How Real Estate Agents Can Use Digital Marketing to Grow Their Business
Real estate and marketing are almost synonymous. Without a solid brand, and ongoing marketing to your community, buyers and sellers are going to call the agent that comes top of mind (the one that is marketing aggressively). If you are spending money on marketing that does not deliver a clear return-on-investment, then it’s time to start putting some marketing dollars into your online presence. Let’s explore some of the best ways real estate agents can drive more leads online, outside of Zillow 🙂
Google My Business
Do you have a Google My Business Page? If the answer is, no, then you need to get one claimed ASAP. Check out a resource here on Google My Business. Hopefully the answer is yes, and you just need to optimize it a bit better. Let’s take a look:
1. First, make sure you have all of the information filled out properly, such as your office’s address, phone number, and website if you have one. This is important for Google to know exactly where you are located, especially when someone does a search like, “realtors in chambersburg.”
2. Make sure you have updated images added and a few posts and products listed. That will make you appear more active and credible. It also helps fill up your page so you take up more real estate (pun intended 🙂).
3. Now the marketing part of all this, showing up ahead of other agents in your area.
Reviews – earning reviews is a major ranking factor in the local map pack, and simply asking your clients at closing and then with a follow up email asking for a review of their experience will go a long way.
Directory Listings – Are you mentioned frequently online? Google is looking for proof you actually service your local area and they want to see your name, address, and phone number mentioned on other websites and directory listings.
If you can do those things right, you will have a good chance of ranking pretty high on Google for local-specific searches.
Google Local Services Ads
Google rolled out a program a few years ago where certain industries, real estate being one of them, could run special ads that feature them at the top of search results. The benefit of these types of ads is you only pay-per-lead. So you get charged when someone actually calls you from the ad. Pretty good win! Here’s a bit more information:
Setting up Google LSAs isn’t too tough, but takes some time to get “Google Guaranteed” (the green Google Screened checkmark.
You can set a monthly budget, and expect leads to be around $40, which for real estate, that’s pretty darn good! You will need to make sure you have your Google My Business page setup and optimized first though to make sure you get the most out of this program.
Implement an Email Marketing Campaign
Are you actively collecting and storing your clients’ contact details? If not, you should start. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies out there, and is pretty easy also! If your broker offers email sending tools you can look into those, or sign up for a tool like Mailchimp to handle your contact lists and email automation. Here are a few examples of when you could be sending emails:
- Home buying anniversaries to your buyers
- Birthdays
- Local market trends
- Updates on mortgage rates
- Industry news or local news that could be relevant
- 1-Month follow up post-sale to check in and ask for a review if not given already
Keeping notes in your files and in a database, even if it’s just Google Sheets, is extremely powerful, because you will know how to categorize your clients.
An example could be breaking your contacts into segments such as:
- Buyers
- Sellers
- Investors
- Prospects that never bought
Touching your contact list with an email once per month is an affordable and easy way to stir up new leads, and stay top of mind with your audience.
Building Your Own Website (Outside of Your Stock Franchise Site)
An underrated strategy within the real estate industry is having your own website and domain. For example, if you are a RE/MAX agent, you are likely given access to a RE/MAX branded website that gives you limited ability to add content and optimize for SEO. The other trouble agents get into is they pay a 3rd party to host their website and update content, but this also gives them limited control.
The optimal method is to get a website built in WordPress, with your own domain name, like www.austinsellshomes.com.
This gives you the ability to add content, run ads on Google, and show online outside of the generic website that was provided (and likely doesn’t rank for much).
Google Ads for Real Estate Agents
Now that you have your own website, the opportunities for marketing widen. You can now run pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google. This is just another piece of real estate on the Google Search Results you can control. For example, if I do a search for “Vail Co homes for sale” this is the first thing I see:
This is a way for your name and website to show up ahead of the big listing platforms like Redfin and Zillow within your local market. This is a huge win for real estate agents.
The average cost-per-click (CPC) for real estate terms is about $2.00. This is very affordable if you consider you can get 100 people in your service area to click on your website for only $200. If you get one client to call you from this investment that is a huge ROI!
Google Ads is a bit trickier to setup and run compared to some of the the strategies listed above, but with the right partner, Google Ads can become your best lead generator.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Real Estate Agents
The last, but arguably the most powerful online marketing strategy for real estate agents is SEO. SEO strategies are what makes your website show up for various keywords. In order to rank on Google for the keywords of interest, you will need to develop high-quality content on your website and earn links from other websites pointing to that content.
The great thing about an investment in SEO for your website, is the work doesn’t go away. As you get content on your website and earn links, that content will stay on your site as long as you leave it there. This means that if your content drives visitors to your site (which it will over time), then it will continue to increase and compound. You will get incremental leads from your website without paying for ads.
Examples of Content Valuable for SEO:
- Living in [Town of Interest]
- Best Neighborhoods in [Town of Interest]
- Moving Guides
- How to Improve the Value of Your Home
- When is the Best Time to Sell Your Home in [Town of Interest]
- Many more!
Finding the Right Partner for Real Estate Marketing
Many of the above recommendations can be implemented by you with some time and a bit of research. However, to get the most out of your marketing dollars, it is best to hire a partner you trust to develop a digital marketing strategy that is best suited for you. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing, especially for real estate agents.
Loading Leads Marketing is here to help you dominate the search results for your market and get more buyers and sellers ready to hire an agent! We offer real estate agents digital marketing services, web design, and more. Contact us today for a free consultation.
