How do I make myself search engine optimized? SEO tips and tricks

One of the most frequently asked questions and reasons that people make appointments with me is the desire to improve their search engine optimization. SEO seems like an elusive concept but there are some very simple and easy strategies to as I like to say, ‘be googleable’.
1) Keywords in your first paragraph of copy

The first paragraph on any website you have is one of the main things that search engines index. Therefore the most common mistake people make on websites is to not include their first and last name in that first few sentences of text. Other keywords would be the words people would put in conjunction with your name if they didn’t find you right away or perhaps didn’t know your first and/or last name. Make a list of what you think people would use to find you and those are the words you want to incorporate into your text. I.E. Barbara Kleban, Coldwell Banker, Chicago, North Shore IL, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lincoln Square, Lincoln Park, Marketing, Social media …you get the idea. Once you have this first paragraph be sure that you use this search engine optimized paragraph on all of your sites…zillow, trulia, realtor.com, facebook, linkedin, twitter (limited character count but you could get a few words in)and so on.
2) Purchase your own domain name and forward with masking adding in SEO words to the tags, description , and keywords sectionsYou should, if at all possible, own yourname.com, if for no other reason than that someone else can’t. But it will help you come up in searches of your name. If you can’t get that then do something else with a keyword i.e. Barbarasellsglenview.com or barbaramarketing.com . I recommend purchasing from godaddy and using their domain forwarding to add in the tags keywords and more. For instructions on how to do this watch this video

3) Social Networking and Video
videos and social networking sites are incredibly strong in google. If you want to cover your bases have a facebook personal, business, linkedin, twitter, google plus, google profile, and youtube channel where you regularly post short videos with your name always in the title. I will do an ideas for video blog soon but they could be of the homes you sell, your tips and tricks, you describing your business, or best for SEO are how to’s. I.e. “How do I buy my first house” “How do I qualify for a mortgage” “How do I light my pilot light” “How do I stage a living room” . “how do I’s” as I call them are the most popular videos on youtube. It’s Gen Y’s magic answer box.

4) Be Active and Drive Your Own Traffic
Especially your website and social media shouldn’t be secret pages. Promote them on your email signature, link them to your other websites, tell your contacts about them, offer promotions or advertise events on them- get people going there. The more views you get the stronger all of your sites are and the better your SEO becomes. With social media, be active. Comment, like, share, tweet, retweet, spend 5-10 min a day minimally interacting on the internet and being a presence. Don’t have stagnant boring pages. Be the cool, energetic, friendly, and engaging you!

If you have used other methods for free SEO feel free to comment and share below!