As a real estate professional, starting a blog can be a good way to expand your reach and bring in new prospects. When you are working on your real estate blog, you have to learn a little bit about SEO along the way. By using search engine optimization techniques, you can more effectively outrank your competitors in the search engines, and get more traffic. While you don’t have to be a search engine optimization expert, you do need to learn the basics. One tool that you can use to your advantage in this situation is the Google +1 button. What exactly is the +1 button and why would you want to use it?
Google +1 Button
Google came out with the +1 button last year, and it was seen as a direct competitor to the Facebook “Like” button. This is a button that webmasters and bloggers can put directly on their websites that visitors can click on. When someone clicks on the button, it essentially shows that a visitor likes the page and would recommend it to his friends. When you have the button on your site, it can also lend you a little bit of credibility will as other people will be able to see how many others have pushed the +1 button.
Adding the Button
If you are interested in adding the Google +1 button to your site, the process is pretty simple. Go to Google and to the +1 page. On the site, you can configure the a button just like you want it. For example, you can choose a small, standard, medium or tall button. On the right side of the page, you can see a preview of what the button will look like once it is on your site. Then at the bottom of the page, you will see a code for the button. Copy the code and then paste it into the page on your site where you want it. Once you build the page, the Google +1 button will appear.
Help With SEO
One of the primary reasons that you should consider adding the button to your site is to help with search engine optimization. Google takes many different factors into consideration when it comes to ranking the pages on your site. One of the newest factors that they consider is social signals. When people tell Google that they like a page, the search engine take this into consideration when
ranking pages for certain keywords. If your page has several people that have pushed the +1 button, this bodes well compared to a competitor’s site that doesn’t even have the button installed. While this is not the most important factor when it comes to ranking highly in the search engines, it is definitely one factor that plays into the ranking. If you want to be able to rank highly, you need
every advantage that you can get. Installing the +1 button is simple, and it can have an impact on your rankings and your traffic overall. With the Facebook “Like” button, you are essentially using a tool from one of Google’s biggest competitors. With the +1 button, you use a tool right from the company that you are trying to rank highly with. This may be able to give you a leg up on the
competition.
Considerations
With the short amount of time that it takes to install the +1 button, it really makes sense to go ahead and do it. It can help you rank higher in the search engines and makes your site look nicer with the button on the pages.
Citations:
- Photo taken from Flickr with CC license. Author: Daring Librarian
Ben Sawyer has been blogging since 2007 & contributing on many websites since that time. He is also a professional internet marketing asocial media marketing consultant. Currently he is working as a content contributor for www.arvernebythesea.com , real estate company from NYC. Here are few Ben’s tips about G+ networking for real estate bloggers.
