Using Craigslist to Sell Your Austin Real Estate

I'm noticing many people, Realtors especially, post all of their Austin rental and sales listings on Austin Craigslist under the real estate section. It has no charge and at times useful, so there is no reason not to post listings on Austin Craigslist, together with the pictures. In doing so, and in seeing how user-unfriendly the Craigslist way is from a home record browsing standpoint, I've arrived to some realizations.

Searching for keywords is the single way that functions when using Craigslist to find Austin home. For example, there have been nearly 300 new home postings on the Austin Craigslist real estate for sale section so far today (4/13/2007). Looking down the page reading the record titles is time wasting and isn't very productive. Then there is the "Next 100 Postings" found under the page, and browsing through all of them is all the more time-wasting. You'd have to look through 1,000-plus postings just to view the last 4 days of new entries. Postings are available in Craigslist for 45 days so it is really not likely that people would trudge through all those listings. Instead, browsers would search for keywords.

When I want to find real estate in Shady Hollow, Western Oaks, Legends Oaks, or Circle C, then I would probably use those area names as search keywords. Or I'd be looking for some other attribute such as "South Austin," "Kiker" Elementary, or "Bowie" High School, for example. If I wanted a property that attended Westlake High School, I'd search for "Eanes" or "Westlake."

This instant that it is clear my posting in Austin Craigslist is more to be sited as a result from a search engine, then it is best to write content with plenty of keywords in them.

For example, let's say I have a listing in Travis Heights off South Congress (soco) in South Austin for trade. Can it be stated that the following is a fine ad copy?:

A near-to-everything older cottage, attractive, and accessible within minutes from the downtown. Restaurants, local stores, pool, and area park are a walking distance away.

Notice the deficiency of relevant keywords in the sample sentence? For example, a browser likes to locate a Travis Heights property, how would he do so if the area itself is not revealed? They wouldn't. On Craigslist I can assure you that there are a lot of poorly penned ads such as this.

More improved copy:

South Central Austin attracting in Travis Heights minutes to district Austin, 6th Street and Zilker. Stroll to Stacy Park and pool and to South Congress (soco) stores and restaurants.

See the dissimilarity? Fundamentally it means the same thing, but in a keyword perspective the latter is more likely to be found by a Travis Heights property browser or by a browser for homes near (soco) South Congress.

This step can be enhanced some more through factoring in derivative keywords. I have a presently listed Craigslist Western Oaks rental listing. I start off the ad with:

Great property, finely updated in a excellent South Austin area in Western Oaks, close to Legend Oaks and Circle C.

Why am I stating "near to Legend Oaks and Circle C"? it is for the reason that those looking for Circle C or legend Oaks homes may also find the Western Oaks home interesting. The point here is to get the interests of as many as likely. Furthermore is that attribute schools are fine motivating factors for the South Austin area so it is best to state the full name of such schools in case there are some browsing for homes specifically attending such schools.

In short, a website copy and a Craigslist ad are not to be printed dissimilarly. You should ask what are the search phrases and keywords appropriate to use in order to appear as results on most people's searches. Then make certain those keywords are included in what you write.

Article Source: http://www.real-estate-article-directory.com

This article was written by R Chandler Smith, a successful real estate whiz in the Austin Texas area. He operates Austin Real Estate Appraisal Company as well as Real Estate Appraisers in Austin

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