How many fish do you think these fishing poles have caught?

Answer: Well it depends doesn’t it! You need to know how often the fishing pole was taken fishing, and how much the fisherman knew about fishing.

There are so many factors that are outside the control of the fishing pole itself.

But what’s this have to do with your real estate website?

Simple:

Real estate websites are marketing tools just like fishing poles are fishing tools.

I’m going to break down the 3 reasons why your real estate website will never be finished.

…and what you can do on a daily or weekly basis to catch more fish with your site.

Click here to download our guide about real estate websites

Download our guide about real estate websites

1. Content is king: Here’s how to win local markets with it

The first step to taking your website fishing (and working with it after it’s created) is creating content.

Take a look at our LeadSites:

They create content automatically for you…

…and have a section where you can add blogs, videos, and more to your new website.

Why would you want to do this?

This type of content does several things.

First, if it’s educational, content almost always increases the number of leads coming through local businesses websites.

This is because content makes your website discoverable.

Back to our analogy:

The fish in the water cannot find the fishing pole’s hook if the fishing pole is in the garage.

Creating content on your website (or having a website that creates content for you) is the only way to get your fish near the fishing pole. There simply is no other way.

Additionally, the content you create can build trust. This is very important for Realtors who are typically used to leads that are lacking in quality.

For example, have you ever called a lead that simply doesn’t care who they buy a house from? Real estate marketing ideas have to focus on building up the value proposition for you as an agent. They have to highlight the individual advantages of going with you.

Think of it this way:

Is there a bad day to contact your leads?

Maybe it’s Monday.

You know that almost no one answers your calls on Monday. What if you set aside that time to create an educational piece on your website that could serve your audience for the next few years?

Real estate marketing is all about giving away that value proposition. Create something that can educate hundreds of people with you only having to spend time on it once.

Consider this:

Website conversion rate is nearly 6x higher for content marketing adopters than non-adopters (source)

And

Less than 10% say they’re losing money on content marketing (source)

When’s the last time you found a real estate marketing tactic that rarely produces loses?

Postcards, flyers, and mass mailing campaigns produce much lower rates of return than that!

2. What about ads? Can that strategy produce leads?

Advertising online is another way to produce a solid stream of leads if you don’t quite have time for content.

Your real estate website can never be finished because there are always more ways to optimize your online advertising metrics.

For example, are you running ads for your real estate companies name?

Are you trying our new method of running ads with Zillow and your city’s name?

You need to monitor your ads on a weekly basis because these numbers change daily.

Why?

Both Facebook and Google ad platforms operate on a bidding system.

This means that the amount it costs for clicks today is different than what it cost a week ago.

And the keywords that were profitable today are different than the ones that were profitable months ago.

Setting up a website with some ads and never touching it would be, again, like never taking the fishing pole and going fishing.

Even the best real estate websites, need to have their traffic supplemented by Google and Facebook Ads.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy win, try this:

You can look up your local area with a keyword like Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor.com in front of it.

Here’s what I’ve found:

It can literally be cheaper and have more average monthly searches to bid on your competition’s name.

If you just got a LeadSite or have another real estate landing page, try setting up some Google ads with the above keywords.

I almost can guarantee your real estate website will have a more profitable month for you.

3. The Truth About Updating Your Website

When it comes to your marketing plan, you need to consider both the long and short-term benefits of real estate SEO and social media.

Websites that are updated more than once per month typically experience a positive ROI. For example, 79% of companies that have a blog report a positive ROI for inbound marketing in 2013.

Looking for ways to update your website?

Here are a few:

Blog: This one is obvious. But if you have 30 minutes on your hand, why not write a blog? All a blog has to be is an answer to a question that you are commonly asked.

News: Are there things happening around town? Do you have events you could talk about? Link out to other local businesses when you talk to them. You’ll find that they are more likely to link to you when you do this. What you’ll find is that even the occasional local update will produce traffic. And traffic produces leads.

Agent Directory: People like to see names and faces online. It helps build trust.

Home Page: You can experiment with different calls to action on your home page. This is a great way to test different ways of getting leads. Be sure to change out your header image occasionally! It can really keep your website looking fresh.

About Page: These are the business cards of the digital age! Keep this page up to date. And make sure not to make it too dogmatic. Show people a little bit about you on this page for best results.

Testimonials: Your testimonials are the best way to convert traffic into leads.

What do you think?

How do you use your website as a fishing pole for leads in your business?

Let me know in the comment section below!