Time to complete: 1 to 2 hours
In order to get an edge over your competition, your website must Attract leads, Engage these leads so they sign up on your website, Nurture them so that they warm up enough to Close Deals with you.
This step alone will probably bring you lots of closed deals to your real estate investing business.
Have you ever thought about what being number one on Google and Bing local search listings can do for your business?
When you buy and sell houses, most likely you target your local market region. What if you were the first person these motivated sellers and house buyers find on the search engines in your target market?
Maybe a continuous flow of business and deals…
Most (if nor all) real estate investors never employ these techniques, so getting a top ranking position on the search engines on your local market is easier than you think.
Let’s dive in…
This article walks you through how to submit your website to Google and Bing local searches.
Where do most people start when looking for anything (including houses)? Search engines – especially GOOGLE. The beauty of local searches is that they do not require a lot of work and the results can be apparent within a week or two after you confirm your mailing address (below).
This should be one of the first things you need to do when you get your website.
Very few people (if any) in your local area have adopted this technique. If you take some time to do this, it’s likely you will rank number among the top in Google and Bing on your local searches.
First, we need to clear some search engine terminology. A quick google search for “sell my house in dallas texas” gives me the results below:
Our primary interest is to rank well in the local search results. Notice important thing in these results:
Local search results usually appear before organic search results
This means if your website appears in the local search results, you appear on top of search engine search results in your local market.
This is a very powerful way of attracting local targeted leads for your business. So let’s get started…
How to submit to Google Local Searches
1) Go to https://business.google.com/. Over the years I have noticed this URL has changed several times, so better do a google search for “Google Local“.
2) If you are not already logged into your Google account, log in. If you have no Google account, just follow the link to start the submission process and create an account.
3) Google will ask you to search for your business name or phone number.If it does not find it, it allows you to enter new information, or it allows you to claim ownership of any matches.
4) Google will send you a post card with a PIN number to confirm your address. This is extremely important because your listing will not appear on search results until it is confirmed.
5) Take your time to put in as much information as possible. This includes pictures and even videos if you have any. The more complete your information is, the more compelling it will be to your visitors.
6) Keep checking the mail for the Google postcard!
It might look like junk mail, so be on the look-out for it. Once you enter your PIN number, you listing will be live.
7) Keep updating your account at every opportunity you get. The more complete it remaains, the higher it ranks.
A surprising personal case study:
I just checked my account and got a surprising reality:
I don’t pay a lot of attention to our local search results for our website business, but here are the surprising results:
1) In the last 30 days, we have received over 3000 views and 135 visits
2) Out of these visits, I have been able to track 6 website orders – totalling to over $2000 in sales
Please note that it did not cost me anything to make these sales at all. It took me about 2 hours to submit this information long ago and I forgot about it.
I have to admit that I did not submit a lot of information. If I took the time to make this listing look as good as it could possibly get, maybe I would have been receiving much more business.
Just from Google local search results. And this is for websites that are not local.
I was not paying much attention to it because I tend to think that our real estate investor websites can be used by real estate investors nationwide, rather than investors our my local market.
This should be an eye opener if you are reading this. How well can your business do if you pay attention to local listings?
Better do it now – Submit those listings, keep an eye on them and keep them updated.
How to submit your listing to Bing
1) Go to https://www.bingplaces.com/. If you do not have an account, just create one.
2) Bing will prompt you to search your listing just like in Google, just follow the prompts to complete your listing.
3) Verify your listing by post card just like in Google.
That is all there is to it!
Some things to consider
a) Remember to put your website URL
I know this sounds too obvious, but I have seen lots of listing with no web address. Maybe they do not have a website, but it could also be because a web address is not required in your listing.
A web site tells your story for you, a phone number or a map is not enough! Your web site needs to serve you by generating new business and making running of your business easy.
The ones without a web site just provide “Directions“. Do you entertain motivated sellers to your office? I bet not!
b) The phone number you put should be your business phone
This phone number will be displayed in your listings, so unless you use your personal cell phone for business, then you need to put your business phone.
If you have a voice mail or answering service that captures your leads, this should be that number. Of course it can be your office number depending on your business model.
c) Optimize your web site for local search
Instructions on how to localize your content are given here.
This is a very important step because
– Targeted – Targeted leads result to better conversion. Localizing your content ensures that the traffic and the leads you get are well targeted
– More leads – Having localized content means that your listing will most likely rank higher than non-localized websites.
This means you stand to receive more leads and more business.
Your best bet is in the title and description on your meta tags, and your content. Most search engines will not place a lot of weight on keywords on your meta tags, but it does not hurt to put them there.
Go to your home page and open it on a text or HTML editor and change the description like this:
<meta name=”Description” content=”We Buy Houses, Location: [my local area], Category: Real Estate, Phone: 999-999-9999, Address:[youraddress] “>
or
<meta name=”Description” content=”We Buy Houses in [my local area]. Call 999-999-9999″>
Similarly, your title should be equally descriptive and brief. Do not stuff irrelevant keywords, or so many keywords! They will not serve you well.
Generally, your title should have 70 characters or less. The description should have 156 characters or less. This tool is a good guide when optimizing your content.
When you receive your website from us, it is already localized for you, but you do need to add some input to make it more effective.
By default when we personalize your website, we do not include the phone number because some people prefer a different phone number for their business.
Please make sure to make this important change.