SEO vs. Pay-Per-Click

According to the 2007 National Association of Realtors Technology Report, 79% of real estate agents and associate brokers are not satisfied with the amount of web leads they receive.[1] With over 80% of homebuyers utilizing the Internet when searching for a home, there's a significant amount of traffic that real estate professionals can leverage. So why aren't homebuyers locating your website? The answer is how your website ranks in the major search engines.

More than half of homebuyers use a search engine to gather real estate information.[2] For example, someone searching for homes in Philadelphia might center the phrase "Homes for sale in Philadelphia." The search engine will then list all the results, with the most relevant at the top. The goal is to get your site placed as high in the search results as possible, as these are the sites most often clicked on by the searcher. So how do you ensure that you consistently receive top ranking? Target the traffic you desire by combining organic and pay-per-click driven traffic.

Organic traffic is created by using Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO requires you to customize your website content by choosing several keywords and phrases specific to your area of expertise and incorporate them throughout your site. As you build-in more keywords, the search engines will begin to recognize your site, thus increasing your ranking within the results page. However, as the level of competition rises, and as more realtors begin to understand SEO, a singular approach becomes insufficient. What else can you do to ensure that your site is seen by all homebuyers interested in your area? Combine SEO with pay-per-click advertising (PPC).

PPC is the fastest way to reach your desired audience while safely regulating how they are targeted.  What differentiates SEO and PPC is simply, PPC is a paid program that allows you to purchase traffic. This method is gaining recognition for its effectiveness, especially when partnered with SEO. Pay-per-click is extremely simple to implement, all it takes are three easy steps to increase traffic to your site:

1. Set up PPC accounts with the major search engines
2. Determine good keywords for your campaign
3. Allocate your budget and monitor results frequently

Or you can hire the experts to do all of this for you. PPC is growing in the real estate industry with 13% of the entire industry using some kind of program.  

         Put the power of the Internet to work for you. Maximize your traffic by increasing your ranking on the top search engines. Whether you choose SEO or PPC, or a combination of the two, you are sure to see a marked improvement in your traffic and qualified leads.

[1] National Association of Realtors, Technology Report; 2007

[2] Local Information Survey, conducted by Media-Screen, August 2007