Is your LONG TAIL riding a Hydroplane, or is it Running Deeper to give Better Results?

Want to sell more houses from your web site?  Of course you do!  That's why we are here, right?  Let me introduce you to the long tail and the hydroplane factor.

The power of the long tail can be seen on a graph in the image at left borrowed from blog.searchenginewatch.com. 

What it shows is that you can get more web site visitors from the "also ran" (or top 100) search terms than you can get by winning placement for the #1 or #2 most popular search terms.  For many web sites, the total web site visits from the bottom 95 search terms will win out in pure numbers over the visits from the top 5 terms.  If Real Estate is a numbers game then this is a hugely important fact!   

When I ask if your long tail is riding a Hydroplane, I refer to the boats that go fast but run very shallow....  This is term has come to be used in business to refer to any activity that just grazes the surface. 

My point is this...  If your SEO work goes too fast you just graze the surface. The Hydroplane factor causes you to miss the deeper opportunity.

How the LONG TAIL barely works...   Let's say you like to sell waterfront properties near a sailing marina.  If you add a page to your web site that has a few terms like waterfront, bay, sail, and sailing, that may help with your long tail search results... This would be a hydroplane effort.  Fast but not deep.   

HOWEVER, the long tail is really effective when it is DEEP and not just barely there...  You don't just want sailors to visit your web site.  You want real estate prospects with an interest in sailing.  Do you see the difference?  One is going to buy.  One is going to sail.  The latter can be converted to the former if you sell the benefits of doing so while getting all the right key words on the page.

There are a lot more real estate related phrases and sailor/boating interest keywords that might help you land a potential buyer or seller on your web site who is also a sailer.  You do this by by BENEFITIZING the connection between MyTown and sailing/boating...   

TRY THIS:  Make a new web page on your web site.  Title it (Sailing My Town) and write an article.

Sailing Into MyTown, Why Boaters, Sailors and Sailboats lovers are buying or will buy waterfront homes or condos and move to MyTown Marina District in record numbers. 

Perhaps you could make the focus about saving time and money on your sailing / boating passion by relocating to MyTown, moving to MyTown, buying in MyTown, Sailing From MyTown, Area Attractions for Sailors and boaters in MyTown.  

Add lots of sailing boating words like living in MyTown, sailors, boaters, sail, boat, sailing, boating, bay, beach, sail supply, boat dealers, sailing season events, sailboat trivia, boating trivia, dock rates and marina details, maps, annual regatta schedules and promotion, even add sailing/fishing/boating club promotion and contact info. etc..  Be sure to include singular and plural variations, add slang, nicknames, short and long versions of various phrases.

Throw in as many real estate words as you can, such as property, land, lot, condo, waterfront, house, buy, buying, buyer, home, sell, value, house values, real estate values, investment, property value, realtor, agent, real estate agent, etc... Add the names of the sections of town that are favored by boaters and the ones that have nautical connections or themes to architecture, etc...  Be sure to include singular and plural variations, add slang, nicknames, short and long versions of various phrases.  Maybe even give examples and first person stories from clients who have moved the area and LOVE IT!!!

Make good sentences out of all this and you will have a powerful long tail page! 

If WRITING is not your forte, and you need some help with the words, you can always hire a writing coach or a ghost writer.