A Fresh Look At Real Estate Lead Generation

If your real estate website isn’t generating leads that convert to business for you, what good is it doing you?  Sure, good websites that provide useful information and add value to people’s lives are effective at building your “local expert” image, but that shouldn’t be the only thing your website does.

“Your website should bring money in the door”

Our websites come with built-in response forms & targeted, “ad boxes” to help consumers find key information on your website. Check one out:

Real Estate Website Demo

Our Real Estate Lead GenerationWebsites and Property Showcase Websites have built in lead generation tools out of the box – and you easily add more lead genaration tools using templates as you continue to build it.

There are 2 basic types of leads you’ll get from your website:

1. People that appreciate the value you provide and would be happy to hear from you
   • These are the money-makers.  Your emphasis should be on creating more of these.  Lets call them “Type 1 leads”.
2. People that could care less about you and wish they didn’t have to give you their info to get what they want.
   • These are the time-wasters. They’re generally non-responsive & a pain in the neck to convert to clients.  They’re usually not worth the time and effort – especially if you’re generating loads of Type 1 leads.

So how do you sift and sort through these leads when they come in?  There are different types of technology to help with this but I’m not going to get into it right now.  The more important question to ask is – how do you create more of the Type 1 leads?

There’s a simple little marketing technique that works wonders for generating these Type 1 Leads.  It’s called try before you buy.  Sure, that type of marketing may be easy to use with software and other digital products, but how do you apply it to real estate?

The Trick Is To Help Them First… 

Then Offer More Help

So what is it they want? What can you give real estate consumers to make them eager for more? Everyone who’s anyone in the real estate marketing world says the Number 1 thing real estate consumers are looking for on the internet is houses. I’d sound stupid if I tried arguing against that right? So, I won’t even go there.

But what if I said there was something more important than the actual house. It’s just not as easy for the computers to pick up on it because consumers spend less time looking for it – on real estate websites anyway…

I think most people would agree with me – and there’s actually a really common saying in the business that supports my position.  Location, location, location – heard that one before?  If location is the most important factor in determining a homes value and desirability, why do the “experts” shuffle local information behind the home search when they’re telling you what’s most important about your website?

And to make it worse, home search websites are a dime a dozen. Do consumers really appreciate you and your efforts because you have a home search like thousands of other websites out there? You’re right, it’s not likely – and you probably even have a story (or dozens) about how they don’t even appreciate you showing them houses. I’m with you, I’ve been there myself.

Earn Their Respect As The Local Expert & A Person

So we know location is important.  But how do you communicate your local expertise.  You could just tell them right?  I was born and raised here, I’ve been in business here for X years & sold Y houses.  Sure, that will work – but there’s a better way.

Stop Chasing Leads – They’ll Come To You

I want you to take it a step further.  You should start building a relationship & earning their trust the right way, you do this by making yourself useful. This strategy will eliminate your need to chase leads, they’ll think of you when they think of real estate in the area and they’ll come to you when the time is right.

The best part about leveraging this type of strategy on the internet (which you already know) is that you do it once and it keeps on working for you – day in and day out – around the clock.

You probably already have an idea by now of the kind of information you can provide but if you’re still struggling with it, pretend you’re moving to an area you’re not familiar with.  What would you want to know about the area?  The cities, the neighborhoods, the schools, the shopping, the crime rate or the housing market…

Specific Topics To Address

It’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about it but the beautiful part is that you don’t have to build it overnight.  Make a plan to write about general topics first then narrow down to more detailed topics over time.  The “experts” would say you should write down your plan but different strokes for different folks right?  Do whatever type of planning works best for you.

Delivery

And of course, how do you deliver the content once you decide what to provide? Content delivery is frequently the largest barrier standing between agents and consumers.  It has to be easy for you, the real estate expert, to provide the information PLUS it has to be easy for the prospect to consume the information.  One without the other = lousy results.

Our websites were designed with agents for agents keeping it as simple as possible. The first step you should take is to get one here:  Sign up for a real estate website.

If you’re the type that wants to see the plan laid out on paper so you can wrap your brain around it, I’ll send you a copy of our Master Content Plan to get the wheels turning.  Just send me your name and email address in the form below.

FREE Download – Website Roadmap