The Key Elements of a Real Estate Squeeze Page

When a horse is thirsty, lead him to water, right?

The problem here is that you can’t make him drink, as the old saying tells us. But you can, and should, do what you can to encourage the horse to do your bidding.

The same holds true for real estate marketing. It takes encouragement and enticement to get most leads to drink from the fountain of real estate, thus becoming credible prospects.

There are lots of ways of accomplishing this, the most common is with a call-to-action (CTA).

If you have a solution to a common real estate problem or valuable information that real estate consumers seeking and a CTA to entice them, where will you lead them and how?

That’s where a landing page comes in handy. Today, we’ll dive into learning more about the landing page’s baby brother: the squeeze page.

What’s the difference?

A squeeze page is a type of landing page. It’s shorter, the goal is more focused and the best use of it is to provide zero distractions so that the visitor is steered straight to the contact form.

“A squeeze page,” notes Megan Marrs at wordstream.com, “should act as an ultimatum for visitors – either take the offer or leave the page.” But an ultimatum in a kind, gentle way.

It’s the best type of landing page to use when you have a lead magnet on offer. We talked about lead magnets recently (What you Need to Know about Real Estate Lead Magnets) and reminded you how critical it is that yours is so enticing the reader can’t wait to get her hands on it.

So, she clicks on the link to find out how to get the goodies and is taken to a squeeze page. One step closer to becoming a lead.

What is the singular goal of the page for the visitor?

This is an important consideration and you’ll want to laser focus on it when building your squeeze page. More than one goal will be distracting for the visitor and the key to capturing leads with this page is to get folks to sign up for your lead magnet.

So, it has to be one, and only one goal.

If your lead magnet is a home seller’s guide, the goal of the landing page is to capture listing leads. Newsletter signup? Your goal is to gather signups for it.

Settle on one clear goal and keep it in the front of your mind when creating your real estate squeeze page.

Your singular goal with a real estate squeeze page

Your singular goal is to get the visitor’s email address. Not to tell the visitor how amazing you are, not to blast them with trite real estate sayings, but to get that contact information. That’s it.

“Squeeze pages are free of excessive content, links, and any other elements that could potentially distract users from the main goal – providing their email address,” suggests Michal Leszczynski at getresponse.com.

The real estate squeeze page

The easiest, quickest way to create a real estate squeeze page is with one of Easy Agent Pro’s templates. Check them out, here.

There are also WordPress squeeze page plugins.

Whether tweaking a template or designing your own squeeze page, there are some basics to keep in mind that will ensure you capture those leads.

Start at the top of the page

Remember, the key to success with your campaign is your lead magnet. What are you offering in exchange for the visitor’s email address? Whether it’s vital information in the form of a special report, an eBook or anything else, it must be enticing enough for visitors to want to cough up the info.

“The most common type of lead magnet is the report/guide/tip sheet where the prospect provides personal information for content that is not otherwise available,” according to Will Kenton at investopedia.com.

Again, the key to your success lies in the value of your lead magnet. Take the time to consider the average real estate consumer’s biggest problem right now and how to solve it.

Right now, one huge problem is the lack of inventory and the fact that homes in good areas and at decent prices are selling at lightning-fast speed.

We took one of Kenton’s ideas and tweaked it for the real estate agent:

“Six Foolproof Tips to Make a Winning Offer on a Home”

Folks who are going to sell and are in the process of getting the home ready for the market will next be looking for a listing agent. If your lead magnet piques their interest, they will click that button to download or otherwise receive that information.

If, on the other hand, your lead magnet offers common information that visitors can get on every other real estate website, you may as well not bother with the campaign.

The squeeze page will clinch the deal, so keep it short, distraction-proof and compelling.

• Craft a killer headline. Jacinta Santora at optinmonster.com offers examples and we think this, from backlinko.com, is one of the best:

 

The headline must also let the visitor know that he or she has arrived at the right place. In other words, if you promised a seller’s guide don’t make your headline all about something else.

This doesn’t mean you need to be a Madison Avenue wiz to write the header. In fact, Emily Bauer at unbounce.com suggest that “It’s better to be clear than clever.”

Here’s another example from GQ magazine that we found at taboola.com. It’s simple, the subhead (above the headline) and the headline communicate exactly what I’ll get if I give them my email address.

We do suggest, however, that you leave off the “No Thanks” button.

 

Sean Bestor cites a sumo.com study that found “… straightforward headlines out-performed their creative alternatives 88% of the time.”

For example, the headline “Why Aren’t You Sending These 15 Emails?’ didn’t come close to the performance of “Free Ebook: 15 Emails Everyone Should Send.”

• If, and only if, you have the space, include one of your best, short testimonials near the bottom. “… quotes from happy customers can prove to users that your offer is of value,” according to Marrs.
• Create a simple yet powerful call-to-action. The above example’s is perfect. “GET THE EBOOK” or “GET THE SPECIAL REPORT,” or whatever your lead magnet happens to be.

Basic do’s and don’ts for your real estate squeeze page

Hick’s Law states that the number of choices a person has determines how long he or she will take to decide on one. The more choices, the longer it will take.

Remember this when putting together your real estate squeeze page. Give visitors only one choice: enter their email address in the opt-in box.

• Target, target, target. This page isn’t for anyone with a pulse. If you narrowed your audience as suggested earlier, target only that audience.
• Avoid adding outbound links with the exception of the one in your CTA.
• Resist the urge to include a nav bar at the top of the page. It’s a distraction (remember, this page gives them only one choice).
• Choose a compelling image.
• Do consider adding a short but powerful sentence from a testimonial near the bottom of the squeeze page. Now, we aren’t talking testimonials from clients. Give your lead magnet to a couple of people, have them read and review it. Choose the best sentence from these reviews for your squeeze page.
• Ensure that the page is optimized for mobile.
• Proofread before publishing. A couple of times.
• Ensure that your lead magnet is delivered immediately via email or download.

How do you get a horse to drink? Warm up the water, add yummy stuff to it, like apple juice, grain or soaked hay, and that horse may be enticed to drink from the trough.

Enticements.

They work on people too.

Check out this older article from Ethan Edwards at inman.com for more real estate squeeze page tips and inspiration.