Universal Search – Are You Marketing Outside of the Box?

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It seems that every time we blink, search engines evolve with new ways to search and provide us with information.  In 2007 the major players in the search engine world began to focus on "universal search," a means to provide searchers with relevant content spanning various forms of media, including web, news, blogs, video, and images.  Yahoo and Ask.com took their efforts a bit further by implementing search results taken from popular sources like Flickr and Wikipedia, with many of Yahoo’s image results coming from Flickr and Ask.com offering wiki’s within their search results.

So what does this mean for you and your real estate business?  It means that you now have even more opportunity to rank higher in the search engines and various other online mediums.

You can rank for image results by optimizing the images on your website and including descriptive alt tags for all of your images. Make sure your alt tag describes exactly what the image is.  For instance, if you were optimizing your photo, your description could read “Anaheim Hills REALTOR^® Joe Somebody”.  Here you generate the overlapping keywords Anaheim Hills REALTOR^®, REALTOR^® Joe Somebody, and Anaheim Hills REALTOR^® Joe Somebody, while also describing what the image is.

If you are a photographer, you can post quality photos of your listings and photos related to your business on Flickr.com.  Though using Flickr will not generate actual image results from your website, it does give you another platform to promote your business.  Use your website address as your Flickr username and with each photo you upload, add tags and descriptions that mention your business name and web site address. Be sure that you actually describe the photo; do not use this as a means to sell a listing.

Similar strategies can be applied by posting virtual tours or your real estate videos on YouTube, giving you the opportunity to appear in video search results.

There are a number of other ways to try and show up in the universal search results by focusing on the various mediums available on the internet.

Starting a blog can open you up to ranking for blog results.  Submitting your site to Google Local and getting reviews and testimonials posted on local sites and directories such as JudysBook.com can give you an edge over your competition in Google Maps/Local results.  Submitting your press releases to free press release sites provides the potential to appear in the Google News results.

As universal search continues to be a focus in search engine development, now is a better time than ever to get involved and market your business through the various mediums available.

by Mike Wilton - ADVANCED ACCESS Website Marketing Specialist

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The Industry Leader Celebrates Its' 10-Year Anniversary...My, How Time Has Passed!

With over 35,000 clients nationwide, and widely recognized today as the real estate leader in website design, hosting, and Internet marketing, ADVANCED ACCESS and all of our employees are proud and excited to celebrate 10 years of exceptional service to our extended family members. We have and will continue to provide you with the very best in products, programs, and services. We take great pride in providing a necessary service with the added responsibility of technological excellence and the entire Senior Management Team and staff is dedicated to this on-going endeavor.

While our reputation and standing in the real estate industry has certainly grown, and with it our responsibilities to you – our wonderful and faithful customers – we would like to thank each and every one of you for your faithful and continued support.

To celebrate this wonderful achievement, we will be announcing a number of special promotional activities to express to you our appreciation for 10 years of loyal customer support.  Watch for announcements regarding these exciting programs throughout the upcoming year.