I have spoken at a variety of Real
Estate Conferences on the subject of Search Engine
Marketing. I had the opportunity to teach an SEO seminar with my
partner Robin Nobles at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The
Real Estate Professionals were from one major real estate agency
and there was simply no way to help everyone even considering
the vast auditorium there. That conference was pretty amazing
with its over 14,000 real estate agents all in one place. There
were hundreds of professional real estate agents all hungry for
SEO knowledge and SEO knowledge is what we delivered in our allotted
time.
Only 10 days later we were invited to speak at another huge
conference from a different agency. There were
about 7,500 Real Estate professionals at this other event and it was
in San Diego.
The point is, at these conferences we gave the attendees as much as we possibly
could in a couple of hours. Some of those same real estate
people, still come out to our SEO hands-on Workshops wherever we
teach, because of their desire to lead the way in one of the most
competitive industries there is - Real Estate.
In a minute I'll tell you about a brand new opportunity for Real
Estate Websites within the Toronto and Greater Toronto Area. But
first let me give you just a few very basic tips to get started.
About Real Estate Keyword Research:
Just because your fellow real estate
professionals understand “MLS” or “co-op” doesn’t mean
prospects will. In my presentations around the country, I’m
constantly struck by how many realty sales associates believe
homebuyers search for “MLS listings” and therefore use that
keyword phrase all over their sites. After you’ve developed a
keyword list for your site, run it by some of your non–real
estate business associates to help weed out jargon that’s
meaningless to the average customer.
Focus can be even more greatly shifted from just
"keywords" to legitimate "search behavior."
What do you suppose your home buyers are searching for if they
are relocating? They'll be doing things as complex as "cost
of living comparisons by City" they be looking for
directional community maps they'll be interested in local
Churches or perhaps where the public schools are located. What
about crime rates, weather and other important statistics.
Instead of spending all your time trying to find new keyword
variations on “real estate in Hometown, USA,” expand the
scope of your keyword options by focusing on what your
prospective customers really want. Learn how to research genuine
data for the wide open windows of opportunity that many others
don't even seem to realize exist.
Besides real estate, your prospects want “homebuying
advice,” “home pricing tips,” or “Hometown, USA maps.”
Learn what information customers most frequently access on your
site and then start using those words in metatags, heading and
body text, and links. It's surprising what a little basic
knowledge will do when you add some strategy to your focus.
One of the goals in successfully
selling new Real Estate is to form new relationships with home
buyers, home sellers and to put it simply, you need to be easily
found in search results PLUS your Web site needs to be geared to
setting you apart from the myriad of other competitors that are
all approaching the Web the same old way.
Regardless of where you may be in
your search marketing studies or professional experience, I'm
sure if you have had successful Web projects, that
you'll agree that the more knowledge of SEO and SEM you have the
better. The Web, even in its
early infancy, was so much more than just an advertising
opportunity. It
was so much more than just about Web Design or just about
e-commerce.
If you are in the real estate
industry today, you might just be asking yourself:
- How can I be successful in the
search results today when it so competitive?
Things are even much more
competitive than they were just 2 years ago.
- How can I increase my genuine
visibility in a crazy over-saturated marketplace where
everyone now seems much more up to date on the basics of SEO
knowledge?
Plus there is probably the fact
that (for some real estate professionals,) you don't want to
monkey with Web pages, and you don't want to work on your Web
pages because your job is really selling real estate and making money,
right.
When someone says that "SEO
knowledge" is not enough in a competitive marketplace like
real estate - they are in fact somewhat correct. But
don't panic about that.
There is something even greater than possessing great SEO
knowledge.
Think about it this way...If
everyone possesses the same knowledge - exactly the same skills then it levels the
playing field, right?
You read about some marketer writing an
article (every once in a while) that loudly proclaims "SEO is
dead!"
It's shocking - its unbelievable - its horrific
you think to yourself, and they got you.
Whenever I read this, I just smile because
it is quite a clever attention grabber for an article headline
if not too over used these days. And it could
even that to the individual who is writing the article (based on
their own experiences) that "SEO to them really does seem
to be dead."
Hear carefully what I am saying now...SEO is certainly alive and
there are tremendous advantages that belong to those who keep
themselves up to date.
So why do I say that knowledge is NOT
enough for the competitive markets?
A few years ago knowledge WAS enough for most any competitive
industry on the search engines.
But that was because 99% of your real estate competition was in the
dark. But now days, as more and more people learn a bit more all
of
the time and the same information is released to everyone and
the same tools are available to anyone, then you have ask where
YOUR competitive advantage is now? There is no advantage
left if all you possess is knowledge alone.
IF SEM knowledge is NOT enough, then what is the answer?
The problem with the old slogan (you may have heard before) and I
quote "knowledge is power" is that it sounds cool but
it is not exactly true. When the competition escalates to
beyond the heights of ridiculous
odds, then knowledge by itself is not power at all. Even
with the best knowledge on SEO in a competitive market - if the
knowledge is spread around enough you need one more missing
element that truly puts strategy back into the optimization mix.
You need
knowledge WITH Wisdom too!
People may think of it perhaps as just semantics, but it is
not. The missing ingredient in the highly competitive market
which goes with "knowledge" is that of "wisdom."
You say, "aren't they both the
same thing?"
Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not knowledge.
Knowledge takes on MUCH greater
value with the application of wisdom.
Wisdom applies specifically to what
you do with your knowledge and how you execute your
strategies. I can tell you that SEO is not dead but
there is a huge gap in the wisdom of how to apply that
knowledge today. So possessing knowledge really is not
power - without having wisdom to apply it. |
Is "Knowledge really
Power"
without possessing Wisdom?
|
You've probably read the slogan
that I use in many of my signature lines.
I
use to ask myself, why would anyone want to put up a Web site
and not have it be found or become profitable?
I would ask someone "Is your Web site a business or a
hobby?"
They would reply "It is a business, not a
hobby."
Then I would ask them "Is it making you money or generating
leads for you?" They reply "No it's not."
Then I would have to disagree that if your Web site is costing
you hosting fees and not making you a profit, then it needs some
attention. Only when it is making money or generating leads or
fulfilling its purpose, does it become a business site.
The truth is that
so many people just did not understand the potential of Web. They had been given
either bad information or wrong information or partial
information so this is where I
decided one of the best things I could do was to teach SEO and
Search Marketing skills. I partnered with Robin Nobles back in
January 2002 and then in 2005 we began to make our Workshops
available in local communities across North America through the Search
Engine Academy.
Back in 2001 and 2002 there was
no such thing as a "workshop" or a real world
"school" that you go to study search engine
marketing. Sure, there were Universities that had courses on
"marketing" in general, but to this day, there
are few places that really focus on genuine SEO skills building
with no hidden agendas. I'm talking about some place where you can study
proven methodologies.
Now I told you that there was something brand new happening
soon just for Real Estate professionals.
Do you need some SEO skills training specifically
just for a Real Estate business?
Do you already have some SEO knowledge but are still struggling
to get your Real Estate business some genuine business on a
daily, weekly or monthly basis?
Maybe you just want a little strategic wisdom to go along with
your knowledge. Maybe you do not even work on your Web site
yourself, but you'd like to get the facts so you can let your
Web designer make the changes for you.
Coming soon in July, in Toronto Canada -- I will be
introducing a special new Weekend Mentoring Event just for Real
Estate Agents and Realty Professionals. Come join me for a 2 Day Real Estate SEO Mentoring
Weekend in Toronto -
Ontario Canada.
Come put a little more SEO wisdom into just one of
your weekends with 12 Mentoring Sessions plus we'll top up your
knowledge and make sure you are current. You don't have to be a Web
designer to benefit from this knowledge - especially once we
talk together for a couple of days.
We'll give you the missing
components as actionable steps that you can easily apply
yourself - or you can instruct your Web designer to do for you.
I promise that these Toronto Mentoring Weekends will lift your
knowledge plus deliver that touch of wisdom so you can apply it
and it'll be 100% just about you and your Real Estate Web site.
FOR DETAILS: Please Check Out...
The Great
Canadian Weekend SEO Mentoring Conference for Real Estate
Professionals
Come join me, John
Alexander with SEO educator Barry Byers
and learn to apply a little wisdom to your business in Toronto
Oakville - Ontario.
Toronto - Oakville - July 12-13
Toronto - Oakville - August 9-10
Toronto - Oakville - September 13 -14
John Alexander is Director of Search
Engine Academy with SEO training centers located across
North America and Asia. Together with his partner Robin Nobles,
John is also Co-Director of Training for Search
Engine Workshops. Together John and Robin teach stress free formulas for obtaining top visibility on
major search engines to workshop students from all around the
world since 2002. John and Robin also operate an online
community for professional search engine marketers called the SEO
Workshop Resource Center. John is the author of the Wordtracker
Magic E-books Volumes 1 and 2. Grab a free SEO
Tip of the Day - It's
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