Traffic and conversion. This is really what the internet is all about. Getting the right real estate TRAFFIC and then CONVERTING it into real estate LEADS. This is especially true in the real estate space as over 90% of consumers are starting their home search online. This fact has resulted in real estate agents migrating towards the internet in droves believing a website will save their business.
I’ve talked to my share of real estate agents that meet with me here in Phoenix, confused… I have a website, why don’t I have real estate leads?
In the old days, {a few years ago} a real estate agent could get real estate leads from a mediocre website. One of the reasons was competition. There was less of it. Today, it seems everyone and their mother has a real estate website, all expecting it to save their real estate business. Will it? Probably not. Throw in Z.T.R. and you can see how competitive the space really is. In reality, it is not the real estate website that will generate leads, but the CONTENT that goes into it. Content is video, blog posts, images, PDF’s, podcasts, homes for sale etc.
Do a site search on your real estate website. Open another browser window and head over to Google. Type this: site://yourdomain.com. Example.. site://mytitleguy.com (no www). The results Google is giving you are the number of pages Google has in its index for that particular real estate website. How many do you have? 20? 200? 2000? This is the number of chances you have to get found online – through a search engine anyway. This content could bring you real estate traffic, but not always real estate leads.
If you have visited this website before you may have heard me say this before: creating the right real estate content will help you get found online by consumers at the point they are most interested in learning more about you and what you do. The easiest way to get found online organically, {meaning FREE} is to create the real estate content your ideal client is looking for. Real estate content that makes them smarter. Answers a question. Helps them solve a problem. But even that does not always mean real estate leads. Now before you huff and puff and blame your SEO company for all the real estate traffic you are getting and little real estate leads I want you to know it may not be their fault. It’s likely yours. Whaaaaat?
You can create the right real estate content. Specific real estate content, created for a specific real estate consumer, “4 bedroom homes under 200000 near Tarwater Elementary School Chandler AZ”, (this is a targeted real estate consumer, they likely know exactly what they want) and still get no real estate leads. Why? Because real estate traffic is only one part of the equation. What does that consumer see when they get to your real estate website? Are they landing on your homepage? I hope not.
If your real estate content, your value statement, your call to action is not good enough or strong enough it will likely NOT result in a real estate lead. And if this is the case, then real estate traffic means very little.
When a consumer lands on your real estate website what are they seeing? What are you talking about? Are you talking about yourself? How great you think you are? Your national real estate brokerage? Why one brokerage is better than another? Your production? Your team? All of this is WORTHLESS. Not only is it worthless, often times it serves to push the real estate consumer further away from you.
Remember the last time you were in the market for a car? You did your research online. You likely knew what car you wanted or wanted to compare car A vs car B. You may have looked at body style, interior options, miles per gallon, safety features, colors, payment etc. You were looking for information about the CAR not someone to SELL IT TO YOU. What would you have done if the page you landed on was all about the sales person and his or her team? How many cars they sell. Awards. Bio’s, etc?
LEAVE.
And this is exactly what a consumer will do if they land on your website and your content does not provide value. The best content provides valuable information. Makes someone smarter. Helps them avoid pain. Answers a question. Traffic is just one part of the equation. Your content, call to action are equally important as well. Leaving a phone # or email address is not usually good enough to generate leads from real estate consumers. They need to be told what to do, exactly how to do it and the VALUE for doing it. “Fill out the form below and I will send you X, click here for your free list of X, click this button to see this house TODAY”.
Traffic does not always mean you will get leads, but the content they see, videos, blog posts, downloadable charts and graphs, images, podcasts, can increase the likelihood that traffic will result in leads. You will need to start talking about what consumers care about, not necessarily what you do.
If you are a real estate agent in Phoenix, I encourage you to attend one of our real estate marketing classes. From video to blogging, screencasts to social media for business we will help you find out what your ideal client is looking for online as well as show you how to create the content they are looking for.
