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Real Estate Blogging’s Holy Grail and the Long Tale of The Transactional Visitor

Published by Joseph Ferrara (2) April 18th, 2008 in Real Estate Marketing. Comments

I went on a quest last month to visit John and Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces, having heard of their mythical Google Knights of the First Page, bloggers who had slayed the Goliaths of Google real estate search, Sir Trulia, Sir Yahoo and Sir Realtor.com, to achieve consumer traffic supremacy for their market keywords. Had they found what I consider Real Estate Blogging’s Holy Grail?

The Holy Grail of Blogging

Real estate blogging for business (clients) first, and foremost, involves creating useful content about real estate. Useful to whom? Easy. The consumer who wants/needs to buy, sell, rent, or otherwise transact business involving real estate in your market– what I call the TRANSACTIONAL VISITOR. In terms of business, the visitor that matters most, the hallowed visitor and Holy Grail for bloggers who want to get clients (not a keynote speaker gig, look-at-me traffic, or a high profile job to get them out of selling homes) is the TRANSACTIONAL VISITOR.

The transactional visitor is the one most likely to call you for your professional services. Now, I’m not saying that visitors who are avid readers of your blog, but not ready to transact business, will not someday call you, but that’s a maybe in my book. The transactional visitor is, by my definition, a person who wants to transact business NOW or in the very near future.

Since this is all a numbers conversion game, what kind of traffic brings the most transactional visitors to your blog? Well, let us first examine from where most visitor traffic comes. Visitors to your blog come by way of Google keyword phrases, from image tags, from inbound links from other blogs and websites, including those that come from the social bookmarking sites– the so-called Digg Effect. (The number of blog visitors that come from social networking sites like Facebook, offline marketing and networking are most likely negligible, compared to Google visitors.) Will all these traffic sources bring the same amount of transactional visitors? Obviously, no. So the question becomes—which source is most likely to send you this visitor? I believe it is the Google keyword phrases used by folks wanting/needing to buy, sell, rent or otherwise transact business involving real estate in your market. OK, we’re getting closer. So what are those keyword phrases bringing the most folks ready to call a real estate agent?

The Thin Long Tail

Mary McKnight wrote about the inefficiencies of real estate bloggers chasing the Long Tail. By chasing, I suspect she means writing mostly about obscure, little used real estate terms. Her argument is, as I read it, that a lower number of transactional visitors are likely to be found in the long tail, since the number of searches, and therefore the number of overall visitors, is lower than for the head or neck keywords. In this, I agree with her completely. (Remember, it is a numbers conversion game. Less transactional visitors, less conversions.) Now, before all the long tailers come at me with long tales of their success, let me make clear that I advocate best SEO practices to increase a real estate agent’s ranking higher in Google for keyword phrases entered by folks wanting/needing to buy, sell, rent or otherwise transact business involving real estate in their market. If that is a long tail keyword phrase, then so be it. Use it, chase it, tattoo it on your arm. If you sell Earthship homes off the power grid, it makes Google sense to write about this niche. You may not get many visitors but you’re swimming in a nice blue ocean.

Back in 2006, I contacted the fella who did the Amazon/Netflix study upon which Chris Anderson based his article, and then book, The Long Tail. In short, the Long Tail theory is a niche marketing strategy used by online companies Amazon & Netflix to capture a portion of the market not normally covered (to any meaningful degree) by brick and mortar businesses. By listing obscure, rarely ordered titles, Amazon & Netflix were able to profit from books & movies that were not bestsellers or blockbusters. (Note: listing the titles was not enough, they still had to sell them, which Amazon did using affiliates (around 40% of sales, if I recall correctly), which makes that marketing strategy arguably as powerful as the long tail strategy. And let’s not forget Netflix’s first mover advantage.)

I had asked Professor Michael D. Smith (that fella who did the study and wrote the paper with some other profs), what exactly does the long tail weigh, that is, what percentage of the overall market are we talking about chasing? (I already had my opinion, having read Clay Shirky’s Power Laws and buying the Pareto Principle). Mike (we were on a first name basis) told me there was no precise definition of the long tail but that Amazon realized revenue between 30-50% from long tale sales. My short answer on the long tail– the long tail accounts for about 20% of the total market– be it books or real estate search. Now, even 20% of a multi-billion dollar industry is a nice tail to cover. So, going after the long tail made sense to Amazon because they were able to cover the ENTIRE long tail.

If 20% (or whatever % you believe) of visitors come from long tail real estate searches– in total, unless you can cover all/most of the long tail searches in your market, like Amazon, you will only get a piece of that thin long tail –granted, when we’re talking six-seven figure homes vs. two figure books and movies — that’s a nice piece of tail. But, let’s not forget the transactional visitor. Your long tail terms must attract these visitors. An example might be writing about a desirable neighborhood or new condo. But remember, the overall number of visitors will always be significantly lower in the long tail than if you were ranking for the head or neck keywords. Consequently, your conversions will be lower.

Heads or Tails?

So, how does this long tale end? Generally, since there are less overall visitors coming to your blog via long tail search phrases, and, therefore, less transactional visitors to convert, do not chase (focus on) the long tail unless (1) you can cover it in all or most of your market (I don’t think the addresses of your listings is enough.) or (2) your transactional visitors are using long tail search terms (those hot new developments or new condos) or (3) your market niche lives in the long tail (”earthships off the power grid”). Better to become a Google Knight of the First Page for the heavier head and neck keywords– there you will rule (provided you can convert– what good are higher numbers of transactional visitors if you can’t convert them to clients? But that’s another post).

Whether you’re getting the head or the tail, may you blog happily ever after.

Related Posts:

How Much Does the Long Tail Weigh?

How Much Does the Long Tail Weigh? Part Deux

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  • This article really hit home as my traffic is almost all based on transactional visitors. Came across your blog while doing some research on starting on own. Great site!
  • I guess I'm missing the "in contrast to" part. I think it's pretty much accepted that a blog rich with local real estate information will attract the right searchers. Are there a lot of people arguing otherwise?
  • Mike, you nailed it. I don't know anyone who writes with the express purpose of primarily attracting long tail search results. They just happen while writing to your customers.
  • @Todd

    I believe there is one fellow in AZ who believes that including the addresses of his listings in blog posts is courting the long tail for business.

    @Mike

    I guess the contrast is between getting a lot of transactional visitors vs. getting a few.
  • I put the address in the title of of blog posts as well. And yes, I do it to court longtail traffic. But I don't see that as chasing the long tail.

    I would post the listing, even if it generated no search results at all. I'd post it, because it's a real estate blog, and that's what people are looking for on real estate blogs.

    The long tail is just icing on the cake. There's a difference between chasing the long tail, and performing simple tasks that court it.
  • @Todd

    Agreed.

    Part of the problem is the definition of terms. What does chasing the long term mean to you?
  • "Part of the problem is the definition of terms. What does chasing the long term mean to you?"

    My point exactly.
  • Mike

    Chasing the long tail means, to me, a concentrated effort to rank higher on Google for keywords and keyword phrases that attract less traffic than major keywords in my market.

    Example: I chose to write about specific buildings, developments in my market vs my market generally.

    Do you have a notion?
  • "Example: I chose to write about specific buildings, developments in my market vs my market generally."

    I would add

    I chose to write about specific buildings, developments in my market vs my market generally for the expressed purpose of long tail search results.

    You see the difference? You may choose to write about a building to entertain, or inform your readership. The long tail just comes along as a side effect. This is, I believe, how most long tail results are created, and I see no problem with it.
  • For me it should be ...for the expressed purpose of attracting transactional visitors.... not long tail results.

    Do you see the difference?

    Long tail results may not attract transactional visitors.
    Also, LT search results that do attract transactional visitors will not attract as many as posts about your market generally (head/neck).

    I am not saying there is a problem with any of it. Only that LT searches produces less transactional visitors than head/neck searches.
  • Any person who sets of to write every post with "the expressed purpose of attracting transactional visitors…. not long tail results" is probably going to have a pretty boring blog that no one will want to visit anyway. These are the type of blogs that are most common among the abandoned blogs I find while indexing sites for REMBEX.

    We basically agree on what's the best way to gain traffic from google. But it's not the only consideration. Long Tail happens. It happens because your writing an interesting blog that people actually like. The type of blogs that CLOSE leads instead of merely generating them.
  • Part of the problem to me is the language - "short tail", "long tail" -as if we are talking about actual tails. We could call it call it long legs coming from the big butt and it still wouldn't change the natural act of writing that Todd is talking about.

    Content is what matters -- good real estate content that in the course of writing covers many local real estate subjects.

    Also, in relation to "chasing", language plays a part in the discussion -- "chasing" implies intent to catch something. Are there people who "chase" only the obscure terms?

    If people are writing only about damaged sidewalks in neighborhoods with the intent of capturing searchers who are concerned about well maintained sidewalks, then there is a point to preaching about the inefficacy of such an intent -- but I don't think there are people "chasing" these obscure subjects -- a blogger might write a single blog every so often about an obscure topic, but I'll bet the writer has couched it more general content that can be effective for the short tail.

    I also suggested to Mary that linking to "long tail" subjects within a more general "short tail" post is a good way to provide more specicific information to readers.

    Furthermore, the long tail results of natural writing draw searchers who are focused on specifics of certain neighborhoods and can mean they are more quality searchers who have decided to buy in a certain neighborhood.

    So, to me the dichotomy is a straw man argument -- good mixed content that is about local real estate can draw short and long, general and specific, unfocused and focused. I just find it hard to believe that a whole lot of bloggers are writing only about obscure real estate subjects -- therefore, I'm not sure what is being contrasted here.

    Transactional users can be found in short and long -- if the writing is comprehensive and natural, it will cover both. And why not not both? "Chase" everybody who might have an interest in your local market, with the understanding that interests are diverse. Go for short term buyers and long term potentials, go for as much as possible.

    Or, perhaps, don't worry about "chasing", just worry about content that is rich and informative. It could also be argued the general terms create traffic which is 90% us checking our positions and the positions of others.:) I understand the basic idea about not writing frivolous posts about subjects that are so obscure that only a few people will search the terms, but I don't see this as a big problem among the blogs I read -- that's my point -- much ado about very little. It's like my satire warning against RE bloggers writing about Zoroastrians who grow corn in Kansas -- it is good advice, just not needed advice to combat a big problem.
  • @Todd

    I don't accept the proposition that attracting transactional visitors makes for a boring blog.

    Yes, long tail just happens but it can be cultivated as well. SEO just happens too but it would greatly benefit folks to know best practices. Same for long tail.

    Closing leads requires you to get them first. More leads = more closed leads. IMO, the best leads come from transactional visitors, which may not be those that like your blog.

    @Mike

    Good content is NOT enough. It has to be crawlable/spiderable. It has to be presented well so as to communicate ideas clearly. It has to be spread. It has to be read.
    Simple example: Would you build your entire website in flash? Why not, if you have great content?

    http://tinyurl.com/6hgt4o

    Hopefully, you agree that consumers out to buy, sell or rent are on a mission-- it is a short one-- it does not involve, for the most part, being entertained by blogs (I know you did not suggest it was). The point is-- you are unlikely, IMO, to develop a "following" of transactional visitors, despite your great content. Once these folks accomplish their mission, your RE blog is history. Your "following" is almost exclusively other bloggers and agents.

    I agree chasing implies to catch. For real estate agents, it should be catching visitors who want/need to do real estate business in this window of opportunity. Will a LT "strategy" attract these visitors? Yes, but to a significantly lesser extent than using keywords your transactional visitors (TV) are likely to use (those head/neck terms). (I noted the exceptions)

    Re: dichotomy

    I read this to mean long tail vs. head/ neck, based on the Pareto Distribution graph

    First, let me make clear I am not suggesting an "either/or" strategy but only what works to get agents more convertable leads through blogging.

    It is not a complete splitting into two or three separate (body) parts but rather a blending. But if you accept the Pareto Distribution as applying to real estate search terms, clearly some keyword phrases attract significantly more traffic, and with it more TV. IMO, these should be consciously cultivated by proper choice of words.

    We all know the English language allows for many ways to communicate about real estate BUT certain keywords/phrases are used by your transactional visitors that may not be the same as another agent's--- it can come down to abbreviations-- locals searching for homes in Long Island may more often type "LI". Wouldn't you want to know this? Of course. This knowledge does not "just happen."

    http://www.keywordexplode.com/img/longtail.gif

    I think we essentially agree on the conceptual level, but I am more concerned with focusing attention on attracting TV-- and how, practically speaking agents do it. I believe in using tools like "Keyword Discovery" to help. And I believe a LT strategy is useful-- but it just does not "just happen".

    Here's an example. I'm not sure it will make the point but anyway:

    If an agent markets to a large segment of Spanish speaking consumers, they ought use the word "casa" and other Spanish terms (heck entire Spanish posts) regularly-- perhaps both English & Spanish versions of their posts-- why? because their TV may be searching more often using casa vs. home. Now, for English-only folks "casa" is a long tail term.

    In conclusion, I agree we should not be hung up on terminology, but there is some SEO science to blogging and folks setting out to blog for business, as opposed to fame, ought to know best practices. My purpose was to try to focus attention on getting the visitor I believe is the most valuable-- the one ready to do business now.
  • REBlogGirl
    Well said, Joe.
    By simply writing rich copy about real estate and for the transactional visitor- you get both long and short tail traffic. The rub has been that the real estate space took a turn sometime in the past where they started only blogging to the long tail- completely forgetting about the sheer volume of the short tail could easily be targeted with fewer posts. I sometimes wonder if the long tail isn't responsible for the all this prolific daily blogging I see. My best clients don't spend hours blogging every day- they spend maybe 3 hours a week. That's it. They get lots of short tail and long tail searches and more importantly- they get LEADS.
  • "Once these folks accomplish their mission, your RE blog is history. Your “following” is almost exclusively other bloggers and agents."

    This is the sort of opinion that would likely be formed by a blogger who "writes every post with the expressed purpose of attracting transactional visitors… not long tail results.”

    I have proof to the contrary. My own local real estate blog, subscribed to by hundreds of local homeowners and future homeowners. I know they aren't other bloggers/agents because I can see their email addresses (they subscribe by email, a very non-blogger thing to do). I know because I see the emails requesting professional help, "I'm a long time fan of your blog and...".

    I'm always a little bit astonished when a real estate agent doesn't concur the very simple act of using a blog to market to a prospect farm in they same way they have for decades using traditional media.

    Do you only send your newsletter to transactional visitors? How about football schedule magnets? It's easy to say that you send them because you never know who is transactional, and who isn't. But that's myopic. Everyone in you area is either a homeowner, or potential homeowner, and I don't think anyone would purposely avoid marketing to your market now, simply because that particular person may not be ready to act today.

    Short Tail results, and transactional visitors are very important, but they're only one piece of the pie.
  • I think we're saying the same thing, Joe. Flash is a different subject (I don't do flash and I don't load in a lot pictures). But sticking to blogging it appears to me that rich content is transactional-friendly, keyword-friendly for both long and short tail and is useful for the reader who may come back to read and may recommend you to others if the content is good.

    I agree that while writing you should incorporate strong keywords to reach the most searchers possible who are likely to be transactional. This is old news and if there are oodles of blogging agents out there who don't know about keywords yet and who are writing obscure posts chasing longtail search results to the exclusion of short tail, then I praise this effort to educate them.

    I just didn't know it was a big problem or that there was an opposing view that states you should put all your effort in chasing the long tail.

    But, these "controversies" sure get a lot of responses.
  • Todd - I'm with you regarding what real estate blogging is for, and just how I use my blog. I write real estate content on my blog, and I, too, get consumer emails asking if I'd please consider working with them, and asking for assistance. That's the proof in the pudding for me - actual real-life business.

    I market my listings on there, listings for sale in the area, and also some good consumer-oriented info for both buyers and sellers. And I also mix in a little area info with most of my posts as well. I know not everyone reading me is local, and I know those that aren't local find that area info that I mix in to be very helpful, as they've told me just that.

    I am prospecting to anyone and everyone who reads my blog - buyers, sellers, potential buyers, potential sellers, and everyone else who may know someone who might fit into one or more of those categories. Referrals are awesome, too.

    Long-tail, short-tail, transactional - it all falls into place if you are consistent and pay a little attention to what you're doing, in my opinion.
  • If an agent is getting business from their blogging to their satisfaction, by all means keep it up. So, to Todd & Ann, bravo. (I like the fact that you do market your listings on your blog Ann-- at one time, and still in some parts of blogland, this was considered blasphemy).

    But if you are not getting enough business from your blog, and want to, you may have to take a closer look at things. There may be a way to do better.

    re: Good content is enough

    @Mike. The flash example was to illustrate that good content is NOT enough, that content has to be found. Good content can be in all sorts of media-- video, podcast, charts, stick figures, cartoons, etc. but are all equally Googleable and SEF? If not, give pause.

    I am getting feedback from agents who want to blog and are not sure on how to write for the internet (read Google) & internet home buyers & sellers. THAT knowledge is not innate.

    It is not instinctive, but rather a learned blogging behavior, to put the keywords/keyword phrases in the headline and first paragraph and to achieve a certain keyword density, to tag & categorize (How many categories is too many for a single post Mike or Todd? Same for tags?) tag images, write text for charts instead of using screenshots, using SEF permalinks or post slugs, at the same time making use of plurals, synonyms and commonly used abbreviations (in New Jersey "LBI" is a summer/second/vacation home destination. (hey, I got 3 variation keywords for that market.) Would everyone know to do all this in a post? I suspect not. Knowing this stuff, gets your stuff to the head of the line. Good content is not enough.

    Here is the proof in my pudding-- some splogs that have taken content word for word have ranked higher than the original post. If you picked 5,7, 10 blogs (let's use the same PR) and had them write the EXACT content- word for word-- would they all rank the same. If the only criteria is good content, they should all be on the first page-- right? Betcha that ain't gonna happen. Even more to the point, have them take the same local story and each write it up-- whose post will rank higher for the keywords? I suspect the one who SEO'd the post best. Hey, I could be wrong.

    Heck, some folks, even experienced bloggers, don't have prominent calls to action, lead/need capture devices or even good contact forms on their blog. As I said, good content is not enough.

    @REBlogGirl

    Thanks. I consider you and John real pioneers in the field.
    You have provided the empirical evidence that appeals to me-- measurable results. What I have surmised, you have shown.

    Finally, I do not propose to have all the answers-- in fact, my question to answer ratio is very high--- but I firmly believe there is nothing that cannot be improved or enhanced.
  • I think you have missed my point.

    Let's assume that certain techniques are widely known to improve search results.

    That brings us to what type of results the blogger is looking for.

    Mary seems to say that some agents are looking only for long tail results -- they "chase" the long tail.

    I'm wondering if there really are a lot of bloggers who "chase" the long tail at the expense of short tail as a strategy.

    If there are a lot of bloggers doing this then fine, the warning to not do it makes sense.

    But if, as I suspect, there aren't many agents who claim that the best strategy is to the chase the long tail and not worry about the short tail, then Mary's blog appears to be creating a problem where there isn't one.

    When I said rich content covers both I was assuming the best SEO practices, not saying that certain techniques to get good placement aren't important.

    If there are bloggers out there going after only for the long tail, I assume they are using the best techniques to get good placement with longtail results.

    So all the warnings about flash, titles, first paragraphs, metatags and all that are not pertinent to what I was wondering. I understand all that -- what i don't understand is the motivation for the post -- are there a lot of agents focusing only on long tail?

    I don't think Mary's point was that bloggers are utilizing the best SEO practices -- her point was the target of the blogger's efforts, long tail or short tail.
  • aren't utilizing
  • @Mike

    Perhaps.

    The motivation for the post? It's not that there is a problem with bloggers gone wild chasing tail. I never said it was a problem, big or small, nor that long tail is a worthless strategy (it is a niche strategy that has application, especially if you have a niche), but only that I agree with Mary as to its dearth of attracting transactional visitors, generally speaking, compared to keywords bringing more TVs.

    Nor was the motivation to create a controversy. I am not aware that one exists.

    The motivation was to make a few points and invite conversation (which I thank you, and others, for providing):

    1. the most valuable visitor to a RE blog is a person wanting to transact business now and that a RE blog for business should focus on attracting those visitors. In essence, the best blog is the best real estate website, with a conversation element added for new content.

    2. blogging is a numbers game but the numbers that count for the most business come from transactional visitors-- not the visitors that come to see you bash a fellow Realtor. The more transactional visitors , the more conversions, the more conversions, the more trips to the bank.

    3. assuming you accept the Pareto Distribution, by definition, ranking higher in the search engines for head/neck keywords will bring much more TV traffic than long tail keywords (so maybe I was stating the obvious?).

    I also said I believe the entire long tail is only 20% of the total market. (and no one wanted to talk about that-- dang)

    4. the long tail strategy (to get at this 20%) works best if (a) you can cover the entire tail in your market -- that was the point of the Amazon/Netflix study. (one way to cover it may be to have a category for each neighborhood and you regularly write on each neighborhood from a buyer or seller perspective) or (b) you do business in a niche (I used the example of Earth homes) or (c) your TV comes via long tail hits (if a hot new building goes up in your market, its all over the local news and there's a lot of buzz-- you ought to be buzzing along too from a buyer/seller perspective)

    RE your comment: "When I said rich content covers both I was assuming the best SEO practices, not saying that certain techniques to get good placement aren’t important.
    If there are bloggers out there going after only for the long tail, I assume they are using the best techniques to get good placement with longtail results."

    Here we definitely agree: Best SEO IS important, regardless of any tail talk. But..I don't assume folks use best SEO practices and, in the end, that's what this may be all about. The fact that you or I understand something helps in search engine placement does not mean everyone else does (I'm sure you agree). So I put information out there that may help someone who may not know. Heck, I'm still learning.

    The folks that already know how to row the blog boat, like Todd or Ann, or you, don't need my opinion to make money from their blogs. But all are not as fortunate.

    As always, thanks for stopping by Mike.
  • Hey Joe,

    I couldn't help but wade into this topic at the USM blog. I'd love your feedback in public or private. Thanks for the great topic.
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