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 ……

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

Recently we have had many discussions with real estate agents about their web sites and conversion rates from their traffic. Many agents seem to get a lot of hits and no conversions, others not so many hits but a much higher conversion rate. This appeared to be strange as many of the sites were using a templated setup that we have worked with in the search engines.

So as a real estate internet marketing company we started to look in more detail at what was going on with these sites. The property searches were laid out the same, same navigation, articles and information (Albeit duplicate content) etc.

Then we noticed a key thing which came out at us, the sites that’s appeared to be doing better had a picture of a team of people, not just the real estate agent who’s site it was. This may seem extremely strange at first, but if you think about human logic it isn’t as strange as it seems.

Most of us start to think about the fact, if the agent is out at least I’m going to be able to speak with someone else, at the end of the day what we all want is a response, and even in this day of the internet and emails, we still need that human touch. So we have come to the conclusion that in people industries, people do in fact still buy people. So put up a picture of your team and let your clients know that you are not a one man show, but have the complete backing of a team of professionals behind you who can help with their needs.

With the Spring only 3 months away now is the time to consider getting your real estate web site in order for the upcoming year. Many web site owners leave it until they need to be placed and ready to receive visitors before thinking about their marketing.

Marketing online is a process that can take many months depending on where your site is currently placed, how old the domain is, whether you have your content ready etc.

So start the process in advance, this also makes sense if you are going to embark on the marketing of your web site yourself. While it is quiet you have the time to concentrate on it, ahead of the rush that normally comes with real estate in the Spring.

So, do your Spring cleaning now in the Winter, and be ahead of all of those other real estate agents that are sitting back with their feet up, and even if you are going to employ a real estate internet marketing company, do it now and give them a chance to do a good job for you. There is no magic formula that will have you immediately up and running, and if a company tells you different take a good long hard look at them before you do business with them. None of us have any special relationship with any search engine that gets us immediate placement, other than Pay Per Click.

So in short, don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today, and have a great and prosperous new year.