Real Estate Websites - Generating Leads
 Usually, the biggest question you have after creating a real estate website is this one: “How do I make this website an effective lead-generating resource?” Here are some of the basic steps you should take.
The Two Challenges
The good news is that there are only two things you need to do to ensure that your real estate website generates leads. The bad news is that those things require planning, time, effort, and monetary resources. Here are the two things:
- Drive traffic to the website
- Convert visitors into leads
Actually, the last step is to turn leads into clients. However, that task has to do with how you run your business and how good you are at sales. Therefore, that issue will not be addressed on this page. Let’s take a look at each step in more detail.
DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE
Using Search Engines on the Internet
There are two ways to use the Internet to drive traffic to a website:
- Pay Per Click - This refers to using the advertising opportunities provided by Google and Yahoo/MSN. You set up a Pay Per Click account, identify the search terms you want to be found for, and write a short advertisement for your site.
When someone searches for one of your search terms, your ad appears in the search engines “Sponsored Link” area on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). When someone clicks on the link in your ad, you are charged for it.
This is a great way to get some traffic quickly. Due to the cost involved, It is not typically reasonable to rely on Pay Per Click to generate all the traffic to a website.
- Ranking in the natural, or organic, search results - For the long-term health of your Internet presence, you need to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to achieve rankings in the natural search results on the major search engines.
Ranking in natural search results means that when someone searches for one of your search terms, your site is listed in the main body of the SERPs, not the Sponsored Link area. While this is a gross oversimplification, there are three things you need to do to rank well in the natural search results:
- Pick your target keywords carefully.
- Use your main keyword phrase(s) for the home page, and add community pages (a new window will open) to target other cities, towns or developments you want to be found for.
- Optimize your web pages to target specific keywords, meaning that your page title, meta tags and content must be relevant to the keywords.
- Acquire incoming links to your website. Review this updated look at real estate linking strategies. You can acquire one-way incoming links from real estate authority websites, and from other quality sites.
Keep in mind that search engines can be fickle. Changes in the algorithm search engines use may have a significant negative impact on your site at some times. So, keeping a Pay Per Click account in the wings is a good idea to even out traffic while you adjust to the changes.
Non-Internet Methods for Driving Traffic to Your Website
Very often, other methods for driving traffic to a website are overlooked. Don’t fall into that trap. Your web address should appear anywhere your name appears.
Just as often, web owners who attempt to promote their website in everything they do seem to forget that promotion requires “calls to action”. Here are a couple issues to keep in mind.
- People will not read your business card - Your web address should be printed on your business cards. But, keep in mind that people don’t read business cards.
Whenever you hand a card to a new acquaintance, include a “call to action”. Something like this: “Here’s my card. If you have any real estate questions, or if you just want to see what the market is doing, please visit my website. The site has a lot of useful information, and you can use the search capability to see what homes are currently listed for sale. The web address is on the card.”
- People will not read the contact information on your print ads or mailings - Your web address should be included in your print ads and mailers. But, keep in mind that people will not visit your website because they see the web address.
Invite readers of your print ads to visit your website. Even better, give them a good reason to visit. Using direct response marketing is an effective way to drive traffic to your website.
CONVERTING VISITORS TO LEADS
Experience shows that home buyers and sellers use the Internet for their research long before they are ready to contact an agent. From a home buyer perspective, that’s a good thing, because Internet home buyers don’t take as much work as non-Internet buyers.
So, what does that mean in terms of converting visitors to leads? It means that your goal is to design a site that visitors will adopt as their real estate research headquarters. The odds are that visitors will not contact you the first time they visit your site. But, if you provide the right tools and information, they will stay on your site for a while when they visit, and they’ll visit more often.
How do you make your site a real estate research headquarters? Here are some tips:
- Make sure the design of your site is professional. A first-time visitor to your site should feel welcome and should want to explore.
- Make sure the navigation is intuitive. Make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for.
- Present a compelling marketing message. Tell your visitors why they should work with you as opposed to any other agent. That’s where a real estate brand is invaluable.
- Make your contact information easy to find. Make sure your address and telephone numbers are easily accessible. You’d be amazed at how difficult it is to find city, state or telephone numbers on many real estate websites.
- Create an information-rich site. This is important for the search engines as well as your visitors.
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