Complete Guide to Real Estate Landing Pages
“Companies with 40+ Landing Pages get 12X’s more Leads than those with 5 or Less. Companies with 30+ Landing Pages get 7X’s more Leads than those with 10 or less.” ~ Hubspot
» It’s not enough to have a Beautiful Real Estate Website? Nope. Even if it has IDX? Maybe. » Ok, but you are a Real Estate Agent not a Company, right? No, you are a company within a company. And more importantly, you want leads. ˃ Some of you may not want leads, if that is you; then you don’t need to worry about a Real Estate Landing Page.
» If you want leads from your Web Presence then you are going to need a Landing Page or 2, or 3.
» The word Leads can mean many things to many different people, and you would probably all be right. It is a rather ambiguous term that we throw around with little consequence. » For the sake of this blog post we will define the word lead as: » Lead = Anybody you know that you could make contact with. ˃ Simple right? Why does it need to be complicated?
» There are many ways to collect Leads. Again for the sake of this blog post we will focus in on a category of lead. We will call it: » Landing Page Lead = Anybody that fills in their contact information on your Landing Page
» Did you know that your Real Estate Website is not really designed to convert leads? I know, this is Not Good News for most of you. And what do I mean anyway? » Well, it has been shown by “Big Data” and A/B testing that people on the internet do not tend to spend much time on Web Pages. » “How long will users stay on a Web page before leaving? …Users often leave Web pages in 10-20 seconds, but pages with a clear value proposition can hold people’s attention for much longer…” ~ Nielsen Norman Group » We only have a few seconds to catch people’s attention before they move on… UNLESS, there is a Clear Value Proposition.
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Your Real Estate Website was designed to be a “Catch-All”. A well designed Real Estate Website Homepage does have a clear Call-to-Action, or 2 or 3… but it also has: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
A Menu bar with lots of links to click Pictures of your or your team Widgets with Compelling Copy Links to different cool things on your site Multiple “Buttons” or Clickable Images Social Media Icons that click off of your site (should we really be doing this?) Zillow, Trulia, Yelp badges that click off of your site Mortgage Calculators Recent blog Posts
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None of these things are bad to have on your Real Estate Website and actually most are a necessary piece of the website puzzle, but not necessarily a Clear Value Proposition.
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According to Unbounce a Landing Page is, “any web page that a visitor can arrive at or “land” on. However, when discussinglanding pages within the realm of marketing and advertising, it’s more common to refer to a landing page as being a standalone web page distinct from your main website that has been designed for a single focused objective.”
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For the sake of this post we will define
» Real Estate Landing Page = A single webpage, with a clear value proposition, that is used to generate real estate leads.
» In order to get the maximum from your landing page, we first need to establish our:
» Goal
˃ In this [and virtually every] case, you are looking to get a real estate lead.
» Next, we need to create a:
»Plan ˃ to get our web visitor to give us their valuable information such as name, email address and phone number if possible.
» Lastly, we have to have a:
»Strategy ˃ in which we drive targeted viewers to our Landing Pages and ultimately convert them into a lead.
» Your Landing Page has a singular purpose! » It also has a singular design in that we don’t necessarily want our visitor to click on anything or go to the next page to register. We need to have everything that the consumer wants and is important enough to them that they’re willing to give you their name and email in order to get it. » You may be compelled to try to kill a few birds with one stone… Don’t! Landing pages must focus one 1 thing and 1 thing only. ˃ For example: A landing page is not the place to tell people that you graduated with honors. Remember your Goal is to get a lead, not impress the user.
» You’ll need a very simple process in place that doesn’t require the consumer to click through multiple pages or require more information than they are willing to give.
» What can you offer that a consumer would want? » Again, unlike your website which sort of acts like a “Catch-All”, our Landing Page needs to have that singular purpose and most importantly…A CALL TO ACTION.
» What is a Call To Action » “A call-to-action (usually abbreviated as CTA) is an image or line of text that prompts your visitors, leads, and customers to take action. It is, quite literally, a “call” to take an “action.” » The action you want people to take could be anything: download an ebook, sign up for a webinar, get a coupon, attend an event, etc. A CTA can be placed anywhere in your marketing — on your website, in an ebook, in an email, or even at the end of a blog post.” ~ Hubspot
» We need to give our viewer something that they want in exchange for their valuable contact information… that something they want is called a “Lead Magnet”.
» What is a Lead Magnet? » “A lead magnet is basically something that you’re using as an ethical bribe on your lead generation page to incentivize potential buyers to want to give you their name, email, phone number, address or whatever info it is that you’re asking for.” ~ IMScalable » Our plan then is to: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
Build a Landing Page With a singular purpose Add a call to action Ask for contact information In exchange for our lead magnet
» Email Listing Alerts » Instant Seller Home Value Report » Seller Home Value Report » Ebook or Electronic Report » Relocation Packet » Single Property Page » Market Report
» You may have seen or heard Zillow’s newest ad campaign (9/14) a man becoming excited that you had just received an email alert from Zillow with a brand new listing that matches his description. That was an Email Listing Alert. We figure if Zillow is making it a focal point it must be doing good conversions. » Lead Magnet = Getting emails when a new listing comes on market that matches their search criteria » *This service usually comes as a feature with your IDX provider. (IDX Broker Platinum offers this feature)
» This is a service where a potential lead can enter their address and within a few minutes get a complete report, with your contact information, giving a price range of their home along with some community data. This is of course after they have given you their contact information. » Lead Magnet = Home value report delivered to their email inbox within minutes » Examples of this service: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
Prime Seller Leads (our favorite) New Zips Eppraisal Leads 2 Listings Home Value Leads
» In addition to an instant home value tool, that gives a price range, you should also have a Landing Page with a form that collects enough information for you to give a full CMA and the most accurate Home Pricing. » Lead Magnet = This is not a Zestimate or even an Instant Home Value Report, this is the actual selling price of their home based off of neighborhood comparables. » This can be done with: ˃ Comes as a standard feature with most IDX providers. (IDX Broker Platinum) ˃ Creating a custom Form on a page of your website, or on a stand alone Landing Page
» This is pretty straightforward… give the user a free ebook or guide in exchange for their contact information. » Lead Magnet = Useful information in the form of a .PDF » Examples of eBook: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
Home Buyer Report Home Seller Report How To Get Your Home Ready To Sell First-Time Homebuyers Mortgage Checklist Why You Should Use A Real Estate Pro
» If you are interested in creating your own ebook you can use this Powerpoint template as a guide: »
How To Create an Ebook Template
» This landing page is essentially the same as an eBook Landing page, however I thought it was worth giving its own category. This is the ONE agent created “Lead Magnet” that I have seen be really effective. » The key to the relocation packet is to make it super detailed. Focus on the micro data and not the macro data. What I mean is that the user can find basic real estate data all over the web… give them the insider information that only a Real Estate Agent in that area could give them. » When creating your Relocation Packet Landing Page tell them the details about the area that you give in full detail in the packet. » Lead Magnet = Neighborhood Information they Can Not get anywhere else
» Here you focus in on 1 listing, market it and make sure you have lead capture built into the page to generate leads. » Lead Magnet = There are many you could use for these; Request a Showing, View Similar Listings, Setting Up Forced Registration with your IDX provider to continue viewing listings, The Listings Neighborhood Market Report or Relocation Packet. » This can be done with: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
IDX Web Page 3rd Party Vendors Postlets Agent Marketing Tour Factory
» This one is for all you Top Producer users out there. If you have the Market Snapshot tool then you can make a Landing Page out of it. Top Producer has a Market Snapshot Landing Page Builder on their website that explains how to do it, and gives you the code and images with a couple different layouts. » If you don’t have Top Producer you can also use Altos Research to create Automated Market Report landing pages. » If you don’t have the budget for Top Producer or Altos Research you could also do a standard landing page and create your own customized Market Report that you deliver to sign ups. » Lead Magnet = Receiving relevant data about a potential neighborhood in their email inbox within minutes
» Now that we’ve set our GOAL and have a PLAN…we must implement our STRATEGY to convert leads » Driving Traffic to Our Landing Pages » Of course we know that one of the best ways to drive traffic to our landing page is through syndication on multiple online media channels. This can be done both efficiently and cost effectively. Bare in mind, any advertising you do to promote your landing page should be respectful of your consumer (don’t post, tweet, share so much that your driving more consumers away than you’re attracting).
» I have written about blog post promotion many times and similar strategies work for promoting or marketing your landing page. Here is a few blog posts that will help you get started driving traffic to your landing page: • • • • •
120 Ways to Promote Your Blog Post Get Your Blog Post Shared Blog Post Promotion Checklist Drive Traffic with Youtube How To Use Facebook Ads
» Lastly, we suggest a modest budget to start of $50 a week for Facebook ads or page promotions from your fan page. However, if you’re not in a position to run an ad, you can easily post to your fan page as well as share on your personal page, twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus to name a few. You just can’t expect the Like · Comment · Share numbers like the ones you see here.
» Following we have a couple of examples of Landing Pages that have been split tested and proven to convert at 15% or greater! » Remember: » [KISS] Keep it Simple Stupid! Too often we see advertisements through fan page promotions and ads that are really over the top. Instead, just be straight forward and get to the point. No need to sell…just give value!
Âť These pages are currently converting at approximately 17%
» This is a great question, but not one that can be given a definitive answer. The reason being is that there are infinite variables at play when you are trying to collect leads on a landing page. » Colors – Copy – Images – Lead Magnet – Demographics – Button Style – Just to name a very few. » *A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself, How Much of your personal information would you give for access to what you are giving away? » The minimum amount of information you would want to ask for is an email. With an email you can make contact and add them to your email marketing campaign. ˃ If you want more leads: Ask for just the email. ˃ If you want higher quality leads: Ask for First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone Number, and a Message
» The more information you ask for the fewer leads you will capture, but the higher quality the lead will be. ˃ I usually ask for: Name and Email (Required), Phone Number (Optional), and ask them 1 question (Optional)
» The only way to know for sure how much information you should ask for is to run A/B tests with your landing pages. » 1 version of your landing page could ask for 3 pieces of information and 1 version could ask for 4 pieces of information. Then drive the same amount of traffic to both pages and see which one produced the results you are looking for. » Then run that version against a slightly altered version, drive traffic to both and see which one produced better results… you can keep doing this to continue to fine tune your lead conversion.
» What you do with the lead once you collect it is up to you and your business model. » If you are interested in Maximum Conversion then you need to have a system in place whereby you can make personal contact with your new lead within a 5 minute window. This is the approximate amount of time before your average lead will have moved on to the next possible solution. » If you are more of an attraction rather than promotion real estate agent then you can drop your new lead into a lead incubation system, or a good CRM or Email Marketing Software. » We recommend: ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃ ˃
MailChimp Brivity Top Producer Aweber Realty Juggler Happy Grasshopper
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You may want to try and build a landing page by yourself or you may want to get some help. Either way, you’ll need to follow the G.P.S. method we outlined above. And, if we haven’t said it enough, keep it simple and never forget your Call-to-Action!
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Below is a list of some great landing page providers we’ve used in the past.
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Leadpages.net — $200 year Unbounce — $49 mo. Instapage — $29 mo. WordPress Landing Page Plugins (Here our friends at WPMUDev have reviewed the best Free WordPess Landing Page Plugins) — FREE A Page on your WordPress Site with a Professional Contact Form — FREE (not suggested, this method requires coding skills) Home Value Leads — $49 mo. Prime Seller Leads -- $59 mo. Market Snapshot — $64.99 mo. IDX Generated Real Estate Pages – Cost of your IDX Provider ($49-$99 mo.) Tour Factory — $20 mo. Altos Research — $79 mo. Agent Marketing — $10 mo. Optimize Press Landing Page Plugin — $97 one time fee
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*All Pricing is for starter packages and copied from the products website. Prices are deemed to be accurate but are not guaranteed.
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Even if you have a great real estate website you need to have specific Landing Pages if you want to generate real estate leads.
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A Landing Page can be created with many different tools on many different platforms.
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Your Real Estate Landing Pages need to have a Clear Value Proposition and a Singular Purpose.
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You can use 1 of many different types of Lead Magnet to exchange for your visitors contact information.
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You are going to have to generate traffic to your Real Estate Landing Page.
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Remember, the only way to truly be sure that your Landing Page is converting at a high level is with A/B Testing.
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Once you collect a lead you are going to need a strategy for converting your lead into a sale.
www.JasonFox.me