The Internet is providing great opportunity for real estate professionals to promote their service area and their business by contributing to sites around the Web that present content related to the local real estate area and business. It isn't just trying to get a link back to your site, or trading links. There's a lot more going on that can ultimately bring visitors to your site or blog who will eventually become real estate buyers and sellers.
- Social & business networking ala Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
- Video sites such as YouTube, Google, Yahoo, MetaCafe, and more.
- Travel sites.
- Twitter and other information sharing sites.
- Real estate megasites that promote discussions between pros and consumers.
- Article sites like Google's Knol, eZine Articles, and others.
- Participation in blogging discussion relevant to your market area and real estate in general.
Just thinking about the video sites, there is huge opportunity to let people know that you're an expert on your area. It's also about showing off the things you love about where you live and practice real estate. People get to know you a bit by watching the videos you think make your area special. Hundreds of millions of video views are happening right now. How many of these people are watching something you've placed on the Web with a link to your site in your profile, as well as a description of you and your business?
There are travel sites that will allow you to comment about your area, talk about the best places to visit, sites to see, and places to eat and recreate. Article sites will take your articles about real estate in your area. Discussions are going on right now on major real estate sites, such as Trulia's area where consumers ask questions of real estate professionals based on their area.
When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), it isn't just the number of links you get from elsewhere to your site. It's much more about the quality and relevance of the links. And, Google is now able to index the transcribed text of video and audio as well. So, your great YouTube video about the most popular subdivision in your area will yield some SEO clout from what you say in your voice-over.
So, forget the link trading schemes, and the promises of others to get you to the top of the search engines with secret techniques. Become active in the world by placing audio, video, and articles or blog posts all over the Internet in places where people actually are indicating an interest in your area. They may not be looking for real estate right now, but it would be nice if they remember your site, or have it bookmarked, when they are.
