The Realtor's Guide to Online Lead Generation & Conversion

Most of the top producing realtors in the country have search engine optimized websites that offer community information and links to local MLS data. Like other types of advertising such as billboards, newsletters, and yard signs, agents use cutting edge websites to generate potential leads, and to build up their client base.

Online lead generation is as simple as including contact forms on your site. Be sure to have a call-to-action on every page, inviting users to send questions or requests to the contact form. These, in addition to having a highly visible phone number and address on the header or footer will make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. If users have to search for your contact information, they'll get frustrated and think you're not serious about getting their business. They'll simply move on to your competitor's site.

In addition to contact forms, it's a good idea to have buyers or sellers pages that have on-page forms that a visitor can fill out to receive a free home evaluation or to become pre-approved for a home loan.

These miniature questionnaires actually do a lot of work for you, as they capture not only the user's contact information, but they also reveal what the user is in the market for, what their price range is, and where they're at in their buying or selling process. By the time you make your first telephone call, you'll already have a solid background on the visitor, which you can capitalize on in your interview.

Forced registration on a real estate site is somewhat controversial among agents. We know that generally speaking, users are at your site because they want to see property listings. Many agents allow their visitors to access the listing details for free, while others give visitors a sneak peak before prompting them to register.

Forced registration can get you a lot of leads. With the majority of users wanting to access the listings, you'll get a high number of registered users. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. One of the cons of generating leads this way is that you may end up with a high number of fake profiles. This is frustrating, but unfortunately is an inevitable foible of online lead generation. Also, many companies find that they end up with more leads than they have time to deal with. If you're unable to nurture these leads, they're essentially a waste.

In order to convert leads that you obtain through your website, you need to give users attention as soon as they register. The ideal amount of time is within one hour of registration. The longer you wait, the less viable the lead will be.

As most agents are too busy to reply in such record speed, it's critical to have a well written, personal sounding auto responder that goes out as soon as someone registers. This will buy you some time, but not a lot. Auto responders and drip campaigns are great tools for nurturing leads, but contacting visitors personally is what will get you the client.

Calling on the phone is what really allows you to win over the client. The user has seen that your website is informative and easy to use, and they can see that you're on top of the latest marketing techniques and technologies. They already have a positive impression of you, so you need to strike while the iron's hot. By calling right away, you get them while they can still remember which website is yours, and why they visited it in the first place. You also show the visitor that you take their business seriously, and that you're organized and on top of things.

Call and ask for an interview in person so you can really get to know what their wants and needs are. If they've filled out a buyer or seller form, you should already be well equipped to speak to them about their specific goals. Let your website do a lot of the grunt work for you so you put your energy into sealing the deal.