An easy way to get more leads from your website and position yourself as a real estate expert is to host a Q&A or FAQ page on your website. You will also create a sense of community on your website and give your prospects and clients a reason to come back and visit your page. The added bonus is that because your Q&A/FAQ page will be fluid you will also increase your search engine ranking and get organic traffic to your site based on the information on your Q&A/FAQ page.

The First Questions

When you first create your page, you obviously won’t have any questions from prospects or clients so I suggest making a list of your own questions. Create a list of 10-15 questions and answer them in easy to understand consumer language. Think of common questions your clients have asked you over the years, look at Google Keywords to see what people are searching for in your area in regards to real estate and then create the questions. It is very important to talk to people in their language and not “real estate it up” to much.

Organize It

Not all of your questions will apply to every prospect that visits your site. You will have buyers, you will have sellers, you will have people looking for ways to avoid foreclosure and so on and so forth. At the top of your page create links to each section so that prospects can easily find and browse the section they are most interested in.

Create a Form

At the top of your page, create a link to a form that allows people to ask their questions. To get the most feedback I suggest only asking for first name, email address and then the question. If you have a website that allows you to create text in the sidebars (like WordPress or Blogger) add your form to the sidebar so it is visible on every page.

Advertise It

Finally you will want to get the word out about your new Q&A/FAQ page. I suggest adding it to your email signature with a catchy tagline. Something along the lines of “Real Estate Questions You Always Wanted to Ask” or All Your Real Estate Questions Answered.” Add it to your social networking profiles and your personal marketing materials like postcards and flyers. If you know how to create an RSS feed, create one for your Q&A/FAQ page so people can easily receive the update in their Readers.

There are many benefits to creating (and maintaining!) a Q&A/FAQ page. It will position you as a real estate expert and make people in your area feel that they can have a Realtor that they can ask questions of, without having the pressure to buy or sell right now. People love to work with those they trust and creating a resource like this goes a long way in building that trust.

If you are interested in having a Q&A/FAQ page but don’t know how to create one on your site or simply don’t have the time, I would be more than happy to create one for you! Please contact me for more information.

As we have been discussing this month, it is important to make your website work for you by generating leads from it. It is important to have the right system in place to generate the leads and to help you stay in touch with them. This is a something we can help you with!

Here are a list of things from beginning to end that I can help you with:

Create lead generating tools: Free reports for prospects to download, free tools that prospects can use, help you host a contest, create a forum for your website

Email Campaigns: Create a welcome email with the free report, tool or contest, create a follow up campaign to promote your expertise and your services, implement a monthly newsletter to send to prospects

Internet Ads: Create ads for Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to drive new prospects to your website.

Are you ready to start getting more business from your website? Give me a call (612-567-8517) today or send me an email (jennifer AT automatemymarketing.com) to get started!

A fun way to get more leads from your website is to offer contests and giveaways. People love getting free stuff and they especially love when they win it! To create a contest or giveaway that generates leads requires a lot of planning on your part but the end results are worth it.

Decide the Prize

First things first, decide what the prize will be. The goal is to make the prize great and to make it big. Don’t just offer a $20 gas gift card. Make it $100 and a lot of people will enter. Or make it 5 people that can win a $20 gas gift card. The goal is to not be cheap! Here are some ideas:

Local Establishments: Restaurants, Dry Cleaners, Movie Theater, etc.

Services: House Cleaning, House Painting, Landscaping, etc.

Gift Cards: Gas Stations, Amazon, Target, etc.

Outings: Local plays, Wine Tasting Events, Hot Air Balloon Ride, etc.

Create the Page

Next you will want to create a page on your website announcing the contest. Let people know your goals, what they will win, how they can enter and when the prize will be announced.

Here’s an Example:

Goal:  You are looking for people to sign up for your monthly real estate newsletter so create a contest for those that sign up.

Prize: 3 people will win a $100 gas gift card

How to Enter: Create a sign up form using your email marketing service provider, tools from your website or have people enter by leaving a comment on your page or blog post.

Deadline to Enter: Make the date far enough out to give people time to enter and time for you to create a marketing campaign around the contest, but not too far out so they forget. I would aim for 10-14 days.

Generate Buzz

Now you have to let people know you are hosting a contest! Send out an email to your existing subscribers and let them know about it. Give them the opportunity to win more entries if they spread the word and people sign up. Announce it on your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and your blog. If you are in networking groups let them know about it too!

Announce the Winner

When it is time to announce the winner make a big deal out of it! Post a picture of the winner holding the prize if possible. If you are going to do more contests let people know when they can expect the next one.

Creating a contest can generate a lot of buzz for your website and your real estate business. It is a fun way to interact with old clients and new prospects! Plus isn’t it always fun to give out free stuff?!

What do you think?

Have you ever held a contest or giveaway offline or online that has led to more leads for you? Please tell us about your experiences in the comments below! If you are reading this in your email or Reader, please click here to comment!

I am excited to share with you that I have recently written a book exclusively for Realtors about social networking! It is called The Ultimate Guide to Social Networking: How to set up, navigate and get new clients using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and FourSquare.

It is currently in the pre-publication phase and this is where I need your help. I am looking for 5 people to review the book and provide me with feedback before it is published. This book will be sold between $9.99 and $12.99 and for your help I am going to give you the book for free! All I ask of you is to be able to finish the book by Monday, October 31st and then provide me with feedback on a survey that I give to you.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity and getting this book for free, please email me at jennifer AT automatemymarketing.com. I am only accepting the first 5 people that email me so if you are interested please email me right away!

Thanks for your help!

In order to get a lead, you need to give them something in return. People won’t just give you their email address for no reason, it has to be worth their while. The most common thing to give people is free information that they are looking for when they come to your website. Provide this information in the form of a free report, a free guide or a free download tool and people will gladly give you their email address.

Free Report Example

Go to Google Keyword Tool and do a search related to real estate, your local community and your expertise. For example, I live in Lakeville so I would type in Lakeville Minnesota Real Estate to the keyword search. If you want to get really specific, which I suggest you do, I would add a specialty like short sales or first time home buyers to your search. Below are the results I got when I searched Lakeville Minnesota Real Estate.

I notice that last month, 720 people were searching Lakeville MN Real Estate. That’s a lot of potential leads! To capture some of those leads I would create a free report about Lakeville Minnesota real estate. I would include demographics, information about the schools, restaurants, things to do, and information about local parks and lakes. I would also work to make the information as personal as possible to differentiate the report from information prospects can get from Wikipedia or the City of Lakeville’s website.

Other ideas for free reports include information about short sales, foreclosures, buying a second home, buying investment property, first time home buyers, etc. The best way to get leads is to search Google Keywords to find out what your prospects are searching for online. By providing them with useful information you are proving yourself an expert in your area which is sure to lead to new business for you!

To see a real life example of a free report and landing page that we created for one of our clients, please click here.

What do you think?

Do you have a free report that you have used to get leads from your website? Please let us know about it in the comments below! If you are reading this in email or a Reader, please click here to comment!

I wanted to let my loyal readers know that I am going to be making some changes to my posting schedule for the blog. Right now I am a one woman show when it comes to marketing our business and that includes all the writing for the blog. I still have a large hand in designing projects for our clients as well as updating our products on our website. I also want to have the opportunity to expand our marketing to social media and update our Facebook page, Twitter account and LinkedIn status more often. I am just finding that right now I don’t have the time to post every day as much as I would like to. My new goal with the blog is to bring you quality content 3 times a week. Two of these posts will be part of the marketing challenge that I host every month and the other posts will be a mixture of marketing tips, technology ideas for Realtors and things that we can do to help you grow your business.

I do hope you understand and I hope that you will join us as we expand onto Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

One very easy way to get new leads from your website is to host your local MLS on your website. Last month I highlighted two services that easily let you add software to your website to host the MLS. These services also allow your prospects to create an account and save their searches on your website. This is an excellent lead for you! You know approximately where your lead is searching, what price range and in some cases their purchasing time frame.

Additional MLS Lead Features include:

Email Sign Up: Most MLS IDX services will automatically email your prospects any new houses that match their criteria. Prospects will sign up for this because they like to be the first in the know when they are looking for new homes.

Request Info on a Property and/or Schedule a Showing: When a prospect is searching the MLS and find a property they like, they can simply fill out the contact form that is on the listing and request more information directly from you. This is a hot lead that is interested in you potentially showing them the property!

By creating a user friendly site that helps prospects find their new home, you will be sure to generate a lot of new leads from your website. You also give your prospects a reason to come back to your website which also gives them the opportunity to get to know you better!

Before you can work on getting more leads from your website, you have to evaluate it first. You have to make sure it is user friendly so that prospects and clients will want to stay on your site and explore.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Easy to Find

Do you advertise your website on all of your marketing materials? Your website address should be on your property flyers, your social networking sites, in your email signature and basically any place you put your name and phone number. Make it easy for your prospects to find your website and then you can work on capturing their information.

2. Easy to Navigate

There is nothing worse then going to a website and not understanding what the website is about or not knowing what pages to click on to get your information. I personally think Realtors are very bad at this! You don’t need to have multiple navigation menus, you don’t have to overwhelm your prospect with SEO madness on the home page and you don’t have to confuse them with tricky real estate words. There is such a thing as too much information and information overload without rhyme or reason will drive prospects away from your website.

3. Make Updates

If you haven’t updated your website in at least 3-6 months or worse even longer, it is time to make some changes! Bring the look current, update the information and make it a place that prospects want to hang out and learn about real estate.

A website is like any other marketing piece: it has to be interesting and in this case, informative to get people to stick around and want to give you their information. If you skip this important first step all of the other steps won’t matter because people won’t have a reason to stick around!

It’s a new month and it’s time for a new challenge! This month we are going to focus on making your website work for you! Your website should be providing you with leads on a regular basis and we are going to provide you with tips and ideas to make this happen or increase the leads you already receive.

Here’s our plan for the month:

1. Wednesday, October 5: Evaluate your website

2. Monday, October 10: Do you MLS?

3. Monday, October 17: Free is always nice

4. Wednesday, October 19: Giveaways and Contests

5. Monday, October 24: They’ve got questions, you’ve got answers

6.Wednesday, October 26: Your own forum

7. Monday, October 31: Put your site out there

If you are looking to make your website provide you with more leads then please join us for this month’s challenge!

Along with keeping yourself accountable with your marketing, it is important to check in quarterly to see how things are going. When you are creating your marketing calendar for the year pick one day at the beginning of every quarter that you are going to go over your marketing results for the previous quarter. Take a look at where your business has come from and determine what marketing activities have driven this business your way. Look at what marketing tasks you still would like to implement and what tasks you would like to do a better job of implementing. I also think it is important to note which marketing activities aren’t driving any business. I don’t think they should be eliminated but it will help you for the next year’s planning to keep good track of what is and isn’t working throughout the year.

What do you think?

Do you have a system to check in on your marketing results throughout the year? Please let us know about it in the comments below! If you are reading this in email or a Reader, please click here to comment!