An awesome and easy to digest introduction to SEO

What’s the point of having an awesome real estate website if nobody knows about it?

Believe it or not but creating and launching a compelling REALTOR® website is only half the battle.. or more like 20% of the battle. The bulk of the work comes into play when your site is live on a platform that allows you to add content and optimize it for search engines, like RealtyNinja ;)

The best thing you can do to help your site be found online by users who were not directed to it by another marketing effort or word of mouth is to provide quality content that is not copied from somewhere else on the internet. So the first thing you should do is simply focus on writing content for your pages and blog posts. If you want to take it a step further, it helps to have a basic understanding of how search engines work and what exactly Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means. This way you can strategically create content and craft your site based on a fundamental understanding of SEO and search engines.

On that note, SEOMoz has created an awesome and very easy to understand guide to SEO that was specifically designed for the non-technical user. It has 10 chapters with great imagery and touches on all sorts of topics:

1. How search engines operate
2. How people interact with search engines
3. Why search engine marketing is necessary
4. The basics of search engine friendly design & dev
5. Keyword research
6. How usability, experience & content affect rankings
7. Growing popularity and links
8. Search engine tools and services
9. Myths & misconceptions about search engines
10. Measuring and tracking success

It is very much worth a read as it will give you insight into something that will directly effect your bottom line and help make writing effective content a little less daunting. Not to mention it is a tad goofy and just plain fun to read.

Remember that knowledge is power, so even though it may seem over your head, it is very much worth the read.