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How to Build Your Web Traffic by Turning Your Website into an Authority!

by Robert McArdle

Let me ask you a very important question: What are you doing to build your website traffic and bring in the thousands of users who are searching for information on Buying and Selling a home?

I'm not talking about putting your website address on your business card-although that is important-or posting an ad on your local bus bench. I'm asking how your potential clients know that you exist when they perform searches on sites like Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

The most successful Agent web marketers will answer this question without even thinking, and just about every one of them will mention the strategy we're going to be discussing today: building traffic by becoming an authority.

Once you've learned how to exploit this powerful marketing concept, you'll dramatically increase the effectiveness of your website in the search engines.

Getting Started As an Authority

Not an authority yet? Don't know what one is? Don't worry! Getting started is much easier than you might think, and once you're up and running, the process of marketing your site as an authority figure can be put on autopilot!

First Things First: You need to be committed to becoming an authority, or what I am about to tell you will not help. Becoming an authority will take some work on your end at first, but not as much as you think!

What Is an Authority?

Simply put, it is a website that is rich in content, has page depth (many pages), and has links directed to and from it with a similar theme. Although I have made it sound simple, there are six hard and fast rules of becoming an authority site that must be followed to take advantage of this strategy.

Hard and Fast Rule #1: Determine what your target market is searching for.

Decide what buyers and sellers of real estate are searching for in your area and create strong content around those topics, such as informational articles. Don't overdo it: Start with two or three of the search terms you think are being searched in your area and incorporate them into an article.

Try to be as specific as possible with your terms. For example, say you're an Agent in San Diego: "San Diego Home" would not be a search term you would want to focus on, as it is very vague and many of your competitors have that exact same term on their site.

You would want to look at something like "Buying a Home in San Diego." This way, when the lead clicks on the link to go to your site, you provide them an article with exactly what they want-for instance, "Buying a Home in San Diego: The Best Places to Live"-and you have limited competition for that term in the Search Engine.

If you need help with finding relevant search terms, go to Yahoo's search term tool (it's free) and type in some terms. For example "Buying a Home in San Diego" returned 239 searches for the Yahoo network last month, and "San Diego Home" returned 8,088 searches.

Don't be fooled by the numbers. I would much rather compete for those 239 leads than the 8,088 leads for two reasons: 1) less competition and 2) you can provide the lead with exactly what they are looking for.

Hard and Fast Rule #2: Link to authority sites in your articles.

When you're writing your articles, make sure you link to one or more authority sites to help build your credibility. For example, say you are writing an article on "Buying a Home in San Diego: The Best Place to Live." You should list statistics from San Diego's redevelopment agency and in referencing them, place a link to their site in your article. Since San Diego's redevelopment agency has tons of information on buying property in the city, it will indicate that you have knowledge on this topic and are an authority site.

Hard and Fast Rule #3: Place links to your articles on your home page.

Create a section on your home page called "Informational Articles" that has links to your articles. When you are doing this, make sure you include the key term you are focusing on in the link. For example, say you wrote an article on "Buying a Home in San Diego: The Best Place to Live." Make sure the link from your home page to the article page says "Buying a Home in San Diego" rather than something generic like "Home Buying Article."

Typically, your home page will be given more weight by the search engines than your article page. Rule #3 takes advantage of that.

Hard and Fast Rule #4: Build a themed link exchange program.

A successful link exchange occurs when two websites decide to link to each and both gain an economic benefit by doing so. There are two strategies to be aware of when building a themed link exchange program

First: The more diverse your link exchange program within the Real Estate industry, the better. These sites can be other Real Estate Agent sites that do not compete with you, search engines sites for Real Estate Agents, sites that sell products to agents, or blogs that discuss Real Estate Issues.

When exchanging links, try to get them to link to your home page using some of the key terms you discovered in Hard and Fast Rule #1. For example, if you were an Agent from San Diego, you would want the link to say "Buying a Home in San Diego" rather than "John Doe Real Estate Company."

Second: When you are exchanging links with other Agents, look for sites that have similar content themes as you-but not exactly the same. Say, for example, you are a Real Estate Agent in San Diego and you want your site to show up at the top of all search engines any time someone types in the phrase "Buying a Home in San Diego."

Since you have followed Hard and Fast Rule #2 and already have an article about this topic on your website, to optimize becoming an "Authority Site" you will want to find a site that has a similar article on their site, but is in a different city-for example, "Buying a Home in San Francisco."

Once you find that site, contact them and exchange links. Always have your link partner link to your home page; thanks to Hard and Fast Rule #3, the search engines will be able to find your article pages. With the link exchange complete, you now have a similarly themed site linking to you, and vice versa, thus giving both of you a start on becoming an Authority Site.

Note: Do not take for granted the importance of becoming an authority, as one authority link can outweigh thousands of non-authority links.

Hard and Fast Rule #5: Don't be intimidated by technology.

You might be reading this article and comprehending everything, but implementing this strategy is another story. If you're not prepared to have hundreds of new leads coming to your site every month, reading your articles, and contacting you about living in your area, the "Rules" above may not be for you.

However, if you have read any of the online search numbers by buyers and sellers, you will not take this topic lightly. According to the National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 77% of all Realtors customers are using the Internet for at least some part of their home searches.

Hard and Fast Rule #6: Follow Hard and Fast Rules 1 through 5 - No Shortcuts!

Avoid Link-Building Offers - At times you will be tempted by offers of thousands of links for a low cost, and you may think, "Wow, I can take care of Hard and Fast Rule #4 in a couple of minutes." Wrong! This strategy will not work because the sites that linked to you will not be pertinent to the theme of your site.

Write Your Own Content - I know writing is a pain sometimes, but once you get a few articles under your belt it will get easier and easier. By writing your own content you not only build your site as an authority, but also build yourself as one. Don't worry if writing is not your best quality-it's definitely not mine-because with a little help from an editor, things will work out just fine.

About the Author: Robert McArdle, MBA (e-Commerce), is the Director of Marketing at Homefeedback.com. He has worked in web marketing for over six years as a consultant, including three start-ups. Robert's specialties include search engine optimization, web usability, and lead conversion. Robert McArdle can be reached at 858-270-1055 ext. 123, or by email at rob@homefeedback.com.

Article obtained through Broker Agent News. Save 25% and receive a free electronic measuring device through Advanced Access just for trying their magazine. More information here.

Search Engine Opinions, Questions, etc?

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