With all the changes Facebook has been forced to institute in its ad program, many agents we speak with are dumping their ads on the platform and seeking alternative forms of lead generation.

Some are reconsidering the “old” ways to generate leads, primarily direct mail.

We agree that direct mail is even more effective today than ever, but all marketing plans should be multi-pronged.

One free way to generate leads that is often overlooked is the agent website. Sure, you can hire someone to tweak your SEO, but there are other ways to help generate organic traffic.

Start with your content. As you go through the content on your site, keep this advice from Dan Ritzke, founder of Third Act Marketing, top-of-mind:

No one wants to learn about your brand

No one wants to learn about your product

No one wants to learn about you 

Everyone wants to solve problems that are bothering them

Everyone wants to make their life easier

Everyone wants to make their job easier.

The “everyone” you should concentrate on is real estate consumers. Luckily, NAR offers some tips they gleaned in a survey of these potential clients (2019 Homebuyer and Seller Generational Trends).

The top three website features that consumers find “very helpful” have to do with listings:

• Photos
• Detailed information about listings
• Floor plans

That these consumers chose listing information as the most useful shows exactly why they visited real estate websites. Although neighborhood information is important, that’s not why they visited.

Your bio is also important, but most don’t find it “useful” to them.

The most useless information on agent websites, according to survey respondents, includes:

• Videos
• Information about open houses
• Real estate news

While all ages rank videos as unimportant, 27 percent of baby boomers like them (the highest percentage of all groups).

What stood out the most for us is that floor plans are important to real estate website visitors yet we see few listings that include this feature.

Among the tasks you can accomplish to make your listings more valuable to buyers is to start including floor plans, lots of photos and get more detailed in your descriptions. Get more tips here.

While we can’t personally vouch for the following floor plan providers, several agents we’ve spoken with recommend them:

• Floorplanonline.com
• Home Depot Measurement Services
• Planomatic.com

Then, ditch the videos on your website. Another NAR report proves that homebuyers don’t watch videos and don’t find them useful. They do, however, like virtual tours. Get on the 3-D virtual tour train in 2020 to offer value to website visitors.

The value the real estate agent brings to the process

That NAR survey also asked participants about the “Most Important Factors when Choosing an Agent.”

Let’s start with what they consider least important:

What matters least to real estate consumers?

• Which broker you work for
• Your level of community involvement
• Designations (last on the list)

Note: There have been studies over the past couple of years that claim an agent’s community involvement is very important to the younger real estate consumer.

Your broker’s brand, whether it’s a Keller Williams or RE/Max or a local boutique brokerage, is often shown to be of little importance to consumers.

And, designations? Not only do consumers not know what the letters stand for, but when told, they aren’t impressed.

Don’t feel as if you need to take up space on your website, especially above the fold, with these items. Save that area for the things potential clients feel are valuable.

The top 3 qualities consumers look for in a real estate agent:

• That the agent is honest and trustworthy
• Experience
• Reputation

Experience matters most to baby boomers and least to members of Gen X.

Think about Ritzke’s advice when tweaking your website’s information about you. Overtly salesy stuff will get you nowhere.

For instance, while they value experience, it will take a lot more than “Three decades as the top-selling agent” to convince them.

Ask yourself how your experience will help them solve common problems in a real estate transaction:

• Experienced agents are better negotiators
• Experienced agents know what can go wrong and can help buyers/sellers be proactive to avoid these pitfalls

When it comes to proving your honesty and reputation, nothing will do that better than your testimonials.

Tell them until the cows come home that you’re experienced and honest or the king or queen of trustworthiness and they may or — more likely — may not believe you.

When tweaking your website ensure that your best testimonial resides above the fold and that others – especially those in which your clients extoll your honesty and boost your reputation — are sprinkled liberally throughout your site.

Need more tips on how and why to use testimonials? You’ll find them right here.

Send the Multi-Photo Just Listed Postcards out to the area surrounding your listing. Turn one listing into many.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!