As you may already know (or may find out soon enough), we here at Realzi make some pretty lean, mean real estate websites.  They’re clean, functional, and are deliciously addictive to search engine spiders, who just can’t seem to get enough of thoroughly crawling, indexing, and ranking our sites.  Realzi sites are perfectly able to function as a standalone website.

However, there are more than a few benefits for having a Realzi install on a subdomain of your main site.  For one, you get to keep complete control over all elements of your main site.  That means if your broker affiliation changes, or you’d like to update your bio, or you want to completely redesign your site, you’re able to do that at your own leisure.  You’ll also be able to treat Realzi as the lead generation tool it is, treating it as one element of many services your site offers.

Finally, and most importantly, Google treats subdomains as more independent than directories on a website, which means links between a subdomain and your main site carry more value than links between a child page and a parent page in a directory structure.  Did I dip too far into techie jargon there?  What I mean is, links between, say, http://rets.realzi.com and http://www.realzi.com are weighted more than links between http://www.realzi.com and http://www.realzi.com/real-estate-websites.  So a Realzi install on a subdomain of your main site can be pretty valuable, provided you link the two up appropriately.

Take note of the last clause in the previous sentence: provided you link the two up appropriately.  This is absolutely key, entirely crucial, of devastating importance, and so on and so forth, especially if your main website happens to have been around for a while and is indexed by search engines.  Thankfully, this process is exceedingly easy.  All you need to do is put a link on the homepage of your main site pointing toward your Realzi install.  There’s more, much more, you could do to notify search engines of the existence of your Realzi install, but this is the absolute minimum and it’s probably the most valuable step you could take.

The link can be anywhere—in the header, in the footer, in the sidebar, in the body.  Just make sure that the link’s anchor text is a keyphrase you’d like to rank for, such as, say, “Austin condos.”  It’s as simple as that!

We built Realzi from the ground up with the specific intention of it being able to work straight out-of-the-box.  It’s a turnkey solution in that regard.  However, just because Realzi sites are on-page optimized from the get-go doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from some off-site promotion.

Over the next few blog posts, we’ll discuss the value of several different things you can do to off-site to help boost your Realzi site’s rankings across search engines.  The first tip we’re going to go over is an oldie but a goodie: directory submission.

Directories are basically sites where collections of links are organized by content.  The Google Directory is an example of one.  As you can see, the site is basically a list of links that have been organized for perusal.  Submitting your site (and getting it listed) is a great way of getting links pointing back to your site.  And getting links pointing to your site is fantastic, because Google’s approach to ranking sites is heavily based upon how many (and what kind of) inbound links a site has.  A common phrase used to describe this is “links are votes,” and link-building methods are a way to cast several votes for your site.  Directory submission is one such method, and there are literally thousands of them to submit your site to.

Submitting to a directory is simple.  Simply navigate around it until you find the category that will best fit your site, then find a link somewhere on the page that says something like “Submit a Link” or “Add Site” or something along those lines.  You’ll be taken to a submission form, which usually should look something like this (clickable screenshot time!):

Let’s say we’re an Austin-based catering company called Awesome Austin Appetizers.  (Corny, I know, but the best I could come up with!)  Our supposed website is http://www.awesome-austin-appetizers.com/.  What follows is a description of what each field/area means, and what we’d fill out (follow the numbers for reference):

1. You might have heard that paid links are a major no-no.  You know what?  You heard right!  They are.  These particular paid options may or may not be considered out-and-out paid links, because the payment here seems to be based on the turnaround time and the placement of the link, not the link itself.  But why tempt Google’s wrath?  We’re going to go ahead and wait those three to four weeks and pick the free option.  (More on that third option, the “reciprocal” one, in step 7.)
2. This is the title you’d want for your link.  Some people would choose the name of their company and put that here.  We’re going to go ahead and recommend against that.  Why?  Get ready for a seriously in-depth explanation.  This field will determine what is basically the “anchor text” of your link, which is what the link reads, not where it goes.  For example, for the link real estate websites, the anchor text is “real estate websites,” but the link itself goes to http://www.realzi.com.  Having good anchor text is important, because Google associates it with the link.  The more links Google sees with a certain anchor text going to a certain site, the more likely it will be to associate the two.  Therefore, for your Realzi site, you’ll want your anchor text to be a keyphrase you want to rank for.  Do you specialize in selling South Austin Condos?  Make your anchor text “South Austin Condos.”  Chicago rentals more your thing?  Choose “Chicago Rentals” as your anchor text!  You’re probably getting the idea by now.  If we put “Awesome Austin Appetizers,” our official business name, in here, we’d associate the site with that name.  But here’s the thing: We’d rather associate the site with something people who don’t already know about our business are searching for.  Something like “Austin Catering,” which is what we’ll opt for instead.
3. This one’s simple.   We’re going to put our URL, http://www.awesome-austin-appetizers.com/, here.
4. A brief description of our site.  We’re going to start this off with the keyphrase that we used for step 2, just to further emphasize to Google that we want our site to be associated with that phrase.  We’re also going to avoid being too self-promotional, since we don’t want to annoy the directory editors with bizarre, bombastic pronouncements like, “THE GREATEST CROQUETTES ON THE PLANET!!!!!!!!!!!!”  So we’ll stick with something businesslike and accurate, like “Austin catering company specializes in hors d’oeuvres and lighter fare.  We’re the premier local option for catering parties, conventions, conferences, and more.”
5. This one’s pretty simple.  If you’re wary of getting spammed, you might want to consider using an alternative email address.  Be sure it’s one you check, though, because sometimes you’ll need to verify the listing by clicking on a link emailed to you by the directory editors.
6. Verify that this category is the category you want to be in.  If it’s not, here’s your opportunity to change that.
7. This “Reciprocal Link URL” thing is a sort of link exchange.  Directories will often submit your listing under more favorable terms if you agree to link back to them.  Since this can sometimes look spammy on your site and might, perhaps, be frowned on by some search engines, we recommend you don’t add this html to your site and don’t agree to any sort of reciprocal link exchange with any directory.
8. Here’s the CAPTCHA.  This is your big chance to prove, once and for all, that you’re not a robot!
9. Click this nifty button here and you’re done!

As you can see, this process is pretty simple.  It might seem like a hassle, but it’s really not too bad, and it’s definitely worth the effort when you consider you’ll be getting inbound links with quality anchor text to your site, which is one of the most effective ways to boost your ranking across search engines.

One last thing!  You’re probably wondering, after nearly 1000 words of explanation, just where exactly you find directories.  Simple!  You can easily find dozens of them through a simple Google search.  There are also sites that are “directories of directories” that make finding bunches of them much easier.  Just to get you started, though, here is a list of some good, high-ranking directories that we’ve been historically fond of:

FullCG
SVGUIA Directory (Gives great deep links for cheap)
SudaNow
Ceidis Directory
ABC Directory
Pravana Bid Directory (Again, more good deep links for a low price)
DMOZ (Open Directory Project) (Low approval rate and strict submission guidelines but free and one of the single best links your site can get; actually technically the same as the Google Directory, so don’t bother submitting to both)

That’s all there is to it!  Happy, er, submitting!

To help determine where you show up in search results, Google looks at the number of incoming links to your website. Why? Well, think of it this way: If a lot of sites link to you, it shows Google that others consider your site relevant and informative, so Google will want to put you ahead of similar websites that don’t have as many incoming links and/or aren’t as optimized. While Realzi real estate websites are optimized to rank highly for long-tail keyphrases (505 Blackberry Ridge Aurora, Illinois 60506) — research shows most home buyers search this way — we encourage everyone to build links for faster, better results.

First things first: Know what a good link is. Stay away from “bad neighborhood” websites and spammy sites. When a link comes from a site that Google doesn’t trust, it doesn’t reflect well on you. Aim for links on popular, trusted sites. When you link to your site, don’t use “click here” as the linked text. This is a missed opportunity, and we see it happen all the time. Instead, use a relevant keyphrase to help Google know what your site is about. If you’re an Austin Realtor, you’d probably want to use “Austin Homes For Sale,” or “Austin Real Estate Search” as your linked text. So the link would look like this: Austin Homes For Sale.

On to the link building tips…

1. Just about every social networking site has a place for users to fill out a profile with a link to their homepage. We’ve already written about search-friendly links on LinkedIn, but popular sites like Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm also allow a link.

2. Link within your blog posts. For example, if you’re writing about one of your listings, link the address to its listing page. It’d look like this: “Don’t miss 6735 S Sundown Dr Indianapolis, IN 46254…” On a related note: Blog often. Shoot for at least one post per week. Need some inspiration? Check out our 7 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Real Estate Blog.

3. Do you read other real estate blogs? If you ever comment on a post, don’t forget to include a link to your site.

4. Write an article about real estate — anything from an overview of your city’s neighborhoods to a list of things to look for when buying a home — and submit it to article syndication sites like EzineArticles.com and A1articles.com. ActiveRain is another good place (and it’s all about real estate).

5. Write a solid press release and submit it to a PR syndicate. We love PRLeap because they let you include a few links in the body of the press release, which is a great opportunity to deep-link to more pages on your Realzi site. We’ve seen impressive results from this.

6. Use social bookmarking sites like Delicious and StumbleUpon to bookmark pages on your site. Don’t forget to use appropriate tags like the name of your city, the Zip code of the listing, etc.

Indexable IDX solutions are the latest in a long line of hot innovations for real estate websites.  Though they’ve been around for a while, their appeal is really starting to catch on, and they’re getting blogged about left and right these days.

Also known as spiderable IDX, an indexable IDX solution builds out pages on your site that correspond to listings in the MLS.  (Sounds kind of like Realzi, doesn’t it?)  The resulting benefit is that you have a massive, easily indexable and searchable site that Google can crawl repeatedly.  This translates to results for more keyphrases, which means more traffic.

Prior to the advent of indexable IDX, a typical approach to the display of MLS data involved a framed solution that was hosted elsewhere.  An organization would buy access rights to RETS data feeds, build out a frame displaying that data, and offer it to real estate agents to put up on their personal websites for a fee.  The frame usually featured a searchable list of properties taken from the relevant MLS.  A map search was often included as well.  Prospective buyers could retreive MLS data for residences that interested them, which left them more well-suited to the difficult task of home searching.

The good old days might seem just fine at first glance, but if you noticed, there’s a little sentence we slipped in there that drives home the relative uselessness of framed, non-indexable IDX solutions: “This sort of solution worked well for users who stumbled across such sites.”  The fact of the matter is, many of these old sites, despite displaying an easy-to-use, searchable, framed IDX solution, were buried in Google search results for short-tail keyphrases and were completely absent for many longer-tail keyphrases.  That’s because the MLS data—those reams of fresh, up-to-date, relevant data that Googlebot craves—is actually nowhere to be found on the site displaying the frame, so the resulting SEO benefit of displaying it is virtually nil.  This can’t be underestimated, either, because the attractiveness/ease of use/utility of your site is worthless if nobody can ever find it.  You could plan what would be the best party in the world, but if you don’t supply directions, you’ll end up eating cheese and crackers alone when the big day comes.  And that’s just not very fun.

Contrast this rather somber picture with the benefits of an indexable IDX.  Think about it: with the frequently updated, extremely relevant, keyword-rich data that an indexable IDX brings, you’ll have a fantastic competitive edge over other real estate websites.

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.

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!

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.

Why Improving Your Real Estate Website Isn’t Optional

Real estate websites are not once-and-you’re-done kinds of projects. Just like your business, your real estate website should be constantly evolving and improving, reflecting your growth and the way your real estate business is adapting to market conditions.

Your real estate website is the public face of your business. As more and more home buyers and sellers turn to the internet for real estate information – leaving classified ads and other media behind – you should be aware of the potential of your website to catalyze and attract new clients.

Our friend, an Austin realtor, was satisfied with using his real estate website solely as a fancy brochure. “My clients know how to find my real estate office,” he told us. “And my website is the first listing I see when I Google my name!”

We had a few real estate website questions for him, though:

• Do you want to attract clients who haven’t heard of you?
• Do you know that your competitors are at the top of the Google listings for things like MLS numbers, house addresses and “buy an Austin home”?
• Did you know that 87% of home buyers use the internet to search for a home – more than use a real estate agent?*
• Did you know that Google positions are affected by seniority – that, once a real estate website ranks well for something, it will continue to rank better than an identical but newer real estate website?
• Are you happy with relying solely on word of mouth for the growth of your real estate business?
• Are you happy with your real estate website being a sunk cost instead of a revenue generator?
• Did you know that local metropolitan MLS websites – also called IDX websites – are used by 60% of internet home buyers, easily beating Realtor.com (48%)?

* Source: 2008 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

Why Improving Your Real Estate Website Isn’t Hopeless

We thought he’d be happy to get some straight talk about his website, but our realtor friend’s first reaction was despair.

“This is horrible!” he said. “I can’t compete with those other guys. They already have a head start.

“And I can’t spend that much on my real estate website! Building an IDX or RETS website will cost a fortune!”

We calmed him down as best we could. We told him a few soothing real estate website facts:

• We already have a fully-functioning IDX solution called Realzi. There’s no need to hire a battalion of programmers and web producers. Our real estate website clients just sign up and bang, their clients suddenly can search up-to-date MLS listings right from the website.
• Since our real estate website technology is already functioning, you don’t have to risk thousands of dollars on programming a new IDX system. Realzi is affordable.
• Realzi is a real estate website designed for real estate SEO. That means that it beats most of the competition for search engine optimization right out of the box. Realzi real estate websites are built specifically to rocket to the top of the search listings in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
• We can match your existing design perfectly, using your current logo and look.
• And if you don’t already have a real estate website, it’s no problem.

Evolve Your Real Estate Website

Wondering how a Realzi MLS website might help your business?

Get in touch with us and talk to our real estate website experts. No charge, no hard sell. We’ve been building websites for years.

Based on our experience building SEO websites for major clients like HealthCheckUSA, CORT Furniture and ApartmentSearch.com, we’ve developed best practices and proprietary technology that help us beat the pants off competing websites. Other real estate websites aren’t designed to show up in search engines. Realzi real estate sites are!