You know that leads are the lifeblood of your business. We ALL do. Which is why website optimization is KEY for your real estate business.
I’m going to show three simple steps to optimizing your website to get more of your traffic to convert to leads.
Here we go!
Website Optimization Tip 1:
SEO Audits Are Foundational
I love pretty websites as much as anyone. But I love websites that make money more.
Your website should be more than just a digital business card floating around the interwebs. It should be your 24/7 employee – making you money while you sleep.
To do this, you need to optimize your website for search engines so that they can more easily “read” your website and offer it to people looking for your services.
This process is called SEO – Search Engine Optimization, and is crucial in the website optimization process.
- You need attention. Getting leads is simply getting people’s attention long enough that you build rapport and they like you enough to trust you with their information – with the understanding that you won’t spam the crud out of them.
Yes, market to them. With RELEVANT content, aka helpful content.
In this day and age, if someone trusts you enough to give you their email, don’t abuse it. That’s like giving a guy your phone number and having him text you 10 times a day. Creepy. - To get attention digitally, there are two main avenues – organic search results (SEO) and paid traffic. There are benefits to both. But if you want consumers who are already ⅓ of the way down the sales funnel (they’re in consideration or even “buy now” phase”, you don’t want to be page 3 or 4 of Google.
There’s a nerd joke in the digital marketing world that goes like this.
“Where do you hide something where no one will find it? On the second page of Google.” - Staying in the vein of SEO, the first step to making your website more efficient (because Google likes efficient websites and therefore, ranks them higher than non-efficient websites), is to get an SEO audit report and local keyword analysis report.
These reports are the FOUNDATION for all of your digital marketing efforts. Without them, you’re building your real estate business on the sand. They give you insight into what your customers are actually searching for – their pain points, their questions. Which allows you to make data-driven marketing decisions.
(Insert shameless plug here: Don’t have that? Book a call. I can help.)
- Once you have your SEO Audit Report in hand – fix the broken stuff on your website. I guarantee you there is stuff to fix…there always is.
Mission Marketing Today SEO reports come with:
- Technical
- Off-Page
- On-Page
- Competitor Analysis
- Longtail Keyword Research for your Local Area
- 1-2 Page Executive Summary Review of what to work on first.
- Good SEO can take 4-6 months to begin to make rank improvements. You may see some minor uplift early on, but it takes momentum to build – like a rolling stone. It’s a long game, but you don’t want to miss out on those leads already looking to buy, sell, or invest.
Remember: If you don’t fix anything, in six months, you’ll be in the same space you are today.
Website Optimization Tip 2:
Optimize Your Digital Real Estate Space
Remember newspapers? Those printed things we used to read before Yahoo News?
The front page was prime real estate. It was the space every journalist wanted their story featured. Why? It got the most attention.
(See where I’m going?)
A newspaper is folded in half. When it lands on your doorstep, you don’t see the back half of Page 1. It’s hidden. It’s folded under.
The main information, the main headline, the big story, went on page 1 ABOVE THE FOLD.
Your website also has a “fold” line.
On desktop, when you open your website, that bit of of your website that you can see and read before you have to grab your mouse to scroll down, that’s your “above the fold” area.
This area is key in website optimization when optimizing for user experience.
Though the media has changed, human brains are still evolving. We look for the important stuff “above the fold”.
Realtors: That’s your prime real estate!
That’s where you put the most important information on your entire website. Guess what it is?
- Your USP or Unique Selling Proposition. This is your 1 sentence elevator pitch.
You’re not just a real estate team. You’re different. But I need to know what makes you different than every other real estate team out there that I could hire right now.
You have my attention for 2.3 seconds. What do you say? (Need help with this? Let’s chat.) - Your Call-To-Action. You don’t want people to visit your site and leave. That’s bogus. No. You want them to connect with you in some way. Something memorable. Here are few ideas of CTAs you can use on your website:
- Call Now – Helpful for some people, but many won’t take this action. It’s too direct. Some people like a soft approach, but still, make sure your phone number is easy to spot for those who know what they want.
- View Homes – This is a great CTA for those real estate teams who focus on buyers. Make sure to gate the content after three home views, meaning, you politely ask for their name, email, phone, to continue to view more homes. This should be connected to MLS. Don’t like gated listings? Try a lead magnet instead.
- Call Now – Helpful for some people, but many won’t take this action. It’s too direct. Some people like a soft approach, but still, make sure your phone number is easy to spot for those who know what they want.
- Your Lead Magnet. Also called a “freebie” or other terms, this is a valuable piece of information that your customer can’t just get anywhere.
The best content is specific to your customer, addresses a direct need they have, and offers a quick “win” or solution, along with a call-to-action to contact you at the end.
Of course, since this content is gated (requiring them to put in their email and name to get it), you’ll already have their contact info to follow up with them…just don’t spam them a bunch of junk email.
Make it relevant and helpful, and they will ENJOY getting emails from you.
Fantastic Above-The-Fold Website Examples
Offerpad
OfferPad NAILS it on this one.
The USP is there – “We’ll buy your home in 24 hours.” In 2.3 seconds, I know exactly what makes working with them unique. (If you need help defining what makes your brand unique, I can help.)
The phone number is prominent.
The CTA (put in your info) is above the fold.
That CTA is also their lead magnet. I should expect a follow-up call in under 24 hours, per their website.
Aaron Kirman – Luxury Realtor
Aaron Kirman’s lead magnet isn’t above the fold, it’s a pop-up based on exit intent. For his home page, he instead outlined the CONTACT option in his menu with a solid black line around it, which still draws the eye – his main CTA.
The branding is very classy and on-point, for his audience. By using words like “exclusive” and “VIP”, his luxury market is more attracted to this offer.
Website Optimization Tip 3:
Upgrade The Graphics, But Keep It Simple
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Cor 13:11
When you had a baby real estate team, you bought some cute little graphics and stock videos on Fiverr. You were just getting started. You wanted stuff for your website and social media and you didn’t know where to go.
Fiverr is great for that and A+ for you for getting the ball rolling.
You want to portray a few quality traits – professionalism, efficiency, respect for your client’s time and energy, the ability to get the job done (and done right the first time).
Which is why, once you’re past your first year of business with your real estate team, it’s time to let the Fiverr stock image videos go.
Stock images and video:
- Do not reflect your brand or your vision for your company.
- Are everywhere – including on your competitor’s page, so you lose people’s attention (this is bad).
- You LOSE leads.
Check out this bit from a case study by MarketingExperiments.com. They swapped out a stock photo of a generic smiling lady with a picture of the founder of a company.
“When the recognizable image of the founder was used, visitors were 35 % more likely to sign up for a free consultation. Remember, this is a 35% lift on top of many other previous gains in the testing-optimization cycle.”
-Marketingexperiments.com
So, in the words of Elsa, it’s time to “let it go”.
SUMMARY
If you need help “letting go” of your old marketing tactics and making real moves to invest in your business and building a real leads pipeline, we should chat.
I love to help mission-minded real estate teams grow their businesses, so that they can continue to invest in their communities.
You can book a free call with me here.
Chat soon!