Sites that are graphic intensive should be utilizing the ALT tag to properly describe each graphic. The ALT tag defines the text to display for a graphic if the user has graphics turned off. No search engine reads or indexes graphics, so the ALT tag is very important. Never use "Under Construction" text or images on any page. This is almost a sure way to not be indexed on certain major search engines. If your page is not complete, do not publish it! Apply for Web site awards. Some awards are more difficult to win than others, but applying is often free. The award-issuing sites just require a link back to their site from the awards graphic. Awards add credibility and enhance the time users spend investigating your site. To see an awards graphic, go to websitetrafficbuilders.com click on the Web Genie Excellent Content Award, and look under the free site awards section. Your site should have a links page that is connected to the entry page. Use this page to trade links with other sites in related (but noncompetitive) industries. Real estate sites could trade links with lenders, lawyers, home improvement sites, financial planners, lodging sites, etc. Keep in mind, the objective is not to just link to these sites but to exchange links! Point of caution: There are several sites that will offer you free membership in a link exchange service. You are required to host a number of pages on your site listing the other participants' links. Though well intentioned and effective in increasing your link popularity, the search engines have caught on to this ploy and, as one of our clients recently discovered, will deist your site for this practice. Plus, the importance of links to achieving a better ranking for your site is related to the standing of the site linking to you. So, a link from a highly ranked site will be worth more in the search engine's eyes than hundreds of links from low-ranked sites There have been recent changes in search engine submission policies. The most cost effective, and in some cases the only, way to get on certain search engines is to pay for a guaranteed site review. The two best places to apply are the Looksmart search engine network and the Yahoo directory. The cost for each of these reviews is $299. Plus, you are paying for a review only, with no guarantee of being listed. These services also do NOT guarantee where your site will be positioned, just that, if accepted, it will be indexed. Lastly on this point, keep in mind your fee of $299 is NOT refunded if your site is rejected. Many webmasters estimate that Yahoo, for example, accepts only one in 20 submissions. Directory sites such as Yahoo choose sites for their unique content. They don't want "more of the same." With a little time and a modest investment you can achieve very respectable results yourself. There are several positioning programs available but the best one is WebPosition Gold. A 30-day, free demo is available that has no equal. The extensive help section in the demo provides valuable insights into how top search engine positioning works. You can download the demo at www.websitetrafficbuilders. com. You'll find it under the free software section. To minimize the possibility of rejection and to ensure your share of Internet search engine traffic, hire a company that specializes in positioning. Require the following from them: A. A guarantee that YOUR specified keywords will achieve a position on page one, two or three of the search engine results. B. A written outline of how they will achieve results. C. No charge for any placement below page three. D. A sliding-fee price, based on actual results, and a stated maximum fee. E. Verification of their previous results in achieving top positioning. Once you have traffic to your site, converting the traffic to productive clients ensues. A program to help here is Livehelper. It provides a link on your site that allows visitors to send realtime typed or voice messages to you. It works in the background on your computer and alerts you every time someone visits your page. A tone indicates a message has been received. Best of all, the program is totally free! You can also find the link to this free program at www.websitetrafficbuilders.com. It's under the Web software section. There will always be skeptics and site owners who do not devote the time or money to achieving top rankings. No matter how competitive the keyword phrase, applying the proper techniques can result in top search engine positions. For example, we work on a Los Angeles legal directory. The L.A. market is highly competitive in all legal keyword phrases. Three of the most competitive phrases for driving search engine traffic to this site were promoted by www.websitetrafficbuilders.com. The L.A. legal directory was just published in February 2001; the results are not yet complete. Visit www.la-orange-county-lawyers-attorneydirectory.com. You'll find a spinning gold star near the bottom of the entry page asking lawyers interested in listing on the site to click this link. It leads to the actual current search engine standings achieved.
You will note that three phrases were pmoted on 10 search engines and could have created 30 possible placements; 20 page one placements were produced. Eight of these were also position number one - on the first page! These outstanding results validate the effectiveness of proper positioning techniques as well as the value of hiring a professional firm to handle this task. In conclusion, real estate Web sites can be constructed to yield huge results when consumers search by keywords. By paying attention to this important aspect of running a good real estate Web site, you can drive thousands of potential home buyers and sellers to your site.
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