Search marketing is a broad term that is applied to pay per click advertising and other forms of advertising on the Internet that are displayed to the user when they are searching for something they just have an itch for.

One of the reasons I say it isn’t always pay per click advertising is some search marketing allow you to pay per impression, per conversion, or just a flat fee based on additional arrangements.

Real Estate Agents Using Search Marketing

So according to Google, and Jupiter Research, 41% of real estate agents were using search marketing back in 2004 and an additional 33% were going to be using it as of the end of 2005. So by the end of 2005 this report is stating that 74% of real estate agents would be using search marketing.

This is interesting because NAR (National Association of Realtors) stated that just 68% of real estate agents even had a website in a report that was done 2005. So there is a bit of a difference here that has to be sorted through.

Informal study of search marketing efforts

In the past year alone my brother and I have spoke to, taught, or coached over 1,000 real estate agents or others involved in real estate. During that time we asked every single group if they were doing any kind of search marketing efforts to increase leads, traffic, and performance of their websites. Out of 1,000 people we found that only 11% were doing any kind of search marketing efforts.

Of those that were doing search marketing they were producing results that were no less than 3 times those of their counterparts who were not doing any search marketing for their real estate website. In other words those that focused on their real estate website and their online marketing efforts for real estate were getting results.

What does this all mean to you?

This means that advertising on the Internet with search marketing programs is going to pay off for you if you do it and if you focus on it. There are a variety of programs and platforms available to real estate professionals out there. The key is to focus on the one that gives you the most exposure for the least amount of cost and of course generates the highest return on your investment.

The report on search marketing by Jupiter with results displayed over at the Google real estate section are of course designed to convince you to use Google Adwords. Now that is not a bad thing as my brother and I have received a solid return on our investment in Google Adwords for well over 5 years. In fact our ROI (return on investment) for pay per click advertising has well exceed 15 times return on our money during that time.

Google Adwords is not the only program out there though and we would encourage you to look at all search marketing programs with a few factors in mind.

Judging Search Marketing programs

Use the following criteria when evaluating programs for your search marketing efforts.

  1. Can you control it - it is important to be able to control the where and what you advertising on.
  2. Can you set the budget - if you can set the budget on a monthly or better yet daily basis that is best.
  3. Can you judge the results - if you can’t get proof of what you get out of it don’t do it. You need to know what leads you are getting out of it.
  4. How many people are using the system - if you are the first that could be great or really bad. Be careful if you are the first.
  5. Is your customer using the system - if your target customer is on the website that you are going to be advertising on great. If your customer is not using the system you are wasting money. Make sure the system allows you to target your customer.

So whatever search marketing program you decide on make sure you decide on one that gives you the control and results that you need. Our real estate lead system will give you the tools you need to conquer your search marketing efforts and to follow-up with those leads as well.

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