Whenever a new single property site is created in your account, you’ll see a bunch of options for promoting those sites (directions below). An important marketing feature available on all of your sites is the “search engine metadata” option that can be found on the “Edit & Promote” page in your account.

This allows you to manually adjust the SEO tags (the keywords search engines look for when determining where your website shows up in search results). From here you can configure:

TITLE tag

This is probably the most important tag with the biggest impact on the visibility of your property site in search engines. This tag is what shows up as a clickable link in search results. When determining what to type in here, be sure to think about the specific keywords potential buyers are searching for, and include them here. Try to stay away from using punctuation, and be sure to keep this to about 12 words maximum.

META Description 

This should be a short paragraph or one sentence about the property. Don’t go crazy here! Make the description re-enforce the TITLE tag by reusing your main keywords whenever possible.

To configure your metadata options:

1) Log in to access your account dashboard

2) Scroll down near the bottom of this “Manage Sites” page, and click the “Edit & Promote” link to the right of the property site you want to configure.

3) Click the “Search Engine Metadata” link under the Promotion column

4) Follow the instructions on the right side of the page, and click the SAVE button at the bottom of the page.

We have made this as easy as possible, and all you have to do is fill out the fields and click the save button. The information will then automatically be put into the HTML code of your single property site, so you never have to worry about messing around with headache-causing HTML!

The post New and improved SEO features for property sites appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

If you are new to the concept of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the article will provide you with an excellent foundation for a great way to drive traffic to your website.

One of the newest features in our SPS Real Estate Marketing system is our enhanced SEO features. You now have the ability to customize the main Meta Title and Meta Description tags for each of your sites.

This allows you to set custom meta tags which you can link up with your Google Webmaster account in order to track and analyze the keywords people are using to find your site!

It’s a great way to target the exact people you want to reach, and enables you to change the meta content and experiment with different variations until you find the winning combination for your site.

Click here to learn about all of our new features and see how you can bring your real estate marketing strategy to the next level.

The post New Feature: Improve Your Real Estate Marketing SEO appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

While the success of both depends on the keywords you choose, there are specific things to consider when conducting your research:

• Search Volume
  In your SEO research, you want to find the keywords with the highest search volume.  With PPC keywords, search volume is not as important.
• The reason:
  You don’t have to pay each time your website appears in search results via your SEO efforts. You DO have to pay each time someone clicks on your PPC ad.  Therefore it makes sense that you don’t want it to show up in 1,000,000 searches per month. So instead of choosing a broad keyword like “real estate” which has a very high search volume, you would be better off choosing a more targeted set of keywords that have maybe the second or third most traffic.
• Keyword Focus
  When researching keywords for your SEO campaign, you want to find those with a broad focus, while you want to find more narrow and specific keywords for your PPC campaign.
• The reason:
  With your SEO efforts, you want keywords that cover many different streams of incoming traffic.  You want your website to appear in front of as many people as possible.  With PPC, you want to target specific keywords that relate to exactly what type of customer you are targeting.  For example, if you specialize in selling condos in Denver and you choose “homes for sale” for your PPC campaign keyword, you will likely end up having to pay for people searching for other types of properties in other locations around the country. Those clicks will be irrelevant because that isn’t your target market. A much more targeted keyword like “townhomes for sale in Denver” will get your name in front of a group who IS looking for your type of properties. Again, cost per click is a huge determining factor.

• Motivations
  People conduct searches for a whole variety of different reasons.  Your job as a real estate professional is to discover these reasons, and how you can leverage them into maximum profit for your business.  Is someone simply browsing for more information on the mortgage process, or are they looking to refinance their home?  When deciding on PPC campaign keywords, you want to focus on those that will bring in buyers, not browsers.  For example, someone searching for “mortgage” is less likely to become a customer than someone who searches for “how can I refinance my home?”.

While there are certainly many more deciding factors when it comes to keyword research, the items mentioned above are a good starting point.  In the end, it’s NOT a matter of deciding whether to pursue SEO or PPC in your real estate marketing strategy, it’s a matter of effectively using them both in tandem, to maximize your search engine traffic.

The post Using SEO and PPC to Boost Your Real Estate Marketing Strategy appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

Finally, Backpage does not have the odious flagging problem that has totally plagued Craigslist. There is little doubt that when Backpage becomes more utilized its owners will no doubt turn it to ruins, similar to what Craigslist has become, but there’s plenty of time for that. Get out there and give it a try or contact Single Property Sites and we’ll help you out!

The post A Craigslist Alternative appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

But, have you thought about putting your presentation on the web?

There are many ways to do this, and by sharing your presentation you have a great resource to discuss and link to from your social pages in Facebook and Twitter.

In addition, if you soend time to annotate your presentation, then you stand to gain signiciant SEO advantage too.

Using a service like Slideshare you can upload your presentations and make them available online very easily with a free account.

There are also  great sites that offer services (most free) for recording your presentations so that you can share on sites like YOUTUBE.

http://screenr.com/ – very fast and easy way to create a quick screen recording

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ – similar to screenr.com – but for longer vidoes

The post Put your Listing Presentation on the Web appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

These TAGS are still automatically generated, but we have now made available the ability to adjust these Tags so that you can optimize the HOME page of your single property sites for the Search Engines.

To EDIT these TAGS, go to the EDIT page and look for the new SEO icon (top section on the left).

The post NEW SEO Optimization Feature appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.

The Web is now the primary way buyers find agents. It might seem shocking, but it’s true. A study by Yahoo found the following:

– The Internet impacts consumer trust. Forty percent of respondents credited a site in increasing their trust in the agent.
– 74 percent of people who accessed an agent Web site got there with the help of a search engine. [emphasis mine]
– The online research process is quick and intense: consumers spent an average of 12 hours online researching agents and 75 percent selected an agent within one week of starting their search.
– 45 percent of respondents used the Internet to learn about agents they didn’t know existed.
– 41 percent discovered special deals and promotions offered from an agent through the Internet.
(Link)

Your Web site needs to be your primary marketing tool. It needs to be on all your business cards, advertisements, marketing materials- anywhere you can think to put it. And your Web site needs to be a source of strong content, targeted to your local market.

Here are 5 different ways to improve your Web presence right now:

1. Tighten Up Your On-Page Content

Because the money in the real estate industry is so big, it is one of the toughest niches to compete in online. Pages that rank well in the search engines are pages with a long history, strong on-page search engine optimization and established links with other sites. For the budding real estate Web master, the easiest factor of these to control is your on-page search engine optimization. It needs to be tight. For beginners to SEO, this means you should choose a couple of different keywords you’d like to see your page place in search engine results for and use them in as many different contexts as possible. Put them up in your page’s title tage (that bit of text that appears at the top of your browser). Use them in your body text and in your headings and subheadings. Use it in your images ALT text (that bit of text that shows when you hover over an image on your page). Work them in as much as possible without them sounding forced or unnatural. If you are targeting certain keywords but not using them on your pages, you stand little chance of ever ranking for them. And on that note…

2. Compete for Realistic Keywords

Let’s be realistic here- you’re never going to be the #1 search result for the search term “real estate.” It just isn’t possible. So why make it one of your keywords? One thing we preach to all our clients- regardless of what industry they may be in- is the importance of specificity when choosing keywords to use on your site. Not only do you stand a better chance of ranking for these keywords, the visitors will be more targeted as well.

Think of it this way- if you’re a real estate agent selling homes in Denver, what are the chances the average search engine user searching for “real estate” is going to be interested in your properties? Very slim. But if they’re searching for “real estate denver” or “real estate LoDo” or other terms that are much more specific to the Denver area, the odds are much higher you’ll convert them into a lead. The total number of visitors you get might be smaller, but the number of quality visitors will be higher and your odds of placing in the top search engine results are much more realistic.

3. Make Your Web Site More than Just a Template

This is why I think template designs are so worthless for Realtors- they turn their Web sites into little more than an elaborate flyer. Real estate Web sites need personality, they need things that differentiate themselves from the competition. What can you add to your Web site that makes it better than all the other agents in your market? Maybe it’s a blog, maybe it’s a calendar of community events, maybe it’s widgets from providers like Single Property Sites. Whatever it is- find it and incorporate it into your content. Make your site more than just a picture and some text.

4. Keep Your Content Fresh

Nothing turns off a buyer more than seeing dated property listings or a dated Web site. Keep your content current. If you show your listings off your Web site, get in the habit of updating them as soon as they change. Don’t put it off. If your page is just a static biography and a list of the services you can provide, find something timely to add to it and update it frequently (this is why blogs are so great….). Users love Web sites that look well-maintained, and current content is an easy way to show them you’re actively thinking about the Web. Search engines love it too- Web sites that are updated frequently are Web sites that rank higher and for more terms in the search results.

5. Recognize What Works Today Might Not Work Tomorrow

The Web is always changing, as are the strategies for real estate marketing. So spend some time each day learning as much as you can and applying it to your sites. Read the industry’s trendsetters- the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog, and 1000Watt blog are great places to start. And add our RSS feed too- we’ll be talking about Web strategies on a day-to-day basis and will certainly revisit the real estate market again.

The post Five Thing Realtors Need to Be Doing On the Web Right Now appeared first on Real Estate Marketing and Property Marketing Blog by Single Property Sites.