Real Estate SEO

Posts Tagged ‘PPC’

A client sent this question to us. We’re not going any SEO for them right now, just PPC Management. This is a typical question that we get from new and potential SEO clients. It’s our constant goal to educate you. So, let’s learn from each other, eh?

We Googled some pretty narrow search terms, like “their term here” and some of our authors’ names, and our site doesn’t come up in the first three or four PAGES of organic Google results. We were pretty surprised by this, so thought we’d check with you whether this is typical when you stop spending money on PPC? I would think we have enough SEO words and content on the site that we would pop up in organic search results.

OK, let’s break this down, shall we.

First of all, if you didn’t know it, your PPC spend does not affect your organic placement. SEO and PPC are not directly related. You can’t buy your way to the top of the organic results by buying sponsored ads. I just wrote the same statement 3 ways. I hope I drove the point home!

Sometimes SEO feels like you're lost in the woods. Here are some answers.

This doesn’t mean that you should spam your content with keywords. Don’t do that! Instead, write good content and people will read it, link back to it, and your SEO campaign will flourish. This brings me to the next part of my answer to this client:

The search engines look at your site and other sites out there and they see how sites link to each other. They look at the text in those links and the pages those links are sitting on and judge the quality of the link. So, if other sites about real estate have links to your site that say “real estate” then you’re more likely to rank for the term “real estate.” The inbound links you have may or may not help you rank for a particular term.

There’s more I could write on this for sure. URL age, how new your content is, even the code of the site, all play a role. SEO answers are often complicated. I hope this sheds some light.

The client is mulling all of this over. I highly expect more question soon. If you have questions about real estate SEO, just drop us a note. Thanks.

Do you remember the world 20 years ago? No computers on desks at work. No email. No Internet. Forget about Google (started just 12 years ago) and social media was a gathering of newspaper reporters.  :O)

Please name for me 1 thing that you do in the same way that you did back in 1980. Just one thing that’s done in the same way. Something that hasn’t been affected by technology, made faster, or eliminated altogether? Is there anything at all that’s the same?

Do you communicate the same way you did back in 1989? The same phone? The same typewriter? Has your job been changed by technology? Of course it has. If it has not, you’re probably a painter. Even if you’re a painter, I’m sure the way you sell your painting has probably changed. Unless you’re that guy on the street corner selling your art, and I suspect, if you’re reading this post, that’s not you.

What about your marketing campaign, are you marketing the same way you were in 1989? If you said yes, then you need to wake up!

Best practices in real estate marketing have changed a lot. The unfortunate fact is that lots of real estate agents are marketing themselves and their services in the same way they always have. If the only significant affect of technology to your marketing has been the way you generate listing sheets, it’s time to get with it.

The really shocking thing is that there are lots of BIG real estate firms that still haven’t embraced the internet. They’re not leveraging SEO or PPC or social media. If they are, it’s a small percentage of their marketing budget.

Developers are some of the biggest culprits out there, or I should say, it’s the marketing firms that work with developers. These guys are spending a lot of money – I’m talking about hundred of thousands or often millions of dollars – on the same media and sales methods that they used in 1989. I invite you to look at the marketing budget for a development in your area. If you live in NYC or maybe LA, then this might not be as true, but just look at where they’re spending their money. What do you see?

Very often you’ll find large print media budgets in marquis local newspapers, the same papers who are dying because of drastically reduced circulation. You’ll find huge budgets on branding firms to design expensive brochures and folders filled with highly designed collateral. There will be special attention paid to press releases (ok, that’s a little better) and flowers for the model unit. Even with all of this spending, the real estate marketing firm that reps the place is probably still taking a full split.

If you find a website on that budget, you probably won’t find much online marketing to support it. An email marketing plan? A SEO retainer with a good SEO firm? A PPC ad buy? A CRM system? Is any of this on there and does that budget rival the print budget? I doubt it. Have they invested in a good CRM system for the sales center or model unit staff? Is technology going to help them sell the units in inventory any faster? If not then you know as well as I do that an opportunity is being missed.

OK, for you analysts out there, I know what your comment is going to be before I even ask. You want to know why a budget should be allocated. Or, maybe the question is not why there needs to be an online marketing budget, but is it actually a better investment? The answer is unequivocally yes. We’ve done the math for many projects and over many years. SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, the online marketing 4 some, you might say, are by far more cost effective marketing investments for real estate marketing.

If, by chance, that budget you’re examining does have some online marketing on there and leads are, by chance, being associated with media buys or sources, do the math. Calculate the cost/lead and you’ll find that the online leads generated are costing half if not less than half of the leads from traditional media.

So, please ask yourself again. Am I using the same real estate marketing methods that I was 20 years ago? If you are, it’s time to innovate.

We had a new associate start in our marketing department this week. Welcome Aurora. Expect to see her writing about Real Estate SEO on this blog often. Just as soon as we give her the keys.

So, I had the opportunity to teach a few real estate seo lessons. Where to start? Well, we start with direct marketing 101 (circa 1920) and we look at the history of marketing. Then we look at the development of the internet and how SEO, SEM, and social media became what they are today. Of course, we only spend maybe 30 minutes on the first 80 years, but they’re worth noting anyway.

So, 1920. There’s a real estate market, no internet, no Google, and no SEO…yet.

A wise man once referred to marketing as salesmanship in print. Now, this was said about a century ago. Today, we say that marketing is salesmanship through another medium. Back in the day, all we had was print. We had the newspaper and we had the mail (oh, and billboards too, but they don’t get distributed). The newspaper was the major mass medium and direct mail was just about the only direct marketing medium. Still, but no internet and no seo. The real estate market remained the same.

Soon, phones came around, but it took about 20 years for even 10% of homes in America to have phones in them. Still a direct marketing medium was born and phone calls allowed information to travel quite far, cheaply. Then came radio and then TV (told you we’d go quick). Two more mass media. Along with radio came the jingle and branding took a staring role. Still, no SEO.

The masses could hear or watch your ad now and the idea was to generate brand recognition. The selling points often went by the wayside. Also, mass media campaigns generally achieve VERY small conversion rates. When you reach 100 million viewers with a superbowl ad, you don’t need to convert even 0.01% to get a lot of new customers. Radio and TV grew. Budgets grew huge.

That’s the way it was from about 1950 til 1993. Then came the internet and soon the search engine. A few years later, Google and Yahoo! figured out how to make money in the search space. They figured out that they would sell the ad space next to the search results with paid results. Overture and AdWords were born, in that order. Now Google had a profit model (they hadn’t figured it out before then). So, PPC was born.

Here’s the key lesson in this part 1: PPC caused the SEO market.

Here’s how:
When Google created a bidding platform for PPC known as AdWords, marketers like Boston Logic started bidding on terms. The prices went up as companies realized that search engine marketing was a fantastic form of direct marketing. Soon, buying clicks got expensive. So, SEMs started to look back at the left 2/3 of the screen. They realized that the organic listings were FREE and asked a simple question: How do I get my site to come up over there? How can I stop paying for all these expensive clicks?

Thus, the market for SEO services was born. The value of SEO is completely derived from the value of paid clicks. If you can buy the clicks for less than the cost of your SEO expert, then you’re likely to fire them and just get a good PPC manager (they’ll cost you less).

The fact is that SEO is a better investment the vast majority of the time. So, business owners, realtors, and really everyone realized that SEO was the way to go. Thus the preponderance of SEOs nowadays.

OK, that’s it for lesson 1. This one was more about where SEO came from. Next time, we’ll get into the Internet and the search engine’s impact on real estate and the ongoing demise of the newspaper.

Ciao.

I frequently am asked how to optimize a Google AdWords campaign. So here are some simple basic tips on things to follow and look out for:

Pick up a book or do a Google online training on using AdWords (AdWords for Dummies is great…and no one will call you a dummy, I promise…knowledge is power), it will help you to get to know the lingo

1. Sign up for the standard edition, not the starter edition
2. Use the new user interface
3. Keep your content network in a separate campaign
4. Have a lot of ad groups, each with very targeted keywords
5. If you have real estate in different towns do a separate ad group for each town. If you have separate buildings, or building types then do a new ad group for each
6. Have at least two different ad variations for each ad group
7. Set up conversion tracking
8. Integrate Google Analytics and your AdWords account
9. Check your campaign(s) every day and edit bids continuously

PPC is a worthwhile expenditure if managed well. For branding campaigns especially PPC is great in coordination with SEO. If you have questions on managing or starting your AdWords account, Boston Logic can be of help.

What are some of the key practices you have employed that have resulted in successful PPC campaigns?

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Boston Logic is looking to bring on two additional members to our already strong team. As you may know, Boston Logic is a technology and marketing consultancy providing online marketing (including Real Estate SEO), web development, and IT consulting.We are a fast growing company with clients throughout the country. Our culture has a fun, energetic feel, but we are intensely busy and maintain a professional, dedicated working environment. Our employees embody an entrepreneurial, passionate nature and a work hard/play hard attitude.

A little bit more about the two positions we are looking to fill immediately:

Ruby Developer

Strong technical and coding skills are essential for this job. You should have experience interacting with clients and effectively communicating with several parties to achieve results. Knowledge of online marketing and how the web can be used to drive business is key. Demonstration of superior client interaction, communication, and time management capabilities are a important for success in this position.

We will also be looking for the following abilities and qualifications:
•Communicating with clients to understand their needs and mapping business requirements to technical specifications
•Working with a team to strategically design and implement solutions
•Plan and execute internal company projects and contribute to long term company direction
•Write software in Ruby, PHP, Javascript, HTML, and CSS. (.Net, a plus)
•Linux server administration
•Knowledge of the real estate industry is a plus.

Online Marketer

We are looking to expand our Online Marketing team with a self-motivated, talented, and driven individual to serve as our Online Marketing Associate. The position requires 2+ years of work experience, a fair understanding of Web 2.0, strong writing skills, a contagious enthusiasm and a willingness to learn and get involved in all levels of our marketing programs (experience in Real Estate SEO, SEM, PPC and email marketing preferred).

We will also be looking for the following abilities and qualifications:
•Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills
•A strong understanding of existing online marketing tactics and a demonstrated history of creative, out of the box thinking
•Proven ability to take on several projects simultaneously from different groups; ability to delegate and manage tasks accordingly
•Familiarity with Email Marketing Tools such as Constant Contact
•A strong grasp and understanding of company branding
•Understanding of the real estate market
•Ability to work in a fast paced, fun and entrepreneurial environment
•A self-starter mentality and ability to work independently, as well as within a small team

If you match either of these descriptions or know of someone who does then please refer to BostonLogic.com/jobs
for more details about the position and how to apply.