At the same time you may think effective real estate website promotion is too difficult to master, too expensive to afford, or just too mysterious to understand – an area reserved for experts in the field of search engine marketing.

Like most practitioners of highly specialized skills, search engine marketing specialists have a vested interest in making their field seem mysterious and difficult to master. But it is not really that mysterious. It is possible for anyone to dominate the search engines in virtually any local market. All it takes is a bit of common sense and some hard work.

The principles involved in getting good positioning for your real estate website are quite simple and straightforward. They are the same principles that apply to search engine marketing for any website and it is actually quite easy to apply these principles to real estate websites. Many real estate agents have simply given up trying to score well in the search engines for local real estate searches because they don’t properly understand the process.

But think about it for a minute. When you do a search in Google for “real estate Phoenix” or “Banff real estate” or “Halifax real estate” or “Fort Lauderdale real estate”, and you see the same real estate agents or agencies coming up on the first page week after week, how do you think they got there? What magical real estate website promotion formula are they using or who have they paid to get this high position?

Now before you answer that question, ask yourself how you think Google assigns these positions to different websites. Does their giant computer just pull names from a great big cyber-hat? Do they use secret rules that only a few insiders know about?

Of course not. All the major search engines make it perfectly clear what they are looking for – and especially Google. If you want to score well for a term like “real estate Phoenix” or “real estate Ottawa”, really all you have to do is pack your site with good information about Phoenix (or Ottawa) and focus your home page in a very deliberate way on those search terms.

The search engines like focused content. They assume if your site contains lots of content relevant to “real estate Phoenix” then it should be shown high in searches for that keyword.

Of course the problem is that there are already a number of other real estate websites offering good content focused on your favorite search term, so you are going head to head with sites that have previously established position, and it will take a bit of time and a fair amount of work to get past them.

That is fair enough. After all, if the real estate agent down the streat offers more focused and relevant information than you do about the market you are both chasing, she deserves to come up above you in the search engine rankings. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

That does not mean you should not keep on trying. It simply means you should be patient and work harder. Take a close look at her site and outdo her by refocusing your site and creating more interesting and valuable content. Focus is the name of the game. Make it crystal clear that you are the “expert” on “Calgary real estate” by offering the kinds of things that an expert would offer.

And please, do not hesitate to mention the search phrase you are trying to get positioning on. If it is “Kingston real estate” or “Sacramento real estate”, then use that term all over your home page. Say to yourself, “OK Google, so you are looking for real estate websites that have something to say about ‘Sacramento real estate’, well here I am. I breathe Sacramento Real Estate. I ooze Sacramento Real Estate. I AM Sacramento Real Estate.” This is called Search Engine Optimization.

In the meantime, while you’re waiting for Google to come around on your primary search term, find some less competitive ones to focus on as well. For instance, if you want to service the entire Ottawa area, but most of your clientele is in Kanata or Nepean, focus some of your internet marketing efforts on those smaller markets. You have a much better chance of getting results in these significantly smaller and less competitive markets.

Virtual tours can let people visit your home from theirs or their workplace. They can take a full look around and get a general feel of how your house looks like. With the possibility of 360 degree views, it’s one of the most useful tools that one can promote their house with. Many properties were sold fast thanks to high quality virtual tours.

Photography

A classic tool which can’t be missing from any real estate presentation. Online photo sharing and storage creates the possibility of easily reaching a previously unthinkably large audience.

24/7 Access

One big advantage of the Internet is that it’s available nonstop. While you and your agent can only organize showing and answer their phones in a limited period, often excluding weekends, your online presentations are always there. Many people are extremely busy during the week and do all their research at on Saturday and Sunday. If you can supply them with high quality information and pre-convince them online, you’re going to experience very fast responses and closing.

Fast contact

Instead of just having a phone or a pager, potential buyers can contact your agent by e-mail and instant messaging as well. With various services that route all others to a cellphone, communication is easier than ever.

Mailing lists

Your real estate agent can gather the e-mail addresses of people who are looking for a specific type of property or in a certain location, and can automatically alert them when one is listed that meets their criteria. This means an instant potential buyer base in the very moment you decide to sell your property.

Video

With the advent of online video sharing services such as YouTube, you can film and publish a professionally edited video walkthrough through your home. If you’re using a true real estate agent who cares about his/her clients, he/she should be able to provide video marketing of your property.

Web 2.0

Social networking sites didn’t only help people to find long forgotten high school classmates, but have transformed many businesses and become a vital place for marketing. Not only your agent can join groups based on real estate investing in all the specific regions, but he can place ads on highly visible places where potential buyers spend a lot of time every single day.

Interactive Ads

Video, descriptions, virtual tools, stats, floor plans, surveys, legal status and everything can be inserted into an interactive ad such as Google Gadget Ads. While it’s still something quite cutting edge, ads like this will be placed all over in the future. An interactive gadget ad can be displayed on multiple websites, including social networking, classifieds and even virtual TV shows. The possibilities are endless and it’s clear that a successful realtor will be somebody who’s able to stay on top of technological advances online…

People seeking real estate want to see pictures of the properties out on the market. Real estate email marketing is perfect for that, in that you can send pictures of available properties in your messages. Technically, you can include as many pictures as you’d like. However, it’s ideal to include between 1 and 5 pictures, so your real estate email isn’t too long, too crowded, or too large in file size.

The best email marketing campaigns include one large picture of the outside of the property, and 2 or 3 smaller pictures of the inside of the property. The top real estate email marketing programs offer pre-made templates with sample pictures in the right spots, so all you have to do is click and replace with your own property picture. You can also feature several properties in your email. The great thing about this approach is that the emails are highly customizable, and you can change them as often as you’d like, so as to achieve the perfect fit for each campaign.

But real estate email marketing is not just for realtors looking to sell properties. Maybe you run a real estate course; maybe you provide financing; or maybe you supply a different real estate service all together. Whatever the case, the great thing about email marketing is that it integrates your online promotion and sales process in one step. The best programs offer full, end-to-end solutions. So in addition to propelling your email campaigns, these services will also help you create and maintain a professional-looking website with all the features you need. Best of all, you won’t need to break the bank or learn any complicated programs to get your website and email marketing up and running.

Another great benefit of this is that it helps you identify qualified leads. First, you’ll be able to see exactly who opened your email, and who went back to see it several times. Clearly, if one of your customers opened your message several times, he or she is at least partially interested in one of the properties featured. For you, that means it’s time for a follow-up call. It gets better. With the top programs, you’ll even be able to see exactly which property this person is interested in.

When it comes to real estate email marketing, the benefits are endless. On top of it all, with the best programs, you’ll have a dedicated account executive who knows the email marketing industry inside and out, and has lots of experience working with real estate professionals. Couple your own industry marketing savvy with your account executive’s email savvy, and you’re sure to have a winning formula. You’ll soon be seeing more sales and more customers as you learn, first-hand, about the effectiveness of such a powerful online sales channel as real estate email marketing.

How do you use the Internet to find property online? It’s easy. First you use a search engine to find a list of ‘property to let’ websites. There are lots of sites to choose from so there will certainly be one that focuses on the area to which you are moving. Next you choose a site and start to look. Many property rental websites will have a search engine just for their site. Enter in the search criteria that will narrow down the number of homes you must look through. Now is the fun part. When the list of homes appears you get to look for the one that will meet your needs. With so many homes to look through online you will need to narrow it down to a short list of rent houses that you wish to look into further.

No matter what your budget you will be able to use the Internet to find houses to rent. While you can find large homes online you can also find small flats. Because you can search for your new rent house from the comfort of your computer you will save money, time and fuel. These days who can afford to drive around looking for houses to rent, few people have the time for that anyway. If you have a big budget or you need to live cheep, using the Internet to find houses to rent will make life easier.

A six bedroom rent house can be very hard to find using conventional methods of searching. You would have to drive all over town, call home owner until you find a house for rent that would fit your needs within your budget. The same is true for a very small efficiency flat under? 350, you would have to search high and low spending your precious time traveling around town or talking to a realtor. Why lose your sanity when there is a better way available.
All you have to do is type in your budget and the size of rental house you need and the ‘property for let’ website will narrow the search for you.

Now that you know how to search online it really will be. No more traveling to look at houses after house that won’t work for you. Now you can find the rent house of your dreams from the comfort of your computer room. Finding property online is so much easier. It can save you heaps of time and allow you to select only properties within your budget and desired area. What’s really great about online property sites is that they usually have a property advice section where you will find articles, latest property laws, tips on buying a home and all the financial assistance you’ll need.