Real Estate Advertising Tips

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Are you placing all your eggs in 1 basket? (Series Part 1)

Everyone wants their own website to rank and surely everyone should strive for that.  But your own website can only place in up to 2 positions on the 1st page of Google.  That means by focusing solely on getting your own website to rank, you can lose leads because of those other 8 spots on page 1 that you are not in!  Online flyers, classified ads, blogs (AR, Localism), etc. can all help you capture more of these spots. Read How you can dominate the 1st page of Google for an example of this.

First you need to decide which search phrases you want to target.  Targeting “city real estate” is most likely one of your ideal search phrases but keep in mind that this may be very competitive in your area and may take awhile and a lot of work to get ranked.  Does that mean you should not target that search?  No, of course you should target it, but just don’t focus solely on it.  Think of some niche, more targeted search phrases you can go after.  Following are some examples (replace the word “City” with your actual city):

  1. City property for sale
  2. City land for sale
  3. City townhouses for sale
  4. City condos for sale
  5. City Luxury Property
  6. City Luxury Condos

All of the above examples may return a lower quantity of searches then “city real estate”, but they will result in targeted traffic.  For example, we have a client that creates real estate flyers and only wants them optimized for “luxury” type searches.  He sells very high-end luxury property and only wants to target buyers who are specifically looking for luxury property.  He has had great success from focusing on these niche search phrases and it has resulted in millions of dollars in sales for him.  Sometimes people only focus on traffic and what can bring in the most amount of traffic.  It’s not always about traffic.  You should think, “targeted traffic” and focus on bringing in quality leads rather than lots of traffic.

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How you can dominate the 1st page of Google

I had a client contact me recently and ask “How can I get my services to place in multiple slots on the 1st page of Google?”  Knowing that this client’s own website already places well in Google, I offered him a different approach.  I offered him this approach because I have only ever seen the same domain rank in 2 spots on the 1st page of Google.  My guess is Google intentionally does this so a single domain cannot dominate the entire first page and I think this is good practice on Google’s part. 

So you ready for the advice I gave him?

Okay – here it goes…..

Use other online services to enhance your page 1 placement.

Yep, it’s as easy as that.  Search Google for the search terms you would ideally like to rank for and see what other directories are coming up for that search.  Chances are very high that other free directories or portals will rank.  Search for “chula vista ca bank owned property” for an example.  See the screenshot below for all the other directories that are ranking on page 1 for “chula vista ca bank owned property”. 

Most people will click multiple results on the 1st page so you increase your chances of gaining that client or sale by being in multiple positions on that 1st page.

Let me use Bill Gassett as an example.  Bill is an active AR member and is a very savvy internet guy who utilizes online tools to enhance his exposure.  Search Google for "metrowest ma real estate".  You will see Bill's own website in the 1st two spots.  Great job Bill!  Following are other sites Bill ranks for all on page 1.

- Bill's ActiveRain blog (twice)
- Bill's Blogger blog
- Bill's Localism profile

If I were a buyer or seller searching Google for "metrowest ma real estate", Bill's face would be in front of me 6 times.  Guess who I would be contacting to sell me a property or to be my Agent?  Yep! Bill would be the man.

So I guess what I am trying to say is think outside the box a little.  Yes, ideally everyone would like to rank on page 1 for their own website but you can only grab so many spots for your own site.  Use other resources out there to help you dominate more of those 10 spots on the 1st page.