|
Remember to Spring Forward by setting your clocks forward one hour on Sunday, April 6th! Search Engine and Link Popularity Update What is the big news in the search engine world these days? It's our job to keep you updated. The industry continues to change regularly, and we remain committed to keeping you informed of the latest news and ideas to maximize your presence on the Internet. Search engine submission is a part of the exceptional service you receive at Advanced Access. The submission process begins from the date you approve your site and we consider it "hosted." Initially, our sites are submitted to over 400 search engines with an automatic site submission program. We also hand submit your website to the Open Directory. Our automatic site submission program is an important part of your overall Internet Marketing plan. However, it's just the beginning of a TRULY effective web presence. Please be advised that in order to be listed in the special 'paid placement' search engines, you MUST submit your website and pay separate fees. We will guide you through the process of submitting your website to these different services. It is also now not enough to just pay for search engine placement or be automatically submitted. You also have to concentrate on reciprocal linking (we call it Link Popularity) as well as always adding new content to your site to keep it fresh. What IS Link Popularity? Well, if this is the first you have ever heard of Link Popularity (and you're not a new customer) it would be a good idea to start reading our Marketing Tip each week! Links going to and from your website have become more important than ever because the search directories see them as an endorsement of your website by others. The theory is: the more links "to" YOUR website, the more important it must be, and therefore worthy of higher placement in the search engines. Here are some fantastic past Marketing Tips regarding Link Popularity: www.advancedaccess.com/marketing/marketing115.htm Many people say that Google is the #1 search engine at this time. Google's search engine data currently supplies the main search engines of Yahoo, AOL, Netscape, ICQSearch, and iWon to name a few. What this means is if you are ranking high in a search word in Google, you will also be showing up in those other search engines. How does your website show up at the top of Google? Google is a crawler based search engine which means they have a "robot" (sometimes called a spider) that will search through the Internet and find your website. The best way to ensure that your website is listed with Google is to build links to it from other websites. This is the essence of Link Popularity! To get to the first page in Google means you have to spend extra time making sure you have many links pointing to your website. Also, it is important to understand that when setting up your reciprocal links, go for "quality rather than quantity." What do you mean by "Quality vs. Quantity?" We highly suggest that you only solicit links from similar industries. For most of our clients, this means you should look for links from websites within the Real Estate industry. For example, asking websites that feature wine, car parts, or gambling to link to you will not benefit your website in your quest for Link Popularity. Google's crawler is extremely intelligent and will think your website is more relevant if it shows links coming from the same type of industry. Google also has a program where you can pay to be featured on their site without worrying about reciprocal linking or content. If you would like more information on that program, click here. As mentioned above, Yahoo as the #2 search engine, receives their data from Google in their main search results. Before those results are listed, they show results from Overture, the pay-per-click search engine. Yahoo also provides their directory listings that are separate from their Google data. To be listed in the Yahoo Directory, you will have to pay $299.00 (currently) per year. At this time, the benefits of being listed in the Yahoo Directory are primarily to increase your Link Popularity. Yahoo is a very well known search engine and if you have a link on their website to your website, it can help you rise to the top of the list. Big News! Yahoo purchased Inktomi a few months ago. Some of the big search engine gurus think (and they are probably correct!) that Yahoo will stop partnering with Google in the near future and switch to using Inktomi's database. At that time, it will be very important that you are included in Inktomi's search results. Inktomi is a crawler search engine just like Google so all your hard work on reciprocal linking will count with this engine as well. We have found that submitting to Inktomi's paid submission program is a GREAT value for your advertising dollar. For $40.00 a year Inktomi promises to have their crawler visit your website every two days. This is a great value and we always see fantastic results after you pay for this service. At this point, Inktomi is a very important search engine because their results power the main search engines of MSN, HotBot, Overture, and LookSmart. The link above also gives you information on submitting to Fast/Lycos for $34.00 a year and AskJeeves for $30.00 a year. Another important search engine to consider paying for is Overture. Overture is a pay-per-click search engine that has reciprocal arrangements with Yahoo, Altavista, Lycos, MSN, InfoSpace, and many others. Once you set up an account with Overture, you will set up keywords under which you want to be "found" and pay a certain amount of money to be listed for that keyword. Every time someone clicks on your link, you will be charged. Paying per click for this type of traffic can get you some great leads almost immediately! We invite you to try out Overture. The minimum starting payment is $50.00 and there is a $20.00 minimum each month. So your initial payment could last about 2 1/2 months to try out this form of Internet advertising. Overture also recently implemented a minimum of $0.10 a click for every keyword. More Big News! Overture recently bought out the search engines of Altavista and most recently, Fast. Overture is a very important marketing strategy that you should consider. Link Popularity Remarks So, what are the TYPES of sites from which you should solicit reciprocal links? If you are not already aware of our special resource, here is THE place to check: www.advancedaccess.com/findhelphere/re-sites.html We have been dedicated to providing you with a real estate related website each week that will provide you with a reciprocal link back to your website. Reciprocal linking is such an important part of your Internet marketing that we feel we need to remind you as often as possible! When you exchange links with someone, it is important to remember that the "title" you use will help your search engine rankings. This is sometimes called 'anchor text'. Many times you will have websites request to have a certain title on your reciprocal link. Example: Title: San Diego Real Estate When search engines scan the Internet, they pay special attention to the words that link out to your website. Make sure that your title reflects your keywords of the geographic areas in which you do business. Try not to have an overly lengthy title - for best results make sure it is less than 15 words. If you have more specific questions regarding Link Popularity and search engine updates, please visit our Advanced Access Forums, located in your Virtual Office. Some of the conversations relate to the search engines and link popularity and can help you significantly!
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Read the following from real estate professionals who are using Advanced Access' Marketing Tips to their advantage: "Justin, I have been your customer since 2001, I believe. I would like you to recognize Jimmy for his outstanding customer service, knowledge and his patience with his customers. He has been very helpful in setting up my website upgrade, walking me through some of the changes and then finally helping me set my internet options. He went above and beyond in helping me out. You have an asset on your team!" Raj Singh, GRI,ePro "On Friday evening we listed a relocation property. The sellers were leaving the country for 2 weeks and didn't want us to put the property in MLS or advertise it until they left at 11:30 AM Sunday. They did agree for us to hold an Open House on Sunday from 1 to 5 PM. Saturday evening we put the home into the MLS. Using our web site we created a flyer. Then using Intellicards we created an email invitation for an Open House on Sunday and attached a copy of the flyer. We also sent a personal copy to all the agents who had similar properties listed for sale in the area. Two of the agents had clients who they sent to the Open House and 4 agents brought clients themselves. We have generated 3 offers as a result! Now that's marketing!!! As a result, Russ and I have been so busy today I couldn't take your call. We have never had such a response to an Open House in the 28 years we've been selling real estate." Lee and Russ Jacobs
Advanced Access
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
