One of the first things you learned as a REALTOR was how to use the MLS, no? And Im sure you will agree it is a huge resource for us. The challenge is that, even though it gives us all sorts of great information about sellers and their properties, it doesnt give us a lot of direct information about buyers. And in todays market, we need to know about BUYERS more than ever!

So what is the super ninja tool we can use for real estate advertising and to research what buyers are doing and what buyers want? Previously, when the market was hot, attracting buyers was as easy as putting a sign in the yard or an ad in the paper. But what can we do to attract them to us in this environment?

You wont believe it, but there is a BILLION DOLLAR research tool that we can access for absolutely free. It has been available to us for the past eight years ” but until the market turned, we havent needed to use it.

You will be surprised when I tell you what it is because its a tool that you probably use almost every day ” just like the MLS ” you just didnt know everything it was capable of doing.

Its called Google.

Specifically, the research part of Google is Adwords. It allows us to ascertain what keywords our clients are using to do their searches.

Not only that, but you can learn to use Google Adwords in minutes ” not like our complicated MLS programs. All you do is enter the key phrases you are interested in researching and Google will tell you how many people are searching using that word or phrase every single month. But Google is also very smart ” because it will also give you suggestions of other words and phrases that may be better to use.

So, for example, lets say that you are interested in selling homes in Door County, Wisconsin ” which is a big resort area, in case you dont know. So, most likely you sell quite a few vacation homes or resort properties. All I do is type in the phrases resort homes and Door County into Google Adwords and it tells me how many people use those key phrases to search every month.

I just went to Google Adwords and entered exactly those key phrases ” Resort Homes and Door County. This is what I found: Door County resorts: 2400 Door County WI: 22,200 Door County resort: 2900 Door County Wisconsin: 22,200 Door County rentals: 3600 Door Country lodging: 4,400

And when I scroll down to the bottom of the page, it suggests other ideas: Door County: 201,000 ” now were talking some volume! Sister Bay: 33,100 ” SURPRISE! Vacation homes: 301,000

(BTW ” The numbers reflect the number of searches per month.)

And it will even give you a graph showing you the trend. As you would imagine, everything is trending downward in this market (though Door County weddings are trending upward! We must be heading into the June wedding season!) So, what now that you have this information, what do you do with it?

Well, you have several options: 1)You can advertise on Google itself using Pay Per Click advertising 2)You can optimize your website using exactly these keywords. (In our example above, you would type Door County Resort vs. Door County Resorts.)

Of course, our recommendation is that you use free social media strategies and use these key phrases throughout your content. This is how prospects that are looking for your services will find you. Let Google Adwords do your heavy lifting in bringing you hot, new clients today!