Thought I would share with everyone a recent (like in the last 3 days) development with my website.

I have always operated on the premise that what is going to generate traffic is the content being timely and updated regularly.

This theory has been proven dramatically correct in the last 48 hours.

I recently wrote an article on on my site that apparently got someones attention. It started off a couple of days ago with a site linking to the story. My site allows me to see where all visitors are coming from when they visit. For that first day, the referrers were all this one site. Suddenly, I am seeing referrers from all the big email folks (gmail, yahoo,aol, etc.) so folks are obviously emailing the link to each other. In addition, 4 more sites are apparently linking to the story.

In short, I have gone from getting about 100 unique visitors per day to my site to over 300 on the first day and the final numbers are not in for the second day, but it is looking like it will break 400.

I assume this will peak out at some point, so now it is just a question of writing something new that will keep them coming back.

So if you are trying to build traffic to your site.... keep up with the original content. I am only now seeing it paying off, but it definately seems to be doing so.

Thanks,
R

Just to update. Ended up breaking 500 unique vistors (actual number of hits is now in the thousands).

For today, it looks like I am likely to get twice that number of unique views. Its kind of amazing to watch the referrers mushroom from 1 site... then several... then see a link to the article obviously being emailed all around, then seeing a series of new sites referring ....

It's all very cool.

R

awesome stuff, if your story was that much of a hit you should submit it to www.digg.com . if you get put up on that site you will get thousands and thousands of uniques to your site...granted it might not do so well but you might as well try to take advantage of the craze that is diggnation.

best,
alex

Thanks for the tip... I will do that.

Just to bring everyone up to speed, the day of my last post to this thread, my unique visitor counter hit 1477. It has been declining since then, but has left behind a much higher average per day number of visitors and I am starting to get emails from folks via my website asking questions about real estate. So, it definately kick started my site.

R

Good job. Keep it going.

Tip: If you want to take a break from the writing yourself, you may want to look into using a freelance writer. Or you can join one of the slew of PLR sites out there that send you dozens of real estate articles each month, that you can copy and use however you like.

PLR means Private Label Rights.

If you don't mind, what was your article? I can understand if you don't want to share, but I am sure we would all love to read it if you don't mind... for ideas:)

Raymond

I was going to ask the same thing as FSBO! I would like to start a blog for my company and am really unsure about what kinds of topics to write about that would be interesting to our target audience without being ho-hum, more of the same old same old...but I really wonder if they'd be interested much in local current events like the HoeDown Hayride in Harrington Park...LOL

My idea is to have the blog feature one or two properties from the website, to draw more visitors to the site.

PepperJack,

There is certainly always this question of "how do I create exciting content". Ofcourse it's an issue. But don't get stiffled by thinking that you have to create this amazing content that is going to appeal to the widest audience possible on the internet. Excitement is in the eye of the beholder in this case...

If your clients are planning on moving to Harrington Park then YES they DEFINITELY want to hear about the hoedown hayride (I understand this may be a euphemism) but if those are the attractions of the area and that's where they want to live that's what exciting to them.

You want your personality to come out in your blog and you want to attract customers that are interested in you, in your product and in your residential area. So just don't worry about what you think people are going to think is exciting or not...there's one person for every home.

Yes I agree writing articles is one of the best things you can do. This takes a lot of time though which most people may not have. I offer services for those people who do not have too much time to write articles or wish to spend their time doing other things.

I have no problem with sharing the article. It is actually listed at the top of the most popular on my site. It is calle "When re-listing makes numbers lie". Get directly to it here:

http://www.soldbyrobert.com/content/view/40/2/

And as for how hard it is to write articles, it's actually not a big drain of time at all.

I do three regular articles a month and including creating graphics, an online video presentation for and the article itself, we are probably talking 3.5 hours a month. Very managable. As for having someone else do it, I actually like writing the things. I find that by doing the work, it really keeps me up to date on market numbers, etc. I ran into another American here in the UK last night who lives in the town north of my home town and I ended up being able to rattle off all kinds of info because of the articles I have written. The practice can really serve to reinforce you market knowledge.

In addition I will usually write an article on something timely relating to real estate or the community I focus on.

R

That's a great testament to the power of good content, Robert. Thanks for sharing.

You can project your articles outward too, by syndicating them through article distribution sites, submitting them to high-traffic websites, etc. It's another great way to generate a lot of qualified traffic to your site.

Good luck with your future writing endeavors.

-Brandon

I have a great article on why Content is important for your real estate website. Hope it's applicable to this thread.

http://www.the-marketing-shop.com/web-content.php

I can not figure out how to creat a new post however I have a internet domain for sale if you guys know anybody looking.

OHIOLAND.NET

Please e-mail me at domains@pcwanted.com
or send a message to me here

Thanks

I think you have it right Rebel broker.

There is so little original content. Most web page people or designers seem to think that the designs sells. I have been reading a few advertising books and the conclusion I have from the ad exp is content is king. I think your article on re listing is very well writen and I am going to ad a link from my site to it.

Cheers
Scott
www.escapetosaltspring.com

Island Agent....totally agree.

Way back I had a site that was one of the usual boilerplate "Real Estate" sites hosted by a company that specialized in that.

I subscribed to a content provider that provided articles that were updated weekly.

The bottom line is that the site netted me next to nothing. It did not create any business I am aware of but it did allow me to support my existing clients better.

Now that I have taken control of the site, create all the content myself and can turn on a dime when it comes to what I want the site to do (Deciding to host podcasts and having one up and hosted within 3 days as an example), I am getting much better results.

The amazing thing is that this is happening while I am on sabbatical! I have gotten a couple of referral deals out of the site and I have 1 buyer who I am helping with searches. She will not have some other items lined up to buy till after July, so she is just waiting for me to return then.

So when I return to the states in July of 2007, I will have 1 buyer all ready to go. Pretty amazing for being 8000 miles away from my home town right now.

Plus, there is no telling what other opportunities I will have on the burner by the time I come back - thanks to my website.

R