Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is one of the most efficient ways to reach the online audience that would be your perfect and ideal client/customer for your property management company and services. SEO, in its simplest form, is your ability to position your website online in such a way that electronic robots from the major search engines can read your property management company website and report its findings back to their main search engines. This allows web searchers to find your property management company website. At least that is the hope. Right? Nielsen Media research indicates that 94 percent of all online transactions begin with some type of online Internet search. This means your placement on the major search engines of Google and Bing are mission critical to the success of your property management company. So, is there a secret algorithm to getting top-listed or is all of this SEO optimization a bunch of smoke and mirrors? The answer is complex and not for the faint of heart.
Let me first share with you that SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing; pay per click like Google Ad Words) are different areas of focus for your online marketing efforts. While they share some similar nuances, they are different in many important ways.
There are three main things to consider when optimizing the website of your property management company to be found by the major search engines.
1. What is the main focus or mission of your property management company website? Without a focus you will load up your property management company website with so many key words that your message will be diluted and missed by the search engines. You will find the most success by optimizing for ten key words/phrases or less. Casting too wide of a net might catch more fish, but are they the fish you want? And, if you fish like me, that big net might just be full of holes.
2. Don’t assume you know what Internet users are searching for online when looking for the website of your property management company. It is very common to think that people will search for key words like “Chicago fishing nets” because this key phrase makes sense to that industry professional. However, in most cases, a term like “Chicago fishing nets” is very rarely used by web searchers to find local information about fishing nets. It is very common to find most property management company websites are optimized for the wrong search terms. Using the wrong search terms means you are potentially missing hundreds of web users each month that are looking to find your property management company website and the services you offer. It takes an SEO expert and human-expertise/intervention to help you find the right mix of key words for your property management company website that are actually being search by your ideal and perfect audience.
3. Do it yourself may work when painting your kitchen, but not online. Trying to accomplish detailed SEO results yourself will not only cost you time; it may cost you money and will often hurt your efforts more than help the website efforts for your property management company. I assure you that you will not find long term and ongoing SEO success for your property management company with a $29.95 piece of software. The SEO industry is changing on a daily basis. While some basic principles always apply, there are many areas that are rapidly changing and if you do not keep up on a monthly basis you may just wake up to find the website of your property management company at the bottom listing on the major search engines. You need SEO experts that know and understand the property management industry inside and out.
Tip from The Coach: I challenge those of you that think your SEO is top-tier to take a deeper look at your search terms and let an SEO expert probe your efforts to see if you are really as golden as you think. There is no reason to navigate the SEO adventure alone as a property management company. And the right SEO research and application to your property management company website will generate a steady and strong stream of revenue and new clients who want and need the services of your company.
Want to learn more about optimizing your property management company website for SEO success? Send an E-mail to ernest@powerhour.com and The Coach will send you a free PowerHour invitation. During this call we will discuss how to implement the steps in this article.
Ernest F. Oriente, a business coach since 1995 [29,160 hours], a property management industry professional since 1988-- the author of SmartMatch Alliances...the founder of PowerHour, PowerHour SEO and Power Insurance & Risk Management has a passion for coaching his clients on executive leadership, hiring and motivating property management SuperStars, traditional and Internet SEO/SEM marketing, competitive sales strategies, and high leverage alliances for property management teams and their leaders. He and his PowerHour team provide private and group coaching for property management companies and industry sales vendors/suppliers around North America, executive recruiting, investment banking, national real estate and apartment building insurance, SEO/SEM web strategies, national WiFi solutions, employee policy manuals, social media leadership and powerful tools for hiring property management SuperStars and building dynamic teams.
Ernest worked for Motorola, Primedia and is certified in the Xerox sales methodologies. Recent interviews and articles have appeared more than 7000 times in business and trade publications and in a wide variety of leading magazines and newspapers, including Smart Money, Inc., Business 2.0, The New York Times, Fast Company, The LA Times, Fortune, Business Week, Self Employed America and The Financial Times. Since 1995, Ernest has written over 200 articles for the property management industry and created 350+ property management forms, business and marketing checklists, sales letters and presentation tools. To subscribe to his free property management newsletter go to: www.powerhour.com. PowerHour® is based in Olympic-town…Park City, Utah, at 435.615.8486, by E-mail or visit their website: www.powerhour.com