Dan Price is the first Realzi client to get more than 1,000 unique visitors per day. Congratulations, Dan! Broker and owner at Team Price Real Estate in Austin, Texas, Dan recently sat down with us to chat about his Realzi experience so far…

What made you decide to get Realzi?

Results. I knew another Realtor who was using Realzi, and I noticed that his website ranked extremely high for specific real estate keywords and addresses. I had the opportunity to meet with Realzi June/July of 2009 and understood why their sites rank so high. It was easy to make the decision and transition once I realized that if I didn’t, I would never compete with everyone who was launching a Realzi website.

How many leads were you getting before you got Realzi?

About 5 per month without using PPC (pay per click) and 10 or so per month with a $350 per month PPC campaign. I am no longer using PPC – all incoming leads are generated from organic search results.

How many leads are you getting now?

We’re averaging 7 to 10 leads per week, and about half of those are resulting in appointments. These are the best results I have ever experienced with any other website.

How has Realzi changed your business?

More leads = more business. As a broker, I assign all my website leads to my agents. It has changed their business dramatically. My goal is to assign one to two leads that will result in a closing per agent per month. So far, we are exceeding those goals.

Have you gotten any feedback from clients who searched for a home using your Realzi site? What did they think of it?

I tell all my clients to use my Realzi site, and they love it. The site allows them to save listings and searches, perform map searches, keyword searches, etc. I often see users email listings from my Realzi site to their agents.

Tell us about your daily schedule as a Realtor. How does Realzi fit into your schedule?

One of the nicest things about Realzi is that it’s designed to take care of itself — it updates every evening so when new listings are submitted it will automatically show up next day. When I want to email a client a property, I no longer email them from the MLS — I email them the property URL from my Realzi site. I do this for two reasons: 1. I want them to use my site and hopefully forward that link to their friends and family members. They’re excited about buying a home, so why not have them share a link to my site instead of the MLS listing link which does not drive traffic and visibility to my site? 2. The URL is easy to copy and paste — most Realtor IDX websites will generate a long and meaningless URL, but Realzi does not do that. Realzi generates a URL based on the State/City/Zip and address. It’s a clean URL and easy to email, upload to social networking sites, etc. It’s a URL that people feel comfortable clicking on.

What advice do you have for agents and brokers who are just getting started with Realzi?

Understand that it might take Google a few months to index your site. It took Google about 4 months to “notice and tag” my Realzi site. Not that much happened during that time, but after those 4 months I was very pleased with the number of leads the site started generating. I also make sure to send all my clients and contacts a press release that talks about the new site. Not only is Realzi a search-engine friendly site, but it’s also a great site for consumers and clients. They really like the map search and the keyword search.

Thanks, Dan! We’re thrilled to see just how much Realzi has helped your business.

We can’t wait to see who will be our next user to top 1,000 unique visitors. If you’re an agent or broker who’s ready to start getting more traffic and leads to your real estate website, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Link building from social media sites can be confusing. They all allow or disallow different things . . . some make links do-follow, some no-follow and others use redirects. Use of any of these can and will impact how valuable the link is. However, the #1 rule of link building always applies: Make sure you link to your site with good, search-optimized anchor text. Don’t link the word “click here”. Don’t link your URL. Link your target keywords to your website any and every time you can.

Link Building from LinkedIn

So, how do you get search-friendly links from your LinkedIn profile? It’s simple! When you’re logged into LinkedIn, hover over “Profile” and choose “Edit Profile”.

When you edit your profile, LinkedIn offers you a location to post links to your website, your blog, etc. If you choose the obvious selections they offer (My Website, My Blog, My Company) LinkedIn uses those words as the anchor text and doesn’t give you the option of writing search-friendly anchor text. The solution? Choose “Other”.

When you choose “Other”, LinkedIn adds a new field that lets you make the anchor text anything you want. Yay! Now, choose your most important keyphrase and type it in the box by the target URL. Note how I used all three links they give me to link to my SEO blog, my SEO website and my Yellow Lab’s website with search-friendly keyphrases.  Oh, and I just did it again there. Sorry, I can’t help myself. As I said, NEVER pass up a chance to link to your website with your targeted keyphrase as the anchor text.

Value of a Search-Friendly from LinkedIn

The value of a search-friendly link from LinkedIn can definitely be debated. LinkedIn adds the previously mentioned “nofollow” tag to the link. See below (the strike through is from a Firefox SEO plugin I use that shows a nofollow tag has been placed on the link).

Some people say this makes the link worthless, while others say that it still increases the relevancy of the target page even if it doesn’t pass any PageRank. I say, regardless of whether it passes any “Google Juice” today, it might tomorrow. So you can never go wrong by following a policy of always using search-friendly anchor text.

Happy linking!

Name: Brian

Web Site: http://www.realzi.com

Bio: Brian Rutledge is Managing Partner at Real Estate Search Marketing Company Realzi, which he co-founded in 2006. Realzi specializes in lead generating Search Engine Optimized Real Estate Websites. Based in Austin, Texas, Realzi helps Real Estate Brokers and Agents worldwide with internet marketing campaigns focused on lead generation and home sales.

We can’t say it enough: Blogging is a great way to interact with your site visitors, easily create fresh content and increase your search engine rankings. Realzi real estate websites are already designed to rank highly and generate leads, but blogging will give you even more of an edge over your competition. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your real estate blog:

• Post at least once per week.
• Your blog posts should be around 300-600 words, and they should focus on one thing at a time, for SEO and readability reasons. For instance, you could do one blog post on Downtown Austin condos. Other topic ideas: Westlake real estate, a new and exciting listing, and even a quick story about how you got started as a real estate agent.
• Related to the tip above, choose one keyphrase (like “downtown Austin condos” or “Austin real estate”). Use it a few times throughout your post and link one instance of it to a relevant page of your site.
• When possible, use that keyphrase in the title of the blog post (“The 5 Coolest Downtown Austin Condos”). This is great for Google, since you’ll not only have the keyphrase in your title, but it will become the post’s URL. These are two important factors in determining relevance when it comes to SEO.
• Create and use relevant categories for your posts. The URL of each of your blog post should be set up to include the category of the post. Ever seen a blog post URL that looks something like examplesite.com/Uncategorized/name-of-post? You don’t want that “Uncategorized” in there — it’s a missed opportunity for site organization and SEO. Be sure to create and use good categories. For example, you may want to choose the category “Austin Condos,” “78701,” or “Downtown Austin” for that downtown Austin condos post. Each post should only have one category.
• Make it easy for leads to get in contact with you. This is especially important if you’re writing about a new listing. You may want to include a sentence at the end of your post that tells your readers how to best get in contact with you. Link to your Contact page and/or provide your phone number (“Want to see this home? Contact me online, or call me at…”).
• Spread the word! Once your post is up, tell people about it. You can use social media sites like Digg, Delicious, Facebook and Twitter.

We hope this helps you get the most out of your real estate blog. Good luck!

If you’re a Realtor, you have to make sure you have a solid web presence. And that means getting a powerful real estate website that allows your clients to easily search for homes and view listings. A Realzi real estate website will do this — and it’ll make your website easily found by people searching for homes online.

There are so many buyers using the internet to search for homes. Think about it: When you buy a car, a new television or want to go see a movie, do you go online first to check reviews and find out more information? Chances are that you do every time because it’s just so fast and easy, and there’s a ton of information. Home buyers are using the internet to search for homes, and if they can’t find your website, that’s a missed opportunity for you.

So get competitive and get a real estate website that does it all. Realzi real estate websites are branded with your logo, name, contact information, company colors and more. They enable users to search MLS listings for free, even allowing them to search by keyword like “oak trees” and “boat dock.” Map Search, keyword search and other features are all very user-friendly. Since Realzi real estate websites are search engine optimized, that means they’re made to rank highly in search engines. So when someone searches an MLS number or address of a home for sale, they’ll be able to find your site.

In today’s competitive market, a powerful online presence is key to success and is absolutely necessary for getting a consistent stream of new leads. With a Realzi search engine optimized real estate website, you get more clients and sell more homes. Find out more information about how you can take your web presence to the next level with a Realzi site: contact us. Also, feel free to view live implementations to get an idea of what Realzi can do for you.

Realzi is proud to announce the rollout of its new 1.5 release. Bigger and better than before, this release allows Realzi real estate websites to rank highly for MLS numbers, giving them even more of an edge over competing real estate websites.

What’s so important about ranking highly for MLS numbers? Simple: With more and more people using Smart phones like Blackberrys and iPhones — phones that can connect to the Internet — this means that should a prospective home buyer with a Smart phone drive by a home for sale, they could use their phone to quickly search Google for the MLS number.

While high search engine rankings are essential when it comes to staying competitive in the real estate market, it’s even more important for people search the Internet on their phones, as they are likely not going to continue looking at more than the first page of search results.

This is yet another powerful aspect of Realzi, your secret weapon in building a consistent stream of new business. Other things that make Realzi so impressive are the user-friendly Map Search, Quick Search and the ability to search by keyword. Home buyers can actually type in a keyword like “elevator,” “oak trees” or “dock” and will see relevant listings.

If you’re a broker or agent who is interested in getting a well-constructed, search engine optimized MLS website, contact Realzi.

There’s a great article over at CNNMoney.com that talks about Obama’s real estate rescue plan. Unveiled last week, Obama’s real estate rescue plan is also known as the $75 billion Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.

It includes two things, the first being that the government is “aiming to help more homeowners refinance to take advantage of low interest rates.” The second is that the plan will give lenders and servicers incentives to restructure mortgages at more affordable levels.

More information about Obama’s real estate rescue plan is coming early next month. But people are wondering how they can find out about whether they’ll be able to get in on what the plan offers.

CNN points out that there’s help for people looking to refinance — people who have kept current on their mortgages might not have been able to refinance because home prices have fallen. If you owe more than your home’s market value, you won’t qualify for refinancing — you much have at least 20% equity in your home unless you’re using an FHA loan. Homeowners that have a debt that exceeds their home value by 5% may even be eligible, says the article, but the loan has to be owned or backed by Fannie or Freddie.

If your property value has declined severely, as in put you underwater by more than 5%, you won’t be eligible. Also not eligible: homeowners with “jumbo” mortgages. You have to have a “conforming” mortgages, and  you’ll have to prove you have the income necessary to keep up with your payments.

Obama’s real estate rescue plan also brings up mortgage modification help for at-risk borrowers. The CNNMoney.com article notes that homeowners who are at risk of default or in default might qualify for a loan modification — that means it’d restructure the terms of the loan. If you wind up qualifying for this, your lender could reduce your monthly mortgage payments to 31% of your gross income, staying that way for five years before reverting back to the conforming loan rates. There are many people who are not eligible for this, like people who bought homes for investment or those who were irresponsible in their borrowing, for example.

Stay on top of the latest of what’s going on with Obama’s real estate rescue plan, also known as the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, by checking out CNNMoney.com. There should be much more information available about it on March 4.

A new “Real Estate 2.0″ website has been launched for the Austin Real Estate Market. Powered by Realzi, the new site featuring well known Austin Realtor Gary Dolch makes searching for real estate fast, easy and intuitive for the realtor. Features that visitors can take advantage of include saved searches, send to friend, send to realtor, ask a question, schedule a viewing, RSS feeds and email updates when a new property matches a saved search criteria.

Realzi benefits for the realtor include the ability to capture and convert more leads. Real estate agents running Realzi can take action on visitor events so they can cater to their customers better than ever before. Also, the internet marketing features built into Realzi are unmatched. Realzi has unique built in search marketing and search engine optimization features found nowhere else. Realzi also offers unsurpassed social media features such as RSS syndication, integration into Facebook, integration into Twitter, listings integrated into Wordpress blogs, auto-generated Craigslist property “posters” and many, many others.

Real Estate Brokers and agents interested in the Realzi search engine optimized IDX should visit the main site at http://www.realzi.com. House hunters looking for some great Austin Real Estate should visit Gary’s website at http://austin.realzi.com.

The stimulus package has been in the headlines quite a bit for the last week or so, and the Senate is expected to vote on it by the end of this week. An article at CNNMoney.com recently pointed out a provision in the proposed stimulus package: First time home buyers would get a $7,500 tax credit. This could possibly have a huge effect on the real estate industry.

Some believe this could do a lot to “jump start the moribund housing market,” says the article, with a 10% increase in home sales possible, as predicted by economists at the National Association of Realtors. This is great news for real estate, as the $7,500 tax credit may help home buyers who are on the fence decide to buy something. That 10% increase in home sales means a half million more sales.

However, not everyone would qualify for the $7,500 tax credit. There are some stipulations, such as the new home must be the primary residence of the buyer, the buyer can’t have owned  home for the past three years. There are some income limits to it as well, and the home can’t be sold for at least 36 months. To claim the credit is actually pretty simple: Buyers just have to claim in on their income tax return.

Of course, the effect this would have on the real estate industry won’t be known until it actually happens, and economists and those in the industry have opinions about whether it’ll help or do nothing.

Either way, this is a good reminder that real estate agents and brokers need to get competitive in their markets. If first time home buyers who are on the fence about buying have something like this tax credit that will convince them to act, real estate agents and brokers need more than just word-of-mouth to get those leads. And the best way to do that is by having a search engine optimized MLS website that will dominate their market.

Get competitive and get leads with an outstanding real estate website. Realzi provides IDX websites that seamlessly integrate with your existing real estate website, giving you a consistent stream of leads even when times are tough. Affordable, smart, and powerful lead-generating: That’s Realzi.

Knowing that search engine optimized MLS websites dominate their markets should be more than enough reason to improve your real estate website. Relying on word-of-mouth to get leads is a good start, but having a search engine optimized MLS website means you can compete with even the largest real estate websites.

Before, it was just plain too expensive for a single real estate agent to pay for search engine optimization. But thanks to Realzi, the playing field has been leveled. Affordable and powerful, Realzi is how real estate agents get search engine optimized MLS websites that dominate their markets. Additionally, Realzi can be easily adopted into a realtor’s existing web presence.

A well-constructed search engine optimized MLS website isn’t like other real estate websites that come and go. Rather, search engine optimized MLS websites consistently draw live real estate leads and dominate their markets — even when times are tough. Thing of Realzi search engine optimized MLS websites as your secret weapon for keeping a consistent stream of new business.

Search engine optimized MLS websites dominate their markets because they are search engine optimized. That  means the real estate websites are built using proven best-of-breed techniques as well as proprietary technology — and as a result, competitors are left in the dust when it comes to Google, Yahoo and MSN search rankings.

Ready to improve your real estate website by getting a search engine optimized MLS website that will integrate seamlessly into your existing website?  Realzi is the answer. It will give your site visitors the ability to search MLS listings with a one-of-a-kind map search, and they will be able to sign up, save listings and email listings to friends. Anytime they have a question or would like more info, they simply click a button to contact you. Realzi search engine optimized MLS websites are truly plug and play in that there is no hassle or lengthy and expensive development time needed.

There’s a fascinating blog post up at The Notorious R.O.B. that you’ve just gotta read. It talks about a movement he’s dubbed the “Kristians,” named after Kris Berg, that basically goes a little something like this: “The Swarm,” made up of boutique firms, small independents and high-quality agents, is empowered by technology and social media that’s supplied by third-party providers.

“The Swarm” is thought to be where the future of real estate lies. Not with huge corporate brokerage firms and franchises, since they don’t provide any kind of meaningful support to the high-quality agents. This group of people does not think social media and technology is a big deal when it comes to real estate — they’re holding onto the idea that the real estate industry and how it works will always stay the same.

So the “Kristians” believe that these big brokerage firms will eventually see the light and wake up to the idea that the industry is changing and they must change with it will be the future of real estate. Once these big firms invest in the future, they’ll have a huge advantage over competitors, including “The Swarm,” both in profit and brand — and that will lead to them changing the real estate industry.

Now comes a question posed by Kris Berg herself: Up until recently, real estate professionals needed credibility and resources, and they got that by having a company brand. Working at a large firm came with desks, assistants, fax machines, phone lines, etc. But now, thanks to technology, real estate professionals can work from pretty much anywhere and can brand themselves. As people realize all of these overhead costs that come along with working in a big office aren’t needs, there will be a resistance to paying for things that aren’t necessary to stay in business. If lead generation, as Berg sees it, turns into a situation where competitors are trying to get the most leads for the largest number of agents, and more agents equals more money, where did the customer go in this equation?

It’s a great question — one that doesn’t seem to a have a simple answer and brings about some interesting debate. But one point Berg mentioned particularly caught our eye: the idea of a low-overhead brokerage model.

Realzi fits in flawlessly with the idea of a low-overhead brokerage model. With Realzi, you get lead generation at your own website, where you’re able to create a brand for yourself. You’re cutting out the unneccesary costs typically found at a big firm — secretaries, assistants, phone lines, fax machines, the list goes on — and getting right down to what will ultimately make you a successful real estate professional: a place where you create a brand, get leads and connect with customers.

The real estate industry is evolving, and you need to evolve with it. A good website with Realzi means you can attract clients who haven’t heard of you — you won’t need to rely on word-of-mouth. You’ll beat the pants off of your competition by getting your listings at the top of Google search results when someone searches for an MLS number or address, or even the phrase “buy an Austin home.” Perhaps most importantly: 87% of home buyers search for a home using the internet. Realzi helps you get found by these people. Feel free to talk to our real estate website experts for more information.