As everybody knows, the real estate market is regularly subject to dizzying ups and downs. Whether it’s season-to-season or year-to-year, the market can sink at any time, drying up sales and your income.
Implementing an effective pay-per-click marketing campaign can help you to drive sales and leads, even when your competitors are struggling in a soft market. Creating an effective PPC campaign is as much an art as it is a science.
Here’s what you need to know to create PPC advertising that generates a solid stream of real estate leads.
Make sure your site is ready
Before you even start researching keywords or writing ad copy, make sure your website is ready to handle the visitors you are apt to get and to persuade them to act. First, it should have sufficient bandwidth to accommodate the number of visitors you think you can get … and maybe a few more than that.
Next, you should set up landing pages that are designed to create the best first impression on visitors and to build the most persuasive argument to get them to call you or set up an appointment. Simply getting visitors to your site isn’t enough; you won’t get any sales if they don’t actually contact you by phone or e-mail.
Incorporate the right keywords
The more specific you can be with your keywords, the more chance you’ll attract the customers you want — the kind that are ready to act. Don’t settle for generic terms such as “real estate agent” or “real estate listings.”
Choose keywords that reflect exactly what you do, such as “Del Mar luxury real estate” or “Myrtle Beach vacation properties.” Specific keywords will attract visitors who are searching for specific information and are motivated to buy.
Use local targeting
If customers in Florida find you, it won’t make much difference when you’re trying to sell real estate in California. The way to attract the right customers is to use local targeting in your ads.
Include at least a single city or county to narrow your focus. Even if you service a larger area, you can at least center your region with the tag. Then you can create mirror ads with the names of other cities or counties you serve.
Diversify your ads
As a real estate agent, you probably sell more than just single-family homes. Capture the greatest number of customers by diversifying your ads and specifying all the services you offer.
Include keywords for sales, rentals, foreclosures, vacation properties, and any other types of properties that you represent. Set up ads for each, and run them as a single campaign. You’ll get more exposure for your brand and attract a wider range of customers, which should help increase sales.
Pay-per-click advertising can be a highly effective way to generate real estate leads. But you have to use the right strategies to create your ads, first. If you’re successful, you’ll see your sales hold steady and even increase when the market inevitably goes bad.
