If you are looking to sell your house or even if you have a holiday rental and are looking to manage the bookings yourself there are now a vast array of websites looking to offer services to you to advertise your site. Out of the thousands, maybe millions of websites out there, most will not provide what you are looking for. Website design these days is relatively cheap and a ‘pretty’ website is not an expensive product to produce. the key to success for you, the advertiser however, lies in the amount of traffic that visits the site, ( The number of individuals looking for what you are selling/or renting.) In the competitive world that the internet has now become, unique visitors are the domain of the Page 1 Club, or more specifically, the Google Page 1 Club.
The reasons for this are simple. Google now accounts for over 70% of all search traffic on the internet. Whilst from a website owners point of view the 30% shared between all the other search engines is important, from an advertisers point of view, looking to maximize your return on your advertising dollar or Euro, you can discount the minions and concentrate on the main event.
The other interesting statistic is that 85% of people searching on Google never look past the first page of results. 95% never go past page 3. So if you are looking for traffic and visitors to your house sale or rental advert you need to concentrate on the sites that occupy the Page 1 results on Google.
The next step is to find out which search terms are the most used for your rental or sale. the search terms are the keyword or phrase that you type in the box when you are looking for something on Google. Statistics are kept on who searches for what and how many times, so you can determine which terms are most relevant for your type of property and whether you are selling or renting.
Search terms can be split into two categories, major traffic keywords and more specific minor keywords. There is a line of thinking that people start there search for a product or service by using general keyword searches. As they become more focussed on what they are looking for they also become more specific in their keyword search terms. Therefore, when considering the search terms that apply to you, you need to consider not only the high traffic keyword searches that will get the site you advertise on, the highest number of visitors. but also cross-reference the sites against the websites found on the more specific keyword searches. Ideally you are looking for a site or sites that appear on Page 1 for both. Alternatively, look to split your marketing between sites that cover both areas.
Once you have decided on a website, the single biggest mistake made by advertisers is rushing their advert, thinking that if they get it up and running with the minimum of information it will attract visitors and enquiries. There is a simple rule in the internet game- Content is King. This means that you should provide the maximum amount of descriptive information that the website will allow. Turn your advert into an essay about your property and its benefits. Talk about the local amenities, the area, the town etc. The more content you provide, the more small keyword terms will register with the search engines and it is quite possible that your advert page will rank by its own for some of these terms that match identically with your description. If someone searches for the term, - A pretty little house with a dock in Mount Pleasant SC, - and this was part of your description, its quite likely you will be on Page 1 for this term. It could be the difference between a sale or enquiry.
The internet is governed by content, so use the space provided to the maximum and good luck.
Neil Ebsworth is the founder of AMLASpain, The Spanish Property MLS for properties in Spain and Villa Rental Spain
