Keyword Research is the building block of any SEO strategy. Formulating an SEO strategy without keyword research is like walking into a maze blindfolded. If you don’t use the words people are actually interested in and actively searching for, you’re missing a lot of traffic.

Keyword Research helps you mainly in two ways:

1. To figure out what people are interested in and what language they are using to search these topics. Your audience might not use the same terms to describe things or not be aware of industry terminology.

2. To rank higher in search engines. With keywords that you decide on you can optimize your website, target phrases for link building and develop content for target audience. All of the factors mentioned help a website achieve better search ranking.

Note that Keyword Research is not just about finding the right words to help you talk to your consumers online- it’s part of a process and requires diligent monitoring and updating to get the best results.

KEYWORD DISCOVERY PHASE

In this post we will cover some initial steps which help you through the keyword discovery phase. People use their familiarity with the products/services to find new word variations or maybe some new relevant words. This might produce a lot of  information, therefore finding the right method to organize and deduct is crucial.

A good way to start would be to write down the top twenty words you associate with your company and product/services. Once you have that go over to Google.com and type in your keywords to see more targeted, suggested searches. You can get more and more detailed and local to see varied suggested keywords.

You can also try tools like wordtracker , sem rush (Paid services with free trials) that offer a quick look at the Keywords your competitors are using.

Let us first set up a spreadsheet to organize all the information you have gathered until now. You can download (click on file, go to download as excel) a simple spreadsheet we use.

GOOGLE  ADWORDS KEYWORD TOOL

The Google free keyword tool is a good start to associate some numbers to your keywords. Enter your core keywords and run the search…

The keyword shows you three columns:

• Competition: “The number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. The shaded bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword.”
• Global Monthly Searches: “The approximate 12-month average number of search terms matching each keyword. This statistic includes traffic in all countries and languages but is specific to your keyword match type selection.”
• Local Monthly Searches: “The approximate 12-month average number of search terms matching each keyword. This statistic is specific to your targeted country and language as well as your match type selection. If we don’t have enough data for a particular keyword, you’ll see this noted within the column.”

If you have logged into the google adwords account you can also see approximate CPC. (CPC- “This is the approximate cost-per-click you might pay if you were to bid on the keyword. The CPC is averaged over all the ad positions.”)

It is here you need to narrow down your keywords and start moving away from generic terms. If you see the left side of adwords you can select three options for specific match types based on broad, exact and phrase. This becomes more relevant if you are looking to run a PPC campaign.

• Broad- “The sum of the search volumes for the keyword idea, related grammatical forms, synonyms and related words” So PPC ads and Organic search results  for commercial real estate would show up with any searches including commercial or real estate.
• Phrase- “The sum of the search volumes for all terms that include that whole phrase” Therefore if you were doing PPC and targeted the phrase match for Condo, ads would show for anyone who typed in  commercial real estate with or without additional keywords such as commercial real estate listing . Organic results would include only results including the exact phrase commercial real estate.
• Exact- “The search volume for that keyword idea” . If you were doing PPC and targeted the exact match for commercial real estate , ads would only show if someone typed in commercial real estate but not any other variation of that phrase.

Generic terms are expensive and hard to get a good ranking for, therefore you need to narrow down your keyword list to 10-15 terms that you can dedicate your budget and time to. We will look further into the details of picking the best terms based on more specific factors other than volume- stay tuned for the next post!

If you would like to learn more about Keyword Research, check out our LogicClassroom video presentation, Master Your Keyword Strategy (Advanced SEO)

CONTENT IS STILL KING – OPTIMIZE IT!

With a strategy set and the right technology, it’s time to create some content! Great content not only engages users, it attracts links, comments, referrals, and search engine traffic. When content you create is optimized, it will be picked up by search engine crawlers and allow visitors who are searching for your content to find it and reach your site. We recommend adding new, unique content to your site at least twice each week- and keep in mind there is a direct correlation between the frequency with which you post content, to how successful that content is in attracting leads!

The Nitty Gritty

So you know what optimizing does, and you know how often to do it- but what are some day-to-day actions that you should take to actually get more leads? Watch our latest LogicClassroom video, Optimizing Your Content for Search Engines (and People!)- and you’ll be ready to go with a content bag full of techniques!

A great strategy and a great website platform will never be found if the site doesn’t have quality content and if it isn’t updated regularly. Blogging is a great way to publish content, and it’s smart to syndicate that content to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Last Word

Getting found at the top of the search engines results is unfortunately not a black and white endeavor. While Google does use a mathematical algorithm to determine where your website ranks on a page, these equations are constantly changing in nature. It’s fair to say it would be impossible to keep up with all the calculations, particularly when you have a business to run. But there are some good places to start. With some commitment, and the right foundation, new clients will find you!

If you’re interested in learning more about how Boston Logic can help you with SEO, contact us today for a no-pressure consultation

That’s not to say that this isn’t possible. Usually the problem is either lame content and not being consistent with your content. Don’t forget, it takes more than the bare minimum of just throwing content once a week up on your blog: you are competing for your readers – and potential customers – online attention. And if we know anything about browsing the web, the online reader isn’t a patient one.

Here are some top mistakes that we see non-real estate SEO clients make every day, and some tips on how you can think about blogging differently to overcome them.

1.) No content strategy goals

You either don’t have a goal, or are all over the place. Take a minute to think about where you are trying to go with your blog and what statement you want to make. Are you writing to build a brand, build influence, or increase your leads? Your goals will shape your blogging strategy, and you need to make sure this message is conveyed accurately internally.

2.) Internal resources aren’t organized

Who writes your content and manages your social media profiles? My guess is, you’ve got one person for your company that you hope is blogging at least once a week. Identify who this person or team will be, whether its a requirement of all your agents to post once a day, or you and an intern writing once a week. If you don’t have a blog yet, start small and test-run a Sequoia real estate website with blog feature for 6 months to see how your business benefits. Create a solid team, and compile data to have a common ownership of the blog within your company.

3.) Real Estate niche is undefined

As with businesses in general, its so much better to have a specialized niche. The same applies to your blog: the less your posts are all over the place, the less targeted your message and your audience will be. Think about your target market and what they want – now how can you solve their problems? What are they concerned about?

4.) Not listening to your audience or clients

We tell clients that blogging is the best way to assert yourself as an expert in your field of real estate. But how can you position your company as an educator if you don’t know what your clients’ problems are? There are great “listening” tools like Google Alerts or Radian6 that you can employ to be on top of the latest news and issues of your market. From here, you can generate blog material in reaction to what you read.

5.)  Your blog is boring

Here is where we have to be honest. Many real estate agents and brokers are not really writers, and the content your blog pushes out reflects that. It may be worth bringing in some fresh perspective with younger interns or agents that have expressed interest in writing to help stimulate interesting blog ideas to give you different angles to pursue.

Try and be the journalist that attracts your readers’ attention. Stories are everywhere, from interacting with clients to your kid’s dentist appointments. You can also tie in a recent news event or real estate market development: and the faster you are with these, the better. Have a defined, committed point of view – and finish it off with a great headline, like a “How-To” post or “Are You Paying Too Much To Sell Your Home?”

6.) Lack of authentic material

People don’t care about press releases. Sorry. They want to talk and leave comments for actual people, not droning company robots. Here’s where speaking about your personal experiences really comes into play – “I just met with this seller, and ran screaming from the house…” These are memorable, and make people connect to what you are writing about. And, clients prefer to work with “real” people.

7.) No publishing system

We emphasize constantly that consistent blogging is horribly important. However, there is a system that should be put into place. It starts by monitoring relevant and trending topics, aggregating the “noise” into relevant topics, creative writing and editing, and ends with measurement with Google Analytics. You need to have this process in a calendar to make sure you meet deadlines consistently, and over time you will become more efficient as blogging becomes part of you or your team’s routine.

8.) No “BOOM!” Ending

Remember in high school when your teacher told you to write a captivating conclusion that leaves the reader in reflection of what they just wrote? Don’t leave your readers hanging. Pull it all together, and throw some punch in there. Also don’t forget to continue the momentum with a strong call-to-action.

So go forth and make your blog the best it can be. Social media sites move quickly, and every reader that bounces of your blog is another opportunity lost. Don’t be overwhelmed by this list: tackle one issue at a time, and over the upcoming weeks your blog will be back on track.

Contact Boston Logic today to inquire about our real estate SEO services, and to learn more about how you can optimize your website, blog, and social media profiles for success!

Source: 7 Reasons Your Blog Sucks (and What to Do About It)

Q: “I recently read an interesting pointer in Realtor Magazine regarding naming photos. It recommends taking care with image names and not to leave camera-coded numerical file names on the images – rather retitling with relevant words. It further claims Google will recognize the keywords associated with those images and direct consumers to your website. I wanted to ask what technique/strategy you would recommend when naming photos during the download process. I noticed that when I hold my cursor on the photos on our blog, the photo title is revealed. Any insight or guidance is appreciated.”

A: Yes, it is very important to re-name images when you upload an image to your real estate website or blog! This is known as image optimization, and it is similar to optimizing a blog post or web page. Search engines do crawl photos (i.e., when you conduct a Google Image Search) so it’s best to optimize the photos when you upload them. You can do this by using your SEO keywords whenever possible: in the title, alt. text, or description.

Take a look at the image below – which is a screen shot of an image upload on WordPress – to see the steps involved in optimizing an image:

It’s also important to make sure that the keywords you are using are relevant. If you have an image of a generic beach – Wesagussett Beach, for example – title it as such. Using one of your keywords that has nothing to do with the image such as “Weymouth Homes for Sale” will not help your rankings and will not drive the relevant traffic that you are looking for. Additionally, the image alternate text (alt. text) and descriptions should be relevant and accurate.

To give an example, if you have an interior kitchen photo of 1482 Elm Street, don’t name the image <1482ElmStreetKitchenWeymouth>

• Make sure that the words have spaces so the search engines can crawl them as words and not 1 giant keyword
• You can make a title that specific, but if you are looking to increase your SEO rankings, you can name it something like “Elm Street Interior Kitchen Weymouth Home”. That way, you have the specifics of what street it is on if people are searching for it, as well as one of your SEO keywords  (“weymouth homes”) incorporated into the title.

We break down the basics of publishing a post here:

1) From your WordPress Dashboard, select “Posts” from the far left sidebar, then “Add New”

2) Write Your Content. This is where you will write all of your content. It’s important for your to take your keywords that you’ve researched (or that Boston Logic has given you!) and use them in your title, and as bold and links to relevant pages on your website in your content.

3) Add and Image. Once you’ve written your blog content, it’s optimal to break up your content for readers with an image: optimizing images are also a great opportunity for optimization, as well!

Right above where you write the body of your content you’ll see “Upload / Insert”. To upload an image, click the 1st rectangle shape. From here, a box will pop up where you click the “Select” button to choose an image to upload from your computer. Once it’s uploaded, you can optimize your image by adding Alt. Text and a Description that contain your keywords that are descriptive of your text – it also helps to have keywords in your Image Title.

You can also add a URL so that when a user clicks the image, they will land on a page of your website. If you are doing a featured listing and have an image of the apartment located in Boston, you can place the URL of the listing here so they can click to read more.

4) Tag and Categorize your post. Now that you’ve got the body of your post written, time to Tag and Categorize it. You can find both the Categories and Post Tags section on the far right of your “Edit Post” dashboard.

Your categories should be based on your SEO keywords that you’d like to rank for – select the checkbox next to the appropriate categories that your blog post fits into. These are more broad, and you should only add another category when you have a whole new topic with multiple blog posts.

Tagging allows you to be a bit more descriptive with your posts. Here, you can take the level of detail to describe your post to the next level. For real estate SEO for example, let’s say that you’ve written a Featured Blog on one of your properties in Back Bay, Boston. Check off the “Back Bay Apartments”, “Back Bay 2 Bedrooms”, etc. Your “Post Tags” are located right beneath your “Categories”.

5) Fill out the SEO pack. Depending on what version of WordPress you have, the All in One SEO Pack may be available. This is a great SEO tool that WordPress uses for you to describe your own content: add a Title, Description, and Keywords – and be sure to include yout SEO keywords that you want to rank for in all three sections.

Blogging is an important aspect of your real estate online marketing strategy, and takes a lot of work. Sign up for Boston Logic’s real estate SEO services today to help you blog consistently for website success!

To refresh your memory, a QR (Quick Response) code is  a machine-readable 2D image, similar to a barcode.  They can be read by scanners or by applications on smart phones, which then directs the user to any URL that the QR code owner desires. And in the world of real estate, QR codes are becoming increasingly popular as a fast and easy way to connect online initiatives with offline marketing.  These codes make it much easier for people to visit your real estate website or individual property listings directly from their smartphones. And using sophisticated Google Analytics software, which we at Boston Logic utilize for our real estate SEO client campaigns, you can for the first time track the effectiveness of a print campaign!

Here are a few ideas on how to incorporate QR codes into your real estate marketing strategy:

• QR Codes On Sign Riders. Adding a Quick Response code to your sign rider can be a fast and convenient way for buyers to get additional information about the home while standing in front of property for sale. This makes the problem of running out of property flyers a thing of the past, as you can create QR codes that direct the user to a detailed website with photos, comprehensive descriptions, and even view documents on the property.

• Property flyers. Property flyers themselves are a great tool to utilize a QR code. You can direct potential buyers back to your real estate website for more information, additional pictures, documents and even the virtual tour.

• Event or Open House Information. Do you frequently blog about or feature on your website open houses for your available properties? You can make this content more available and drive more traffic to these web pages and posts by having a QR code direct to these pages on any of your marketing materials, such as post cards. – You can create a QR code to provide additional information about upcoming events or even directions and the date and time for an open house.

These are just 3 of the many ways to utilize QR codes to make real estate print advertising clickable. Not only do they direct users to the information they are looking for while browsing for properties, but it will also gain much appreciation from your sellers as a viable real estate online marketing tactic.

Getting started with Quick Response codes for real estate is easy, and can be done in a matter of steps! Here’s the process to help you get started:

1) Get a QR Code generator. While there are many to choose from, we find that QRreateBuzz is highly recommended due to its superior tracking capabilities. For a quick start, you can also visit qrstuff.com.
2) Download QR Code Reader. To read the QR codes that you generate, you’ll need the QR code reader app on your smart phone. You can find the app by going to your iTunes account for download.
3) Get organized. Pick the properties you’d like to get started marketing with your QR codes. Make sure you have appropriate landing pages, then generate the code accordingly.

Have you utilized the power of QR code real estate online marketing? We are always eager to hear your results!

As you can see from the graph below, the numbers are quite impressive – those who blog daily receive 89% more leads than those who only blog once a month (49% customer acquisition). These numbers also happen to back up what we always tell our real estate SEO clients: blog consistently and regularly! It can sometimes be difficult to get clients to blog at least once a week, but when you blog once a month, not only does it not impress the visitors that come to your site, but you will also get less leads. And we know that leads for real estate brokers and agents is extremely important.

This also begs the question, “But HOW can we blog multiple times per day?” It’s really a matter of getting into routine and a mindset. Make a time commitment to blog as soon as you wake up, or to blog when you get home from work – and make it fun. You’re the expert: blog about what you think your clients want to read about while assuring your expertise as a real estate agent or brokerage.

Blogs also don’t have to be lengthy books of content and text: in fact, users prefer smaller blogs which contain helpful information for them. Being in real estate, consider the amount of questions you get from buyers and sellers: if these are in email form, you can literally copy and paste their question and response into your blog – done!

Blogging and real estate SEO are as easy as ever with our Sequoia real estate websites and integrated WordPress blogging system. If you are interested in a new real estate website or wish to inquire about our SEO services for your real estate website or blog, contact Boston Logic today!

Good Luck!

Graph Source: The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing, Hubspot

You can read about all the benefits of marketing your real estate business on Facebook in this Sequoia Blog Post on Facebook Marketing. While this post is still informative with relevant data, Boston Logic knows that Facebook never stops updating its user interface – and you no doubt have noticed the recent Facebook visual upgrades for your user profile.

Thus, the steps in which you create your own Facebook Page – for a brokerage or individual real estate agent – has changed. Follow the steps below to create your own Facebook Page: it’s easy, we promise!

1.      From your ‘Home’ Page of your Personal Profile, select the ‘Ads and Pages’ menu below your thumbnail photo.

2. From the ‘Pages You Admin’ screen, click the ‘+Create Page’ button at the top right corner of the page.

3. For most real estate agencies or real estate agents, you will select the “Local Business or Place of Interest” section.

4.       Once you click this item, a form will pop up to prompt you to complete important information regarding your business.

Select ‘Real Estate’ from the drop-down menu, and fill out the relevant business information, like address and phone number. Check the box stating you have read the Facebook terms, then click “Get Started”.

5.       And you’re done!

Once you’ve created a page, Facebook provides you with helpful steps to help enhance your Page. You can begin by filling out your Information Tab, suggesting your friends and family become Fans by ‘Liking’ your Page (click the ‘Suggest to Friends’ link below your Fan Page Profile Image), and uploading Photos!

Good Luck!

Looking for a new real estate website? Contact us for more info on our real estate web design, or to discuss our further real estate SEO services.

1. Internal Links

Internal links occur within your website, and offer you two great advantages:  1) The ability to develop silos of authority within the hierarchy of a website, and 2) The ability to assist search engine spiders find new content.

Benefits: Internal links are most substantial low hanging fruit of link building, but this tactic is frequently overlooked by website owners. Effective Internal Links are blended seamlessly into web page and blog post text, are not navigational, and aren’t clustered at the end of content.

2. SEO Directories

Essentially, web directories are the telephone book pages of the Internet. There is generally no relevance, ranking, or human input with the listings. They have in the past been an integral part of real estate SEO strategies, as it was believed that having inbound links from these directories was not only valuable for your website’s credibility in the eyes of the Search Engines, but it also validated your links so that Search Engines didn’t have to. However, now it’s important to hone in your focus on the big players in directories, and do your research as to which ones are relevant to you.

Benefits: With the exception of Yahoo, DMOZ, Google Places, and Yelp, many directories can potentially be a waste of time and resources. They’re basically a paid link that passes rank.

 

 

3. .Edu/.Gov Extensions

These websites are legitimate sites of authority, and getting your website placed on sites like these that are relevant to your business is great news for your real estate SEO campaign.

Benefits: Your URL placement on these websites will have a massive impact on your website’s keyword rankings. If you have “political connections”, these can go a long way, but a campaign dedicated only to obtaining these links may not be the best use of your time.

4. Social Media

Social media marketing has always been a great channel for spreading the word about your website through link sharing: the top dogs here are Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. Just remember to not become a Twitter spam Robot by posting only links to your site over and over again!

Benefits: There are tremendous ancillary benefits to social media link building: one tweet can generate dozens of high-quality backlinks across the blogosphere.

5. Link Baiting

Link baiting is the process of creating incoming links through the generation of engaging content and tools. If you are considering link bait, follow one simple rule: make your content something an audience will want to share with others.  There is also no risk level: Matt Cutts of Google has even encouraged link baiting. Famous examples of link baiting include Office Max’s “Elf Yourself.”

Benefits: Excellent. Link baiting is one of the most reliable long-term real estate SEO strategy for developing a high performance domain in search engines.

6. Press Release Links

Press Release links requires using a press release firm such as PR Web or PR Newswire to generate incoming links. This is a great strategy if the press release is both useful and relevant to your content. Tip: Check over your site content: determine the most relevant page to link to, and be sure to link deep, if possible.

Benefits: When appropriate to your business and website, releases can quickly drive quality backlinks from reputable news sources.

Link building is a constantly growing and changing process. One of the favorites of link building strategies is link baiting is because it’s creative, fun, and users want to share them with their friends. Take time to find something you enjoy creating and see if you can use it as a method to drive incoming links. Not only will this be something you enjoy participating in every day, but it will also encourage your  link building to a part of your daily real estate SEO routine, and thus make your website an SEO success!

We are asking readers to please join us in daily voting from now until November 24th for the Warren Residential blog. Anyone can vote once per day by clicking this link: Best Real Estate Blog in Boston!

If Warren Residential wins the title, the Warren Residential website will be linked from Zillow’s Boston home values page. In addition, they will also receive a badge for their blog’s website indicating that Warren Residential is Boston’s best real estate blogger, as voted by the people!

Once again, here is the Zillow link to please click and vote every day until November 24th.

We wish Warren Residential the best of luck in the next few days of voting!