Mike - I have wondered about site maps as well. My question is: If you have a header at the top of your website, does the verbiage inside the header have any "key word" significance to a search engine? Right now, mine says "Southern Oregon."
Hope you are on the road to a speedy recovery :)
Melinda Peterson Broker Realtor® Grants Pass Southern Oregon Real Estate (Real Estate Cafe)
To Melinda - Headers and Title Bars are two different things. The Header is going to take on much more significance when you can identify these as different levels of headers for the search engines. You can not do that effectively with the real estate website builders out there, so you must make sure you have a GREAT Title Bar and you use the Site Map builder companies like A la Mode offer.
Mike Morgan - 772-260-5448
P.S. If you have a question about SEO, SEM, Google, Yahoo, Sponsored Links or Internet Marketing, please post a comment here or email me at Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Friday, November 27, 2009
Site Map Question
Mike - Do most of the websites Realtors buy have site maps? I don't see them on websites like I used to. Are they buried in the site somewhere?
Rich Cederberg- Northwest Albuquerque Real Estate Expert (RE/MAX Elite)
Hi Rich - Yes, most websites programs do have sitemaps. In fact, it is usually nothing more than checking a box as to whether you want to display the site map on your website and to search engines. I'd be happy to assist you with our site if you have any problems. No charge.
Mike Morgan - 772-260-5448
Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Rich Cederberg- Northwest Albuquerque Real Estate Expert (RE/MAX Elite)
Hi Rich - Yes, most websites programs do have sitemaps. In fact, it is usually nothing more than checking a box as to whether you want to display the site map on your website and to search engines. I'd be happy to assist you with our site if you have any problems. No charge.
Mike Morgan - 772-260-5448
Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Header vs. Title Bar Question
Question - Header vs Title Bar from Jenny Durline Jenny Durling Silver Lake, Los Feliz & L.A. properties:
OK, I must really be backwards. I don't know what a header vs a title bar is!!
That's an excellent question. A Header is referred to when writing html code. Header Tags (H1 through H6) are a way for developers to format text and define a web page's organization structure. The text is referred to as Header Text, while the html code is the Head Tag. The biggest bonus of proper Headers and Header Tags is site ranking because if done properly, you've provide the search engine crawler with an easy roadmap of your website.
Unfortunately, Header Tags are more complicated to implement with website builders that offer easy-to-use and build pages. At this point, you really must understand html code. But at this stage of the game, don't worry. There are enough things for you to do to enhance ranking.
A Title Bar is the line of copy that appears in the blue bar at the very top of you computer screen . . . and on the first line of Google, Yahoo and other search engine results. In fact, this line of copy is one of the two lines of copy you control on the search engine results page! More on that in a later post.
Here is an example of a Title Bar from my former website - http://www.floridahomes.pro/MortgageCalculators
Click on the link or paste it into your address bar, then look at the top of your computer screen. You should see this Title Bar . . .
Mortgage Calculators Mortgage Payments Calculating Mortgage Payments
This would also be the very first line that appears in a Google, Yahoo, etc. search that matches the user's search criteria. The next two lines would be copy pulled from the site, and the fourth line, usually in green would be the actual URL. So here you can see how you control the first and last line in search engine results displayed. The middle section in black is selected by secret algorithims.
Post your questions here, or send your questions to me at Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
OK, I must really be backwards. I don't know what a header vs a title bar is!!
That's an excellent question. A Header is referred to when writing html code. Header Tags (H1 through H6) are a way for developers to format text and define a web page's organization structure. The text is referred to as Header Text, while the html code is the Head Tag. The biggest bonus of proper Headers and Header Tags is site ranking because if done properly, you've provide the search engine crawler with an easy roadmap of your website.
Unfortunately, Header Tags are more complicated to implement with website builders that offer easy-to-use and build pages. At this point, you really must understand html code. But at this stage of the game, don't worry. There are enough things for you to do to enhance ranking.
A Title Bar is the line of copy that appears in the blue bar at the very top of you computer screen . . . and on the first line of Google, Yahoo and other search engine results. In fact, this line of copy is one of the two lines of copy you control on the search engine results page! More on that in a later post.
Here is an example of a Title Bar from my former website - http://www.floridahomes.pro/MortgageCalculators
Click on the link or paste it into your address bar, then look at the top of your computer screen. You should see this Title Bar . . .
Mortgage Calculators Mortgage Payments Calculating Mortgage Payments
This would also be the very first line that appears in a Google, Yahoo, etc. search that matches the user's search criteria. The next two lines would be copy pulled from the site, and the fourth line, usually in green would be the actual URL. So here you can see how you control the first and last line in search engine results displayed. The middle section in black is selected by secret algorithims.
Post your questions here, or send your questions to me at Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Domain Names - Picking and Displaying
All too often I see agents and brokers pick long complicated domain names. For example . . . www.miamiluxuryrealestate.com That's a mouth full to say, not to mention to read and decipher what it is. It's also very difficult for the search engines to decipher. The crawlers read this as one word, then the crawlers my try to break out Miami, but with domain this long, even when someone is search for "miami luxury real estate" the website does not show up on the first few pages.
So here are a few tips.
1. If you are truly stuck on a long domain name, buy the hyphenated version. So in this case, buy www.miami-luxury-real-estate.com At least the search engines have a chance to read and identify your domain. And it is a lot easier on the eye for consumers to decipher what your website is all about.
2. Whether your domain is too long, too short or just right, you always want to display it in ads, sponsored links and anywhere else with capital letter breaks. For example . . . www.MiamiLuxuryRealEstate.com is much easier to read than www.miamiluxuryrealestate.com And the same holds true for www.Miami-Luxury-Real-Estate.com
3. Better yet, try to find shorter domain name that will be easier to use in and on all of your marketing materials. If you can't find the dot.com domain, next look at dot.us, dot.org or dot.net. Don't get too crazy with all of the new domain providers. The only other one you want to consider is dot.pro, available through www.Encirca.com I own several, and my clients own quite a few more.
4. One final tip, even though there are dozens more. When buying a domain, consider what your clients are going to be searching for. In the example used here, is a buyer really going to be searching for "miami luxury real estate" or might they be searching for "miami condos" or "miami mansions" or "miami luxury homes" or "miami waterfront homes."
With all that said, be careful. You can get carried away with domain names. You want one solid name that is the main domain. Then if you want secondary domains to point to the main domain fine, but plan how you are going to use them. I see clients that own dozens of domains for one product or area. You can't possibly manage the effectively when you compare the amount of time you must invest, compared to investing that time in the main domain.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
So here are a few tips.
1. If you are truly stuck on a long domain name, buy the hyphenated version. So in this case, buy www.miami-luxury-real-estate.com At least the search engines have a chance to read and identify your domain. And it is a lot easier on the eye for consumers to decipher what your website is all about.
2. Whether your domain is too long, too short or just right, you always want to display it in ads, sponsored links and anywhere else with capital letter breaks. For example . . . www.MiamiLuxuryRealEstate.com is much easier to read than www.miamiluxuryrealestate.com And the same holds true for www.Miami-Luxury-Real-Estate.com
3. Better yet, try to find shorter domain name that will be easier to use in and on all of your marketing materials. If you can't find the dot.com domain, next look at dot.us, dot.org or dot.net. Don't get too crazy with all of the new domain providers. The only other one you want to consider is dot.pro, available through www.Encirca.com I own several, and my clients own quite a few more.
4. One final tip, even though there are dozens more. When buying a domain, consider what your clients are going to be searching for. In the example used here, is a buyer really going to be searching for "miami luxury real estate" or might they be searching for "miami condos" or "miami mansions" or "miami luxury homes" or "miami waterfront homes."
With all that said, be careful. You can get carried away with domain names. You want one solid name that is the main domain. Then if you want secondary domains to point to the main domain fine, but plan how you are going to use them. I see clients that own dozens of domains for one product or area. You can't possibly manage the effectively when you compare the amount of time you must invest, compared to investing that time in the main domain.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Google - Testing Rotating Ads
If you're using Google Adwords you need to understand testing a control ad against one or two other ads. Here are some pointers:
1 - Only use one or two test ads. Do not get carried away with more than two. You will not be able to evaluate properly.
2 - Make sure the test ads are similar. Focus on testing one element. You may want to test different headlines with the rest of the ads identical.
3 - You may want to test a single word or phrase.
4 - Make sure you turn on the feature in your settings to allow the ads to be rotated equally. You do NOT want Google to display better performing ads more often, because you are testing, so you want equal distribution of the ads.
5 - Don't make snap judgements, so make sure there is sufficient data (impressions) of your ads to make a statistically intelligent call. If one or two additional clicks changes the outcome, you do not have enough clicks.
6 - Once you have made a decision that one of the ads beat your control ad, make the new one the control, and create two new ads.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
1 - Only use one or two test ads. Do not get carried away with more than two. You will not be able to evaluate properly.
2 - Make sure the test ads are similar. Focus on testing one element. You may want to test different headlines with the rest of the ads identical.
3 - You may want to test a single word or phrase.
4 - Make sure you turn on the feature in your settings to allow the ads to be rotated equally. You do NOT want Google to display better performing ads more often, because you are testing, so you want equal distribution of the ads.
5 - Don't make snap judgements, so make sure there is sufficient data (impressions) of your ads to make a statistically intelligent call. If one or two additional clicks changes the outcome, you do not have enough clicks.
6 - Once you have made a decision that one of the ads beat your control ad, make the new one the control, and create two new ads.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Google Adwords - Multiple Ads - Why?
This morning I posted about testing within the Google Adwords program. I gave you a few of the more basic tips, but keep in mind, there are dozens of things you can do to enhance ad testing. I'll discuss more of them over the next few months, but I don't want to bog anyone down that is following along.
I do want to note that multiple ads for one keyword go beyond testing. Once you spend the time testing, and you feel confident you have one solid winner, and two very close ads, you want to continue to run three ads in rotation. Some might wonder, why, if we are done testing.
First, you are actually never done testing, but you can concentrate on other areas for awhile and come back and re-visit testing.
Second, multiple ads present multiple marketing points. You may run three ads with headlines like this:
1 - Miami Real Estate Expert
2 - Search the Entire Miami MLS
3 - Preview All Miami Listings
The three headlines send three different messages. One thing to always remember with Internet Marketing is . . . the higher the price of the items, the more the shopper will search. If someone is buying a bar of specialty soap, they are not going to visit 20 websites and spend two hours online. If someone is buying a $500,000 house, YES . . . they may visit more than 20 websites and spend hours online.
So each time your ads are displayed on a keyword, the buyer will see a different ad, but when they click on it, they are returned to your website. Take this a step further with fine tuning where you drop the buyer.
For the first ad, you will drop them on a page that talks about your expertise.
For the second ad, you will drop them on a page that features your IDX MLS search.
And for the third ad, you will drop them on a different MLS search page.
For your competitors that ran only one ad, the viewer would not be clicking on it three times. They've seen the ad, and they realize they already saw that website. But you directed the buyer to your website THREE times. If you're doing your homework, and your website is a HIT, the buyer should at least fill out a form. You had three shots at convincing this buyer, that you are the EXPERT.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
I do want to note that multiple ads for one keyword go beyond testing. Once you spend the time testing, and you feel confident you have one solid winner, and two very close ads, you want to continue to run three ads in rotation. Some might wonder, why, if we are done testing.
First, you are actually never done testing, but you can concentrate on other areas for awhile and come back and re-visit testing.
Second, multiple ads present multiple marketing points. You may run three ads with headlines like this:
1 - Miami Real Estate Expert
2 - Search the Entire Miami MLS
3 - Preview All Miami Listings
The three headlines send three different messages. One thing to always remember with Internet Marketing is . . . the higher the price of the items, the more the shopper will search. If someone is buying a bar of specialty soap, they are not going to visit 20 websites and spend two hours online. If someone is buying a $500,000 house, YES . . . they may visit more than 20 websites and spend hours online.
So each time your ads are displayed on a keyword, the buyer will see a different ad, but when they click on it, they are returned to your website. Take this a step further with fine tuning where you drop the buyer.
For the first ad, you will drop them on a page that talks about your expertise.
For the second ad, you will drop them on a page that features your IDX MLS search.
And for the third ad, you will drop them on a different MLS search page.
For your competitors that ran only one ad, the viewer would not be clicking on it three times. They've seen the ad, and they realize they already saw that website. But you directed the buyer to your website THREE times. If you're doing your homework, and your website is a HIT, the buyer should at least fill out a form. You had three shots at convincing this buyer, that you are the EXPERT.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Google Adwords - You Do NOT Want to Be #1
That's right, on Google, Yahoo and other Sponsored Links, you do NOT want to be #1. Remember in the prior post how I pointed out the higher the price of a product, the more ads a buyer will click on. There are not too many advertised products more expensive than homes. So you do NOT want to pay the premium to be #1, when a potential buyer is going to click on several Google ads. This means, even if you are 3,4,5, or more, you are probably going to be clicked on . . . if you have an ad that appeals to the buyer.
You can tell Google exactly what position you want when you set the Positions Preference option in Settings for each Campaign. Once that is set, you can then adjust positions by keywords, but it is much easier to do it by Ad Groups.
You have a few options.
1 - Set a specific position that you want. If I were going to use this option, I would set 3-5, because this way you maximize your exposure in the top right hand corner position. Google will display from 1-3 ads on top of the wide organic section, and the rest of the ads go down the right hand side.
2 - Another option is to select 2-8, which means you will be on the first page, but you do not want to pay for position #1. I should note that Google will still place you in the #1 position if you are bidding enough to make it worthwhile for them to place you there. That is a complicated message that will be dealt with in my next post on how Google decides the order of ads.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
You can tell Google exactly what position you want when you set the Positions Preference option in Settings for each Campaign. Once that is set, you can then adjust positions by keywords, but it is much easier to do it by Ad Groups.
You have a few options.
1 - Set a specific position that you want. If I were going to use this option, I would set 3-5, because this way you maximize your exposure in the top right hand corner position. Google will display from 1-3 ads on top of the wide organic section, and the rest of the ads go down the right hand side.
2 - Another option is to select 2-8, which means you will be on the first page, but you do not want to pay for position #1. I should note that Google will still place you in the #1 position if you are bidding enough to make it worthwhile for them to place you there. That is a complicated message that will be dealt with in my next post on how Google decides the order of ads.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
How Google Ranks Paid Ads - #1 vs. #8
You bid $3.00 for keyword and I bid $1.00 for a keyword. You get placed #7 and I get placed #2. You might think . . . that makes no sense because you were willing to pay three times more than I was.
Google was the first search engine to actually look at revenue versus bidding. Yahoo was one of the last to convert to a revenue model. So by now you might be wondering what I am talking about. Here it is very simple . . .
You bid $3.00 per keyword and get 100 clicks in a month for a total to Google of $300.00
I bid $1.00 per keyword and get 400 clicks in a month for total to Google of $400.00.
Guess what? Google is going to put me on top of you because I am performing better and making more money for Google. If you don't understand this, I suggest you email or call me. This is something you need to understand before you start spending money on Google.
Two other huge issues we see with real estate agents and brokers throwing money away on Google is bidding the same amount for all keywords and not understanding the value of phrase, match and broad. We'll look at these in upcoming posts.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com . I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Google was the first search engine to actually look at revenue versus bidding. Yahoo was one of the last to convert to a revenue model. So by now you might be wondering what I am talking about. Here it is very simple . . .
You bid $3.00 per keyword and get 100 clicks in a month for a total to Google of $300.00
I bid $1.00 per keyword and get 400 clicks in a month for total to Google of $400.00.
Guess what? Google is going to put me on top of you because I am performing better and making more money for Google. If you don't understand this, I suggest you email or call me. This is something you need to understand before you start spending money on Google.
Two other huge issues we see with real estate agents and brokers throwing money away on Google is bidding the same amount for all keywords and not understanding the value of phrase, match and broad. We'll look at these in upcoming posts.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com . I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Google Bidding - How Much?
I recently reviewed a broker's Google bidding as we were getting ready to manage their Sponsored Links. What was most shocking (and common) is the bidding of one bid on all keywords. In this case, it was $3.00. HUGE mistake.
We have set up Sponsored Link accounts with 600,000 different keyword combinations. I'm not kidding, but we'll explain how that happens in another post. For the $3 bidder, they were missing a true breakout of Campaigns and Ad Groups. Basically, you want to bid the most on keywords that demonstrate the web surfer is closest to making a decision.
Here's an example. When we work with clients selling a product, we want to focus on item number. If someone is looking for a printer online, and they type in HP7400, that keyword is far more valuable to us than someone searching on the keyword "printers."
And the same holds true for real estate. You want to bid more for someone searching for "real estate agent in Palm City" then you do for someone searching for "Florida real estate." In fact, you probably do not want to even be bidding on someone searching for "Florida real estate."
The rule of thumb we use is 10:1. Someone that is searching for a real estate agent is 10 times more valuable to us than someone poking around real estate websites for pricing, ideas or just something to do.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
We have set up Sponsored Link accounts with 600,000 different keyword combinations. I'm not kidding, but we'll explain how that happens in another post. For the $3 bidder, they were missing a true breakout of Campaigns and Ad Groups. Basically, you want to bid the most on keywords that demonstrate the web surfer is closest to making a decision.
Here's an example. When we work with clients selling a product, we want to focus on item number. If someone is looking for a printer online, and they type in HP7400, that keyword is far more valuable to us than someone searching on the keyword "printers."
And the same holds true for real estate. You want to bid more for someone searching for "real estate agent in Palm City" then you do for someone searching for "Florida real estate." In fact, you probably do not want to even be bidding on someone searching for "Florida real estate."
The rule of thumb we use is 10:1. Someone that is searching for a real estate agent is 10 times more valuable to us than someone poking around real estate websites for pricing, ideas or just something to do.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Creating Google Ad Campaigns - What, Why, When, How
In the prior post I wrote about creating a USA Ad Campaign and a Canadian Ad Campaign . . . if you have a considerable amount of Canadian business. Florida is a prime example of a market with Canadian business, but there is quite a bit in California, Nevada, Washington, Portland, Maine, etc.
I will back up for a minute and actually recommend two individual accounts, one targeting Canada and one targeting the USA, but for most agents this gets to be a little bit too much, so creating a Canadian Ad Campaign is fine, but you will not be able to make it as broad as the USA Campaigns.
The next step on your march to a robust Google Sponsored Links account is setting up Ad Campaigns to cover all of your markets. Here's an example of Ad Campaigns created for Florida real estate brokers in Martin County.
1-Martin County
2-Palm Beach County
3-St. Lucie County
4-Treasure Coast
5-Waterfront Homes
6-Luxury Homes
7-Communities
8-Condos
9-Single Family Homes
10-TownHomes
11-Vacant Land
12-Investments
These Ad Campaigns then allow you to set up 100 Ad Groups within each Ad Campaign. You will use the individual Ad Campaigns and nested Ad Groups to cover as many keywords as possible, while using a rifle instead of a shotgun to target the keywords with specific Titles, Copy, Visible URLs and Destination URLs.
I know . . . what the heck is he talking about with Visible URLs and Destination URLs. I'll get to it in a future post. And for those of you that have experience with Google, who are thinking . . . Google doesn't allow different visible or vanity URLs, stay tuned. I'll show you how to tweak the system.
The 12 suggested Ad Campaigns above would be modified if you are in the mountains or New York City, etc. Instead of Waterfront, you may have Mountain View or Downtown, etc. The point is to break your markets into logical segments.
In the next post I will break off from the logical next step to discuss why you need to consider duplicating Ad Campaigns and segmenting them by Pure Google and Network. Then we will continue with what goes into the Ad Campaigns.
At this point, if you have just the 12 Ad Campaigns with 100 Ad Groups in each and 200 keywords in each Ad Group, you'd be at 240,000 different keyword combinations. You can see how quickly you get to 600,000+.
Adwords Editor - You are not actually typing in all of these keywords. You will be using Adwords Editor to copy and duplicate. Then you simply do a find and replace to tweak the copy to the new placement. I will get to it all. For now, if you have questions, feel free to post them here. I will respond to all of them.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: http://www.mikemorgan7.com/
I will back up for a minute and actually recommend two individual accounts, one targeting Canada and one targeting the USA, but for most agents this gets to be a little bit too much, so creating a Canadian Ad Campaign is fine, but you will not be able to make it as broad as the USA Campaigns.
The next step on your march to a robust Google Sponsored Links account is setting up Ad Campaigns to cover all of your markets. Here's an example of Ad Campaigns created for Florida real estate brokers in Martin County.
1-Martin County
2-Palm Beach County
3-St. Lucie County
4-Treasure Coast
5-Waterfront Homes
6-Luxury Homes
7-Communities
8-Condos
9-Single Family Homes
10-TownHomes
11-Vacant Land
12-Investments
These Ad Campaigns then allow you to set up 100 Ad Groups within each Ad Campaign. You will use the individual Ad Campaigns and nested Ad Groups to cover as many keywords as possible, while using a rifle instead of a shotgun to target the keywords with specific Titles, Copy, Visible URLs and Destination URLs.
I know . . . what the heck is he talking about with Visible URLs and Destination URLs. I'll get to it in a future post. And for those of you that have experience with Google, who are thinking . . . Google doesn't allow different visible or vanity URLs, stay tuned. I'll show you how to tweak the system.
The 12 suggested Ad Campaigns above would be modified if you are in the mountains or New York City, etc. Instead of Waterfront, you may have Mountain View or Downtown, etc. The point is to break your markets into logical segments.
In the next post I will break off from the logical next step to discuss why you need to consider duplicating Ad Campaigns and segmenting them by Pure Google and Network. Then we will continue with what goes into the Ad Campaigns.
At this point, if you have just the 12 Ad Campaigns with 100 Ad Groups in each and 200 keywords in each Ad Group, you'd be at 240,000 different keyword combinations. You can see how quickly you get to 600,000+.
Adwords Editor - You are not actually typing in all of these keywords. You will be using Adwords Editor to copy and duplicate. Then you simply do a find and replace to tweak the copy to the new placement. I will get to it all. For now, if you have questions, feel free to post them here. I will respond to all of them.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section. I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: http://www.mikemorgan7.com/
600,000+ Google Keywords in One Account
I'll explain that number for those that think I am either drinking or smoking something I should not be. I don't do either by the way.
Let's start with 25 Ad Campaigns in an account. Here is an example of how you might get to 25.
1 - USA
2 - Canada
OK, let's stop there and explain. We recommend you set up a US and Canadian campaign because you want to do three things. First, you want to bid differently when distributing ads to Canadians. Second, you want to feature three different rotating ads.
You want to target the Canadians, just like you want to target different groups here . . . seniors, first time buyers, investors, etc. This requires different ad copy.
And the third reason for two campaigns, is you want to drop your visitors on different pages on your website.
Yes, you can certainly take this a step further, and break this down for other foreign countries. You can also break it down within the US. For example, if you are in Florida, you might want to target snowbirds. As for foreign country selection, be very careful. I will explain this in an upcoming post. If you don't manage this properly, you can get clobbered with ghost hits.
As you can see, when we say Sponsored Links is like playing chess on 16 levels . . . blindfolded, you can start to understand how complicated this can get. I will leave you with #1 and #2 in the campaigns, and pick up with 3-25 tomorrow.
As for the count to 600,000, let's just say you will have 100 Ad Groups in each of your two Ad Campaigns, and each ad group will have 250 keywords. So we have 2 x 100 = 200, and then 200 x 250 = 50,000 keywords combinations.
If you're interested in having one of our Sponsored Links experts manage your program, there are monthly programs starting at $1,000. One or two additional deals a year pays for that and more.
Tomorrow I will discuss the next group of Ad Campaigns, and after getting to 600,000, I will discuss each component in depth.
If you have a question about this post, please post a comment or feel free to email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Let's start with 25 Ad Campaigns in an account. Here is an example of how you might get to 25.
1 - USA
2 - Canada
OK, let's stop there and explain. We recommend you set up a US and Canadian campaign because you want to do three things. First, you want to bid differently when distributing ads to Canadians. Second, you want to feature three different rotating ads.
You want to target the Canadians, just like you want to target different groups here . . . seniors, first time buyers, investors, etc. This requires different ad copy.
And the third reason for two campaigns, is you want to drop your visitors on different pages on your website.
Yes, you can certainly take this a step further, and break this down for other foreign countries. You can also break it down within the US. For example, if you are in Florida, you might want to target snowbirds. As for foreign country selection, be very careful. I will explain this in an upcoming post. If you don't manage this properly, you can get clobbered with ghost hits.
As you can see, when we say Sponsored Links is like playing chess on 16 levels . . . blindfolded, you can start to understand how complicated this can get. I will leave you with #1 and #2 in the campaigns, and pick up with 3-25 tomorrow.
As for the count to 600,000, let's just say you will have 100 Ad Groups in each of your two Ad Campaigns, and each ad group will have 250 keywords. So we have 2 x 100 = 200, and then 200 x 250 = 50,000 keywords combinations.
If you're interested in having one of our Sponsored Links experts manage your program, there are monthly programs starting at $1,000. One or two additional deals a year pays for that and more.
Tomorrow I will discuss the next group of Ad Campaigns, and after getting to 600,000, I will discuss each component in depth.
If you have a question about this post, please post a comment or feel free to email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Google Adwords - Pure Google, Network or Content
Knowing the difference between Pure Google, Network and Content is critical. The short version is, you don't want Network or Content, unless you set the bids for these areas at 1/10th or less to the Pure Google bid. For agents and brokers that want to maximize the dollars they are spending, we suggest you uncheck the boxes for Network and Content . . . and only display on Google.
Network is a huge group of websites from the New York Times to Habba Bobba's Swap Shop. Generally, Google will try to match your keywords to the content on the page of these Network sites. But remember this . . . these people are not searching for you or your product. They are reading an article or a web page. So they are not worth near as much to you as someone that is actually searching for you.
Content is even worse. This could be a junky as those one page splash pages with misleading URLs. For example, if you meant to type in www.realtor.com and instead you typed in www.realter.com you will be dropped on a page that is doing nothing but displaying Sponsored Links.
So for limited budgets, stick with Pure Google, and let your competitors waste money on the junk in Network and Content.
If you have a question about this post, please post a comment or feel free to email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: http://www.mikemorgan7.com/
Network is a huge group of websites from the New York Times to Habba Bobba's Swap Shop. Generally, Google will try to match your keywords to the content on the page of these Network sites. But remember this . . . these people are not searching for you or your product. They are reading an article or a web page. So they are not worth near as much to you as someone that is actually searching for you.
Content is even worse. This could be a junky as those one page splash pages with misleading URLs. For example, if you meant to type in www.realtor.com and instead you typed in www.realter.com you will be dropped on a page that is doing nothing but displaying Sponsored Links.
So for limited budgets, stick with Pure Google, and let your competitors waste money on the junk in Network and Content.
If you have a question about this post, please post a comment or feel free to email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: http://www.mikemorgan7.com/
Xsites by "a la mode" - Forms Manager Issues
There are two things on the Xsites form manager that really bug me.
1 - There is no email confirm. You know, where you enter your email twice and it must match. The powers to be at "a la mode" feel it is not needed. It is. We trick the system by adding a second field for email, and in this field we title it "Confirm Email." Now it will not actully function as a confirmation, but you now know if there is a bad email if they don't match. For an example visit - http://www.floridahomes.pro/home_search and look at the set up of the form at the bottom of the page.
2 - Another thing that really bugs me, is Xsites have a hard code Phone Number request on all forms. There are a lot of folks that will not give you their phone number and get offended when you ask, so we bury the Phone request at the bottom of the form. See the same link below. It is not required field with Xsites, but it still shows up, and there is no way to delete it. Once again the Tech Gurus at "a la mode" feel there is a reason to drive us all crazy with the phone request. You know . . . if we want the phone number, we can include it in our form.
If you have questions about Xsite forms - how to create them, how to tweak them, how to make them most effective, please post a Question/Comment here or email me at Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Subscribe to this blog using the Subscribe To section to the right.
1 - There is no email confirm. You know, where you enter your email twice and it must match. The powers to be at "a la mode" feel it is not needed. It is. We trick the system by adding a second field for email, and in this field we title it "Confirm Email." Now it will not actully function as a confirmation, but you now know if there is a bad email if they don't match. For an example visit - http://www.floridahomes.pro/home_search and look at the set up of the form at the bottom of the page.
2 - Another thing that really bugs me, is Xsites have a hard code Phone Number request on all forms. There are a lot of folks that will not give you their phone number and get offended when you ask, so we bury the Phone request at the bottom of the form. See the same link below. It is not required field with Xsites, but it still shows up, and there is no way to delete it. Once again the Tech Gurus at "a la mode" feel there is a reason to drive us all crazy with the phone request. You know . . . if we want the phone number, we can include it in our form.
If you have questions about Xsite forms - how to create them, how to tweak them, how to make them most effective, please post a Question/Comment here or email me at Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Subscribe to this blog using the Subscribe To section to the right.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Site Maps on Real Estate Websites
The format of this blog is going to be Q&A along with a few posts I will make. But I am here for you if you have questions about Internet Marketing - SEO, SEM, Sponsored Links, Websites, etc.
Below is a question received, followed by my response.
Thanks Mike - Is it important to have a site map on your website? And I have older websites and want to update them and would like your opinion on who you think builds the best real estate websites (templates) so we can add to them ourselves?
To Laxson Associates -
In response to your question about site maps. YES, they are extremely important and these act as maps for the Google crawlers.
As for the second question about real estate websites, there are several website builders, but I prefer A la Mode for the ease of use and the best tech support in the industry. I am going to do an entire series on A la Mode in the future. If you decide to go with them, let me know and I will give you some pointers before you sign up.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
Below is a question received, followed by my response.
Thanks Mike - Is it important to have a site map on your website? And I have older websites and want to update them and would like your opinion on who you think builds the best real estate websites (templates) so we can add to them ourselves?
To Laxson Associates -
In response to your question about site maps. YES, they are extremely important and these act as maps for the Google crawlers.
As for the second question about real estate websites, there are several website builders, but I prefer A la Mode for the ease of use and the best tech support in the industry. I am going to do an entire series on A la Mode in the future. If you decide to go with them, let me know and I will give you some pointers before you sign up.
If you have a question about this post, please post in the comments section or email me Mike@MikeMorgan7.com I will respond to all questions posted.
Mike Morgan, J.D., CRS, GRI, SRES, e-PRO, REO TRANS Platinum
"Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals"
Phone: (772) 260-5448
Email: Mike@MikeMorgan7.com
Website: www.MikeMorgan7.com
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