Optimize Your Website to Get More Traffic & Leads with These Tips!

Search-Engine Friendly Sites Get More Leads

If you have your own website and blog, or have been tasked with maintaining your company's website and blog, you should understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the process in which you attempt to increase your search engine 'ranking' (how high in search engine results your website appears) for a given search term or 'keyword', when your potential customers search the products or services you offer in Google or other major search engines. The higher in the search results you appear, the more visitors your site will get. The more visitors you get, the more opportunities you have to convert those leads into clients!

SEO is an ongoing process with many facets and levels of complexity. You do not need to be an SEO specialist, however, to start optimizing your website and increasing your search engine ranking! If you are a Boston Logic client with a One System website or a new Sequoia website, you're in luck because we've designed our sites to make it easy for you to populate and optimize your own website pages and blog posts. This blog covers the basic techniques we recommend using to get your SEO Campaign started!

For an additional overview of the SEO process, check out David Friedman's blog post from our Real Estate SEO blog in which he describes the overarching "stages" of SEO and discusses why SEO is important to your website.

It may also be helpful to check back on our Real Estate SEO Blog frequently for more tips on optimizing your website!

How to Optimize Your Website

Pick Your Keywords

These are the words your customers are typing into Google to find you. So take a moment to try to think like your target demographic; what words would they choose to type into Google or another search engine and ideally find your website? Some examples might be 'cheap Boston apartment' or 'Allston homes'. You can use online keyword tools to help you determine the difficulty and popularity of your potential keywords, and to help you to develop more ideas. Once you've selected your 10-20 appropriate keywords, make a list and reference it frequently while blogging and populating your website pages with content.

Optimize Your Web Pages

Now that you have chosen your keywords, you have to optimize your website pages. Ideally, you'll focus on a few closely-related keywords on each page of your website. The keyword(s) you selected should be strategically placed within your pages to increase your search engine ranking, but be careful not to over-stuff the pages to the point of annoying a reader. Try to fit your keywords in as naturally as possible. Here are some the more effective ways to use keywords:

1. Keywords in Page's URL. For example:
www.bostonlogic.com/blog/2010/07/real-estate-web-design/

2. Keywords in Title Tags. This is what visitors will see in the top of the browser tab, so make sure it is spelled correctly and has proper capitalization.
For example:
'<title>Real Estate Web Site Design with Boston Logic | Boston Logic - Marketing Blog</title>'

3. Keywords in Page Meta Descriptions. Your page descriptions appear below your Title Tag in search engine results. They need to be interesting enough to get people to click on your link and include your keywords where possible. Notice in the example above, Google 'bolds' the keywords in the description that match the search terms used.

4. Keywords in Page Headings or Heading Tags. Much like you read a newspaper (or this email) headings and sub-headings help readers and search engines quickly skim the content of a page to see what each section is about. In general, 'H1' Tags are thought to be the most relevant to search engines.

5. Keywords in Page Text. Each page should be fairly targeted to each keyword or group of keywords you are targeting. So, if your keywords are 'Allston apartments' and 'Allston MA rentals' you should find a way to creatively include these terms a few times within the text of the page.

6. Keywords in Bold. (e.g. [strong]) Making your keywords bold will help readers easily see where in the page the words they are looking for are mentioned, and search engines will place more emphasis on these words, too. Just be sure not to over-do it, because it will scare them both away!

7. Keywords as Links. Your keyword links can be internal or external. Internal links provide visitors easy access to related content; in the previous example, you may want to link to 'Allston condos' from your 'Allston apartments' page. External links should be used to cite sources and you should only link to credible website, not link farms or 'Spam' sites.

8. Keywords in Images. Search engines can't see photos. The only way to ensure they do is by giving the images a relevant name, description, and tags. An image file with the name 'image123.jpeg' won't do anything for your SEO, whereas an image with the name 'Allston_apartment_bathroom.jpeg' is much more informative.

9. Keywords in Meta Tags. It is important that these tags contain your keywords, as search engines use tags to determine your website's relevant content when a potential lead searches for your services.

Optimize EVERY Blog Post

Blogs are great places to optimize, as they are always producing new relevant content, and can drive traffic to your website. (Read Ashley's blog about Ideas for Real Estate Blogs if you're experiencing writer's-block!)

1. Keywords in All of the Above! Just like any other web page, you should try to focus each blog post on a specific topic and target a specific keyword or group of keywords for each blog post- and incorporate those keywords into the post URL, title, description, text, etc.

2. Keywords as Categories. Blog add another level of SEO potential with categories. Categories are for grouping relevant blog posts together so they are easier for visitors (and search engines) to find. For example, 'Allston condos', 'Allston homes', and 'Allston apartments' could all be different categories you organize your blog posts into.

When ranking your website or blog, search engines use various algorithms that constantly change to determine your ranking. However, some of the most important and common factors are the age of the URL (how long have you owned the domain?), internal links, outbound links to other relevant sites, links to your blog from other sites, relevant content (i.e, keywords), and the number of posts. So make sure to promote your blog, and to blog consistently. We recommend posting at least 1-2 times per week, as search engines will start to really pay attention to you after your first 100 posts.

Keep Track with Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools

Now that you've put in all the work, monitor your progress! We recommend keeping track of keyword rankings each month to check for progress. By checking Google Analytics frequently, you can see what posts are popular, where your traffic is coming from, what keywords users are searching and which words are landing them on your site, and much more!

Haven't installed Google Analytics yet? Don't worry! Read our step-by-step blog breaking down the Google Analytics installation process, and how to interpret the Analytics numbers and results.

Boston Logic is here to assist you in your website's success! If you need a refresher-course on how to populate your new Sequoia website, watch this helpful demo video by Katrina on the Boston Logic YouTube Channel. As always, you can also Contact Boston Logic's Support Team at any time for assistance.

Town Pages Improve Your SEO & User Experience

If you’ve started reading any of the blogs here or at RealEstateSEO1.com or BostonLogic.com, then you know that for a successful SEO campaign, unique high quality (and keyword-rich) content is king! But how do you add that type of valuable content to your real estate website?

LEVERAGE WHAT YOUR ALREADY KNOW:

One of the easiest ways to leverage your expertise in the real estate industry - and provide your real estate agent website design with keyword-rich content that is useful to search engines and visitors alike - is by adding Town Pages. Town Pages are pages with a paragraph or so you create with helpful information about an area, and dynamic search results you control by setting criteria when building the page. If your offices' websites for realtors currently does not include town pages, you can upgrade your website to include town pages for only $20 per month!

The information on these pages can be what you would tell someone looking for a new home in the area in question; you can talk about the demographics of the area, the great amenities, the architecture, the public transportation, etc. Basically anything you think clients would find useful or interesting. In addition, information on properties in the area such as average price, number of properties on market, and more is automatically added to the page.

HOW TO CREATE A TOWN PAGE IN THE SEQUOIA SYSTEM:

1. Log into your website. Click on the 'CMS' (Content Management System) Tab.

2. Select the 'Pages' text link from the sub-navigation menu.

3. From the 'Pages' menu, click on the 'Create New' button with the green plus sign icon. Then fill out the form in the 'Create Page' pop-up window that appears.

4. Fill in the Town Page information:

a. Name: This is your internal reference for the page- visitors won't see it. We recommend including the words 'Town Page' at the end so they are easy to find in the Pages Menu.

b. Path: This is the URL your clients will see in their navigation bar and it is also used by Search Engines to help rank your site. Make sure you use a keyword you want to rank for ('Fenway Apartments', in the example above).

c. Redirect URL: Leave this blank for your Town Pages unless you want to redirect your visitors to a different page on your site.

5. Page Content:

a. Page Header: This is the headline of your page that visitors will see when they land on this page. Make sure it is relevant, and utilizes one or more of your keywords.

b. Body Content: This is where you enter that paragraph of useful text you created. If you are pasting your text from a Word Document or Text Pad/ Notebook program, make sure to use the appropriate pasting option from the tool bar. You can edit the text within this box much like a Word Document, changing text with Bold or italic styles, adding hyperlinks, etc. using the icons in the tool bar.

6. Meta Data: This section is where you enter your SEO Title, Description, and Keywords as covered in our earlier email about Optimizing Your Pages. Remember to make sure your Title and Description are readable to a viewer and not a rambling list of Keywords.

7. Don’t worry about the ‘Footer Content’ or ‘Who Can See This Page’ for this lesson. The default settings are fine.

8. Hit the 'Create' Button when you are finished!

9. Your new Town Page will now appear on your 'Pages' list. Ta-Da! Congrats! You've just created your first Town Page!

You can now link to this page, using the URL you created, from blog posts or other pages that mention the neighborhood. The more relevant internal links your site has, the better for SEO and user experience. For example, if you mention something about Fenway Condos for Sale in your Fenway Apartments Town Page, make the words 'Fenway Condos' a hyperlink to a Town Page about Fenway Condos for Sale. If you talk about the Fenway's proximity to another neighborhood, link to that Town Page, too! Your potential client might not be sold on the Fenway area and you can keep them looking on your site longer by providing them with helpful links to other information they might find useful. To automatically boost SEO for your site, be sure to ink each of your Town Pages to dynamic (c0nstantly updating) Property Search results!

LINKING YOUR TOWN PAGE TO DYNAMIC CONTENT:

By linking your Town Pages to a Sales or Rental Property Search for that area, you will create a page with not only great text for visitors and search engines, but also a page with constantly updating information, which is great for SEO! We recommend making a Town Page for every area you want to increase your Sales or Rental activity in, to help improve your real estate online marketing campaign.

1. From the 'CMS' Tab, select the 'Town Pages' link from the sub-navigation bar.

2. Click the blue link for a 'New Town Page' from within the Town SEO Pages Menu.

3. The 'New Town Page' popup window will appear. Select the Town Page you just created from the 'CMS Page' dropdown menu.

4. Select the 'Search Type' you want associated with this page (Sales or Rentals).

5. Then select the search parameters for the listings you wish to show to visitors on this page, such as price range and the location (Fenway in this example). Be sure not to leave the price range blank or it will cause errors on your page or lead visitors to believe there are no listings available in this area.

6. Click the 'Create Page' button at the bottom of the screen once you've entered all your information.

Your new Town Page now appears in your Town Pages menu under the 'CMS' Tab and is linked to a relevant search to keep your page constantly refreshed with new information and no more effort on your part!

You're ALMOST DONE! Now you just have to make it so visitors can find your new page without knowing the URL through real estate website marketing. The best way to optimize your new Town Pages is to create a link to it that can be clicked on from any page of your website. This will ensure that users and search engines can find it!

MAKING YOUR TOWN PAGE EASY TO FIND:

Did you know that search engines cannot see information in forms, such as the drop down menus used in your property searches? In fact, search engines often only 'crawl' within 3 clicks of your website's Home Page. Search engines and users alike will find it easier to navigate to your Town Page if it is prominently displayed.

The ‘Town Page Footer Navigation Menu’ feature of the Sequoia system offers a great solution to this SEO dilemma, allowing you to create a text link (which search engines DO see) on the bottom of every page of your site (including your Home Page) using the keywords you chose when creating your Town Page. Adding each Town Page to this menu will increase real estate internet marketing presence, SEO, and promote ease of use for your customers.

1. From your ‘CMS’ Tab, select the ‘Menus’ link from the Sub Navigation Bar.

2. Select the link ‘Menu Items’ from the ‘Town Pages’ row on the Menus List.

3. In the ‘Menu Items for Town Pages’ drop down that appears, click the ‘Create New’ button.

4. Creating Your Footer Link:

a. Menu Text: This is the text that will appear at the bottom of your pages as a hyperlink to your new Town Page. Make sure the Menu Text you create is one of your keywords, so, in our example, the Footer link would say ‘Fenway Apartments’.

b. Page: This is where you select the page you want this link to go to. This is why we find it helpful to include the words ‘Town Page’ in the name of the Town Pages you create.

c. External Link: Only use this if you want to create a Footer Navigation Link to a page outside of your website, such as to an affiliated site, instead of an internal link.

d. Click the ‘Create’ button.

You're DONE! Your new Town Page now appears in the ‘Town Page Footer Navigation’ Menu, and in the footer of your website.

Once you create multiple Town Pages, you can change the order in which they appear in the footer navigation by click and dragging the menu item up or down by the green arrows icon to the right on this screen. Below is an example of what a hyperlink for your new Town Page will look like in your Home Page footer.

Now all the valuable content your wrote for your users and search engines is just 1 click from your Home Page, helping you begin to rank higher in organic search engine results for the keywords you are targeting!

Boston Logic offers various SEO and Social Media Services if you’d rather focus on your clients instead of your website! Feel free to contact me with any questions or for more information about our services!

Agent Websites Now Available on the Sequoia Platform! 7/16/2010

For Boston Logic's Agent Sites, we employ the same industry leading technology as found behind our broker web design office sites - in addition to enhance personal real estate online marketing features.

Until now, Boston Logic did not offer a cost-effective solution for Real Estate agents who wanted to have their own personally branded, custom real estate website. Well, so many individual agents asked us to create such a product, that we couldn't say no any longer!

Like our sites for Real Estate Offices, Agent Sites are designed to help you rank in the search engines, leverage social media, produce more traffic, and convert more of that traffic into leads. The difference is ownership - Agent Sites not only work seamlessly with the LogicLeads system of your company's Sequoia site, they can generate their own unique leads which go directly to the agent who owns the site. Aggregating leads from your Agent Site and your office's Sequoia site will increase the amount of business going directly to you.

Of course, Agent Sites have all New Sequoia Features of the best-in-class features that make Sequoia the leading platform in Real Estate agent website design: branded site designs with an unlimited number of pages, advanced lead management, unlimited editable lead capture forms, MLS property search with Google maps, extensive interactive user tools, rental search, and much, much more.

Our websites for Realtors offices consistently produce leads, traffic, and search engine ranking. Positioned at the cutting edge of online marketing and technology, Sequoia sites support next generation marketing campaigns, work seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and give offices the edge over their competition. Now individual agents can tap into the power of the best software platform in the industry - by using Sequoia Agent Sites.

Explore the power of your personal brand and the unlimited lead generation potential the web has to offer. To find out more about Agent Sites and the Sequoia platform: web design for realtors, contact Boston Logic today.

Upgrade to Sequoia from z57

A client asked me for a list of reasons why they should upgrade to the Sequoia Real Estate Solutions platform instead of using z57. Here was my response:

Here's a list of just some of the upgrades that you will get:

Integrated property search with more picture, google maps, and interactive user tools
1. Currently, the search on the site is placed in an iFrame. This impedes search engine placement.
2. Additionally, the current search is labeled, in big bold red letters: Listings last updated at Monday at 02:12PM. This means that the data is a day old and as many agents come in after the long weekend to update their listings in MLS this morning, the searcher is looking at old data. Our data is updated hourly.
The site is not currently designed in a fashion that will maximize lead conversion. Our sites are created to convert anonymous users into leads at superior conversion rates. The current setup of your website isn't likely to produce nearly as many leads.
Lead management - The site will have a comprehensive lead management/CRM package to track and manage leads, see their site activity, etc.
Users will have access to tools which make the site the foundation of their search including
1. Save favorite listings
2. Save Favorite searches
3. Sign up for nightly property updates by email
4. Ability to RSS search results
5. Ability to take notes on listings
6. Mortgage calculators
7. etc.
When we met and demonstrated the product for you, there were a number of features that you identified would save you time every day. This was over a month ago. So, I can't remember them all, but for example, featured listings don't need to be entered/uploaded into the site. They're pulled directly from MLS.
Our platform will allow the team to create as many pages on the site as they wish. They'll have the power to edit and update pages as they see fit.
I remember you being attracted to our developments component. This would give them the functionality to create profiles on developments in Andover, surrounding towns, or even downtown Boston. The team would enter content on each development and the tool will then automatically populate the pages with inventory from MLS.
Our new forms tool will allow the team to configure custom forms on the site asking the user to provide any information that they request. For example, they could have a "List My Home" form which asks for information on the seller's home. This information is of course stored in the Lead Management/CRM system and an email with this information is sent to the agent as well.
Each agent in the office can be given a lead management account and leads can be assigned. This allows all of the agents in the office to direct their clients to the office website, if they wish.
If agents want to have their own website (Example: johnsmithrealestateagent.com) Our agent site product gives the agent 1 place to manage leads from their own site as well as lead generated on the office site which are assigned to him/her. Agents also get advanced property search features and as many pages on the site as they wish.

I could go on - Suffice it to say this represents a *major* upgrade to the site with many many capabilities, features, and functions that the z57 current site lacks.

The Importance of Websites for Realtors

A few years ago, it was difficult for Real Estate agents to acquire leads. With the constant utilization of the internet, this has become much easier for realtors. The vast majority of clients are now seeking homes by turning to the internet as their first means of search.

However, this is not to say that hard work isn't involved with this process. True, there is potentially no limit to how big your business can grow online - but it is up to each realtor and real estate broker to put in the effort. It is up to you how far you want to stretch, how much money you want to spend, and how much time and effort you are willing to invest in your website.

Without a functioning, aesthetically pleasing web presence (or without a web presence at all), your realty company risks becoming obsolete: customers and leads trust agencies with good websites. The fact is that your brick and mortar office is no longer your biggest sign of significance, it's your real estate office website.

Consider a new website or website makeover as an investment in the success of your real estate brokerage. Sequoia Real Estate Solutions provides a high-quality, customized website option for you at a great price. Click here to read more about how you can market your real estate brokerage - and all the advantages and features that go along with it!

Facebook Search for Sequoia Sites: 4/23/2010

Give your Facebook fans the power to search your inventory directly from your Facebook page.

Looking for a way to spice up your Facebook page? These days, everyone wants to drive traffic to their site from Social Media sites like Facebook. If you have a Sequoia site, then Boston Logic can implement a property search form right on your Facebook page!

Facebook LogoIt couldn't be simpler! The user fills in their search criteria and, in just one click, they're taken to your site, and to the search results they're looking for.

This is just one example of how the ONE System and the Sequoia Real Estate Solutions platform can give you an active and engaging Social Media presence. Contact us to learn more.

Optimize Your Website to Get More Traffic & Leads with These Tips!

Search-Engine Friendly Sites Get More Leads

How to Optimize Your Website

Pick Your Keywords

Optimize Your Web Pages

Optimize EVERY Blog Post

Keep Track with Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools

Related Links:

Town Pages Improve Your SEO & User Experience

LEVERAGE WHAT YOUR ALREADY KNOW:

HOW TO CREATE A TOWN PAGE IN THE SEQUOIA SYSTEM:

LINKING YOUR TOWN PAGE TO DYNAMIC CONTENT:

MAKING YOUR TOWN PAGE EASY TO FIND:

Related Links:

Agent Websites Now Available on the Sequoia Platform! 7/16/2010

Related Links:

Upgrade to Sequoia from z57

Related Links:

The Importance of Websites for Realtors

Related Links:

Facebook Search for Sequoia Sites: 4/23/2010

Related Links:

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