Your content and headlines provide keyword search engine optimization. Google is very good at delivering the best results for a given search. Your content must be among the best results. The challenge is that real estate keywords are very competitive. The good news is that most of your competitors make the mistake of shouting out to everyone (trying to attract a broad audience)

Hyper local content is the secret to ranking high in Google.

Here are some ideas for content: Posts about what’s happening in your neighborhood (real estate) new buildings, new developments, tear downs, proposed construction, shopping centers, businesses etc.

What’s happening in the community: Schools opening, closing, expanding. Playground or skate park proposals, downtown merchant goings on. Budgets, taxes, hearings.

Photos & video: Local parks, beaches, hiking places, famous residents, local landmarks with descriptions etc.

Polls: Do polls on everything from the best pizza place to the best sleigh riding hill.

Guest posts from attorneys, mortgage brokers, interior designers, builders etc.

Guide to: neighborhoods, condominiums, a rental and/or vacation rental guide etc.

Market statistics (not just the numbers. Give an overview of what’s happening in your neighborhood)

Keep in mind also that you’re not creating content for Google, you’re creating content for real people. Keep an actual person, your ideal client, in mind when developing your content. You have an opportunity to develop relationships and build trust through your website.

See also: How real estate agents can use Google Alerts for SEO

The problem with framed-in solutions is they are not user friendly (can’t bookmark or link to specific pages) and they are not search engine friendly.

Beginning Monday, August 3rd GFC CMLS Subscribers will also have the option of utilizing any of the following GFC CMLS authorized “Third-Party” IDX vendors: (with your broker’s written permission – paperwork is required)
• Advanced Access – www.advancedaccess.com
• Arran Technologies – www.arran.com
• Birdview Technologies – www.birdview.com
• Homes.com – www.homes.com
• IDX Broker – www.idxbroker.com
• iHomeFinder – www.ihomefinder.com
• MarketLeader – www.marketleader.com
• rDesk – http://www.ct-mls.com/idx
• SkyeMark Business Solutions – www.skyemark.com
• WolfNet Technologies, Inc. – www.mlsfinder.com

Also, there is an increasing complexity in online searches. “People are getting very, very specific in their search queries.

via Dancing with Web stats | Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Brokers and Investors | Inman News.

Pretty cool right? You get the latest relevant Google results on any topic, keyword phrase, a persons name, whatever your interest, automatically emailed to you, once a day, as it happens or once a week. Your choice.

Some of the Google Alerts you may want to consider setting up:

• Your name
• Your website name
• Your latest industry news
• Your competitors
• Your market area
• The keyword phrases you would expect people use to find your web site

The last item on the list is the one I most want to discuss. Most realtors I speak with want to be found this way in a Google search: city state real estate

example: westport ct real estate

Google Alert for Westport CT Real Estate

Using Google Alerts will make the concept crystal clear about two things I explain to clients on an almost daily basis:

1. The old fashioned marketing strategy of static content is no longer performing for real estate web sites.
2. If you don’t have relevant content including your keyword phrases you can not expect to be found for that particular search.

Another important thing to remember, and creating Google Alerts will remind you, is this: People don’t necessarily come to your web site to read your content. Specific headlines and including your market area (city and state) and topic in your copy is essential for search engines and for understanding what your content is about outside the context of your web site.

Create a Google Alert and improve your web marketing strategy now! www.google.com/alerts

I have many clients who enjoy an enviable top 10, #1, top 3 etc. search engine position. This was their goal and a key reason for hiring me. These same clients now want to increase their results to include additional search terms and generate even more traffic. They are convinced that even though they are prominent for the search terms of their market area it just isn’t good enough and they need more. Well sure, who doesn’t want more traffic?

There is a flaw in this strategy, ask yourself this; What is this great flow of traffic going to do when they get to your website? Call you? Hire you? Send you money, buy your stuff or just surf on to another search result? Check your web stats, if your visitor’s are moving on then you need to consider why.

Admittedly, just a few years ago, having a web presence and being found in a search was novel enough to generate leads. This is no longer the case. The web isn’t new, it has evolved and so have the people who use it.

People using a search engine or “googling” are researching, looking for an answer, looking to purchase something specific or maybe want to be entertained. The website that answers the question, fulfills the need, engages the visitor, earns trust, makes a connection, builds a relationship etc. will generate the lead. And this of course, should be the goal of your website.

You need to take responsibility for your web success by building relationships and trust with your visitors. Define your your audience and give them what they want. Re-focus the time, energy and money you spend on search engine positioning and direct it towards content for your audience.

Incidentally, acheiving this goal will also greatly improve your SEO.

Web site owners are looking to me for the magic SEO pill. The good news is that there is a solution, the bad news is that it takes some effort on the part of the website owner. I understand their frustration; I use the diet analogy. If i could pay someone to lose weight for me I would hand over my checkbook. Unfortunately diet and exercise is the simple solution to my problem.

Quote from Wall Street Journal article No Sale: A Bad Agent, or a Lousy Market?…criticizes agents who spend a lot of money to drive traffic to their Web sites, but fail to provide enough “content rich” material when they arrive.

The simple solution to a successful real estate web site is “content”. The simple way to add fresh content to your web site is by blogging. I know, “you’re sick of hearing the word blog”!

The blog platform not only helps your search engine ranking but equally important it can help your conversion rate. It is no longer enough to just have a website and expect people to be impressed enough by that fact alone to fill out a form and contact you. Being in the Google top 10 and driving traffic to your site isn’t going to get visitors to pick up the phone and make an appointment.

Agents expend significant sums on driving traffic to their websites – search engine optimization, keyword purchase, pay-per-click, etc, – but when the consumer arrives at the site there isn’t any pertinent or targeted information waiting for them. You need to target a specific or niche market such as first time buyers. Your website needs to be very content-rich with material answering their specific questions. It is critical to fulfill the promise being made in your marketing efforts. National Realty News

Your real estate blog is the place where you can demonstrate your expertise in the real estate market. This is the way to begin to have a relationship with your site visitor. Trust can be established, questions answered, your personality is shared through honest expression.

Think of it this way. If you get an appointment for a listing presentation you usually get the listing. Why? Because you have a conversation with the seller, you show them that you are a professional, you show them how you are going to market their home and they like your personality, your professionalism, your track record, whatever. Give the same attention to your website content. It is the important first impression and it will be the deciding factor for converting a visitor into a lead.

The original site’s unfortunate home page consisted of two graphics and a flash animated menu. No text other than the copyright notice and link to “enter site”.

Our new site uses search engine friendly Wordpress for content management. The blog platform is perfect for this law site as Maya Murphy has many attorneys, articles and law practice areas to categorize and organize. Though it always takes some time for a new domain to earn page rank this brand new site already shows above the original site in a Google search for “Maya Murphy Law”.

For example I live in Fairfield CT so I will use “Fairfield CT real estate” as the example search term.  The typical headline for a home in my neighborhood might be: “Classic Colonial on Quiet Cul-de-Sac”. This is a nice headline for the real estate section of our local newspaper but for the world wide web we need to be more specific. “Real Estate in Fairfield CT Historic District”. or “Colonial in Fairfield CT Historic District” If we use the second headline we would still need to get the “real estate” term in there. So the first line of the property description could be something like: Fabulous real estate opportunity in Fairfield’s Historic District. Note how I have also worked in the market area search term “historic district”.

Other areas of your web site can be improved in the same way. I often see web sites that offer “personalized service” instead of “personalized real estate services”. Many real estate sites don’t use the phrase “real estate” at all.

There is more to SEO than this of course (META tags: title and desctiption) and what I call a “search engine friendly” web design. Link popularity and so forth but the single most important thing you can do and still need to do even if you have all the other stuff is to have great content that also happens to include the keywords people would use to find you.