Tek Tips

Question:

"I want to drive more traffic to my site. I keep hearing about Google Adwords®, can you explain how it works?" - Joe

Answer:

Well I guess it is not much of a secret anymore. Google has a program known as Adwords™. Adwords provides you with a way to get your site on one of the first few pages of a search result. As you probably already know, if your site doesn't appear on the first few pages of Google, your chances of anybody finding it drop dramatically.

Considering that the search term Southern California Real Estate returns 8,770,000 results and each page contains only ten free results, your chances of getting on even one of the first 10 pages are more then eight million to one. I am not much of a gambler, but it doesn't sound like good odds to me.

Ok, what if we refine our search term and look at Torrance Real Estate well now we only get 1,820,000 results. Doesn't look so good does it? It gets worse. You are trying competing with guys that do nothing else all day long, but search engine optimzation (SEO), and believe me, they know a whole heck of a lot about it, and they are not going to tell. You can bet that the SEO guys that can get the first 10 pages for a term like California Real Estate or even Torrance Real Estate for that matter are making a good living.

So, what do you do? Well, you can pay a SEO company to help you out, but caveat emptor (buyer beware) for every one company that is legitimate, there are hundreds of scam artists that will take your money and run. Obviously, this is getting depressing, but never fear we have Google Adwords™. Adwords™ allows you to "bid" for keywords and phrases. If you run a search on Google, notice the boxes on the right hand side of the screen. These are the AdWords™. You can see where they help to level the playing field. Where do you start? It's easy to sign up, in fact you can simply click the button in this paragraph to sign up.

How does it work, you wanted to know? While it sounds a bit complecated at first, it is really quite simple. After you sign up, you set up your account and select some keywords and phrases. Then you decide how much you are willing to pay per click, after that you decide on how much you are willing to pay per day. When somebody enters one of your keywords, or phrases, Google checks its database and takes the highest group of bidders and displays their ads from the highest bidder to the lowest.

Here's where it gets cool. Instead of simply charging you the maximum you are willing to pay per click, Google starts with the lowest bidder in the group and incrementally increases the price from there. So even if you are willing to pay $10.00 a click, it is entirely conceivable that you may end up paying a fraction of this price. Each "round" is different though, and Google will display the ads and adjust the amount charged per click accordingly for every search. The best thing is; Nobody pays a dime until a visitor clicks on an ad. So no matter how many times your ad is displayed you pay nothing unless you get a visitor.

Now consider this; the people that Google will be sending to your site actually want to see what you have to offer. The web is unique for that. When you advertise on radio, cable, bus benches, or even if you hung an enormous banner on the moon, you would be advertising (and therefore spending money) to a set group of people, many of which are not interested in what you are advertising. Therefore, much of your advertising is wasted. With Adsense™, your visitors are actively looking for your services (in most cases). Needless to say, this kind of targeted traffic is highly prized amongst web site owners.

Many people ask me what happens if a boat load of people click on your ad. They are worried that they will have a hugh bill. Well, remember, you can limit the amount per day. So even if you have a slender budget (especially if you do) you can spend exactly as much as you are willing to afford on you ad campaign.

Now, for the bad news. You will need to be either creative with your keywords, or you will need to spend a few bucks. The real estate industry keywords are hotly contested. Since this is the case, the bids can get high. So use focused keyword phrases and enclose them in quotations. This will ensure that you will only pay only when your exact key phrase is searched ...

Well folks, it is 5:30 on a Friday. If you guys shoot me an email, I will continue this article in next week's tech corner with some strategies for keeping your costs down and your traffic up... Stay tuned!

Good Luck and e-mail me to have your question answered!

All information contained in the article is the opinion of the author and is offered for use with your discretion and without warranty of any kind. Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of The South Bay Association of REALTORS® or its affiliates. Written By: Marc Everlove All rights reserved. Marc Everlove may have affiliations with some, or all companies mentioned.