brianprendergastgraphicdesignandwritingsamples - jan 2016

R E A L E S T A T E W R I T I N G G E N I U S

©2008 Real Estate Writing Genius. All rights reserved. 1

Executive Summary:

The rampaging Iowa River, responsible for so much devastation in eastern Iowa in June 2008, was fueled by the cumulative force of its many rain–swollen tributaries. Normally these tributaries, like the Cedar, Turkey, Maquoketa and Des Moine Rivers, are anonymous waterways gliding through the heartland of America. In June 2008, their collective power turned the Iowa River into a verifiable force of nature.

If you want to your website to unleash a flood of leads, clients and sales, then capitalize on the cumulative force of your own tributaries. I’m referring here to the simple online strategies and best practices that you can start doing today. They’ll quietly feed into and swell your marketing efforts. Their synergy will create a torrent of new business for you.

If you don’t have time to read this special report, then here are summary bullets worthy of an executive of your stature. Later on though, you may want to have a partner, friend, co–worker or knave fill you in on the details inside.

1. Make an offer. From this moment on, any web–based or offline promotion you make must include an offer to your target market. If you want your web site to generate a response, offer something of value. If you’re a developer looking for tenants, offer free rent or free parking. If you’re a commercial lender, hold a free, hour–long teleseminar on latebreaking loan–underwriting guidelines and invite your clients.

2. Make sure that your web site has been written with keyword–rich content: the very words that your target market uses to find your services. Content is king on the Internet. Relevance is queen. Together, they rule.

3. Spend an insane amount of time figuring out your web site’s keywords. OK, that’s a little strong, but do take this very, very seriously. Work with a professional copywriter who knows how to research keywords.

4. Your web site must be written for two audiences: your clients and the search engines.

5. If you have ants in your pants and just can’t wait weeks or months for your new web site to start generating traffic for you, then start getting leads right away with pay–per–click (PPC) advertising.

6. At this very moment, there are online conversations that you need to join. Take advantage of Web 2.0 and start building trust and credibility. Get involved in your online community.

7. Now’s the time to start writing articles of value for your target market. You’ll establish your credibility. Your satisfied readers will reward you with backlinks. And the search engines will boost your page rank.

ways to SUPERCHARGE

your web content to UNLEASH

a flood of LEADS, CLIENTS & SALES!

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R E A L E S T A T E W R I T I N G G E N I U S


Make an offer:

Make sure that your web site is keyword– and keyphrase–rich:

Claude C. Hopkins, advertising genius and unrivaled direct–response copywriter, believed that the goal of advertising was to generate sales, not applause. He didn’t believe in ad awards; image ads; feel–good branding statements; or clubby, self–congratulatory professional ad associations. He only believed in making money for his clients.

And he was good at it. In 1907, legendary ad man Albert Lasker of Lord & Thomas, managed to hire Hopkins away for the then–unheard–of salary of $185,000, which would be equivalent to $4,218,000 in today’s dollars.

Why am I talking about Claude C. Hopkins? Just to let you know that benefit–driven and offer–ready content is not some New Age business philosophy. Hopkins proved 100 years ago that an offer multiplies response. It’s a strategy that’s been tested, vetted, hailed and championed. And your web site is the perfect place to start making offers to your prospective customers. You can test your web copy and keep refining it until you know exactly what motivates them. Then you can buy print advertising knowing that you have the right words addressing the right market at the right time.

If you’re a developer looking for office, retail or industrial tenants, offer a few months of free rent or free CAM charges. If you’re a real estate attorney with a knack for explaining fine points in the law, write a special report that will help your developer clients become smarter or more cautious, and then offer it free to them on your web–site.

If you want to start a flood, you must start with an offer.

If there’s an overworked term in the web world these days, especially in web copywriting, it’s the word “algorithm.” What is it? It’s the super–secret, mathematical formula used by search engines to determine the relevancy of a web page for a particular search. Your web site, along with those of all your direct and distant competitors, is assigned a score by search–engine algorithms. The most relevant page wins a top ranking on a search–engine–results page (SERP).

If you’re a title company wanting more commercial real estate transactions, your web copy must include the same keywords that your target market uses when searching for your services. For example, if you discover through research that prominent real estate attorneys—an ideal market for you—search for commercial title services using the keywords “1031 tax–deferred exchange” or “ALTA coverage” or “wire–transfer authority,” then your web content must also include these terms.

Why? Because a search engine like Google will consider your web page relevant (a to–kill–for honor) for that specific search and will reward you with a high ranking on a SERP. The web world is obsessed with search–engine algorithms because they spell victory or defeat for competing businesses in a particular industry.

It would be much better if the web world was as obsessed with keywords and keyphrases as it has been with algorithms, which are completely out of the web world’s control. Keywords and keyphrases, on the other hand, can be researched, identified and artfully woven into the text of web pages. Result? Optimized, highly relevant pages that rank well in the SERPs. Consider such web pages to be swollen tributaries flooding your business with leads.

ways to SUPERCHARGE your web content to UNLEASHa flood of LEADS, CLIENTS & SALES!

Make a

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W W W. R E A L - E S TAT E -W R I T I N G - G E N I U S . CO M mike@real- estate -writ ing-genius.com

R E A L E S T A T E W R I T I N G G E N I U SW W W. R E A L - E S TAT E -W R I T I N G - G E N I U S . CO M mike@real- estate -writ ing-genius.com


Carefully choose your keywords and keyphrases:

It’s time to beat a dead horse. At the risk of hysterically repeating what I‘ve said on our web site and to our clients, you must know the keywords and keyphrases used by your target market. The degree to which you get those words and phrases right is the difference between unleashing a flood of business and unleashing a trickle. For example, insurance companies whose web pages were originally optimized for the term “auto insurance” had much less success than companies whose pages were optimized for “car insurance,” the search phrase used most by their target market.

There are many keyword–research tools out there. Here are three of the most popular. They’re all newbie–friendly, and they offer features of increasing sophistication for progressing newbies. Search pros use them, too. Here they are:

Wordtracker at www.wordtracker.com KeywordDiscovery at www.keyworddiscovery.com Nichebot at www.nichebot.com

These tools charge either monthly or annual fees. The costs range from $200 to thousands of dollars per year depending on the level of service and features. All offer free–trial programs lasting from seven to 30 days and include tutorials and/or quick–start guides to get you up and running fast. Using one of these services, even for a month ($50 to $70), is money very well spent. Getting your keywords wrong is the most expensive mistake you could make.

You can open a Google Adwords account (http://adwords.google.com) at no cost and use the free Keyword Tool there, as well.

Keyword research strategies:

Start by checking the web pages of your competitors. You can peek into their HTML source code by right–clicking on a page and selecting “View Source.” Look for the meta keywords tag. It’ll look like this: <meta name=”keywords” content=”office retail industrial multi-family investment property leasing sales property management commericial real estate brokerage san diego”>. The words between the last set of apostrophes are the hypothetical keywords used by a fictitious commercial real estate brokerage in San Diego. If you already have a web site, your webmaster can check the server’s log files to see the terms that searchers are using to find your site. This is a valuable window to the keywords that your target market is using to find you.

Your target market is more likely to search for your services using keyphrases rather than single keywords. For example, it would be more common to find a search for “adjustable rate mortgage Denver” than just “mortgage.”

Incidently, when writing your web–page content, it’s a good idea to include the name of your city or region as one of your keywords. You’ll be considered more relevant than a distant business offering the same services.

A real estate developer friend boasted one day that he had achieved top search–engine positioning for the keywords “award winning Southern California condominium developer.” His web site, essentially a corporate–vanity statement, had been optimized for keywords that his target market never used. He corrected the mistake in time for the grand opening of his 200–unit condo complex which sold out quickly, due in part to a better–optimized web site.


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QUICK TIPS

Ranking high for the

A real estate developer friend boasted one day thatwrong keywords



Carefully choose your keywords and keyphrases (cont’d):

Keyword research strategies (cont’d): There are several popular software programs that you can use to view your web site’s log files. Yes, they require a bit of time to learn, but think of it as an investment in the success of your site. They are:

Google Analytics at www.google.com/analytics StatCounter at www.statcounter.com Webtrends at www.webtrends.com HitsLink at www.hitslink.com

Both Google Analytics and StatCounter are free. HitsLink charges about $15 a month for a maximum of 1,000 monthly page views, $30 for 10,000 page views. Webtrends doesn’t publish its costs. You have to e–mail the company for a quote.

Not only will these programs let you know your visitors’ keywords and which search engines they’re using, they’ll also tell you how long visitors remain on the site, which pages get the most traffic and which pages have the highest exit rate.

Identify the obvious keyphrase terms for your business and consider both general and specific terms. If you’re a contractor with a successful track record of building warehouses for industrial developers, a general keyphrase might be “industrial building contractor” or “general contractor for industrial real estate.” A specific keyphrase might be “office/warehouse contractor Irvine California” or “clean room R&D contractor.”

Perry Marshall, a successful Internet marketer, also suggests using turn–the–corner keywords. What are they? They’re words that are related to your main keywords. In the example above, the contractor could also use keywords like “business park,” which is where most of his construction projects would take place. Keyphrases like “office/warehouse leasing” or “tenant improvements,” two development phases that follow the construction of the building shell, would also work. Think in terms of the final outcome or overall result that your product or services provides to your target market.

Putting it all together

So you’ve visited your competitors’ sites and maybe looked at some meta tags to find out the keywords and phrases used to optimize their pages. Then you or your webmaster checked out your own site‘s log files to find the keywords used by your visitors. Then you did some brainstorming on your own and came up with obvious keywords. Now what?

Fire up your keyword research tool! Let’s assume it’s Wordtracker. Type one of your obvious keywords into Wordtracker’s search box. Using the example on the left, try “industrial builder.” Wordtracker will return hundreds of results. Copy and paste these into an Excel spreadsheet.

The next step is counterintuitive. You want more keywords, but none that contain the orginal keywords. Use the related keyword feature on Wordtracker and enter the keywords “industrial builder.” Wordtracker will extract related keywords from the top 100 web sites that scored well for “industrial builder.”

Take the most–useful related keyword results and add them to your Excel spreadsheet. You can keep looking for more keywords by inputting results from step 2 back into step 1. What your doing is building a list of relevant keywords that reflects the subtleties and niche markets within your business. Niches are often described as the “long tail” of a market. Here traffic is low, but buyer readiness is high. By contrast, the short tail reflects the broad part of your market where traffic is high but buyer readiness may be low or average.

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Write your web pages for two audiences:

Create instant traffic with pay–per–click (PPC) advertising:

Google AdWords, the original PPC marketing and advertising tool, was launched in 2002. At the time, few understood what it offered, and even fewer could see its potential. Since then, PPC has taken the e–commerce world by storm and has utterly revolutionized the way products and services are marketed on the Internet. Not long ago, I did some work for a condo developer who’s using PPC to market his new 300–unit project. When you enter the search words “new condominiums downtown Denver” into Google, his project appears on the first results–page under the heading “Sponsored Links,” which are the PPC ads at the top and right–hand side of the page. He’s gets that valuable exposure not because his web site has been masterfully optimized—which it hasn’t—but because he’s paying for it. Each time someone clicks his PPC ad, he’s charged $3.


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When you create web content you have two masters: your target market and the search engines.

Creating valuable web content for your target market is your primary goal. Doing that also achieves your secondary goal of satisfying the search engines. You can give your visitors exactly what they’re searching for because you know their keywords and keyphrases. Optimizing your web pages for those keywords will make your pages relevant. The search engines will reward you with a high page rank. Among all the competing businesses on the SERPs, you’ll be the one who gets the traffic!

Write for your visitors first. Happy visitors make a happy Google.

Where to place your keywords: Optimize each page of your web site for at least two, and preferably three, of your researched keyword phrases. Include your keywords and phrases at the front of your page title and at the front of your meta page description. Include your keywords in the meta tag for keywords, as well, although some experts say this is no longer important. Place keywords in your page’s biggest headline and, if possible, in smaller subheads. Your first paragraph of body copy should be especially keyword– and keyphrase–rich. Sprinkle your keywords throughout the rest of the body text at a recommended frequency of 3 percent. For example, for every 100 words, your keywords and phrases should appear three times. Make sure that your web content reads naturally. Include your keywords in your links. If they don’t read well, place your keywords just before and/or after the link text.

“Sponsored links” are PPC ads

“Organic” search results



Create instant traffic with pay–per–click (PPC) advertising (cont’d):

He bid that amount when setting up his Google AdWords account (http://adwords.google.com). Because Google is passionate about relevancy, the more his ad gets clicked (the click–through rate), the lower his costs eventually become. He gets rewarded by Google for being relevant. The amazing thing about all of this is that he started getting traffic to his landing page—the page that appears when the PPC ad is clicked—less than an hour after setting up his Google AdWords account.

What makes PPC so amazing is that your ad pops up in front of an audience of thousands, sometimes millions, at the very moment they’re searching for products or services like yours, and you only have to pay when someone clicks your ad. Compare that to the typical full–page, weekend–newspaper ad at $20,000 for a one–time shot. The truly best thing about Google AdWords is that you can create competing ads and test different combinations of headlines, copy, prices and offers. Google will rotate your ads equally so that you can determine the winning ad with the highest click–through rate.

PPC advertising and marketing can be tricky, especially in terms of bidding on keywords, creating budgets and managing your campaigns. I strongly recommend two books on the subject of Google Adwords. The first is by Perry Marshall. His book is called The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords. It’s a fast read and gives you the big picture along with lots of commentary. The second book, Google AdWords for Dummies by Howie Jacobson, is more detailed and offers step–by–step instructions on setting up your account and using AdWords successfully.

SEO or PPC? Two kinds of results appear on a typical Google SERP: paid–search results (PPC ads) and organic results (non–paid). The paid–search results appear as “Sponsored Links” at the top and right. The organic results are on the left. You get high organic–search rankings when your web pages are keyword– and keyphrase–rich. Such pages are considered to be well “SEO’ed,” or search–engine–optimized. The search engines will consider your pages relevant and will reward them with high page ranks. And you won’t have to spend a penny for your popularity.

So which is the better way to generate traffic for your web site, SEO or PPC? The best solution is to use both—time and money permitting. Well SEO’ed pages will generate constant traffic once they’ve been indexed and catalogued by the search engines. But that could take up to six months. PPC can generate near–instant traffic while you’re waiting for your web pages to get indexed. PPC should always be used when testing new products or services that you’d like to introduce to the market. It will give you valuable market feedback for under a few hundred dollars. Here are a few more thoughts:

Advantages of SEO (organic results) Advantages of PPC People trust organic results more than PPC. Results are near–instantaneous. Produce more sales than PPC. Easy to set up and fine tune. Great for seasonal offers. Less expensive in the long run. Less expensive in the short run.

Disadvantages of SEO Disadvantages of PPC Time consuming. Results not immediate. PPC ads are trusted less and viewed less than organic results. Fierce competition on organic results pages. PPC ads get less traffic than organic on same results page. Your rank changes. SEO is an on–going process. Bid prices for keywords are on the rise.


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Take advantage of Web 2.0:

After the word “algorithm,” the most overused and misunderstood term out there in the collective consciousness, and even in the Internet–marketing world, is “Web 2.0.” What is it? It’s refers to the current evolution of the Internet where users are not just consumers of content but also publishers, editors, distributors and empowered critics. Web 2.0 is an interactive world of online communicators, thought leaders, special–interest groups, consumers, activists, hobbyists, fan clubs and vibrant, online communities. Content creation has become democratized. It’s now in the hands of your customers.

Web 2.0 is a place where you can join online conversations with members of your target market. The purpose is not to promote yourself and your services directly. In fact, that’s often considered bad behavior. The goal is to become a participant offering helpful, useful information to your fellow members. Last year, I joined an online digital–camera forum and noticed regular, informative and helpful posts from a member whose signature indicated that he worked for B&H Photo Video, one of the largest camera/video retailers in the country. I came to trust his explanations, recommendations and advice. Guess where I ended up buying my new Nikon camera?

And there’s a price to be paid for not participating in the online conversations of your target market.

Nikon, if it had been listening more closely to its online customers, could have avoided the blogger–created, media firestorm that erupted when camera enthusiasts discovered that the company would not be able to fulfill Christmas pre–orders for its new D-80 camera.

Kryptonite Corporation, the manufacturer of the familiar, U–shaped Kryptonite bicycle lock, was slow to respond to the online conversations of angry bicycle owners who had watched an Internet video showing how a simple ballpoint pen could be used to open the lock. The company’s subsequent lock–exchange program was viewed as too little, too late by its customers. Class–action lawsuits followed.

Sony Corporation ignored the festering resentment brewing out on the Internet in 2005 when a blogger revealed that Sony BMG music CDs embedded poorly written, cloaked and potentially destructive software on the computers of Sony customers. By the time Sony got around to offering a CD–exchange program, the Texas attorney general had filed a lawsuit against the company under the state’s 2005 spyware law. California and New York followed with class–action lawsuits of their own. Sony ultimately had to settle lawsuits with more than 35 states.

Web 2.0 has empowered your customers. They’ve essentially become your partners. They can be raving fans or vocal critics, and there’s nothing to stop either category from broadcasting its opinions on blogs, forums, message boards, chat rooms and podcasts. You need to know what they’re saying about you. You need to enter the conversation in order to develop a relationship with them.

Start by looking for blogs in your industry. Read the blog posts, get a feel for what your target market is talking about and start contributing to the conversation. Where is your target market’s pain? Locate that and you’ll have discovered supercharged keywords and phrases that you can include on your own web pages. You can search for your industry’s blogs at www.technorati.com and at http://blogsearch.google.com.


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Take advantage of article marketing:

Final Words: The secret to creating a flood of leads, clients and sales:

This is an extension of the discussion on Web 2.0. Your customers have been empowered as online publishers of content and opinion. And so have you. Writing articles—that contain your keywords and keyphrases!—is a great way to contribute to the online conversations in your industry. Not only that, but well–crafted, solution–driven articles establish you as a credible, authoritative and respected figure in your industry.

Once your articles have been posted on your web site or blog or submitted to online article directories, you’ll get backlinks (inbound links) to your web site from the readers you’ve impressed or helped. You’ll be getting earnest and unsolicited votes for your content. And those treasured backlinks can live out there in cyberspace and in the blogosphere and benefit you for years.

If the Internet is essentially a popularity contest, your high–value articles will make you popular for all the right reasons. The search engines will consider you more relevant than ever before. In fact, incoming links from respected web sites in your industry can catapult your rank in the organic results faster than pure SEO. Backlinks can rocket traffic to your site.

There’s a right and wrong way to do article marketing. The very best resource that I’ve read on the subject is a downloadable e–book by Allen Graves called The Article Marketing Handbook at www.thearticlemarketinghandbook.com.

Rain–swollen tributaries turned the Iowa River into a rampaging torrent.

The secret to flooding your business with new business is to supercharge your web content and web pages to create an unstoppable synergy. Your surging, rain–swollen tributaries are your keyword– and keyphrase–rich web pages, optimized for two audiences and potentiated with PPC advertising and Web 2.0 marketing. When these tributaries are allowed to flow freely and to synergize, they’ll create a raging current of new business for you.

Enjoy the new traffic. And don’t forget to make your customers an offer!


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Who is Real Estate Writing Genius? And why should I care?If you work in the world of commercial, investment or residential real estate, you know the importance of great written content. It informs, explains, motivates, markets and sells. On the web, it does even more. Smart SEO content will increase your relevance with the search engines, boost your page rank and rocket your traffic. Real Estate Writing Genius specializes in creating high–impact web content for the real estate industry.

If you’re looking for solid writing backed up by years of real estate experience, just send an e–mail to [email protected]. Thanks!

Fine Print

This special report is a commonsense guide to improving your web content and building your business. Readers use this information at their own risk. Author makes no warranty and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of any and all information presented in this report.

brianprendergastgraphicdesignandwritingsamples - jan 2016

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