Bill, I can't resist an invitation to jump in! The major SEs no longer read keyword meta tags and many professional SEO people now omit them altogether. Keyword description tags are still important. Though many people say that Google doesn't read alt tags in images, the study I cited yesterday and other anecdotal evidence indicate otherwise. Title tags are still very important. Older domain names do better.

A great way to figure out what works is to search "city name real estate" in your market or in any major market, then examine the first few REALTORS(R) sites listed in organic results. Chances are good that you'll see a lot of keyword/keyphrase repetition in the visible body copy of the site.

That's my understanding, it is picked up. Wopuld like to know that answer myself.

Bill, you've brought up a good point. When people confuse what I do with SEO, I explain that there are two steps, 1) Getting people to your site -- SEO and SEM -- and 2) Keeping people there --design and copywriting. I prefer to balance design with SEO in hopes that more people will be engaged by my design work and will be converted to leads.

There have been several studies of Web site effectiveness that show that visitors make an instantaneous, split second decision concerning the validity of a Web site immediately upon first entering the site. Good professional design has been shown to be a strong influence towards people getting a favorable first impression of a site.

One measure of the effectiveness of a home page design is the home page "bounce rate" shown in Google Analytics or Ultrastats. The bounce rate indicates how many people leave from the home page without drilling any further down into the site. In other words, bad first impression.

I've noticed that on most non-customized Point2 sites that I've examined, the bounce rate is around 50-60%. Usually after I redesign a site, the bounce rate goes down to around 25-45%.

On another competing web site system, which shall remain nameless other than to say they suffered a major outage earlier this week, a business associate has tracked an average home page bounce rate for non-customized sites at 80-95%. So, hey, why not pay more for a site on that system so that you can lose most of your visitors because of their ugly templates? That makes a lot of sense -:(

Given how many visitors can be lost because of bad design,  balancing SEO with design is logical. It seems to pay off in the number of leads generated: my GoArmyHomes.com site is generating 3-4 solid leads a day through the Point2 system as well as 3-4 phone calls a day, and has received only a tiny handful of bogus leads since it launched Feb. 1. That's in spite of the fact that the site has received only minimal SEO work and is so new that it has only minimal ranking. It is successful partly because of the broker's really savvy marketing strategy and partly because of good creative work.

So, yes, "shooting herself in the foot" is an apt description. Why waste good ranking by turning people away with an ugly home page?

I have to agree with Suzanne, SEO may get visitors to your site, but a visually pleasing and informative site is going to keep them there.

Sounds like I have to hire you soon Suzanne. I love the amount of traffic I get, but I would like them to stay longer than they presently are.

I come up on certain search criteria, but city name and real estate isn't one of them.

Todd, I think your picture and name pops up on google when I type in "cheap".  JK

Bill, I posted on Suzanne's thread that I think she does a great job. But, until I sell some more houses, I can't afford to invest any more outside of my current budget. I'm the one that's really cheap!

Thanks, Bill. I have been re-thinking a lot of my expenses. As an agent, I have always asked a "call in" customer "what made you call this office today?". If they say internet, I ask which web site was it because we have so many? Either, our society has just gotten rude or I no longer have enough honey in my voice. The remarks and comments you must be able to let roll off your back, just asking some simple non threating questions would make a tea pot boil. Heck, you just want to know which advertising dollars work, or, if you should re-direct their call to an agent who paid for an ad. Oh, well. enuff of that. Be good!

You know, Bill, after I answered your question about hidden content, it occurred to me that I may have circled the question without directly answering it. There really is no simple answer except to say that they read "some" hidden content.

I mostly try to keep up with Google, so the hidden content it reads may (or may not, depending upon which person you ask and which day) include title tags, keyword description tags, image alt attributes, title attributes, and... ???

You are probably aware of the risk of being banned by the SEs for so-called "black hat" SEO techniques. Most involve spamming hidden content with keywords.

Here's a great series of articles on SEO for real estate sites:

http://www.domaindrivers.com/seobasics-realestate-main.htm

Todd, you might want to consider omitting Washington County from your title tags as you could be wasting valuable "SEO turf" with those two words. People rarely search by county. Also keep in mind that proximity between words counts. So, for example, "Tigard real estate, Beaverton real estate" might work a little better than "real estate in Tigard and Beaverton." "Homes for sale in city name" is another good key phrase.

Keep in mind that the SEs place more value on words near the top of a page. So think carefully about the words near the top of your page such as  "Your Lifetime Agent" and "No Credit Required Home Ownership".

Just a couple of random thoughts concerning your overall marketing strategy: with your focus on "No Credit" you may be attracting a lower echelon of clientele and forcing yourself to work harder for less money. Also, give some thought to your "I want to be your lifetime agent." tagline. All the creative on your home page should be focused on meeting your visitors' needs. Each needs to know immediately, "what's in it for me?" I seriously doubt you have visitors shopping to buy a lifetime agent. They're buying houses, man, not agents! Specialize in something they want to buy, such as a type of house (equestrian property, condo, farms, whatever...). Even though I happen to be working on a web site this week for a client who absolutely insists on using a "trust" tagline, I firmly believe that you establish trust and a rep for good service by providing it, not by talking about it. In fact, I get a little suspicious of anyone who talks like that. Give 'em the kind of service your tagline implies, and you'll have clients for life.  But walk the walk, don't talk the talk.

Dear Suzanne,

Never in my 30+ years of real estate have I had such a pleasant, learning experience as I am now, working with you on my exciting and beautiful new Website www.CoastalLosAngeles.com...

You helped me discover the ability to create and upload to a self-directed Site, albeit the learning curve.  Your patience, consideration for my hectic schedule, your calming influence... well, you've just been my cup of Green tea.    I would never have been able to accomplish this multi-dimentional task, without you.

Don't leave me Mommy!!!!!!!  Just kidding, but you'll be too busy with my referrals alone, to leave your phone plugged in after 5 PM.  

Thanks!  Mille fois..

K.C. Soll

Sotheby's International Realty

Pacific Palisades, Ca 90272

310.255.5404

Well that last comment was a pretty glowing testimonial!

Regarding "hidden" content... I *think* (but am not positive) that the original question was what happens if you mark a module as "hidden" in the Point2 editor.  That content is NOT seen by search engines. And you don't want it to be. Search engines will *hammer* you if you hide text on a page.

Now if you mark an entire PAGE as "hidden" in P2, that page CAN be seen by search engines. "Hidden" when it comes to a page means hidden from the menu navigation. (this is assuming you don't select

"no index" under "page name and search information")

That's probably clear as mud... if it doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try again.

Wow! Nothin' like completely missing the point of your question, Bill. I think I spend too much time with my head stuck in source code!

KC has been a wonderful client, so I appreciate her speaking up. She has been really dreading adding content to her web site, so when I walked her through the process of adding her IDX page this afternoon, she was amazed at how simple working in Point2 is.

Hi Suz,

I was reading these posts and I just wanted to say thanks!  I always learn a ton of valuable info from you not only from posts but through our calls, emails etc. You're always going above and beyond and that speaks volumes!

I look forward to continuing to work with you on all my sites.

Gregory, some companies track their advertising by using a different telephone extension or different 800 number for every ad and Web site, using systems such as:

http://www.adtrakker.net

http://www.capturethecall.com/tools-features.php

http://www.800response.com

I've been working with Joe Janus on his niche targeted site Advanced Access site at JoeJanus.com. I love working with Joe and hope to be able to design his Point2 site soon.

When I first read the question, I immediately thought the answer was that hidden text hurts you with the engines but that is because of what I thought "hidden" meant.  I always thought that it meant inserting somewhere on the page all your important terms, then making the text the same color as the background so that humans didn't see it but engines would see it.  I was told to never, never, never, do that.

Am I misunderstanding the question?