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Archives for February 2023

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What is the Focus of your Real Estate Advertising?

In any business advertising is looked at as a key component to generate new business.  When someone starts an ad campaign (whether it be TV, Online, or Print) you might hear them say “I have to get the word out”.  The striking part about that statement is it doesn’t imply any direct result in sales.  This could be because of the definition of “advertising”.  Consider the following definition:

Advertising (noun): The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.

With this definition of advertising in place, it’s no wonder so many real estate professionals spend money on advertising and get absolutely no business!  In the above most simple definition there isn’t any consideration for what that advertising shall do other than to bring “public attention”.  In real estate we have very few funds to invest, so every dollar we spend on advertising must result in sales.  

I invite you to consider a different definition of Advertising:

Advertising (noun) : The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media that shall result in leads and closed business.

With this definition in place you can allow yourself to make very different on which forms of advertising you choose for your real estate business.  Every form of advertising needs to not just pay for itself*, it needs to generate business for you!

Now, let’s look at some common forms of advertising and how you can determine if you should be using it for your business.

  1. Magazine Ads – Magazine ads can be very effective.  Before placing an ad, ask the advertiser how many calls the average agent receives from an ad.  The entire point of launching a magazine ad is to get calls that you can turn into business.  You don’t care about the circulation, the readership, etc., just how many calls should you expect!
  2. Online Paid Advertising – Online advertising takes many forms from PPC (pay per click), display ads, social media ads, video ads, and more..  When you are examining pay per click ads take into consideration the following.  How many clicks will it take to get a lead?  When you know this number then you can quickly calculate what your cost per lead is and determine if you want to start with online advertising.
  3. Postcards – Before sending out thousands of postcards take the time to understand what response rate you should expect.  Your real estate coach might already be able to tell you what to expect, but if you don’t have a coach, send out just a few hundred postcards and track the number of calls you receive.  When you don’t receive any calls, it means your advertising didn’t work, so you may need to change your marketing message, where you are mailing etc., but don’t send that postcard out again if you didn’t see any results!

*Maybe Some Ads Don’t Have to Pay for Themselves?

The concept of having ads pay for themselves is largely what direct response marketing is all about.  You put in $X into your marketing and you get 5-10X that money back.  When you think of advertising in this manner then there is no limit to the amount we can spend because it keeps bringing in revenue, but what if we stopped getting those returns?

In some instances you might need to launch an awareness campaign to drive more people to your direct response marketing efforts.  This can occur when you launch a new product or in the case of real estate; maybe there is a new real estate development or even a new loan program that you need people to be aware of.  Awareness campaigns can be very helpful but it is important to put tracking and target metrics on these types of campaigns to ensure they are truly worthy of your hard earned dollars.

Regardless of what form of advertising you choose, it is important to hold that advertising accountable for results.  Every piece of real estate advertising that you launch should help you to close more business.

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Make Money from the Visitors Who Don’t Do Business with You

When you focus on getting people to visit your website there are plenty of challenges and expenses involved.  Even when you focus on SEO, you are putting countless hours of work in to get people to visit your website and you certainly want some rewards for all of that work.  The obvious main benefit is getting people to contact you for helping them with real estate help, but what about those people who don’t contact you?  Wouldn’t it be nice to make money off of those people who have just used your site for information?

Keep the focus on Conversions

There are many ways to make money from your website.  The primary goal should be one that focuses on generating leads for your business.  When you take the time to add other revenue streams to your business website it means not taking away from your primary business (i.e real estate, service business, etc.)

Before you start to add these aspects that can generate revenue for you, ensure that you have a good understanding of what your current conversion rates are at currently.  If you are currently hitting 7%+ conversion rates (i.e 7% of contacts are turning into a customer) then you are doing well and are ready to consider making money from those who aren’t converting into contacts.

Generating Revenue

When you decide to make the leap to generating revenue there are many different directions to go.  We invite you to consider two different ways that you can tackle to generate some extra revenue.

  1. Google Adsense – This is one of the most well known programs to generate revenue easily from your website.  With Google Adsense you can place small ads on your website and Google will display the most relevant ads based on your content.  You can see how these ads are displayed on our real estate focused websites of  Long Beach homes and Long Beach Condos websites.  We have placed them at the bottom away from the core content so if someone clicks on it, they really must not have wanted any help with their real estate needs ☺.  Don’t worry about your competition showing up as you can filter which ads are allowed to show on your website. 
  2. Affiliate Programs – There are many types of affiliate programs.  There are those that cover nearly everything, such as Amazon, and then specific ones that cover anything from products (i.e. shirts, gear, auto parts, etc.) to online software solutions (i.e. accounting, SEO tools, autoresponders, etc.).  With affiliate programs generally the content needs to be tailored to that specific affiliate; however, consider in the field of real estate that you might be writing about lending and there are affiliates who will pay for loan related leads (that’s a good match)
  3. Lead Sharing – Provided you have the proper disclosures on your site you may be in a position to share the leads that don’t work out for your primary business.  For example there are many sites online that are looking to fill the need in the home improvement space (i.e landscaping, tree trimming, etc.).  Some of these sites, when the lead doesn’t work out for the primary business then resell those leads to other home improvement vendors (i.e. cabinets, tile, etc.).  When you look at your business ask yourself what related businesses could benefit from your leads.  Make sure to be compliant with your lead capture activities and source good vendors to sell your leads too.

You may never make a killing on using Adsense, implementing an affiliate program, or reselling your leads, but it certainly can help you to offset some of your spending.  As long as you monitor your conversion rate to make sure you aren’t taking away from your core business the extra revenue can be a wonderful way to help pay for server bills or offset the money you spend on pay per click advertising.

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Discover More about Real Estate SEO

The term “SEO” or Search Engine Optimization is being tossed around on a very regular basis.  Some real estate professionals think they need to add “SEO” to their website or that maybe that could get someone to “SEO it” at a later date.  I invite you to consider a different strategy when thinking about SEO and your real estate website.

First things first

SEO is both art and science.  At the most basic level it is the practice of ensuring your website gains the maximum amount of exposure to the search engines that would allow you the highest possible rankings.  In order to gain high rankings and expose as many of your pages as possible to the search engines requires diligence and a good plan of action.  I would like you to consider that you don’t just “SEO” a real estate website; rather you approach it as an overall strategy to a successful online real estate marketing effort.

Understanding that SEO is part of a balanced online marketing strategy takes off some of the stress of getting the highest rankings and allows you to focus on the elements that you have the most control over.  The search engines constantly change their ranking algorithms so one of the best practices that we can maintain while doing our own SEO work is that of making sure we follow good solid rules so we can have the best opportunity to get to the top!

A Foundation in Real Estate SEO

At the foundation of a good SEO strategy is the understanding of what keywords are being searched on in your marketplace.  There are some wonderful keyword research tools out there like WordTracker,  KeywordDiscovery,etc, but the essential part is to use them.  

Take the time to sign up with one of them and develop a keyword list of words that are searched for real estate in your area.  Local words with a good search volume are always preferred over more generic words (i.e. “real estate”) because they will be easier to compete on.

Uncover Content for Your Real Estate Website

Search engines love fresh, well written, website content.  Using the foundation of the keywords that you developed, you will want to outline the pages of content that you can create for your real estate website.  Starting with just a simple outline is best, because it will give you a direction of how you can group common area pages together while focusing on the most important keywords.  

You might consider an outline that covers 20-30 pages as that will give you a good amount of work to focus on, while not feeling too overwhelming.  This number of pages will give you a powerful start and will put you in a good position among nearly any competitor that is currently online.  When you really want to get things going, set a big goal to reach your first 100 pages as you will notice some great results when you hit that big target.

One of the toughest parts is to understand that it never stops.  Getting to 100 pages of real estate content is great, but it’s similar to hitting your ideal weight.  When you hit your ideal weight you can’t simply stop working out and eating right, you have to keep working the program that got you there, but maybe with small modifications so you keep working with it.

Understand Content is More than Simply Text

In the early days of the internet one could dominate the search engines with rather poorly worded text and load it up with keywords but that hasn’t been the case for a very long time.  In today’s era of search engine domination, consider that doing well in real estate is about a balanced set of content and one that is often in multiple locations.  Consider a balance of content as the following:

  • Imagery – Unique images that are taken by you (or you hire it out) that aren’t found anywhere else online.
  • Graphics – Custom graphic images, like that could be developed via Canva or other tools, that communicate unique aspects about your market, architecture, etc.
  • Video – Video that could be first person, of properties, or even interviews that give visitors a greater depth of information about the markets you serve.  These videos could be on your website, distributed on YouTube/Facebook or even condensed to be on Reels on Instagram and more.
  • Audio – People will end up talking to you in real estate, let your voice be heard ahead of time via podcasts or simple audio recordings to give them a greater understanding of your local market.

Let the Search Engines Know You Exist

Writing quality content is fun and exciting, but we need to let someone know that we have done all of this great work.  Once you have some pages created on your website take the time to let the search engines know they are online.  Submit your real estate website to the major search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, and MSN) so they can be aware of your website.

There is no need to “resubmit” your website once you have first notified them that you exist as they will send out their Bots/Spiders to find the updates to your website.  You might consider additional ways to keep them up to date of your new information (i.e. Sitemaps) so that they are always aware of the latest information you are sharing online.

Dominating online with your real estate SEO efforts will take some time and you will quickly see results when you follow a simple plan.  Backed with just a small list of keywords and an outline of pages to create you will be miles ahead of your competition.

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How To Choose a Real Estate Website Vendor

One of the most powerful tools for your online real estate marketing is that of a website.  With a website you have a great deal of control on the look and feel, content, and page layouts.  Building up a powerful real estate website takes time and money.  Most real estate agents stay with the same website vendor for years because it can be challenging to move all of the content you have created.  Since you are going to be investing time, money, and it is challenging to move should your needs change, it’s important to take some time before committing to a specific vendor.

Every real estate agent has different needs and choosing the right company to help you with your website will take a combination of understanding your needs and what will give you the most success online.  Here are some key features to consider before you make a switch or sign up with a new company.

  1. What kind of support is offered? – Technical support can vary wildly between companies.  Take time to evaluate the operating hours to see if it will work within your schedule.  If you only have time to work on your website in the evenings, then you may want to consider a company who has technical support open past 5pm.  When you call the companies ask if you can speak to one of their tech support representatives and ask them questions you have had before to see how they would help you.
  2. How often are they updating their product? – Web technologies change and they change quickly.  Ask them about how they update their product to maintain their competitive edge online.  Some website vendors out there have been using outdated technology and only the real estate agents have suffered.  Dig deeper and find out what new features they will be adding over the coming year so you can see who has their eyes on the changing marketplace.
  3. What is the startup program and costs? – The first few weeks of having your new website can make a huge impact on your long term success.  When you consider that you will have this website for years it’s important to start off with a training program that will set you in the right direction.  Find out if they give you someone to help you create your basic pages to start off and ask if there are any online tutorials that you can follow.
  4. What Integrations are Available? – Integrations of 3rd party applications with your website are essential to get the most out of any platform.  Implementing reporting tools such as Google Analytics, texting ability from your site (i.e Twilio), Email optins, or even leveraging the power of social integrations such as Facebook, Instagram, and more can help you to generate more leads from your website.  
  5. How fast do their sites load? – Now this is a “loaded” question that can be difficult to get an answer to.  If you ask the pre-sales staff and they direct you to engineering they might say “it depends” and they would be correct as if you load up huge images then you could slow the site down, but that doesn’t give them a pass on sharing the performance of their baseline templates.  Any website will have to load a certain amount of files to operate and you want to ensure that you won’t be victim to a poorly structured template.  Ask them to run their basic template on PageSpeed insights (or rather you can run it) so you can see the performance metrics.  

There are many different great real estate website vendors out there.  Each one offers something unique and the real key is to find one that you feel comfortable you can work with and who will provide a good foundation for you to succeed with online.  

No matter whom you choose your ultimate success will be determined by the plan of action you put in place to increase your rankings, get more traffic, get leads, and convert those leads into business.  After getting down to your final selection take time to plan how you will be updating your website each and every month as that will help you generate business monthly.  Remember, just like a car, a website won’t drive itself (ok cars are getting close to self driving) which means understanding the features available from your website vendor is just one step into your ultimate success online.

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Easy Ways To Create Content For Your Real Estate Website

One of the best ways to meet the demands of consumers and the search engines is through the creation of new content for your website. New content for your real estate website is a pivotal part of your overall online marketing strategy as it can help you with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts.

 The thought of “writing” pages about neighborhoods, architecture styles, or local events is one where many real estate professionals would rather go to the dentist than write new material.  While this might be the thought process, the reality is that creating content for your website (or blog) doesn’t have to be painful and it can be much easier when you have the right approach.

There are many great sources on the internet to discover more about writing styles, here I wanted to share some quick tips to make writing easier so you can increase your rankings in the search engines and have happy visitors.

  1. Write like you speak – This didn’t help me much in school but writing like you speak is just fine for writing online.  There aren’t any major awards, like the Pulitzer, for copy on real estate websites, so have fun and just write like you were speaking with someone who is totally new to the area.  Share with them your insights on good neighborhoods, quiet streets, etc and you will have pages of great content for your website.
  2. If you don’t like typing, don’t type – Too often people don’t write new material for their real estate websites because they don’t type quickly.  If you don’t type quickly, then simply don’t type the information!  The important part about content creation is you, since you are the subject matter expert.  You can write the information about the area and have someone else type it, or you could even record your voice and then send that off for transcription.  Having your handwriting typed or your voice transcribed is very affordable these days as there are many services that will do it online.
  3. AI Based Copywriting – Technology continues to advance in the areas of artificial intelligence.  While companies such as ChatGPT have grabbed headlines due to their advanced AI technology that can write entire essays there are other competitors such as Copy.ai that can help you to write longer and more detailed posts with greater speed.  While the AI technologies are advanced, don’t let the technology run away with your unique knowledge.  You can use these tools to create a good foundation and you can improve upon that foundation with your personality and specialty knowledge of your market.
  4. Create an Outline of Topics – Many real estate professionals give up on their content creation efforts because they get “writers’ block”.  With real estate writing you shouldn’t have to worry about writers’ block as you aren’t crafting a novel like Jurassic Park; you are writing information that you are sharing on a regular basis with your buyers and sellers.  To help you avoid staring at an empty word document, write out 50 topics before you ever write your first article.  With 50 topics in hand you can comfortably write a page or post a week and even have 2 weeks off in a year!  When you think about the questions buyers and sellers ask you; you will easily have 50 topics to write down which will help to fill your website with quality content.
  5. Start slow – Just like when you start the gym for the first time in years, try to pace yourself when you are creating new content.  Don’t start off trying to create a new page every day for your website as that will be too overwhelming.  Start with the goal of just 1 new page a week and when you find out how easy it can be you can slowly increase the number of new pages you add.  The important part is to stick with it as your visitors and search engines like regular updates.

Writing that first page for your real estate website may take you a few hours, but it will get easier the more pages you create.  Take time to set a goal of how many pages you will create in your first month and hand that goal to someone so they can check in on you.  Fresh content for your website is an essential element to a well rounded real estate marketing strategy and sticking with it will help you to increase your rankings and get more customers to your website every day.

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Give Customers a Reason to Give You Their Information

When you are first creating your real estate website and thinking about your overall online marketing strategy, often one of the farthest things from your mind is simply why someone would want to contact you.  Having a powerful marketing message is a great start, but what else could you offer someone that would encourage them to fill out your contact forms?

Putting an array of “Free reports” on your website in the hopes that someone will fill out a form with their valuable name and e-mail address is a colossal waste of time.  Most of the traditional free reports in real estate are so widely circulated that anyone can find them.  To get an online visitor to provide you with their contact information now requires being different and providing them information that isn’t that easily available.

Unique Offers Can Transform Traffic Into Leads

Consider the following ideas for compelling a visitor to give you their information:

  • A 10+ Page Report on Buying a Home – Creating a report of this length demonstrates real value to a prospective client.  Try to not make it a “fluff” report that speaks about your awards or service.  Write it from an objective standpoint that will allow them to get real value from it.  Put information in the report that helps them to see how they could purchase a property in the areas you operate.  Point out items to consider that are specific to your area and they will infer your expertise.  This can be a “living” report meaning you could make the back few pages of the report about the current market activity and then update it quarterly or semi-annually with the latest market trends.  On your landing page let prospective buyers know that your 10+ page (yes give them the actual number) is a report that not only gives them unique guidance about buying in your market areas it also gives unbiased market data that will help them to decide IF now is the right time to buy for them.
  • A 3 Day Course on Preparing a Home For Sale – Many people provide a small one page document for preparing a home for sale, so be different!  Create a 3 day email course on items a seller should consider when preparing a home to sell.  You can even provide information on how they would select a listing agent.  This course should be packed with so much information that the prospective seller has enough information to choose ANY agent they want in the marketplace but they will be compelled to select you because of the information you provide.  As you could do in a buyer report you can add a section on market activity to help seller’s determine IF it is the right time to sell.  The agents that do the best aren’t afraid to tell a seller “you know if you can wait, it might be a good idea”.  Be bold and be different with your course and you can attract great prospects daily.
  • A Targeted List of Properties or Off-Market Properties – Take advantage of market conditions and place a form that allows people to get the homes in a specific area and condition.  For example if Bank Owned properties are abundant in your area, you could create a form that allows someone to get a list of Bank Owned/Foreclosure homes in your neighborhood.  With the apps from Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, and more the curated lists are harder to create that are truly unique.  If you belong to a larger office, give prospective visitors to your site the opportunity to get the “first look” at properties before they hit the market.  Let a prospect know that you understand they can get any set of listings from the MLS or the variety of Real Estate Apps, but you want to get them a truly first look at properties BEFORE they hit the market to help them get the edge.

Getting people to give up their information takes a focus on what is most important to those searching online and it can change as markets change.  People searching for real estate help online want to get information and they want it on their terms.  Providing them multiple opportunities to get the help they desire will have visitors opting in daily for great information.