Getting your Web site listed in the yahoo.com directory is one of the most powerful ways to drive an incredible number of potential buyers and sellers to your web site because yahoo.com drives approximately 30% of ALL internet related traffic.

Like a phone directory

Think of yahoo.com like a terrific Internet Yellow Pages and you will see it is well worth the money. According to a study released by the Yellow Pages Publishers Association, 111 million potential home buyers and sellers consult the heading "Real Estate" in the yellow pages each year. This represents an increase of 30 million views from 1998, making "Real Estate," the 26th most-referenced heading (from a total of 4,200).

Unfortunately, a comprehensive review of yahoo.com indicates that some reviewers allow the phrase "real estate" to be added to your site description and others don't. However, in order to guarantee your site will get "ranked" on the first page of a yahoo search for real estate in your area, you must get "real estate" into your title and/or description. So how do you do it? If your study of the competitive listings indicate the reviewer responsible for your area doesn't allow "real estate" in the description, try submitting a description that "sneaks" it in. For example: "Search for homes, realty, land, condos, and luxury estates." Notice the phrase "luxury estate" sneaks in the term "estate" and "realty" sneaks in the term "real".

Here are three more tips for getting the most bang for your buck:

1. Understand that yahoo.com is a directory, not a search engine. What this means is your actual web page has absolutely nothing to do with how you will "rank" and appear in the yahoo directory. However, yahoo is concerned about how your page looks. So give your site a good "once-over" before you submit your site. You can get denied for having broken links, missing photos, logos, and areas of your site under construction.

2. Find the directory in yahoo where you want your site to be listed and study the competitive sites already listed there. What do you like about their title and their description? Do you see any similarities? How do each of these listings "rank" for various searches and how does your title and description need to read in order to make it stand out and get noticed?

   Keep in mind a human reviewer will personally visit your site and have the final say on what will be used for your title and your description. You, of course, want the best title and description you can muster and by simply studying what the reviewer has previously authorized will help you gain an incredible insight as how to write yours for the best changes of getting it listed word-for-word.

3. The best thing you can do is get the phrase "real estate" in either your title or your description because the majority of buyers and sellers search by using the phrase "YourCity real estate".

Published: March 29, 2001

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Robert Fore is the president and CEO for Realty Profit Systems. He is a nationally recognized marketing trainer and strategist who specializes in combining the proven principles of direct response marketing with the cost-effective, worldwide penetration of the internet. Realty Profit Systems publishes the Online Real Estate Marketing Report at http://www.hometeam2000.com and offers a free, weekly e-zine of real estate marketing tips at http://www.top10realty.com.