Ranking a Template Site

[Oaklandhomespecialist]

Im a Prudential agent, so I have a temlate site that is on the Prurealty domain like all Prudential agents. Although I'm working on my REW site too, Im thinking I might as well try to rank this site for a different keyword than my REW one.

Currently Im linking to my prudential site's search page from my REW site and blog, and this alone had this site on pg 8 for Oakland real estate, even though there were only two links to it that werent even pointing to the homepage. Im guessing the authority of the Prurealty domain is the reason why it was showing up with only a couple of links.

This gets me wondering, what if I add more content and get some links to this template site? My template site is pr 3 currently, and I've checked many other Prudential agents template sites and they are all 0 (at least according to the foolbar). Im focusing on Oakland real estate for my REW site, so Im thinking of trying to rank my Prudential site for Bay Area real estate. I mean, I have to pay for the site anyway because Im with Prudential so I might as well try to rank it right!

Any thoughts guys? Does this seem possible or a pipe dream? I know the coding probably isnt too clean, but would that alone prevent me from getting to pg 1 on google?

[webmaster]

how much control do you have over page data etc?

[Oaklandhomespecialist]

how much control do you have over page data etc?

They recently made some changes that gives us more control. I can add content and links as much as I want, but I dont think I can add images. I can control the title tag and keywords, but no description tag.

[RyanR]

I have these same issues. I have a template site and another issue I've just spent hours trying to figure out how to get my Google Analytics code inserted in the pages. I can click on html to change some html but it's more to change font and really easy stuff. It doesn't show all the code. I'm definitely going to switch it to a more customizable page sometime soon. I also want to do an Adword campaign right now but once again I wouldn't be able to see which ads are getting me good leads and my ROI because I can't insert the tracker code.

[Oaklandhomespecialist]

I have these same issues. I have a template site and another issue I've just spent hours trying to figure out how to get my Google Analytics code inserted in the pages. I can click on html to change some html but it's more to change font and really easy stuff. It doesn't show all the code. I'm definitely going to switch it to a more customizable page sometime soon. I also want to do an Adword campaign right now but once again I wouldn't be able to see which ads are getting me good leads and my ROI because I can't insert the tracker code.

Ryan,

Yes, I thought about that issue too. I too have access to change html but I don't know if it will let me put the google code in, I think I might be able to though.

I agree that for ppc it would be hard if you couldnt analyze the traffic. In my case, Im paying a monthly fee for my site(along with a bunch of other stuff) whether it ranks or not so I might as well do my best to make it get at little traffic.

[RyanR]

My problem is that the Google source code is that it is Javascript and when I do the HTML code and paste it in there it doesn't recognize it. So you might run into the same issues. Let me know if you're able to get it in there. So are you going to do the PPC without any statistics and just hope for the best? I was thinking about that too and just try to switch over to a better custom website ASAP.

[Sam Dodd]

im a prudential aagent 2 where are you getting these websites? PreaCenter? Anyways I think the reason morgan wanted to know is you may be able to give your REW site links from Prudentials site which would be fairly benifical. Anyways let me know.

[Oaklandhomespecialist]

My problem is that the Google source code is that it is Javascript and when I do the HTML code and paste it in there it doesn't recognize it. So you might run into the same issues. Let me know if you're able to get it in there. So are you going to do the PPC without any statistics and just hope for the best? I was thinking about that too and just try to switch over to a better custom website ASAP.

I don't plan on doing too much ppc yet, I may do some long tails but Im trying to rank organically. I actually just finished playing with my template site and it seems they have added a built in analytics system. It's almost as good as google's, so it looks like I wont need them. I will let you know if I find out how to install GA on a template though.

[Oaklandhomespecialist]

im a prudential aagent 2 where are you getting these websites? PreaCenter? Anyways I think the reason morgan wanted to know is you may be able to give your REW site links from Prudentials site which would be fairly benifical. Anyways let me know.

Hey whay's up Sam,

Oh yea, I totally forgot you were Pru!

With Prudential California Realty, all agents pay a $79/mo fee that is for our template website, email, and access to the "Webtop" which is a bundle of services including flyer templates, newsletters, all kinds of corporate boiler plate stuff we can use, plus a buch of other stuff. The websites just got updated with virtual earth dynamic mapping(wolfnet I think) built in analytics, we have control over content and links, title and keyword tags.

A lot of people think it's sort of a ripoff for what you get, but there are some pretty cool support tools available with it. I just never even contemplated trying to rank that site because we used to not be able to change much on it. But when I saw that it was beating my REW site for my biggest keyword with only two back links (neither to the homepage) and no optimized content I started wondering.

So no they are not through Prea, but I did just today send off my website link agreement to Prea for my Prudential.com link. I just found out about that a few days ago, and I figured a one way from Prudential.com should be a pretty good link Im going to try to get one to my REW site too but I have to change my logo and add the disclaimer verbage. They are very strict about the sites they link to, you have to have all your p's and q's straight. But I am already linking from my Pru site to my REW site.

So I assume there's no webtop in Utah? It would make sense, because we are all independent affiliates doing our own thing.

[RyanR]

Mine is from my mortgage originator software company. It's only $25 a month with no start-up costs and has the application leads sent straight to my software and inputs all the data for me in the right places on the application. So it works for now, and I've gotten some leads off of it. I obviously want way more control of what I can do with it though so I can do everything SEO-wise that I would like to.