If you build it; they will NOT come, unless..., IRED

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If you build it; they will NOT come, unless...

Miguel Berger, GRI, CRB

The web is getting bigger by the second, and as most of you have already figured out it's essential for a business to have a website. The main comment I hear most often is "I have a web site but people can't find me." It's like keeping your business cards in the desk drawer - if no one can put their fingers on your website; it is simply not helping your business grow.

To create a successful website now takes more than learning how to design an attractive, user-friendly site. Today, like so much else in real estate, a website needs to be well managed, and well marketed. Many customers are turning to the Internet to find a Realtor®, so you need to learn how to strengthen and promote your website.

Learn the Ropes of the Web

Even if you are comfortable as a web-user, you will need new skills to become a successful site owner. You must learn how to get listed on the search engines and directories. As a site owner, you are dependent upon the search engines and directories to get your website into the hands of new potential customers and clients.

When a potential customer goes to his or her computer to search the Internet for a Realtor®, they begin by visiting a search engine, such as

Or they go to a directory, such as

This is how they find a website to visit. Your goal is to be easy to locate through both search engines and directories.

And then there is the only and biggest real estate index IRED (International Real Estate Digest), "the who is who" of real estate on the web. IRED is the only real estate directory that manually reviews and rates each site; with over 50,000 sites, it is a must for every Realtor.

Once you've created your website, you need to understand how search engines and directories work in order to promote your site. The big question for your promotion purposes is just how do they know who you are?

Millions of people successfully search the web and do research online without ever knowing the difference between a 'search engine' and a 'directory'. For a website owner, knowing this difference and understanding how they each function is fundamental to surviving and thriving online. Do you know the difference?

What is a Search Engine?

Search engines create their listings using programs that 'crawl' the Web, like spiders, visiting websites that have been submitted for review by website owners. After reviewing and reading a site, these programs index what they have discovered. The spiders revisit sites on a regular basis to update the search engine.

The spiders go through your actual website word by word and read the first 50 to 100 words of your website. These 100 words include the behind the scenes descriptions, not visible to a visitor of your site, but encoded there. Page titles, descriptions, body text, code, and other elements all play a role in how a site is indexed by a search engine. It is very important to match the content of your website with the preferred keywords that you have submitted to the search engine in order to make it easy for the spider to properly index your site. To do this you need to make sure that those keywords are found in the text of your website. If you fail to do this, you may find your website is only found on a list if someone searches for something obscure, rather than something as general as "Realtor®-in-this-area".

What is a Directory?

Directories differ from search engines in how they index and review your site. Directories do not scan through your actual website. They simply review the descriptions sent to them by website owners. Some directories, like Yahoo! have employees to do this work, fitting the elements of the website description into a set of pre-defined categories. Others rely on software programs. Therefore, to be properly indexed by a directory, you must make sure the description you submit includes information that covers your entire site.

So, getting listed in a directory can be very different from getting listed in a search engine. They are each looking at different criteria to determine when to list your website for the public's view.

Caution:

Search engines and directories both strive for accuracy. You must be cautious when creating your descriptions and keywords. Make sure they accurately describe your actual site because if they do not, your chances of getting listed and ranked are very slim. In fact, you may be blacklisted by several search engines and directories, and may not be allowed to submit again.

Owners Guiding Web Designers

You may have hired someone else to design your website, making it look attractive as well as running efficiently. While you may trust a printer to make your brochures and business cards look nice, you don't leave the text copy in their hands. Neither should you leave the written description of your site, which search engines and directories rely upon, to be written by your web designer. It is your job to be thoroughly descriptive, and the designer's job to encode your text so that a software program can read it.

It is very important to understand that most search engines generally look for information about your site through something named the Meta Tags. These are written into the computer codes, not seen by the general viewing public, but are very important to its design. Think of them like the wiring in a house, not visible to the customer, but it matters a lot.

Hidden behind the pages you view online are encoded descriptions of keywords.

A professional web designer can take your written summary describing what is in your website, and translate that into a technical code, html. HTML stands for hypertext markup language, so it is truly a matter of translating your work. It will include your Title, Meta Tag Description, and Meta Tag Keywords.

Picture that web "spider" out on the web, crawling along, searching for some delicious meta tags to digest. It wants the most tasty titles, descriptions, and keywords all wrapped up in computer code. If it likes the meal you offer it, it will return frequently and help boost your prominence on the World Wide Web.

Computer Codes to Learn

There are some more technical aspects that can be helpful for you to understand. You can review this section, or seek a professional to depend upon.

Title: The title of your website is actually the text located after the <TITLE> tag on your web page. The title is probably the most important part of your site to evaluate, as it is the most frequently searched component by search engines, and should state exactly what your site is about.
Meta Tag Description: The Meta Tag Description is located in the <meta name="description" content="..."> after the 'content=' tag. Your Web site description should be a tight 12 to 15-word summary of the content of your site. This description should contain some of the keywords you have already listed. When reading the Description, the main theme of your Web site should be very obvious and clear.
Meta Tag Keywords: The Meta Tag Keywords are located in the <meta name="keywords" content="..."> tag. The Meta Tag Keywords should be those words that you think people will use when trying to look for a site like yours. The goal is to use keywords that are common enough so the "typical" searcher might use them, but unique enough so they don't return millions of matches. Words used in these tags that don't also appear in the body of a page will be ignored.

There are lots of theories about the magical keyword "density" that will make your page pop to the top of a search result for the keyword. As a general rule of thumb, you should have anywhere from 15 to 20 keywords.

It is important that keywords used in any tag also appear prominently in the body of your page. Note that each page has its own meta tags, and keywords are page-specific, not site-specific.

Keeping in mind that graphics are not read by the search engines, you should use the ALT Tags to describe any graphics image.

Submission Costs

Finally, once you have your site up and running, and fully encoded, then it's time to start submitting to those search engines and directories you have selected.

To submit your site to the different search engines & directories, you should have a web budget because things are changing in the dot.com world. It used to be free to be included on the search engines, but now you should expect to pay a fee to be included in a large search engine. The largest search engines msn.com and inktomi.com will cost you, so be prepared to spend some money, but it may be well worth it. Some good results can still be found with a free search engine too.

Submission by Hand or Automated?

Should you submit all of your pages by hand, or should you use an automated submission tool to save you the time and trouble of manual submission? There are over 2,000 search engines and directories to submit your website for inclusion. Each one has a format of its own for you to follow, a pre-set form to complete to begin the review process. It is not enough to submit to one search engine, even if it is the largest one, or the one you personally use. You can only optimize your exposure on the Internet by submitting to as many search engines and directories as possible. Due to the large number of places to which you should submit your site information, it makes a lot of sense to use submission services.

Some of the submission services I have used with good results:

http://www.selfpromotion.com/ (free)
http://www.addme.com/ (free)
http://www.positionpro.com/ (not free)

If you prefer to do it manually you can go to http://www.allonesearch.com/ to find a list of all the search engines and directories.

Publicity on the Web

To be well-ranked by a search engine or directory can be quite valuable; to be posted high on their list is like getting your ad on the front page of a newspaper. It ensures your "ad" or your website description will be noticed by many customers because your site will be posted early on the search results list. This will increase the chance that customers will visit your site via that link, by clicking on your web address.

Ultimately, the most important thing you can do to achieve high search engine or directory rankings is to create great content. The rule is quite simple: people reading good content and getting good information will come back to your site. Websites, like houses, need more than great curb appeal; it's having the right interior that closes the deal. Remember to keep your website up-to-date with fresh content.

One way that search engines and directories "know" that a page has great content is by counting the number of links to the page-by measuring link popularity. Links amount to a vote of approval for a web page. This is why search engines and directories boost the rankings of pages with "high link popularity." If you don't have great content, you aren't going to win many votes in the link popularity contest, dropping you down the list, out of sight of many Internet surfers.

Getting Other Sites to Link to Yours

You should approach your efforts to increasing link popularity as a sort of recruitment campaign. You not only want links to your page, you want trusted partners who you can rely on to maintain those links, even when they change the design of their site. Make sure that the links are related to what you are offering on your site.

The best way to ask for a link is to return the favor-in advance. Send an email to a site notifying them that you've linked to them, and then politely requesting a reciprocal link. This strategy will often work better than simply requesting a link.

Keep Promoting your Site

Once your site is posted on the directories, don't sit back and wait for a flood of business to find you. You still need to constantly promote your website, or be prepared to watch as it fades into obscurity as newer, jazzier websites get the attention. Every month, you should schedule time to keep your site fresh, and noticed.

Printers have done an excellent job learning how to include a lot of modern information onto the traditional size business cards. Don't hesitate to include your web address (URL) on your business cards. It should be mentioned on your voice mail too. In fact, all your printed material & fact sheets should include your website address, as well as your cell phone and fax numbers.

So while technology has opened up access to a wider market, it should feel like business as usual for the Realtor®. It's still all about promotion, visibility, and keeping up on the latest trends. The Internet is not a fad just for the elite, but a tool you must learn how to navigate to your advantage. Build that website...and with your best efforts, they will start to come to you.