Getting traffic and having great branding for your site is one thing. Converting these people that get to your site is another. If you’re like me or any other website owner then you probably care more about the results you actually get from your site and not how many people are just coming to it (unless of course you are monetizing your site with ads).
The tip for this week is to give you some insight on how to convert the actual people that are getting to your site – assuming that people are already getting there.
Real Estate Marketing Quick Tip 2
This one is going to take a little planning and research. Sit down and start thinking about what you do better than anyone else in your business / area. I recommend trying to make a list of about 10-15 things that you can offer a prospective client better, faster, more effectively, more efficiently than your competitors. Not sure what your competitors do? Go to their sites and see what they push in your face. Once you have done all this then, and only then, can you get down to my second tip for you to make your site work for you:
Plan out the top 3 things you want people to do once they get to your site and put them on your site.
In case you’re asking what I mean by "things for people to do" here’s a little more clarification in the form of some examples:
1) Click on your "Contact" page to provide you with their email, name and phone number
2) Subscribe to your email newsletters
3) Call or email you for a free market analysis report or home evaluation
Getting the point yet?
Although the 3 examples above are considered pretty weak these days they still represent having a plan of actual "calls to action" to entice people to provide you with their contact information. You really need to be much more creative these days to generate leads from your website as people are much more savvy and will find how to get what they need somewhere else without having to provide any information. This represents much more of a reason for you to really plan what you can offer people to entice them to become a lead for you, whether they know they are becoming one or not.
Here are some examples of "calls to action" or lead conversion tactics that I have seen that still work comparably well against your typical "contact form" or "have questions?"
- Make a prominent button on your homepage that offers people "Automated Email Updates" of properties only within their search criteria. The whole catch here is that this is automated, meaning that they don’t have to ever talk to you if they don’t want to. Don’t get offended….you’re getting what you want (their email address to add to your email marketing list) and they get those free email updates which save them time for searching thousands of different sites
- Offer useful articles for buyers, sellers, renters, investors, etc. Don’t advertise the typical, "Tips for Buyers" or "Tips for Sellers" articles as those are so boring and overplayed. Instead, feature some specific, useful articles or newsletters about something like "The Top 5 Things to Save You Money When Buying a Home" or "Learn How to Get $25,000 More When Selling Your Home"
Making sense?
These things should not be borrowed or stolen from other sites; they should be specific to you and what you can realistically provide better and faster than anyone else. Also, do not rely on these or stick with these indefinitely. Change them up, split test them, see what works, fine tune or throw out anything that doesn’t work.
Whether we all might like to think otherwise, a website is never "done". if you let it sit, then it will do just that….sit and do nothing for you. So, get creative, think about your business and what you can offer and use those to entice people once they get to your site. A good gauge when creating these things would be to just ask yourself if you would provide your personal information for what you are offering. If not, then what makes you think it will make someone else want to?
Good luck! Feel free to send us your ideas, privately or via a comment, as we will be more than happy to let you know if you are on the right track or not. We have seen just about everything and know what works and what doesn’t so try us!