Pay - Per - Click ... PPC

SEM = Search Engine Marketing = SPONSORED LINKS on the TOPS of the search engines = PPC

Those three words tend to scare anyone lately, but everyone wants "in" on the magic. Basically this is the act of marketing yourself at the tops and right sides of popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Well, here is the long and short of it. I will give you the Pros and the Cons of this marketing goldmine.

    Bad / Ugly:

• PPC (referring to pay-per-click) is linked directly to your bank account/credit card most of the time.
• You as an agent, or your trusted assistant has to take time out of their life to manage the budget, the cost per click, the amount of keywords, the popularity of the and price of the keywords, and your target market popularity.
• LOTS of research for the prices, popularities, and amounts that I mentioned above.
• Apprehension to Internet lead generation.
• An ever-changing budget that can break your overall marketing spend.

    Good:

• High exposure to your brand, your listings, your website, and to you as an agent.
• Higher quantity of leads generated from your website.
• Higher overall ROI (return of investment)
• YOU determine your budget.

Ok, now let me break this down. PPC is a very good thing when done correctly. However many people have no idea what to do to insure the best return. Basically I recommend someone monitoring the account like I stated above, and making sure you are dealing with a trusted vendor.

Secondly, you need to make sure that there is someone willing to invest the time and effort into doing the research for the keywords and making sure they aren't breaking your budget by purchasing them.

You can get services like this by going directly to Google and Yahoo and setting up an "AdWords" account or you can have someone do it for you (ex: a company like mine). Not to give a senseless plug or anything but we are the only company that is willing to do ALL of that for you.

Now, what is better? Should you go right to the search engines or should you trust a company to do the work for you? Well, here are my tips on that

    Search Engine Direct:

• You still have to do all your own research.
• You still have to set up and monitor your budget.
• They basically do no monitoring and your bill could skyrocket based on the market that you are in.
• Any changes to the account need to be done by you directly.

    Other Company's Management (like me):

• Account managers research your market, the keywords that the public is searching to find you, the average price of those keywords, and how much your budget should be.
• Your budget does not change.
• Your "before and after" are always tracked and can be put in a report for you.
• Your time and effort are not effected.
• No fear about hitting the wrong market or using the wrong search engines.

So, long story short, You should really look into programs like this. Agents from day one or year 35 can benefit from more exposure, more lead generation, and an extra "boost" for that all-important Listing Presentation about your marketing. (Which answers the question, "How will you advertise my home?" ---> "My website is posted at the top of all the popular search engines...")

Seriously, we were all thought the Sunday paper was the best thing that ever happened to Real Estate and we all know now that it is not the case. You need to utilize this HUGE market. take advantage of the 80% of homebuyers that use search engines to find their home and their Realtor.

If you happen to have any other questions, email me. I will help you out under no obligation.