real-estate-seo-wordpressReal Estate sites that excel with search engine optimization or SEO have a proven competitive advantage considering the amount of free traffic they receive associated with a high margin business. The 3% commissions associated with a $250,000 home result in a net profit of $7500 per sale or $90,000 per year if you can sell one of those homes per month. From an economics standpoint, it makes sense to commit at least 10% of that income, per month, back into marketing your site. I know, I know, all of this is a lot easier said than done…You’re probably thinking that I am putting the cart before the horse. But in reality, it’s not that complicated to obtain some rankings that generate enough traffic for a few agents. Here is a step by step guide to jump starting your SEO.

  1. Decide which communities you want to specialize in. Now I’m not suggesting that you try and rank for the term “homes for sale”, or even “homes for sale in Texas”, etc… That is way too competitive and takes a full time SEO above and beyond $750 a month.  You need to choose a limited set of neighborhoods or master planned communities that you are knowledgeable about and then go check their keyword volume with Google’s keyword planner tool.
  2. Choose one or two communities that have respectable keyword volume, in the hundreds of searches per month, you probably won’t find anything in the thousands.
  3. Go try and buy as close to that exact match keyword domain as possible. For instance, if the term is “Spanish Oaks Austin Homes” or “Rough Hollow Homes for Sale” you may settle in with SpanishOaksAustin.com and www.RoughHollowHomes.com.
  4. You’ll need hosting from Godaddy or BlueHost, etc.. – they have packages for under $15 a month.
  5. Install WordPress on your domain. It should be a quick 1 click install from the backend.
  6. Pick a real estate theme or a one page theme from within the wp-admin console. Find a list here.
  7. Choose an IDX Provider that allows you to iframe in MLS Listings and collect leads from your site. Examples – Diverse Solutions, REWIDX, and MLSFinder.
  8. Create a 10-12 page micro-site that has good rich content associated with that neighborhood and includes the IDX search functionality iframed into the site.
  9. Reach out to on topic directories and Austin based businesses and try and get 10-12 links within 6 months.
  10. Sit back and wait, roughly 9 months for your site to begin getting traffic.

This may seem like a lot to do, but it’s a high margin business and WordPress has made it extremely easy for someone with a limited understanding of technology to create a small site.