Trying to decide if SEO is a good strategy for marketing your real estate business? This post will help you.
SEO for real estate marketing can be a great source for lead generation, but there are some situations where it’s a terrible waste of time and money.
5 Times When You Should NOT Use SEO for Real Estate Marketing
Here’s when NOT to use SEO for Real Estate Marketing…
1. When you’re starting a brand new business
There’s just too much high-priority work to be done, and you should NOT be focusing on search engine optimization.
When you’re new to the business or setting up a brand new website, you should focus on driving traffic to the site via methods like Craigslist, PPC, direct mail, bandit signs, flyers… anything that can reach folks right now to bring you a lead today.
2. When you need leads fast
It takes many months for a new site to rank high on Google, so don’t expect leads from local search to pay your bills anytime soon. If you’re trying to rank high for an ultra-competitive term, it can take lots of time, money and effort before you see a big pay off.
SEO is always a long-term investment. The return on investment can be huge, but it’s never a fast source of leads. The fastest and cheapest source of leads that we’ve found so far is Craigslist.
Right now, our members are getting insanely great results from the Craigslist training that we recently launched… so if you’re already a Carrot Member wanting fast leads, access that Craigslist training here (and if you’re not already a member, sign up here).
3. When you don’t have the budget
Good SEO efforts require time from people who know their stuff. It’s complicated work.
If you’ve got the time and the passion to become an expert on SEO, we are happy to help you learn.
We’ve helped lots of folks learn how to generate leads from SEO with our real estate training, but you’ve gotta be willing to put in the time and energy to learn those new skills.
SEO services can be relatively cheap – starting at $5,000 per year – just one deal can pay for the whole year. We know lots of SEO companies out there charge way more than that, and they don’t deliver results.
But don’t hire an SEO service if you’re not financially ready yet…. do a few deals from other sources, and add SEO to your long-term marketing strategies when you’re ready.
4. When you can spend the money better elsewhere
Don’t do SEO because it seems cool, sexy or everyone else is doing it. Those aren’t good reasons.
SEO should be a key part of your business strategy, but it’s not critical to your success.
In fact, if your market is under 200,000 people, SEO might not be able to produce much ROI for you. If the search traffic isn’t there, you won’t get any leads.
Doing SEO for a term that’s not getting any searches is like fishing on a dry creek – if you’re having fun, great… just don’t expect to catch anything.
You know it already, but I’ll say it again: There are lots of ways to get traffic to your site.
- Sometimes a few hundred dollars worth of cheap signs can get quite a few leads into your business.
- Sometimes a few Craigslist ads are enough to bring in the next deal.
- Sometimes a good AdWords account is enough to bring in a consistent flow of leads.
- Sometimes all it takes is a flyer hanging up at the local laundromat. After all, if folks can’t afford to fix their washer and dryer, they might be thinking about selling their property.
5. When you’re just not ready
Don’t stress about SEO.
It’s not going anywhere. In fact, I’ve read that real estate related searches are increasing at 15X per year.
Chances are good that it will be a good strategy for you in the future, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for where you’re at today.
Carrot Members: Remember to join us for your weekly Coaching Calls… we’re looking forward to answering any questions you’ve got about real estate investing, lead generation, building traffic, inbound marketing, or any other topic that’s hurting you!
Also, watch past Coaching Calls… there are many calls that are SEO related.
We’re looking forward to helping you get unstuck so you can move forward in the way that’s best for your business, your market.