Getting to work with Realtors so closely, I’ve had the privilege to see first hand what problems arise in the process of building an ‘online presence.’ Two of the biggest complaints I hear are “I’m not a good writer nor do I have endless amounts of time to grind out a post.”

So today, I want to try to solve these problems in the easiest way possible.

First of all, I don’t consider myself a natural ‘writer.’  In fact, if you read any of the stuff I put out three years ago, you’d probably laugh at how bad it was! Seriously, a 3rd grader would have shaken his head. But in the process of writing junk, I eventually found writing was just like riding a bike; you fall a lot but eventually you get the hang of it and figure how to string a few words together in a way that makes sense.

So below, I’ve laid out the process I use when writing a blog post.

Choosing a Topic

Writing an Outline

It’s good to know what you’re going to write about before hand.  This prevents rambling and getting off on unnecessary tangents that have little to do with the topic at hand. I know it’s hard to NOT relate the current market conditions to your recent fly fishing trip but keep it relevant or you’ll just end up confusing people.

-Short conclusion

Priming the Pump

The best writing is that which delivers the most value and flows naturally.  The flow part is always the most challenging.  One of the best ways to get into ‘flow’ is it to first speak what you’re going to say, out loud.  If you want to take it a step farther, stand up and pretend your delivering it as a motivational speech to a knowledge hungry crowd.  And what this does is allows you to articulate your thoughts and connect to your voice. If you haven’t tried priming the pump like this, I highly suggest giving it a go.

Putting it on Paper

The next step is taking a seat at the ol’ computer and writing it out.  Don’t worry too much about perfect spelling and grammar just yet, simply get the words out of you. Working with your outline, create sub topics (like this post) and write within each.  It doesn’t have to be flowery or use big words that make you sound smart, in fact it shouldn’t. Your language should be in line with your target audience namely buyers and other Realtors; not Shakespeare critics!

Edit

Though I’ve grown tremendously, this is still probably my weakest link.  I hate editing with a passion but it’s very important and can make or break the authority of what you’re trying to say.    Nobody is going to care how much you know about real estate, if you cannnt dun rite it douwn gud.  The easiest way to edit is to reread your post out loud.  This will show you what works and what doesn’t allowing you to make appropriate changes.

Titles and Tags

Interestingly, the last thing you’re going to do is come up with a title for your post.  Yes, google is our internet superpower and right now everything you create should be done so with the intent that it will eventually show up in the search results.  The first step is going to google keyword tool and doing a little research to see what keywords get traffic but don’t have an overwhelming amount of competition.  Once you’ve got your title, go through your post and see if you can’t change some of words to match the optimized keywords you’re going after.  Though keyword density is far less relevant than in the past, it can still make a difference.

Warning: Don’t go overboard here, stuffing too many keywords in the post, will compromise your content and can get you slapped by google. Moderation is key!  Lastly, tag the post with the proper keywords.  Use anything you can think of that would be relevant.  If you’ve got Wordpress there’s an excellent plugin that allows you do all of this called Headspace.

In this video I chat about the importance of creating content online for your real estate business and how that content filters through the various networks.

1. Solid IDX Solution – IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and is a property search site which allows the public to search the MLS. For every client I have worked with their IDX platform is their #1 lead generating resource. There are quite a few IDX options out there and not every product is available in every city so finding the right solution for the right price may take some time. What I look for besides availability and price is a usable intuitive map search and the ability to integrate the product seemlessly into a site. Back-end options for client management and customizing the look and feel will also vary from platform to platform. Here are a few platforms to explore:

• http://www.wolfnet.com
  (Pictured, top right)
• http://www.diversesolutions.com
  (Pictured, bottom right)
• http://www.homequestgroup.com
• http://www.realbird.com
• http://www.ihomefinder.com
• http://www.realpagemaker.com
• http://www.idxcentral.com
• http://www.idxbroker.com

2. Property Request Forms – Not every visitor has the time or desire to browse all the listings and search the map. Some people just want to tell you what they want and have you get back to them with the details; property request forms are great for this. You, or your web guy/gal, should create a simple website form asking for their desired type of property, time frame for purchasing and current state in the buying process along with contact information. Put some links on your site to this “Property Request Form”. You know what types of property area desirable in your area, create multiple similar forms for “Waterfront Property Request Form”, “Condo Request Form”, “Commercial Request Form”, etc.

3. Visible Phone Number and Email on Every Page – This is self-explanatory but I am always surprised when I have to click around to find contact information for an agent on their website. Don’t make it hard for your visitors to contact you. I’m not saying to put your photo on every page, but a phone number and email should be easy to find.

4. Contact Form’s’ - There should be some sort of lead capture on every page. On your content pages make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you about questions or comments. Contact forms (short ones asking for only a name, email, phone and question/comment) can easily be added to your side navigation or at the end of articles.

5. Relocation Packets and Baited Content - Relocation packets, neighborhood resources, in-depth school reports, and useful area information like maps and tourist information area great offers to entice visitors to fill out a contact form.

6. Available Online Agent – We’ve experimented with this in the past with mixed results but it is another avenue to explore. A Google search for “live chat software” brings up a mix of different options that allow your visitors to engage in a live chat or click to call features directly from your site.

7. Newsletter Email Capture – If you are an expert in your area on something it may make sense to begin building your email list for a weekly/monthly newsletter. This can be a great way to reconnect with past visitors and bring them back to your site month after month which can be helpful to increase your site traffic and search rankings. If you are blogging already, the blog posts you are already writing make a good base for your newsletter without the need for much additional content.

8. Social Media Subscriptions - Some visitors to your site may just be browsing content and not in the stage to become a solid lead yet. Give these visitors a way to view your social profiles: Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain, etc and potentially befriend you, follow you or interact on those platforms. Social networks provide a great opportunity to stay connected to and interact with visitors over time.

The balance that needs to be implemented in any search engine marketing plan is that of quality AND quantity. Dominating an online market involves a strategy of achieving top search engine placement for all relevant search terms and driving lots of targeted visitors who will ultimately convert into quality leads. So how do we accomplish this?

The Problem With Targeting Short Tail Keywords

The search phrase “Real Estate” is entered into Google 45,500,000 times/month and is highly competitive. For an example let’s think about this from the perspective of a someone looking to dominate the Seattle Washington market. Only a fraction of those 45,500,000 searches for “Real Estate” would find a Seattle real estate related website useful.

Would a Seattle website ranking at the top of this search term generate leads? Sure! But with such a general “Real Estate” term some of these leads may be looking at Seattle, Denver, Miami or other cities. The extra effort targeting such a generic search term would have been better used targeting other highly search Seattle related terms.

The Problem With Targeting Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords by definition are very specific search phrases with low competition. An example of a long tail keyword is “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” (Note: Queen Anne is a popular view neighborhood in Seattle, WA) and ranking well for this phrase is relatively easy.

Unfortunately, taking a quick glance at the search volume for “Queen Anne 2 Bedroom Home For Sale” using the Google Keyword Tool there is “Not Enough Data” to report the search volume meaning this phrase is hardly searched. Despite the fact that very specific search phrases enjoy higher conversion rates into leads, even #1 ranking for this term will generate little business. So, how do we capture many of these long tails and optimize and rank for high volume related search phrases?

Finding The Balance – Quality AND Quantity

Initially keyword research and then a long-term strategy, balancing what will produce the quantity and quality of search results, are invaluable in dominating a local market. Accomplishing this takes a two-fold approach.

1. BUILD AUTHORITY FOR THE MID TAIL:
First this involves selecting a ‘mid tail’ keyword phrase, something that is highly search and relevant to the website. Based on these factors for the Seattle market the keyword phrase “Seattle Real Estate” fits wells with 8,100 searches/month, enough volume to support lots of lead generation if ranked well and the visitors will be specific enough that they will convert at a decent percentage. Optimize the main page of the website for this keyword phrase by building links and Google authority.

(Disclosure: Working The Magic manages the #1 ranked website for “Seattle Real Estate” in Google with 10,000 visitors/month that converts roughly 5% of all visitors into leads)

2. CREATE CONTENT FOR THE LONG TAIL:
Once authority is built into the website, the second part of balancing quality and quantity is to then generate content for the long tail. This involves blogging, neighborhood and community information and additional commentary on the website. Using the long tail example from above it would make sense to add content to a Seattle website about Queen Anne 2 bedroom homes that would likely rank well for that search term. The additional content will add relevancy to the website as a whole and those pages will show up in results for all types of long tail keywords.

The biggest problem I see day-to-day are websites owners with little to no control of their websites.

This has happened for a couple reasons.

1. Template websites are priced right and consumers don’t necessarily know what they are buying. I’m not going to say every template website is bad, only the ones that restrict access to the website so much that even small changes are an added charge, a week delay, or impossible. For me as an owner of multiple websites myself, that is unacceptable. If there is one thing I have learned it is that Speed of Implementation is essential to success and survival in a changing Internet world.
2. Many web design companies have built a subscription based service into their revenue model. The client pays the monthly and the company evolves the platform. This can work if the design company is as enthused about change and the future as the client and they consistently evolve their services. The problem here comes when the company stops evolving and the site grows outdated while the client is stuck paying monthly. Now if the client wants to move away from the companies services (and monthly payment) their website is so entrenched, and possibly under design ownership rights of the company, that to really get away involves the client paying someone to build an entirely new site to making the switch.

TIP: Find a company that gives you FTP access to your website. It’s your own website and you deserve to have control. If a company insists that they can’t let you have FTP access, there are plenty of other companies that will.

An evolution of design and control

With new open source publishing platforms like WordPress designers can now offer clients a customized website built on a framework that allows for complete ownership and control. No more monthly maintenance fees. Open source means that community based collaboration has developed and will continue to evolve the platform, at no cost. As the web evolves, search engines evolve and design evolves the community as a whole participates in the growth for the benefit of everyone.

Here are a few examples of sites we’ve built on the WordPress platform:

• SeattlePowerSearch.com – #1 on Google for Seattle Real Estate
• PhoenixPowerSearch.com – #3 on Google for Phoenix Real Estate
• MalloyVillage.net
• YourIndyHouses.com
• OrlandoBuyers.com