Real Estate Internet Marketing Checklist: 3 Steps to Capture Leads and Convert Prospects into Clients

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), over 80% of residential real estate sales start online. Yet an NAR report from May 2009 states that the typical NAR member “received four inquiries over the past year from a personal Web site, which accounted for 3 percent of their business.”

Why is there such a discrepancy with how prospects search for real estate information and real estate agents getting so few leads and inquiries from their websites? Clearly, the typical real estate website is not effective. Here are three steps you can take to transition your website into a lead capturing marketing tool.

Step 1: Your website should position you as a trusted local real estate specialist.

When your prospects visit your website, they are often confused and are searching for information that can help them make a real estate decision. Every day, they are bombarded with contrary information about whether its a good time to buy or sell, the best ways to go about doing this, what the press thinks about real estate, how their friends and family feel, and so forth.

They are looking for someone who can serve as a trusted advisor, almost like a consumer advocate, who can guide them through this stressful process and make it easy for them to understand exactly what needs to happen for them to buy or sell their home.

But they won’t believe just any Joe Schmoe who claims he’s a real estate expert. They want proof – is this real estate agent “for real?” Is he credible? Can he do what he says? Here’s how you can provide that proof.

• Your unique selling proposition – You tell people who you are, why you are different from other agents, and why they should choose you. Learn more about creating your unique selling proposition (USP).
• Social Proof – While anyone can “toot their own horn,” you want to show prospects evidence that others are confident you do what you say. To do that, you can include testimonials and case studies from happy clients, awards and credentials from industry associations, and publications about you and media appearances from the press.
• Web copy that speaks to their problems and concerns – Instead of focusing solely on you and what you can do for prospects, put yourself in the minds of your prospects and write to their concerns. Demonstrate you aren’t just an expert in selling local real estate, but you empathize with them as they make one of the biggest decisions of their lifetime.
• Educational resources – Most people think if you frequently publish articles or have written a book or give talks on a particular topic, you must be an expert on the subject. Use your website to showcase your expertise by offering free reports, articles for download, a local real estate blog, or other high-value content for download.

Step 2: Your website should actively capture leads.

Simply asking people to call you if they are interested isn’t enough. You need several ways for people to contact you through your website. Here are some ways to capture more leads from your website.

• Prominent opt-in forms – You have prominent opt-in forms to capture prospect’s contact information (their name and email address) when they request to join your newsletter, download your report or access specific site content.
• Prominent contact forms – You have contact forms so prospects can easily request a home appraisal, more information about an open house, or send you a real estate related question.
• RSS Feeds or other subscription channels – Some people may not want to give out their email address, so make it easy for them to subscribe to your content by providing an RSS feed. You can keep track of subscribers through a service like Feedburner.com.
• Database to capture leads – Anyone that gives you permission to follow up with them, such as those who join your newsletter, request your free information, or inquire about your services, should immediately be entered into a contact database so you can follow up with them.

Step 3: Nurture leads who aren’t yet ready to hire you.

Most real estate agents only want to do business with people who are ready to buy now. Unfortunately, less than 10% of people who contact you will fit into that category. For the other 90%, you need a follow up system in place to keep in contact with them. Here are some ways to follow up:

• Start a monthly newsletter – The cost of running an email newsletter is very low. You can sign up with an email service provider like Aweber for less than $20/month. Then, each month, write a 500-word article about your local real estate market, include a testimonial or case study, and send it out. Once it’s set up, it shouldn’t take you more than 5-7 hours per month to write up.
• Create follow up sequences – Create a specific step-by-step follow up sequence for each type of inquiry you receive. So when they request a home analysis, they get a series of 10 different types of follow ups (via email, regular mail, phone, and face-to-face) over the course of 90 days. A great way to do this is to record yourself giving a sales presentation. Then, transcribe your recording, organize it into sections, and use it as a template for your follow up system.

Each of your follow ups can address one part of your sales presentation such as: building rapport by making them feel welcome, guiding visitors through your process, answering common questions, explaining the benefits of working with you, telling other clients’ success stories, resolving any concerns they might have, and asking for a face-to-face meeting.

Since you create these pieces ahead of time and send the same marketing materials to every person that takes a specific type of action on your site, your follow up is virtually on autopilot. You just have to set up your database to notify you when it’s time to make the call, send the email, or print the letter.

By setting up this three-step lead capture and follow up system, you’ll start capturing more leads from your website and converting a higher percentage of those leads into paying clients.

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