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Many small businesses are becoming more and more involved in the world of social media, and the real estate industry is certainly no different. A recent survey from VerticalResponse showed that nearly 66% of small businesses spent more time on social media networks in 2012 than in 2011 and there’s no evidence of that trend slowing down anytime soon. Whether it’s posting a quick Twitter update about a property showing you just had or uploading pictures of a brand new listing on Facebook or Pinterest, social media is just one more way for real estate agents to reach today’s tech-savvy home buyers.

But along with simply using your social media accounts to post a status update for all your friends, colleagues, and clients to read, social media is also becoming the newest and easiest way to login to various website accounts as well. Using your Facebook account to sign into web accounts is becoming more and more common, with over a million websites–just some of which include Bing, CNN, IMDB, Pandora, YouTube, Yelp, and Xbox–already implementing this handy login feature.

But despite the ease of use of social login and extreme convenience of not having to create a new account or remember another username and password, many real estate websites still have yet to adopt this trendy new feature. Diverse Solutions, now owned by Zillow, applied a social login feature for their website owners back in 2011 and the always-innovative Real Estate Web Masters web company has finally rolled out this feature in their new REW 4.2 backend, which was released earlier this year. But widespread use of social login among real estate websites is still few and far between.

Many real estate agents will argue that having such a feature attached to their real estate website diminishes the quality of incoming leads. In other words, without a phone number or other specific contact information, little can be done in terms of contacting website users only logging in via their Facebook credentials. However, in a world that is rapidly revolving around social media, providing the most user-friendly, easy-to-operate real estate website should be the number one priority, and there’s no denying that social login accomplishes just that.

Getting potential home buyers to your real estate website is always priority number one; however, keeping those future home buyers coming back should be a close second. And one of the the best/newest ways to do that is to eliminate what’s viewed as “annoying”  features on your real estate website–such as long-winded registration forms–and to start implementing social login.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence in Chicago, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

Link juice is essential for ranking real estate sites on Google. Image by Mark Kens via flickr.com

Link building, however, is one of those search engine optimization practices that many real estate agents fail to understand and misuse entirely. If your real estate website has been live for an extended period of time or you’ve explored search engine optimization services with third-party companies, there’s a good possibility you’ve seen numerous advertisements and spam e-mails for effective, low-cost link building.

Of course I certainly understand that everyone has a budget when it comes to web marketing and everyone loves a great deal. But before you risk all the hard work you’ve already put into your real estate website and the ranking your site has already achieved, you need to be absolutely certain the link-building strategies you implement are legitimate and follow white-hat search engine optimization practices. So what exactly does that mean? Here’s a comprehensive explanation of everything you need to know about real estate link-building:

Link-Building Basics

Real estate link building is the process of obtaining relevant, high-quality, inbound web-links to your real estate site, which ultimately help your website achieve a higher ranking among major search engines. In this simplistic definition, take note of the words “relevant” and “high-quality.” This doesn’t mean writing poor quality articles with links to your site and submitting each to an article directory. In addition, this also doesn’t mean constantly spamming blog comment sections with opinions, suggestions, and links back to your site. Instead, real estate link-building starts with writing quality content for both your real estate site and outside websites and building relationships within the internet community!

Proper Link-Building Practice

When I explain to real estate agents that writing quality content and superior blog posts will eventually translate to relevant link-building, it isn’t long before a confused look of disbelief is starring me right back in the face. The logic behind writing engaging, noteworthy content and blog posts is that other professionals, website owners, and media personnel might eventually take notice. How does that help?

For starters, if you write an interesting piece about the unique history of a listing or special features of a home for sale in your local market, there’s always the possibility someone else may find that topic interesting as well and write a follow-up piece on your original article, including a link within the context of their work back to your site. Don’t believe me? Believe it. This actually happens more than you think; but in order for someone to be motivated enough to share your post or link back to your original content, it of course has to be worth sharing—i.e. interesting, engaging, unique, funny, or significant.

Image by HubSpot via flickr.com

Is it a definite possibility you’ll have success with outside parties sharing or linking your content? Simply put: no. But that’s where building relationships comes into play. Obviously, the likelihood of someone sharing or linking back to your real estate website is much greater if you know or have established a rapport with that individual. Quality link-building doesn’t just happen overnight and it rarely occurs randomly. So think of link-building as virtual networking. Start including relevant links in the content you write and the blogs you post, and you never know who might contact you or return the favor.

Guest Blogging & Link Building

Waiting for someone to mention your website or article isn’t enough when it comes to real estate link-building. If you’re serious about generating quality backlinks to your real estate website, be proactive. Find high-traffic real estate blogs and news websites and request to be a guest blogger. Guest blogging not only helps advertise your services as a real estate agent while providing backlinks to your website, but in doing so, you’re also supplying content for the blog or news site itself, which will benefit that site as well.

But before you jump at the opportunity of becoming a guest blogger, be absolutely certain you’re capable of providing engaging, well-written articles that people will want to read. Website owners don’t want to post low-quality articles, and even more importantly for you personally, it’s your name attached to the article, so make sure it’s something you can be proud of and will want to share with the rest of the internet world.

Create Your Own Links

A common misconception regarding the link-building practice of creating your own links is to buy a domain name, throw together another quick real estate website and link it back to your primary real estate website. Unfortunately, the process of creating your own backlinks is much more involved and quite a bit more time consuming. Instead of simply throwing together a handful of cheap, low-quality real estate websites and inner-linking each one, pick out your top 3-5 market specializations and build a substantial web presence for each.

Whether it’s several high-end condo buildings or a group of highly-desirable subdivisions in your community, make the determination that you specifically want to rank for these market segments. Next, buy a relatable domain name and create a high-quality, comprehensive website and include every piece of information about that community from the history and original builder(s) all the way down to home features and pricing. Make sure these websites are the go-to sites for any buyer considering a home or condo within that community. Regularly blog about events, units for sale, and community happenings and dedicate just as much time to these sites as you do with your primary, lead-generating website. Over time, all of these sites will gain authority and you’ll have a useful group of websites that will not only help generate more business, but can also be used to inner-link and help significantly boost your core search ranking.

Real estate link building is perhaps the most involved and complex search engine optimization technique around. It requires a lot of effort, focus, and even a little bit of luck. But doing it the right way will ensure an increase in traffic and an improvement in how your real estate website is found on the web via search engines. So stop relentlessly commenting on blog posts and start your journey towards high-quality link building today!

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence in Chicago, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

Whether it’s poor design quality or not providing adequate functionality, there’s no denying that dozens of poorly designed WordPress themes are out there and available for purchase. That’s why it’s important for real estate agents to take time and research all available real estate WordPress themes before making a final decision on which one may be the best fit for your professional website.

After running a quick Google search, I was able to find what I would consider 5 of the best real estate WordPress sites currently available to consumers. Below is a quick summary of why I think these real estate themes made the cut:

WP Pro Real Estate 4 by ThemeForest:

I think what makes this particular real estate WordPress theme so attractive is the theme’s custom background. Website owners have the option of unlimited skins and backgrounds, but as long as you choose a crisp, professional photo, such as the example on the demo, there’s no doubt this theme can really demonstrate a luxury, high-end feel and keep home buyers coming back. In addition, WP Pro Real Estate 4 also has a Drag & Drop homepage builder, which is especially convenient for real estate agents without a lot of web building experience.

 Property WordPress Theme from WPdaddy.com:

To me, the best real estate WordPress themes are clean, chic, and have a modern vibe and the Property WordPress theme fits this criterion perfectly. The theme’s main background allows for agents to input custom photos, while the interior background of the theme remains solid white with a variety of clickable options available to home buyers that include a featured listings slider, different areas of specialization, your website blog, or whatever you ultimately choose to display on the homepage.

Loan WordPress Theme from WPdaddy.com:

The Loan WordPress theme is pretty similar to the Property theme also offered at WPdaddy.com in that it has a chic, contemporary feel but some there are some key differences in the sidebar and homepage display. There’s also not an option for a customized background like seen in the Property WordPress theme, which actually has its advantages. For agents with little to no design experience, finding the right background image that fits the feel of your website and maintains a high resolution can, believe it or not, be quite challenging at times.

deCondo by ThemeShift:

I think what makes the deCondo theme so attractive is the image heavy homepage. Along with the top slider that rotates between featured listings, the remaining portion of the homepage is solely dedicated to other nicely displayed featured listing excerpts. So if you’re a real estate agent that does the majority of your business as a primary listing agent, the deCondo theme is an excellent choice for presenting your clients’ properties.

Smooth Pro by Gorilla Theme:

Of my list of top 5 real estate WordPress themes, Smooth Pro is probably the most complete theme in terms of the homepage layout. Along with a featured listings slider at the top, the homepage of this theme also allows for a large real estate search box, plenty of space on the sidebar for social media plugins, an attractively designed blog roll, more space for additional featured listings, and even a spot for some call-to-action buttons. In addition, the theme’s footer has four additional sections that allow you to get creative and input anything you couldn’t find room elsewhere on the homepage. In my opinion, Smooth Pro is probably you best real estate WordPress theme if you plan on making this your primary real estate website.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence in Chicago, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

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In cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, there can be dozens of neighborhoods for home and condo buyers to search, so making sure your website is organized and has the potential to direct these viewers to the location they prefer is essential for keeping them on your site and improving your overall conversion rate.

But for these large real estate markets, what is the best way to display such neighborhood options and direct traffic to where it wants to go? Many real estate websites have a simplistic, hyperlinked list of neighborhoods, while others tend to have a nicely designed call-out-box with all the specific areas alphabetized or organized by region.

For the most part, as long as you have links to neighborhoods in your local market, there’s a pretty good chance users on your real estate website will see and understand their purpose. However, if giving home buyers a great user experience and making sure they either remember your website or come back to your website is a top priority, implementing an interactive map is something you should seriously consider.

The map search on Justin Havre’s real estate website, for example, nicely color-coordinates each Calgary neighborhood and provides viewers a user-friendly way to search different locations in a manner that nicely combines mapping, graphics, and colors. In other words, it’s something that Calgary home buyers will remember, enjoy using, and almost certainly come back to.

Justin Havre’s Calgary Map

Similarly, Ed Kirkland’s flash map gives Destin, Florida home and condo buyers a unique and interactive way that uses this same strategy. A desirable color scheme and linkable pins on this map give users a customized way to choose what Destin location they prefer to search, while simultaneously demonstrating this is a comprehensive, high-end real estate website that will give you the best chance for finding the right property.

Although fancy design aspects such as interactive flash maps may not benefit your search engine optimization much, it’s important to realize that investing in a memorable user experience can also get you a great return on your web investment. Returning visitors are often serious home buyers, so make sure an experience on your real estate website is something every viewer won’t soon forget.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working as a Market Research Associate and writing published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence in Chicago, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

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The days of Google and other major search engines falling for tricks that will artificially get your site a higher PageRank in a shorter amount of time are long gone. Spamming and other black hat search engine optimization is unethical and will no doubt bury your website over the long haul; and these days, it’s takes a lot less time for Google to catch on to such behavior.

So instead of taking short cuts to get instant gratification out of your real estate site, I urge you to try and avoid the following negative S.E.O. strategies and set your website up to be a strong lead generator and have long-term, sustainable success.

• Link Farm: A link farm is a basically a cluster of websites that link to one another. Search engine algorithms look at page links to determine a site’s relevance and overall authority, so the idea behind a link farm is to fool a search engine into thinking certain sites are of significance because of the high number of inlinks. This practice was used years ago, but should you try it today, your site will be considered spam and you rank will steadily drop. Don’t do it.

• Keyword Stuffing: Most people with basic web knowledge understand this is something you don’t do. But many people not familiar with website principles still think jamming keywords throughout a website and inflating your keyword density will help achieve a higher rank. This is not the case, however, and as search engines see an unusual amount of repeat keywords, your site will more than likely be penalized for it.

• Cloaking: The purpose of cloaking is to feed search engines certain text, while giving users something entirely different to see when a website is viewed. How it works is that web masters will input misleading meta tags into the coding of web pages, while what will be seen on the frontend of such these pages fails to correspond with such tags. What makes this practice especially frowned upon among search engines is that if web users come across a site totally different from what search engine bots sees, the effectiveness of these search engines greatly diminish. For that reason, some search engines have even banned sites that use the cloaking technique.

• Duplicate Content: Many real estate agents around the country who rely heavily on web leads have more than one web site. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for agents in larger markets to have up to 20 domain names that relate to specific neighborhoods, buildings, or subdivisions. So with an abundance of websites, it’s sometimes hard to find the time to write unique, quality content for each. As a result, some agents will cut corners on generic “About Us” or “Our Policy” pages and use the same content throughout all their sites. Bad idea. For every website you own, take the time to write out unique content for each. And if you have generic pages that will contain the same information over and over, simply redirect each back to one page on your main site.

Building a proper real estate web site the right way is a lot of work. Sure, it may take a bit longer for you to see positive results in terms of PageRank and web traffic, but over time, I think you’ll be glad you followed the white hat S.E.O. trail as opposed to using some of the practices mentioned above. Most usually are, at least.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in market research and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and is a managing partner at  Real Estate Web Creation, LLC.

This figure certainly has an impact on the real estate industry, and in an effort to make sense of where the industry should expect to be, the Strategic Issues Work Group Association Executives Committee with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) put together a study entitled, “Simplify! Real Estate Trends in a Time of Uncertainty”.

The report attempts to answer the question, “What forces and trends will be shaping the industry in the next few years?”

The committee consulted with real estate professionals – brokers, consultants, economists and technology experts, asking them to identify industry trends which they believe will shape the future of real estate in the coming years.

Specifically, the committee asked the questions:

1. What do you see as the future of real estate in the next few years?
2. What are the major changes in the real estate business ahead?

Those real estate pros who were polled agreed on many issues, however opinions varied strongly among them as well.

One of the “common themes” arising as a result of the committee’s questions includes the idea that “more is not always better”.

Consumers often suffer from “information overload” – so much so that it leads to what some term “analysis paralysis”, meaning that the potential buyer does nothing towards buying a home, because they are too confused to understand the process.

NAR’s report indicates that when brokers make the buying process much simpler for potential clients – providing clear information across all of their marketing channels, utilizing technologies to their utmost and being responsive to the needs of customers, they will stand out above the rest.

The following analogy from the report spells out an opportunity that realtors should really take note of:

“Thirty-somethings Susan and her partner are trying to buy their first home, but feeling frustrated by the process. They’ve picked out five condos in their neighborhood that looked promising, but found the websites gave conflicting information. The first agent they contacted didn’t know how to send text messages. The second agent didn’t know as much about the buildings as they did. But Matt, the third sales associate, made it simple for them. He advised on their approach, validated the information, helped negotiate the contract, and made sure everything was in place for a smooth closing. Now, Susan is sending Matt a steady stream of referrals – by text.”

As you can see from the example, brokers who meet buyers where they are at – simplifying the buying process for their clients, have the potential to stand out from the crowd, ultimately leading to even more business.

NAR’s report covered much more than we’ve discussed here, and it is a good resource for brokers who are concerned about the impact that the current economic client will have on their business. Why not check it out now? Tell us what you think about the future of real estate!

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I know what you’re thinking. Writing content is time consuming and may not give you the results you’re looking for immediately in terms of traffic and incoming leads. This may be true, but retooling your content now will only set you up for long-term, sustainable success with your real estate website. The idea behind Penguin is to reduce spam and reward web sites that do all the right things and writing quality content with relevant keywords is arguably the most important aspect to a great website.

However, before you start cranking out fresh content, understand that quality content doesn’t mean spinning old content in a new way. What I’m talking about is totally new, re-written copy that is interesting, creative, and properly uses the keywords you’re using to hopefully get a good ranking among various search engines.

If you have a blog or a ton of web pages with already existing content, slightly changing up the words or the feel of the article isn’t going to accomplish much in terms of search engine optimization. Instead, I challenge you to get involved with each article and produce something that you can be proud of and share with all your friends, clients, and colleges. Because once you’ve published your new and improved content, sharing it via Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and Linkedin is the very next step.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and also holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.

The ListHub Syndication Network is the largest online syndicator of real estate listings in the country. In addition to listings, the Network provides performance reports for brokers, Multiple Listing Services and franchises.

What does this mean for Trulia.com users? It means access to additional listings available from over 47,000 brokers, as well as listing data derived from 400 participating MLS services.

Matt Dollinger, Head of Industry Relations at Trulia, Inc. said, “Trulia is committed to ensuring the highest standards of data quality and integrity for the real estate industry. We look forward to working with Listhub as a trusted partner for syndication and communicating Trulia’s metrics through their reporting products.”

Brokers will also have a valuable way to track the ROI of their marketing efforts because Trulia will provide ListHub with performance data which it will use to create their ListHub Channel Scorecard – a marketing report which offers a comparison of 126 real estate websites – truly empowering brokers to create the best possible marketing plan for their business.

Trulia will also be included in the listing of publishers on ListHub’s syndication dashboard. This application allows users to rate and choose publishers according to criteria such as “no re-syndication”, “timely removal of inactive listings”, or “shows broker contact information”.

Luke Glass, general manager and vice president of Listhub stated that, “ListHub is focused on helping brokers reach large audiences of buyers through an easy to use managed syndication platform that respects their rights as owners of the content. By adding performance metrics from Trulia, brokers have even greater insights into the effectiveness of their online advertising, while clearly understanding how their content will be used on publishing sites. We’re very pleased to offer the convenience brokers and MLSs want when syndicating within a controlled and transparent platform.”

Source: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?resourceid=5355232&access=EH

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Now real estate investors will be able to benefit from additional squeeze pages designed to target motivated buyers and sellers. These squeeze pages come preloaded with free E-books, as well as follow-up auto responder messages, enabling real estate investors to create an effective marketing campaign within just a few short minutes.

These squeeze pages are also equipped with friendly, video speaking models as it’s been found this tactic commands instant attention, and is more successful at converting website visitors into prospects, and ultimately closed deals. Each website comes loaded with numerous designs that can be fully customized, enabling investors to have a fully personalized and branded website that meets their specific needs.

Once a real estate investor has placed their order, their fully personalized website can be ready for business within just 60 minutes. There’s a number of built-in automation features designed to remove repetitive daily tasks, leaving real estate investors more time to close deals.

As the websites come fully equipped with follow-up auto responders, it’s possible for real estate investors to setup marketing campaigns directly from their virtual back office, enabling them to reach more leads. In addition the websites use advanced search engine optimization techniques. Everything is designed to attract leads and convert them into prospects and to increase the number of closed deals.

Anyone interested should visit the Real Estate Investors Website, or call 214-227-8718 for further information.

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Over the past several years, the real estate market has seen extraordinarily tough times, especially in the residential new construction sector, and many people in position to invest in property for sale are now looking in cities and towns where they may not even reside. Many parts of the United States, such as much of Florida and Las Vegas, have been dramatically affected by the ongoing economic struggles and investing in these areas may make a lot of sense long-term for investors wanting to take advantage of these highly desirable markets once the economy does recover.

RealtyTrac.com, a national foreclosure website, easily allows homebuyers and investors to search not only foreclosed real estate all over the country, but current and valuable foreclosure statistics for nearly every major market. In addition, other national real estate websites such as Trulia, Zillow, and HotPads have likely also seen a hike in web traffic because of the convenience factor of being able to search property all over the country on just one website.

So if you’re a real estate agent, understanding where home buyers are searching for property is critical towards gaining a new client and generating more revenue from home sales. Obviously, having your name attached to a property listing or real estate search website increases the chance each home buyer will contact you directly when finding a home or condominium they are interested in seeing, right?

National real estate websites can play a significant role in marketing your brand as a professional agent. Sites like Yahoo Real Estate and the others mentioned above draw millions of visitors each year that can easily translate into new clients in your area, but only if these visitors can easily find you on each specific website.

Advertising on Zillow or Yahoo Real Estate can certainly go a long way toward presenting yourself as an experienced real estate professional and a true expert in your local market. However, before you start exceeding your marketing budget on such advertising strategies, investing in your own personal website that details your local market specifically is without a doubt equally as beneficial in generating quality, local leads that should eventually translate into an increased sales volume.

Depending on how long you’ve been in the real estate business, you’ve likely already gotten a sales call or two from some of these major real estate websites; and by now, you also likely know that advertising on each is not cheap. So whatever your marketing angle, make sure it’s the best possible fit for your specific market, as well as your personal real estate business.

Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and possesses a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.