Thousands of REALTOR Websites Disappear from Google

Okay, so it hasn’t happened yet. But before a headline like this consumes the blogosphere for real, we must take drastic measures.

The tactics that were once seen as the holy grail of search engine optimization are now being denounced by the four major search engines, leaving many to fend for themselves. The days of participating in reciprocal link exchange schemes and buying links are a thing of the past. If you have any hopes of obtaining the coveted top spots in the organic search rankings, listen up.

As a real estate agent, the task of generating traffic for your website may seem daunting. After all, what the heck can you write about that will reel in readers and potential clients? There have been others before me that have written their “how to” list for link baiting. However, link baiting in the world of real estate is a whole new ballgame. You are marketing to an entirely different audience that demands an entirely different “how to” list.

The ability to create effective link bait is your legitimate ticket to mind-boggling link wealth. It is precisely this coveted wealth that will catapult your site to the top of the search engine rankings. You can’t earn the big bucks through your site if no one can find it, and when they do find it, you’ve got to hook ‘em.

Link Bait. The words almost generate visions of long summer days spent tossing a line out on the lake. The reality of link baiting, however, is something that may become much more valuable to you than a weekend fishing trip. Masters of this talent have seen unimaginable traffic to their sites.

Need proof? Just check out the Web 2.0 Awards that the folks over at SEOmoz created. As of today, Yahoo! Shows the site with 55,940 backlinks, and rumor has it that they received so much traffic after appearing on the first page of Digg that their server crashed. We should all be so lucky. In fact, my boss says that the first time I write a piece so successful that our server crashes, I get a 30% raise. Enough bragging about Rand – lets get back to you.

The idea is simple. Instead of spending your valuable time buying, trading, and scheming for links… write great content and the links come to you naturally. It sounds uncomplicated because it is.

So how do you bring these surfers to your site through link baiting? First, take time to ensure that you are well-informed when it comes to your niche, whether it be real estate or deep-sea diving. Then, take the information you have, develop those popular thoughts and ideas, and publish them on your site. The idea is that others will want to link to your site because you have something new to offer – and basically, it’s information that will ultimately benefit them.

Take a look at these five popular classifications for link bait hooks:

1. News

2. Contrary

3. Attacks

4. Resource

5. Humor

And the granddaddy of them all is, of course, FEAR. After all, isn’t that the dirty trick we used to get you here?

Stay tuned to learn how to legitimize your linking. Within the next week (give or take a day or two) we will provide you an exhaustive “How-To” List for Link Baiting Success.