news & tips — posted April 13, 2005

Want better search engine rankings? Start an agent referral network

Do you know real estate agents in other cities? Why not add a referral page on your site and swap links with other agents’ websites? Not only will you get better rankings on search engines, you’ll likely get more traffic to your site.

North County San Diego REALTOR® Samantha Feldman created an Agent Referral page on her XSite, www.samanthafeldman.com/ReferralRealtor, where she places links to other agents’ websites in other cities. Feldman can refer a customer to another agent through her personal referral network of REALTORS® by clicking on the links posted on the page, or by filling out an online form indicating the city in which they are looking to buy a home.

And because her website is posted on her linking partners' sites, it'll likely see a boost in traffic, which will increase her site's popularity and give search engines more of a reason to get her site listed on their results pages.

“I learned that creating links to reputable sites similar to mine would increase my standings with the search engines, so I decided to create a page with reciprocal links with other REALTORS® across the U.S.,” Feldman says.

In fact, Google explains that, "The best way to ensure Google finds your site, is for your pages to be linked from lots of pages on other sites. Google's robots jump from page to page on the Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you, the more likely it is that we'll find you quickly."

While Feldman's referral page is still fairly new, as she sees it, “it’s also a way to network with other agents that I might have never had contact with. We’re not competing with each other so it’s a way for both of us to get referrals.”

Feldman says she learned how to optimize her XSite from talking with other agents and reading books on Search Engine optimization (SEO) strategies. She also visits the XSites User Forum “Agents Lounge” where she can ask questions and exchange ideas with other Agent XSite owners.

To create your own agent referral page, go to Step 6 in your XSite’s Wizard and create a custom page. Many XSite owners also create their own link exchange form using the customized lead generation form tool available on their XSite, like Louisville, Ky. REALTOR® Brad Long's XSite, www.bradleylong.com/RealtorLinks. Agents across the U.S. can then submit their site along with the title and short description so Long can review to make sure it fits his criteria before posting it on his agent referral page.

To create a link exchange form on the agent referral page you’ve created, check “Include Lead Generation Form” under “Other Content Options” at the bottom of the page and choose “Customize.” Once you've reached this area, click on "Create a Form." You can choose what fields you want to include in the form by choosing the link "Add a Field." Most link exchange forms ask for a name, e-mail address, web address, title of the website (e.g. “West Cleveland Area Real Estate”) and a short description of the site.

In the next few weeks, we’ll be adding enhanced link exchange tools to your XSite, allowing you to improve your search engine rankings and network with other agents across the U.S.

Do you have unique feature on your XSite you’d like to share in the Agent e-Newsletter? E-mail Amanda@alamode.com.

A few weeks ago, we announced several new updates to your Agent XSites, which included new features on your listing directory pages to give your listings a little more “oomph!” This week we launched a new shared listings feature that allows you to show your customers’ listings on other agents’ websites in addition to your own.

Why share your listings? Simple. More potential buyers will be able to see them, which is certain to please your customers.

The new shared listings feature will allow you to gain more exposure for your own listings by having multiple agents show your customers’ listings on their websites. This feature can provide you some additional leverage when you're trying to win a listing. 

For example, you’ll be able to tell your customers that by listing their home with you, their home will be added to your site as well as five (or how many you choose) other agents’ sites in the area with whom you are partnered, thereby generating more potential buyers than if their listing was solely listed on your page.

The shared listings feature is also beneficial to brokers who purchase multiple XSites for their agents because it allows the broker to automatically aggregate listings from all his/her agents, while allowing the agents to stay in control of the listing, and the leads that it generates. The feature will be available on your XSite April 14. You will find it by clicking on the Listings icon on the main toolbar of the My Office area.

With the new shared listing feature, now may be a good time to consider getting multiple sites for your agents or even for the various neighborhoods, markets or other sectors of the real estate industry (e.g. appraiser, mortgage broker) in which you do business. Special discounts are available. Call 1-800-ALAMODE.

Because we are constantly adding new features and updating your XSite, we’ve added a spot on the My Office page of your XSite called “Update History,” which explains the elements of each release and how to use them. And as always, if you have any questions about any of the new releases, you can call us on the tech lines 24 X 7.