Is the Organic Lead Machine at Your Brokerage Broken? Fix It with These 4 Simple Tips

In a high interest-rate environment like ours, listings are harder and harder to come by. Brokers and agents can't afford to let leads slip through the cracks. And yet, the organic lead machines at many brokerages are broken, or at the very least, not working as well as they could be.

Is your lead generation machine broken? Take this short quiz to find out.

Ask yourself the following:

1. Is the number of visits to your website trending down?
2. Are you converting less than 1% of your visitors to leads?
3. Are leads left unactioned once you convert them?
4. Do actioned leads go cold quickly?

Did you answer "yes" to any one of these questions? Guess what, it's time to repair your lead machine.

A few simple improvements can help you rev back up and keep your funnel full, no matter what the market is doing. Read on to learn how to solve each of these problems.

SEO: The Solution to Declining Website Visitors

When you check the number of unique site visitors (known as users in the free Google Analytics tool), how does the number trend over time? There will be natural fluctuations in your web traffic, and boosts when you publish new content or go on a marketing blitz. But if your traffic is generally stagnant—or worse, declining—it could be a sign that your site needs some search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is a complex topic, but when it comes to real estate SEO, we've got you covered. You can learn more about the ins and outs of real state website SEO on our dedicated page, read our Ultimate Guide to Real Estate SEO for 2022, or learn three actionable tips to start ranking higher right now.

Many brokers don't have the time or expertise to track key metrics like unique visitors, bounce rate, site traffic trends, and more. In fact, most brokerages are guilty of what Craig Rowe, Real Estate Technology Columnist, calls SEO negligence, ignoring SEO and its importance for generating leads. If you fall into this category, working with the right partner can take SEO off your plate and give you time to focus on where you shine—selling real estate.

Low Conversion Rate? Tweak Your Website Design

If your traffic is good, but your conversion rate is stubbornly low, there may be an issue with your website design. A widely cited statistic attributed to NAR® states that the true conversion rate for online real estate leads is between 0.4% and 1.2%. That means for every 1,000 people who sign up for your newsletter, create an account and save a property search, download your buyer's guide, or subscribe to your blog, only 4 to 12 of them will result in a closing.

Remember, buyers and sellers are landing on your page for one reason: they're interested in real estate in your area. If you're letting your expertise shine and providing the right path to conversion, the leads will come. If the path is broken or isn't there, leads will lose their way.

Here are three website design elements you can work on to boost conversion by providing trigger points consumers can engage with:

Jazz up your homepage and provide a freebie

Your homepage is what makes the biggest impression on visitors—it's the first thing they see! Make sure it wows them with a beautiful image, consistent branding, and a clear "path" to the action you want them to take: clicking a listing, searching for property, visiting your blog, etc. You can offer a free home valuation, CMA, or newsletter as a conversion incentive. Most consumers will be willing to part with their information in exchange for such valuable resources.

Learn about the five most common problems with real estate websites and how to fix them.

Improve your contact page and make sure it works

Craig Rowe tells a story where he was trying to contact a large number of agents in a short period. More than half the time, their Contact Me pages were either difficult to find, didn't work, or didn't seem to capture his information. There was no phone number listed or other ways to contact the agent. If a journalist can't get in touch with an agent, how would a consumer be expected to?

Your site needs multiple ways for visitors to contact you, whether it's a form visitors fill in, a chatbot, a call button, or various other options.

Brighten up your blog and add calls to action

Blogs are a huge asset to your website. They help with SEO and are a huge conversion opportunity through calls-to-action (or CTAs). By including CTAs, you encourage visitors to provide their information by offering a newsletter, a market report or CMA, or even an eBook about real estate in your area in exchange. Get creative!

Unactioned Leads: Improve and Automate Your Lead Routing

You're getting leads through your website. Phew! The inbound arm of your lead machine is working. What about the next piece of the puzzle? Do you know how many of those leads never get a follow-up? Can you identify where the breakdown is in the chain of communication?

You can obviously route leads by hand—lots of teams do. But when you are already busy, and time is of the essence (responding within 5 minutes dramatically boosts conversion), smart automation and customized routing with a powerful real estate CRM could be the ticket to helping you track your leads, action them faster, and keep any from slipping through the cracks.

Keep Leads Warm with Targeted Nurture Campaigns

Not all leads are ready to make a move right away. By some estimates, online real estate leads may need to incubate for anywhere from 6 to 24 months. Two years is a long time to be sitting on a lead, but those are seeds you'd do well to plant now. What are you doing in the meantime?

Keeping your leads warm requires regular contact points. These can come in many forms, like a newsletter, recommended properties emails, social media posts, drip campaigns, and more. The idea is to keep you top of mind while providing information that's relevant to wherever your lead is in your sales funnel. Do they need preapproval? Do they need to adjust their property or neighborhood expectations? Do they need to make repairs or curb appeal improvements before they list? If you're the first person they think of when they are ready to act, you'll have another successful conversion under your belt! With the right tools, these lead nurture steps can be automated, too.

Watch the Leads Pour in After Making These Simple, But Powerful Fixes

If you don't know what's wrong with your lead machine, you won't be able to fix it. Find out where your problems lie (e.g., traffic, conversion, follow-up), identify your gaps, then find the right solution to fill them. Constellation1 helps brokerages look at all these elements together, aggregate our findings, identify gaps, and tailor solutions to brokerages' needs.

To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.