Real Estate Internet Marketing

In Part 2 of Real Estate Marketing Online: 5 Ways to Find Qualified Prospects, I shared with you my second suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online: Figure Out What Works for You.

Here’s my third suggestion for improving your real estate marketing online and finding more qualified prospects:

3. Learn how to SEO Your Website.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a way to increase your site’s rankings on search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo so that you have more people visiting your site.

The sites on page one of search engines receive many more visitors than those on further pages. Here are some stats to prove my point.

According to an April, 2008 study posted by iProspect, more than ever it’s important for businesses to get their search engine results as high as possible because:

• 68% of search engine users click on links that are on the first page of search results. (that’s up from 62% in 2006 and 60% in 2004 - so the trend is for more and more people to click only on Page One search engine results)
• 92% of users click on hits within the first three pages of search results. (that’s up from 90% in 2006 - so the importance of appearing high in the search results has steadily increased over time.)
• Inversely, only 8% of search engine users review more than the first three pages prior to clicking on a result.
• 39% of online users believe that businesses that appear at the top of search results are the leaders in their field. (that’s up from 37% in 2006 and 33% in 2002 - This can really help to increase trust in your services, build your brand and bring in qualified prospects.)

SEO is like a puzzle with a lot of pieces that have to come together to create the whole picture. Basically, to rank well on search engines you have to do what search engines like. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Know the terms (or keyword phrases) people are searching for and incorporate them into the wording on your site. The primary terms for real estate are:
  • YourCity real estate (Kansas City Real Estate, Portland Real Estate, South Beach Real Estate)
  • YourCity homes
  • YourCity homes for sale
  • YourCity real estate agents
  • YourCity (whatever property you specialize in such as condos, townhomes, luxury real estate)
• Provide fresh content frequently. That’s why search engines like blogs so much - they’re usually updated frequently. So, if you have a blog, post new content at least twice a week. If you don’t have a blog, start one! It’s a lot harder to add new content every week to your website than to your blog.
• Work with a professional Real Estate Search Engine Optimizer - Be very careful when hiring a search engine optimizer. There are a lot of fakes out there who take your money and do nothing. To learn more about what to look out for and how to choose a good real estate search engine optimizer, read Sandy Teller’s article on Choosing a Search Engine Optmizer.

Is that all there is to it? Not by a long shot. But it’s a good start.

Want to learn more about how to get your website ranked higher by using a blog? Check out my new site www.leadboosterclub.com. As a member, each month you’ll get 20 pre-written, customizable blog posts. Each post is well-written and search engine optimized so you can edit, copy and paste it into your blog in about 2 minutes.

To boosting your leads,

Kathy Goughenour