Ultimate Guide to Top Ranking in Local Real Estate Searches
by: NeonX
Total views: 116
Word Count: 1059
The search engine local advertising market is booming, and it is only
going to get larger and more important in the future as search engines
learn how to better organize local listings, and 10 lb. phone books go
the way of the dodo.
So, what can you do about this boom in local searches? Get listed of
course! I will start with Google as it is by far the most important,
and serves more searches than any other service combined.
Get Listed on Google Local
1. First, you will need to get a Google account. You can do that HERE
2. Second, login to your new account and go the Google Local Business Center Page: HERE
3. After you Type in all the information for your business, you will
need to wait until you get a card in the mail from Google. This will
confirm that your business is physically at the address you listed.
As this post is primarily for individual real estate agents, you will
probably run into your first roadblock when it comes to the address.
Assuming you work for a broker and a larger company... for our example
we'll use Re/Max. If your Re/Max office is already listed in
local.google.com, you will not be able to use that office address again
for a personal business listing. This presents an immediate problem.
You are trying to get your personal service listed under your office's
address, but your office is already listed... There are a couple work
arounds for this problem:
1. Use your home address. Many agents work from home these days
anyway... but if you don't like the idea of your home address popping
up on local searches... there is another alternative:
2. Since P.O. Boxes are not allowed, you can still get a mail box
from a company like the UPS Store. They allow you to rent a physical
address with a suite number, so it appears to be just another local
address, when in reality, it is only a mail box. I haven't tried this
personally, but I'll bet it would work as a physical mailing address in
Google's eyes.
In my research, I found that most real estate offices are NOT listed in
Google local... and in that case you can use just the office address.
As of now there are no rules against this, but as the search engines
get smarter, this option may go away, as a listing for an individual
real estate agent isn't as valuable as an office listing for the same
address in the eyes of the Search Engine.
I hope those suggestions were helpful. Your number one priority for
Google is to get listed a physical address listed with them. This will
give you a foot in the door for the other hints I'm going to give you
now:
* Once you've been listed, you should be able to find your local
listing in a search. For example: "castle rock, CO real estate" or
"real estate agent castle rock, CO" You can either search directly on
local.google.com, maps.google.com, or just Google.com
* Depending on the competition in your area, you may have to browse
through a couple pages of competing listings to find yours... but don't
fret! You can change that...
Now, here is the fun part. In order to set yourself apart from the
compeition in your local market, you will probably want to pay for a
sponsored listing. (note: as an individual agent, you will already
stick out, since most of the listings will probably be for entire
offices, not individual agents)
Here is how to get a sponsored Listing:
1. You will probably notice that there are already some sponsored
listings in your area. It would take too long to explain why, but those
will probably all disapear when you create your listing since they are
just keyword text ads and not local listings.
2. Go to Adwords.com. You may be able to use your Google login to
signup, but may have to register a new account (Google is wierd about
that sometimes).
3. Once you sign up and login, go to "Create New Campaign - Keyword Targeted"
4. Complete the steps, and make sure to choose "Regions and Cities" in the location area.
5. Now, choose your cities. Don't use the pre listed cities. Type in
your own. This way you can get as detailed as possible. List every
possible town/city in your market area.
6. Create your text ad. (I highly recommend having a property search
tool that is easily accessible on the URL destination page that you
choose.)
7. Choose your keywords. I suggest basic words like: real estate,
real estate agent, realtor, realtors, etc. (remember, this is for local
search. It works differently than a normal adwords ad.)
8. Enter your daily budget, and CPC(cost per click). I suggest $0.10
or higher. You may need to adjust it later depending on the competion,
and desired results.
9. That's all! You should be able to see your listing appear higher than the others on local searches.
10. BONUS TIP: You also now have the option of adding extra flare to
your ad. Navigate to the adgroup you just created. Then click on "ad
variations". From there click on "local business ad". Search for your
local listing, and then choose an icon, picture, and list any other
information you like. Now when you search for your listing, you will
see the special icon you chose on the map, your enhanced information,
and top ad placement, which should truly set you apart from the
competition.
I really hope that this guide will produce some solid clients for you.
Studies have shown that specific local searches have a very high
conversion rate.
The reason I was so excited about this is because I took some serious
time searching about 3 large markets, and didn't find any local
sponsored results with enhanced listings. For only $0.10/click... it's
a no brainer.
That's all for now... I'm going to break this into 2 parts. The next
part will be how to get listed in MSN(Live.com), and Yahoo's local
search results.
About the Author
Justin Smith is the president of the Christian Real Estate Network. You can read his other work on his blog at: www.hismove.com/blog .
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