Do you have an appraisal website that generates any order for you?

[moh malekpour]

Not true. I get a lot of calls. A rare week when I have none, usually 3 - 5 and I turn at least 20% of them into work, which is an incredibly high number. My page 'hits' average about 500 per week.

Google "Oil and Gas Appraiser" and see what happens. Now try "Mineral Rights Appraiser". "Mineral appraisal" ...you get the picture. That's why having a speciality really really helps.

How does your page get 500 hits per week when it shows only 9 or 10 visits to it since sept 24?

 

[Vermonter]

Noticed the hits to my xsite have increased consistently the longer it's been active. I was getting 1 or 2 hits a week when I first started it, now 2 years later it's getting 150-200 a week with no searched engine help other than what alamode does. This has turned into about 6-8 calls a week and 1-2 assignments.

 

[moh malekpour]

Noticed the hits to my xsite have increased consistently the longer it's been active. I was getting 1 or 2 hits a week when I first started it, now 2 years later it's getting 150-200 a week with no searched engine help other than what alamode does. This has turned into about 6-8 calls a week and 1-2 assignments.

How do you know the number of hits your site gets a week? does your site have a meter? What is your site URL?

 

[Vermonter]

X-site offers statistics by day, week, month, 2 months, and 3 months. Also tells which pages are being viewed, the referring URL, if they are new or returning visitors and the searched phrase.

LongTrailAppraisal dot com

I know there are ways to optimize to come up first in the searches, but haven't really experimented yet.

 

[Josh Shapiro]

X-Site has been my best opportunities as they MARKET your website for you once you have the keywords installed. It goes out every so often to stay HIGH in the rankings. Google me: Gregg White Appraiser Texas and see what you get. Usually in the top 5-10 on the first page.

That should answer. I have tried Yellow pages & it is a waste of money in my opinion......as is some of the others out there. X-Sites is the ONLY one I depend on other than www. Appraisers .com (remove spaces) or this site, as well.

I hate to tell you this but if you google "your name", "appraiser" and "location" if you have ANY presence on the net you will come up pretty high in rankings. I really hope that that is not how they sold you on it! I can do that as well and get my site along with any site on am listed on. I dont have an Xsite. hmmmmmm

 

[Doug Wegener]

I have one. It doesnt generate any regular work.

 

[moh malekpour]

I hate to tell you this but if you google "your name", "appraiser" and "location" if you have ANY presence on the net you will come up pretty high in rankings. I really hope that that is not how they sold you on it! I can do that as well and get my site along with any site on am listed on. I dont have an Xsite. hmmmmmm

Many people don't know how the search engine works. They think if they put the address of their sites or few pharses of their site title tags in the google query box and their website appeared on the top, they have a high ranking.
The best way to test your site ranking is to assume that you are the one who is looking for appraiser and put it in the google query box and see if your site shows up or not. Your site is for people who don't know you or your site and that is what you want to get
for example suppose you need an appraier for divorce in Orange County, CA where you are located. You put down "appraiser for divorce, orange county, ca". if your site appeard on the first page, it has a good ranking on that specific query. You got to try other keywords such appraiser for FHA, estate, pmi, bankruptcy and test your site.
You have to set your site to be the first one to answer your potencial clients when they search for whatever your site says you do and you should know what they are looking for and what you can do for them when you are optimizing your website.

 

[Vermonter]

Many people don't know how the search engine works.

Now there's an understatement.

A couple of local web developers told me there are very few people at google that know the specifics behind the formulations for search engines. Most say the best thing you can do is update content or blog daily about your business and local happenings related to it and you will consistently rate high in the searches.

 

[moh malekpour]

Now there's an understatement.

A couple of local web developers told me there are very few people at google that know the specifics behind the formulations for search engines. Most say the best thing you can do is update content or blog daily about your business and local happenings related to it and you will consistently rate high in the searches.

Google has 3 functions. Crawling, indexing and ranking. All 3 functions are automated with no human involved. Google has a guideline that if it is followed, the site gets good ranking when its crawler or robot visits the site. A good webmaster should know what is the recent google guideline. A relevant content is one but it is not the only one. The site should not have crawl error, no duplicate title or description tags, no missing URL, no broken link.

 

[Claude From NY]

Moh, FWIW my small, homemade website is well ranked on Yahoo and MSN and comes up #1 on Google local business. The vast majority of hits are from other appraisers and lurkers. However, I do get 1-3 private appraisal assignments (most clients are from out of town) per year which makes maintaining the site profitable. Also, you never know who will find you. One of my best non lender clients found me from my website.