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Developing and Working a Niche Online

The most competition-intensive thing you can do with your website is to develop all of your content around keywords and phrases that are generic real estate, as "YourTown real estate." Virtually 95+% of your competition is doing the very same thing. Far from a negative, this opens up a great opportunity for you.

Wait, you say! I work residential real estate, so I really don't have a niche. Actually, you have several.

Single family homes
Townhomes
Condominiums
Foreclosures
Investors
First time buyers
Neighborhoods, subdivisions or areas
Relocations

You may not do all of these, but would you if you had the clients? And, each of these is a niche that can provide opportunities to create very focused content, with key phrases your competition isn't targeting.

If you look at the traffic statistics for a real estate site with high traffic, you'll be surprised at the search phrases that bring many of the visitors. It's called the "long tail" of search. Much more than "yourtown real estate," they're coming in on phrases like (assume "yourtown" in front or in back of most of these):

New homes for sale
Foreclosure homes
Condominium projects
Condominiums in town
Downtown condominiums
Building codes and restrictions
Subdivision locations
Land use restrictions
Homes for sale in
Land for sale in
Townhomes in downtown
Single family homes in
Home styles in
Downtown condo covenants

Fully customizable IDX Websites, such as this one from RealtySoft.com enables you to
personalize your website for your niche market!

(Full Disclosure: I am the founder and president of RealtySoft.com)

There are a great many more, and you can even combine some of those into others. The point is that you can spend your time and effort in creating content that's focused on these niche words and phrases. There will be far less competition, and you'll do much better in the search engines. You don't need a novel on these topics. Here are some example titles for SEO and short 300 or so word pages:

Denver Downtown Condominium Projects
Typical Denver Condominium Covenants
Denver Condo Covenants to Beware Of
Denver Condominium Sold Statistics
Price Trends for Denver Condos
Denver Downtown Condominiums Map
Negotiating for Your New Denver Condo

There's more, but you're getting the idea. By developing short content pages with these titles and the key phrases in the page, you'll be developing that niche with SEO, and your competition will be left behind in the long term.

We've only touched on the tip of the opportunity iceberg. Do the same for commercial, investors, foreclosures, short sales, and other specialty property types or types of transactions. Your site can develop several niches, each as a major page with sub-pages for each title and phrase. Why compete for the major words when you're able to get first page search positions for the lesser-used key phrases?

Let's talk about neighborhoods and subdivisions as a niche. Think of them as your farms, as this is a familiar concept in real estate marketing. Instead of post card farming a large subdivision, think of it as a sub-site on your website. It becomes a major page, with sub-pages for (again, subdivision name before or after phrases):

Covenants and Restrictions
Homes for Sale
Condominiums for Sale
Area Maps
Business and Shopping
Area Schools
Area Churches
Sold Property Statistics
History and Development

Again, you get the idea. While hundreds of your fellow Realtors are fighting for major competitive key phrases, you can "work the fringes" for neighborhoods and subdivisions. You will get very targeted traffic, as there are searchers wanting information specific to these neighborhoods.

If you want your website to actually bring you business, working the niche property and transaction types can be your best tool. Just getting away from the normal real estate site plan will help. You know, the site with about a dozen pages, with these buttons on the home page:

Search Listings
About Me
Buyer Information
Seller Information
My Listings

Take that site and compare it to one with some of these choices:

The Denver Condo Scene
Downtown Denver Living
XYZ - A Subdivision in Demand
Investing in Denver Area Real Estate
The Denver Foreclosure Market

These pages can take you to sub-pages with very specific focus on things we've talked about in this article. Trying to put too much information into one page is poor SEO strategy. Besides, if a site visitor arrives at your site on a search for "downtown Denver condo covenants," they'll be thrilled to come to a page that has that as the only topic. That's why Google and the other engines will give that page a good position as well.

Biography:

Peyman Aleagha is the founder and President of RealtySoft.com. RealtySoft provides Realtors with Real Estate Web Design (http://www.realtysoft.com), Real Estate Print Marketing and Free IDX (http://www.realtysoft.com/freeidx.php) solutions. Find out more about RealtySoft by visiting RealtySoft.com

Posted by Peyman Aleagha on 04/01/2009 04:14 PM

Comments (140)

SEO in the Technology and Tools Channel

real estate website content

140 Comments on Developing and Working a Niche Online

MAR

Couldn't agree with you more, but most sales people are to scared to change and follow your advice.

APR

Peyam....excellent! I like the way you think. We've been working on all this stuff and you just gave me a few more excellent ideas. Thanks

Anna Banana, Phoenix,AZ

Worth printing and hanging in front of me on a magnetic white board...

Very Nice.....

Excellent advice Peyman--I am bookmarking so I can refer back to it ---I have to start to get serious about blogging!

I think this is great! Thanks.....need to find the time to go back and work on pages of site.

Peyman~ I have bookmarked this so I can come back to it and implement a few of them when I have time to focus. Thanks for sharing!

Great post. The long tail for investors can even have owner-carry investment property. You also hit on the key to future survival and success. You need to brand an identity around specialties that you know cold.

Great points. I'm already seeing the hits on very specific items from the blog so the items with the highest interest can be expanded with niche site pages.

Thank you. Thank you. Just what I needed today.

Great points and thanks for all the info. I am working on this right now and hope you're right that it will lead to lots of good stuff.

Great info. I focus on WATERFRONT for my search terms and I end up on page one when compined with city, state and real estate.

Thanks..very good information that I'm planning to use.

Thanks for the advice. I was wondering what I could do to increase traffic to my blog and website.

This is a nice post! I bookmarked it and am going to take your advice. I also printed it out so when I am having a bad blogging day, I can get some great ideas from this post! Thank You!

-Lisa

Evening Peyman, Thanks for the excellent review. The business seems to be heading straight for local content !

Priceless information..bookmarked !! I am in the proccess of redoing my website, so these are great tips.

I am on page 1 of Google for "my town real estate" but it's costing me a lot in pay for clicks. I am going to switch some terms around and see if I can still capture the top page and do it for less. Thanks for the information.

Carrie and Kathy Sampron We love posts like yours. Can't get enough good ideas for improving our website and it's ranking. Thanks so much.

Great ideas on how to do indepth local content for your area. Thanks

Peyman..Great advice on find graphics ing a niche ...thank you

Great information. I will definitely use it. Thanks.

Peyman - Excellent advice, residential real estate does have more niches than I imagined. I sure will implement some of your suggestions.

Great ideas, i am new to blogging and i am just now working with a designer for my custom site, so this gives me some things to work on

Good secrets to share. I will look into this deeper to see how it could help me.

Let's not forget lifestlye niches... like golfers, equestrians or.. garage homes.

Making many blurbs sounds like the way to go. Never thought of that. Thanks!

Hi Peyman -- Beyond useful, so much so I bookmarked it as a reference for my to do list, thank you :-)

Peyman - Great post! Thanks for sharing this information, definitely will bookmark to keep as a reference :)

Niche marketing is the only way not to be a small fish in a huge pond! Great post :-)

Peyman - too bad you're not a Denver real estate agent, because this post just included a lot of helpful keywords :) Nice blog!

Peyman,

As more agents start blogging and using analytics for their websites, they will see just how powerful this advice is. In a blog I run for Lawrenceville, Georgia I get most of my hits from searches about homes near schools such as "homes near central gwinnett high school" or "homes near dyer elementary."

I think the long tail is more powerful than a hot keyword anyway, because it forces you to put more content in your blog, thus increasing the time readers spend on your site and the more trust you'll gain from your readership.

Eric Lowery, Author of the Expert Skills for Real Estate Agents Blog

You have a lot of great ideas, and I've been planning to do some major revision on my website. This is a wonderful opportunity to follow through on some of this.

Thank you.

Oh my... this is GREAT information.. something that is over looked by many... Thanks for the tip.

Great Article! I started www.BankOwnedHomesOrlando.com - for Bank Owned Homes in Orlando and have been getting some good leads off of it. www.imoria.com delivered the site in a day to me for next to nothing!

I just don't get how you can write such a great article about SEO and then contradict yourself by offering template websites that are horrible for SEO on realtysoft.com

The question for me is not whether or not to work a niche, but how one can survive if I DO NOT exploit my niches.

Wonderful! Much obliged on the fools day!!

This is common knowledge for those who have websites that convert 10% of unique visitors to sign-in's...not counting specific email requests for property information. The more relevant the landing page to the search, the higher probability of a visitor requesting information or signing in for more information.

Even with a template site, one can invest in a custom IDX from someone like www.RealEstateWebmasters.com where each individual property page is a separate, spiderable page with unique tags. Plus, anything that is allowed to be pulled from the MLS datafeed can be set up for specific search fields. A custom IDX can have a major impact for lead generation.

Thank you for the clear and concise information.

Really fantastic adivse, and being new to the Rain I am constantly learning new things. I have also learned alot about working on my website and I will definetly incorporate your ideas into it.

Now if there were just another ten hours in the day...

As a relative newcomer to the ActiveRain community I thank you for such great advise in such a clear concise manner. Many kudos to you!

Continued business success to you.....

APR

I love it! Great advice and wonderful point of view. I guess I do have a niche. Actually, I now know I have many.

Thanks

Thank you, sir, for sharing your expertise. I appreciate it, as do all these other folks! This ties into a post yesterday about nabbing specific URLs like these as well. Time to check out GoDaddy!

Execellent advice. In addition to the title tags for each web page these key words and the gegographical references should be added to the keywords on each pages meta tags and the formal description within the meta tags. Then when blogging on Active Rain or elsewhere try to use them in the links back to your site. So if you want someone to go to you site, don't link to "xyz Realty" but rather to Single Family Homes in Denver." This will tell Google that your site is about Single Family homes in Denver and will make your listing show up in the searches higher than it would otherwise.

I have been sharing similar tips with Home Stagers, and on my two outside blogs, www.MicroBusinessSpecialist.com/blog and http://HomeStagingBusinessTips.com/blog

It sounds like a good plan. Keep it simple and straight to the point. Well done. It sounds like you are thinking as the ones who would be searching. Will definitely implement some of these.

Great advice! You know the more I get involved in this Web 2.0 stuff, the more I realize I don't know!

Peyman,

Very gpood post. My only suggestions is that in going to RealtySoft's website, there WERE no website examples other than the normal agent websites with the same old traditional headers. If you are truly going to create a nich, then branding yourself is not the way to go, branding your NICHE is the way to do it. Yet RealtySoft does not have any customs websites for agents to use. This may be a new product you could offer.

I give you a 10+++ for the content you offer. You just saved most of your readers about 6 months of flip-flopping. flip-flop...flip-flop....and wind up flip-flopping more and more......it's all staring us in our face....it's all on the table in front of us....but most just don't see it.......once we focus...bingo, we see it...and it starts to show results.....thanks for your efforts....www.just-ask-mike.com

Good tips. I focus on the niche of new homes for sale, but it's still pretty competitive. However, your point is well taken regarding long tail search terms. With blogs, we can dedicate a webpage solely for one topic.

That's great advice and does make a difference.

thank you very much for the great info!!!!

Peyman, Drew is right there are so many opportunities out there for REALTORS but many are afraid to step outside their box they have created for themselves.

I will keep your list handy as a reminder for myslef.

Bettina

Thanks for all your inputs.

RealtySoft websites rank very well with minor optimization. For example Google "lower westchester homes" and the first website that comes up is a RealtySoft website. That is why companies like Black Water (SEO firm) recommend RealtySoft websites to their clients.

Jim >> We are coming up with some leading edge products in Q3, 2009. Niche Websites are the future of online real estate!

Peyman, thanks for the tips. I'll keep them in mind and do my best to use them.

Really good info! I'll be coming back to this later when I can spend some time working on it. Thanks!

Niche marketing is, in my opinion, the best way to distinguish yourself as an agent. Thanks for pointing out that it is also a great way to distinguish your website.

Awesome post!!!

Keywords is key!

99% of our business is based on keywords and if you do it right, it's free marketing.

Scott

LRI

Peyman- My website and one of my blogs are highly niche focused. Thanks forthe ideas on more topics to include.

Great post!

We're in the midst right now of trying to "be something to someone" rather than "everything to everyone" by carving a niche on-line. We were mostly thinking geographically, but these long-tail ad-words are a great idea for SEO.

Thanks,

Mark Donovan

Surrey, BC, Canada

Great advise, I am actually in the process of revamping my webpage so I will take these things in to consideration. Thanks

Great Post! But as a new agent in the business I see the older agents not wanting

change. As times change we need to also change for continued growth in the industry.

Laurie Kash

Keller Williams North Dallas

(972)342-0929

Interesting idea....why didn't I think of it.

Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Estate

Good info but where is the bookmark button/logo?

Great post! I think this information plays well to builder websites too! Thanks for the re-focus. :)

Fantastic information, thanks so much! I have purchased domain names for various subdivisions in our town and will develop a page on my website dedicated to each one. Thanks for the push!

Very good ideas. I am getting ready to do a PPC and will use this idea.

Great Advise Peyman...Thanks for your post.

I have been trying to do some of what you suggest as I realize the need to have a good web presence is more important now then ever before. Now to refocus and make some changes to the site. More work...what am I saying...lol.

John

EXCELLENT suggestions. I will begin putting this into practice ASAP....you've given me some great ideas to take my online marketing to a higher level! I will check out your site also, dont have time right now...thanks!

WOW! Excellent post, thank very much it is what I need to now definitely in my book mark and I will use your tips.

You went right to the point and simplified the keyword issues...Innovating by using more specific words narrows down the umpteen choices consumers are faced with, and if they're serious buyers it can make the difference on who they will call first!....your advice is well taken Peyman..Thank You.

Excellent advice and post! Thank you for sharing the valuable information.

Peyman, ooo you're giving too much info Lol. You are absolutely correct, We do not care about the search "Atlanta Homes For Sale" but we google #1 the northern suburb "Cumming Homes For Sale". All our websites have secondary pages by, subdivision, foreclosure bank owned, country club golf, and schools. Everytime I think I have it covered, something else pops up...

Great post and thanks for the ideas. Now if only I could narrow my focus and pick a niche... Thanks.

I started focusing on a market niche three years ago. As the market got tougher, I made my niche smaller. This strategy has agents in my area tellling me that I need to broaden my market to succeed today. On the contrary, my marketing efforts are generating cold buyers - cold from the standpoint that I don't know them and had no other contact prior to meeting than my online internet presence. Once meeting me, they become loyal clients because of my market expertise. Niche is the way to go.

APR

niche can also be the kind of marketing you do... for example, if you are in a small community and you're the only agent that does video production services, then that could be your niche. People who see this may only want to list with you since they know the value in full motion video.

Fantastic info. Always looking for ways to improve my site and traffic. This is very helpful!

Thanks I plan to print this and use it as a blog guide, when setting up posts. Thanks for the info.

Great post. I tend to focus on the areas within real estate that I like to specialize in like waterfront, view properties, etc

Peyman, I am new to blogging and am reading alot of stuff. This information is very informative and interesting. Thanks, Bill

Thank you SOOOO MUCH for the info. I am at the beginning of the learning curve on all this and you have helped me more than I can say. I intend to put your suggestions to work - as soon as I figure out how to do it on my web site.

APR

Excellent tips! Thanks for the valuable information. I've bookmarked it to reference back.

APR

Great post im working on implementing this

AUG

Exactly what I've been looking for! Thank you!

Great info, thanks. Are these sites frame based?

Good thing that this was re-featured. One problem that I have with this system is that you can't target specific neighborhoods, as there are multiple neighborhoods within a specific zip code. Is there any way you can fix that, or will I have to settle for including the other neighborhoods in those zip codes in a search targeted for one specific niche neighborhood?

Love your post...niche marketing is where it is at!

Peyman,

Thanks for all the great reminders! It appears that I have lots of web-work to do!

Kathy Opatka

This post goes hand in hand with the hyper local blog challenge from last week. Great ideas and tips.

Great post. Although I wouldn't agree to make your site completly niche oriented, you should focus the majority of the content on your particular niche. For example, my webpage (which is my blog) is about 90% focused on discussing foreclosure prevention, but I do still have some content on other topics as well. go to www.sellingnorthernnv.com to see what I mean

Good information. I do need to work on getting these phases built in...

HI Peyman,

I need to get some of these ideas going again, I bookmarked and forgot I have to admit. But thanks for the tips again, I am all over it! :)

-Lisa

Paymen, Niching is the most powerful way to capture a market online. Many agents are afraid of niching because of scarcity mentality, they may lose people who could become clients because they are not a part of that niche, however, the evidence shows the contrary is true. Thanks for bringing up this important online marketing strategy.

BTW- I am so looking forward to using your website and IDX- please let me know when you get our mls a part of the system. Regional MLS ( Realtor Association of the Palm Beaches) not the same as mid florida regional mls. Thanks!

Peyman, Can you give an example of a developed "niche" page with all the SEO on it? Hard to find on realtysoft.com

I did some searchs for "downtown Denver condo covenants", "Negotiating for Your New Denver Condo " and "Denver Downtown Condominium Projects " but couldn't find and websites ranking that said realtysoft on them.....? Maybe I didn't look hard enough, would love to be able to reccomend something like this to my agents.

AUG

Fantastic advice. I've gotten great results with similar niche strategies.

I have done a good job of getting placement on "my town" real estate and similar search terms but I have not tried the long tailed version....yet.

I am still trying to find my niche. I have to admit that it is a bit scary.

You are exactly right - many compete and pay big money for 'real estate' + their area. The consumers searching that term are in the very beginning of their search - I like to get them with my longtails when they are ready to buy.

Wish you had our MLS !

You are right. My web site gets place in most cases on the the top 10 web sites base on the key words we have place on our web site. But this is not all as you well now. companies can charge and promises to bring your web site on the top of the search but for how long when we all are looking to be place ontop. I am not paying for this service and have place our web site on the top search per key words for years now..

If bing takes market share away from Google, do you have any thoughts on the consequences and the way to position a web site or blog?

Payman

Thank you so much for the valuable insight. I am certainly no computer or SEO expert, so much of this has been so intimidating for a non-computer expert.

Thanks

These are some great ideas! I think it is so important to find some kind of a niche. There are riches in niches! Thanks.

AUG

You made a lot of great points that make so much sense! Thanks for pointing them out. This is why I enjoy Active Rain so much. It truly is a community where we are able to learn from one another.

Long tail searches are so powerful, I love to show clients how I can post a long tail keyword blog entry and see it on page one of Google by the end of my presentation.

Yes I love my new Realtysoft website. It has a very professional look and the pictures are amazing! I should have my IDX up and running this week. You can see it at http://rodobee.com!

Thanks RealtySoft!

Rod Obee

Peyman,

Very interesting thing you stated about "content around keywords" as well as an earlier post where Drew was stating that some salespeople are too scared to try something to follow your advice. Following your advice would mean that one would have to try something new which can be scary for someone, but beneficial to others because while there are people who refuse to follow your advice there are others who will and in this market can you afford not to?

I needed this! I have been bad and not working on my website this Summer. You have given me straight-forward advice that I will use today.

Great info. I printed it out to put in my great ideas book!!! Thanks again.

Great advice - definitely worth the read. Thanks!

SEP

I get a lot of traffic on my site for Gated Communities in my town. There are so many niches you can target it is a wonder why it has taken this long to clue into this. Good post, good reminder.

Great advice - targeted marketing is a great way to meet the consumer's demand. great post.

This is absolutely fantastic information. Thank you so much! I'll use this in my arsenal!

Try Google Insight For Search and Google Adwords Keyword Tool for detailed research of your area key words. I will say no more though. Gotta keep some secrets.

Thanks for this awesome information! I have been out of the sales area for the past 1 1/2 years, and have just returned this week. I am in the process of re-vamping my website, so all of your great information will really come in handy.

This is definitely getting a bookmark for me! I need to work on this stuff big time, I just need to find the time to do it! LOL!!!

You can do this but for these pages to rank higher they need not just good keyword but original content and backlinks. Just creating content on long-tail keywords, posting it, and forgetting it won't do much for you. You may want to consider one or two communties that you work and spend a lot of time in, preferably where you live, and create a hyperlocal blog. This will create additional work for you but if it generates a few extra sales a year maybe it is worth it. Just a 3 or 4 200-300 word post a week will generate a lot more results in google than just a static keyword rich page.

great info! I am bookmarking this so I can remember to come back and look at it!

Peyman - great info! I've bookmarked it of course and subscribed to your blog! I just signed up today for a RealtySoft agent website & IDX solution.....your colleague Travis is being more than helpful! I can't wait to get started!

Peyman,thank-you for this great information. I will indeed use it.

Thank you for the valuable information. I will be applying some of it to my web marketing

Peyman- Excellent post about niching. Niches are very profitable. In fact, those who actually niche have a much larger return on their online time investment. Katerina

Peyman- I was just reading through the comments. I don't know if those that are selling and promoting websites and IDX systems on this post are AR members or not. But if you are a member of AR, that is against the community guidelines. This is Peyman's blog and he sells IDX Websites to agents. You are not supposed to put links in the body of your comment that take away from the author of the blog. I would not be very happy if you were sharing a competitor's product on my blog. Katerina

OCT

Thank you for all the key words and key word phrases. I am going to start tarketing my niche in the titles of my blogs.

I totally agree. Well written!

Thank you. I'm just starting to enter this world of on-line words.

Personally I like to think of working leads online as a niche. While it takes similar skills to work online as face to face, there are some small nuances that are different. Agree that focusing on many different small terms is a good long term solition.

Think globally, work locally. I am doing both global and local SEO but with two websites. WORKS!

OCT

I agree!!! That's how I'm separating myself from others here in the Saint John, New Brunswick area. Most agents here aren't even online consistently... ;>))

SWEET!! I've just updated my keywords.

Peyman,

What fantastic advice! Thanks for sharing your great ideas. SEO is hard work, but you've just given us a great blueprint to follow! Thanks again.

Great advice. Definitely a feature indeed. As I revamp my website and create some personal blogs,I will definitely take this into consideration. SEO has been a struggle with me. I need to practice everything that you said in this blog. Great post.

Peyman- I rank well for the generic "my town real estate", but this is great advice to get good SEO on pages throughout my website. Like so many commenters, before me, I've bookmarked this for future reference.

Just starting on my website. Oh so perfect advice.

OCT

Fantastic advice, I couldn`t agree more and I will suggest that my brokerage follow suite as well :)

Bit by bit

It is definately an elephant, you need to have a plan and follow it to get to where you want to be but you can't give up!

-Phil-

utahbuyeragent.com

This is some brilliant knowledge! Long tail marketing is truly something that sets you apart from the competition. Pinpoint focus in your marketing- thanks so much for this!

Great post I have began expanding my SEO work from Yorba Linda Real Estate to include Yorba Linda Homes and Yorba Linda Realtors. And it works well from an SEO standpoint. I couldn't agree more!

This is good info... Thanks!

Excellent post, Great advice and thanks for sharing.

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