Has Your Real Estate Website Turned Into A Cobweb Site?

Have you added content to your real estate website or is it turning into a “cobweb site”? A cobweb site is one that has not been updated in so long that it metaphorically has collected cobwebs. There are basic and simple steps to take to keep your real estate website active and attracting “spiders” without collecting cobwebs. According to one website service provider’s survey, 47% of all websites only add content every month or less (some of those only annually). If you keep an active website, you will get ahead of half of your less website savvy competition.

The best method for keeping real estate websites active and current is to add content. Add content to a neighborhood news area on your site or on your real estate blog. It is not that Google “loves” content, it is simply that content is what search engines exist to list and index. Your real estate content has always been the main attraction for website visitors, but with the decreased importance of keywords and description meta tags, content has become the main point of interest to search engines.

How often to add content? The rule of thumb is a page a day, but that is not feasible for a busy real estate agent. Once to three times a week is probably more realistic, especially if it is a blog entry. Adding a page every two weeks to a month is a good goal to attain. Google’s default site checking is every three to four weeks. By putting material on your site a minimum of every week, Google adapts its indexing pattern to check your real estate website every week instead of approximately every three weeks. Your consistency (and quality) is more important than high quantity in inconsistent batches.

Make a website content creation (articles or blog entries) schedule for yourself and put it on your calendar. Written goals always take priority over planned, but undocumented goals. The written word galvanizes our minds into action. Maybe we were programmed at an early and impressionable age by serious information being written on a blackboard.

Review your real estate website content thoroughly at least every three months to weed out out-dated material. If you put up announcements of open houses or an area meeting or event, make yourself a sticky note reminding you of when to take the announcement off the website. Stale items convey the message that your real estate website is your backburner advertising avenue. With 90% of home buyers going to the Internet first, you don’t want them leaving to go to a more up-to-date site.

As part of your quarterly website content review, check your outbound website links. This can be time consuming if you are not using link checking software, so it may be a duty that falls to the secretary or that teenager who is looking for spending money. Some websites seem to be set in stone and are do not radically change their structures. Other sites, such as state government websites, may totally rebuild their site when a new administration takes over. The old boss may be the same as the new boss, as the Who pointed out, but they often do change their website structure, thus breaking links all over the web.

Keep out the cobwebs and bring on the spiders by regularly adding content to and updating your real estate website.

About IMCD Website Design

IMCD’s website designs readily assists clients to gain footage in the race to the top of search engine marketing. Since 1996, IMCD has been creating award-winning, successful websites for professionals from many business fields.

Our award-winning web designer brings a 30-year background in photography and design to our clients. His resume includes work with Fortune 100 & 500 companies in Los Angeles and New York.

For more information about how our web design and development company can help your business, call IMCD at 1-877-999-4623.