This is a question I have been asked many times and as you can see from a comment to my previous post about SEO tools people still think this is a valuable thing to do.

I have to say personally I have not submitted a site to the major search engines in the last two or three years. These bulk emails and submission systems in the past did have value, today I would say don’t use them. We do in fact have it on our web site and it has been there for a long time, but if anyone approaches us for it, we talk about internet marketing and better ways of promoting your site.

The way to get included in the search engines today is via links from other sites, that’s why we have a real estate blog here, we share our views,  have an active community and links to our sites and other sites that we wish to promote. Links from other respected sites will not only get you indexed but they contribute to your placement in each of the major engines as long as you use good anchor text.

So in a word NO do not submit your site to the search engines, let them be found from links on other relevant web sites, like this one and blogs etc.

The debate about SEO Tools and their usefulness will run forever. Do they have a place in SEO and internet marketing? Do they break search engine guidelines? Do they even perform tasks that help and return useful information? Do they generate SPAM?

The answers to these questions depend on how you use them.

Some of the tools out there today do enable you to optimize your site, but they are not a replacement for having an understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve in the first place.

Many of the tools will analyze your site and point you in the right direction, but internet marketing needs the human touch as well. It requires that you make your site friendly and useful to the visitor, not just a highly optimized page that’s gets high rankings and everyone that then visits you can’t wait to leave.

Some of the tools out there are very good at allowing you to do off page optimization like articles and link building, but again remember that awful word SPAM.

Some of the tools that assist with article submissions and directory submissions are a blessing and I have no problem with a tool that takes me from one site to another and preloading my log in information and some key details while allowing me to fine tune my listing or article submission making them all personal and friendly and in the right category. These tools assist with a manual task but are not fully automated.

So in summary yes, they do have a place, if you know how to use them, what you need to do if you didn’t have them, and you don’t SPAM ……

Here are the average house prices for houses in Canada by Province for October 2006 compared to the previous year (Listed first)

1. National Average
• $256,190
• $280,816
2. Alberta
• $227,948
• $307,911
3. B.C.
• $345,765
• $401,047
4. Manitoba
• $129,886
• $149,160
5. New Brunswick
• $121,113
• $134,991
6. Newfoundland
• $140,010
• $135,278
7. Northern Territories
• $175,833
• $267,780
8. Nova Scotia
• $163,758
• $162,515
9. Ontario
• $270,044
• $281,448
10. Quebec
• $191,787
• $196,867
11. Saskatchewan
• $123,209
• $130,524
12. Yukon
• $181,523
• $205,568

So the real estate market in Canada continues to rise with the national average up about 9.61%. The province of Alberta is up 35% on the same period last year. Ontario shows a lower than national average of 4.22% however this is reflected in most provinces due to the boom in Alberta. The best way to get the top price for your property is still to work with a recognized real estate agent in your area.

In Ontario we are featuring Brampton Real Estate agent Bob Perks and the Toronto Commercial Real Estate Broker Steve Kerlovich to assist you with your real estate needs.

I was surfing today looking at online products that might help my clients with their real estate internet marketing, especially as I regard it to be my job to help them turn all leads not just online ones to real live sales.

I came across this product that claims to assist with follow up showing by other agents, it available to view at http://www.homefeedback.com/ has anyone here used it, heard anything about it. Does it do what to claims to do, and does the follow up really come through.

Anyway agents can turn suspects, to prospects to sales is great if it works and works in the right way.

Please note this is a genuine enquiry, I have not got an affiliate tage linked in here to try and get people to purchase this product, I’m looking for real genuine feedback please.

Once again the SEO world is getting excited as it would appear Google is in the midst of a PR / Backlink update, however as the real estate SEO and real estate internet marketing world knows these updates don’t normally effect the SERP’s that much.

There are many reports out there from Google and especially Matt Cutts that state that PR is updated dynamically within the SERP’s so an update is nothing to get excited about, all it is, is Google letting us know what our PR and backlinks are at this specific moment.

So for all of you out there that look at it for whether or not you will link with a site the results appear to be starting to show on some Google Datacenters, give it a few days to roll out and you should be able to see it locally and in the Toolbar