How to Drive More Traffic to Your Real Estate Website

Converting leads in the online environment is not an easy thing to achieve. It is not just a matter of bringing people to your website and letting things run their course, although that is the place where you must start.

Ok, let's assume that you have a decent real estate website as far as functionality and the visual side are concerned. If you are experiencing low traffic to your website, it means that you haven't taken enough time and made a good enough effort to reach people and get them interested in what you have to offer. Today we are going to discuss what are some of the right steps (and some of the wrong ones as well) to pulling in a satisfactory number of people to your real estate website.

Identifying the Ideal Traffic

When it comes to website traffic, you have to think ahead. Getting the numbers up is no big deal. You can pay for traffic and bring your stats to a satisfactory level. However, if you want to achieve something more than just having numbers for show, you will need to focus on finding the right traffic. Identifying parameters like age group, vocations, geographical area and other relevant factors will help you focus on getting traffic that will have a better chance of converting to paying customers later on.

Local SEO

Real estate marketing and local SEO seem to have been made for each other. Local SEO is a form of onsite optimization which helps your website rank better when it comes to localized search engine queries, which are coincidentally used by people who are looking for real estate in a general area. Usually, an average user will include the following words in their query when searching to buy or rent real estate:

• the type of real estate they are interested in (e.g. apartment, house, condo)
• the area they want to move into (e.g. New York, London, Venice)
• the action they intend to take (purchase, rent, sale, sell, etc.)

This will render very specific results and if you are attempting to provide real estate services in a specific area, it doesn't make sense to sidestep a marketing approach that synergises so well with your basic business model. Furthermore, the more localized your SEO effort is, the easier it is to rank better since the competition is thinner.

PPC

Pay-per-click ads can be quite useful for a real estate agency, but only when synergized with an accurately identified target audience—which is why we discussed this as a necessity in the beginning of this article. Now, depending where and to whom you are trying to sell real estate, there are many forms of PPC you can go for, but it is important that you set up your targeting accurately. This is why we recommend that you test things out with a few smaller scale campaigns and find the setup that works for you best.

Social Media

If you haven't just started out, you are sure to have some satisfied customers behind you. Creating a business page on the most prominent social media in your area (which is usually Facebook – but it is not the only one that matters) and inviting your customers to join can help you establish a starting fan base. It can also be a great place to share your blog posts, offer updates and all other relevant information. A well functioning social media profile can help you create leads and retain the interest of your fan base.

Combining Digital and Real Marketing

No real estate company functions strictly in the online environment, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't direct your real world customers into your digital funnel. In real estate, customers who have already gone through your sales funnel are unlikely to come back any time soon. The nature of the product you are selling is to blame for this, but that doesn't mean that you should abandon your leads as soon as you are done with the transaction.

Word of mouth means a lot in the real estate world and being present in your sphere's social media streams or their bookmarks can help them give a recommendation to their friends, family and so on. This means that you should recommend that they visit your website, include the link on your business cards, billboards and other promotional products.

Provide Meaningful Information All By Itself

How? Well, making sure that it is regularly updated, that all the information provided is reliable, that the photos of the properties you are selling are high quality, and so on. Basically, a real estate website is supposed to be a way to help customers conserve their time and narrow down their property choices without being forced to physically visit every one. If you do not meet this requirement, you need to work on your website still.

These are the basics, of course, and you will need quite a bit more research to be able to implement these steps properly. Still, they are a good starting point and they will set you on the right path.

To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.