Buying, selling and investing in real estate is one of the age-old, time-honored ways to get rich. This may be hard to believe in a down real estate market, but it is true even today. Why? The main reason is that real estate is a finite resource, meaning there is only so much of it to go around.

Of course, some pieces of real estate are valued at hundreds of dollars per square foot, while others are worth just pennies. Any good realtor will tell you that the main reason for the great variance in real estate values is: location, location, location.

When thinking about your website – and how to care for and feed it – it can be helpful to view it as you would a piece of real estate. Specifically, your website has two aspects that make it a lot like a piece of real estate:

a. the URL, or web address, is like a physical address, meaning: nobody else can have your exact address. It is one-of-a-kind. It can be bought and sold, but it cannot be duplicated.

b. the design and content of your site is akin to the layout and look-and-feel of a home, store, or piece of industrial real estate: the more time, resources, money, love and attention you put into it, the more you stand to get out of it.

Here are 5 tips for treating your website like a piece of valuable real estate:

1. Re-think the look-and-feel of your site now and then. Give your visitors something fresh to look at.

2. Consider purchasing variations on your URL. For example, if you own “RoundRockSEO.com,” consider buying “RoundRockSEOExpert.com” and “Round-Rock-SEO.com.” You never know what variations on your URL that people might be searching for.

3. Add a new addition now and again. For example, maybe your site needs a testimonials page or a news articles page. This performs the function of adding more content to your site, which helps get the attention of search engines.

4. Get links from other websites to your website. This is a great way to bring in traffic, and search engines love sites that have lots of backlinks, too.

5. Point out your site directly other folks now and again. For example, include it in e-mails, at the footer of faxes, e-newsletters, billboards, and other traditional ad spaces. Some of the best traffic sources are called “direct traffic,” whereby a person directly types in your URL to their browser.

Treat your website like the asset that it is, and you will find it increasing in value year after year.