5 Strategies for Generating Leads in Today’s Market

Facebook is an incredible way to keep current with the activities of the businesses and individuals you’re interested in. Market Leader is one of the companies that I follow on Facebook – and this is where I spied the news about their “5 Strategies for Generating Leads in Today’s Market” whitepaper. I downloaded my free copy and will summarize some of the key findings here. For full information, download the free whitepaper.

How to Generate Leads
“Attracting and keeping leads is crucial to the success of both brokers and agents,” Market Leader begins their whitepaper. But are traditional methods of lead generation (such as cold calling, newspaper ads, and bulk mail) outmoded? Market Leader recommends 5 strategies that work in today’s real estate market.

1. Launch a lead-capture website.
A whopping 9 out of 10 potential homebuyers begin their search online, Market Leader reports. This makes the creation of a lead-capture website necessary, not just recommended. Your website should feature an IDX feed from your MLS so that visitors can search for properties as well as neighborhood information about your local area.

Market Leader has additional recommendations for your website; download the whitepaper for more.

2. Post properties on Craigslist.
Given the millions of visitors on Craigslist each month, it’s wise to post your listings there. It’s free, after all (and Market Leader has a Craigslist posting tool to expedite this task). The whitepaper also includes additional details about when and how to post.

3. Succeed using social media.
Market Leader recommends leveraging Facebook and LinkedIn. These are opportunities to connect with new or existing customers. In addition, social media provides an opportunity for your connections to share your listings with their friends.  The whitepaper includes tips on how to leverage these tools.

4. Win business by blogging.
With your blog, you can post information about your listings and encourage interaction from visitors. Market Leader recommends:

“Target the content of your blog to your particular niche—your neighborhood, for instance—to develop your reputation as a local real estate expert. Build rapport by sharing photos, neighborhood news, and market statistics.”

The whitepaper also includes tips for SEO in your blog.

5. Purchase PPC ads.
Pay-per-click ads appear on search engines such as Yahoo!, Bing, and Google. These ads typically include a headline, a description of your special offer (or some other motivator for them to click on the ad), and a link to your website. If someone searches for specific keywords in the search engine, your ad will appear. Best of all, you will only pay when someone actually clicks on the ad.

About Market Leader
The author of this whitepaper (which you can download here) is Market Leader. They provide over 70,000 real estate agents and brokers with a complete click-to-close lead generation and contact management platform to grow and manage their business.