subject: Building a free real estate lead generating website [print this page] Building a free real estate lead generating website
I consider it very important to market online when you are a real estate agent. Over 80% of potential clients look to the Internet to buy or sell real estate. That is a staggering number. So of course, as a real estate agent you know you need to be online. Here is how to do just that, even if you have no marketing budget.
First, you will need to open an account at Blogger.com. This is a free blogging platform from Google, and is quite easy to use. Be sure you set up your blog username as something that has to do with your real estate expertise. For example: RealEstateOrangeCounty.
Next, when choosing the layout of your site, choose one that has one large area, and a sidebar.
In the main area, you will need to fill in a little bit of content about yourself. We will come back to this in a moment. In the sidebar, you should put your contact information at the top. Next, just below your contact information, you need to put a contact form. I personally use Icontact, which is really easy to use, generates the form for you, then you just copy and paste it in to your website. They have a free trial, but it is a paid service. So after you sign up for Icontact, or whichever contact management program you use, create a form the asks for their Name, Email address, and Phone Number. That's all you need. If you ask for too much information, you will get far less responses.
Ok, let's focus on the main area again. You have filled in a little bit of information about yourself, but now you need a "call to action". You need a compelling reason for them to give you their contact information in that form that you put over in the sidebar. There are a few that I have used, with varying degrees of success. By far the most successful site for getting buyers to sign up said something very similar to this:
"Looking for an extremely good deal on real estate? We find some of the best investments in "your local area" on a regular basis. Real estate is what we do. If you would like the chance to see these deals before we even make them public, fill in the form to the right. We will email you when the next deal comes in."
That is all there is too it. Of course you may want to word it differently, or try it a couple different ways to see what works better. Many of my clients have used sites similar to this to bring in a large number of leads, it is definitely worth your time to give it a try.
