There are about 1,295,973,827 websites online, worldwide. About 547,200 new sites go online every day – that’s 380 every minute, according to MillforBusiness.com.
That’s a whole lot of competition for attention.
And it drives home the fact that your site needs to grab your visitor’s attention immediately if you hope for it to generate leads.
If yours is lagging in real estate website lead gen, you may be making one of three common mistakes. Let’s fix them.
Where’s the lead capture?
When I was a kid, growing up in Hawaii, I loved to go spear fishing. One beautiful Big Island morning I hit the jackpot. The fish were almost jumping onto my spear.
With a net bag full, I headed back to shore, trailing the bag behind me. As I clambered up the lava rocks, I held the bag high to show my family the haul.
They laughed.
The bag was empty, with a gaping hole in the bottom of it. Considering it was probably a shark that made off with my loot, I guess I lucked out. But it was heartbreaking nonetheless.
Is there a hole in your lead bag?
Driving traffic to your site is just the first step. Since 95% of them will never return, you need to stuff them into that bag before the sharks get them.
It’s critical to get their contact information a.s.a.p. And one of the best ways to do that is with a pop-up form.
Yeah, I know – I hate them too. But . . .
“With the right strategy, pop-up ads can actually be effective but you have to figure out how to provide value and minimize frustration,” according to Jacob Baadsgaard, founder and CEO of Disruptive Advertising.
Baadsgaard goes on to relate that “… our on-site pop-up ads convert as much as 7% of the people who see them.
Here’s an example of a lead capture pop-up from Easy Agent Pro’s Leadsite:
Although the “magnet” in this pop-up is for a CMA, it can be anything of value to your visitors, from subscribing to your newsletter to a real estate-related e-book.
Your lead magnet should solve your primary target audience’s big real estate problem.
You’re confusing them
The second biggest hurdle we see when it comes to real estate website lead gen is… actually pretty obvious.
We’ve talked about this before, but we still see this on a daily basis: where do you work?
Judging by most sites we see, it’s a mystery. Why force a visitor to hunt through your site to find out if you serve his or her market? Get the name of your market above the fold so your visitors know, immediately, that they’re on a local website.
You aren’t impressing them
Americans are review-crazy. They depend, heavily, on social proof, but for some really weird stuff.
For instance, the most reviewed businesses are restaurants. Apparently, few of us can go out to eat without checking to ensure everyone else likes the restaurant.
Yet, according to the NAR, real estate consumers do business with the first agent they speak with.
Is where to eat dinner really more critical to them than finding the right agent to handle their largest investment?
Just your basic rhetorical question.
Since many don’t seek out agent reviews, it’s up to you to ensure that they are prominently displayed on your site when focusing on real estate website lead gen. It’s an easy way to truly make you stand out from the other agents in your market.
You know that spot that is front and center, top-of-the-fold on your home page? Dump the dorky slogan and put your best, most-glowing review in it’s place.
Then, sprinkle the rest throughout your site.
Ensure they are signed (no first name and only an initial for the last – use the full name, with your clients’ permission) and, if they aren’t recent (within the past few weeks), leave off the date.
Sure, there are other real estate website lead gen mistakes we see frequently on real estate sites. Fix these three, however, and watch the leads roll in.