In the world of new home selling, you have a thousand different directions you could be marketing on any given day. It's difficult to know where to put your time and money. You need to focus your budget where you get the most bang for your buck. That's why we put together a list of SEO hacks to get you more exposure online without spending any money. Don't get me wrong, it does take time to go through and implement all these tricks, but it can give you a significant boost in your online traffic if you do it the right way. Not only that, your traffic will be coming from either local sources or online home designs websites that offer you relevant traffic. Oh, and you can do it for no cost! Why should you spend your time following these steps? Basically, it's an easy way to boost your referral traffic, increase your SEO rank, and develop relationships with local entities and home brands. We all know word of mouth marketing is huge for home buying. Start by diving into your online referrals and you won't be disappointed. Here are your steps for getting more online traffic to your website:  

Solicit Backlinks

Google loves good backlinks. So, what's a backlink? Backlinks are any article or blog on a website providing links back to your website.When gaining backlinks to your website, Google basically reads that referral as a positive reference for your website. It rewards you for having people refer your website to other people online. Depending on the referring website, you gain more authority with Google for people giving your website credit. Websites with higher traffic are considered better backlinks because they have more domain authority with Google. 

For example, an article on ProBuilder will have more domain authority than your new local home improvement blogger. ProBuilder has significantly more traffic and engagement on their website than your beginning online blogger. Thus, you are rewarded more for referring websites with higher traffic. To really gain knowledge on the high traffic websites, you can use a website called Alexa to determine its website ranking nationally and internationally. In this example below, you can see the higher number of referring traffic, the higher the ranking on Google. 

 

What does all this mean for new homebuilders? If you have any relationship with your local news sources, a builder publication, or local bloggers, you can ask them to write about you and backlink to your website. This is especially easy if you have a recent press release or new community. You already have most of the information, it's just a matter of putting your resources and connections together to create one powerful backlinking strategy. If you follow the simple steps below, you should be on your way to more referral traffic and a higher Google rank.

Use Your Current Content

What content do you currently have on your website that is relevant and newsworthy? Go through your website and your computer files to pick out several different pieces of content. If you do press releases or blogging frequently, this is a great place to start. Make a spreadsheet with all these links and files. Give each piece of content a title and keep track of where you send each article.

Start Emailing

That's right. Create your templated email. All you need to do from here is go in and customize your message depending on the person and content. Say you have a recent press release for a new community in Des Moines, Iowa. Find the most relevant local news sources in the area and copy the link from your website or attach the document to your email. Craft your email similar to the sample below, asking for them to publish an article related to the content. The key is to make sure they link back to your website from their online article.

Example:

Hi {news source}, I'm sure you get a lot of article submissions, but I wanted to bring to your attention to a new home community we recently made available in the Des Moines area. This community is meant for younger millennials. Our homes are lower on the price range for the area and this community includes 2 or 3 bedroom houses only. We are certain this new home community would be of interest to your local readers and it's an important piece of information to our growing city. Please reference the article I have {attached or linked to}. If you think our newest press release is relevant, we would be happy to provide you additional pictures or information. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Best, {your name}   While this sample is meant for an online news source, you could craft it for any type of online website. Don't be afraid to reach out to bigger online homebuilder publications. It doesn't hurt to send an email and it usually only takes a few minutes. Remember, highlight your blogs and press release and think about the content that's most relevant to that source. It has to be mutually beneficial for both of you.

Fix Broken or Missing Links

This may be one of the easiest steps you can take for building your backlinks. Go online and find your missing backlinks. People have probably already written about your company, communities, or homes. Start searching Google for your company's new home content. Start by making a list of keywords associated with your homes, communities, and overall company. Look for articles that contain information on your homes or company that never link back to your website. Always be sure to check the links even if they do provide your website link. Some sources may be outdated and link to an incorrect page on your website. Once you find these missing or broken links, all you need to do is send them a quick email. It should say something like this:  

Example:

Hi {news source}, I found your article about our new home community in Des Moines. It contains great information with several features of this community. We appreciate you highlighting our community on {new source}. We did, however, notice that you never link to the community information on our page. While you provide relevant details, it would be helpful to link to the actual source on our website so viewers can get our most accurate and up-to-date information. I copied the link below. {community link} Please let me know if you would like any further information on this area. I look forward to seeing the updated article. Thanks, {your name}   Every email might not generate a response, but it's a simple way to gain more traffic if you are successful. Don't be shy and ask boldly. The worst that could happen is someone tells you they won't add it and you move on. In our experience, this is rare. Keep in mind, it's also beneficial to the source to add relevant links to their website. Your request isn't only for your gain, so people might be more willing than you think. Finally, don't be afraid to brainstorm different sources to contact about backlinking. We've provided a short list of places you may work with for your homebuilding business:

• Local charities (United Way, Red Cross)
• Vendors/builder materials (Sherwin Williams, Delta, local lumber supplier)
• New sources
• Local organizations (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club)
• Home decor bloggers or businesses
• Online home publications
• Online homebuyers websites
• Local schools or colleges
• Big businesses near your communities
• Military resources
• First-time homebuyer resources
• Home decor and improvement magazines

With all this being said, stick to the basics. Search out your already published articles and ask for links back to your website. If you stay consistent with this backlinking approach, your traffic is sure to increase.   For more information on backlinking and advanced SEO, reach out to us online.