Christian Real Estate Blog

Do you Pay for Search Engine Positioning?

As a followup to my post earlier today, I wanted to write about the ins and outs of paying to have your website listed in the search engines. I haven't met too many individual real estate agents that use pay per click, but the ones that do seem to do pretty well if they know what they're doing.

When you visit a popular search engine like Google or Yahoo, you'll notice that the first few results for a search are usually in a special box called sponsored links. The advertisers in this section are paying every time a person clicks on their link. This is known as pay per click marketing, and it can be a great way to get traffic to your site.

The beautiful thing about search engines is that they deliver targeted traffic. A customer that goes to a search engine and types in a specific title for a book is much more likely to purchase that book than if another person clicks a banner ad because they are interested in the same book. That is an example of targeted advertising vs. passive advertising. Search engines have provided better closing ratios than any other marketing in the history of mankind.

So, the question is... does your site come up in the natural search results? If not, are you willing to pay for traffic coming to your website? Maybe you get good search engine placement already, but just want that extra boost in traffic and leads.

The first and most obvious problem is the competition. On Google for example, you can expect to pay an arm and a leg for the more competetive real estate related terms. Terms like: "miami real estate listings" can cost you upwards of $10-$15 per click. And at that point, you have to ask yourself, is paying that kind of money worth it? Will my website be able to convert this traffic?

Here are some practical ideas for real estate agents that want to try their hand at search engine pay per click marketing:

1. Make your website a lead generating monster. If you are serious about internet marketing, then you need to spend the time and money it takes to build a quality website. You need to have useful information about the community, and good blog content about your market. This will let your customers know that you are an expert on your community. Don't just have a website that lists your contact information and tidbits about yourself. That is basically useless, and if this is the case, a pay per click campaign is not for you.

2. You need to have free access to MLS listings in your area on the website. And if possible, don't make your visitor complete a lengthy application to view the listings. Since they don't know you, why would they give you a huge list of contact information? As an act of good will, just give them free access with an email and first name. They will appreciate it, and it will set you apart from the other sites that show listings.

3. Make sure your contact information is very clear on all of the MLS listing pages. I usually say something like: "to schedule a showing for this listing, please contact: your name, etc."

4. For your pay per click campaign, choose keywords that are very specific to your market. Don't use keywords like: "miami real estate", "miami real estate agent" etc. As a general rule with search engines, you don't want to use broad keywords. Specific keywords always produce better leads. Try narrowing down your area to specific sub markets (using Miami as our example) "westchester homes for sale", "coral terrace real estate listings", etc.

5. Another benefit to using specific keywords is that there aren't as many people paying to be listed, so the prices are almost always cheaper per click.

6. Do not use one title and description for all your keywords. Customize the title and description for each keyword so that it correlates to the person's search. People that search for "coral terrace real estate listings", will most likely click on a title and descriton that contains those actual keywords as opposed to a title that says: "miami real estate agent".

7. Almost all real estate agents I've met have the best success using keywords that advertise the fact that they show MLS listings on their site for free. I've never met anyone that has had success using keywords like: "miami real estate agent". You have to realize that the average consumer isn't going to be looking for a real estate agent online, but for listings. And if they find a site that is really easy to use, and lets them look at properties in your market, there is a good chance that they will call you when it comes time to look for property

8. Feature your listings on your website. Post as many photos as you can, and have a virtual tour whenever possible.

9. Being first in the search results is not always favorable. There was a study done a while back showing that a huge percentage of people... I think it was like 30%, do something called impulse clicking. Which means that they almost always do a search, then click on the top result no matter what. This may sound good, but it almost always means traffic that doesn't convert as well. It is not always a bad thing especially if you want to set yourself up as the dominating presence for a particular keyword... but just something to keep in mind.

10. Make sure that your landing page, (usually your home page) somehow relates to that specific keyword. For example, if you are using keywords like: "Westchester homes for sale", make sure there it is clear on the landing page that the visitor can search for listings for free in Westchester. If you have more time, and want to really get sophisticated, create a custom landing page for each keyword that has information about the particular market that person searched for.

11. Get on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This way you will cover approx. 95% of all internet searches.

I hope this was helpful, please comment if you have any questions.

posted by Justin Smith @ 9/19/2006 08:52:00 AM