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As a professional bio writer, I often get asked "how do I write a bio when I don't have direct experience in the business?"

Don't sweat it! I can tell you that your realtor bio is not necessarily JUST about your industry experience. More than anything, readers want to know that you:

1) know the local market; 2) understand the client's needs; 3) are going to work hard for them.

And you can satisfy each of these criteria even if you are brand new to the real estate business.

Let's take each of these client concerns and see what you can write in your professional bio that will wow them.

1. You know the local market.

OK, so maybe you don't have 20 years experience as a realtor in the community. But you live in the community, right?

So talk about what your connection to the community: the hidden gems you treasure, the groups you're involved with, or the networks you belong to.

Whereas an experienced realtor might write about their twenty years experience as a real estate agent, a brand new realtor can write:

Jane has lived in Townville for X years and just loves it. She knows all the neighbourhoods inside-out, and can help you select the best one for your family's needs.

OR

As a lifelong resident of Mayberry, Andy can put his insider knowledge to work to find a special property in your neighbourhood of choice.

You're showing that you know the local market, and the client won't care how many years of experience you have.

2. You understand the client's needs.

What do people really want when they are buying or selling real estate? They want an agent who will help them meet their needs. These needs might include understanding exactly what they mean by "cozy home", having a particular type of business style, or using the latest marketing tools.

So how do you express this in your realtor bio? You might say something like:

Andy also uses the latest Internet marketing tools to expose your property to the widest possible range of qualified buyers.

3. You are going to work hard for them.

When thinking about how to write a bio, remember that the bottom line for clients is "are you the right real estate agent for me?" Often this translates into "Do I like you?"

So don't forget about the personal qualities that qualify you for the job. People reading your real estate bio will feel confident knowing that you are pleasant, professional, hard-working, enthusiastic and organized.

Here's one way to write this in your professional bio:

Why choose Jane as your real estate agent? For one thing, she really listens to you and will work tirelessly on your behalf.

Trust me, it makes all the difference when trying to sell yourself to show who you are and why you are enthusiastic about the topic.

You don't need decades of experience and a wall of awards to write a winning real estate bio. Just show that you know the local market, understand the client's needs, and are going to work hard for them. Then you'll have a great professional bio that will be a strong part of your marketing materials.

About the author: Barbra Sundquist is an experienced technical writer and business coach who provides fill-in-the-blank templates for how to write a bio. Visit HowToWriteBio.com to get your free copy of "84 Sentence Starters for Writing A Bio".

On November 20^th, Google released a new feature called SearchWiki. This tool is meant to allow users to customize their search engine results pages (SERPs) by adding, removing, and rearranging the listings. Keep in mind that you are manipulating your personal search results, not the results of every Google user. With SearchWiki, you can:

-Move a listing up and down in your personal search results. Using the arrow icons, you can make a listing #1 or move it to the bottom of your results page. If you vote a site up, it will automatically become first in your list so it make take some finagling to get your results to appear exactly the way you want them to. Same goes for any results you vote down.

-Remove a listing from your personal search results. Don't like a particular site? You can delete it from your results page with a click of the "X" button. From that point on, that site will not appear in your results pages.

-Add a listing to your personal search results. Like a site but don't see it in your results pages? You can add a URL to your results using the "Add a Site" functionality. Then you can move it up or down in your results pages.

-Comment on the listings in your results pages. You can leave a public comment on the sites that appear in your results pages and they will be visible to all SearchWiki users. You can let the world know if a site was useful to you or not by simply leaving a comment.

For the full 411 on Google SearchWiki, read this article from Search Engine Land.

Also, watch the video below for a demonstration of Google SearchWiki:

So what does this mean for your real estate blog? Well, a feature in SearchWiki is the ability to review the notes pages for a particular keyword. These pages are meant to allow you to view the comments made on sites that rank for a particular keyword in an effort to let you know what pages are useful and what pages are not. In the future, SearchWiki notes pages may become popular among search engine users. At this point you can vote for and comment on your site's listing using SearchWiki. When you do this, you will increase your site's chances of being seen at the top of the SearchWiki notes pages. Depending on the impact of SearchWiki, we may see the votes and comments become a part of how Google ranks sites overall and it may affect your sites placement in the search engines for your keywords.  So it may be a good idea to go ahead and comment on your site for all of your keywords to get your site noticed on SearchWiki now rather than later.

See what others have to say about Google SearchWiki:

Aaron Wall of SEOBook

Michael Gray of Graywolf's SEO Blog

Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch

Method #2 - Submitting Your Blog Posts to Article Submission Sites

Another easy way to build links to your site is by submitting your blog posts to article submission sites. Article submission sites are a great opportunity to promote your best blog posts. As an author, you submit your posts along with an author information box which contains information about you and a link to your site. These sites take your article and publish it on their site for use by webmasters and bloggers as content on their sites. When other people use your article on their site, they are required to publish it with your author information box completely intact. That translates to a backlink from every site that uses your article in addition to the backlink you get from the article submission site itself. One good article could garner you a multitude of backlinks!

Here is an example of an article that has been submitted to GoArticles.com:

As you can see, the publisher guidelines are very visible at the top to remind those who would like to use this article that they must include the author's information when it is published on their site. Also note the "About the Author" area (this is the author information box) and how it contains a link to the author's site. Every time this article is published on someone's site, James Kobzeff gets a backlink to his site, www.proapod.com. He even gets one from here too since I just published his article.

When you submit your articles to these sites, you want to be sure that they are added to the category that is most closely aligned with your keywords. Virtually all article submission sites have a real estate category and that is where you will want to add your articles. This will ensure that the right publishers find your article and that you get the best quality link possible from the article submission site itself.

It is also important to change your article a bit before submitting it to these sites. You don't want to give these sites the same exact article you have published on your own site. I recommend that you change the article so that it is about 35% different from the post on your site. You may also want to tone down the use of your keywords so that your article appeals to a broader audience and is published by more sites. Try rewriting your article using your farm area as an example so as to keep some of your keywords without overwhelming the article with them.

Lastly, vary the anchor text you use for the link to your site within the author information box. Don't just use "www.yoursite.com "-use your keywords and site title in various combinations to get the best backlink possible. Using your variations of your keywords as your anchor text increases your link's value in the eyes of Google and the other search engines.

Here are 10 article submission sites to get you started:

www.goarticles.com

www.ezinearticles.com

www.articledashboard.com

www.articlesfactory.com

www.articles-hub.com

www.bestezines.com

www.buzzle.com

www.isnare.com

www.articlecity.com

www.articlebiz.com

As you do research into other article submission sites, you may come across services that claim to allow you to submit your article automatically to multiple sites in one click. Like I have mentioned in previous posts, do not pay for services such as these. If they do not offer their services for free, it is most likely a scam.

Remember, the more articles you submit, the more backlinks you will get so try to do this on a regular basis. To start, try submitting one rewritten blog post to the directories listed above each week. Use this backlinking method as a part of a complete link building strategy and you will be on your way to search engine success!

Related Posts:

Backlinks: The Key To Search Engine Success

Basic Backlinking Methods That Get Results: Blog & RSS Feed Directory Submissions

SEO 101: Choosing Your Keywords

Once you have decided what keywords you will be targeting, the next step is to use them throughout your site. Using your keywords correctly is vital to ranking for them in the search engines. Now that you know why you need your keywords on your site, let's talk about how and where you should use your keywords on your site.

#1 - Your Domain Name

To Google and the rest of the search engines, domain names are important elements of websites. The search engines take into consideration the age of your domain name and the length of time for which it is registered. Secondarily, they register whether or not a domain name contains the site's keywords. Not having your keywords in your domain name doesn't severely harm your site's ranking potential by any means but having them in there will give your site additional value. Aim to incorporate your keywords into your domain name in a way that reads naturally. A good example is our client Marc Blasi's real estate blog, www.palmbeachrealestateandloans.com. The primary keywords for his site are "Palm Beach Real Estate" and "Palm Beach Loans". As you can see, he has created a domain name that is not only keyword-rich, but memorable and useful for marketing.

Resource: Video from SEOBook on Domain Names and Search Engine Marketing

#2 - Your Content

Having keywords in your content is how you will attain good keyword density. This is needed on your site to rank for your chosen terms. Your goal is to weave your keywords into your site's content in a way that reads well and does not come off to the search engines as keyword spamming. Follow these three rules to achieve your goal:

• Use your keywords in all of your post titles.
• Use your keywords a minimum of three times within each post.
• Be clever and come up with ways to use keywords in your content without them sticking out like a sore thumb. Example: Say the keyword you are targeting is "Coconut Creek Homes". Use a title like "The Ultimate Guide to Buying Homes in Coconut Creek". Bear in mind that the search engines are smart enough to pick up your keywords even if they are slightly out of order.

Resource: SEM Bootcamp: How Search Engines See Keywords

Next week, I will cover using your keywords in other areas of your site for additional SEO value. Check out The Real Estate Expert Network often for more helpful SEO and blogging tips!

Related Posts:

SEO 101: Choosing Your Keywords

The Buzz on Blogs and Why Your Real Estate Business Needs One