There are a wide variety of options to get real estate leads. However, there has been a massive surge in the popularity of the methodologies to find leads online. It has been fueled mainly by the fact that more and more home buyers and sellers are utilizing online modes to find real estate agents. It has led to a shift in the way most real estate professionals approach their real estate lead generation strategies.
Importance of Real Estate Lead Generation Through Online Strategies
Although cold calling, door knocking, and other offline modes of real estate lead prospecting have been around for a long time, there is a sure transition to the online methods of doing it. It is a matter of numbers, and the numbers are better for all of the online modes to generate leads.
If one compares the number of people who can attend an open house and the number who can view a virtual house tour, the latter will be higher. Similarly, if one is going to pick up the phone and start making phone calls, think of the time you will spend speaking to hundreds of leads, and the time it will take you to send an email to thousands of people. Again, the latter makes more sense. Therefore, many agents are opting to get real estate leads online.
Strategies to Generate Real Estate Leads Online
1. Utilize Social Media and Its Vast Potential
It is hard to ignore the impact that social media sites have had on the real estate business. It has become a major source for gaining buyer and seller leads. Furthermore, it is due to the growing number of millennial homebuyers and sellers.
Therefore, for realtors, it has become a necessity to include social media in their business plans. Whether by running Facebook ads or by building customer relationships with a wide segment of the online audience, social media has grown in importance for gaining new listings.
2. An Optimized Website Can Help Generate Leads
We are aware that many realtors do have an independent real estate website. However, we suggest optimizing your website so that it can be the central aspect of your digital marketing efforts. Create a well-designed and informative website so that you can gain more traffic. These website visitors are the potential customers that you need to convert. One effective way to do that would be through a landing page.
Landing Pages
The landing pages are meant to ensure that your site visitors stay and go through the information provided. They are also for capturing the contact information of all the visitors. This information is collected by placing relevant call-to-action buttons.
3. Create a Real Estate Blog
A great way to get new leads is by building and maintaining a real estate blog. It is an excellent form of content marketing and is a highly valuable part of your digital marketing tactics. You can write informative articles on various topics that would generate buyer or seller interest.
Share ideas that potential clients would find useful and will encourage them to work with you. A blog is an excellent way to build and sustain customer relationships with numerous people over a long period. You can also cross-link your blog with your social media platforms to attract traffic from there as well.
4. Include Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines are the ultimate deciding factor of your website traffic. That is why SEO is an integral part of generating real estate leads online. The SEO activities would optimize the off-page and on-page activities — such as creating backlinks, optimizing the content, the inclusion of the right keywords, and more — to help your website rank higher on the search engines’ ranks. It would automatically boost the number of your site visitors.
5. Gain Leads Through Online Real Estate Leads Generation Channels
The most popular choice to find real estate leads online is through platforms that aggregate and offer seller leads. Dorrmat, one of the leading players in this segment, provides a steady supply of quality real estate seller leads to its registered agents.
The steady supply of leads enables the agents to focus on converting the customers and other essential aspects of the business. Moreover, Dorrmat provides a wide range of additional features and tools, which helps the agents build a stronger business from the ground up. All of this makes Dorrmat a crucial component to getting real estate leads online.
6. Opt for Real Estate Marketing Through Email
A cost-effective lead generation strategy is to market your services through email. You can divide it into two categories. One category, for lead prospecting and the other for lead nurturing. You can integrate your customer relationship management tool and your drip email marketing system so that you can send these automated emails to your prospective customers at frequent intervals. It is a great way to stay top of mind. Ensure that you send a mix of marketing and informative emails. The goal here is to establish yourself as a real estate market expert.
7. Put in Requests for Referrals
A pro-tip to generate real estate leads is to convert your successful past customers into a source of referrals. This would enable you to have multiple new leads from each customer. The ideal time to put in a request for referrals is when you have closed the house.
Set up an online link wherein your past clients and anyone else that you approach for new business referrals can submit the contact details of the person they wish to refer to you. It is a simple yet hassle-free manner to gain leads.
Summary
As a real estate agent, it is a necessity to constantly evaluate your lead generation strategies to ensure that you have an optimum mix of channels to derive these leads. As an independent real estate business owner, this form of evaluation and course correction will help you stay ahead of the curve. You would be able to ensure that you are on the way to success with the lead generation methods discussed above.
