Tag: pay per click

Internet Marketing Through PPC

May 1, 2013

When it comes to internet marketing, paid search advertising through pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) come to mind as they are the most effective tactics. Many real estate agents realized the potential of these methods for great placement and the best exposure on search engines in the shortest amount of time possible.

In the world of real estate, timing is everything as great places at amazing prices come and go quickly. A home is a sanctuary and a place of comfort that people purchase for a long period of time. People want reliable real estate agents that provide the best places at the most reasonable prices. The myriad of agents in a city make it difficult for an agent to stand out above the rest, unless he is the top grosser in a large firm or something of the sort. Paid search advertising changes the game as agents can advertise themselves easily on popular search engines for clients to find. The image below portrays how PPC works from a visual standpoint.

As you can see, PPC isn’t controlled by popularity but rather through the use of paying others to get your services started. This makes the playing field easier for those who just joined the game of Real Estate and gives them a chance to make something of themselves from the get-go. Obviously, using PPC for your entire career isn’t practical. PPC is meant for start-ups and small businesses to make a name and present themselves to the public. Once their image is out there, it is their own responsibility to positively influence their client base.

It’s important to understand the effectiveness of PPC as the advantage of it is so beneficial. Paid search management is also necessary as it researches your industry and the keywords relevant to your company and competitors. By having original, descriptive copy with such keywords, you will be linked to the right clients rather than poor-click conversion rates. There are many other job fields similar to real estate that depend on timing for success and this method brings you to the attention of the right people the quickest.

For more insight, check out our e-book “The Essential Guide to Internet Marketing“!

Finding Relevant Keywords For Your Website- DIY Style

July 27, 2012

Keywords rule the internet. You type them into search engines every time you look for something new and they’re practically the highlight of every SEO conversation. I talk about link building a lot and how you can use the keywords you have to create content that will give way to links from relevant websites. If you own a real estate company, you wouldn’t want your keywords to be about dating advice, would you? A site may link to your page because you wrote some valuable things about dating, but when it comes time to search for a real estate agency, the terms your customers use will not match up with your keywords.

My dating advice example is a bit extreme, but even keywords that seem relevant for real estate such as “apartment” or “house” may not work for you. For the small business, these words are too broad. These are merely the keywords you start with in order to build a much more relevant, detailed list of valuable keywords. When you come up with a list of these general terms, you can move on to finding specifics using tools like Google AdWords keyword tool (which is free!). If you need help finding general keywords, identify the terms your competitors are using or use your current analytics tools to learn which keywords customers are already using to find your site. It’s also important to use your own intuition at this stage. In the example I used, the top four keywords are a sample of general keywords used to describe a real estate company.

Once you have these keywords, you can move on to specifics. I used Google AdWords keyword tool to search for different combinations of the four general terms. Some of my searches are below.

Keyword search using all four general terms

 

Keyword search using a combination of two general terms

I started with all four keywords, but when I changed it to only include real estate and New York, it yielded a different set of keywords. Once you do this a bunch of times, you can get an idea for what types of keywords would be perfect for you. When analyzing keyword results on AdWords, keep in mind that words with low competition are often too general to realistically use. For example, New York City has low competition for real estate because people who use this search term can be interested in a wide variety of topics. It’s also important to note that keywords that yield a high volume of searches are not always the best ones to go for. Try some with less monthly searches to serve a niche audience.

In my example, you can see that the keywords below the general four are some of the combinations I found using Google AdWords keyword tool. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of keywords you find, so it’s important to flesh out the best ones and identify them as priority keywords. Once you have these, you can begin to use them on relevant pages on your site. Map out the best places to insert these keywords and include them in your online strategy.

If you’re having a hard time finding valuable keywords, you can run a pay per click campaign using Google AdWords to quickly test combinations that may work. This will cost you, though it may prove useful in the long run. PPC campaigns are a great way to test keywords, though it’s important to remember that testing is crucial no matter how you use your keywords. It’s important to note which keywords are performing better than others and adjust your strategy as you go.