Realtors, Get Your Next Listing Using a Geo Targeted Google Ad Campaign
July 2nd, 2009 by DamonLocal buyers and sellers are actively searching for Realtors on the Internet. Studies show that these potential customers are serious when searching on the internet for real estate services. The problem is as a local Realtor you have to figure out how to get these customers to your real estate website, and you have to do it without breaking the bank.
Did you know that 74% of U.S. households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally. 45% of local searchers have the intent of doing business locally. The percentage of people who use yellow page advertising decreased from 75% to 62% last year. If you’re one of the many Realtors who have a yellow page ad, it’s time to consider buying a smaller ad and shifting your marketing dollars to the Internet.
As a local Realtor, it’s hard to ignore these facts. If you want to compete in your local real estate market you must have an internet presence where your customers are searching. Google’s local, or “geo targeted’ pay per click marketing can put your real estate website on the first page of Google where your future customers are searching.
In a professionally created Google pay per click advertising campaign keyword phrases are used to trigger your ads when someone searches using that phrase. An example of a keyword phrase that might be used would be “real estate in Glens Falls”. When someone types in this keyword phrase your ad, pointing to your real estate website, would be displayed. Chances are you will also see ads for your competitors on the same page. The cost per click for ad positioning on this page may be somewhat competitive.
Now, this is where “geo targeting” comes in to play. A professional pay per click marketer would never use the phrase “real estate” for your pay per click campaign. Imagine all the people on the internet that type in “real estate” everyday. Your ad would show thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of times per day to people who are not searching for real estate in your area. Some of them will click on your ad costing you money.
However, when implementing a “geo targeted” pay per click advertising campaign, you can use a general keyword like “real estate”. It has also been my experience that the cost for that same click is much lower in a “geo targeted’ campaign.
Here’s why. When setting up your “geo targeted” campaign I use your physical address. Then I tell Google what the ’search radius” for this campaign will be. You can go out 5 miles, ten miles, or 100 miles. You decide how far you would travel from your location to do business. It’s entirely up to you. Google will then serve your ad only to searchers within that “search radius”. Now for the best part, your competition did not bid on the keywords “real estate”, he is bidding on “real estate in Glens Falls”. He does not have a separate “geo targeted’ campaign set up. So, there is a lot less competition in your “geo targeted” advertising campaign, hence, you pay less per click. In fact you pay a lot less. My Realtor customers save about 50% per click as opposed to all the other pay per click campaigns out there.
They also gobble up lots of local business right in their back yard. So, how do you promote your real estate website? Remember, real estate agents will not be replaced by technology, they will be replaced by the agents who use technology to their advantage.
By Mike Alves, the owner of www.Marketing4Leads.com
