Real Estate Advertising Tips

Thanks for the info Misty, I learn something new everyday on here

Hi Misty:

It seems that Active|Rain, Trulia®, ClassifiedFlyerAds, CraigsList, BackPage and Point2Agent have powerful results on Google. What are the others ways to get there?

Really good info here, Misty.  Thank you for taking the time to put it together. Your post is already bookmarked!

I think you may be better off using a listing directory that automatically publishes to all these websites.  Otherwise, the duplication time would drain all your time!  Postlets.com is supposed to be a good one for this.  Thanks for sharing though!

Great post with proof that it works -- I use ListingProducer.com for single property domains but your right on!  You could even have a PPC advertisement to the right of that for those key words too.  You don't pay until they click on your ad and the ad would be very inexpensive to have.  The impression for your sellers is what is important and I like the way you have layed it out.

I still cant figure out how to get placed high for those key words "Eau Claire Wisconsin real estate" I have tried and tried. I have asked quite a few times. Do I just have to wait? I have been pounding that phrase for months now. What else can I do?

I noticed if I search with quotes around it I jump higher immediately. what does that mean? what should I be doing to improve my results. I rank very high for almost every other conceivable phrase I can come up with.

I guess I am saying I have tried this and still cant get the results I want.

Who is Bill Gassett? LOL.

Jocking aside, great post. My mother always said to never put all your eggs in one basket. It's great to expand your blogging wings and blog on different networks or platforms.

Hi Mott- I will try to post some more SEO tips here soon that should help you out.

Hello Garren - I agree with using a syndication service.  ClassifiedFlyerAds.com automatically posts your listings to 25+ directories and achieves page 1 rankings.  Best of both worlds.

Hello Eau- try posting your listing to one or more of the directories (sites) that are showing in the screen shot of this blog post or use ClassifiedFlyerAds.com to create an online listing flyer.  You just may be surprised with the results.

AR is the best branding source I have ever used......and it is free.  I love to use this in presentations.  I love to Google the competition and find nada.  Then Google any street in our community and there we are.....multiple times.  Also, podcasting doubles the effectiveness of the search.........@$30/listing..........

One of the best posts I have read.  I have some serious work to do - thanks much.

Thanks for the great information.  I want more places on page one of google

Of course it helps that Bill is brilliant and he rocks.  Anybody can place great in Google but ya still gotta work the magic and get the deal closed to make it count! :)

I have recently done as you suggested on this blog.  My google page ranking improved dramatically.  Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the info. We had noticed for some key words popping up in few of those places, but oh, so we forget to keep posting the relevant keywords in other forums too. Thanks for the reminder. ~Rita

Misty,

Awesome post and so true !  Your recommendation really helps people like us who are making our way up... we may be on p. 1 or may have one entry on p. 1 but are starting to get others on p.2 or p. 3 (localism, trulia, a craigslist)... our site or blog... so that is great.  Eventually we will get up there for all of the above on page 1 !  Thus, we have positioned ourselves on some of the other sites and portals.  thanks !  I had an idea we were doing something right !  ~ Chris

Misty ... great advice, thanks for pointing that out!

pippa

weused www.surfyourtown.com  great results

Misty - Thanks for the link love and using me as an example. As you know many of my posts have discussed specific ways for Realtors and others to have total domination in the search engines. I specifically have mentioned a number of sites that will do exactly what you are showing in your example. Of course classifiedflyerads.com is part of my online success:)

HI MISTY!

Great info!  You're right...gotta think outside the box!!  Thanks for sharing & yes, Bill rocks!!

Misty,

Bookmarked this post and going to try to take the time to follow up and see what I am doing right and wrong......

Very effective strategy, one I utitlize and it works!!!

Great info   Thanks

Thanks for sharing this information. I am digesting it as I go.... Thanks for pointing out Bill too. I might just go check him out.

I'm getting ready to ad another flyer with you and noticed this post... Interesting.  What "other" examples are you talking about.  Like real bird, and such or do you mean something else?

Misty I've missed you and all your tech savy advice. I eat it up.

You make it sound so easy. I wish it were so. I am working tremendously hard for placement and post blogs in multiple places....guess I'm using the wrong terms.

Misty, you did a really great job laying this out for the newbies

Katrina

This is great!  Every little bit helps!

Shannon - Great point and so true "but ya still gotta work the magic and get the deal closed to make it count".

Bill - Thank you!  Your AR blog is wonderful and I read it often.  Any Realtor who wants to advance in the web space should read your blog http://activerain.com/blogs/metrowesthomes. You have some very valuable tips and I think its great that you are so willing to share your knowledge with others.

Missy - Thanks for your comment.  I haven't gone away completely.  I have been in heavy development mode lately so haven't had as much time to participate as I would like.

Hi Vickie - It's not always easy but don't get discouraged.  Feel free to email me with the search terms you are trying to rank for and I would be happy to give you some tips.

Great Information!  Thanks so much for sharing!

Christine

Missy - Like Bill, you continually give good advice for improving our blogs and our SEO.  Thanks! 

Great advice!!!  SEO is the secret of internet success when 86% of the buyers start there!!!

Misty.. great information... maybe I need you to give me a few pointers...

I like to think of it as attacking the internet. putting yourself where you want to be.

And people wonder why I have so many blogs on my plate... 

Also, using unique search terms can help you get found high in the ranks.

We all can use help getting higher ranking on Google. Thanks for your help.

My own website rarely, if ever, ranks for anything, but my Tomato Blog - where I control the content - is usually on Page 1 for any searchh I do.  (Tell me again why I keep my website?)

This works really works.  I have three sites and multi blogs and for one search phrase my blogs and sites took 14 out of the top 20 positions.  Now it was not a really popular phrase but it brings in some traffic.

Margaret that is awesome!  Hope you are not paying much for your website.  We are actually in the process of transferring our main company website over to a blog.  A good Blogsite can look just as good or better then a website and has a greater chance of ranking in search engines especially if you continually add content.

Chris- 14 out of 20?  Wow!  Congrats!  It's not always about getting the best search phrase to rank especially if that search phrase is very competitive.  Getting 3 or 4 less competitive search phrases to rank can bring in just as much traffic as getting 1 very competitive search to rank.  Too often people focus on 1 very competitive search phrase and loose out on traffic they can receive from multiple less competitive searches.

Thanks Misty, it makes a lot of sense. I'll go back to Google with new "eyes" now :)

Misty, great post - great idea.  And Bill Gassett is my internet guru - he gets everywhere first and then shares.

Wow - pretty amazing stuff, Misty!  I never thought about multiple placings on the first page of Google.

Misty

Wow! Such a gem of information.  Yet for those of us who only know enough to be dangerous about computers, this area can sometimes be overwelming.

Would sincerely like to see any future pieces that you write on the subject.

Are you saying to create pieces in these various directories:ie, blogging in AR?

And to catch the hits, making sure these keywords are used in titles or body of the work?

Thanks again,

Wayne

Interesting strategy. One definitely worth pursuing. Thanks Misty.

Stefan

Great post -- I was just on google and noticed that I had three links on the first page (my website, ActiveRain and Craigslist).  I did a little WhooHoo!   I'm going to try this for all of my top keywords.

Thank you!

Thanks for the advice, both yours and Bills :~)  I now have more homework to do but am sure it will pay off.  Thanks!

I've found that I can appear for AR, Localism, my website and other sites like Inman on Page 1 at the same tine.  AR's great for the Google juice.

Misty-

Outstanding information!  Truly appreciated!

Your illustration is great, thanks for taking the time to enlighten those of us who are still behind the learning curve!

Good points. Use different avenues to get to the same place. Thanks.

Hi Misty - thanks for teaching us.  I posted an open house on Active Rain and Craigslist a few weeks ago. I STILL rank number 1 in google serach of open house in my town.  I hadn't quite connected the dots and appreciate your post.

You are amazing.  Thank you SO much for sharing your expertise with all of us.

Shhhhhhhh!!!

You're giving away all our secrets!   ;)

One downside is that if you have a half dozen or more listings, it can take some time to enter and update all of these sources. But it does pay off.    :)

But is it all about the tags?  

thanks so much - laura

Misty, I have bookmarked this post to email to some of my associates. Thanks for sharing in an easy to understand format!

Okay, that was very interesting and simple to implement.  THANKS!

Yes it works, in some cases we have 5-10 slots on the first page with different websites. There is something else you can do, but, not letting that out of the bag right now Lol.

Thanks for this information.  There is always another approach.  Yay for Bill !  He is everywhere and has some good suggestions.  It pays to think outside the box!  Now to just find the time :-)

Great advice Misty, thanks! I need to start leveraging and thinking this way.

Thanks so much for explaining this so clearly!

Thats really smashing the 1st page. The content of each url must be different or Google will delete the lowest pr and carry only the highest. If they are duplicate info they could delete both.

Richard

Thanks for this post. It is very beneficial.

Great info Misty!  Just another example of what Active Rain is all about...Professionals helping Professionals better their business in the Real Estate Industry!  I'm putting together a blog on this topic, and I'm linking your blog as one of a couple of highlights in regards to what people can find here in the Rain!

Great information and thanks for posting!

good advice all around. Little by little for several search terms, I am seeing more of my blogs and listing ads with good keywords get to the top of Google.

Hi Misty - great info in this post, and I've been working on just that for the sites where I am.  I had heard google allow basically 2 spots for site to show up on page one, and doing what you've written just makes perfect sense to me.

Thanks for sharing!
Ann

I LOVE that 'local area info' widget you have on your sidebar - might want one of those for my own site.

Ann

Wayne - yep that's what I am saying :).  Yes keywords in the title and body make a big difference.

Laura - the content and title within the page (post) make a big difference.  I will write another post soon explaining this because it is a good topic.

Rob & Jeannie - yes if you add listings manually to each directory it can be very time consuming.  You can save a huge amount of time using a syndication service such as ClassifiedFlyerAds.com

Thanks Ann!  You can get your own free local area widget in various colors and sizes from ClassifiedFlyerAds.com

Thanks for the info this morning, I appreciate it. Have a great day!

Don't forget the basics of your own website.  But I find Active Rain is great!!!

Exellent ideas. We have found that by becoming active in a number of socialy active sites like active rain have had a big impact on our rankings. But everything expoloded when we started getting involved with the directories.

Misty,

Great advice and congrats on the activerain feature. I am going to research this a little further.

Misty - This is terrific advice for anyone looking to have an effective SEO campaign.  I have found that this works best for keywords that are not as heavily promoted.  For example, it would be tough for be to crack into the top ten multiple times for "austin real estate", but I own the first page for my name.  I am looking to duplicate this for some of the outlying areas of town.

Wow...thats great information...I did try it and was ranked on the first page...thanks!

good post misty... good info... i learn something new here all the time...

Diversification is always a good idea. I maintain several real estate websites and blogs for this various reason. It is also a good idea to participate in several different social media outlets.

Great informative post!!! Thank you!!!

Vanessa

Great job and it really is as simple as that!

One thing though! How do yo make your site reach the top of google.  A lot of people in my area spend a lot of money on pay per clicks to be at the top and to get there organically, takes some serious time.  It can't just happen over-night.  Any suggestions on getting up there faster, without having to pay per click?

I tried this.  Nothing but direct competition for first 30 slots.  We came up 10th.

Misty,

Great advise.  It is amazing how fast a blog post or active rain post will get picked up by the Google, certainly much faster than only putting the information on your web site.

Jodi Bakst, www.TeamJodi.com

Great post, good thing it is fall so I can take the time to go to work on this in the Ann Arbor Real Estate Market! info@KathyToth.com

IF you really want to be found on Google.com you need D2N Technology through www.imoria.com

D2N or whatever your name is - AR members here really hate spam comments.  If you want to assure that AR members don't use your services then continue to post these types of comments.  I have seen you do this in multiple places over the past couple of days and this is a sure way to make sure AR members do not purchase your services/products.

I am not going to delete your comment because I want to make sure all AR members see just how un-professional you are being.

You'll be surpised at how qucikly you can increase your rankings with just a  few AR blog posts!

Well, if it's not a doFollow, it won't work. For example: Craigslist!

This is good info, and a good approach to more online exposure, thanks for the pointers!

With the increasing importance of the web, this is a strategy all serious marketers need to embrace.

With the increasing importance of the web, this is a strategy all serious marketers need to embrace.

Misty,

Pretty clever, and also rather simple. Now that you brought it up I need to check into it and see what can be done. Thanks for the tip.

Claude - having links that "follow" to your own website is only a part of a complete search engine marketing strategy.  Ideally you want to dominate as many spots on the 1st page of Google as possible.  Your own website can only show up o the 1st page of Google in 2 spots.  Utilizing other online directories, blogs, etc. to grab more of those 10 spots is key to dominating the top of search engines.  It's not always about link backs.

Misty,

Thank you from an SEO newbie!  A little effort starts showing alot of results!

Awesome information, there is so much out there it's hard to keep up!

Thanks for a great post!!

Great advice.  Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the info!

Very true, but you are then helping the big realty sites push you down in the rankings...a true dilemma...be prepared to have take referrals from these big real estate sites in the near future...nothing is free forever...

Great ideas, thank you. I try to spend the "quieter" winter months doing exactly what you suggested and signing up for numerous directories and sites to increase exposure.

Thanks I will try this

Mike

Hello Brett - I guess I see it a little differently.  Spending countless hours on SEO for your own site (a single site) or paying SEO specialists hundreds of dollars isn't free either.  Plus those countless hours and big bucks in SEO fees will only get your single site in 2 spots for the same search phrase.  Yes, I agree that if you can achieve 2 of those top 10 spots for your own site then that increases your chances of capturing leads.  Utilizing other services (blogs such as AR, directories, etc.) helps you dominate more of the 10 spots and helps increase your chances of capturing a lead even more.  Ultimately I want to show up in the search engines in as many spots as possible to bring in more leads to my business.  If my services/products show up in the top from another directory I used and it brings in leads and untimely sales then that to me is gold.

Hello Samantha- it's not as time consuming as you think and you really don't need to setup accounts for each directory.  You can use a flyer creation and syndication service such as ClassifiedFlyerAds.com which will automatically post your ads to 25+ top directories.  You will be amazed at the results and the little time it takes. 

Also create blog posts on AR/Localism about your local area with search phrase keywords in your title.   AR blog posts with well written titles do amazing in Google.

Learned alot! Thanks!

Good info, always helps!

Misty

Thanks again for the information.  Will be looking for your updated blogs.

Best Regards,

Wayne

Excellent information! This is what I love about AR - helping each other succeed!

Great Post! A nice reminder to spread some seeds in more than one area.

Fabulous idea, thanks for your post & insight.

Thanks Misty,

But... if you contribute to the competitor sites such as Trulia who want to give no love back, don't you think it kind of defeats the purpose??

Misty - Thanks for the great information.  And thanks to Bill for mentioning classifiedflyerads.  I have been using postlets and point2.  Now I will have to check out classified flyer ads as well.

I use AR for most of my search engine power. I have multiple hits on the first page. AR is the power but I do use Craig's and a couple others although I have been so busy I have been slacking off on that.

Great info-- I need to be more active with AR and posting my properties

Thanks

Misty: This is simple, but brilliant. Thank you for posting this. I'll be taking this advice to heart.

Hi Paul - I hear your exact argument so often. The purpose imo in dominating the top 10 results in Google is to bring in more leads.  The more spots in the top 10 you land in will increase your chance of grabbing a new lead.  I don't see Trulia and others as competition but more so as another means to gain additional exposure.  The "love back" the way I see it is the exposure and the lead generation you get from the other directories.  Your own site can only grab 2 of the top 10 results for the same search so you are leaving the other 8 spots open for others to grab.  So I say - yes focus on your own sites ranking but in addition use what else is out there.  Would you rather land on just 1 or 2 of the top 10 positions and have a buyer possibly skip over your url or would you rather take up 6 or more of the top 10 positions and have the buyer see you each time they click on those 6 or more links?  I say be seen!

Misty--YOU ROCK!  I've been working on these items myself and it is so nice to see that it is TRULY worth all of the time that I've invested in this!  Congrats on that little gold star!

Great info. I have beenworking on this myself. There is just so much SEO info out there.

Thank you Misty for sharing such great information. 

Misty- I have been on the first page a couple of times- but I would get "sidetracked" doing other things and gradually slipped. Thanks for reminding me of what I need to focus on!

Bobby Wallace

Great Information thanks so much for sharing. Great advice and easy to follow instructions!

I can't even track how many times I've had a client tell me 'I was searching for <insert keyword here> and you kept coming up over and over again.  Everywhere I went, there you were, so I figured you were the guy to get my house sold.'  If that's the impression they get, they'll call you, so yes, it IS important to use more than one or two methods to reach the masses.  Great post.

Misty - and I love Classifiedflyerads.com because you always let me know once you get me to page #1!!!!

Tina in Virginia

Hello Ryan - you hit the nail on the head.  If they keep seeing you over and over again and on many different sites/services you will appear to them as the "go to" Realtor.  It's great that you have clients confirming that this strategy is paying off.

Hey Misty,

Great tips! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Tina!  We try our best. 

Thanks for the tips. Thinking outside the box is definitely the way to go...creativity is key.

Great post. Great tips. Cant wait to start moving up on the page.

Hi Misty,

Thank you for the tip ... this is great advice.  Rather than trying to get users to enter "our terms," I like your idea of searching like the average user ... then modifying our info. to fit thier requirements - much more efficient.

Thanks again,
Mike

Great Post. Point2 helps get exposure in several locations.

Thanks for the info...and don't foreget that when they click on one of your 1st page links they had better find what they want or all that work is for not...AR does indeed carry a very large hammer on google no doubt...when you have 112k bloggers pumping out fresh content in the large numbers that it does it makes sense....

Rick

Great information.  How do you find time to stay so up to date?  I seem to be busier than ever yet making no money.  What's that about?

realbird.com is a great site also that keeps me on the 1st page. That's a FREE individual listing site. Check it out and watch your rank move up.

Misty, thanks for a valuable piece of advice.  I'll work on this strategy.

Thanks sooo much for posting this!

Misty- You are correct. Anyone can dominate the entire front page of google with the right placement strategies. I can take any of the agents I coach and some within hours and some within a week or so will dominate Google page 1 with at least 8 out of 10 spaces if they follow my instructions.

The problem with most people is that they don't do their keyword research. What good is it to dominate page 1 of google for search phrases no one is searching for! Then I get emails, no one is calling me. Meanwhile those of us who do the research on a consistent basis, well, our phones are ringing.

You get 2 spots for Active Rain, 2 spots for Localism, 2 spots for your website and 1 spot each for all the other places where you garner google juice and linkbacks to your site and blog. So 6 of the ten spots on Google page 1 should be a given. Those are the ones you should be ranking for no matter what else you are doing. So in the least you should be 6 out of 10 spots. Then you can expand to other networks that rank high in google to get the other 4 spots! Online dominance works. Katerina

Great thanks for the insite.

Great points Katerina.  Keyword research is very important.  Often times I see people only focus on 1 or 2 general search terms such as City Real Estate searches.  Creating targeted landing pages (blog posts, single property sites, flyers, etc.) around more targeted searches such as "City, State Condos for sale" or "City, State land for sale" will bring in more quality traffic to those pages and you are getting buyers who are looking for that type of property.  People who are searching city, state real estate could be looking for land, houses, condos or maybe even just trying to find info about the real estate market, so it's hard to keep them on your page if your page does not offer them exactly what they are looking for.  Sure this traffic is good too but many people tend to forget about the more targeted searches, which may bring in less overall traffic but could result in more quality leads.

Thanks for the insightful post.  I have already bookmarked it.

Thanks for the insightful post.  I have already bookmarked it.

yes it does work !  I have done this as well

you can also add video to your classified

flyer ads , I think it is worth the time

you get what you put in ! lets work.

THIS DOES WORK VERY WELL

I use similar tatics all the time!

Thanks

This was great.  I put the information into classifiedflyerads.com and within a few minutes my office was ranking number one on google and the property was ranked number 5.  This was a great tip.  Thank you so much

Very useful tip. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for sharing and pointing out other ways to get better result on ranking well with Google.

Thanks for the great tips, I'm new to this game and am trying to learn as much as possible from my AR friends!

Thanks again,

Jill

I get reasonable placement on search engines....Now if I did not have the same name as an author...I might even be able to buy my domain name..  So, I guess that if I get googled by past friends, they will think

A. I am younger than I am

B. That I am a successful author

Could be worse...

Thanks for the post.  I really appreciate you actually inserting & using a sample to make it easy to understand.  I think we all forget how important it is to come up on other sites than just our own personal website.  And with AR and so many other free sites to post our services we have a vast number of opportunities to come up on page 1 of google.

Great tips!  And just LOOK at all these comments generated!  Well done!

Misty - Great post!  How did you do your sidebar local links?

Thanks Robert & Jani!  You can get your own local area sidebar widget for free from http://www.classifiedflyerads.com.  See another ActiveRain post of mine at http://activerain.com/blogsview/535320/New-Local-Area-Widgets for more details.

Good pointers.

Misty,

(KW Usage Score * 0.3) + (Domain Strength * 0.25) + (Inbound Link Score * 0.25) + (User Data * 0.1) + (Content Quality Score * 0.1) + (Manual Boosts) - (Automated & Manual Penalties)...

Please go to my AR blog for my response to your response to my response because it has brought to the fore an interesting issue about SEO and the future of internet-based real estate. Brett

Link to my Blog: http://activerain.com/blogs/brettfagan

Misty - Thanks for your reply.

I used these tools before to dominate Google and be #1 for a specific keyphrase.

So, when I was putting an ad with a title as, let's say, Miami Beach Real Estate, I was #1 on Google for that title/keyphrase, and so for 45 days (the maximum number of days that the ad is alive).

But not anymore because these site use the "noFollow" tag which make the ad not to be "followed" by spiders. If I was putting 5 ads in 5 different "doFollow" site, I had 5 links on the 1st page on Google for that keyphrase going to my site. It was the good old time...

Thanks for the help. I always learn new things here.

Great advice Misty... thank you!

This is some very good information.

Thanks for sharing.

Great Post

I see our AR blogs and our website show up on the first page regularly, however I obviously need to be getting that content onto other sites as well. If it works with 2 sites, why not more... DUH, thanks for the wake up :)

Misty:

Thank so much for posting this.  I'm going to try it out.  I'm not good at blogging, but sounds like I need to dig in.

Thanks for the info!!! I will use it...

excellent info for newbies and long time active rainers alike. Unraveling the mystery of google' rankings is the holy grail we are all striving for. Thanks

I also use hoobly and backpage. Thanks for a great article.

Hello Misty!  Thank you for your Blog!  It is very helpful information and I will start using it right away.  All I was doing so far is searching key words and if nothing came up in my local area...I am writing about it and tagging it...but, did not think about looking for the other sites I can participate with...Again Thanks!

Hello Misty!  Thank you for your Blog!  It is very helpful information and I will start using it right away.  All I was doing so far is searching key words and if nothing came up in my local area...I am writing about it and tagging it...but, did not think about looking for the other sites I can participate with...Again Thanks!

Misty - I never realized that a site could hold only two spots, but I have noticed that for many terms on page 1 of google I hold several positions, coming from several different blog sites. There's more proof for you.

Sharon - I did some quick searches for your area and did indeed see you all over the place.  Very impressive!  Blog sites are an amazing way to capture top rankings but you already know that :). 

Thanks for the advice.  I am still trying to discover the best words I feel people would search by in my area for real estate.  Right now, I am only ranking high in my name and the name of our brokerage.  I need higher ranking by how people would be searching for real estate in my area, and this will help.

Hi Misty -- 5 out of 10 on Google -- that is TRULY impressive! 

Great post Thanks!

Misty -  this is a great post - one for the reference books!

-Tim Mancuso

This is great advice Misty, seeing multiple websites referring back to someone clearly expresses how internet savvy the individual is.