HomeQuest

Jeff on Monday, July 26, 2010

Today we’re taking a look at Kevin Levy’s custom WordPress website “Relocation to Portland“.  This site was designed to take advantage of Search Engine Optimization with terms focusing on clients who are looking to relocate to Portland, Oregon.  So, it’s no surprise that pretty much any Google search that revolves around relocating or moving to Portland produces a page with Kevin’s site somewhere near the top.

Using the strategies we laid out last week as the basis for review, let’s take a look at what’s going on with Kevin’s site that makes it such a great example of a custom WordPress Real Estate site that actually generates business.

Design: The custom design of the main landing page presents the content in a very clean, easy to read structure.   Having a clean layout that gives your visitors exactly what they’re after is very important in creating a “sticky” landing page that will result in the visitor clicking through to the other areas of your site.

Capture: Notice the large “Portland Homes for Sale” link at the very top of the site?  Yeah, so do visitors that are searching for new homes when they land here…  Clicking that link drops visitors directly into the HomeQuest interactive home search IDX map where they can build custom searches, save searches and register for any updates as new homes come onto the market.  Kevin has configured his HomeQuest IDX settings to force registration after the visitor views 5 listings.  Listings are also displayed using the HomeQuest shortcode on individual neighborhood landing pages. Clicking listings on the map, or on the neighborhood pages produces the same forced registration result, which usually results in a new contact created into your HomeQuest contact database.

The follow up you provide once the lead has been “captured” is equally important.  We discuss this in a video I created with another agent (Using HomeQuest – An Agent’s Daily Routine).  If you have an extra 30 minutes, I’d highly recommend watching it for a better idea of how to get the most out of the HomeQuest CRM platform.

Content: This is where Kevin’s site really excels.  Kevin has done an exceptional job in content creation with a neighborhood focus.  As you would expect for a relocation site, his content is focused on providing as much information about Portland as possible.  Everything from relocation tips, neighborhood info, schools, and even his favorite “cool places” in Portland.

Kevin has also started using stop animation videos in his “1 Block Tour” series.  Creatively using video like this is a great way to show personality and allow your site visitors to get a better idea of the agent “behind the website”.

Promotion: As I mentioned above, the overall strategy of this site was to focus on content to take advantage of search engines around the specific terms related to relocation.  Other parts of Search Engine Optimization include internal links, external links, etc.  So, if you look at the structure of Kevin’s site, you’ll notice he’s done a great job of linking internally back to his own content which is important for SEO purposes.  His neighborhood pages link back and forth to each other, and he does a great job of using internal links as reference in his blog posts.

While this is one piece of the puzzle, getting external links is the more important piece.  Again, Kevin has done a great job of actively promoting his site by leaving relevant comments on blogs (which creates a link back) and creating content worthy of people linking to it.  Plus, his site has been featured in several national presentations as an example of a great Real Estate agent site, which has been helpful as well.

The second part to Kevin’s promotion strategy has been to create the “101 Cool Portland Places” which leverages the viral marketing power of a Facebook Page.  At this point, he’s got roughly 1500 members on this page that are able to interact with Kevin in multiple ways, each time he posts a link (which leads back to his website/blog) to the page.

So, for those of our clients that wonder what they should be doing to take advantage of the power of integrating WordPress and the HomeQuest platform, Kevin’s site is a great example to follow.  Pair that with a custom designed site from our design team at HomeQuest, and you’ll have the winning combination you need for a successful online Real Estate presence.