Accessibility Tools

Notify Search Engines of Your Latest Blog Post

October 22, 2010 by Josh Wilton

So you are a Realtor that blogs…finally.

You are over the mental barrier that maintaining a ‘blog’ is simply maintaining a conversation with potential customers online.

You are waxing poetic and sending out tons of useful information on your local markets via your blog. In order for your local customers to be able to find your blog search engines have to be able to find you. Thanks to a great post by my Realtor tech guru, LIMEYBOY, you can use a new service called http://pingomatic.com/.

When you go to http://pingomatic.com/ you will see the following:

Simply click where you want your blog posts to go. For more great Realtor tech ideas check out LIMEYBOY’S BLOG. Good luck with your blogging!

10 Tips for Real Estate Success in 2010

October 21, 2010 by Josh Wilton

Here is a great quote from a great article from Bernice Ross from Inman news. ’10 Tips for Real Estate Success in 2011.’

‘3. Lead generation is the name of the game

As a rule of thumb, about one out of three solid leads ends up closing a transaction with us. This means that if you want to close four transactions per month, you must have 12 well-qualified leads each month.

The issue is how to generate these leads. For example, if your conversion rate for Web leads is 1 percent, you must generate 1,200 website visitors to generate 12 solid leads and four closed transactions.

If you convert 25 percent of your expired listing leads, you must call on the owners of 16 expired listings per month to close four transactions. If you convert 10 percent of your open house leads, you need 120 open house visitors per month to close those four transactions.’

You can read the rest of the article here. Enjoy.

http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/berniceross/10-tips-real-estate-success-in-2011

Weichert.com continues to Dominate, providing Weichert Customers & Associates premier internet coverage

September 28, 2010 by Josh Wilton

Whether you are a homeowner or a real estate agent, you have to ask yourself the same question: ‘Is my Broker website in a position to make me money?’ Weichert.com, a top broker website can answer that question, YES. Here is some great news about how Weichert.com continues its growth and dominence among real estate websites. Take a look for yourself: www.weichert.com

Hitwise

View more presentations from Weichert Realtors.

The Google Keyword Tool for Realtors

July 23, 2010 by Josh Wilton

Of all Google’s free tools, Google Keywords might be the most useful for real estate agents looking for more website traffic. I allows you to see what your customers and potential customers are searching for on the internet. For example:

Over 60,000 searches were conducted last month for the search term ‘princeton homes for sale’! An incredible number.

So in a sense, Google keywords give you real time information as to what the customer wants and allows you to adjust your online marketing to intersect with those customers. Here are a few steps to follow:

1. Open up Google Keywords and type in a word or phrase – “Montgomery Homes for Sale,” for example. You can place in whichever town or section of town that you want to research. Another good thought is to search a specific neighborhood, such as “Canal Point NJ.” You will be surprised by how many people are searching at a very micro level.

2. Several lists will appear that offer you details on the number of searches that took place on Google for those specific keywords. You can sort results by clicking on any of the top words that appear in blue.

3. As you look down the list you will find various terms that have a less competition than the one you typed in. You will want to focus in on these keywords.

4. Once you have decided on a keyword string that you want to research simply click on it and it will take you right to Google search results and allow you to see the websites that you are appearing with.

“Montgomery Homes for Sale ” faces some stiff competition from the likes of realtor.com and zillow.com, but scrolling down the list, it’s clear that if we focused in on more local keywords – “Cherry Valley Homes, Montgomery,” for example, we’d have a much better chance of getting noticed.

If you have questions as to how you can use the free information at Google to build your online strategy, drop me a note and I will help you: jwilton@weichertrealtors.net

Why Do Some Realtor Websites Appear on Google and Some Don’t?

March 2, 2010 by Josh Wilton

Ever wonder why one Realtor’s website appears higher on Google search than others?

Two major reasons are ‘CONTENT & STRUCTURE.’

Websites with good ‘content & structure’ get ranked higher by Google than those that don’t.

Take a look below at a Realtor website for an example.

What we see….

What Google sees…

Though pleasant to look at this website does not have good content or structure as Google sees very little. As a result this Realtor website will have a tough time appearing on the first page of Google or any of the major search engines.

Curious as to what Google & other search engines see when they go to your website? Do you want a plan to have your website appear #1 at Google?

Call me and I will show you how to use the Internet to take your business to a new level. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Agents Need to be Hyper Local

February 7, 2010 by Josh Wilton

I recently read the following quote, ‘ I am not sure the secret to success, but the secret for failure is trying to please everyone.’

I am sure that I did not do it justice though it sums up what Agents struggle with in their on-line marketing strategies. They don’t want to miss on a potential customer so they try to please every possible demographic on their website. This approach however is completely contrary to how customers search online. If a customer is searching for homes in California they will not put ‘california homes for sale’ into Google. It is too big a search. Customers will search ‘Malibu homes for sale.’ If they are looking for an ocean front home they will surely incorporate the word ‘ocean front or ocean view(s)’ into their search so they pull results that they are looking for.

Per Google there were 450,000 searches for ‘california homes for sale’ in the last 30 days. A Realtor has very little chance of showing up in the top of the search results, as that search pulled up over 14 million websites related to that search that would compete with yours to land on the first page of Google. These means that you have a 1 in 14 million chance of getting on the first page of Google so those consumers find your website.

Per Google when you typed in ‘malibu homes for sale’ there were only 406,000 possible websites that would appear for those search results and more importatly there were 49,500 consumers who typed that exact search into Google in the last 30 days!

Per Google when you type in ‘malibu oceanfront homes for sale’ there were (only) 40,000 websites that appeared and yet there were over 5,000 customers typing that phrase into Google in the last 30 days.

If you wanted to go ultra niche you could focus on ‘solar malibu homes for sale’. There were less than 6500 websites that you would be in competition with!

So ask yourself, does your website have a better chance of appearing on the first page of Google with competition from over 14 million websites or less than 7,000?

If you want more specific strategies on making your web and marketing strategy Hyper Local contact me for an evaluation of your current program. jwilton@weichertrealtors.net

Ever wonder why one Realtor’s website appears higher on Google search than others?

John Burke