How To Get Real Estate Leads in 2023
Real estate is a very competitive industry. That’s why leads are so valuable and agencies will go to such great lengths to secure them. Realtors often contact 3rd party sources in an effort to get more leads. The better strategy, however, is to use search engine optimization (SEO). A full SEO presence will empower realtors to generate exclusive leads that provide long-term ROI.
What are Exclusive Real Estate Leads?
Exclusive leads are those that are a consumer to business (singular) rather than a consumer to businesses (plural). When a home buyer contacts a 3rd party lead broker, the lead is often shared between multiple realtors. This makes converting the lead much more difficult. When leads come through organic means (i.e. SEO) the lead is exclusive and easier to convert.
How SEO Generates Leads for Agents
Some confuse SEO as a singular action or technique when, in fact, SEO is a series of actions that work together to boost a real estate agent’s online presence. Doing only one aspect of SEO is going to leave realtors frustrated and behind. If you are being outperformed by a local competitor, it is because they are doing more for their digital marketing efforts than you are. Here are some of the primary aspects of search engine optimization for real estate agents:
Content Marketing for Realtors
SEO only works with high-quality content written by professionals. Lots of realtors talk about blog posts and how they help build authority on your website. While this is true, the main pages themselves also must showcase quality writing. The best thing to do is to hire a professional writer and editor with experience in SEO. Optimized writing requires a balance and avoids spam.
Google My Business for Real Estate Agents
The foundation of real estate SEO is Google My Business (GMB). Agents can claim their business listing at google.com/business and verify it through the postcard mailing system. You must have a legitimate address to showcase your GMB listing on Maps. Google uses proximity, prominence, and relevance to determine which listings show up to which local search users.
On-Page Optimization for Real Estate
Every page and post on your website should be optimized with titles, headers, and meta descriptions. You should also place image alt text in your visual elements so that Google knows which keywords the page is associated with. On-page in itself won’t make your page rank, but when combined with other aspects of SEO, it will certainly make a difference in your position.
Real Estate Website Design
Real Estate websites are more complex than in other industries. They require an IDX plugin so that the appropriate properties are showcased to the user. The best realtor sites have a search engine that allows the home buyer to search for homes based on location, price, amenities, and other specific criteria. Most consumers also want to be able to filter by the school district.
Real Estate Leads for New Agents
New agents have a challenge ahead of them in generating leads. Most consumers find established realtors on organic search and those realtors also have accumulated more reviews New agents can still utilize SEO to get quality leads, they just need to be more creative. One strategy they can use is long-tail keyword targeting which helps get niche clients to start out.
How to Get Real Estate Leads from Craigslist
First, you need a Craigslist account to start posting ads. Once you create one, you must agree to Craigslist’s ad posting policy. There are lots of articles written about posting real estate ads on Craigslist, and they go very in-depth about what to do and not do in terms of post frequency, copywriting, etc. Craigslist should not be your only source of lead generation but can be one.
25% Real Estate Leads
Lead brokers like HomeLight ask for 25% of the profits from closed deals. This setup can be useful for some agents and many have seen an ROI from using such services. The problem with using brokers is that you are strengthening their brand when you could be focused on your own. Getting leads through your own digital assets will help you generate more, long-term.
Best Real Estate Lead Generation 2023
SEO is the best way to generate real estate leads in 2023. By having an optimized GMB page, along with a high-conversion website, the frequency of quality leads should be optimal. Realtors can also try advertising techniques such as Facebook remarketing and Google PPC to ensure that every angle of online lead generation is accounted for.
Real Estate Lead Generation Software
There are several types of tools that are considered lead generation software for agents. The most popular tool is called a CRM and has many iterations that are specific to realtors. CRM stands for customer relationship management and the software often comes equipped with lead harvesting mechanisms to make your life easier. Other lead gen tools are geared towards PPC advertising.
Pay Per Lead Real Estate
Some marketing services provide a structure known as pay per lead (PPL). This mandates that realtors pay for the service ONLY after a lead is generated. That means you would have someone managing your website, GMB, social media, etc… but would only pay after a lead was generated. Realtors should do extensive research on any PPL service to avoid being scammed.
What Does Serpmatic Recommend?
At Serpmatic, our goal is to help small business owners thrive in their online marketplace. Sometimes that means taking advantage of free tools and resources to enhance your web presence manually. Other times it means hiring a digital marketing company to handle the services on your behalf. Much of it will depend on your current budget and growth expectancy.
If you do decide to hire services for your real estate marketing, it is critical to know what qualities to look for. You should understand that you need a high-quality website that is optimized for search. You will also require an optimized Google My Business listing and social media profiles that represent your brand. Finally, you will want some sort of reviews management system for reputation.