Get Comfortable with Zillow - Zillow has become a mega-player in the real estate field. It is the largest real estate website in the U.S., with 90% of homebuyers accessing the site for searches and an average monthly visitor rate of 195 million. Local Zillow and Trulia have advertising opportunities that offer an attractive ROI (return on investment) possibility.
Follow Up with Open House Visitors - Many agents use a sign-in sheet to collect visitor contact information. This is not a bad way to build your database, but make sure you are also engaging with these prospects personally. These homebuyers may also need representation now or in the future and meeting you at an open house is a great way to make a positive first impression. After the open house, follow up with a personalized email, call, or hand-written note. You can even take it a step further and take a few notes on each visitor, so when you do your follow up, you have something specific to say about each one. This lets people know you really pay attention and value them as individuals.
Provide Personalized Service - In addition to the previous tip, carry your personalized service into your ongoing relationship with your prospects and clients. If your database is relatively small and manageable, you can reach out with value-add touch points on a regular basis. For example, if you have a group of prospects interested in a specific neighborhood, you could send community reports just to that group. Another idea is to send birthday or home buying anniversary cards to past, future, and current clients. This is a great way to stay top of mind when your services are needed.
Use Yelp to Increase Visibility - Yelp listings are a great way to boost your website ranking. Create a Yelp page and strive to get some good reviews. Yelp also offers advertising, which may be a good option, but it isn’t necessary to get some benefits from the site.
Share Resources With Potential Clients - Consider taking the time and effort to create a value-add freebee to offer website, open house, and social media contacts. This could be a new homebuyer guide, or a handbook on getting your home ready for listing. Once you have your give-away, you can advertise it on social media, making sure to target your local area.
Target Neighborhoods in Your Farm Area - We are big proponents of Own Your Neighborhood, because we’ve seen the benefits for our clients first-hand. When you establish yourself as an expert in the real estate market of a specific community, you become the go-to and an obvious referral source. You may want to increase your exposure by putting an ad in a local newsletter or on the Next-door site.
Generating leads is a primary task for every real estate agent. Having a powerful and impressive website is critical to the whole process. That’s where we come in…incorporating lead generating tools on all our websites. Get in touch for a free consultation to set you up with a stellar real estate website.