Excellent, so by now you’ve picked your niches, you’ve nailed your core values and your mission, you know which locations you’re helping serve your buyers and your sellers. Now here’s the fun part, we’ve already created those initial videos, now we get to go out there and do our business and document some of the things that we’re doing.
One reason that reality shows on TLC and HDTV, have really blown up over the past decade is that people are interested in what people do for work, and your business is no different. People are really interested in what you do for business. People love to see homes, people love to explore their area and they would love to follow you doing that.
I’m going to give you a few tips on what you can do on the weekly to daily basis, just with your cell phone to continually stay in front of your prospects, in front of your community to add value and build a relationship and build a connection, build trust, build honesty with them, just through regular content, showing them what you’re already doing in business.
Creating Weekly and Monthly Content Pillars
There are a couple of different things I want you to do. I want you to write down on a piece of paper right now, weekly and then monthly and I want you to create these weekly and monthly content pillars. This isn’t hard, this is literally less than 30 minutes a week is all it’s going to take you and less than 30 minutes a month for the monthly. So this isn’t hard, this is a couple of hours a month is all.
Every single person watching this has a couple of hours a month and if you don’t, you’re going to have a lot more time in two years to do whatever you want to do because you’re probably going to be out of business. I don’t want you to be out of business, so we’re going to help you guys stay in business.
Weekly Content
So, on the weekly basis, that weekly cadence is what I call on the job content. That’s the stuff where you’re answering questions that people commonly have about that type of property or that area. You’re addressing objections that you see come up quite a bit, you might be showing some interesting stuff because people like to see fun interesting stuff when they’re scrolling down Facebook or looking on Instagram, or YouTube.
You need to show some action. People want to see interesting things that are moving and I’m not just talking about you moving around the camera, I’m talking about one time you’re in the car doing it, another time you’re out there at a property with the client, another time you’re sitting in your office. So move locations because it’s interesting and people are going to start to really look forward to your videos and look forward to your content coming out.
On the weekly basis, once again, it’s on the job stuff. Again, I’m out at a river home and I keep on using this example because it’s such a good one, but what are the questions or objections that pop up with someone who’s looking to buy a home on the river? It’s probably not going to be a cheap house, so there’s a big financial stake there.
So you have to look at, “Well shoot, I know river homes so well,” the water situation’s always something that trips people up. Most people who’ve never bought a river home never know what to do. So I’m going to do a few videos on what you need to do with water and water rights and how do I get my drinking water and are you going to use a filtration system or is there a well? All those are critical things, if you’re the one doing that content, I’m going to work with you because you’re the expert and I don’t want to lose a ton of money buying a river home with Aunt Betty who just became a real estate agent last week.
There could be an amazing home on the river that’s got this killer pool, or it has this way cool retaining wall or something like that. Take out the camera and say, “Hey this is Mark, I’m out at a river home on the North Umpqua River. I just want to show you this pool, it’s an amazing pool, look at the view that it has. Look at all the possibilities you could have with a home on the river.”
What that’s doing, is building desire for that type of property that they’re already wanting, but they’re building desire for and you’re the person that’s helping them build that. Or there’s action, once again. You can be taking them on a little tour of different homes on the river and put all those little things out in little three, five, 10 minutes probably max, videos.
Monthly Content
Then on the monthly side of things, stand in front of a camera, or take out your phone, or whatever you want to do, and do some sort of a report because reports are something that builds expertise.
The other content types are fun, they build expertise as well, but the report is something they can look forward to the same content piece each month. Every single month, I get an email from this company that’s a real estate investment company and it shows the market snapshot and the market report and what’s happening right now. I open that one every single month because I want to know what’s going on.
I want to get ahead of the curve, I want to get ahead of what’s happening and your buyers and sellers are no different. If there’s a seller out there who are looking to sell, they want to know, “Should I be selling right now? Is it too late to sell? Is it too soon to sell? Is it a good time to sell?” Whatever it is, your monthly report should be addressing that.
If I’m a buyer, I want to know is right now the time to buy? “Should I be buying a property, should I wait to get a better deal? Are there good deals coming up? It’s the right time to buy? Are financing programs drying up? Could new ones be added?” This is where you can really do that with your monthly reports.
What is a Real Estate Niche Report
What is a monthly report? It should be an under 10-minute video ideally. The reason I’m saying a video is because anyone can do a written report. Anyone can just send an email that says, “Here’s a bunch of market stats.” All the other real estate agents in your market are already doing that.
You don’t win the market by doing what everyone else is doing. You win the market by being you and going out there and building brand, building trust, and building credibility. Showing them you’re the expert.
You could send out an with a bunch of words, but I would send out a video, put it on your Carrot website as a video post, so you take your YouTube video, you put in that URL, our system goes out and yanks out all the words, makes up blog posts for you, so now you can send people to that from Facebook and from YouTube to the actual full official monthly report with your video, with the written words below it and a call to action to connect with you.
Some other things you can do:
Get market stats.
Ups and downs of the market.
Is it the right time to sell?
Is it the right time to buy?
What’s happening with loan programs?
What events are coming up in the community?
So if part of your niches are based on families or certain segments of the community, let’s say you’re focused on retirees. In my monthly report, I’m going to go through the report with the frame, with the lens of how a retiree would be looking at the real estate market and what they would care about and then at the end I’m going to say,
“Hey, here’s some really cool events happening this next month in Roseburg. Here are these six things, these cool concerts and acts. If you want to check out more events, just go to our website forward slack events. There’s a whole list of events for retirees and for groups of people who love wine and who love wine country, just like me.”
So now I’m not only delivering information, but I’m also delivering things to do and they’re going to love you for that.
Go figure out your weekly cadence and your monthly report. This is a total of a couple of hours a month. All you have to do is put in a couple of hours a month, that’s less than one full day a year. One full day a year to stay in front of your prospects, to build trust, to build honesty, to build credibility.
People are going to notice you in town. They’re going to say,
“Hey, you’re the guy, you’re the gal that keeps on putting out that great stuff. Thank you for doing that.”
They’re going to tell other people about you and your business is going to grow and get momentum in the next six, 12, 18 months. So go execute the full plan, don’t get lazy. Execute the full plan and then be diligent with it. You’re going to see some really good momentum happening after that.
Last Tip
Make sure every video you do, you upload to YouTube, you upload to Facebook and then you upload it to video posts on your Carrot website to turn that into written words, so now you not only have Facebook, YouTube, you’re also going to have Google, Google organic results as another thing to help you get more traffic, build more credibility and to build your business.
Watch Other Videos in the Agent Niche Series:
Watch the next three videos in this four-part “Content Marketing for Real Estate Agents” series.
Creating content takes too long. You spend time, money, and energy on each piece, hoping – praying – that it offers a return. And far too often, in the beginning, the return is negligible.
So you quit producing.
Fortunately, content is one of the best marketing methods – conversion rates are six times higher for content marketing adopters than non-adopters. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most time-consuming methods.
As if building a significant content repertoire doesn’t require enough energy, ensuring that repertoire is full of valuable information is even more daunting. Because of that lofty commitment, few real estate investors and agents do it at all.
What you need is audience-tested content that takes very little time to create.
The answer? Q&A.
You already spend time answering client’s questions. Turning your answers into valuable pieces of content is the next obvious step.
But what type of content should you use (written, video, audio)? And what’s a good system for creating this curiosity-based value?
5 Time-Saving Ways to Create Real Estate Q&A Content
1. FAQ Web Page
The most obvious application of Q&A content that’s worth discussing is the FAQ web page. A Frequently Asked Question’s page is a must for any serious real estate business. Give your visitors a place to find answers and they’ll spend less time calling you with low-commitment inquiries.
Of course, you want them to call you. But questions about what a mortgage broker is, how someone determines the value of their home, and what kind of credit score is needed to purchase a house are questions better answered online.
In fact, many people won’t be comfortable calling you until they have a general understanding of how the process works. No one wants to look stupid. Your FAQ page is where prospects get educated so that they are comfortable calling you.
Ultimately, FAQ is a sales page.
Which means that you need a CTA at the bottom.
For example:
And to give investors an idea of what questions your FAQ page should answer, here’s what the same site has on theirs:
Will you be listing my house on the MLS or actually buying it?
Do you pay fair prices for properties?
How do you determine the price to offer on my house?
Are there any fees or commissions to work with you?
How are you different from a real estate agent?
Is there any obligation when I submit my info?
As a real estate agent, here are questions to consider, taken from Kyle Hiscock’s extensive list of house-buyer questions.
Should I buy or continue to rent?
Do I really need a Realtor when buying a home?
Who pays the Realtor fees when buying a home?
How long does the seller have to respond to my offer?
What if my offer is rejected?
FAQ will increase how much visitors trust you. And they’ll start calling you with higher-commitment questions:
How do I start working with you? Can we meet and talk about selling my home? I think I’d like to buy/sell. What should I do?
2. Single Answer Content
Once your FAQ page is live, use it as the foundation for more content. For most investors and agents, the curiosity-based content ends at the FAQ page. But all those questions can easily be turned into audience-tested blog posts.
In other words, since you know what questions prospective clients are asking, then it’s safe to assume they are googling them as well. Why not create a single blog post around each question so that you can rank for exactly the kind of questions that prospects are asking?
Real estate agents, for example, could write a full blog post – between 500 and 1,000 words – pitting real estate agents against for-sale-by-owner. Much like this piece by Michael Alan, where he discusses the pros of using an agent and the risks of doing it alone.
Real estate investors could write an FAQ style post on how house buyers are different than real estate agents or on how a fair price is determined.
Also consider this video we made here at Carrot, showing our clients how to make testimonials that build trust and credibility.
We anticipated the kind of questions our clients ask, and then we created a video to help them accomplish their goals. You can do the same. Once you determine what your audience is asking, answer those questions with individual blog posts and you’ll be more likely to rank in Google.
Social Media Video
This is the pinnacle of Q&A content. Videos are personal, intriguing, and statistically, more likely to be viewed than written content. Animoto reports that
“Four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.”
These videos won’t just help you continue to build a following on Social Media, if you transcribe the content and put it on your blog, they’ll even help you rank in search engines. Carrot customers can use VideoPost to quickly transcribe their videos.
There are three ways you can approach videos.
The first is for the camera-shy.
The second for the brave.
And, the third for those of us who fall somewhere in the middle.
3. Traditional Content Marketing for Real Estate
Traditional videos are the record-edit-and-then-publish type.
The benefit to using traditional video is if you make a mistake, you can delete and re-record. If you’re uncomfortable with the camera, this option is for you. It will place an editing barrier between you and the audience.
Hit record, do your best, watch it, and redo if needed.
At the very least, this will help you get comfortable with that digital eye.
Real estate content marketing champion, Judy Weiniger, uses her youtube channel to answer questions with traditional videos:
What is a pre-home inspection?
Denny Kruse from G. Stiles Realty, a local Douglas County real estate company, spent years in farming. Therefore, he can answer questions and share his insights with people who are looking to purchase farm or agricultural land.
These real estate videos are for the camera-bold. When you go live, mistakes will be noticed and if you run out of things to say, you’d better be prepared.
The confident person might jump onto a Facebook Live video at the scheduled time without any notes, trusting for people to type questions as they record. The obvious risk is that no one will ask any questions and they’ll be left without anything to say.
Thus, we recommend doing this type of free-flow live video only if you have a significant following and they are likely to interact.
As an example and bold as ever, real estate investor, Colin Kirk, posted a Live Q&A session on Facebook in April.
“Facebook live videos are watched three times longer than normal videos.”
This stat can partly be explained by Facebook’s notifications that are sent out when someone goes live, but more so because of the authenticity that live video promises. The person being recorded can’t fake it.
If you want to reap those benefits, but you don’t want to risk being left without questions to answer, here’s what you should do.
Go to your FAQ page. Write down 5 questions that you could easily answer on a video. Then go live on Facebook, telling people that you’re going to answer some questions, so if they have any, they can feel free to throw them in the comments.
Start by answering one of the questions you wrote down. And if you don’t get any more in the comments, simply continue answering your prep questions. If you do receive inquiries (which you likely will), answer them.
This allows you to go live with all of the added benefits, but with a safety net in tow.
Since you’re already spending a huge portion of your time answering questions, the best thing you can do is turn those questions into content that can rank in Google as part of your real estate SEO campaign. Combined with some linkbuilding like HARO outreach, your website will gain authority, win more rankings, and most importantly, generate more leads!
By creating an FAQ page, and then, one-by-one, turning each question into a complete blog post and/or video, you’ll generate truly useful content and spend little time doing it.
Pearson reports that 65% of the population are visual learners. Hubspot notes that an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than pure text. And Massplanner explains that infographics are shared 3 times more than any other type of content.
But, how do you create your own infographics that are useful to your audience, convert the right people into leads, and don’t look hideious?
Well, that’s why you’re here.
Because you’re not a designer or a professional content marketer, you’re a real estate agent. But, as we’re going to see, that doesn’t mean you can’t put together some lead-generating real estate infographics.
Here’s a three-step process for creating your very own real estate agent infographics: Choose an idea. Find your formatting. Use these tools.
Real Estate Agent Infographics – Pick an Idea
As with any piece of content, you need an idea. And brainstorming is the best way to dig up ideas. But since you probably don’t have a real estate infographic guru sitting next to you, and brainstorming on your own is boring, we’ve done the digging for you. Here are 5 examples of infographics that you, as a real estate agent, can steal ideas from.
(1) 3 Ways Real Estate Agents are Better than “For Sale By Owner.”
The perks of explaining — in an infographic — why someone should use a real estate agent are obvious… especially if you are one. If prospects believe they need an agent to sell their house, and you’re the one who convinced them of that, they’ll likely be giving you a call.
Creating an infographic that illustrates the market’s health is a benefit to homebuyers and sellers alike. Anyone looking to purchase or peddle a house is likely interested in the market’s current wellbeing. This will help inform prospects of a ripe market and — if you include your phone number on the bottom — of who to call for help.
This infographic is wildly helpful for the person looking to buy their first home. Every first-time buyer has worries, concerns, and doubts about the buying process. Creating a piece of content that covers the steps of purchasing a house helps to dilute these uneasy feelings — making the procedure seem a whole lot easier.
Nobody wants to walk into a pole — whether that’s physical or metaphorical. Homebuyers are filled with fears of what could go wrong in choosing a house, purchasing the house, picking a real estate agent, getting a loan, and moving in. The infographic above does a nice job of ensuring that these fears don’t paralyze a prospect.
Ever wondered what pays off on house remodels? Sure you have. And so has your potential client. Make an infographic that has information on what sort of remodels are the best to pursue. Again, the idea is to aid the person looking for help. If you help them now, you’ll likely get to help them again when they need an agent.
Choose a Format
Infographics are able to illustrate concepts that words cannot. Because of that, it’s important to consider what kind visual formatting you should use. Above all, don’t get fancy.
The simpler your real estate infographic, the easier it is to understand and the more people who will engage with it. Here are some formats to consider from beautiful — but simple — real estate agent infographics.
The formats are organized from easiest to hardest in regards to their creditability. Don’t be afraid to start at the beginning.
The numbered list format is common for a reason. It’s easy to read, effective at illustrating simple pieces of information, and guides the eye seamlessly from point to point. Simply choose a number of tips, don’t-do’s, or guidelines and fill in the blanks. Start here if you’ve never created an infographic before.
This infographic is nearly as simple as the numbered list format but requires a bit more research. Use the stat card format when wanting to provide useful information for the prospective client, such as when to sell, best house investments, or any other topic that’s data-driven.
Buying or selling a home is riddled with choices. How many beds and baths should I have? Am I getting my money’s worth? Should I rent instead of buying? Which is exactly why this format is fantastic for helping the prospect to make a decision.
Ask yourself what kind of questions clients have for you and then create a comparison infographic to provide the pros and cons of each option.
Building this kind of infographic requires some creativity beyond the previous templates. But the basic idea is allowing the infographic to guide someone from point A to point B.
Visually on the graphic, and contextually on the info, the piece gives the viewer an idea of what it will take to make the journey — whether it be from renting to buying, from owning to selling, or from selling to investing.
This format for an infographic is one of the most creatively demanding. As you can see in the image above, the tips are placed visually within a house. Thus, the form matches the function. While this kind of infographic is beautiful to look at, it’s unnecessary. Unless you have the creative power, time, or money to design this kind of brilliant, free-flowing infographic, don’t.
Use these Tools
Thinking up an infographic in your head is one thing. Creating it is quite another. But, lucky for you, in our age of digital stampedes and marketing masters, anyone — including a real estate agent — can become a graphic design artist. Here are two tools you can use to create your own infographic right now for free.
Just in case you think you’re too good for an infographic creator, be aware that huge companies including Google, Hubspot, Microsoft, and Forbes all use Venngage. In today’s world, a great tool is utilized by the small and the big alike. Venngage is such a tool. Join up for free and it will walk you through designing your very first infographic.
More versatile than Venngage — and still free to use — is Canva, a holistic graphic design platform. You can edit images, design a logo, and create banners, flyers, and infographics. Great for the inexperienced graphic designer.
A Final Tip
Yes. Your audience is three times more likely to share an infographic than they are to share any other piece of content. But, that’s only the case if you make your infographic easy to share. Whenever you post an infographic, always include the embed code so that people can easily share it to either social media or on their own blog. On our infographic explaining SEO and PPC, we included shareable buttons and the embed code, to maximize the size of its wings.
Keep it Visual, Fun, and Data-Driven
Visual content will continue to be powerful because human nature demands it. And real estate agent infographics, in particular, are powerful because they are a visual representation of helpful, inspiring, and insightful data. Plus, now that tools to create your own infographics abound, you’re out of excuses.
Remember, no first draft of content ever comes out perfect. So above all, just start. And keep in mind what you’ve learned here.
But you also need to schedule house visits, drive homebuyers to potential houses, meet with house sellers, solidify contracts, and do a whole lot more.
When the heck are you going to find the time to (1) come up with content marketing ideas for real estate agents and (2) create the content?
Well, that’s exactly what we’re talking about today: Real examples from real agents who’re using content marketing to catapult themselves to the head of the pack. Because potential customers aren’t just looking online… they’re making decisions based on what they find.
Content marketing is how you dominate search results, build trust, and attract new clients all before they even meet you.
Why? Because your strategy has to be built on your strengths … and loves:
This post digs into the details with two top-to-bottom examples of exactly how to execute your content marketing master plan and a host of supplemental examples along the way.
So, let me introduce you to our content marketing test case …
Judy Weiniger runs the Weiniger Group, a seven-person real estate agency in central New Jersey. She’s active on various platforms, including social media, Youtube, and her website.
But, Weiniger doesn’t do content marketing just about selling houses; she makes it about what someone buying a house in the area would need and want to know. In other words, the content she provides is not one promotion, listing, or sales pitch after another. It is useful information that helps her audience.
That is the pinnacle of great content.
7 Content Marketing Ideas for Real Estate Agents
1. Real Estate Content Marketing Ideas All Start With The Right Agent Website
Let’s start by looking at her website. To begin, it’s gorgeous. You should click through to see the video background in the hero section; the following screenshots don’t do it justice.
Visitors are greeted with a friendly hello message — “Welcome to our neighborhood!” — followed by two CTAs directing them exactly where to go next.
While this isn’t connected to content marketing, notice that in the top right there’s a prominent “Let’s Talk” button for anyone wanting to connect directly.
As you scroll down, you’ll see the type of content she’s releasing, and it’s just what home buyers want to see.
First, there are the featured listings.
If the prospective homebuyer is there to look at houses, this section lets them do that … immediately.
Homes By Krista (a Carrot customer) takes a similar approach. It opens with a beautiful hero image and simple problem-solving message: “Sell your house faster and for more money” and “Find and buy the perfect home with less hassle.”
To find out more about getting your conversion-optimized Agent website, go here!
In Weiniger’s case, after taking care of the low-hanging-lead-fruit, she turns her full attention to content.
2. Real Estate Agent Blogging Ideas That Are Way More than Just Listings
Rather than just featuring houses and soliciting sellers, Weiniger caters her blog to people who either don’t know if they want to move to central New Jersey yet or are looking to explore the area.
Want proof?
Scroll further down the homepage, and this is what you’ll see.
Weiniger doesn’t just play the part of a real estate agent — a home-finder and home-seller — she plays the part of friendly food citric, supermarket expert, school advisor, and more.
And they deliver. Two of Weiniger’s most popular posts at first appears to have nothing to do with real estate at all: The ULTIMATE Guide to Farmers Markets & Farm Stands in Central New Jersey and 11 Favorite Yoga (& Pilates!) Studios In & Around Warren.
But that “appearance” is exactly the point. Both articles answer the kinds of questions someone relocating or settling in would naturally have. When they take to the internet to find answers … guess who they find:
Weiniger occupies the second organic search result on page one of Google (the only result that beats them is an actual yoga studio and they even outrank Yelp). Plus, the posts are more than just words. They include embedded YouTube videos, direct links to all the mentioned resources, and interactive maps.
At the end of each post is Weiniger herself, her contact information, and a CTA to “Schedule Now”:
Naturally, once a visitor reaches the end of a post, Weiniger has positioned herself as an advisor. She’s helped them. She’s generated trust. And really… that’s the point.
Feel like that sort of design and technological integration is beyond you? It’s not because all those slick elements aren’t necessary.
Cranford & Westfield New Jersey Real Estate’s blog follows a similar topic pattern, without all the visual bells and whistles. And yet, this post — Grilled Cheese Shoppe Opening Celebration TODAY in Westfield, NJ — has generated nearly 2k shares on social media and ranks on the first page of Google:
The point is: that every real estate agent can do this with their blog content. After all, real estate agents know the area they live in better than almost anyone else. Why not utilize this knowledge of your town like Weiniger has?
3. Real Estate Video Marketing Ideas Where You Aren’t The Star
If you didn’t notice on their homepage, Weiniger also has a box linked to her YouTube page. One of the reasons you might have missed it is because it’s not titled, “Real Estate Videos.” Instead, it’s enticing: “Explore NJ Community Videos.”
On her YouTube channel, Judy educates viewers about everything from New Jersey’s local pharmacy to great pizza, pasta, and seafood in the area.
She does this with short video clips introducing each industry.
Sight is our most engaging sense, and using video to leverage that fact is a great way to engage potential clients. 51% of marketers name video as the type of content with the best return on investment.
But rest assured, these don’t need to be cinematic masterpieces. All these videos have in common: they’re about serving their audience… not serving the agent.
And as a Carrot member, you can even turn your video content in long-form blog content with the click of a button using what we call VideoPost.
But what should you talk about in these videos? What kind of advice should you offer? Here are a few ideas…
Advice For First-Time Homebuyers — Show new homebuyers how to secure a low-interest loan, how to negotiate with sellers, what to look for when seeing a home for the first time, and tons more.
Advice For People Trying to Sell Their Home — Show home sellers how they can get top-dollar for their house, how they can stage their property on a budget, or what kind of renovations they should make before selling.
Testimonial Video For Your Business — Do you have a client who is exceptionally happy with your services? Ask them if you can record a short video of them giving you a recommendation. That will make for some great social media street-cred.
Community Videos — As a real estate agent, you know your community better than most people. Record a video showing potential buyers all of the great things about your city, where to eat, what to do, and the best places to live.
4. Real Estate Lead-generation Guides Worth Signing Up For
Also, on her homepage, Weiniger links to a piece of content that is real estate lead generation gold: a guide. In her case, it’s the “40 Top Tips For Selling Your Home!”
Because this guide goes above and beyond the typical blog post, it’s “gated,” meaning you have to signup for access:
This is precisely what you should do with your free guides — make it so people have to give you their contact information to receive the resource. That way, you’re simultaneously providing free value to your audience and generating leads for your business.
Bend’s Station takes the same approach, though they dedicate considerable online real estate to their guide on their homepage:
Inside is a beautiful and picturesque overview of the entire Bend area. And it ends with two opportunities to go deeper with Bend Station: (1) an email signup box and (2) a full form to “Get in Touch”:
Both guides major on the needs and wants of either prospective sellers or prospective buyers. They’re helpful and provide genuinely valuable content you can replicate for your local area (seeing a trend yet?).
5. Real Estate Agent Infographics Should Make Sense Of The Numbers
Speaking of beautiful and picturesque, also on Weiniger’s blog, you’ll find a series of Warren NJ Market Reports. Each one contains easy-to-understand (and easy-to-create) graphics summarizing the previous month’s real-estate financials:
Each time they culminate is a powerful, one-two content punch: (1) access to a digital copy of the report and (2) a CTA to “Chat with Judy!”
Keeping Current Matters follows a similar path with their simple, but wildly popular infographic that has been shared nearly 10k times:
Likewise, 1850 Realty supplies local market trends in a visual form both on their blog and across their social media:
Raleigh Reality takes a good versus bad approach with their companion infographics:
6. Genuinely “Social” Content Marketing On Your Real Estate Social Media
Not surprisingly, Weiniger’s real estate content is all over social media. So we’ll take each one in turn.
Twitter
To start, she uses her Twitter account to do much the same thing she does with her blog and Youtube videos, but with less defined reason.
Her reason for creating the content I’m going to show you seem to be because she realizes that creating helpful content for everyone in central New Jersey is a great way to build rapport.
Plus, the more rapport you build, the more clients you’ll receive through word-of-mouth advertising; which no one needs to tell you is the most powerful form of advertising.
This Twitter post that leads to her blog is particularly engaging.
You might think that when you click on the link, it’s going to be featured houses for sale that she’s trying to trick you into purchasing with some well-placed click bait, but that’s not the case.
Click through, and you’ll see a very legitimate list of weekend activities for the everyday New Jersey family.
Or…
She also uses Twitter to direct traffic to her blog cleverly:
“I wanted to always lead with value and lead with trust. A better way for me to do that was providing content that really mattered. Valuable content that people couldn’t find elsewhere. As a local expert in my community, I was the perfect person to be able to create it and then distribute it.”
These agents prove that not all your content must be a sales pitch. Content that is not a sales pitch is attractive to everyone… including those you want to sell to.
Facebook
Weiniger’s Facebook account reveals how every realtor should use social media. One obvious application is posting pictures of houses that are for sale.
Because while you don’t want to be overbearing, you also don’t want to avoid talking about houses totally. People know you’re a realtor and they want to see what you have to offer. Pictures are a great way to do that.
Heck, even people who aren’t looking for a house might reconsider if they see some incredible pictures of an affordable home.
She also uses a Facebook page rather than a personal account which conveniently allows clients to review her.
Weiniger also posts fun, personable, and interesting videos of local restaurants. This video content benefits the local diner, people moving to the area looking for somewhere to eat, and — ultimately — your business.
You can even take inspiration from a real estate agent, Jim Walberg, and post quick tips for people living in the area. Because, if we’re being honest, real estate is nothing without a healthy dose of city and state pride.
Saddle up for a deeper look at Facebook Ads for Real Estate
Instagram is great for real estate agent content marketing because it’s a highly visual platform and, well… real estate is a highly visual product (house buyers love to look at pictures of houses).
Here’s a great example of a real estate agent’s post on Instagram…
Like this post, be sure to include your phone number and email address in every post so people can get ahold of you if they’re interested. Also, don’t forget to include relevant hashtags since that’s one of the best ways to get found out on Instagram (#housesforsale, for example).
I’d recommend using at least 10 hashtags on everything you post.
TikTok
TikTok is a new social media platform where users can view and share short video clips of just about anything — funny, serious, motivational… whatever!
And the platform is growing like a weed. It already has 500 million users, 41% of whom are aged between 16 and 24. Still, quite a few home-buying millennials and even some older folk visit the platform regularly.
You might be even more surprised to find out that many local businesses are finding great attention-grabbing, lead-gen success on Tik Tok — doctor’s offices, dentists, and even real estate agents are using the platform to spread brand awareness in their local area.
Here’s a great step-by-step video from a real estate agent talking about how you can use Tik Tok to generate leads for your real estate business.
7. Podcasting For Brand Awareness & Leads
Maybe you’ve never thought about creating a podcast before.
It’s probably not the first thing that came to mind when you considered creating a content marketing strategy for your real estate business.
But why not? There are plenty of buyers, sellers, and other agents who’d like to learn from an expert like yourself — why not be the one to teach them? Especially since doing so could result in tons of referrals and leads.
After all, when your committed podcast listeners here about someone who needs help buying or selling a home, who will they recommend?
That’s right, YOU!
And the best part is that creating a real estate podcast is as easy as pie in today’s world. You just need a decent mic (audio is one of the most important elements of any podcast) and some great content ideas.
Then, you can start recording your podcasts for free over at Buzzsprout — after some time, you’ll have to pay for hosting, but you can get started for no cost.
And for coming up with great content ideas for your first few episodes, consider…
Doing a few history lessons about the town where you operate. This can work to create interest in your local market and establish you as the go-to expert.
Tips and tricks for selling or buying a home. You know way more than most people about how to sell a home for top dollar or how to buy a home at a discount. Why not share what you’ve learned and by so doing, increase people’s perception of your expertise.
Real estate education. If you’ve ever thought about coaching other real estate investors or agents on how to build their own successful businesses, a podcast is a perfect place to do just that. Share what you’ve learned and, eventually, you might even get paid to consult up-and-coming agents or investors.
Weekly updates. People read the newspaper and look on social media to find out what’s going on in their local community… how about they listen to your podcast instead? Every week, you could give updates about scheduled events, political developments, and other items of local interest.
One thing’s for sure — your podcast won’t start itself! So grab a mic and get recording. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy doing it.
Content Marketing for Real Estate Agents: What You Can (And Should) Use
Content isn’t truly content unless it gives. At its heart, content is a mode of creation that offers something to someone else before expecting anything in return. It really comes down to one question: Does it add value?
Have fun. Look for inspiration anywhere and everywhere, even in industries that aren’t about real estate — like technology, B2B, SaaS (software as service), and ecommerce content marketing. Sometimes, that’s where you’ll the best and untapped ideas.
Write about a local pizza shop that is making a killing. Do a video interview with your community college about its success. Create an infographic discussing how safe the local public schools are.
Whether it’s a guide for PPC or a list of popular local restaurants, your content strategy needs to revolve around the homebuyer and home seller, not around your monetary gain.
Realtor’s who’ve found the balance between when to make a sales pitch and when to produce purely helpful content are the most successful realtors.
In other words, your real estate content marketing strategy shouldn’t focus on selling yourself, but on buyers and sellers themselves, the people behind the money.
Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast and Subscribe Below!
One thing that a lot of people miss with their websites on their cell phones is the conversion elements aren’t where they need to be on the cell phone. The buttons and the forms aren’t the size that they should be or the placement based on people using thumbs to type things in and those are things that we really dial in and make sure the mobile experience, what are those things we need to serve up to someone when they’re in the moment of looking to buy or sell. Trevor Mauch
If you guys go back to the episode that I recorded that is called Planting Seeds, that’s something that I’m always doing.
That’s one of the biggest things I can attribute any success I’ve had is to planting seeds with people. You know I see a lot of opportunities, a lot of potential in someone or working with someone and even if I think it’s completely out of reach for that person to work with me or for them to change what they’re doing, or I just have no clue how we’re going to work together but I know that there’s a quality person that wants to. I plant seeds in a very specific way.
It’s turned into business partnerships, it’s turned into amazing things. Now we’re nearing episode 100 and I’m crazy about that milestone. Of hitting 100 podcasts because when we launched the CarrotCast, I didn’t know what it was going to be. I didn’t know if it was going to be, you know, 20 episodes, 25 episodes or if we were going to stop at 50, 100, 1000, I don’t know. And I still don’t know when and where this podcast is going to go specifically.
But what I do know is we’re going to continue to deliver things that inspire you. Continue to do, deliver things to help you be a better entrepreneur. To help you get more freedom, flexibility, grow your finances so you can have more impact in this world. And, today’s podcast episode is a recording actually from one of our clients, but also an amazing investor and agent Connor Steinbrook from his podcast.
I’ve been on Connor’s podcast a couple times and the first time it was on the investing side of things and this time it was on the agent side of things. He’s growing a really, really, really fast agency right now with EXP Reality and it’s just amazing what he’s doing in his business, it’s amazing that so many of our other clients are doing on the agent side in addition to the investment side.
So he interviews me about how agents can leverage Carrot, and how agents can leverage content on the web to grow their businesses better. So hopefully you pick up a couple tips here if you are an agent and you have your license.
We have some really cool case studies coming up with other clients that are crushing on the investor side of things as well as crushing on the agent side of things. So keep an eye out for those as. Have an amazing time listening to this episode if you are an agent!
Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast
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[cta offer=”seoagents” color=”red”]
Listen to this episode of the CarrotCast with Investor Army’s Connor Steinbrook to Learn About Carrot’s Optimized Websites for Real Estate Agents
1:30 – Brief history of AgentCarrot, optimized websites for Real Estate Agents. 3:20 – How AgentCarrot is different from InvestorCarrot websites. 8:35 – The mindset of how people look at pricing and what the current pricing structure looks like for AgentCarrot. 13:00 – Why building credibility and having a real estate agent website can help control the psychology of a motivated seller. 14:30 – What Carrot’s mobile (phone) search data is currently showing for lead generation. 16:55 – What integrations are currently available for agents using AgentCarrot. 20:45 – Baking in Carrot’s conversion framework into AgentCarrot websites and the different site styles available. 23:30 – Some interesting things that happened with AgentCarrot Beta clients for SEO. 28:30 – Three changes that Carrot has notices within how Google is ranking websites. 34:30 – How to drill down your targeting into certain area locations, such as neighborhoods, using the Carrot system. 38:00 – What tools you can use besides Google Keyword Planner to find content and cut through the clutter. 43:00 – 3 of the biggest mistakes Investors and Agents make with their online marketing. 48:45 – How Carrot is build to help real estate professionals succeed.
Right now, more than ever, you must have custom real estate website design. In fact, 99% of millennials (21 – 37 years old) search online when looking for a home.
I know, I know. Whoop-dee-do, no surprise.
But here’s a few stats that are surprising. 89% of older baby boomers (54 – 72 years old) also use the internet during a house search and 77% of the silent generation (76 – 93 years old) do the same.
In fact, 44% of homebuyers across all ages purchase a home that they find on the internet.
This means that despite the age of your prospect, people are looking online at some point during their house hunt — more than likely.
And since they’re looking online, you need to be online.
If you’re not, you’re losing business.
End of story… “Here, you can have my clients, savvy internet real estate competition,” type of bye, bye.
And as you already know, those clients that work with the competition will do so again in the future — you don’t just lose them right now, you lose them forever.
Of course, that’s not always the case, but it often is.
Unfortunately, just being online isn’t enough, either. You need a website that drives traffic and converts visitors. In most cases, having your face on a corporate real estate website isn’t adequate, and neither is a cruddy website that your tech-buddy designed.
I don’t have anything against your tech buddy or your real estate corporation, but I do want to help.
For that reason, here at Carrot, we asked ourselves, “What are the three most important elements for any custom real estate website design to have?”
This is what we came up with.
Custom Real Estate Website Design Must #1: Easy Navigation
When someone lands on your website, they want to do something.
But what, exactly, do they want to do?
Fortunately, in the real estate niche, that’s a relatively easy question to answer.
People either want to learn about who you are (i.e. Can they trust you? Do you have a reliable track record? Do you seem legit?) or what you do (i.e. They want to pursue your services).
Put more simply, visitors want to…
1. Learn whether they can trust you.
Or…
2. Work with you.
Pretty simple, huh?
Yeah. At least on the surface.
But here’s the thing: even guiding those two simple intentions requires some savvy website navigation. After all, the last thing you want is for visitors to land on a website that looks like this.
If you arrived on this website, you’d leave within the first few seconds — your visitors will do the same thing.
In fact, 38% of people will leave a website with an unattractive layout.
What, really, though, is the problem with the above website?
Because if we look beyond the hideous colors and hard-to-read text, there’s something even worse: poor navigation.
Since people don’t know where to go, they leave.
And you don’t have to take my word for it. One study found that 50% of referral-based website traffic immediately uses a website’s navigation menu to orient themselves.
This is why, at Carrot, we include dead-simple navigation menus on our customer’s websites. For Investors…
And agents…
The moment that prospects land on those websites is the same moment that prospects know exactly what to do and where to go.
Immediately, then, those websites build trust.
A website without simple navigation, on the other hand, hurts trust and increases your bounce rate — which, in turn, hurts your business and the financial independence that you so ambitiously crave.
The point is, a cluttered and hard-to-navigate website hurts everyone and helps no one.
What, though, makes the difference between an easy-to-navigate website and a navigational disaster?
Here are 4 things to keep in mind.
Does your navigation bar have seven or less options? — You don’t want too many options on your website. You need to have the necessary ones (About Us, Contact Us, Testimonials, etc), but nothing more. Ironically, the more options that people have to choose from, the less likely that they’ll make a choice at all for fear of making the wrong choice. Remove that fear with fewer options.
Is the button copy for each navigation button honest and clear? — In other words, title your blog, “Blog” and your about page, “About Us.” Don’t try to remake the wheel. You’ll only make things unclear for visitors to your website and hurt your reputation in the long run. Use terms that people are familiar with and immediately recognize.
Is the design clean and the text easy to read? — This one is getting a bit more into the opinionated territory. For that reason, I recommend showing your website to a few trusted friends and asking them for their honest opinions. What do they think of the copy, the colors, and the overall flow? Do they like it or hate it? Ask them to be honest.
Is the website easy to navigate on mobile devices? — Today, more than half of our member leads come from mobile devices. If your website isn’t just as easy to navigate on mobile devices as it is on a desktop device, you need a new website. Consider how terrible this website looks on mobile.
In contrast, all of Carrot’s websites are mobile-friendly automatically… no extra work and no extra thinking. Boom. Donezo. Check to see if your website is mobile-friendly.
If you want us to help build you an awesome website, investors can go here and agents can go here to check out our plans. We’d love to work with you :-)
Plus, we’ll make sure you have all of the above elements dialed in.
Otherwise, take the above information and hand it to your designer. Or make sure that the real estate website builder you choose integrates this advice.
If your website isn’t easy to navigate, then it’s got no chance of competing with other online real estate websites. If it is easy to navigate, though, then people will immediately trust you — something that’s crazy valuable in the real estate world.
Custom Real Estate Website Design Must #2: Clear and Relevant CTAs
Your website might have a persuasive sales copy and a clean design, but if people don’t know where to click once they’re ready to take action, none of that matters.
After all, the whole point of your website is to generate leads for your business. Without a CTA, that’s impossible.
What, though, should your CTA be? Should you ask people to call you or sign up for your email list or enter their personal information?
Since you’re a real estate agent or investor, generally speaking, the best CTA is a phone number. Think about it. If you were looking for a real estate agent or investor, would you want to email them and wait for a response or call them and talk to them right now?
More than likely, the latter.
In fact, contact information on a website is vital to all industries. 51% of people think that “thorough contact information” is the single most important element missing from business websites. And 44% of internet users will outright leave a company website if it doesn’t have contact information or a phone number.
In the real estate industry, that truth is even more detrimental.
Through a heat map study at Carrot that we ran on one of our customer’s websites, we found that the “Call Us” CTA in the upper right corner was getting massive attention.
Of course, so too did straightforward CTAs like this…
And this…
Which illustrates exactly why your CTA needs to have two characteristics.
It needs to be clear (visually and linguistically)
It needs to be relevant (to the page it’s on and the business you run)
First of all, it stands out from the rest of the page. The CTA’s positioning, color, and shape make it easy to notice the moment that you land on the website.
Second, the button copy is clear and represents exactly what people expect to find when they visit a real estate agent website. You can either sell your property or buy your next home.
Additionally, Orbit Media Studios offers this “Pro Tip” regarding mobile website navigation:
“ProTip! For mobile visitors, make sure that the phone number turns into a button that dials the number when tapped. It’s a simple matter of adding tel: to the href code for the phone number for the mobile version of your site. The code should look something like this:
<a href=”tel:773-348-4581″>(773)348.4581</a>”
At Carrot, we design the best real estate websites for lead generation in the industry with clear and relevant CTAs. If you want to do it yourself, though, then use this as your CTA checklist.
Is the button copy clear? Do people know exactly what’s going to happen when they click it?
Is the CTA relevant to the website or page it’s on? What are you asking people to do and is that what they expect?
Does your CTA stand out visually? Is the color unique from the rest of the elements on the page and is your eye naturally drawn to it?
Custom Real Estate Website Design Must #3: A Compelling “About” Page
Out of the three elements that we chose to mention in this blog post, this is going to be the most surprising.
Easy navigation and clear, relevant CTAs — sure. That makes sense.
But an “About” page?
Really?
Is that one of the three most important custom real estate website design elements if you boil it down to its foundation?
But you don’t have to take our word for it. Another source found that 86% of visitors want to see information about a company’s products and services on the homepage.
But how do you create an “About Us” page that builds trust and creates a relationship?
Well, let’s walk through one of my favorite real estate “About Us” pages.
A team of real estate agents based out of Roseburg, Oregon — The G Team — starts their “Meet The G Team” Page with their core values.
Then, they build authority in their local market by describing their passion for the area and their expertise.
Next, they have bios for people on the team.
A friendly picture of the team…
And they end with a video and CTA.
The best part about this page is that they treat it like a sales page. Because believe it or not, your “About Us” page is a sales page.
Think about it this way. Why would someone visit your “About Us” page in the first place? Probably because they want to figure out if they can trust you, if you have a reliable track record if you offer the service that they’re looking for.
In other words, they visit your “About Us” page because they’re trying to determine if they want to work with you or not.
Your “About Us” page needs to help them make that decision.
Tell your story — Be brief, but include the juicy details that help people understand why you do what you do.
Include an authentic and professional picture of yourself — Don’t take a picture when you have a fake smile on. Take a picture when you’re laughing or smiling genuinely. Believe it or not, people can tell the difference. And studies show that visitors will think you are more intelligent, attractive, and friendly if you’re actually smiling. Do the same for the rest of your team if you have one.
Write the page’s content in the first person, like you’re actually… well, you — Don’t try to write in the third person like a robot describing someone else. Nobody wants to work with a robot. They want to work with a human. You’re a human, so be a human.
Include a CTA — Anyone who visits the “About” page wants to learn about you because they’re thinking about working with you. Convince them, then pitch them.
Conclusion
You need a custom real estate website design but, most importantly, you need a website that drives traffic and converts visitors.
In fact, if you have a website that doesn’t do those two things, then it’s practically the same as not having a website at all.
For that reason, at the very least, your website needs easy navigation, clear and relevant CTAs, and a compelling “About Us” page. Without those, your website will sit in cyberspace, doing nothing for your business and nothing for your dream of financial and personal independence.
At Carrot, though, we’ve generated over one million leads for our customer’s real estate websites in just three years. We’d love to help you, as well. Agents can find out more about working with us here and investors, here.
If not, that’s okay too. :-)
Either way, follow the above advice and you’ll be well on your way to having the website — and business — of your dreams.
What if I told you that, by adding one element to your real estate website, you could increase your conversion rate by 10%?
You wouldn’t have to increase traffic and you wouldn’t have to do more marketing. You’d just have to add one dead-simple thing to your homepage.
And boom. 10%.
Would you do it?
If you’re like most real estate agents (72%), you’re already dissatisfied with the number of leads that your website generates. So I’m going to safely assume that the majority of you would welcome a 10% increase in your website’s conversion rate.
Sure. 10% isn’t huge. But it’s something. And in an industry where one deal can equal tens of thousands of dollars, 10% often separates the wheat from the chaff.
Where, though, am I getting 10% from?
Well, it’s an estimate. This little trick probably won’t double your revenue or change your business completely, but it’s a simple way to increase your conversion rate in very little time.
And who knows? For you, it might make all the difference.
Interested?
Here’s what it is.
The Best Real Estate Websites For Lead Generation Have This In Common: The “Call Us!” CTA
That’s right. That “Call Us!” CTA in the upper right corner of the page drives leads and converts visitors.
If you don’t have it on your website, then there’s a good chance that you’re missing out on about 10% of your potential lead generation.
But you don’t have to take my word for it.
As they say, “the proof is in the pudding.” So let’s talk about the pudding.
Proof that the “Call Us!” CTA Works on the Best Real Estate Websites for Lead Generation
44% of website visitors will leave a company’s website if there’s no contact information or phone number. Dead. Buried. Gone.
And you and I both know that the moment they leave your website is the same moment they go to the competition’s website. When that happens, your part in their story is over. In fact, 73% of buyers say that they would use their real estate agent again in the future — they’d even recommend the agent to a friend.
Once someone’s gone, they’re gone — and so too are their recommendations.
Naturally, you can’t afford to lose website visitors (and their friends) to the competition for such a silly reason. If having this “Call Us!” CTA really makes a difference, then you damn-well better include it on your website — especially when you consider that it’s only going to take about five minutes for you to add.
But in case you don’t trust the stats I’ve already presented, maybe you’ll take better to our own (Carrot’s) data from nearly 4,000 websites across tons of different real estate niches (wholesalers, rental owners, house flippers, and agents).
First of all, we found that 91% of people who become leads on these real estate websites convert on the same exact day of their first visit to the website.
This means that high-value people who visit your website want a solution right now. 91% of the time, ideal prospects aren’t on your website to browse around and come back tomorrow.
They’re on your website because they want a solution… and they want it right now.
In fact, prospects are so ready to take action that the vast majority of our customer’s leads come from the home page.
Which means that they visit the website and become a lead before even clicking anywhere else. They take action.
But what does that have to do with the “Call Us!” CTA?
Well, put yourself in the prospect’s shoes. If you visit someone’s website looking for a solution to your problem or wanting to get in touch with a realtor, the last thing you want to do is dig around their website looking for contact information.
And the very last thing you want is to come across an email or a form like this.
No. You want to call someone right now and schedule a time to talk further.
Additionally, we found that the average time-on-page for the “Contact Us” page across these real estate websites was a whopping one minute and twenty-nine seconds.
Which is pretty damn significant for a page that usually has nothing more than a phone number, email, and/or contact form.
Or consider, from this heatmap of one of our customer’s websites, how much attention the “Call Us!” CTA receives.
Plus, since 52% of home buyers use an iPhone during their home search, a lot of prospects literally have their calling device right in front of them when viewing your website.
“On many websites, the contact information is buried at least five links deep, because the company doesn’t really want to hear from you. And when you find it, it’s a form or an e-mail address.
We take the exact opposite approach.
We put our phone number (it’s 800-927-7671, in case you’d like to call) at the top of every single page of our website because we actually want to talk to our customers. And we staff our call center 24/7.”
And while you might not be the owner of a company that sells shoes online, the point is the same — business people that make it easy for prospects to contact them are far more likely to turn visitors into leads and leads into deals than those that make it difficult. Statistically, 50% of buyers work with the company that responds first.
This means you want to make it as easy as possible for prospects to contact you; the “Call Us!” CTA does exactly that.
How, though, should the rest of your website support this CTA? It’s to that question that we turn next.
How the Best Real Estate Websites for Lead Generation Set Up The Supporting Elements
In the end, your website should be phenomenal at only two things.
When someone first arrives at your website, they will want to know if they can trust you or not. They’ve never met you in person and so your website is the only thing they have to reference.
If it doesn’t convince them that you’re trustworthy, they’ll leave. If it does, they’ll contact you.
End of story.
In the digital real estate world, it’s really that simple.
For that reason, the majority of your website should be dedicated to building credibility with your visitors. You want them to know that they can trust you and you want them to know that as quickly as possible.
How, though, do you get someone to trust you when your website is the only thing between their decision and your business?
Well, there’s a nearly endless amount of elements that go into building trust with your website — “Website credibility judgments are 75% based on overall aesthetics” — but here are four of the more important ones.
Does your website load fast? If people have to wait too long, they’ll leave and go somewhere else.
What is the first thing that people notice when they land on your website? Does that element build trust for your business? If it doesn’t, then consider making this element something that does.
How clean is your real estate website design? If your website is cluttered with random information and difficult-to-decipher CTAs, then people won’t trust you and they definitely won’t stick around.
Is your website easy to navigate? Don’t overcomplicate things. Keep your navigation bar intuitive and your CTAs clear. You want people to know what’s going to happen when they click something on your website and you want them to easily navigate where they want to go. Avoid vague and unhelpful navigational terms on your website.
At Carrot, we’re relentless about doing all four of these things for our customers so that they don’t have to worry about it.
If you want to do it yourself, though — or you’re just curious — then check out how we guide website visitors from trusting the real estate expert to taking action.
Here’s how we do it on our real estate investor websites.
Since the best thing that your website visitors can do is contact you, the rest of the website should work to get them to a point where they’re ready to call you or email you.
The only hesitancy that committed prospects have about contacting you is that they don’t know who you are, they don’t know if they can trust you, and they don’t know if you can help them.
Other than the “Call Us!” CTA, every element on your website should work to convince them they can trust you and you can help them.
Then, and only then, will they dial your phone number.
Conclusion
The “Call Us!” CTA probably won’t be the most interesting part of your website’s design. It won’t be the prettiest or the most compelling. But that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant.
In fact, that little “Call Us!” addition to your website can make an estimated 10% difference in your conversion rate. Now, you know why it’s important and how to support it on your website.
Because in an industry where every sale is worth tens of thousands of dollars, 10% can make a big difference.
And in the case of the “Call Us!” CTA, about five minutes equals +10%.
What do you think is the most important element on a real estate website for generating leads and converting visitors?
The best real estate websites for agents offer the ability to build lead-generating consistency, financial predictability, & growth-hacking momentum for your real estate business.
We’ve seen countless Agents use websites to boost their branding and credibility, increase website traffic, and capture qualified leads.
You might be looking for a real estate website provider, or could be a current Carrot member who’s exploring ways to use the platform, I reviewed some of the best real estate agent websites, some powered by Carrot, and found 10 noteworthy trends that can increase your online lead generation.
And keeping up with those massive changes can be difficult. In today’s real estate world, you don’t just need a website, you need one of the best websites.
Since all of your competition is online, just being online isn’t enough.
You need to stand apart from the hundreds of thousands of results that Google generates with any given search and you need to have a website that pulls leads and converts visitors.
Of course, that’s easier said than done.
Here they are…
10 Things The Best Real Estate Agent Websites Have in Common
The reason is simple. If people don’t have to leave your website to view listings, they will spend more time on your domain. This means that when they find a house they love, they’ll contact you instead of the competition (because they’re on your website already).
This is what IDX looks like in action on one of our Carrot members’ websites.
Simple and informative. Townsend Realty Group uses a real estate website designed by the Carrot team. Their website showcases the company’s well-designed logo, along with several engaging property images from the company’s catalog of listings via IDX.
With IDX, visitors can search for houses natively on your website rather than having to leave and go to Zillow or Realtor.com.
And the more time people spend on your website, getting to know you and your business, the better they’ll remember you when they’re reading to buy a house.
However, no matter how good the IDX on your real estate website, people still go to third-party listing websites at some point.
Zillow, for example, has 160 million monthly users. 50% of visitors to Zillow are planning to buy or sell a home. And there are even two million real estate professionals listed on Zillow.
You can’t compete with that.
Still, though, IDX is worth having because some people will stay on your website to browse listings.
The G Team are active agents in Roseburg, Oregon. They offer innovative solutions to address their audiences. Rather than only having bulk listings and content for their properties, the G Team has created specific pages for their niche audiences.
Here is an example of how they target North Umpqua River Homes with a specific page as well as specific content.
The G Team offers another reason that you should consider using IDX.
Namely, because it allows you to easily choose featured properties for your front page.
With IDX, you don’t just give visitors the ability to search your website for homes, you create a simple system for featuring homes that you think will sell quickly and with a high profit margin.
All you have to do is go to the pool of IDX-generated listings and select the ones you want to feature.
And as you probably know, no home sells better than a featured home.
2. High-quality Pictures And Videos
As I looked through some of the top real estate agent websites on the Internet, I couldn’t help but notice that each had stunning visuals.
As it turns out, real estate website design and professional photography are a match made in heaven.
If you want people to buy a house, then you have to make it look good.
And one of the best ways to do that is by using remarkable videos and photos for your house listings.
In fact, according to one study, listings with professional photographs saw 139% more clicks and sold for anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000 more than expected.
Really, that’s no surprise.
When a house looks beautiful, people want to buy it. Homebuyers spend 60% of their time looking at listing photos and homes with high-quality photos receive a 47% larger asking price per square foot than homes without high-quality photos.
Even if you pay a photographer $500 or $1,000 to take photos of the house, that investment is well worth it.
3. Compelling House Descriptions
Above all, you’re a salesperson.
Your job is to sell houses to people who want to buy a home in your area. And you want them to buy from you whether your relationship started offline… or online.
For that reason, the top real estate agent websites have remarkable, emotionally charged, enthralling descriptions of properties.
They don’t just put something like, “Hey. Here’s a house for sale. It’s nice. Buy it.”
Instead, they use powerful language and compelling… well, sales copy.
For the first example, I’ll use one of Carrot’s Concierge real estate website service websites, Krista Mashore and her team have built an authoritative website for home buyers and sellers in and around Brentwood, California. Her website is full of useful local content, including an informational blog and community pages for each of the areas in her market.
Krista uses a very detailed description of her properties…
See how the description evokes an emotional response with words and phrases like “PRIVATE FEEL,” “low maintenance tropical landscaping,” and “NO rear neighbors”?
You want to do the same thing with your descriptions. Here’s another example from the same website.
This illustrates an important point. When writing the description for a home on your website, your primary goal isn’t to give all the specs or drown people in detail.
You want to flatter them. You want them to feel as though they’ve found the best house on the market and they would be silly to pass it up.
“When writing your listing description it is important to mention the qualities of the property that stands out over and above the competition. For example, if all the competing homes have a two car garage and yours has a three car, this is something you would want to emphasize.”
In other words, point out the good and don’t mention the bad — at least, not yet.
There will come a time when you have to mention problems with the house, but that time is not right now. First, you want people to fall in love with the property. Then, and only then, will they forgive its flaws.
Finally, if you really want to make your product description shine, consider this study by Zillow.
In the research, Zillow observed over 24,000 homes sold and found that these 15 words were within the descriptions of homes that sold for more than expected.
On the left is the word analyzed and on the right is the average percentage increase of what the home sold for (relative to what realtors expected it to sell for).
Luxurious — +8.2%
Captivating — +6.5%
Impeccable — +5.9%
Stainless — +5%
Basketball — +4.5%
Landscaped — +4.2%
Granite — +1% – 4%
Pergola — +4%
Remodel — + about 2%
Beautiful — +2.3%
Gentle — +2.3%
Spotless — +2%
Tile — +2%
Upgraded — +1.8%
Updated — +0.8%
When appropriate, consider tossing some of these words into your descriptions to give them a better conversion rate and a wider profit margin.
4. Easy-to-access Contact Information
It might seem like an overly simplistic element to your real estate agent website, but the trend is undeniable:
The best real estate websites for agents make it easy to contact the broker.
This element on your website is so crucial that I couldn’t avoid mentioning it.
All of the best real estate agents are doing it. Let’s take a look at the next Agent Carrot website before looking deeper into their contact call-to-action.
For the Kelly Kingston team, impact begins with their company logo: the K built into the roofline and chimney silhouette send a strong message about what they specialize in. Their area pages within the website’s main navigation menu expand on their theme by drilling down listings in their target areas of Oklahoma City, Midwest City, Bethany, Yukon, and Edmond.
Kelly Kingston Homes makes it easy for visitors to find different options to contact them from the homepage…
How about that 61% of internet users won’t return to a website if they had trouble accessing it on their phone — and that 40% of those frustrated visitors go to a competitor’s website instead?
If you didn’t, now you do.
Clearly, mobile browsing isn’t a thing of the future, it’s a thing of right now.
This means that your website absolutely must be mobile-flexible.
The best real estate agent website templates on the internet aren’t mobile-responsive because they’re ahead of the times; they’re mobile-responsive because they’re in line with the times.
In other words, mobile-responsive is now par for the course.
If you’re not sure whether your own website is mobile responsive or not, you can use Carrot’s mobile responsive tool to find out.
Just type in the URL of your website and click “Start Test.”
On the left side, you’ll see what your website looks like on an iPhone, and on the right side, you’ll see what your website looks like on an iPad.
If it doesn’t adapt to each device, you desperately need a new website.
All of Carrot’s real estate agent and investor websites are automatically mobile-responsive.
This is important for several reasons.
It helps your rankings in Google (because Google hates ranking un-mobile-friendly websites), makes visitors more comfortable with browsing your page on their smartphone, and even increases your conversion rate — conversion rates on mobile are 64% higher than on desktop.
If your website isn’t mobile-responsive, then you need to fix it as soon as possible.
6. Have Clear CTAs
Imagine this.
Someone visits your website and browses through a few house listings. They find one they love and they want to visit the house in person because they’re considering buying it.
But there’s a problem.
They can’t figure out where to go on your website to make that happen.
It might seem like a silly and unlikely situation — but rest assured, it happens.
When real estate agents design a website with unclear navigation, people leave before they even spend thirty seconds trying to figure out where to go next.
In fact, the average human attention span has been compared to that of a goldfish.
For that reason, the best real estate agent websites guide the visitor with clear and easy-to-find CTAs.
Buttons like this…
And this…
But, you’re probably wondering, what makes those buttons so clickable?
Two things.
Copy clarity
Visual clarity
First, let’s consider copy clarity.
What do I mean by “copy clarity”?
I mean having button text that is clear — button text that answers the question, “What happens when I click this?”
When HubSpot tested the button copy on one of their own CTAs, for instance, they found that “See demo” outperformed “Test it out” by a whopping 82% (from 2.47% conversion rate to 4.49%).
Why?
Because no one knows what “Test it out” means — so fewer people are going to click it. “See demo,” on the other hand, is clear. I know what’s going to happen when I click that button and thus I’m more willing to click it.
In other words, clarity converts.
And not just in terms of button copy, also in terms of button color (or visual clarity).
Consider, as a bad example, if you were trying to buy something from this website. Where would you click?
Yeah… I’m not sure either.
Nothing immediately stands out that I should click and there are so many different things going on that I have no idea where to start.
The point is, the best websites for real estate agents make it blatantly clear what they want visitors to do.
And button color is a great way to add visual CTA clarity to your website.
HubSpot did another study where they analyzed the color of a CTA. In this study, the red button converted visitors 21% more than the green button.
Why?
Well, take a moment to look at the green button example. How much other green stuff is on the page?
As you can see, there’s enough green on the page for the button color to blend in. Sure, you can still see where you’re supposed to click. But it doesn’t immediately pop out.
Now consider the example with the red button.
Clearly, the red button immediately demands your attention.
But not because red is better than green. In this case, the red button draws your attention better because there’s very little other red content on the page. This means that you immediately notice the big red button.
The green button, on the other hand, blends in and is less visually outstanding.
The best real estate websites for agents have clear CTAs that stand out visually. That’s a trend you should consider mimicking.
7. Write The Perfect “About” Page
It seems like a no-brainer. Still, some real estate agents forget to include an “About” page on their website.
However, as you might’ve guessed, the best in the business don’t.
Here’s one example from Kelly Kingston Homes…
And another example from Krista Mashore…
That similarity among the best real estate websites for agents is no accident.
Here’s a heatmap test we ran on an agent website, which shows just how many people are clicking the “Meet The Team” tab.
And on our website, people aren’t making one of the biggest buying decisions of their life: purchasing a home.
On your website, they are. Imagine how much more important the “About” page is when visitors are trying to make a decision of that magnitude.
Much bigger.
People want to know who they are working with — and when they’re buying a house, they really want to know.
In fact, our own research revealed that the “About” tab is the third most-clicked page on real estate websites, regardless of the type of realtor.
This means that you should take a little extra time to think through your “About” page and make sure it’s a shining illustration of your company values and industry expertise.
One Carrot client — The G Team — puts their company vision, for instance, at the very top of their “About” page.
Above all else, The G Team wants to build trust with the people who visit their website.
You want to do the same.
And since people are visiting your “About” page regularly, it’s a great place to do that.
8. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The best real estate agent websites are the ones that show up first in Google under a relevant search.
In fact, you could argue that Google results are the biggest indicator of a great real estate agent website.
If it ranks in Google under relevant keywords, then more people click it, visit it, and, more than likely, buy from it.
Just consider that 44% of home buyers purchase a home that they found online or that 93% of all online experiences start with a search engine.
However, Google offers a lot of competition, even for the little town of Roseburg, Oregon — 766,000 results, to be exact.
With all that online competition, it’s probably no surprise to find out that 72% of real estate agents are unsatisfied with how many leads their website generates.
If you’re in that category of discouraged real estate agents, it’s alright. At Carrot, we understand.
We help tons of our client’s websites rank in Google. In fact, it’s part of every single package we offer. If you want a website that generates passive traffic consistently and pulls in leads, give us a call — we’d love to help you out.
And if you’re unsure about whether you should work with us, consider that if you type “buying farmland in Roseburg Oregon” into Google, the top-ranking result is — you guessed it! — a Carrot customer website.
There are tons of different pieces to SEO, but one of the ways that we help our clients rank in Google is by encouraging them to put their target keywords front and center on their website.
Like this, for example.
Why is this so important?
Because Google uses the title of each page on your website to determine what the page is about. If you put the topic at the… well, top, then Google will have an easier time knowing where to rank your website.
When prospects land on your website, there’s one thing that you need to do above all else: build trust.
If the person lands on your website and doesn’t trust you or, worse, thinks you’re a spammer, there’s no way they’re going to work with you.
In fact, the most important factor when choosing a real estate agent is honesty and credibility.
And one of the best ways to build trust with your audience is by proving to them that you know what you’re talking about.
How can you prove you know what you’re talking about?
By starting a blog and posting consistently.
If you do, you’re in good company.
Here’s G.Stiles…
And Krista Mashore…
The point is, a blog on your website can work wonders to build trust and credibility. It’s an easy addition to your website that can make a massive difference. You can also consider creating real estate infographics rather than blog posts or videos if you’d prefer.
What, though, if you don’t know what your content should discuss?
No problem. Simply ask yourself this: What are the most common questions that your prospects and customers ask you?
10. Glowing Testimonials, Case Studies, And Reviews
The final thing that the best real estate websites for agents have in common is glowing testimonials, case studies, and reviews.
Remember, your number one goal is to build trust with the people who visit your website.
In many cases, that alone will determine whether people work with you or not: do they trust you?
And perhaps there’s no better way to build immediate trust than with testimonials, case studies, and reviews.
In fact, 88% of people trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations from friends.
This is why the best in the business regularly use these elements.
Here’s one from Ellen Pool…
And Krista Mashore…
And The G Team…
Just how important are these reviews and customer-based ravings?
Well, one study found that brands that inspire highly emotional experiences — for which case studies are remarkable — see three times more word-of-mouth than their feeling-less counterparts.
People trust reviews and testimonials inspire customers to share your business with their friends.
Copyblogger recommends asking these questions of happy customers to collect remarkable testimonials:
What was the obstacle that would have prevented you from buying this product?
What did you find as a result of buying this product?
What specific feature did you like most about this product?
What are three other benefits of this product?
Would you recommend this product? If so, why?
Is there anything you’d like to add?
Conclusion
Today, it’s not enough to have a website. You need to have one of the best real estate agent websites in the digital world — or, at least, in your local area.
If you don’t have a great website, then you won’t rank in Google, people won’t trust you, and you will probably lose leads.
On the other hand, if you use a website with IDX integration, high-quality visuals, compelling listing descriptions, mobile-responsive design, clear CTAs, a thorough “About” page, SEO, a trust-building blog, and glowing testimonials, then you’ll not just drive deals through your website, you’ll be among the best in the business.
How’s the old adage go? “If you want to be the best, copy the best.”
Every year, the real estate market changes. And sometimes, it changes faster than you thought it was going to. 20 years ago, agents and investors didn’t have real estate websites — they relied on the talk of the town and coffee-shop conversations to generate business.
Of course, that is still partly true today, but with a twist: If you’re not online … then you’re behind the curve and you’re likely losing a steady amount of potential business.
Not because you suck at your job, but because people can’t find you where they’re looking: online.
That, though, is just one example of how the real estate industry is changing. That doesn’t mention constantly fluctuating inventory and interest rates or technological advancements (like drones and 3D house walkthroughs).
Clearly, you have a lot to keep track of.
To help, though, here are five real estate market predictions that we here at Carrot and some of the top real estate investors working with us are expecting to see.
1. Inventory Will Increase Slightly
Over the past few years, the U.S. has consistently broken the record for lowest inventory.
For instance, Forbes reports that, in 2010, inventory sat just under one million, at 967,604. The most recent count puts that number at 653,347.
As you already know, that low inventory means you need to be careful with your investments. It drives the cost of homes upward with bidding wars and the number of opportunities downward.
Fortunately, there’s good news on the horizon.
Samantha Sharf, Forbes columnist, continues…
“The general consensus is that inventory will pick up slightly. The biggest reason for this modest optimism is that the current situation is unsustainable. Prices cannot rise faster than wages forever. Plus, life events will eventually force reluctant sellers off the sidelines.”
And she’s not alone in her prediction. Danielle Hale, the chief economist for Realtor.com, says,
“The majority of the year should be challenging for most buyers, but we do expect growth in inventory starting in the fall… We expect the relief to start in the upper tiers, and it will make its way down to the lower tiers.”
The beginning of the year likely won’t see much change, but, by the end of the year, here’s to hoping that inventory starts on an upward slope — even if it’s slight.
[cta offer=”seoagents” color=”red”]
2. Renting Will Become A More Popular Option
With the cost of housing surging in certain areas, we’ll likely see an increase in the portion of people who choose to rent instead of buy.
“In the nation’s top 50 markets, half of the housing stock is now considered overvalued, based on market fundamentals, like income and employment.”
When the price of housing moves upward, more people, generally speaking, look to renting options rather than buying options.
This, of course, depends on your location and requires that you understand the place where you invest. Overall, though, expect renters to flood the market.
Jason Bible, real estate investor in Houston, says that he’s going to try and get his hands on as many rentals as he can this year.
“We buy over 100 houses a year and this year I will buy as many rentals as I can get my hands on. In fact, I am going to buy some of them at 100% retail with a 20% down loan.”
In fact, technological advancements are a big part of what makes keeping up with real estate trends difficult.
Don’t expect those innovations to slow down.
Alex, one of the marketing leads here at Carrot, recently bought a home and he signed practically every document on DocuSign rather than in-person.
Additionally, millennials — one of the first tech-savvy generations — are buying more and more houses each year. By 2025, they are expected to form twenty million new households.
Still, though, about two-thirds of millennials haven’t reached the average home buying age of 32.
So we can expect the millennial home-buying trend to continue through the next few years.
And as you might have guessed, millennials aren’t just comfortable with technology; they prefer it.
This means that we’re going to the rapid adoption of apps and online tool like virtual tours, digital contract signing, and even decentralized house visits.
4. Interest Rates Will Increase By About .25% or .5%
The more that interest rates increase, the fewer people we’ll see buying homes — which would further incentive people to rent instead.
Unfortunately, interest rates are still going to rise this year. However, they probably won’t rise too significantly.
That’s not because they aren’t primed to, however. But, as real estate broker, Richard Haynes, predicts,
“Mortgage rates will rise by 0.25%, and possibly by 0.50% if things get crazy… If rates go higher than that, the Fed will step in and reinvest more principle and buy up mortgages to lower rates and get them under control.”
More than likely, an interest rate increase of .25% or .5% won’t make a remarkable impact on the number of buyers. Of course, that percentage has the potential to cruise higher.
Daniil Kleyman, a real estate developer from Richmond, VA, and owner of RehabValuator, says, “Rates are going up for sure, and probably significantly.”
No one can know exactly what’s going to happen. But rates are going to rise and the federal government will probably step in to balance those rates out once they climb too high.
5. Investors And Agents Will See Greater Competition
Overall, agents and investors have seen remarkable success during the last few years.
The economy has continued on an upward slope and unemployment has steadily decreased, which has encouraged people to spend more on housing.
In the south especially, sales are booming and expected to grow 6% rather than 2.5% — the national average.
Because of that lucrativeness, though, agents and investors will probably see a massive burst of new entrepreneurs entering the space and trying to claim their slice of the pie.
“This will be the year that we see many enter the market for the first time as an investor following the wave of hype of the nationwide real estate cycle.”
That cluttered trend means that you’ll see more competition.
Fortunately, that competition probably won’t be nearly as experienced as you are — that is if you’ve been an investor or agent for quite some time.
Which further means you shouldn’t have much trouble competing.
Still, according to our own data that we pulled from our thousands of Carrot customer spread across the U.S., lead generation is up — meaning the market is hot — but conversion rates are slightly down.
Take sellers, for instance. In past years, the number of online sessions to their websites increased by a whopping 85%. Similarly, they generated 65% more leads.
Their average conversion rate, however, went down by about 10%.
Why?
Well, even though there are lots of opportunities in the real estate industry, there are an increasing amount of people who want a piece of that opportunity.
Which means your prospects have more options than they did last year. And with more people flooding in to claim their slice of the revenue, conversion rates are softening a bit.
It’s also worth mentioning that agents will experience competition from another source. Namely, from technological advancements that threaten to either change or outright destroy their profession.
Online tools like Zillow, Matterport, and Dotloop are working toward doing what Uber did to taxis or Airbnb did to hotels.
They are moving the service of agents online, which has two noteworthy benefits for the consumer.
“Unfortunately, [agents] are on a downtrend. Zillow is finally gonna start taking a small market. But this is again the beginning of the end of Agents. They still have five to seven more good years. Also, flat fee companies are gonna eat a lot of market share.”
It’s unlikely that real estate agents will completely disappear over the next decade, but it’s equally ignorant to assume that nothing will happen to the profession.
Over the coming years, agents might fall into a more advisory role for high-end homes. Or they might become the much-needed experts for first-time homebuyers.
Whatever the case, agents face competition from technology and investors face competition from ambitious entrepreneurs.
What All Of This Means For Agents And Investors
Okay. Now you know what to expect. But what does all of that mean for your real estate business?
How should you be prepared to adapt this year and in the years to come?
Well, the good news is that the majority of real estate leaders expect this year and next to be phenomenal. So, despite any discouragement, you might feel toward upcoming trends, the overall picture is promising — for agents and investors alike.
What is important to recognize, however, is that, as the real estate market becomes increasingly crowded, you need to stand out from that clutter.
If your website doesn’t convert or build credibility like it should, or if it doesn’t load fast enough to rank in Google, or demand attention, then you’ll have little chance of success in 2020 and beyond.
At Carrot, we help beginner and top-level investors and agents drive traffic, pull leads, and land deals.
We encourage our customers to use video testimonials like this one from Nexus Homebuyers…
And as you can see, below, Nexus Homebuyers doesn’t stop with one.
Remember, this is the first thing that people see when visiting your page. Use it to build credibility and trust as fast as you can.
More than likely, the person landing on your website has a few other tabs open as well — browsing through their options.
You need to stand out as the best and most friendly.
For investors and agents, alike, having a “How it works” page can help to eliminate your prospect’s fears and make them more comfortable with giving you a call.
If you want to learn more about how Carrot can help you stand apart from the rest of the crowd, you can go here and read all about it (we’d love to work with you :-) ).
“This means that we need to: (1) make sure we have enough cash on the sideline to capitalize on the market when it does change, (2) do less — or no — long-term projects so that we don’t get caught in the market shift, and (3) wholesale more and close on less, so that we are taking on less risk.”
For the changing market, that’s advice worth taking to heart.
Also, a side-note worth discussing is the current lucrativeness of the real estate coaching industry.
Since so many new agents and investors are entering the real estate scene, those newbies need people to teach them.
If you’re an experienced investor or agent, then you might want to consider leveraging this trend and starting your own online course. This could generate another source of income to supplement your real estate work while not taking a ton of extra time.
Said another way, if you want to get into the real estate coaching world, now’s a perfect time.
Every investor and agent will adapt to the changing real estate environment differently. How you do it is, naturally, your own choice.
Above all else, though,
Build immediate credibility on your website.
Adapt to unexpected shifts in the market.
Avoid long-term projects.
Leverage technology rather than avoiding it.
Real Estate Market Predictions for 2020 and Beyond
Each year brings new developments to the real estate world.
Some of those, you anticipate. Others, you don’t.
But one thing’s for sure. The real estate world will change. And if you’re not ready to adapt to it, then your business will suffer.
If, on the other hand, you build credibility on your website to stand above the cluttered market, consider leveraging rental properties, and utilize technology that can increase your business’ success (like drones and 3D tours), 2020 will be a great year.
Best of luck this year and, please, let us know how it goes and if there’s anything we can do to help you.
And what do you think? Are there any trends we missed? Or do you think any of our predictions are wrong?
Let us know your opinion in the comment section of this article.
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Every year, the real estate market changes. And sometimes, it changes faster than you thought it was going to. 20 years ago, agents and investors didn’t have 
Samantha Sharf, Forbes columnist, continues…
And she’s not alone in her prediction. 
Jason Bible, real estate investor in Houston, says that he’s going to try and get his hands on as many rentals as he can this year.
That’s not because they aren’t primed to, however. But, as real estate broker, 
Dan Walters from 
Edward Beck from 
“This means that we need to: (1) make sure we have enough cash on the sideline to capitalize on the market when it does change, (2) do less — or no — long-term projects so that we don’t get caught in the market shift, and (3) wholesale more and close on less, so that we are taking on less risk.”