In Part 1 of our article series, we covered 6 strategies for generating online buyer and seller leads.

Now we’ll shift our focus to an even more important area of web marketing… converting leads into commission-producing clients.

How To Convert Online Real Estate Leads

The first step in the conversion process is capturing the contact information of leads so you can follow-up and give them more reasons to become your client.

INTERNET STRATEGY #7: Make An OFFER For Valuable Information

Contact forms are not new to real estate websites, but it’s surprising how many agents don’t include a “lead generation magnet” to collect the contact information of interested prospects.  This is a specific offer for a free report or free video in exchange for a person’s email address, mailing address, or phone number.

Remember, 99% of your website visitors will not fill out a “Contact Me” form just because it’s on your site.  You need to offer visitors something THEY value and then create a custom opt-in form for them to request the free information.

What could you offer?

• Free MLS searches
  • Allow visitors to view 2 listings, before they register (this method is proven to get 14 times more leads than other options)
  • Allow visitors to save searches — if they register
  • Create a signup for HouseTrack to get automatic email updates on the listings they like
• Free “Introductory” Services
  • “Dream Home Finder Service” for buyers
  • “Maximum Home Value Audit” for sellers
• Free information
  • A relocation package, including local information and moving tips
  • Special “consumer awareness” reports filled with helpful information for buyers or sellers and pre-sells your services
  • A video tour of homes in specific subdivisions or areas of your city
• Free news and updates
  • A free signup for your real estate newsletter
  • You can also offer staging tips, market information, local event reminders, and real estate news

How do you create a custom contact form?

Most website providers have a way to create contact forms and add them to your website.  At the very least, you’ll want to capture a person’s name and email address.  Keep in mind the more information you request the less likely you’ll get leads, however, the leads may be a higher quality if you ask for full mailing address and phone number.

After a person requests your free information… deliver it via email, physical mail, phone conversation or in person.  Then, continue to follow-up to convert them to a client.

INTERNET STRATEGY #8: Track Your Visitors On Your Site

It used to be that you would have to talk to a homebuyer first in order to discover what they’re looking for in a home.

Now, the right technology allows you to immediately know what a homebuyer is searching for in the MLS.  Meaning, you can have that information ready before you actually have a conversation with them.

This allows you to be more efficient when dealing with new leads AND you make a better impression when you talk to them.

Common situations where this information is helpful:

1. You can’t reach a homebuyer. Whenever you call, they aren’t available. Well, when you know the time of day that a homebuyer is usually searching for homes, you can customize your strategy to reach the homebuyer at a time you KNOW they are available.

2. A homebuyer has viewed the same listing repeatedly. You notice that a homebuyer has returned to your MLS Search page to view the same listing they saved a week ago.  You know that they are obviously interested in that specific home so you can contact them offering to setup a viewing.

Several high-end IDX MLS Search tools now offer tracking information similar to what is mentioned above.  These tools also help you track your communication with leads.  If your IDX search tool includes these features, it will more than pay for itself from the increase in the number of leads you can convert into commissions.

INTERNET STRATEGY #9: Send Out Listing Update Emails

If you have a tracking system on your website you will know if a homebuyer is searching for very specific features.  The more focused the homebuyer is, the closer they tend to be to purchasing.

You can offer to setup showings or send other listings that you know match their search criteria.  These “listing update” emails are an invaluable service to a homebuyer!

There are two ways to implement this strategy:

FIRST, you could search the MLS and send your leads periodic emails about new listings, updated listings, and hot buys that the homebuyer may be interested in.

SECOND, you could use a system that has a built-in feature for sending out listing updates automatically.  When visitors save a search on your MLS Search page, they have the option to receive HouseTrack and get automated listing update emails.

All emails should include your photo and link back to your website, meaning your name stays at the top of their mind. These emails are a great way to keep your website visitors coming back to your site and to convert them to from online to a live showing of some of the listings.

INTERNET STRATEGY #10: Follow-up ASAP and Ongoing

This is perhaps the most important strategy of all to increase the number of online leads you convert to clients.

If you don’t try to get in touch with new leads immediately, they won’t become your clients.  They will not pursue you.  If you are unresponsive, homebuyers will move on to find someone who is responsive.

Why is quick response time so critical?

Because it communicates how responsive you’ll be if they were your client.  A slow response time sends a message that you cannot provide the support they need.  No one wants to work with an agent that is too busy to even talk to them. Plus, if someone fills out a form on your website and you wait a week before you respond to their inquiry, they may not even remember you.

According to a study done by the California Association of REALTORS®, when homebuyers were asked why they were satisfied with their agent, the most common response was “always quick to respond”.  So make sure your real estate website has a way to notify you every time a new lead fills out a form on your site.

ALSO, and this is really important, most of your leads will not be ready to buy or sell when you contact them.  Most will needs weeks if not months more to decide their next move.

How can you stay in touch with these leads at least once a month without spending a lot of time managing the process?

The biggest mistake agents make after the initial contact is failure to follow-up sufficiently to convert a lead to a client.  The important point here is you continue to keep in contact with leads you generate…offering them more information and resources to help with their search, or simply being on their mind when the time is right for them.  Here are two ways to contact leads without it taking a lot of time:

1. After a lead opt-ins on your website, add them to an automated drip email campaign. You can send them market information, real estate news, home buying and selling tips, or anything else that is relevant to what they requested from you.  Showcase your expertise and the high level of service you offer.   These emails can be sent daily or weekly at first and then monthly to ask them how else you can help.
2. Consider sending them a monthly real estate newsletter (email or print) that is NOT all about real estate. They may be close to buying or selling but the vast majority of people will welcome and value helpful consumer-related information more than continual mailings that are only about the real estate market. You’ll be surprised at how well this can build trust and pre-sell your services, especially if you continue to offer multiple reasons for them to contact you in your monthly newsletter.

So, there you have it… the last 4 of our “top 10” strategies for generating and converting real estate leads online.  If you have an existing website you can begin to implement these strategies or talk with your webmaster this week about adding these features to your site right away.

If you’re looking for a complete web marketing system without the usual technical hassles or expense, you can check out the new Elite Website platform by clicking here.

[Ed Note: If you'd like to learn how one of our agent-members from Boston is using these strategies to make over $6-Figures per year GCI from her website visit this site to learn more...
http://agentinnercircle.com/SixFigureWebsites ]

You’re a real estate professional in the 21st century, which means a website is a marketing necessity.

But like most agents, you’re busy working with clients and don’t have time to keep up with all the latest and greatest “web marketing” strategies.

Lucky for you, the folks at iHouse Web Solutions put together a “top 10 list” of proven, easy and effective strategies to turn your website into a profit center instead of a sunk cost.

You can use these strategies on your current site or to start a brand new real estate website.

Remember, a good website is a “destination” for homebuyers and homesellers that they bookmark and refer back to for helpful information. It provides the resources BUYERS want and need for home searching, and gives SELLERS information on their home value and how you can help.

Then, it converts these visitors into leads, aids in the conversion process from lead to client, and gives clients the tools they need to complete their transaction.

The strategies presented below are divided into 2 categories – Lead Generation and Lead Conversion, because even a destination website is pointless if it fails to achieve these two main objectives.

PART 1 of this two part article will focus on Lead Generation for the first 6 of the “top 10″ strategies (PART 2 will be closely behind):

How To Generate Real Estate Leads Online

90% of the visitors to your real estate website will want to search for homes.  Buyers will search for their dream home and sellers will want to keep tabs on home values in their neighborhood.

This means you’re losing business if all you have is your phone number with a one-liner like:  “contact me for current home prices.”

If you want leads from the web, you need to give visitors to your site something valuable for them to exchange their contact information.  Since the #1 thing visitors want is information about homes for sale, it’s critical to your web marketing success that your site has a tool to search the MLS listings right from your website.  This is known as IDX search.

IDX tools like IDXPro keep YOUR visitors on YOUR website, brand the MLS to you, and have numerous ways of converting traffic to leads.  If you do not use IDX and instead are linking to REALTOR.com or using a free search link provided by your MLS, you may want to think twice about funneling visitors to those pages.  Instead of taking them to the best lead conversion section of your website, you would be guiding them OFF your website, to someone else!

Once you have an IDX search feature on your website, how do get visitors to notice and use it?

INTERNET STRATEGY #1: Add Your MLS Search Option to the HOMEPAGE

By including a homepage search, you prevent people from quickly bouncing off your site because they didn’t see what they were looking for.  You’re also demonstrating how useful and easy-to-use your website is – two very important qualities for Internet users.

The difficulty of incorporating an MLS Search module on your website will vary depending on your individual site.  With most template website providers, this is not an option.  For custom web developers, it is possible as long as you can acquire the listing data from your MLS board.

We recommend you add an MLS search option “above the fold” – which means on the top part of your homepage so a visitor doesn’t have to scroll down to see it.

INTERNET STRATEGY #2: Get Your MLS Search Option Noticed

Adding a search module to your homepage is important, but you should also do something to make it stand out.  It’s not enough to include it as an option in the navigation.  Instead, include an image or text that points out your search so visitors can’t miss it.

It’s also important to channel your visitors to your MLS search option on every page of your website.  Guiding visitors through your site will improve their experience and show them that you understand their needs.

Your website visitors are interested in real estate, which is why they’re on your website to begin with… so don’t be shy with your MLS search option.

INTERNET STRATEGY #3: Use Custom Search Links To Grab Attention

If you use an IDX search tool, another great way to catch visitors’ attention is to have links that take them directly to the exact listings they would be searching for, without them actually having to do the search.

How is that possible?

By using Custom Search Links, which are basically links to “saved searches.”

Let’s say you notice that 7 out of 10 of your homebuyers search for a home that’s 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and under $300,000.  Why not feature those listings up front?

This will catch the attention of visitors and get them to stay on your site.

Adding MLS search and Custom Search Links to your real estate website is a good start, but what else might visitors find interesting enough to contact me or register on my website?

Do you remember our objective?  To become the “destination” website in your local area.  Here’s a powerful way to engage visitors, before you add a lot of content to your site…

INTERNET STRATEGY #4: Add WIDGETS To Your Web Pages

In the online world, a widget is a small application or piece of dynamic content that can easily be placed into a web page.  Here are two main categories of widgets for real estate websites:

A.  Listing Display and Search widgets are available from a variety of sources, but the most prominent are Trulia and Zillow.  These two websites have become wildly popular among homebuyers, sellers, and real estate professionals nationwide.

Not only do they offer their own listing database search, but they have their own forums and communities and dozens of widgets to choose from.  If your listings can be found on Zillow or Trulia, you can use their widgets to add slideshows, quick listing search boxes, lists of recently sold homes, and much more.

To learn more about these widgets, visit these web pages:
http://www.trulia.com/tools/
http://www.zillow.com/webtools/widgets/

B.  Market Conditions widgets can also be used to enhance your website content.

For example, you can also use a Zillow widget to provide home values, interactive polls and quizzes, and fun things like a list of expensive homes that will attract homebuyers and sellers to your site.

Another resource to check out if you’re looking for the perfect widget is Widgetbox, which has a ton of widgets to choose from, including many mortgage and loan calculators you can quickly add to your site.

WARNING: Keep the following in mind when adding external widgets to your website — always have a plan!

Never add widgets to your website just for the sake of having widgets.  Think about what you’re trying to achieve with the widget and how it will help you reach that goal.  Are you trying to enhance the value of your site to visitors so they use the widget on your site?  Or, are you giving them an option to leave your site?

Be careful of implementing a widget that will just link back to their source website and may “steal” your website visitors out from under you!

Getting back to our main goal — distinguishing yourself from other REALTORS® in your area by creating a destination website requires unique, original content.
The operative question is…

“How do I get visitors to MY website instead of
another agent’s site in my area?”

If every other agent in your area has a simple website with no unique content, they won’t get a high search engine ranking and their websites will be indistinguishable to homebuyers.

By offering information and opinions that are thoughtful, knowledgeable, and relevant your services will stand out. This type of unique content can be found in many forms, from blog posts, original videos, and links to other relevant resources.

This leads us to the next set of strategies that focus on how to quickly create ORIGINAL CONTENT for your website…

INTERNET STRATEGY #5: Create Unique Articles On Your Web Pages

To show up in a search when a local buyer or seller searches for “[city] homes” or “[city] condos” … you need to provide quality information about your local real estate market that’s unique and relevant to the most common search terms.

For most real estate professionals, this means brainstorming the main keyword phrases you’d like to have a high ranking for, and then plan a “content strategy” to create unique editorial content (articles) around a handful of key search phrases.

Side note:  Here’s a past real estate marketing article about this topic of keyword research.

Once you have your primary keyword phrases, you will be creating and writing the content yourself focused on those topics.  Sound intimidating?  It probably does, but it doesn’t have to be all that difficult.  Let’s cover how to get started.

Content that focuses on your specialties, local area, and expert knowledge are a good place to start.  Here’s a list of broad topics that should help guide your thinking, but don’t hesitate to get creative!

After you’ve decided what to cover, it’s time to start writing.  As you write, think about your target audience – potential buyers or sellers in your area.  How does the content you are writing help them with their home buying or selling experience?  Be specific, including lots of details and examples.

INTERNET STRATEGY #6: Add VIDEO To Your Web Pages

Here are 4 reasons you should be using video on your website:

1. Online Video creates a personal touch. When visitors feel like they know you and like you, you’ll have an easier time getting them to work with you.
2. Online Video is exciting! It’s easy to stand out from the crowd with an interesting and interactive website.
3. Online Video indicates expert knowledge of both real estate and the Internet that will extend to helping the visitor buy or sell a home.
4. Online Video increases visitor traffic to your website. It’s a simple truth: video is a great way to get more visitors from the search engines and from searches directly in YouTube, which has over 300 million users – many from your local area – searching for information every day.

Now that we know why adding video to a website is good for generating new business, let’s talk about some content strategies that will allow you to get the most from your video…

THREE Great Real Estate Video Content Strategies:

1. Listing tours

Buyers love listing tours and there’s no better way to present a tour than with video.  Some agents record themselves in front of the listing, introducing the property, and then narrate while the video goes through the home.  Or, if you’re not comfortable being on camera, you can just show off the property!

2. Introduction to yourself and your services

This is a great strategy if you want your visitors to get to know you.  Set yourself apart by talking about your knowledge of the local area and how you real estate experience can save them time and money.

3. Important local news and real estate updates

If you want to position yourself as a local expert, you can create short videos that give announcements of events and happenings around town and also include quick real estate market updates.

These are just a few topic ideas for your new video, but there are endless opportunities! Create a video tour of a neighborhood, showing off local parks and other amenities. Or, create a “commercial” for your city, including shopping, resident demographics, activities such as annual fairs or weekly farmers markets or hiking trails. Be creative and be true to you, your specialties, and your local area.

At this point you may be saying…

“OK, I’ve learned about adding unique content in the form of articles and videos to my web pages to get a high ranking for local real estate searches, but I’m still not clear on how I get people to my site??”

Here are 6 proven ways to get visitors (traffic) to your site without spending a lot of money:

• Print the URL of your website on all letters, postcards, and business cards
• Include the URL of your website in your email signature
• Create offers for free MLS searches or free reports in your monthly email newsletter
• Create a postcard campaign to announce your new or improved site to your past clients, friends, family members, and strategic partners
• Word of mouth — if you provide great content on your site, people will tell their friends
• Links to your site — again, if you create valuable information on your site, others will link to your website opening up new streams of unique visitors

So, there you have it… the top 6 strategies for generating real estate leads online.  If you have an existing website you can begin to implement these strategies or talk with your webmaster this week about adding these features to your site right away.

And if you’re looking for a complete web marketing system without the usual technical hassles or expense, you can check out the new Elite Website platform by clicking here.

In the next section of this article you’ll get the 4 best strategies for converting your online leads to round out our “top 10” list.

Stay tuned!

[Ed Note:  If you'd like to learn how one of our agent-members from Boston is using these strategies to make over $6-Figures per year GCI from her website visit this site to learn more...
http://agentinnercircle.com/SixFigureWebsites ]

How would you like to get new business from the web WITHOUT having a web site?

Sounds impossible, I know.  But stay with me for a few minutes.  I’ll show you how to get clients from the internet by posting your information at eight FREE places online that are certain to get visitors.

If you’ve been following my internet strategies for real estate professionals, and did your homework, you’ll be ready to get found online by your prime prospects.

When we last left off, I explained how to round out your list of localized KEYWORDS, TAGS, and LOCATIONS.  And now it’s time to take those lists and set up some simple web pages in various spots that get found online.

The “operative“ word in the last sentence was “VARIOUS“ and the missing word was SITE.  You first need to set up several PAGES in specific locations (you’ll find out where below).  And you can save setting up a full-blown SITE for last – if you already have a site, that’s fine, we’ll address that later.

Worry not…setting up pages online is easy.  In fact, it’s as fun as a family fishing trip…

You’re about to go fishing on a big pond called the “Internet“ but you’re not going deep, you’re staying in the shallow local waters.  Think of your PAGES as your “bait and hook“ while your SITE (or even your blog or an 800 hotline) will be your boat.  You’ll use various forms of bait and most will have a line back to your boat.

GOOD NEWS

Unlike the early years of the internet when you needed to have a programmer, a designer, and a pot of money… today, with WEB 2.0 opportunities everywhere, you can set up web pages quickly and without paying a cent.

Web 2.0 is many things by definition, but at its core is the concept that YOU are a content creator and if given the ability to add or create content on someone else’s site or system, you will.  For our purposes, this is like being handed the keys to the back door of the internet’s “bait and tackle“ shop.  We can quickly and easily create all the bait (content) we want to attract schools of prospects.  I’ll show you how in 3 easy steps…

HOW TO SET UP WEB PAGES THAT GET FOUND

EVEN WITHOUT A WEB SITE

STEP 1:  Identify the TYPE of Focused Content Pages

You need to take the localized KEYWORDS, TAGS, and LOCATIONS you compiled earlier and create very focused content that you can place on several web pages.  The content you create doesn’t need to be professionally written or “scholarly“, rather it needs to be homespun, helpful, brief, in your voice and honest.

Testimonials from third party sources and clients are great to use and are very powerful.  Everything needs to be peppered with real estate related KEYWORDS and LOCATIONS.  And if the system where you are posting your information allows you to categorize your content, then you’ll use your TAGS.

Keep in mind, the content you create should be structured to FIT the type of site where you are posting it, which means it might be in a format like one of the following:

• A PARAGRAPH about what you do,
• an ARTICLE about your service benefits,
• a LIST of things you do for clients (or areas you cover, or things a homeowner might look out for),
• a REVIEW of your business
• a PHOTO of you performing your service,
• a MAP of areas you cover,
• an online “Consumer Awareness Guide,“ or
• a testimonial VIDEO you post on YouTube.

The types of content are limited only by your creativity.  The more the better, but even a little will do.  Now let’s open the back door of the internet’s “bait and tackle“ shop and start creating our bait…

STEP 2:  Create Your Focused Content Pages

The better your content the greater impact it will have on your overall strategy.  So post quality, helpful, informative stuff and not just “promotional“ material!  If appropriate, pepper in testimonials and photos.  These items will do the selling for you.

Each system will have its own rules and recommendations…it’s worth the effort to skim through tutorials, FAQs, and policy guides to assure you maximize the potential of your content.

You can search each system for other content that might be like yours (using the keywords you have on your lists)… sometimes it’ll give you ideas.  Weave everything together naturally with KEYWORDS, TAGS, and LOCATIONS.  Don’t try to ‘stuff’ these terms into your content so it can’t be read by a human being.  That never works and can actually lower the search ranking of your content.

Important Tip:  Within your mix of content posts, you’ll want to create ONE central blog.  It will be the only place where it’s required to add additional content on a regular basis (this is covered more thoroughly in an upcoming article).  What we are seeking now are places where we can post ONCE (with perhaps only occasional updating required).

If your keyword list is larger, divide it into GROUPS (or what I call BUCKETS) and create separate content based on the focused/related keywords in each “bucket.“  Your content buckets could be information on your happy clients in the local area, why a person needs your services, or real estate how-to tips…

STEP 3:  Post Your Content Pages for Maximum Visibility

It’s time to set-up your pages and content in a few key locations.  The list below will get you started, but if you discover other prime spots (especially local spots) then merely add to this list.  Remember, the idea is to adjust or create your content to fit the environment where it will be placed.  Look around at each system that you find and add your content in the format, style or flavor of what you see on that site.

TWO GREAT PLACES TO START POSTING

YOUR CONTENT OR MEDIA

The examples below are not all real estate related on purpose…so as to expand your creativity

1. SQUIDOO
   http://www.squidoo.com/
   An example of a Squidoo LENS page for a Children’s Book:
   http://www.squidoo.com/ladybug-stuff/

2. HUBPAGES
   http://hubpages.com/
   An example of a HUB about Real Estate Ads:
   http://hubpages.com/hub/Real_Estate_Ads

   SIX MORE PLACES TO POST
   CONTENT OR MEDIA…

3. GOOGLE BASE
   http://base.google.com/
   An example of a GOOGLE BASE page – in this example a review of Dean Graziosi’s book:
   http://www.google.com/base/a/2575746/D4701930617138357370

4. GOOGLE PROFILE PAGE
   http://maps.google.com/help/maps/profile/index.html
   An example of a GOOGLE PROFILE page – in this example it’s me!
   http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=109843529767179534196&hl=en&gl=us

5. TUMBLR
   http://www.tumblr.com/
   An example of a TUMBLR for “to-do“ list generator:
   http://to-do-list.tumblr.com/

6. SWIKI
   http://www.eurekster.com/
   An example of a SWIKI for real estate:
   http://real-estate-foreclosures-state-by-state-swicki.eurekster.com/

7. FLICKR
   http://flickr.com/
   An example of MONTEL WILLIAMS using “bait“ for one of his “boats“:
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/8391553@N06/503947524/

8. YOUTUBE
   http://www.youtube.com/
   An example of a Rockin’ Cockatoo dancing to the Back Street Boys:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkb1nOJnD4

I’ve just given you eight places to post your content, get the word out about your real estate services, and harvest new business from the internet.

You can also set up a BLOG to post regular updates.  Search engines favor blogs over regular web sites, and you’ll find out why in my next article.

And boy will it be a treat for you…keep an eye out for my next article where I’ll reveal easy ways to set up a blog completely for free.  I’ll get you up and running in minutes…

See you soon!

In this article, we were brainstorming initial keywords your prospects search to find you on the web.

Today, we’ll talk about PLANTING and GROWING your keyword seeds and finalizing your preparation to get found online in 4 simple steps.  Most web designers don’t even know these insider strategies…

STEP 1:  Plant Your Seeds

The first step is to create a short list of 5 to 15 “seed” keywords. Your list might look like this one to the right:

STEP 2:  Grow Your Seeds

Next, visit the Keyword Tool below and expand your list to a solid 10 to 50 keywords and phrases that have a healthy number of searches actually occurring on a monthly basis.

Don’t assume the highest search volume keywords are the best, rather, pick the ones that truly might originate from the TYPE of customer you desire.

Explore the other tools and links all found on this page as you enter your “SEEDS” one at a time:

Click here to go to the Free Keyword Tool…

As you brainstorm keywords, keep in mind that because you will be focusing on a LOCAL market, you will most likely want to add your city, state, county, and/or zip code to the keyword phrases you compile (more on this in step 4).

What’s a “healthy” number of searches you might ask?  For now, shoot for adding keywords that have several search terms above zero.  You want to make web pages around keywords (and topics) people have an interest in and actually search to find.

STEP 3:  Add ‘TAGS’ To Your Keyword List

We do need to talk for a moment about ‘TAGS’.  Not like the ones on your clothes.  The internet variety that have become so BIG in so many ways these days.  To make it quick and easy to understand, you might think of a TAG as a one or two word keyword used to CATEGORIZE what you do or what your site or web page is about.

It’s another way that people might find your business, page, blog or site.  And here’s why it’s important…

Just as you need to know (or think about in advance) the keywords that a searcher might type into a search box, you also need to know what CATEGORY or set of TAGS best classify what you do.  These TAGS will be used more to categorize blog posts, photo’s, and other social media things you do – whereas, your keywords will be associated more with your web pages or sites.

Don’t get too hung-up thinking about why this works this way, rather let’s just move forward and while we have keywords on our mind, let’s pick a small highly focuses set of categorical TAGS so we have them ready for some blog posts and social media strategies I’ll discuss in future articles.

If you’ve just completed your keyword research, you can likely do this part off the top of your head.  Just think of 3 to 10 categories (one word to three words are best) that your service or site fits.

Your TAG LIST might resemble the one to the right (but please, create your own so you can be even more exacting… and localize as much as possible).

STEP 4:  Include Local Terms In Your Keywords

What are you in the middle of?

In other words, where the heck are you located?

What is your “service area”?  If you expect people to find you in a search engine or online, you have to PLANT the various “location” names, zips and spots directly into your listings and pages.

Only by doing this can the search engines know when and where to “deliver your page up” within the proper local SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

This step is critical and I have a couple of tools that will help make it very, very quick and easy.  What I want you to do now is create a list of every city, county, community, and ZIP code that is within a reasonable distance from your location.

Naturally, if it’s an area that you are NOT interested in getting calls or business from, you’ll exclude it.  Use the two tools below to create lists of areas you are most interested in (don’t stretch yourself too wide – focus in on your prime target areas):

1. The city and zip code part can be done with this tool:
   
   (You need only enter your ZIP and a radius in this tool – results will show at bottom)
   
   http://www.5minutesite.com/local_keywords.php

2. To help you with local county names, try this tool:
   
   http://www.naco.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_Counties/
   Data_and_Demographics/Data_and_Demographics.htm

With our focused list of keywords, phrases, tags and locations in hand, we’re now ready to create web pages and blog pages that truly get found by our prime prospects.  Be on the lookout for my next article where I’ll show you how to create web pages with these local keywords, even WITHOUT a web site.

See you soon!