In the evolving world of real estate Internet marketing, a new and successful real estate website strategy has evolved called “hyper local” marketing. This strategy has been driven by three elements: Google (the usual given), home buyers search techniques and real estate agents’ ability to build great website content base with neighborhood news tools and blogs.

Google decided to steer search terms “yourcity real estate” to larger real estate firms and directory style websites. Theoretically these websites are authoritative lists that give home buyers and sellers more options from which to choose. The algorithm will most likely get tweaked some more as time goes on. When Weather Underground shows up on the first page for real estate keywords, one has to wonder… What this means is that the Google front page competition shifts to the neighborhood, suburb and smaller real estate market areas’ keywords.

Home buyers’ search techniques are migrating to niche markets since A) the Internet can zoom in to any level of search granularity and B) using the broad search term “yourcity real estate” tends to turn up out of state, national websites. To find local Realtors and Realtors with specific areas of expertise, real estate searchers are using keywords that are becoming more market specific, such as “residential single family detached yoursuburb”.

With real estate agents able to research and add niche market specific blog entries to their websites, website visitors are able to find agents by their niche markets. Neighborhood news tools allow agents to post large articles that can encompass an areas history, scenic and cultural attractions, school data and general neighborhood descriptions.

The traffic that hyper marketing attracts is smaller in volume, but higher in quality. The real estate Internet marketplace is ripe for real estate agents to add their neighborhood or niche market content to their websites.

As a real estate agent, you may feel like your real estate website is the mouse next to the sleeping Google elephant. If the elephant rolls over, it will mean more to the mouse than the elephant. Eleven months ago Google started penalizing real estate websites for certain linking strategies that once worked to improve search engine ranking. As disastrous as that was for some real estate websites, marketing lessons were learned … or relearned.

Relearned is that content is, was and will be the driving force in keeping real estate websites high in a search. In one move, Google increased the load for keeping real estate websites ranking onto the shoulders of the real estate agents (and their writers). Google had already begun ignoring keyword meta tags, now the mechanics of linking fell more under the “content” scrutiny versus the “inbound link” scrutiny.

Two results: the ability of real estate agents to add content to their website increased in importance and the inbound and outbound links need to have a good contextual surroundings. Blogs and article manager tools have taken on greater importance in the strategy of ranking. Not by the number of articles or entries so much as the content of the entries. Regular and weekly (at minimum) updates are definitely part of the strategy, but the big points are for content.

Content, theoretically primarily educates or helps your website visitors. Secondarily it is to clue the search engines in on what you website is about. Writing for website visitors, using keywords and phrases in the content as they would occur naturally and not placing keywords all over the place is what the search engine algorithms are checking.

Think of the search engines as trying to mimic a website visitor when it indexes the website content and links. The algorithms check the content for percentage of keywords used to number of words used in the article and if the link has relevance to your website. Rule of thumb: write naturally and sprinkle in the keywords, but don’t try to form the article or entry around the keyword. Using variations on the keyword also helps to cover more keyword searches and seem more natural (and less boring to the reader).A content check is “Would this entry read the same or this link be useful if there were no search engines?”

Fortunately for real estate agents, the software to write blogs and articles has improved and WYSIWYG text editors allow real estate agents to write in a familiar environment. When the elephant rolls over, reposition and keep going.

Want to improve your real estate website’s search engine ranking? There are several ways to benchmark your website against other real estate websites in your local property market.

For this benchmarking study, let us assume that your real estate website is an agent website built with the help of a professional website developer with some customization. We are making this assumption since a professionally set up website has the graphics, search engine optimization and folder/file structure foundations necessary to compete in this intensely competitive arena.

First test, simply type your competition’s domain name in Google and Yahoo searches. Their website should come up first, but that is not what we are interested in finding with this search. What pages do the search engines list for the website. If it is not the index.html page, check the page to see what kind of content they have on the page.

Do they have a blog or neighborhood news tool that allows them to easily add content?

Next, scroll down the search results to see what other websites have links or mentions of the real estate website’s domain name. The more high ranking the website, the more search engine entries there should be.

Study the entries to see on what kind of websites they are appearing. Are they posting on Active Rain or other real estate blogs? Do they have solid links from a real estate brokerage firm like Keller Williams or RE/MAX? Are getting search results from social networking websites like Facebook or LinkIn?

Are there links from professional associations, chambers of commerce or related organizations such as title companies, banks, credit unions or mortgage brokers? Make a list of different organizations you can target to place links to your real estate website. Only seek out those websites that are integral to the real estate business. Remember many directories promising great rewards may well cause you to disappear from the search engine index and never rank.

While checking the inbound links, you may also realize that the most successful Internet marketing real estate agents do not put all their Internet marketing dollars in one basket. They utilize the strategy of one website per niche market. This maximizes the real estate agent’s exposure and allows each website to leverage the Internet’s ability to serve up more specific websites to the more specific keyword searches. Less traffic, yes, but the traffic is specifically those real estate Internet searchers who you are seeking to attract.

As the wisdom of the cowboys says, “You can tell a bunch by checking a person’s back trail.” Like how the top real estate websites got to where they are now!

Your real estate USP, unique selling proposition, is that foundational statement that sets your real estate agency separate and apart from the broad market of real estate agents. With Internet marketing, your real estate website should reinforce your USP branding. If you do not have a USP yet or wish to refine yours so it has greater impact, veteran marketers give the following points for USP development.

A USP is a market positioning statement that consists of three segments: a product or service, an offer (preferably an irresistible offer) or promise of performance, and a guarantee. Essentially you are creating the justifiable reason to buy your real estate services.

The USP runs with permeating your passion in your website in that the first step is to match your real estate strong points with the market’s pain point. To paraphrase business systems consultant, Gerry Kendall, “What problem do your clients in the real estate market have that no one is addressing?” Answering this question takes some introspection as to how you are the same as the industry and in what way you can change to meet an unanswered need in the industry, possibly even creating and carving out a new niche market for yourself.

Once you arrive at your USP, make sure it permeates your Internet and traditional marketing and any staff training. It doesn’t do any good to promise prompt attention if your staff delays returning phone calls and emails.

Use your USP to fine tune your real estate website. Make sure your some of your testimonials reinforce the message that you deliver on your USP promise. Testimonials are the third party proof that you fulfill your advertising claims.

Why is it important to know the pain points of a real estate transaction? Because people are willing to pay you solve pain points. Since real estate can be seen as a commodity, tailoring a USP on “low prices” only ensures your love/hate relationship with your credit card. Solving a pain point lifts your real estate marketing proposition from helping buy a house to a wider field of helping someone find a solid and safe foundation for their family’s quality of life - proximity to schools, playgrounds, and outdoor activities.

Now, one last step in developing your USP. Test it out. Run it by people you know are honest and straightforward (or rude and incisive like teenagers). Take in their input and reactions or lack of reactions to refine it. As one marketer advised “Make it brash, love you or hate you, the market will never forget you. Anonymity is equal to oblivion in the market.”

Once tested and found to cause positive reactions, go full speed ahead and use it as a primary driver on your real estate website and in reaching your niche market. A good real estate website design has the design and graphic features ready to place your branding USP in memorable ways to your website visitors.

2008 is the year real estate marketing dollars pour more into Internet marketing and less into newspapers. It almost happened in 2007 with newspapers retaining about 36% of the marketing budget (yet declining) and real estate Internet marketing increasing to 33%.

This trend reflects the increase in real estate clients reached through the Internet. Real estate Internet marketing has already eclipsed the walk-in market. As the National Association of Realtors reported, almost 80% of homebuyers start their search on the Internet. Part of the equation is that newspapers get updated once a day, real estate websites can be updated quickly as new property becomes available. Home buyers and sellers are always interested in the most up-to-date market information.

As Stefan Swanepoel points out in his research on the 2008 real estate trends, this marketing shift means that “as a very general rule, agents need to ensure that their websites are ’sticky.’ In short that means that real estate websites need to be:

• Unique, local, relevant - content that makes buyers and sellers want to stay on your site.
• Constantly changing content - at least daily.
• Visual content - images, podcasts and multimedia.
• Viral content - content that people can share with others.”

From a look at Swanepoel’s short list, two strategic steps stand out:

1. Dive into learning the latest technology. It is part of staying at the forefront of effective real estate marketing. Indeed, virtual tours - video or slide picture tours - of homes and properties are a marketing tool that only an real estate Internet website can cost-effectively provide. Virtual tours on television are costly and usually a one-shot exposure. On a real estate website, the tour runs whenever the website visitor clicks on it. Very customer-centric.
2. Make sure you are working on your real estate website - either adding articles, blog entries, property listing updates. Ranking high on Google is worth the investment of time and money to attract leads. Just remember, even if you don’t think so, all your successful competitors believe it is so.

When entering or seeking to be competitive in the Internet marketing arena with your real estate website, rely on a website design professional such as Internet Marketing Consultants. Just like it is wise for home buyers and sellers to rely on a real estate professional such as you.

Real estate websites, like may virtual offices, mimic the demands of the traditional brick and mortar office. Major difference: the real estate website’s potential market is far more vast and therefore potentially more lucrative. It is an added benefit that it is an office that can attend to potential clients’ needs in many ways 24 hours a day. How are the traditional marketing concepts and principles carried over to the virtual office?

1. Driving business to your office.
Just as hanging your shingle out in front of your office is only effective for a portion of the traffic driving by the office - not enough to create a meaningful business. In the same way, just having a real estate website is also not enough. Driving traffic to your website has at least three main areas:

• search engine optimization to leverage the visibility search engines provide,
• including your real estate website address on all your printed and radio/TV advertising, and
• placing your website address in your signature on all your email correspondence.

2. Networking.
Just as social organizations and acquaintances offer opportunities to network with potential clients, the Internet has both social sites like MySpace and FaceBook for networking. More market-specific networking opportunities are the real estate blogging sites, such as Active Rain. Real estate blog websites can be used to post helpful information along with your website’s address in your signature. Build credibility and visibility.

3. Open Branch offices.
Just as more offices provide more exposure, website pages of information provide the contents that search engines seek. Each keyword-rich page becomes another “branch office” in that is another discrete piece of information for search engines to index and rank. Blogs and neighborhood news tools provide excellent opportunities to easily add content to your site and continue to expand the visibility of your virtual office.

4. Attention grabbing graphics.
Just as your printed real estate marketing materials need visual punch to attract someone’s attention, your website needs to be visually attractive and sell an image. Consumers read into a website presentation: If the website does not look professional, how serious is the agent about getting their business? If the website design looks cheap or like corners were cut, how much will corners be cut in their real estate transaction?

Continuous attention to a real estate website as part of an overall marketing program will reward real estate agents with a growing amount of business. Putting up a real estate website and expecting it to work financial miracles is akin to simply putting up your real estate sign and expecting all the business in your area to find you. You have to prime the pump.

Real estate website designers are well aware of Google’s content guidelines for website content. But many real estate agents who faithfully work on their website’s blog or neighborhood news articles may not be aware of the website content guidelines.

Whether it is pages added to your real estate website, entries added to your real estate blog or articles added to your neighborhood news tool, they are all avenues to add information-rich content to your real estate website. In order to get maximum mileage from your work, apply the Keep It Simple rule. Search engines are try to index a page for one idea or a set of similar keywords. Before you write, list the one to three keywords you are targeting in your entry. If your entry or article begins to get too big and encompass more than one idea, see where a natural break is to turn it into two entries. As Google puts it “write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content”.

When deciding on keywords, check them out on a web browser or a site like WordTracker to see if they are, indeed, the words your target market is using. To cover all bases, design a series of entries that cover on or the other of similar terms. For instance, you can write one article on your area’s real estate market using the keyword “Realtor”. Then write another article on another real estate subject using the keyword “real estate agent”. This way you put your real estate website on the search engine radar for both keywords.

Adding images to your blog and articles tremendously improves their impact with your readers, but the visual content is lost on the search engines. Make sure you describe in your text whatever imagery you are conveying in your graphics. Having a picture of a home for sale is enticing, but having the keywords “home for sale” in the article is search engine attractive, so to speak.

Make sure your titles, file names and any ALT tags are “descriptive and accurate”. File names carry weight with the search engines, don’t lose the opportunity to draw traffic by naming your neighborhood news articles “article_23.html”. Much better is to use variations of “my_hometown_real_estate.html”. Use the underscore (or with blogs use hyphens) to separate words. Remember not to use spaces in the file name - the Internet doesn’t see what is after the space as connected to what was before it.

Monthly or quarterly do your house cleaning and run a link check on your real estate website. Broken links tell the search engine that your website is old and, what is worse, they frustrate your website visitors.

Keep your links on a webpage to a reasonable number (less than 100) and in shorter articles and blog entries 3 to 6 is reasonable.

Make the most out of your articles, both for the information you give your clients and for the search engines, who, along with your competition, read every word you write.

As a real estate agent, you don’t want to spoil all the hard work you and your website designer have spent to get your real estate website active and ranking on the search engine. Unfortunately, vendors interested in seeing your money in their pocket offer several “Internet marketing programs” that will cause your website to disappear from any search engine ranking. Sure these Internet marketing salesmen spin the beguiling promises of great returns, tons of traffic, and higher visibility for your real estate website, but better to listen to Google and the professional website designers who have your best interests at heart.

The biggest mistake a real estate agent can make with their website is to sign up for a link scheme that promises to increase your ranking by providing you with lots of links to your site. Google does look for links, both inbound (other sites linking to yours) and outbound (the helpful ones you provide your real estate website visitors). Search engines do use inbound links to check your site for context about your website’s subject matter, and as an indication of your website’s popularity and quality.

Search engines check the relevance and the quality of inbound links - are they from “bad neighborhoods”, a hosting services known to be used by spammers. For a real estate website, inbound links from Chamber of Commerce, banks, mortgage brokers, property appraisers, building maintenance and repair company websites are relevant. Links from directories that list everything under the sun are not relevant links.

Think of inbound links as an extension the relationship building part of your real estate business. Your business, professional reputation, and the unique, informative content of your website should be the natural magnets for inbound links. A good rule of thumb is anything you need to pay to join to get a link should be something you would join anyway as a part of your professional career.

The second biggest mistake real estate agents can make with their website is to use a computer program to submit the site to the search engines. Usually your real estate website designer takes care of site submittal and knows the best way to submit your real estate website to the search engines.

Steer clear of these two easy to make mistakes and you will save you and your website professional plenty of trouble repairing damage with the search engines. Think of it as “keeping your good name” with the search engines.

Real estate agents can use the www.del.icio.us site to bookmark their real estate websites. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website that is it is designed to allow people to store and share bookmarks on the Internet, not just on their own computer. Bookmarks stored on the Internet can be accessed by you - or anyone - from any computer. Bookmarks on this site add another area to direct Internet visitors to your website.

You can tag your bookmarks, a process similar to saving in a folder by assigning it a one word descriptor. These descriptors then act like keywords when people look for items. Similar to online file naming techniques, your website can be tagged “real_estate” and be saved as a single word. You can assign as many tags to your bookmark as you like.

A tip to multiple tagging is, on the “Tags” form box, to enter your different tags with a comma separating the tags. Also the tagging dialog box provides suggestions for auto-complete tags from the popular tags others people used for that website.

As with any Internet marketing promotion, the more your clients and real estate agents you trade referrals with bookmark your real estate website on del.icio.us, the more visibility you enjoy.

By adding other bookmarks helpful to real estate buyers and sellers to your page, possibly borrowing some links from your “Community Links” webpage, you can establish yourself as an authority real estate information available on the Internet.

While you are at it, you can look up your real estate website to see who has bookmarked it and read what their comments are.