08 Jan 13 Online Search for Real Estate Soars 253%

The recent study from Realtor.org revealed some good news for the mortgage and real estate industry. Did you know that 90% of Home buyers are primarily using search engines to research potential properties, finding Realtors® and shopping rates from brokers and lenders online? Online marketing for Realtors® and mortgage services has never been more appealing.

According to the study,  consumers are not only exponentially increasing their reliance on the Internet but are also developing distinct patterns for using it in their housing searches. Google and the National Association of Realtors® recently completed a joint study on how and how much prospective home buyers use the various digital options.

That shopping is no longer about showing up in a store or a broker’s office or open house to get information is something Google calls the Zero Moment of Truth or ZMOT.  Google says “the sales funnel isn’t really a funnel anymore,” instead there is a generation that does its homework ahead of time. They shop in traditional ways; watching or reading ads, walk into stores to look at products, talks to friends, check styles and prices but alternate these with digital sources. They watch “how-to” videos on You Tube, read product and service reviews, look up specific brands on search engines and even research on the fly with mobile devices.

Home Buying Services Flourish on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter.

The study found the real estate-related searches on Google have grown 253% over the last 4-years and that 9 out of 10 consumers buying a home rely on the internet as one of their primary research sources, and 52% as their first step in purchasing real estate. They also found that home buyers used specific online tools at different points during their home search process.

When they start the process buyers tend to rely on search engines and general websites.  They frequently search terms like FHA loan,” “FHA,” “home grants,” and “home-buyer assistance. They tend to use maps more in the middle of the process, and engage mobile applications most toward the end of their search. Both first-time buyers and existing homeowners rely on home finance professionals and Realtors® when searching for a new property.

Did you know that 20% of people using search engines to find real estate are done from mobile devices?  A Google – Complete Home Shopper study uncovered that 48% of people who used a mobile device in their home search used the device to get directions to houses listed for sale and 45% used the device to request more information about specific home features or real estate services. Read the original article on Mortgage News Daily.

22 Jun 10 Searching for the Right SEO Company

Nationwide Marketing posted an interesting article on finding the best SEO company. They talked about how times have changed marketing online and that SEO  is much more comprehensive today than it was, say 10 years ago.

Choose the SEO Company that Best Meets Your Business Needs

Today raising your website ranking to the first page of Google, Bing or Yahoo has become challenging.  There are several types of internet marketing that you should know about.

• Organic Search Engine Optimization  – Natural search engine placement
• Paid Search Engine Marketing – Pay-Per- Click and Paid Inclusion

Nationwide is a San Diego SEO company that was founded by Bryan Dornan in 2002.  Read the original Nationwide Marketing article online at > Choosing the Best SEO Company to Market Your Business Online

Tags: Organic Search Engine Optimization

15 Mar 10 SEO Tips for Small Business Marketing

Search engine optimization has become an effective strategy for marketing small businesses cost effectively. SEO requires good content, adequate site structure and a driving force defined by an original “call to action.”

Top 5 Search Engine Optimization Tips for small businesses from Vendor Seek:

1. Use appropriate page titles like Creative Bakery in Chicago, IL Specializing in Wedding Cakes instead of just Welcome

2. Choose the right keywords in your text. See what terms users are searching on in Google and make sure they appear on your website

3. Build a Sitemap so that search engines can easily navigate your web site and include them in the search results

4. Optimize your local advertising by submitting to Google Local, including your physical address on your website and submitting to free directories like Yahoo, Yelp, SuperPages, etc.

5. Analyze your visitors that come to your site using Google Analytics (free) or another web traffic analysis program. This will tell you what people do when they come to your site and how to improve.

28 Jan 10 Search Engine Marketing To Do List

2010 is already flying by, it is not to late to take a step back and get some perspective on internet marketing and the search engine optimization that can be done to improve your website ranking on the major search engines, Bing, Google and Yahoo.  Sit down and put together a To Do List that prioritizes tasks for  your in-house SEO team this year. Everyone has a huge list of search engine optimization tasks that need doing, but let’s focus on larger tactics that will maximize 2010.

Optimize for Bing

If you aren’t running an active paid search account with Microsoft’s Advertising adCenter, 2010 is the time to start. The latest comScore figures (December 2009) report Bing has now reached over 10% in share, closing in on Yahoo’s 17%. If the two year trend of Bing stealing Yahoo search share continues, expect to see your Yahoo paid search account traffic and conversion volumes decline.  You’ll need to have a search marketing strategy to recoup Yahoo paid search losses. Shift some of your time and resources to getting your paid search keywords on Bing to take advantage of the traffic shift. The adCenter desktop tool makes porting over existing accounts and making easy find and replace updates efficient.

In terms of the Micro-Yahoo deal, the latest timeline suggests that paid Microsoft/Bing results will being appearing on Yahoo in early 2011 in major markets with the goal of all results by early 2012. While 2011 is still a year away, there’s no time like the present to start preparations for this transition. The announcement of their deal is already six months old, so see how time flies?  Bing’s not going anywhere in 2010, Microsoft will likely continue their advertising push to steal search share, and Yahoo is unlikely to aggressively respond to win significant share back. Coupled with the imminent syndication of Bing results on Yahoo, search marketers should start treating Bing as they would Yahoo in terms of search priorities and resources.

Keep Google a top priority

Despite lots of news and noise about Bing and Yahoo, Google is still the focus for search engine marketing and will likely remain the top priority. Google maintains an outstanding share of the search market (65-67% in December 2009) and the market leader position for paid search, so no surprise that the bulk of any paid search marketer’s time should be spent on AdWords, as that’s likely responsible for the majority of search marketing traffic and conversions.  In the flurry of activity around other projects and news, it is always a good idea to remind oneself of that. There’s always more to do with AdWords: test content targeting, placement targeting, sitelinks, target devices like iPhones, creating mobile ads (more on that below), image ads, video ads, and classic strategies like simply testing some new ad text.

Optimize for mobile

As more innovative devices (like the Nexus One) hit the market the mobile buzz, and search share, is increasing. Get in on the ground floor by kicking off a mobile search strategy in 2010. For many search engine marketers this might largely consist of lobbying for a mobile friendly version of your organization’s website, or for better reporting and tracking on an existing mobile site.  Marketers lucky enough to have a functional mobile site should start testing mobile paid search campaigns to increase direct traffic. Particularly focus on messaging, a mobile user will likely respond to a different ad text than a user at their computer – a last minute, local emphasis might garner a better response.  If your organization has a mobile application, consider search strategies to promote the application. Maybe a paid search campaign to encourage downloads is worth pursuing. A strong search presence for an application can also boost PR coverage as most reporters and bloggers conduct searches as part of their research.

Integrate your website socially

Every day, in every way, you are becoming a better search engine marketer. Think about new ways you can add value to your organization’s in-house marketing efforts. Is anyone committed to working on your organization’s social media presence? Becoming the Twitter, Facebook, blogger and all around social media guru is a great way for an in-house search engine marketer to increase their profile and responsibilities. As more Twitter and Facebook links populate the search result pages, this will only help your existing search efforts.  Read the original post online.

05 Nov 09 4 Effective Ways to Get Your Articles Read

1. Shorten paragraphs in your articles.
   When the paragraphs are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it. It can get quite confusing and hard work to read. 
2. Feature the benefits by utilizing bullet points.
   As each point is stressed out, numbers or bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest.  Format your bullets and numbers with indentations so that your article doesn’t look like a single block of square paragraphs.  Dupe Cop recommends when formatting long lists, to us bold alternating bullet points.
3. Capture the reader’s interest from the start to the finish.
   Start off with a sense of purpose and make se sure your articles flow from one paragraph to the next, and writing in a conversational style, you draw the reader from beginning to end.
4. Provide a stellar benefit statement-with an effective header.
   Entice the reader’s curiosity with your title.  Use statements that feature keywords that readers are searching for.  Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise. 

Read the full article at http://www.dupecop.com Dupe Cop online.

12 Nov 08 Recently Published Ezine Articles By Bryan Dornan

• Home Loan Modification and Bankruptcy to Prevent Foreclosure
  [Real-Estate: Foreclosures] The recent foreclosure epidemic has caused millions of American homeowners to scramble for more affordable home loan terms. Whether it’s a rising adjustable rate, loss of income, loss of equity or simply a poor decision to borrow money, people need loan revisions and very few people are able to accomplish that with the traditional method of mortgage refinancing. Mortgage loan modifications occur when a mortgage lender agrees to modify terms in accordance with their borrowers request. Most loan modifications happen after a borrower requests a payment reduction and the loss and mitigation department of the lender agree to the terms.
• Debt Settlement, Loan Modifications and the Foreclosure Epidemic
  [Finance: Debt-Relief] Clearly, Americans have a problem spending more money than they have. Debt to income ratios have been increasing significantly with consumers as incomes are declining while outstanding balances increase at a rapid pace. When the subprime mortgage debacle turned into a credit crunch, mortgage lenders quickly tightened their loan guidelines. Almost simultaneously, home values began to decline and homeowners were no longer able to qualify for mortgage refinance and loans to consolidate their debt.
• Search Marketing Value For Small Business Advertising
  [Business: Marketing] Search engine marketing has evolved as a cost effective advertising strategy to connect business with communities across the globe. Search engine marketing can expand the customer base quickly while offering new opportunities that continue to evolve as more and more consumers use the internet for information, entertainment and purchasing.
• Loan Modifications, Mortgage Refinance Loans and the Foreclosure Crisis
  [Real-Estate: Mortgage-Refinance] The foreclosure crisis continues to ravage our economy with more lost jobs, reduced home equity from plummeting home sales and delinquent mortgage payments. Unfortunately, many people have the ability to make their home loan payment on time but they jumped on the loan modification train with their neighbors and stopped paying their mortgage in hopes of reducing their monthly payments through renegotiations with the loss and mitigation department of their mortgage servicing company. 
  Finance Articles Written By Bryan Dornan