Archive for May, 2008
CMLS rDesk SearchPoint IDX
I have been receiving many inquiries about rDesk IDX, the CMLS realtor IDX solution, which I've integrated in several realtor web sites since it became available in February 2008. If you are are having trouble finding this information on the CMLS web site, what you are looking for is here:
rDesk & rDesk SearchPoint IDX Quick Start Guide
The guide contains the order form which you will need to have signed by your broker. Fax your completed order form to: Greater fairfield County CMLS 203-840-6678 (more...)
Keywords and SEO for Real Estate Simplified
Keyword phrases aren’t any kind of magic hidden tags. Search engines read your content and they are sophisticated enough to detect spam and other so called tricks of the trade. They are looking for sites whos content is relevant to what people are searching for. So just keep that in mind each time you add a new real estate listing or any content to your web site. Ask yourself, "Am I using regional real estate related words that people may be searching for?"
For example I live in Fairfield CT so I will use "Fairfield CT real estate" as the example search term. The typical headline for a home in my neighborhood might be: "Classic Colonial on Quiet Cul-de-Sac". This is a nice headline for the real estate section of our local newspaper but for the world wide web we need to be more specific. "Real Estate in Fairfield CT Historic District". or "Colonial in Fairfield CT Historic District" If we use the second headline we would still need to get the "real estate" term in there. So the first line of the property description could be something like: Fabulous real estate opportunity in Fairfield's Historic District. Note how I have also worked in the market area search term "historic district".
Other areas of your web site can be improved in the same way. I often see web sites that offer "personalized service" instead of "personalized real estate services". Many real estate sites don't use the phrase "real estate" at all.
There is more to SEO than this of course (META tags: title and desctiption) and what I call a "search engine friendly" web design. Link popularity and so forth but the single most important thing you can do and still need to do even if you have all the other stuff is to have great content that also happens to include the keywords people would use to find you.
