Internet Marketing is More Than SEO – Yelp!

I tend to focus my blog efforts on writing about optimizing websites to rank well in the search engines. From time to time it is a good idea to put some effort into other aspects of Internet marketing. This week we'll examine Yelp.com a bit.

Initially, Yelp.com focused on restaurant reviews. Over the years the reviews have expanded to include most service organizations. For the broker, this represents a real opportunity in guerilla marketing.

Here's a personal example—I need to sell a condo in Redlands, California. Not knowing a real estate professional in the area, I ask for a referral from my friends. I got a glowing recommendation and called the agent. We talked and he promised a follow-up within a couple of days. That was a week ago.

Like a good consumer, the next thing I did was search Google for "Real Estate Broker Redlands." Included in the top five results: Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com and an apartment complex. Not much help picking a broker to contact in that mess.

I flashed on a thought..."What about Yelp.com?" Turns out that Yelp has 46 agents listed. The top agent has a total of six reviews that got her to the top of the rankings.

What did that bit of Internet marketing cost the agent? About 15 minutes worth of time to set up a profile, zero dollars, and asking satisfied clients to post a review. Not a bad ROI on that particular marketing investment.

Let's face facts—you will never beat the real estate giants at the SEO game for top level keywords without massive marketing efforts. What you can do is find inexpensive marketing niches that will payoff over time.

What would it take for you to direct your agents to setup Yelp profiles in your market area? Not much I suspect. If the agent includes specialized keywords in the profile your payoffs are even better. Be sure they use placenames in the profile to improve your odds. The hard part is getting your agents to ask for the positive review right after the transaction.

To view the original article, visit the CoreLogic Broker Cafe blog.