Search Engine Optimization.
For those who don’t know, SEO refers to optimizing your website so that it ranks higher in search results based on a keyword search. Each engine uses a different algorithm, and the algorithms are closely held secrets, (in fact, only a handful of people at Google know) but the general principles are going to be the same across the big three: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
A poorly designed website is no different than a poorly designed store front. In the case of a website, you’re ultimately designing your website to please people as much as you are pleasing the little packets of script (known as bots) which crawl the web and index all the pages they find.
SEO is great for driving organic traffic into your pipeline. By investing in SEO and building your site around those best practices, users who search for a specific keyword, e.g. houston real estate agent, will find your website in the top few spots in their search results. You can hook up a lead capture form integrated into your MLS search function so all that organic traffic is captured as organic leads. Best of all, organic traffic is inherently free. The only costs associated with SEO are optional web design, paid tools, or even consultants.
How many of your leads come from search results? Have you calculated your ROI on SEO?
Also consider using services which build websites for you following strict SEO best practices. Best of all, I’ll hook up your IDX feed for you, create lead capture forms, and deliver leads directly to you. Schedule your free demo with me today!
Email marketing.
Email is King. Long live Email! Despite sensationalism looking for easy clicks (I’m looking at you, Cnet), email is not dying. Last year alone, over 215,000,000,000 emails were sent each day! And that’s a 5% increase over 2015.
In Cnet’s defense, it’s entirely plausible to attribute the steady increase in email activity to the now common practice of daily updates and notifications from our social media platforms and abandoned shopping cart reminders. However, there’s a smarter way to leverage email marketing than spraying-and-praying at your lead’s inboxes.
Did you know that leads nurtured through email drip campaigns can see 119% higher click rates, 50% higher conversion rates, and make 47% larger purchases? I’m not joking. Building email templates and structuring those templates into automated drips is the best way to leverage your email marketing efforts. Because email drips are composed of templates, everything is entirely customizable and recyclable, too!
What sort of engagement did you see last year from your cold lead emails?
Also, reach out to me and I’ll teach you how to run automated email drip campaigns from your computer and mobile phone.
Back to school.
Your leads questions won’t stop at your local market. In fact, a lot of first time homebuyers come unprepared when it comes to the lending process and mortgages. And sellers are always asking “is now a good time to sell?” What data do you have to backup the seller’s market? What about mortgage rates? What impact would the FHA mortgage premium cuts had on your leads?
It’s important to stay on top of topics just outside of real estate, including finance and housing policies. In addition to answering all those questions, keeping an eye on the market will help you adapt your strategies to any changes. Did you know? International buyers accounted for $87 billion in real estate sales in the last 18 months. First time homebuyers made up 35% of all transactions in 2016, too.
Have you talked to your lender about the best ways to help educate first time homebuyers?
Local data is more powerful than national data.
In a speech at Inman Connect New York earlier this year, Ashton Gustafson, owner of Bishop Realty Group, taught us to “be the expert of your community because local data is more powerful than national data.” Although this is not a call to action to disregard data on a national scale – in fact I highly encourage each and everyone of you to stay in touch with other agents across the country – Ashton’s message really means for us to study the nuances which make each of our communities unique.
Buyers will leverage your insider knowledge and will want to understand factors like school quality, crime rates, age demographics, noise levels, traffic patterns, local taxes (yes, this includes sales tax!), HOA fees, and even building codes for future remodels.
How well do you know your top performing zip codes?
You can send me your top performing zip codes and I’ll give you the tools to covert your leads at unprecedented levels!
Lead generation strategies for 2017.
Anyone can fight over conversion strategies, and in fact, it’s very safe to say entire industries are even built around it. You could build a bank on every agent’s two cents from around the globe on their opinions over sales techniques. But even before the first text, call, or email, how you generate leads will ultimately define your success this year. Strong lead generation strategies will make or break your business.
Crafting copy, approving banners from graphic designers, running Facebook ads, and pouring through analytics is incredibly time consuming. Why waste time generating leads and attending a myriad of lead gen seminars when there’s an automated solution around the corner?
At Chime, we deliver high quality leads generated through our social intelligence algorithm. Best of all, the leads are unique to you. No more Trulia Pro subscriptions. No more scrambling to your inbox to secure Zillow leads. No more seminars.
If you’re ready to convert your own leads delivered fresh daily, let’s chat. Schedule your free demo with me today!