RealTown's RealTalk

30 Second SEO/Link Building Tip #5 - Back to Basics!

As a ten year veteran of the SEO wars, I have never seen a time when there was so much "noise" in the SEO business. Especially in real estate. You'll hear about a new strategy or approach everywhere you turn.

I am not a "my way or the highway" SEO theorist. I've seen several of these new approaches work. But I also apply a "what does it take to get there?" analysis.

There is a huge difference in time and effort between many of these new approaches. Some of them are extraordinarily complex. Many of them demand that you become the "author" that you never wanted to be. Maybe you just don't have the time or inclination to sort it all out.

We think that some of you would prefer something much more straightforward.

If you are a real estate agent, your core task at hand is to generate leads and sell real estate. Getting to that point for the least cost in time and money simply makes sense.

For those of you looking for a back-to-basics approach to improving your search rankings for the search terms that matter to your business, we can help, or you can help yourself. Simply addressing the SEO basics that have worked well for ten years can result in more site traffic, leads, and closings.

Here it is. At the most basic, just do these two very simple things:

- Create well-built "landing pages" pages on your site that focus on the specific search terms that matter to your market.

- Get links to your site or specific pages, with link text that correlates to those pages.

It's really that simple. It's been that way for ten years. It works.

If you want to focus on selling real estate, and you want to outsource these tasks, for very reasonable cost, just call or write to me to find out how.
Real Estate A la Carte SEO packages.

If you want to do some of it yourself, we can offer this help:

Search Engine Optimization Basics For Real Estate-Related Websites
http://www.domaindrivers.com/seobasics-realestate-main.htm

Also, you can create your own optimized landing pages easily with our new landing page tool, here:
http://www.domaindrivers.com/pagegumbo/pagegumbo.asp

Best regards,

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

Rich Hudson said:
"You need to have a combination of great content, good keywords, the
right domain, SEO assistance, a legitimate link exchange strategy,
the right marketing plan, a good looking and highly functional web
site, lead management and tracking systems, listing syndication, drip
marketing, and on and on."

Hi Rich,

I fully agree. Good search rankings alone does not sell a house. You
need to have a fully structured presence to get that done, as you
describe.

I was speaking more to the fact that there is a new ground swell of
advice that is based upon "keystroking" your way to success in
search. This is actually not a new concept (some agents have been
doing it for years), but it has now become pervasive, in terms of
"advice".

I'd bet that, several months from now, many of the people who are
absorbing this "keystroking" advice as gospel are going to come away
from it rather unfulfilled. Because the act of just putting up a wall
of words is really not good SEO advice. If it's not done properly, it
can easily amount to a lot of busy work that accomplishes very
little. And it's extraordinarily time consuming, no matter if its
done right or not.

The basics that have proven to work for years, for a limited
investment of time and money, are being ignored by many of these
"keystroking" advisors, in favor of approaches that seem to favor
complexity in both structure and method. Figuring out how to add
endless "widgets" to a WordPress blog is an interesting programming
task for those who are inclined to do that. Many aren't.

I'll readily admit that it works for some people. Anyone who wants to
point that out is welcome to do that, and I'll completely agree with
them. I've seen "keystroking" work, even long before "blogging" and
"social networking" was all the rage.

Based on conversations that I've had recently, I also think that
there is a whole segment of the agent community that finds all of
this "keystroking" advice to be quite frustrating, time-consuming,
hard to follow, and not suited to their business model or
personality. Those agents want more sane solutions that are
straightforward and manageable, and that fit their own situation.

Agents that choose to reject most of this "keystroking" approach have
their own valid reasons for making that choice. Certainly,
establishing a presence online, in a variety of places, is a
worthwhile goal. That is indisputable. But spending most of the day
at that task may not be, especially if it does not really pan out.

It is a curious fact that most of our own clients with good search
rankings are NOT a part of this "keystroking" fad. Their
participation in "blogging" and "social networking" activity is quite
limited, and in some cases, non-existent. Yet they get leads off
their websites on a regular basis. Go figure. What's their search
ROI, comparatively?

Which is why we are now releasing our "Genuine Link Building for Real
Estate Agents - $99 per Month" program
(http://domaindrivers.com/99BucksPerMonthLinks.asp) . It's for that
subset agents who want to bolster their link popularity in a
legitimate and significant way, while spending more of their precious
time on core business tasks, not "keystroking".

Rich, just to clarify, I am not claiming that "keystroking" doesn't
work. But there's a real business reason here for going "back to
basics", as far as SEO tasks are concerned. Like all choices, it will
resonate with some, and not others.

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

Hi Keith,

"Can other realtors who have used the DomainDrivers service comment
on their experience?"

The nature of this business is that many agents who use our service
prefer to keep it quiet. They've told us that, point blank. Some do
not tell other agents, even in their own office, what they are doing
with us. We don't publish client lists, for that reason.

It's a competitive advantage thing, in their local market. Once you
get good rankings due to links (and other SEO factors), you really
don't want everyone else in town doing the same.

There is no "secret sauce" here. It's available to anyone. It just
comes down to who makes the right choices, and seizes this
opportunity. Some do. Some do not.

When you hire us, then you can focus on your real estate business,
instead of "keystroking" all day long, trying to dig for links some
other way. It's an empowering approach.

We do have a long list of successful clients and we can provide
referrals from agents and webmasters in non-competing markets that
I'd be glad to share with you, privately.

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

@Dirk:

Can you explain exactly what you mean by "keystroking?"

Also, you are quite right that many don't want to talk about what they do for SEO, or who they hire. I kept my mouth shut for years.

Malcolm Waring, Realtor, e-PRO
Pocono Real Estate

Dirk said:

"The nature of this business is that many agents who use our service
prefer to keep it quiet. They've told us that, point blank. Some do
not tell other agents, even in their own office, what they are doing
with us. We don't publish client lists, for that reason."

Dirk- While I understand your reasoning, I have a different viewpoint on sharing the successes of clients. Because we only take 3 clients per location, our website is a very good "due diligence" website for prospects to see what we do, all features we provide, and yes, samples of clients that we've helped and a myriad of unsolicited testimonials. In other words, we encourage communication of our services.

Our belief is that the person looking into SEO should be able to get all their questions answered without feeling like they are getting captured by the SEO company by demanding their name/email before information is given. With us, it is all transparent.

I understand your philosophy, and don't necessarily disagree with it, we just have a different business plan.

Randy Eagar, CRS
WebsTarget SEO
www.WebsTarget.com

Malcolm Waring said:
"Can you explain exactly what you mean by "keystroking?"

Hi Malcolm,

Sure. Thanks for asking.

Actually, "keystroking" is a new term that I've coined, to describe
what I see happening among a vocal segment of the agent community.

Keystroking, in literal terms just means typing on a keyboard. In my
more specific definition, within the real estate agent community, it
represents a flurry (blizzard?) of word production. Most of it is
aimed toward the goal of enhancing links and traffic and leads, and
mostly through search rankings.

Nowadays, you can find all manner of "coaches" who will support you
in this keystroking endeavor. All fine and good. It's a free world.
What few people seem to do is stop and ask just exactly what is the
ROI and cost, in terms of time, etc.

Malcolm, please realize that, I am NOT being cynical. Keystroking
DOES work, when it is done correctly. That has been proven.

However, I am actually quite cynical of MUCH of the *advice* related
to this practice. I find that many of these keystroking "coaches" are
really not revealing their own true investment of time, nor are the
revealing the time required from others who *hope* to do the same.
Many of these coaches already enjoy HUGE benefits, in terms of links
and citations that WILL NEVER accrue to their followers. Duplicating
their success is actually very hard to do.

Careful hype surrounds all of this. Keystroking disciples who fail to
attain results are never mentioned. They simply fade away. Successful
followers will promote their coach, adding their own "testimonials"
to the hype. Yet, again, there is never a mention of the time
required.

With all of this social networking and blogging, there are ways to
minimize the time involved, and maximize the return. I look at all of
this keystroking strategy as icing on the cake, not the main course.

If the goal is to generate traffic and leads, then an agent who
simply applies some very simple basics, in terms of proper site and
page optimization, and then gets the hundreds of links that are
readily available to them without jumping through all kinds of
convoluted keystroking hoops to get them, will likely get a much more
effective ROI for their time/money.

If they then apply *some* of this social networking activity ON TOP
of that solid foundation, they will likely slay the market, rank at
the top of the search engines, and have a well-performing Web
presence.

Instead, I see a tidal wave of advice claiming that keystroking alone
is the answer. Sometimes, it is presented as the ONLY answer. It's
not.

That kind of talk always comes mostly from people who really do not
understand or have never really seen proper, effective, concise, and
affordable search engine optimization and what it can do. They've
simply replaced efficiency with raw keystroking, and there are
dramatic differences in the time investment.The shear output from
many of these keystroking proponents is proof alone that it takes
hours and hours per day to do it. Who has that?

Keystroking alone can work. Examples prove it. It can also distract
an agent from core tasks, and make them a slave to their keyboard,
chasing various online communities.

Malcolm, that's my point. Along with this: It's not really a suitable
strategy to a large percentage of the agent community, regardless of
how many vocal keystroking proponents exist in these various online
communities.

Thanks for the follow up.

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

Randy,

To reiterate, we have a long list of successful clients. We can show
anyone who inquires with us the results. If one of our clients
chooses to point out that we help them, in a public discussion forum,
they are welcome to do that. Many have in the past, right here. We
appreciate it.

But we also respect their privacy. As Malcolm (not our client, btw)
pointed out, he chose to keep his SEO success private. Many of our
clients feel the same, for their own business reasons.

In addition, our clients often use us on an "A la Carte" basis, as
they determine for their own budget and needs, as described here:
<http://www.domaindrivers.com/real-estate-SEO-a-la-carte.html>Real
Estate A la Carte SEO packages.

Therefore, in many cases, our role is to simply attain the type of
link popularity that they want. Under those conditions, we certainly
cannot, and do not, take credit for their search engine rankings,
since the on-site SEO work was done often in-house, with the client
saving substantial money in the process.

For example, we just released our
<http://domaindrivers.com/99BucksPerMonthLinks.asp>$99 per month link
package for real estate. It's a real breakthrough in link building.
25 links per month from various directories and social network sites,
for a fixed monthly price.

Put those links on top of some good, well-optimized content that was
built with our landing page tool, and many agents can get going in
the direction they want to be, very affordably.

Best regards,

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

@Dirk,

I thought that was what you meant but wasn't sure. Now I know EXACTLY what you mean.

I have seen some heavy bloggers bounce around in the rankings too. They change pages on a daily basis.

I believe one extreme form of this syndrome is called "Twitterhea." ;-)

Malcolm Waring, Realtor, e-PRO
Pocono Homes