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Building a SEO

by bkyle1991
15 replies
  • SEO
    • |
So Im taking the advice of some on this forum to pay a company to manage the PPC campaigns for my company(real estate). Good good, many leads will come.




But I wish to have my own lead generation source. So I will have my website be a blog site primarily with a IDX. Simple yes?

Traffic can come from articles, PPC longtail, forums, classifieds and of course BLOGGING. The goal is to get people to the IDX.

So for the blog its geotargeted posts on communities in the county. At the end of each post there will be a call to action or link to the home search(IDX). Keywords such as "homes in xxxxx township" in the title and paragraph.

But now that Im finally learning some seo/list building techniques after so long of skimming through these forums Im wanting to add a couple opt in pages to get a email list that also has phone numbers.

Should I leave out the opt ins and focus only on driving traffic to the IDX part of the site? This is probably like so many posts, Im just happy Im finally understanding list building. Seemed so mysterious before when I would go from guru site to guru site.

Traffic-Blogsite-IDX
Traffic-Blogsite-OptIns

Example of a post on the blog site:

XXXX Township

A beautiful place to live. Centrally located XXXX Township makes a great place to retire or buy investment property..........................................

Get an agent OPT IN
Search for homes in the area HOMESEARCH




How much research should I be giving my keywords? I know many communities go neglected and that makes them good to post about. I guess Id just love to see some longtail keyword ideas, I know Im missing something. Im just happy the information how to do this stuff is finally coming together for me after going through a couple paid courses and reading posts here. LOL, now the hard part is implementing. Luckily Ive tinkered with aweber and such before though. As for ranking keywords Im wondering how long it will take? I had a blog CPA/adwords micro site before and the words took months to rank.
#building #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    Whatever you do, please don't start spamming your site with a bunch of city-related crap, such as:

    Homes to buy in London
    Homes to buy in Manchester
    Homes to buy in Birmingham
    Homes to buy in Essex
    Cheap Homes in London
    Best Homes in Essex

    It's crying out for a Panda penalty later on down the line, and you're only going to suffer from keyword cannibalization as each page fights against each other.

    Depends what type of real estate. If you're buying/selling homes, I wouldn't even bother with organic SEO. You're going up against multi-billion companies with infinite budgets.

    I keep hearing about some real estate guys on the radio - two guys who made their own business. I still remember their URL: https://www.purplebricks.com/

    I hear their advert on the radio every day. It's crazy.

    I'd be more inclined to move towards PPC + social media branding + radio than wasting money on real estate whitehat SEO.
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    Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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    • Profile picture of the author Pdomain
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      Whatever you do, please don't start spamming your site with a bunch of city-related crap, such as:

      Homes to buy in London
      Homes to buy in Manchester
      Homes to buy in Birmingham
      Homes to buy in Essex
      Cheap Homes in London
      Best Homes in Essex
      can be

      Homes:
      1. London
      2. Manchester
      3. Birmingham
      4. Essex
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I have no idea why anyone shopping for a new home would consider an email optin. What purpose would that serve a buyer?

    As a seller you need to think like a home buyer. A home buyer is browsing the web looking at real estate sites (home images) & then probably searching Google Maps for the exact address of the home they're interested in. So, optimize for the exact home address.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMCapitalist
    sit and watch to learn on this area from experts here.
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  • Profile picture of the author DanielMcCarthy
    As, I had already mentioned here that first and foremost thing is to get all the basic knowledge about SEO and then it's link building activities.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by DanielMcCarthy View Post

      As, I had already mentioned here that first and foremost thing is to get all the basic knowledge about SEO and then it's link building activities.
      ...but this is your first comment on the thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    I think an opt-in email list for a real estate agent is a good idea. The buying cycle for a home buyer can be a long one. There are situations where people are moving quickly and need to find a house and make a decision right away. There are others that are thinking about buying a house and looking at homes for a year or more until they make a decision.

    Being able to stay in front of them with an email list is a good idea.

    However, I would not just have a plain opt-in. I would offer them something to get them to sign up. Write a guide like "7 things all first time home buyers should know" or "The 4 most common mistakes people make when buying a new home". Make it a good freaking guide too, not some POS you throw together in a day.

    Then I would email out local home listings once a week or every 2 weeks and maybe an occasional email with tips for buying a home, selling a home, finding a real estate agent, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      I think an opt-in email list for a real estate agent is a good idea. The buying cycle for a home buyer can be a long one. There are situations where people are moving quickly and need to find a house and make a decision right away. There are others that are thinking about buying a house and looking at homes for a year or more until they make a decision.

      Being able to stay in front of them with an email list is a good idea.

      However, I would not just have a plain opt-in. I would offer them something to get them to sign up. Write a guide like "7 things all first time home buyers should know" or "The 4 most common mistakes people make when buying a new home". Make it a good freaking guide too, not some POS you throw together in a day.

      Then I would email out local home listings once a week or every 2 weeks and maybe an occasional email with tips for buying a home, selling a home, finding a real estate agent, etc.
      No offense but an email optin just doesn't feel like any part of the home buying process, at least no home I've ever bought.

      The only way I can see an email optin working is with a buyer already working with a local real estate agent & staying updated on new homes hitting the market. Even with that it just doesn't feel right, it's slow. When I'm shopping for a new home I'm ready to buy, not really looking to wait months/years for a home to enter the market.

      A 2nd home (vacation home) might be a different story. Since it's not a primary residence I could wait a few months shopping for a good deal on another home. Really those are two different niches (IMO) primary & secondary home sales. They fit different types of traffic/needs.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        No offense but an email optin just doesn't feel like any part of the home buying process, at least no home I've ever bought.

        The only way I can see an email optin working is with a buyer already working with a local real estate agent & staying updated on new homes hitting the market. Even with that it just doesn't feel right, it's slow. When I'm shopping for a new home I'm ready to buy, not really looking to wait months/years for a home to enter the market.

        A 2nd home (vacation home) might be a different story. Since it's not a primary residence I could wait a few months shopping for a good deal on another home. Really those are two different niches (IMO) primary & secondary home sales. They fit different types of traffic/needs.
        Well, you are pigeonholing buyers and assuming they all think like you.

        I've worked with real estate agents. Trust me. There are a lot of people out there, especially first time home buyers, who go through the buying process for a year or more. First they start thinking about the new home. They start browsing the listings for a few months. They might go check out a few open houses. They will start investigating things like school districts, if that is a concern. When they start to get serious about the process, they'll go and get pre-qualified for a mortgage. This whole time the real estate agent can stay in front of them on their email list and be building trust, so that when they are finally ready to call an agent, their decision is already made who they want to work with.

        Sure, there are plenty of others who just got a new job, have to move to a new town, and need to get a house right away. Most of the time an email list is not going to help with those. However, it still can if you create a good piece of content they are interested in reading. "7 pitfalls for every home buyer to avoid" or something like that will grab their attention. If it ends up being a good guide, you have started to gain their trust.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          Well, you are pigeonholing buyers and assuming they all think like you.

          I've worked with real estate agents. Trust me. There are a lot of people out there, especially first time home buyers, who go through the buying process for a year or more. First they start thinking about the new home. They start browsing the listings for a few months. They might go check out a few open houses. They will start investigating things like school districts, if that is a concern. When they start to get serious about the process, they'll go and get pre-qualified for a mortgage. This whole time the real estate agent can stay in front of them on their email list and be building trust, so that when they are finally ready to call an agent, their decision is already made who they want to work with.

          Sure, there are plenty of others who just got a new job, have to move to a new town, and need to get a house right away. Most of the time an email list is not going to help with those. However, it still can if you create a good piece of content they are interested in reading. "7 pitfalls for every home buyer to avoid" or something like that will grab their attention. If it ends up being a good guide, you have started to gain their trust.
          I wouldn't call it pigeonholing more like perspective. I have a relative and a friend that are both real estate agents in two different US states, I've also bought multiple homes over the years.

          Why do you think zillow is so popular, it's not because of the email list, it's because of the images of homes that are currently available. Nobody wants to wait around months/years for a new home listing when millions of already available homes exist.

          I guess If you can squeeze a single sale out of an optin forms lifetime it's better than nothing considering the 3% commission but I wouldn't invest much time/effort when people want material things today.

          That email optin is also defunct after a home buyer purchases a home so the shelf life of the optin is going to be very small.

          I would invest more time/effort into visual property images on the real estate site & targeting the homes physical address in the SERPs for offline drive by traffic searching Google for more info on local homes they've found on their own.
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          • Profile picture of the author nik0
            Banned
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            I wouldn't call it pigeonholing more like perspective. I have a relative and a friend that are both real estate agents in two different US states, I've also bought multiple homes over the years.

            Why do you think zillow is so popular, it's not because of the email list, it's because of the images of homes that are currently available. Nobody wants to wait around months/years for a new home listing when millions of already available homes exist.

            I guess If you can squeeze a single sale out of an optin forms lifetime it's better than nothing considering the 3% commission but I wouldn't invest much time/effort when people want material things today.

            That email optin is also defunct after a home buyer purchases a home so the shelf life of the optin is going to be very small.

            I would invest more time/effort into visual property images on the real estate site & targeting the homes physical address in the SERPs for offline drive by traffic searching Google for more info on local homes they've found on their own.
            I've been revisiting the same sites over and over in the last 9 months or so, it would've been easier if they send me an email each time a new house with private swimming pool under 1.5k euro/mo comes available (pretty rare type of house unless you want to be in an area that's fully under construction or a huge condominium as neighbour, a tiny swimming pool and other type of crap).
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
              Banned
              Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

              I've been revisiting the same sites over and over in the last 9 months or so, it would've been easier if they send me an email each time a new house with private swimming pool under 1.5k euro/mo comes available (pretty rare type of house unless you want to be in an area that's fully under construction or a huge condominium as neighbour, a tiny swimming pool and other type of crap).
              Sites like zillow have all the search filters needed to get instant results, takes all of 7 seconds.

              I have no idea how it works outside of the US. I'm sure each country has different laws, or even no laws for selling real estate.
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            I wouldn't call it pigeonholing more like perspective. I have a relative and a friend that are both real estate agents in two different US states, I've also bought multiple homes over the years.

            Why do you think zillow is so popular, it's not because of the email list, it's because of the images of homes that are currently available. Nobody wants to wait around months/years for a new home listing when millions of already available homes exist.

            I guess If you can squeeze a single sale out of an optin forms lifetime it's better than nothing considering the 3% commission but I wouldn't invest much time/effort when people want material things today.

            That email optin is also defunct after a home buyer purchases a home so the shelf life of the optin is going to be very small.

            I would invest more time/effort into visual property images on the real estate site & targeting the homes physical address in the SERPs for offline drive by traffic searching Google for more info on local homes they've found on their own.
            No reason an agent can not be focused on both. I'm not saying it is one way or the other.

            Having worked in the lending industry, I can tell you there are a lot of people out there "planning" to buy a home over the course of a few years. It's not everyone, but honestly if the email list generates 2 sales a year, that could be anywhere from $8,000 - $20,000+ a year in income for an agent.

            Plus with the list you can email out those images of homes every week or two to these people.

            If an agent is not using some kind of lead capture on their website, they are a fool.
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            • Profile picture of the author synergy3000
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              No reason an agent can not be focused on both. I'm not saying it is one way or the other.

              Having worked in the lending industry, I can tell you there are a lot of people out there "planning" to buy a home over the course of a few years. It's not everyone, but honestly if the email list generates 2 sales a year, that could be anywhere from $8,000 - $20,000+ a year in income for an agent.

              Plus with the list you can email out those images of homes every week or two to these people.

              If an agent is not using some kind of lead capture on their website, they are a fool.
              The email is also to remind the prospect that I am a realtor and that they should contact me if they or if someone they know needs my services.
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