Whether you’re a full-time real estate agent or just a newbie, you know that the competition is fierce. But have you already heard that there are more than 2 million real estate agents in the United States only? NAR counts over 1,3 million from those to be licensed realtors. This sounds competitive and challenging. So let’s see some real estate lead generation tactics on how to stand out and get the most from this industry.

1. Claim and Optimize your Google My Business profile

 Google has been investing an increasing amount of time and capital into “local search”. A key element in that effort is allowing each local business to create a page that is specific to “local” search.

A couple of examples of local search are phrases that contain a “profession” or a “location”. According to official Google statements 50% of searches done on Mobile phones are local searches. 

Google connects these local searchers to a search result about local businesses. They call that page a “Google my business page”.

If you have been doing business as a real estate agent for over a year it is likely Google has created a My Business page for YOU already. You just need to claim it. Google the name of your business or your own name to find the page.

Use a Gmail email address to claim the page.

 According to bright local, the average business is found 1009 times with 84% of these using discovery searches that connect to a Google My Business Page.

 For example, check out this InboundREM profile which is found over 1000 times per month with the top search being “real estate marketing”. 

 OPTIMIZING YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PAGE

• Download the “Google my business” app from the Itunes or Google play store. (It much easier to use than the PC interface)
• Enter a physical street address
• Make sure it is the address closest to your preferred real estate demographic
• Enter hours of service and if you are available on weekends to make sure you are logged as “open” on those days.
• Create a simple post like “taking appointments” with a call now button.
• Use a nice headshot as your main “business pic”
• Get friends and family to leave you reviews on your Google My Business profile. (Google considers testimonials to be a good indication about the quality of a business or service)

I cannot think of a real estate lead generation tactic that takes less time with more potential than an optimized Google My Business Page

Robert Newman – Founder of Inbound Real Estate Marketing.

 

2. Host a first-time buyer webinar

Buying a house for the first time can be a stressful process. Hosting a first-time buyer webinar is a great way to attract attention from first-time buyers and showcase your expertise. In addition, first-time buyers usually have friends in the same situation so creating a professional and helpful first impression will get you more leads down the road. You could start with topics such as “steps in the home buying process”, “how to stay within your budget when buying a house”, “inspection checklist before buying a house” and “how to assess the market”. The most important part is to provide accurate and useful information to your audience, in that way you can convert leads into potential loyal customers.

3. Write in-depth blog posts about neighborhoods in your area

Showcasing your local expertise in your blog will attract the attention of home buyers reviewing their future neighborhood. Your article might cover schools, restaurant recommendations, yearly events, and other community activities in the area. And yes, if any local businesses or public actors notice your blog posts, they might share them on their own social media or even link back to you. Link-building and social shares are not only valuable for your brand recognition, but they will also improve your ranking on search engines. Just the right way to enable your real estate “lead generation machine”!

4. Improve your SEO with newly updated Google PageSpeed insights

Google updated its PageSpeed insights in March 2019 and the focus has transitioned more to mobile usability and speed. Running your site against the new speed test will point out things to improve and help you to increase your Google ranking in comparison to your competitors. One of the easiest actions you could do is to improve the speed of your page. And the quickest action is to optimize your images to a proper resolution. The truth is that big size images make your website load slower and this can determine your visitors to leave the page. Hence, the recommended size is something around 2000 pixels wide for a background image and around 1000-1100 pixels wide for other images on your website. On Mac, you can do that by adjusting the size, and on other computers, you can use resizing apps. It’s simple but effective.

Do you have some IT knowledge or your website is managed by a web developer? You might consider enabling compression, minify CSS, JavaScript and HTML as well.

5. Promote local businesses in your social media

To build up your personal brand, partner up with local brands and products and hire your photographer to take some product shots while shooting your newest listing. Make a deal to receive attribution from local businesses when they are using your photos on social media. Make sure to use Collaborator feature on Instagram (which allows business owners and content creators to collaborate on feed posts and reels) since it will lead to more engagement and more exposure to a larger audience. This way you’ll reach brand new audiences and attract potential buyers through your partners’ social media accounts.

6. Increase the engagement to your listing with floor plans

Zillow states that the floor plan is the second most important feature on a listing and correlates with capturing potential leads. Rightmove noted that including floor plans in the listings can translate into an increase of 52% in click-throughs. Since it is the best way to collect information about the room layout and to show “how the rooms communicate with each other”, the floor plan is considered an important asset. Indeed, photos are good visual assets, however it doesn’t explain the property layout to the buyer. Floor plans give structure to photos in the listing. A new scanning app has made capturing a floor plan easy and inexpensive by only using a smartphone. This software has already gained traction with real estate agents, photographers and appraisers helping them to create professional floor plans and Gross Living Area with 5 minutes of scanning. Likewise, Inman included offering floor plans in 4 actionable tips to get more leads along with other lead generation tactics.

Did you know that CubiCasa LITE floor plans are free for US users for an unlimited number of scans? P.S: They include room dimensions

7. Take your listing to the next level with a video walkthrough or 3D render

Real estate videos drive 157% more traffic to your website according to NAR Realtor study. And the great news is that you can actually scan and transform the property into astounding 3D videos using just your mobile phone. 

This 3D tool will produce a walkthrough of the house to give the potential buyers a real sense of space and how it actually feels to be in the house. The length of the video is typically 1-3 minutes, depending on the size and features of the property. This innovative approach not only captures the attention of prospective buyers but also showcases the unique selling points of the property in a visually engaging and memorable way.

We hope these real estate lead generation tactics will help you expand your business and get many more customers! Book a meeting with our sales managers to learn new techniques to generate leads in a short time.

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