12 Secrets About Generating Real Estate Buyer Leads Zillow Doesn’t Want You To Know About

Who doesn’t need real estate buyer leads?

…and I don’t mean those tire kickers.

Of course, you and your real estate team could use more!

Real estate buyer leads are what drive almost every business. They get you listings!

And today I have something that will make you generate real estate buyer leads day & night.

12 of Zillow’s top secrets to real estate buyer lead generation they don’t want you to know!

If you’re ready for a more effective real estate website, be sure to check out LeadSites.

1) Use Community Pages To Get 2-3X More Traffic From Real Estate Buyer Leads

Real Estate SEO is not dead.

Let me repeat that: Having Your Website Be On Page 1 Of Google Isn’t Impossible In Real Estate.

Create neighborhood farm pages with Instafarm, part of LeadSites – Learn more.

The key with showing up and generating real estate buyer leads for free is through community pages.

Let’s look at Zillow:

Sure, they show up for San Diego Homes For Sale.

But they also target small searches like: “hillcrest homes for sale san diego”

Zillow knows that the money in real estate is in local content.

Here’s how you can capitalize on this:

1) Create local pages for neighborhoods and school districts (We do this for you with our Easy Agent Pro Leadsites).

2) Curate local content like Video Tours, Neighborhood Blog Posts, And More!

3) Follow the simple rules on this blog post about Real Estate Keywords to rank higher on Google.

2) Add “Design Content” To Slash Tire Kickers And Find True Real Estate Buyer Leads

Close your eyes for a second…and ask yourself:

What type of buyer leads do you really want?

They are probably affluent, serious buyers, and not particularly motivated by blog content about how to save on your next mortgage. Right?

Some of the best real estate blog ideas are those related to interior design. And Zillow knows this.

Look at their website!

Zillow lists the home design tab on their menu!

That’s how much they stress interior design related content. I can’t recommend enough the power of curating useful design information about your local community.

3) Add Mortgage Trends And Data To Attract Smart Real Estate Buyer Leads

Real Estate Marketing starts with being helpful.

Your competitive advantage resides in your ability to out-educate or help potential clients.

One of the easiest ways of doing this is through content about mortgage trends and data.

Look at Zillow.com again:

They help buyers find meaningful information about their mortgages.  You can find rates, calculate data, see trends, and compare various companies.

But this is national data. It’s not that helpful on a local level!

You can compete with Zillow by presenting them with similar information about local mortgage rates, vendors, and information.

Help them get pre-approved by arming them with the data they need to make a smart decision.

You’ll instantly start getting stronger buyer leads.

4) Make It Easy With Mortgage Content Written For You

Here’s the thing:

You don’t even have to write the information about mortgages yourself!

If you have a real estate lead capturing blog (like our Leadsites), you can have a mortgage professional write articles for you. They’ll be more than happy to help you get more eyes on your blog in exchange for a link to their website.

Use this opportunity just like Zillow does! They refer out all types of mortgage companies.  Use your blog to give real estate related testimonials to local vendors in related spaces!

You can easily double the content on your real estate blog by having mortgage vendors write content for you.

5) Give To Get: Great Real Estate Buyer Leads Need Content That Helps Them

In my article covering how to get started in real estate, I talk about the need to establish your credibility through written blog content.

Writing helpful articles like this (Blog ideas) helps establish you as an authority figure.

But it also helps quality buyers find you.

Look at Zillow’s content:

They literally have forums that answer every type of question.

Here’s how you compete with Zillow: 

You can create local content that helps buyers decide where to live. Create guides that talk about the neighborhood conditions, trends, school ratings, etc. You can be invaluable to buyers in a way that Zillow simply can’t!

Zillow can’t create personalized content for every neighborhood. You can create personalized content for every neighborhood you want to farm for real estate.

6) Zillow Ads On Google – They’re There For You To See How They Obtain Real Estate Buyer Leads

Are you thinking about running Google Ads to generate more real estate buyer leads?

Here’s a simple tip:

Create profitable ads more quickly by using Zillow’s proven copy.

Copy is hard to write.

You never know what ad is going to work and which one isn’t. That is…unless you use an ad that is obviously working.

Where can you find those?

Easy:

The best way to find great ads that work on Google Adsense is by looking at what’s currently there.

You can use this free tool to figure out what Zillow, Trulia, and your competitors are doing on Google AdSense:

iSpionage

It will show you how much money and time the ads have used up. The longer the ads are running, the better the chance that they are profitable.

Then, you can build your own Google Ad campaign around what is working for them!

7) Stalk Zillow’s Real Estate Buyer Lead Ads On Facebook

Facebook Ads For Real Estate are becoming less effective at generating real estate leads.

Think about it:

When’s the last time you clicked a Facebook ad?

Facebook advertising is interruptive. Unlike Google ads, Facebook ads aren’t shown to people actively researching a solution to their problem.

Does that make sense?

For example, someone typing: “Sell my home now” into Google is looking for a solution to their problem.

This is not the case on Facebook, and since Facebook continues to make changes to its algorithm it’s been harder to profit from their ad platform. You can see this in how little Zillow uses the ad platform.

8) A Team Makes Content Production Light Work

So, we’ve been talking about creating a lot of content.

You’re probably wondering:

How can I do this?

Let’s look at Zillow again:

What do you notice?

It isn’t just one person creating all the content.

Real Estate buyer lead generation through content doesn’t have to be a one-person operation.

You can outsource content, hire real estate virtual assistants, and have your team create content for you.

Here’s your goal:

Create structures in your business where there is more than one person creating all the content. You’ll find that content becomes more profitable, easier, and successful when this happens!

9) Here’s How To Make Social Media Profitable

Zillow can teach you a lot about real estate social media.

Take one look at their Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile and you’ll notice one thing:

Zillow uses social media to drive traffic back to their website.

EXCLUSIVELY. 

That’s it. That is all they are using social media to do.

They always include a link back to their content.

Why?

Because their website is where the lead generation happens!

Just like with Easy Agent Pro Leadsites, your website is where you capture leads. Social media is where you drive traffic from.

Here’s the deal:

If you want to get more buyer leads, create useful content.

And then share it on social with a link back to your website.

10) Here’s How Zillow Gets Information From Their Real Estate Buyer Leads

But here’s the kicker:

You can get all the traffic in the world. But it won’t make you money unless you convert it.

Zillow does this in a lot of ways. But Real Estate Landing Pages are perhaps the best ways to convert this traffic.

You’ll want huge call to action buttons on both your blog articles and listing pages.

Why?

The more diverse calls to action you create, the higher your conversion percentage will be.

11) Hyper Local Pages Help SEO And Conversions

When it comes to converting great real estate leads, an important aspect is trust.

People want to do business with the expert for them.

For example, if you had knee problems would you trust a general physician or a knee specialist?

Real Estate Farming and hyper local pages aren’t just for SEO.

If you can be seen as the hyper-local expert, people will seek you out for transactions because you are the specialist for their specific situation.

Zillow knows this. That’s why they spend so much time cultivating pages around very specific neighborhoods.

What’s the best part?

You can beat them at this game! You can take videos and write blogs about local restaurants, attractions, and more. Zillow can’t compete with you on a local level like this.

12) Capture The Whole Target Audience – Foreclosure Guides Expand Your Reach

Listen:

I know it isn’t glamorous to target buyers looking for foreclosures.

But if it didn’t’ work, why would Zillow have an entire section of their website devoted to the topic?

How long would it take to create a simple Foreclosure guide for your local area?

Probably not more than 2 hours of writing.

Foreclosure business can keep you in business when things get tough. Plus, sometimes people dealing in real estate foreclosures are frequent buyers of real estate.

It’s a good investment for your business to invest time into marketing to these people.

The Arms Race Of Number of Pages

Finally, when it comes to online and offline real estate marketing ideas, you are in an arms race.

Zillow has over 71 million pages on their website.

They also have claimed offline marketing streams.

You have to create content and find ways to be everywhere to succeed in real estate.

Want to know the best part:

You can beat them at a local level. You can have more pages related to local neighborhoods. But you have to start today and you have to be consistent.

Follow these 12 steps and you’ll see great results in the real estate buyer leads you generate

What do you think?

Please, leave a comment below!

Let me know which of the tactics you’ll be using.  And if I missed any!

Ready to take your digital marketing the the next level? Learn how LeadSites can help, or schedule a free demo with us!

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Tyler Zey

Hey! I'm Tyler with Easy Agent Pro! We provide top notch marketing content for realtors... And we do it for FREE! I get excited about sharing tactics and strategies that can be implemented TODAY.

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