "real estate" phrase, when in fact the "homes" phrase is getting the higher search traffic!

In the case of Sacramento, it would be better to get a domain name containing the words, "sacramento" and "homes".

But you wouldn't know that if it weren't for this keyword tool.

Play around with it for awhile, you'd be surprised at what you'll find.

Filenames - SEO tactic

In addition to having a good keyword in your domain name, you need to have good keywords in your filenames.

Filenames are the names you use to save your webpages. Here's an example of a filename...

http://www.realestatehow.com/2007/10/buying-foreclosure-home.htm

Most search engines, Google and Yahoo included, use the filename as a factor towards determining relevancy.

The advantage of using filenames as an SEO strategy is that you can make a filename as long as you want, up to 256 characters long.

So, think of all the most popular search terms relating to one of your webpages. If your webpage is about "Home Selling Tips", why not use "home-selling-tips.htm"?

The fact of the matter is, there's a lot of people searching Google for exactly that phrase.

If you're an agent based in San Diego, then try using, "san-diego-home-selling-tips.htm".

Dashes or Underscores?

When creating your filenames, use the dash "-" to separate words. Don't use underscores "_".

There's a lot of discussion on this very topic all over the Internet, and the majority seems to agree that Google sees the dash as a space, and sees the underscore as a hard character. Meaning, a file of "home-selling-tips" is seen as a phrase of three words, whereas "home_selling_tips" is seen as one word.

What this means is that if someone searched for the phrase "tips for selling a home", the dashed-filename will have a greater chance of showing up, than the underscored-filename.

Biggest Mistake of Contact Pages

A "contact page" is the page on a website that says, "Contact Us". It's where you give out information on how you can be contacted.

The biggest cardinal sin of contact pages is failure to display a phone number! Some busineses provide only a contact form, where the visitor submits a message, and is told they'll get a response in 24-48 hours.

The reason why this is the biggest cardinal sin of contact pages, is because the Internet, with its search engines, makes you extremely transparent. People can easily compare you to your competitors, and see just what kind of business you're running. Read on, and I'll explain.

No one is going to need a real estate agent until they decide they NEED a real estate agent. So when they visit your website, they have an immediate need. You can't expect to retain that customer if you don't resolve that need right away.

If I did a Google search for "seattle real estate agents" and found your website, but discovered you provided only a web form for contact, am I going to wait 48 hours to get a response? Or, am I going to go to the next agent on Google's search results?

The answer is that I'm going to the next agent.

In this day and age, never before have businesses been so naked. Google will list your business on its search results right next to all of your competitors. It's so easy for your customers to compare you with the competition. It's like going through the Yellow Pages, and seeing who has the best ad.

It's so easy to display your phone number on a website, and it's a part of providing excellent customer service. So, put it on there!

Music on Websites - Avoid!

I was perusing real estate agent websites, from a Google search, and found one that plays music...

http://www.sdlrealestate.com/

Don't play music on your website!

It's annoying, not pretty.

Imagine yourself in a library, trying to read some important information, or trying to research something, and then this guy sits down next to you, and turns on his boom box.

It's like having that animated paperclip appear everytime you to do something on Word or Excel. You spent all this money on a website, why would you want to drive customers away?

There's no such thing as "ambience" with websites. It's not television.

How to Get a Free Inbound Link

Here's one way to get a free inbound link to your blog.

There are several blogs out there that seem to make a habit of republishing other people's blog posts, by way of your blog's RSS feed. They republish your full article, without making edits to your article.

An example of such a blog is "Bored Property". They republished my article, "Business Websites Look Too Cold"...

http://property.boredblogs.net/business-looking-websites-look-too-cold/

Notice that half way down the article, there's a link on the phrase, "Put Your Photo on Your Website".

When I wrote the article on my blog, I placed this link to an older article of mine. Thus, by republishing my article, they copied the link as well. Hence, I have an inbound link from them.

So, as a good practice, try to find a way to link to one of your other pages on each new article you write. That link could very well up becoming an inbound link on someone else's site.

Increasing Search Engine Referrals

There are generally two trains of thought on how to compete with other websites on getting more search engine referrals...

1. Compete on search engine ranking


2. Compete on keyword variations

I typically put more emphasis into the latter than the former. If I could present my efforts into a ratio, it would be something like 75% of my effort goes into the latter, and 25% into the former.

Getting your pages to rank higher on the listings requires some effort that's beyond your control. You need other websites to link to you. That's not always a guarantee. But covering a wider spread of keyword variation is definitely within your control.

Keyword variation is simply all the different search term possibilities that might exist for the same subject. So, if you specialize in the San Diego real estate market, what are all of the words and phrases that people type into Google to find you or your competitors?

san diego homes
homes in san diego
san diego real estate
san diego realtors
san diego california homes
foreclosure homes in san diego
san diego foreclosed homes
san diego ca properties

It could go on and on.

The only way to make sure that your website shows up for any of these searches, is to publish lots of webpages, and or websites. If you create several websites, each on a different domain name, or subdomain, make sure to publish different content on each one. Don't republish the same content.

If you published an article on your site about buying a foreclosure home, it's ok to publish several more on the same subject. Just make sure they're different articles. That'll help cover the spread of keyword variation.

In terms of increasing your position on Google, there are some easy things you can do to help...

• Put your target keyword into the TITLE tag


• Repeat your target keywords several times throughout the page


• Use file names that contain your target keywords


• Use alt-text containing your target keywords on all images


• Make sure every page has navigational links that go to the homepage and other key pages

These five easy tips won't increase your PageRank, rather, they'll just give your pages a little bit higher sorting value on the search results.

Increasing your PageRank is a tougher matter, that largely rests on getting more websites to link to your site.

Here are some other things you can do to increase your search engine referrals...

• Write compelling titles - The contents of your TITLE tag is what people see when they review the results on Google. Treat titles as if they were lingerie. You want people to see just enough of what they want, but leave the rest to the imagination. That's what will compel them to click. If your TITLE tag gives away enough information to make a presumption, you've lost out on a click.



• Publish new pages frequently - Google's spiders will return to your website more often, if you publish new pages more often. Google likes new content, and gives preference to it. If Google had two pages that had nearly identical keywords, keyword volume, and PageRank, it'll rank the newer page higher.



• Always change your pages - If you can't seem to create new pages, you can also change your pages. By changing the text, adding more text, rearranging the images, etc, will also keep the Google spiders coming back. This is another reason why blogs work well, their homepages constantly feature new content.

I'll go more in depth on these tips as future articles. So, keep coming back!

The Advantage of Subdomains

A "subdomain" is kinda like a domain name under a domain name. Here's an example of what a sub-domain looks like...

http://homes.chicago.com

"homes" is the subdomain. Here's another example...

http://www.chicago.com

"www" is the subdomain. Yes, all those "www" you see on website addresses are subdomains. But for all intents and purposes, Google doesn't really treat "www" as a true subdomain.

There are three advantages to using subdomains...

1. Google treats a subdomain as a totally different website from its main domain


2. You can use any keyword(s) as a subdomain


3. It doesn't cost you any extra money to set up a subdomain.

If you already have an agent website, you can set up a subdomain to create a totally new website. The company hosting your agent website has tools to let you set up subdomains.

So, if your agent website is hosted on a domain name like, "lasvegas-homes.com", you can set up an unlimited number of subdomains, such as...

• new.lasvegas-homes.com


• rental.lasvegas-homes.com


• nevada.lasvegas-homes.com


• henderson.lasvegas-homes.com


• realestate.lasvegas-homes.com

And so on. The good news is that the keywords in the subdomain name carry SEO importance, just like the keywords in the domain name. Combine that with the fact that Google sees each subdomain as a separate website, you've got a great way to create lots of backlinks.

Here's another Google advantage. As it is now, each search results page on Google will show a maximum of two listings from the same website. But if you set up subdomains, it's possible to dominate all 10 listings on the first results page of Google!

Hosting a Real Estate Blog

What's the best way to host a real estate blog?

In short...

• Register your own domain name (www.mydomainname.com)


• Find webspace on a host other than the host your agent site is hosted on


• Use a well known blogging platform (Blogger, WordPress, TypePad)

One of the biggest reasons for creating a real estate blog, is to help build PageRank to your agent website. Think of it as a tool to create some backlinks to your agent site, in addition to driving some referrals.

When Google evaluates all the websites that link to your agent site, it doesn't count every inbound link. Inbound links from sites that are spammish, or where links appeared to have been sold, or sites that have no editorial oversight, are ignored and don't transfer any PageRank to your site.

But Google seems to like blogs, particularly those with lots of content, and content that isn't duplicated on other sites. So by creating your own blog, on its own domain name, and on a server other than the one your agent site is hosted on, it's an easy way to get one or more backlinks counted towards your PageRank.

The reason why you want to host the blog on its own domain name is because these blogs carry more PageRank value, as opposed to blogs hosted on Blogger's, WordPress', or TypePad's subdomain.

The reason why you want to host the blog on a server other than the server your agent site is hosted on, is because this mimics a real life scenario where someone else is linking to you. There's concensus that when two websites are hosted on the same IP address, Google can tell that these two sites are owned by the same owner.

Lastly, the reason why you want to use a well-known blogging platform is because Google seems to know these platforms better. I'm convinced that Google prefers blogs from Blogger, because of the fact that Google owns Blogger. But, I know there are many people who will argue that Google plays no favorites.

If you don't know how to set up a blog in this fashion, any website design company can do it for you. The company that set up your agent site can do it for you.

And you don't need to stop at just one blog. You can set up a blog for real estate matters in your hometown. Another blog for real estate in general. Another blog for just what's going on in your community. Another blog for your personal stuff. Another blog for your hobbies....

On each blog, link to your agent site. You don't need to link from your agent site to your blog(s) however. Through an RSS feed, and by pinging Google's BlogSearch, Google will automatically find your blog.

When you link to your agent site from a blog, do it from within an article. You can also do it from a "Blogroll" on a side bar, but linking from within an article is seen by Google as having greater value.

Is PageRank Overrated?

Days into the aftermath of Google's webwide PageRank readjustment, website publishers are still reeling.

Many bloggers are claiming that Google has punished them because their "PR" value decreased. When their websites used to be PR6, they're now PR5. When they used to be PR4, they are now PR2.

I contend that there's no reason to be alarmed. You haven't been penalized! It's a readjustment of their toolbar.

The PageRank meter on the Google toolbar is not the "real" PageRank. It's an abbreviation of the real PageRank.

That is, the PageRank value that Google uses to determine a website's popularity is a number several digits in length. You never see this number, and you'll never know the real PageRank of your website. The Google toolbar, however, will show you an abbreviated form of this number, in form of a single-digit number.

So, the "real" PageRank value of your website hasn't decreased. All that Google did was recalibrate the toolbar meter, so that it's more meaningful.

Consider this. Each day, thousands of more websites debut on the Internet. Each day, the top 100 most popular websites gain thousands of more inbound links. As time goes on, the PageRank of these websites are so high, that the Google toolbar can no longer provide a meaningful expression of PageRank.

So what Google did was redefine what differentiates a PR1 from a PR2, and so on. But underlying PageRank value, that is the "real" PageRank value, wasn't devalued as a result. It's still the same, assuming your inbound links haven't changed.

So to answer the question in the title of this article, "No" PageRank is not overrated. It continues to be the heart of Google's algorithm.