real estate lead generation 101: landing pages · pdf filehow can you drive traffic to a niche...

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Real Estate Lead Generation 101:

Landing Pages version 1.0

By

DISPLET.COM

Landing Page

Conversion Tools

Qualified Traffic $

http://displet.com/

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Table of Contents

What is a landing page and why are landing pages effective?.................................................................... 3

What are effective topics for real estate landing pages?............................................................................ 5

What are the elements of an effective landing page?................................................................................. 6

How do you capture leads on a real estate landing page?.......................................................................... 8

How can you drive traffic to a niche real estate landing page?................................................................... 9

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Real Estate Lead Generation 101: Niche Landing Pages

What is a landing page and why are landing pages effective?

A landing page is any page a visitor might reach (or “land on”) after performing a search on Google or any other search engine.

To understand why they are so important, let’s consider an average user searching online for shoes. Let’s say this individual types “shoes” into a Google search, and reaches this page:

The results are a mixture of online retailers and local businesses, all selling shoes and all carrying a wide selection. The results match precisely what we might imagine a person using the broad query “shoes” would be looking for.

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Now imagine the average individual searching for “red leather shoes” on Google, reaching this page:

Though the websites in the results may sell many different types of shoes, we are taken to landing pages which are specifically about red leather shoes. The only results which are now shown are those which specifically have landing pages for red leather shoes. Niche landing pages are effective converting tools because you attract visitors further down the sales funnel. Consider someone purchasing shoes:

• Decision #1I would like to buy shoes

• Decision #2I would like to buy red shoes

• Decision #3I would like to

buy red leather shoes

• Purchase$$$

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Considering the sales funnel, traffic for niche keywords is more valuable than traffic for broad search terms.

Though your website may be about one broad subject, the idea is to have a landing page for each niche topic your visitors will search for. Using Austin real estate as an example, our

homepage might target the broad query “Austin real estate”, in which case it is about Austin real estate as a whole. However, if someone queries “Allandale Austin real estate”, our homepage is not the best landing page for them. If you want to target “Allandale Austin real estate” purchasers, you need a landing page for these buyers.

The rule of thumb is one niche per page. Creating landing pages for specific niches in your market allows you to better convert visitors into leads. These leads typically have a higher conversion rate into prospects and sales because they are further down the sales funnel.

What are effective topics for real estate landing pages?

There are a number of common targeted niches for real estate landing pages. In addition to

specific neighborhoods in your market which are well known, you may also wish to target specific areas. Ex. “North Austin”, “South Austin”, “Lake Travis”.

Beyond location, consider features as a topic that people commonly include in real estate searches: Ex. “Homes with Pools”, “New Construction Homes”, “Golf Course Homes” and “Foreclosures”. It is important to always include a location modifier in the landing page. Ex. “Austin Waterfront Homes” - rather than “Waterfront Homes”. It can also be valuable to combine niches. Ex. “Lake Travis Waterfront Homes”.

Niche topics will vary by market. Consider what is important to buyers in your market. Many buyers will search by schools, zip codes, or lifestyles unique to your market.

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What are the elements of an effective landing page?

Anytime a user searches for “[keyword] real estate”, they expect to find listings in that niche. The rule of thumb is to always include listings above the fold. While listings are absolutely the most important aspect to provide, it’s always a good idea to ask yourself, “If I were searching for [Landing page title], what else might I hope to find?”

Niche real estate landing pages can include:

Listings Above the Fold Always include listings above the fold

Text Description

It’s a good idea to summarize the area in a few hundred words so that they may get a better idea of what it may be like to live there. If you have or plan to have an SEO campagin, this text description is critical. Create a topical template for these

descriptions and follow it on each landing page. Remember to keep listings above the fold, and break-up the text with listings in-between, or truncate the text with a read more link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Above_the_fold

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Statistics

While it’s not necessary to go overboard, providing some base information can help the visitor further understand the neighborhood or area. Providing the price range and number of homes available within the specified neighborhood can help a visitor quickly understand what their prospects will be like

School Information

A list of schools in the area with links to their education.com or greatschools.org profiles is helpful if families with children consider the area or neighborhood.

Niche Specific Information

If your niche landing pages is about golf course homes, it makes sense to include information about golf courses in the area. A niche page about “Ski In/Out Condos” could include information about the mountain. Think about the topic from your visitors’

point of view.

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How do you capture leads on a real estate landing page?

The most important “call-to-action” on a real estate landing page are the listings themselves, since that’s what the vast majority of visitors want. The idea is to have enough information for each listing so that a visitor may “qualify” it as a prospect, but not so much that they don’t need to click on it to read more.

It is important that a user is easily and quickly able to locate all of the above information during the browsing phase, or else they may become frustrated and seek the information elsewhere.

Immediately after identifying a prospect, a user will typically click on it to determine if it meets the rest of their criteria (being most interested in seeing more photos). This is also the moment in which the visitor is most likely to provide contact information: during their peak interest. But since they’ve already invested some time browsing and qualifying properties, they’ll be less willing to jump ship and start all over again elsewhere. Requiring registration to view property details is your best chance to capture their information.

If we had merely left it up to the user to register, or had just hoped they’d choose to contact us on their own via phone or contact form, the reality is that the bulk of user’s simply wouldn’t have chosen to do so. Requiring registration to view property details is the best conversion tool you can use.

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How can you drive traffic to a niche real estate landing page?

Now that you’ve created great landing pages, you need to drive qualified traffic in order to generate leads. To generate leads, you need great landing pages & traffic, so driving traffic is as important as creating great landing pages. There are a number of ways to drive qualified traffic, including:

Craigslist

Though you can’t just advertise your landing page (at least not in the housing section), you are permitted to advertise a single listing per advertisement. Craigslist offers a very low entry barrier to advertising as it’s free and easy. Craigslist can be time consuming, since you will

want to post new ads every day. Giving some details and photos will be helpful, but it’s also a wise idea to link to the landing page which most closely corresponds to the listing you’re advertising. Consider using a phrase like “Click here to search all [Landing Page] homes for sale!”, and make it the focal point of your ad. Remember, the goal is to drive traffic and not to try and sell that particular listing.

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Pay per Click (PPC)

PPC means you will pay a search engine (Google or Bing/Yahoo) every time a visitor clicks on your advertisement. PPC traffic is valuable because you choose the search queries where your ad appears. If you have a landing page about “Allandale Austin Real Estate” you can pay

to have your ad appear when someone queries variations of “Allandale Austin Real Estate.” PPC equates to instant traffic but requires ongoing costs. Targeted queries are great for PPC, because though they receive less traffic, they are also typically less expensive to bid on. For niche real estate terms the usual cost per click is between $0.50 to $1.50. The more competitors that are bidding for the same terms, the higher the cost for you ad to appear.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process of sending positive signals to search engines (usually Google) to help them naturally rank your page high in the search results. SEO can be more cost-effective in the long run than PPC or other advertising methods, but can be much more time consuming and slower to take off. An SEO campaign will typically take 6+ months to see results, and will require monthly maintenance. Expect to invest at least 10 hours per week of your own time, or to spend at least $500/month for a qualified SEO. SEO is time consuming and requires

commitment, but has great rewards for those who persevere.

SEO Resources: SEOMoz | DIYSEO | Google | Pubcon

Landing Page

Conversion Tools

Qualified Traffic $

Displet.com offers web design services (landing pages),

RETS/IDX (conversion tools), and SEO/PPC services (traffic.)

http://seomoz.org/

http://diyseo.com/

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

http://www.pubcon.com/

real estate lead generation 101: landing pages · pdf filehow can you drive traffic to a niche...

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