I have $5k per month to spend on SEO. Where should I spend it?
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Real Estate is one of those areas where competitive is crazy all over the world.
I would invest in the following areas:
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Social Media (1k/month) - or do you have a split social media budget.
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Content - Blog posts, articles, PR (1.5k/month) - I would target niche events in your target market and create blog posts around these areas, I would target a huge range of local keywords via these posts.
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Link Building - (1.5k/month) - Target high quality links, not easy do competitive research.
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Consulting (1k a month) - Calls, Research and thing else.
Do you also have offline sponsorship I would try and leverage every thing to the site.
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Both Casey and Robert offer excellent advice. I will add a bit more detail. Please forgive this evaluation if it seems harsh. I sincerely wish to be helpful. I am concerned you do not realize how poorly the current site is designed.
At a high level, SEO involves three components: website architecture, content, and site promotion (link building + social media).
All your SEO begins with your website. Think of it as your "car". You presently offer a very basic wordpress site, and your SEO is not going to go anywhere in that clunker. A few examples:
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despite being a basic WP site, it has tons of coding errors. Many of the errors are simply sloppy coding such as reusing div names and improperly opened or closed tags.
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the site lacks basic components which are standard on any legitimate website. There is no About Us page, Contact Us page, Privacy Policy, etc.
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when I hover over "Keller Williams" or the phone number next to it at the top right of the screen, the mouse-over effect turns the text the same color as the background so it is no longer readable.
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there are no trust symbols to indicate the site represents a legitimate realty company.
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The second link I clicked was for "5 bedroom homes" which took me to a 404 "Page does not exist" page
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there is no search bar. Take a look at Zillow.com which offers a nice search box.
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I can see the site uses a IDX feed for MLS info. I suggest updating to a RETS feed.
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offer social options (facebook, twitter, etc)
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offer blog articles sharing information about your market and allow users to share comments
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offer a mobile site. This is important for realty sites as your clients may desire information when they are standing in front of a home for sale. If they are not able to obtain the information from your site, they will get it from a competitor's site.
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the site requires basic SEO attention such as lack of meta description, optimized title tags, etc.
The above list are simply the first 10 items which I noticed. There are likely dozens of other opportunities.
I have $5k per month to spend on SEO. Where should I spend it?
Save up for a month, then spend $10k on having a decent site designed. You are at high risk of finding some "SEO" who will build $5k worth of links to your site, which will likely offer no value at all. The current site is so poor most visitors should run from it. The images are fantastic, but that's about the only good point I can share.
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The part that I am having problems with is.... "all cities and neighborhoods in Western Washington."
From an SEO and practical standpoint I would start granular - where I can win traffic and where my company has an ability to do something with the traffic.
Also a tip about alphabetized lists. Order them vertically instead of horizontally. That way if you are looking for a city that begins with a "V" you immediately know it will be in the right column. Visitors who know how to present list information will be cussing you - especially as your list grows.
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Hey Jon, Given your experience, I would be curious as to what your "take-away" is on all this?
Best
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Hi Robert,
I value the responses from everyone. They were all thought through and accurate. However, I believe most people spent too much attention focusing on how to improve a site that is half built and under development.
Since you have worked with people in the real estate industry, I'm sure you are aware of a site called ActiveRain; I founded that company and built it to over 3,000,000 unique organic visitors per month. I know how to build a site.
However, since I've been out of the SEO game for a few years, I specifically wanted to know how I should spend $5k per month on SEO related efforts - specifically "off-page" seo.
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Hi Robert,
I'll do a response by response reply now.
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Hey Jon,
That (your founding of Active Rain) was why I said, "Given your experience.."
It is funny though, I really did understand what you were asking. Given the question you asked: I have $5k per month to spend on SEO. Where should I spend it?The site is for BrioRealty.com - we want to rank for all cities and neighborhoods in Western Washington.For me, I was answering that question and did before I saw your reply to Casey. But even with that, and I know you have done RE Brokerage, etc., I still believe some of the best money we spend is on the site overall as it relates to user experience (including content) and the on page SEO - which is a derivative of quality keyword analysis.
We see questions daily where the question is in some way qualified about on page SEO: "I know my on page could use some work, but......." When you look at their on page then, you realize it is off page somewhere. So, for my $, on page is important as is good usability, navigation and, especially in real estate, content. Don't forget, if your CTR is zero, it won't matter what your PA and link status are. You will end up on page 38 at some point.
But, Looking beyond the things said about the site, look at what else was said:
Casey Kulver: _I would also have someone look at your analytics and perform a full on analytics and SEO audit, deep competition analysis, and map out a real strategy for the next 12 months. _
Ryan Kent: SEO is .... 3 components...__, ___, and site promotion (link building + social media). AND (this next one is part site but important re quicker listings - real time, and it is the new standard. etc):I can see the site uses a IDX feed for MLS info. I suggest updating to a RETS feed. AND - offer a mobile site.
Brent Copstead: ****that is a lot you want in a very competitive aggressive market. A) _I don't believe $5k a month will work. B) _First, I would target on a much smaller, reasonable area. (Not all of western Washington) C) Then I would start an aggressive link building campaign (blogging, chambers of commerce, connections, press releases, etc), but be smart and safe with this. D) Toomuch too fast will hurt you. E) I would also focus on Social interaction.
James Norquay: I would invest in the following areas:
_- Social Media (1k/month) - or do you have a split social media budget. _
_- Content - Blog posts, articles, PR (1.5k/month) - I would target niche events in your target market and create blog posts around these areas, I would target a huge range of local keywords via these posts. _
_- Link Building - (1.5k/month) - Target high quality links, not easy do competitive research. _
- Consulting (1k a month) - Calls, Research and thing else.
_Do you also have offline sponsorship I would try and leverage every thing to the site. _
EGOL: From an SEO and practical standpoint I would start granular - where I can win traffic and where my company has an ability to do something with the traffic.
_Also a tip about alphabetized lists. Order them vertically instead of horizontally. That way if you are looking for a city that begins with a "V" you immediately know it will be in the right column. Visitors who know how to present list information will be cussing you - especially as your list grows. _
That other guy said:_ Lastly, the most important investment for RE is Local SEO. Spend there after the site. _
I always tell RE people to get on Active Rain. Don't know how it will be over time, but it has been a great link resource, etc. When you look at the Q&A on SEOmoz, you are looking at a group of people who are really amazing in my eyes. I have learned so much here and I have found colleagues I did not know I had. Bright people all.
I never cease to be amazed at the knowledge level here. I would say this as to the site comments: Ask yourself this question: If the people that answered this question were compared to SEO's nationwide, where might they rank? And, if you believe it would be in the top 25% even ask this: What does all of them mentioning how important on page is say to anyone who reads it?I am sure you will build a killer site and I can't wait to steal some ideas from you
Hang around and teach us all some of what you know about gaining traffic, linking, blogging, etc. Hell, after all this free advice you owe us at least one post 
Best to you and all mozzers,
PS - Did I mention anything about Open Source Developers needing to eat???
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Hey Robert,
My long time philosophy is that Google is really smart and your best bet is to make amazing content that people want, and then trust Google to do their job."
However recently I've seen a compelling line of argument here on SEOmoz that argues on page seo is good, but it's much easier to move the needle off page.
I am absolutely here on SEOmoz to learn, and I recognize the amazing group of SEO experts here.
Here are my thougths regarding your quotes from the experts:
Kulver / competitive SEO analysis: I'm doing this myself.
Kent / RETS & Mobile: From a user perspective, there is theoretically no difference with how I receive the data (rets/idx) if it is displayed in the same way. In practice there are slight differences, since I am using a word press based IDX provider, I have some limitations to how I can display the listings.
Mobile: Agree 110% - something worthwhile is needed there.
**Copstead / Market size to big: **I have this general line of thinking that comes in handy with whatever startup I'm working on:
"What we are trying to do is impossible. Rationally it can't be done (too little money / resources etc.). But I've seen magic happen time and time again when big goals are set."
One strong SEO opinion I do have is that I don't target "keywords". Even before the term was coined, I've always been a strong proponent of the long tail. I want to build the site's domain authority, and structure the site appropriately so that the SEO work we do lifts up the site across the board.
Bottom line is that I will not be happy if this site is not a top 3 site in Western Washington. (As ranked against all of the listing sites)
Norquay / Investment breakdown:
I like everything about this budget. I am looking for someone to execute on this type of thing. I should say that Social Media and content building must be built holistically within your organization for it to be successful (genuine, interesting, etc), but spending $1k + $1.5k on SEO based social media & content could be a good investment.
**EGOL / granular: **For reason stated above (Copstead) I don't want to focus on granular. (This doesn't mean that I won't use care when selecting anchor text.)
I appreciate the tip of list organization (vertical vs horizontal). We will make that change.
Fisher (you!)/ local & other things:
1. I agree on local.
2. Large pics on the top = travel site: It's true that no other real estate listing sites show large pics on the top and a user could be confused. However, I believe a user thinking about relocating would like to get the flavor of different neighborhoods and cities. I know I would. However, we do plan to also feature specific listings in those large marquee images over time.
3. Competitive keyword analysis. I've spent a lot of time researching this recently - too much to talk about in this format.
4. Site flawed - high bounce rate: We will continue to modify the site until the bounce rate is low or we are getting a 10%+ visitor to lead conversion rate. Depending on where we set our longer term goals.
5. Open source plugins: We are just getting started on the site and I think we've already paid $1k+ to plug in developers. I agree with you on this.
SEOmoz: I love the concept of a peer learning organization.
I'm a big big advocate of on page SEO but want to work more on the off page SEO.
Of course I'm always happy to share what I know and I'll share when I have something good.
I truly do appreciate the advice and insight from everyone!!
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Good luck, I think you will be fine. Would love to talk re RETS and IDX, etc. And about building a cool RE blog. If I can be of assistance at anytime, please ping or email me.
Best.
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As http://activerain.com/blogsview/1526736/meet-jonathan-washburn-ceo-and-co-founder-of-activerain- I am amazed you are in here as you would have some amazing SEO people at your finger tips to help you, but right one. The one things I am confused about is the need to disclose this, because how does it help solve your equation?
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Sansonj,
It seemed like some of the responses were directed towards basic SEO strategies. I was trying to clarify by background (since the question was very vague) in order to get non-basic SEO strategies.
~jon
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This post is deleted! -
Forgive me if this is too blunt, but your writing here is quite bad. It is difficult to believe someone who represents a quality writing service could write with poor spelling and grammar.
I took a look at your website and there are grammar errors throughout your content. If you cannot even write properly at your own site, how can you write well for others?
1500 word articles for $42 is a very nice price though! The problem is, for that amount of money it is simply not possible to write anything remotely close to a quality article.
You claim to be a "UK based writing service" but your About Us page offers no physical address. I could go on but all indications are your services are not for anyone who cares about SEO or the quality of their site.
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This post is deleted! -
We at www.contentwritings.com provide seo content writing service as well as business plan writing service. I recommend you to visit our website and also give us chance to serve you in right direction.
In current Google algorithm, Content of website is the major role of gaining top rank. So for good content you may contact us as info@contentwritings.com
Your post was self-promotion. Not allowed here.
Also, if you are selling English language content it is very poorly done.
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Hi Kashif,
If you would like a complete audit of your website, I would suggest you contact Ryan or another provider via private message and set up a contract for services. Ryan is a paying member of SEOmoz, just like yourself, and volunteers his time in here to answer questions. A request for a full audit is a bit beyond the scope of what people normally provide here.
I am an employee of SEOmoz, and am stepping in to suggest that it isn't usual forum behavior at SEOmoz to come into an older question and immediately offer your services. You may want to read a few more Q&A questions and read recent questions to get a bit of a feel for the community. Do feel free to send me a private message if there is anything I can do to help you out with using Q&A.
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Dear Jon,
I have visited your website and also created the SEO analysis report.
Please give me your email id so I can send you the report and we can discuss how could we can work on your website.. Please reply me on [removed by staff] or add me in skype: [removed by staff]
Regards,
Nilesh
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Hi Nilesh,
Welcome to the SEOmoz forums! As I wrote in response to someone else, this is not the place to offer unsolicited business deals. Thanks for understanding!
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Hi Keri,
My sincere apologies.
I will take care next time.
Regards,
Nilesh
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Nice topic - really nice read.
Someone should promote the chat as a blog entry - really good case study here !
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