I'm noticing many people, Realtors especially, post all of their Austin lease and transactions listings on Austin Craigslist under the real estate section. It is of no charge after all and sometimes helpful, that is reason enough for posting listings together with pictures. After doing this and looking from the searching point of view, I've concluded that the Craigslist program is pretty much user-unfriendly.

The one true efficient way to utilize Craigslist to locate Austin real estate is to search for keywords. For example, there have been nearly 300 new real estate listing on the Austin Craigslist real estate for sale part so far today (4/13/2007). It would really take time if you scroll along the page and read all the title listings and doing this is expected to get you nowhere. Clicking the "Next 100 Postings" connection at the foot of each page, just provides additional of the same. You'd have to scroll through 1,000-plus listings just to view the last 4 days of new entries. listings are active in Craigslist for 45 days so it is really not probable that anyone would trudge through all those listings. They are instead going to search for keywords.

When I want to find property in Shady Hollow, Western Oaks, Legends Oaks, or Circle C, then I would probably use those area names as search keywords. Other elements I would search for would be "Bowie" High School, "Kiker" Elementary, "South Austin," and others that would lead me to property in the area. If I wanted a property that attended Westlake High School, I'd search for "Eanes" or "Westlake."

Now that it is obvious my posting in Austin Craigslist is more to be viewed as a outcome from a search engine, then it is best to print content with lots of keywords in them.

If I have a Travis Heights listing in South Austin, off South Congress (soco) that is for trade, say that is the situation. Can it be said that the following is a fine ad copy?:

Attractive older cottage minutes from downtown and close to everything. Walking distance to area park and pool and local shops and restaurants.

Do you notice that the sample sentence lack relevant keywords? How would a searcher who wants a property in Travis Heights find my listing when there is no revelation of the area? They wouldn't. On Craigslist I can assure you that there are a lot of poorly written ads such as this.

A more improved copy would be:

South Central Austin attracting in Travis Heights minutes to downtown Austin, 6th Street and Zilker. Travel on foot to Stacy Park, to South Congress restaurants and shops (soco), and pool.

Recognize the dissimilarity? We've said importantly the same thing as the first example, but in a keyword-rich way that is more probably to result in the posting being seen by someone looking for a property in Travis Heights or close to South Congress (soco).

We can take this idea a step more by thinking of derivative keywords to include in an ad. I have a currently listed Craigslist Western Oaks rental listing. I lead off the ad with:

Excellent property, finely updated in a wonderful Western oaks area, specifically a South Austin area, Circle C and Legend Oaks are close by.

What is the reason at the back of my mention of Circle C and Legend Oaks being close by? it is because those searching for Circle C or legend Oaks homes may also find the Western Oaks home attracting. The point here is to get the interests of as many as possible. Another is that quality 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.

So writing a Craigslist ad isn't that dissimilar from writing website copy. One has to inquire "what keywords and search phrases may be used by people whom I like to look this content?" Then make certain those keywords are included in what you print.

This article was drafted by R Chandler Smith, an established real estate professional in the Greater Austin area. As a state licensed real estate appraiser and business man, he now manages several real estate appraisal offices across Texas including Houston and Austin areas. He maintains Austin Texas Appraisal Company as well as Real Estate Appraisers in Houston