With over 90% of renters and home-buyers starting their research and property search online, the real estate industry can’t deny the need for a well-planned online strategy. Our digital marketing agency presents 6 tactics that will help real estate companies achieve online success. Let’s start.
1. Reach Qualified Leads Quickly with Paid Search
Paid search, also called pay-per-click advertising or search engine marketing, is an easy way to quickly increase qualified traffic to your real estate website. By bidding on keywords relevant to your brand, your location and your services you’ll reach high-intent users currently in their buying process.
2. Optimize for Local Seo
Paid advertising on social media or search engines is a quick win for realtors. But, we strongly believe in combining your paid efforts with search engine optimization (SEO) for long term success. SEO is the process of optimizing your content and your website for a higher organic position on search engines like Google and Bing.
Real estate companies usually serve a specific local market. And, that’s what users are searching for. According to Google, 69% of home shoppers who take action on a real estate brand website use local terms in their search. A local search means that users are searching for realtors or houses for sales in a specific market. They might search for something like “houses for sales in Montréal”.
So, what can you do to give your website a better chance of showing up on local searches? Here’s a great way to start:
Set up and Optimize your Google My Business Profile
A Google My Business Profile is an easy-to-use tool to manage your online presence and help customers learn more about your brand. If you haven’t already, claim your profile and start adding your information (location, phone numbers, photos, services, opening hours, etc.). This profile will give Google (and its users) a better understanding of who you are. An SEO specialist can help you set up or optimize your Google My Business profile.
Use Local-Oriented Copy on your Site
Another great way to make your brand more visible on local searches is to add a local-oriented copy on your website. Add local keywords in your page title, headers, descriptions, etc. As you can see in the screenshot below, all the website ranking for “home in montreal for sales” use local keywords in their meta-title and meta-description.
3. Invest in Video for a better user experience
Videos are widely used across the Web nowadays. They are incredibly helpful when it comes to storytelling and explaining complex information. In the real estate world, videos are the easiest way to give users the ability to visually see what they’ve already envisioned and imagine themselves in the property. As a matter of fact, 84% of Americans would love to be able to see video footage of prospective homes before visiting.
Having videos of the property you are selling is a great place to start. We would also suggest creating videos that could help your users throughout their buying journey. Videos such as “What to expect from your realtor?” or “How to make an offer on a house” might be valuable for your customers.
Our digital marketing specialists suggest sharing these videos on your website and your social media platforms, especially YouTube, as its the top destination for Home-Shoppers in the U.S.
4. Use Remarketing Campaigns to bring back engaged users
Remarketing campaigns are a low hanging fruit when it comes to online marketing. Launching remarketing campaigns enables brands to advertise to users who have previously visited their website. Buying a new home is a long process and involves a lot of research. Therefore, you want your brand to stay top of mind throughout the whole buyer’s journey. Remarketing campaigns are available on every major ad platform like Google, Bing, and Facebook.
5. Optimize your Conversion Rate
All the tactics mentioned above have the same goal: drive more traffic to your website. But, don’t expect to increase your number of leads if your website isn’t optimized for lead generation. Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO, is the process of creating a better experience for your website visitors, therefore, increasing the chances of them taking action on your website.
Every website is different and requires tailored recommendations and testing in order to find what really works for your brand. But, when it comes to lead generation, our digital specialists always keep the following CRO best practices in mind:
- Limit the number of questions in forms
- Respond to your visitors’ usual pain points
- Illustrate the product or service with high-quality visuals
- Add clear and eye-catching call to actions
- Mention trust factors such as testimonials and reviews
- Limit the number of clicks and questions to simplify your customers’ journey
It might be worth investing in a custom landing page. A landing page is a standalone web property, specifically made to drive conversion. This page will work hand-in-hand with your advertising campaigns.
6. Offer an amazing mobile experience
More than ever, people of all ages are using smartphones to research and buy products or services on the Web. The same trend is noticeable in the real estate industry: home-buyers searched online 95% of the time and 72 percent of the time on a mobile or tablet device. If your website isn’t responsive and easy to navigate on a smaller screen, chances are, you are losing major opportunities.
These 6 recommendations are sure to improve your online presence, increase your number of leads and, therefore, increase your revenues. Our digital marketing agency can help your real estate business leverage the power of online marketing. Get a custom proposal here.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marie-Joëlle Turgeon
Marie-Joelle works at Bloom, a digital marketing agency, as the Director of Marketing. She's passionate about digital marketing tactics (from social media to web design) for B2B businesses looking to grow online.
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