Search Engine Optimization

It takes a lot of work – The days of building a website and thinking that you are going to get great leads from it, without doing anything else, are over. If you want to drive leads into your business from the web, you need to commit a significant amount of energy to its success.

It requires an investment – SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) are not cheap, whether you do it all in-house or whether you pay someone to help manage the process for you. When you do it well, be assured, it will pay for itself many times over. If you are serious about building online leads, SEO and PPC should be line items in your budget every month.

Good SEO is way more than your website – Look at any of the true SEO kings and queens and you will see certain things they all have in common. They have a broad marketing strategy, with multiple nets into their market to capture attention, brand recognition and leads.

• They almost always have professional help with SEO and/or PPC
• They put out great content, all the time.
• The content is meaningful and truly helpful.
• They blog and use social media to increase the readership and they build their online authority by being referenced by other reputable sites.
• They also build real connections in their communities in addition to online connections. Each helps to support the other.

These connections don't just happen. Look behind these success stories and you will see well thought out strategies that work hand in hand with their website strategy.

You have to water the SEO garden everyday – It may be a corny example, but it works. You have to water your online strategy daily to get great results and when you grow fruit, you have to pick it immediately or it will rot. Those that have been successful building great online business all know the lead is just the beginning. With over 48% of all leads not even being responded to in our industry, you have to make sure that your leads don't die on the vine. The life of a lead is measured in minutes, not hours.

SEO Tips

DO...

• Fill in every content and area page with 300+ words of unique content
• Naturally sprinkle your keywords throughout your content
• Make your site unique to your own personality
• Find a niche that you can rock and go for it!
• Balance blocks of text with images, listings and other interesting content
• Take advantage of headings, meta info and other on-page SEO elements

DON'T...

• Use duplicate content from any source, including other websites, Wikipedia, news sources, etc.
• Overuse keywords in your content or create an otherwise "spammy" feeling site
• Rush your site's expansion, as quality is more important than quantity
• Buy or pay for backlinks, or get involved in any sort of link network

Pay Per Click (PPC) Tips

DO...

• Take advantage of Google Ad Words' advanced settings when setting up your campaign. You'll be able to specify location settings, bid strategies, and CPC maximums.
• Set up conversion tracking to monitor your campaign's results.
• Divide your main areas into different ad groups, allowing you to focus your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages to specific areas.
• Get specific: often ad groups for neighborhoods and property types do well because they're so specific -- they're less competitive and they give searchers exactly what they're looking for.
• Check on your keywords to see which ones are performing well (leverage those), and which ones can be paused/deleted.
• Set up ad extensions for your ad groups-- price range extensions (site links) work well for real estate.

DON'T...

• Expect optimal results right away. Though PPC offers instant results, it can take time to refine your campaign for best results (low cost-per-lead, high conversion rates)
• Monitor your campaign and make decisions and adjustments on a day-to-day or even on a week-to-week basis.
• Try to put your ads in the #1 position if possible. This is expensive but you'll do just fine in the 2, 3, or 4 positions as well.
• Change the filenames on your site without also changing the destination URLs in your ads. You don't want to pay for traffic going to a 404 page.

These are just the basics and the tip of the iceberg. Managing SEO and PPC is a full-time job and rules change in a flash. Just like buying a house shouldn't be done without a professional, the same is true for building a quality website that delivers great results.

Next week, we'll look at the examples of three market leaders who understand the value of working with other professionals to help them reach their business goals. These top real estate professionals get that it's a full time mission. They have made a commitment and invest in their business, and their results speak for themselves.

We hope you enjoy their insights.

More Articles in this Series

• Case Study: Ashton Real Estate Group
• Case Study: LIV Real Estate
• Case Study: Justin Havre & Associates