Content
Top-8 Digital Marketing Practices in Real Estate
October 25, 2023
20 mins
While the whole idea of the local real estate business is about serving your clients in person, there are evidence-proven numbers that prove the exponential growth of digital marketing solutions across this highly competitive industry.
This coincides with the modern buying trend of researching online and purchasing offline (ROPO). While every transaction ends with signing a contract with you, most local searches start online.
According to the Generational Trends Report by the National Association of Realtors (2022):
21% of home sellers need local real estate agents to price their homes competitively
20% need your marketing skills to help them market their homes to potential buyers.
16% expect realtors to help them sell their homes within a particular period.
16% want real estate agents to help them improve their estate to sell it for more
12% want realtors to find a buyer for their home
6% need negotiation facilitation to cope with buyers
5% need help with paperwork, passing through inspections, and preparing the settlement
1% want to see homes available for purchase
1% want to make video tours.
The purchasing behavior of local homebuyers, sellers, tenants, and property investors assumes initial research of the relevant product/service information online before they make their buying decision.
Answering the big question on today’s agenda of what is digital marketing in real estate, Promodo experts decided to dive deeper into eight core services.
Your global priority on the search engine optimization (SEO) agenda is to generate organic targeted traffic and convert it into profit. SEO is the cheapest performance marketing tool in dynamics to reach your long-term goals. We suggest SEO as a primary digital marketing strategy among other real estate marketing solutions.
Beneath paid ads on Google, the higher your content is in the organic search results, the more clicks you’ll get, and more traffic will come to your site so you can convert it into profit eventually.
Appearing among the top 10 on search engine results pages (SERPs) is a longstanding digital marketing endeavor. Unlike the paid ads (PPC) strategy where you can track your digital performance almost instantly, SEO promotion requires time (up to six months on average), additional investment, and lots of effort.
Your initial SEO task involves creating a user-friendly website and tailoring its content to suit local search preferences. At the start of your SEO pursuit, arrange a technical SEO audit. The functionality of your site depends on a vast array of metrics:
🔴 Site structure
🔴 Ease of navigation
🔴 Page speed
🔴 Content compatible with Google’s E-E-A-T framework
🔴 Link profile
🔴 Ranking
Depending on the quality of these and other factors, Google will rank your pages higher in the organic search results.
Most local property seekers will reach you with their smartphones. This means that you should make your site pages mobile-friendly.
Considering how sensitive the real estate business is, property management issues may come as a complex subject to many local dwellers. Mostly, individuals and businesses will turn to you as a trusted third-party contractor.
Do your best to craft the content on your site based on your hands-on experience and expertise in the local real estate market. These two factors will add to your Authority and boost Trust among local customers.
To market local properties to potential buyers or sellers, be sure to craft online listings filled with professional photographs.
There's a big chance that potential customers may not be aware of your services at all. Among the most effective real estate advertising ideas, we strongly recommend educating your target audience directly.
To bridge the gap, we encourage you to invest in content marketing. The content on your website should address the general lack of awareness about real estate and property management issues.
Consider launching a popular blog where you can delve into the intricacies of property management. This approach will help you accumulate customer reviews and feedback, and engage users on your website. It's a method to enhance user engagement, attract more qualified leads, and convert them into customers eventually.
Fill your blog with professional real estate and property management advice and recommendations, including custom-tailored content that reflects your hands-on experience. Over time, the content on your blog will evolve into a reputable source of information on local properties,
Locals will start associating you with a professional real estate agent and an influential source of firsthand information. An online presence like this will
🔴 Boost your brand awareness
🔴 Enhance your authority
🔴 Facilitate the expansion of your real estate business beyond local reach.
The more transparent and open you are with your target audience, the more organic response you'll receive. This is a vital aspect of your digital marketing in real estate strategy that will ultimately contribute to your E-E-A-T value.
In your online interactions, emphasize the importance of real estate and property management issues. Educate your audience about the various types of properties you work with and highlight the daily oversight tasks and hands-on estate management operations you're involved in.
As a result, more and more locals will rely on your educational content and firsthand experience, and choose you as their ideal real estate agent. That's why we emphasize educational content as the most effective trust-building strategy.
Take search engine reputation management (SERM) as a permanent monitoring practice to maintain a sound public impression online. Staying in touch with your prospects will help you reduce negative search results and irrelevant feedback that spoils your overall reputation.
With a growing reliance on real estate agents for home purchases and sales, reputation management in real estate is far from one’s marketing choice. Today’s consumer behavior and individual customer preferences are much about your positive brand identity. The higher your public image is, the more likely people will order your local real estate services.
Online reputation management (ORM) is essential in real estate to sustain a brand image and craft a positive digital identity. Over the past four years, real estate-related online searches surged by a staggering 253%. These numbers prove the pivotal role of online reviews to enhance your brand visibility and influence customers’ buying choices.
In your ORM pursuit, be sure to provide eight review responses per week. The approach will help you solidify your stable online presence, increase client trust, sustain brand loyalty, and improve customer relationships.
Part of your long-term success in this vein is to develop and stick to the proven reputation management strategy integral to your digital marketing path and business objectives.
While you are a local real estate company, do not go overboard with promoting your brand name online. Local reach will be just enough for the first 3 years of active business operation. Once you hit the local market cap, you may want to expand your business geographically beyond local reach or diversify your services.
Local SEO is about positioning your real estate services in a Google Business Profile (GBP) and duplicating this in relevant listings like Yelp so that local property seekers may spot you among the competition.
Our expert says: While focusing on local engagement, make sure that your prospects (potential clients) can easily find your real estate services through Google Business Profile. It's worth noting that more than 90% of clients seek out local real estate services on Google. GBP also facilitates more extensive engagement with your potential real estate clients through customer reviews that also contribute to increased revenue. An additional advantage of Google Business Profile is its integration with various Google tools, including Maps and Ads. Rimma Vasylieva, SEO Expert at Promodo.
Essentially, Google Business Profile listings fall within the local SEO 3-Pack, which is how Google showcases and maps the top three results for local business searches. Your key SEO objective here is to secure your place in this coveted list.
To rank prominently in local searches, make sure your business name, photos, address, contact information, and brief company description are accurate. Additionally, consider adding supplementary information to your listing, including photos, contact details, and a concise description of your business. Google will then position you as a relevant local business close to the local demand.
The more prevalent your presence is in local searches, the more people will recognize your property management company as a reputable partner. This is your strategic starting point for gaining wider visibility. Moreover, aligning with Google's tools, maps, and services will enhance your SEO effectiveness.
A successful real estate digital marketing strategy is about focusing on local keywords that align with commonly used search terms for property management services. This is how you’ll match the content on your site with the search intent for local properties.
When people search for property-related services in their locality, they often use niche-specific keywords or long-tail phrases to find a local real estate agent. Your strategic goal here is to correlate with user intent and apply the most popular search terms in your area.
Since digital performance marketing is quantifiable, you can utilize proven tools like SimilarWeb and Ahrefs. These robust tools (particularly their paid versions) will assist you with:
🔴 Selecting the right keywords
🔴 Establishing a semantic core
🔴 Analyzing web traffic of your competitors.
Our expert says: Now you know that the essence of the real estate business lies in its locality. Given that your primary target audience is concentrated within the vicinity of your main operational area, we strongly recommend optimizing your online SEO efforts by incorporating local keywords. Continuous experimentation with local keyword terms and relevant combinations will significantly enhance your visibility on Google and position you as one of the top local realtors. Take advantage of Google Trends and other available online tools to explore commonly used search terms. While digital performance marketing is adaptable, it is wise to compare trending search queries over time. Rimma Vasylieva, SEO Expert at Promodo.
At Promodo, we utilize a wide range of highly recommended analytical tools to investigate local keyword searches and monitor keyword rankings. Additionally, we place special emphasis on optimizing metadata, which includes SEO titles and descriptions.
Along with the SEO endeavor, you should also harness the power of well-balanced pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. While each click carries weight in PPC, it's imperative to judiciously manage your marketing budget by investing in the right strategies.
The essence of PPC advertising lies in attracting qualified leads – those ideal customers who are ready to engage with your local estate offers. As a property manager, consider paid media ads as a parallel option to complement your long-term SEO strategy.
For starters, thoroughly explore your local niche and the ongoing competition. A critical examination of your closest competitors is essential for the success of your local property PPC campaigns.
The following analysis will shed light on whether your local property segment is a fiercely competitive "red ocean" or a less contested "blue ocean." Conducting measurable SWOT and PESTLE analyses of your competitors is pivotal for gauging your bidding opportunities in the real estate niche.
While PPC ads inherently outperform organic listings, Google prominently features paid ads marked with the 'ad' label. The significant advantage is that you only incur costs when users click on your ads.
Our expert says: Explore various PPC strategies while broader key terms generally yield more favorable outcomes compared to narrower ones. Place bids on long-tail key phrases comprised of three to five words. Bidding on long-tail keywords typically results in a lower cost-per-click (CPC). Your bid will also be influenced by the number of competitors bidding on the same keyword. Ultimately, your ad's position will be determined by the maximum bid you are willing to offer and the quality score. Orest Fershtynskyi, PPC Expert at Promodo.
Much like SEO, the impact of a PPC strategy requires a substantial investment of both time and resources. Contrary to common belief, PPC is a long-term endeavor harassed by stiff competition.
A well-crafted web design will solidify your brand's image in the minds of real estate customers. As part of your user interface (UI) effort, crafting an aesthetically pleasing website is essential. That will directly affect how you interact with users and enhance overall user experience (UX).
Developing a meticulously designed real estate website is among the essential SEO elements that will increase website traffic, elevate conversion rates, and boost profits throughout your sales funnel.
Web design is a fundamental aspect of attracting potential clients among local property buyers, sellers, and investors. Custom design solutions on your pages will inspire your site visitors to delve deeper into your property offers and services and get in touch with you.
Essentially, your website reflects your brand image. Hence, every small detail from personalized elements to thoughtfully selected stock images and vibrant colors, portrays you as a customer-focused venture.
Your homepage is where many users will first encounter your website.
To maximize direct traffic on your website:
🔴 Ensure your site's landing page is as representative as possible.
🔴 Explore competitive design ideas to identify the best-fit elements that will communicate your brand identity.
🔴 Personalize your design with color-balanced imagery, subtle textures, and knots to emphasize your identity as a customer-oriented brand.
🔴 Incorporate your brand colors from your corporate logo to reflect your unique style and tone.
🔴 Apply branded colors and fonts to position as a local niche leader
🔴 Display comprehensive contact details in the upper right-hand corner on every page so that users easily access you.
🔴 Add multiple call-to-action (CTA) buttons throughout your homepage (pop-ups or static request forms) to encourage site visitors to utilize your professional real estate services.
Use CTA buttons to call your prospects for individual home visits at the client's preferred time, discounts for first-time visitors, and loyalty reminders for established clients. This is how you’ll lead seamless communication with your potential customers.
Alongside agile web design, enhanced navigation on your site can significantly enhance your brand identity. The key is to make users want to stay on your pages and return for more information. Therefore, every element on your pages should resonate with local property needs, concerns, and preferences shared by your target audience.
For seamless user engagement:
🔴 Maintain convenient navigation features to increase the average time users spend on your site
🔴 Encourage users to take more action
🔴 Transform your site into a trust-building real estate platform.
Navigation plays a crucial role in guiding the user journey on your site, ensuring that users understand where they are and the purpose of each page.
To facilitate easy browsing through local property-related content on your pages, employ a sitemap and a user-friendly layout. The easier your site is to navigate, the more people will land on it. To avoid communication gaps, ensure that your on-site navigation is smooth and user-friendly. This approach is essential for making users stay longer on your pages.
Do not underestimate the importance of sections such as frequently asked questions (FAQs). The more answers you provide, the better. In this regard, examine user searches and popular queries related to local real estate services. Understanding what local property seekers are looking for will enable you to better resonate with their expectations and address their ultimate needs.
All aspects of real estate website design, from high-definition images to custom service offerings, should feature you as a reliable real estate agent. Make sure, local homeowners and property seekers equally understand the nature of the services you offer. Lastly, include your credentials and evidence-proven snapshots from your real estate experience.
On average, only one out of every 100 visitors to your real estate website will contact you. The good news is that you can increase the number of regular website visitors through conversion rate optimization (CRO). The metric is crucial in the digital marketing of real estate.
CRO pertains to the percentage of regular website visitors who engage in valuable actions on your site, consequently contributing to an increase in your conversion rate. These valuable actions may include providing their contact information, leaving their email addresses, reaching out to you directly, or navigating through property listings on your site.
The formula for calculating conversion rates is straightforward: divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors, and then multiply the result by 100 to obtain the percentage. Statistically, within the real estate sector, you can typically expect a conversion rate of about 1%.
By achieving higher conversion rates, you will be able to establish far more personalized communication with potential customers. This customer-centric approach focuses on optimizing your website to increase the conversion of real estate traffic into valuable interactions.
To engage prospective clients effectively, your website's homepage should incorporate several elements that encourage users to take action, such as:
🔴 Welcome and quick announcement bars
🔴 Popups for chatbots or email signups
🔴 Real-time visitor notifications and recent purchases.
In addition to the call-to-action buttons, your homepage can also feature testimonials and reviews from customers who have shared their experiences while searching for their future homes. Prospective clients tend to connect with you as a realtor when they hear positive stories from people in similar situations.
If you wish to provide additional information to your prospects, consider creating multiple dedicated landing pages on your website. These landing pages can help drive organic traffic and boost your CRO. You might create landing pages for virtual property tours, offer free resources, or provide pricing comparisons for homes in your area.
Incorporating live chat features is crucial for engaging with your regular website visitors. Given the digital transformation of the real estate industry, it is vital to show your adaptability and readiness to support homebuyers throughout their journey. Messaging features like live chat demonstrate to prospective buyers your commitment to being available and responsive.
Once you lack the resources, budget, or time to provide live chat support, employing a chatbot system is a practical alternative. Chatbots can handle basic queries, direct users to take action, and assist when you are unavailable. They serve as a valuable tool for automating certain aspects of your work while simultaneously optimizing your conversion rates.
When exploring creative real estate marketing strategies, establishing a robust social media presence is strategically vital. Social media platforms offer a substantial 52% lead generation capacity for real estate agents, with around 90% of real estate agents relying on Facebook ad campaigns to promote their services.
All major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, are relevant for paid real estate marketing campaigns. Your task is to thoroughly understand your target audience, including their purchasing power and behavioral patterns. By creating an ideal customer profile, you can better target your prospects and save on advertising costs.
Maintaining an active presence on your social accounts is crucial to sustaining an overall interest in your real estate content. Being creative and focusing on the most rewarding social media channels is essential.
Advanced email marketing tools provide you with valuable data for real-time improvements in your real estate email marketing campaigns. These tools offer insights into key metrics:
🔴 Open rates: Advanced tools track how many recipients open your emails, allowing you to gauge the effectiveness of your subject lines and email content. You can make adjustments to increase open rates.
🏚 An average open rate across the U.S. real estate market is close to 22%
Sneak Peek: The average open rate across industries is 21.33%.
🔴 Click-through rates (CTRs): These tools monitor the number of clicks on links within your emails. This data helps you identify which content or links are most engaging and which may need improvement.
🏚 An average click-through rate across the U.S. real estate market is close to 3.6%
Sneak Peek: The average email CTR across industries is 2.91%.
🔴 Unsubscribe rates: Tracking unsubscribes helps you understand when your emails are causing recipients to disengage. You can then adjust your content or email frequency to reduce unsubscribes.
🏚 An average unsubscribe rate across the U.S. real estate market is close to 0.2%
Sneak peek: The average unsubscribe rate across industries is less than 0.5%.
🔴 Bounce rates: Bounce rates indicate the percentage of emails that couldn't be delivered. Advanced tools distinguish between "soft" bounces (temporary issues) and "hard" bounces (permanent issues). By analyzing bounce data, you can maintain a clean email list and improve deliverability.
🏚 An average bounce rate across the U.S. real estate market is close to 47%
Sneak peek: The average bounce rate across industries makes anything between 41% to 55%.
With this data in hand, you'll customize your email marketing strategy to enhance engagement and achieve better results.
Digital marketing for real estate business is not a summertime after all. Once you need evidence-proven facilitation, our professional digital marketers are at your service!
Content Marketing Manager at Promodo
Taras has 16 years of hands-on copywriting experience overseas with 3000+ unique copies.
Accredited with Certificate of Proficiency in English (C2 level) by Cambridge University. Studied at Writing Launch Academy (United States) and owns an Academic Writing Certificate from Oregon University. Author of 12 dictionaries with Apriori Publishers.
PPC Expert at Promodo
Orest has been in contextual advertising for over three years, working with niches such as pet products, a store selling beer and bar equipment, household, garden and garden products, jewelry, designer furniture, a mobile bank, and retailers.
Orest has worked with the following geolocations: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Sweden, France, Italy, Norway, the UK, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, and Uzbekistan.
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