• Tweet positive news about your real estate business
• Write about events you’d like to invite others
• Use both replies and direct messages to get to know people
• Share your real estate website in your profile
• Write jokes
• Share breaking news
• Give free advice and tips
• Avoid boring topics like what you had for lunch
• Share great sources of information and give them credit
• Have a quote of the day
• Link to new blog posts
• Most people don’t like auto direct messages
• Link all of your social networking sites with each other
• Interact with Realtors from other parts of the country.  They can be a great source of referrals.
• Use twitpic to share photos of your new listings.
• Remember, the quality of your followers is better than the quantity.

TopRankBlog

The Weekly Book Scan

Wordpress lets you name your URL structure.  So, instead of a name like http://www.mysite.com/?p=123xyz you can name it http://www.mysite.com/great-article-name” so search engines can pick up those keywords and associate them with your website.

Wordpress has a plugin that will automatically make an XML sitemap for you.  So, Google will have a “map” to your site and won’t miss any important pages.

Great SEO plugins like the all-in-one-seo-pack allow you to edit elements of your page like title tags, meta descriptions, and meta keywords without knowing a bit of html code.

There are many other plugins available for whatever functions you want for your website. It’s easy to insert a contact form or any other useful gadget.

You can easily write posts to update your blog with a user-friendly interface.

You can switch your Wordpress theme to change the appearance of your blog quickly and easily. Do you want your website to look professional, fun, or goofy? There’s a theme for that!

Wordpress automatically sends pings to notify others when you have a new post. You want your readers to know when they should come back and Wordpress does the work for you!

Sources:
Blog Traffic Exchange
SEO.com

1. Allowing URLs to be automatically created instead of creating your own.  Keep your title catchy and your URL  keyword rich.
2. Allowing pages to be indexed that don’t need to be.  Index useful pages, but not contact pages, enlarged photo pages, printer-friendly pages, etc.
3. Having multiple URLs for the same website.  The duplicate content doesn’t help.
4. Forgeting your keyword focus in your blog posts.  It is easy to get off-topic, but make sure your topic is related to your target keywords and those keywords are still present.
5. Lack of an RSS feed or social media.  Allow people to subscribe to your blog and share it with their friends.
6. Not owning your domain name.  It gives you more control.
7. Using suboptimal keywords as your anchor text for internal links. 
8. Targeting the wrong keywords.  It sounds great to you, but do other people search for those terms?
9. Having a Flash website without html alternatives.  It looks pretty, but search engines can’t “see” Flash.
10. Using Javascript links without html links or a sitemap.  Search engines can’t crawl through Javascript either.
11. Not maintaining your website.  Search engines and people want fresh content.
12. Lack of heading tags.  Search engines look for these, so don’t use images instead.  Even if they’re not pretty you can use CSS to change the appearance.

Sources: seonoobs.com, webconfs.com, searchengineland.com.

• Research keywords to understand what buyers and sellers in your specialty area are searching.
• Of course, as you’ve seen in other SEO blog posts, make sure those keywords are in your titles, URL’s, meta tags, etc.
• Don’t forget to use those keywords in your blog posts.  It is easy to get off topic when thinking of blog post ideas, but don’t forget why you’re writing.
• Make sure your website has a “call to action” to encourage people to pick up the phone, email you, sign in, or whatever your goal is. 
• Check your analytics to see if certain pages have a high bounce rate and think of an incentive to get them to do the call to action instead.
• Notice which keywords or referral websites are bringing you the best leads and focus your marketing efforts there.
• With more leads you can be more picky about which clients you work with and refer the less motivated or more difficult clients to other agents who are starving for any business they can get.

1. Start small with a very specific niche.  It could be a neighborhood, market segment, or whatever you prefer.
2. Distinguish yourself from your competition by being creative.  If you offer the same information as everyone else, why should potential clients come to you instead of anyone else? 

You can select a listing from the map or the sidebar to get a quick peek at the address, one picture, price, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and a link to another website for more information.  I found it frustrating that when I went to the website I couldn’t go back to the Google map search without it clearing my search criteria.

Since Google has been so great in the other services it provides I just expected more.  At the very least I expected it to be comparable to the other big real estate websites like Realtor.com, Zillow,  Trulia, or Yahoo Real Estate.  What are your opinions?

Thank you, David Mihm at SEOMoz for this great information!

1. Your own site: It’s ok to blog on other forums and websites, but you should own your site for best results.
2. Choose a blogging platform like Blogger, Wordpress, or any other that meets your needs.
3. Why are you writing?  Have a summary or mission statement.
4. Have contact info and a contact form if readers would like to get in touch with you.
5. Your blog must have a professional image, but it should also reflect your personality.
6. Have a bio and post your picture so your readers know who you are and where you come from, professional and personally.
7. Set up Google alerts to see what people are saying about you, your blog, or anything related to your topic.
8. Proofread spelling and grammar.
9. Format your blog so it’s pretty and easy to read.
10. Include a best post list so readers can easily find your featured articles.
11. Connect with readers on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
12. Write consistently and frequently.
13. Post 3-5 times a week, especially when your blog is new.
14. Write a series on a topic.
15. Take a poll or ask questions to involve readers.
16. Have a contest or giveaway to attract attention and to get readers to share their contact information.
17. Respond to comments.  Get to know your readers by starting conversations.
18. Cite your sources for story inspiration.  Those sources will thank you.
19. Interview other bloggers or industry experts.
20. Target content toward those who spread it, people with large social media networks.
21. Reward those who share your content by thanking them publicly.
22. Choose a subject your target readers relate to.
23. Quality writing gives you credibility and conveys professionalism.
24. Use illustrations and graphics.
25. Write about controversial topics that beg for a response.
26. Use bullet points.
27. People like numbered lists.
28. Use subtitles so readers can skip to topics of interest.
29. Write short paragraphs.
30. Write a how-to article.
31. Make lists of top bloggers and they will likely want to link to you.
32. If you’ve written a great post spread the word to your personal network.
33. Understand that you can’t make something go viral.
34. Have “blockbuster” posts once in a while, but fill your blog with normal, simple posts most of the time.
35. Do your own research.
36. Get creative and interesting.
37. Use videos.
38. Engage your readers so they will tell their friends.
39. Have a list of links to other related blogs.  It’s good information for your readers and flattering for those bloggers.
40. Submit articles to other websites as an industry expert.
41. Attract readers first. Sell to them only after they trust you.
42. Do your readers turn into clients?  Use a call to action in your posts.
43. Write compelling headlines.
44. Worry more about your content than your statistics.  It takes time to build a reader base.
45. Write when you think of good topics.  If you think of a lot of ideas at once you can publish them later.
46. Read other successful blogs and note what makes them successful.
47. Use RSS to keep up on these blogs.
48. Write about popular and up-and-coming topics.  No one wants yesterday’s news.
49. Use humor to make your blog fun to read.
50. Link to other blog posts you agree with and those you disagree with.
51. Choose a good domain name.
52. Link to your most popular posts in your sidebar.
53. Link to related old posts in your new posts.
54. Make sure the page title for each post is unique and descriptive.
55. Make sure your target keyword is in a heading tag in the HTML code.
56. Participate in forums with a link to your blog in your signature.
57. Use an XML sitemap.
58. Research popular keyphrases. Don’t assume you already know the best keywords.
59. Have good titles with keywords, that are simple, communicate the topic, and grab attention.
60. Choose one keyphrase for each post.
61. Use the keyphrase in the title.
62. Use the keyphrase in the first sentence.
63. Make the first instance of the keyphrase  bold.
64. Use the keyphrase in each paragraph.
65. Link the keyphrase to a relevant website.
66. Make sure the repeated use of this keyphrase doesn’t sound “spammy.”
67. Don’t keyword “stuff.”  Both search engines and people will know what you’re up to.
68. Create unique meta descriptions and keywords for each post with 50% related to your website topic and 50% related to that blog post.
69. Create unique tags, again with 50% related to the website and 50% related to that post.
70. Create and use relevant categories.
71. Optimize your URLs with a permalink.
72. Keep your URL short so it’s easy to remember, copy and paste, link to, tweet, and share.
73. Publish a press release.
74. Write a linkbait post so people will want to link to you.  It could be funny, controversial, free, interesting, or whatever you’d like.
75. Make sure old links still work.
76. Get a .edu link by getting involved with a school.
77. Get a link from a government (.gov) site whenever possible.
78. Exchange links with related high-ranking bloggers.
79. Write about or link to other businesses so they link to you.
80. Submit a guest article on another blog and link back to yours.
81. Submit your blog to directories like Yahoo and DMOZ.
82. Embed a sharing system to make it easy for readers to post it on social media sites like ShareThis.
83. Have other people promote your blog on social media sites or do it yourself.
84. Submit to blog directories in your niche.
85. Submit your blog to Technorati.
86. Post to StumbleUpon.
87. Submit blog posts to Digg.
88. Share your blog link on Reddit.
89. Share your blog with your followers on Twitter.
90. Post it on your Facebook page.
91. Have a link to your blog on your LinkedIn profile.
92. Submit your post to EzineArticles.
93. Have an RSS button for readers to subscribe to your blog.
94. Allow readers to email your article to their friends.
95. Use ShareThis reporting and analytics to see where people are sharing your post.
96. Titles are important for readers and search engines.
97. Add pictures to make your blog interesting and use “alt” tags to name your pictures.
98. Choose up to 15 categories with strong keywords.
99. Build relationships with other bloggers and experts in your industry: share news, advice, readers.
100. Track analytics: Use Google Analytics, Google Webmaster tools, or Get Clicky for free.
101. Every blog and every blogger is unique.  Use the tips you enjoy and that work best for you.

Some of these ideas are my own, but I used a few sources of inspiration to help me: Searching Solutions, Ajax Union, SEOmoz, Page One, and The Real Estate Tomato.

Just like any other search engine optimization you need to make sure you have the right keywords in the title and description.  Give as much information as you can and research which keywords viewers are searching.

Also, include a link to your website.  This may seem obvious, but I found it is often over looked and many marketing companies who produce the videos or virtual tours will include a link to their website instead.   If people are looking at your videos on YouTube they are interested in your listings or finding a Realtor, so send them to your website for more information and to contact you! 

Even though tags are not seen by the public, they are very important because even if someone is looking at another video this gives yours a chance to show up as a “related video.”  Put some thought into choosing the right tags.

Get creative!  More popular videos will show up higher in the rankings.  Just like traditional SEO, when people link to your website or video it will rank higher.  YouTube takes it one step further and increases the rank of videos that have been embedded on other sites. 

While you are encouraging your viewers to embed or link to your video, encourage them to post comments or ratings as well.   Send your videos to your sphere of influence.  They are more likely to give you a good rating and may even know of a potential buyer or seller for you!