Thursday, February 28, 2008

Optimizing your Web engine for Search Engines

By Sean Cutright
Delta Media Group


Searching for more effective SEO?

Real estate technology provider Delta Media Group has released a full-service search engine optimization platform for real estate brokerages.

“We had an overwhelming and positive response for this package from our current clients,” Delta Media Group president Mike Minard said. “We have developed this system to be a cost effective solution for real estate brokerages, and we anticipate a strong return on investment for those taking advantage of it.”

Delta Media Group will be unveiling the package in two phases. The first will cater to current Delta Media Group customers and the second will be released for all real estate brokerages, whether Delta Media Group customers or not. Pricing will be quoted on a case-by-case basis.

Search engine optimization is a constantly growing online marketing medium in the real estate industry. As more customers turn to the Web to search for real estate, the ability to get your Web site “found” on search engines is becoming vitally more important. With online real estate portals often drawing a significant amount of search engine results, brokerages have to take larger steps to compete for search engine placement and Web traffic.

For more information on how Delta Media Group can help effectively place your real estate Web site, visit www.deltagroup.com/seo.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Single-property Web sites take center stage

By Sean Cutright
Delta Media Group


Single-property Web sites have recently begun growing in demand, and catching the attention of major real estate media outlets like Inman.com and RISMedia.

The advantage is obvious, particular as more and more people are starting their property searches online, and print advertisements are showing a decline in return on investment.

With single-property Web sites, real estate agents can effectively market a single listing that is easily accessible to an inquiring customer without making him have to wade through Web site filler, “About me” pages, IDX property searches that often display tens of thousands of listings, and more. Instead, the customer types in a single URL and finds the listing they are interested in. From there, they can request a showing or more information on the listings, view details and additional photos, and often, see school and community reports, display the property on a map, find driving directions, calculate mortgage costs, and more.

The issue, however, is the sites can often get expensive, ranging from $50 for a basic site to recurring monthly fees. The other problem is single-property Web sites often do not allow customers to search other properties seamlessly, and customers inquiring in a listing usually would like to see others.

Delta Media Group has overcome these obstacles, developing single-property Web sites for each listing on the brokerage site, whether the company’s or a listing from the IDX. This option is standard and included on all Delta Media Group brokerage and agent Web sites.

Delta Media Group’s system automatically assigns a unique URL associated with the Web site to each listing, making it easier and more cost effective for the real estate brokerage and each agent. And the best part is the system has proven results. Brokerages and agents using Delta Media Group as their real estate technology provider have begun cutting advertising and marketing budgets, and redirecting their ads to create a direct call to their Web site by featuring the listing’s direct URL.

Interested customers browsing through newspaper and magazine ads can quickly pull the listing up online without having to go through the IDX property search, sorting through hundreds or thousands of listings.

The automated URL is easier for the customer to track as well, as they only need to record the brokerage URL and MLS number to revisit the listing’s site, opposed to having to remember house numbers and street names that they may have never heard of.

Once on a listing’s direct Web site, customers can easily access an IDX property search by advanced search features, county map, or interactive property search map. Customers can also click to view the listing on a map with other listings for sale in the region around it.

Single-property Web sites are included at no additional charge for all listings with any Delta Media Group broker or agent Web site.

For more information, visit www.deltagroup.com, or contact me at scutright@deltagroup.com.