Appraisal companies are finding it difficult to generate real estate appraisal leads because of the increased number of appraisal businesses today. And also how the whole lead generation process takes place.
In the past, people would only rely on the offline options available, like TV and radio ads. Although the Internet should make it easier, it also takes work to understand how machines and networks work.
Also, in a highly competitive market, lead generation can be tricky. It is important that you take the time to look at the bigger picture and remember the key strategies that will help you execute your game plan to win over the leads.
On the other hand, you shouldn’t have any problems adapting to digital tools if you’re new as you will have a fresh disposition. Still, it can be tougher for those with experience in traditional channels to go from one option to another.
However, if we jump right into how to generate those leads, you should use both strategies to generate qualified leads as it depends on all the strategies you use, not only one out of the bunch.
Real estate has more strategies and approaches than other niches. We will discuss the most important and common ones and help you to start thinking about them.
By the end, you need to know two things: how to boost your real estate appraisal service or business and how to ensure your leads are qualified.
Segmenting Your Leads to Getting Insight
Even though most of the people who receive your newsletters and promotional emails are already leads (and don’t worry; we will get to those methods as well), this will provide insight into your system and allow you to generate leads.
This process of ensuring you get them on a different list is called lead segmentation. To segment your leads, there are several criteria you can use:
- How “hot” or “cold” they can be (how frequently they interact with your content, website, social media, etc.). The more, the hotter.
- Demographics, or better yet, buyer personas you create for your service.
This information will enable you to target your audience with emails and educational materials. It will also allow you to customize your contact with clients. You will gain a greater understanding of how to implement your strategies.
While hot leads may need a personal push to move them, an email drip is better for cold leads. Segmentation will allow you to reap the best benefits and save time.
The reason why we put it here before any other strategy or step is because of what we said before: you need to segment in order to have a better idea of how to work around your strategies and what works better for every lead and stage of your business.
Social Media Is A Booster
Modern marketing has made social media image an integral part, and the reason why being on social media is a gigantic necessity for any business and professional.
In the case of real estate and appraisal, LinkedIn is the best option as it is more focused on professional networking. But, Instagram and Twitter can generate a lot more traffic and awareness.
Beautiful visuals and simple posts can help you keep your Instagram strategy current.
Another effective way to generate high-quality leads is through Facebook ads. With the Custom Audiences feature, you can target existing leads.
To allow customers to share their experiences with others and give potential leads a glimpse of what may be in store for them in the service, a Facebook group can be set up around your company.
Go Back to People You Have Influenced
Although people focus on how they can expand their influence to new people, not many think about the option of those they have influenced already and boost opportunities from there.
You can make many more contacts and work on your influence with people you already know.
Where to start? Some friends and your family.
Asking your friends and family to recommend you to others about your services as an agent in real estate and the appraisal service you offer or your business overall can result in a significant increase in your efforts.
To gain leads, you should keep in touch with them. You can reach them by sending a message, personal email, text, or Facebook Messenger.
Yes, friends and loved ones may know you are in real estate, but that doesn’t mean they will remember to call you when they need your service.
It is possible to be perceived as someone who sells and doesn’t offer your type of service and probably much more. Or that you only service one part of the city. You may need to remind all of them what you can do.
Just take the time to connect with everyone and go for the big boost of asking for someone advertising on their part. But don’t push it even if they’re close to you! Never mind with others who aren’t your friends or close family.
Use Your Neighborhood
This strategy allows you to focus your efforts on a particular area or neighborhood in order to increase your name recognition. This can be achieved through community involvement and mailings.
If someone is looking for an appraisal to see their properties’ worth, you will be their first option.
It may be difficult for new agents to access rural neighborhoods. You shouldn’t let this stop you.
Some people would rather work with less experienced agents who are hungry than those who have more experience as they can be pricy but also hard to work with.
To introduce yourself and give market data, send postcards. You may be allowed to send a few cards by your brokerage.
Magnetic mailers are available to provide leads with a reason for you to display your contact details.
Embrace Networking as Much as You Can
Networking is about building relationships, not just with your neighbors but also with anyone whom you feel is a good match.
It is crucial to network with both people who are in the real estate industry and those who don’t. For it, you can consider these:
- Participate in concerts, art exhibitions, and other events.
- Get involved in alumni associations.
- Get involved in a school committee.
- Volunteer for a local charity.
- Participate in fundraisers.
Attending as many events as possible is a great way to network. Set a goal to be out at least once a week.
Before attending an event, it is important to review market data and trends as well. Don’t go there without actually knowing the facts that matter.
Also, remember that you may not get a lead in the next events, but you are putting yourself out there.
Follow-up on events and building relationships are key to building leads. To let people know you enjoyed their company and provide contact information, send them an email or keep the contact with people you met during those events.
Search Engine Optimization Won’t Get Old
Many people are searching engines at any moment for answers to questions about real estate, especially when it comes to appraisal, as more people are trying to find out how much their properties are worth.
Search engine optimization (SEO) allows you to rank your website in search results. It also answers common questions that show your knowledge and trustworthiness. This will help you capture new leads and put you right there in front of everyone.
SEO may not be the best way to generate leads for real estate, but it can be a long-term strategy that will bring in qualified leads over time and even boost your other efforts.
So, allow us to reformulate this: It isn’t the best in the short term, but you should be able to bring all your efforts to play.
You can ensure success with your lead generation strategy by paying attention to all the aspects that are necessary for good SEO:
- Keyword Research.
SEO is many things, but nothing without a solid understanding of keywords.
Use Google’s Keyword Planner as a free tool to search keywords and get information about the search volume and competition.
Keywords with low competition and high search volume are desirable. For real estate appraisal in specific, local and hyperlocal keywords work best. Even though the search volume might be lower, it will still bring people looking for agents in your area.
- Conduct an SEO website audit.
A great way to optimize an existing website is with an SEO audit.
You can use a paid tool such as Ahrefs and Moz for auditing your website.
Do you want to perform a DIY SEO website audit? Make sure you have a good understanding of technical SEO so you can interpret the results and make adjustments.
If you don’t have the technical skills or don’t want hours of code reading, you can hire a Fiverr and Upwork expert in SEO.
It is easy to locate a professional. Before hiring, you can view their portfolio and read customer reviews.
- Create your Google My Business Page.
Google My Business (GMB), a Google tool that allows you to appear in search engine results, can be completely free.
Upload your photos and contact information to encourage clients to leave positive reviews.
GMB converts at a higher rate than other efforts if you remain active by posting, sharing more content, and just letting people know you’re active for appraisal anytime.
Businesses that are listed on it have a better chance of conversion than others in any place in the world.
- Use Google Analytics to monitor your progress.
You must understand your visitors’ behavior to get the best SEO results.
Google Analytics allows you to see which websites get the most organic traffic and convert well. This can include your pages.
- Optimize images.
The ability to use images has been shown by research to increase user engagement by 500%. Images are crucial for creating great content.
Uploading incorrect images to your website could slow down website speed and make it more difficult for visitors.
A web block and an image compressor can be used to optimize every image before uploading. A website builder is the best and easiest way to optimize each image on your pages as well, and we believe you might have one by now.
- Check how your website looks on mobile devices.
While you’re creating your website, you will most likely view it on your desktop. However, the majority of your website visitors will likely be using a smartphone.
Google Page Speed Insights can help you know how your website is performing on mobile and tell you what needs to be optimized.
- Create a website structure.
The website structure describes the way that all pages link together. Plan your website structure before you start building it.
You should plan your primary pages, including your home page, contact page, and blog sections.
Instead of linking back and forth between pages, direct your audience to the pages most likely to encourage them to take action.
To nurture your real estate appraisal leads, you could have them subscribe to your email mailing list and nurture them, as we have mentioned before.
- Create a blog content calendar using keyword crushers.
Search engines are more likely to find websites that contain regular, unique, and fresh content, which is why blogging is the angle regardless of how useless some people see blogs.
The issue with this step is that most people don’t know how to generate quality and constant content.
Here’s a recommendation: instead of staring at the cursor and wondering what to write, create a content strategy using keywords research.
After you’ve completed your keyword research, you’ll need a list that includes general, short-tail, and hyperlocal keywords.
The search volume for short-tail keywords such as “real estate appraisal” will be greater than the long-tail keywords such as “real estate appraisal service Sioux Falls.”
Long-tail keywords have lower competition and higher search volume than short-tail keywords. This allows you to create content that will outperform all your competitors.
The strategy will generally consist of a blog posting that focuses on a short-tail keyword. Next, add more content to the topic by using long-tail keywords. This will improve your search engine rankings.
- Add internal links.
Links are signals of authority that search engines use. Search engines will rank them higher in search engines if they can locate specific blog posts.
Incorporate internal links in your blog post strategy. Ensure you link to related posts when publishing a blog post and link to landing sites in your posts if you want to direct website visitors.
- Maximize meta titles and descriptions.
Search engines can read meta titles and meta descriptions on every page of your site. While readers won’t see meta titles on your website, they may be displayed in Google search results.
Although meta titles and descriptions are not used to rank pages on websites, they are crucial for SEO. You have a very limited amount of space on search results pages, so you need to take advantage of it to help Google rank your site and attract searchers.
- Use clear titles and headlines.
While it can be tempting to make your site stand out by clever titles and headlines, it is important not to confuse visitors.
Blog titles and headlines communicate with your readers in the same way that metadata communicates to search engines. Your content should reflect your personality. However, page titles and headlines are important.
- Add schema markup.
Search engines can use schema markup to determine if your site matches a user’s search query.
This provides more context for your website’s content and makes it easier to be recognized by search engines. This allows search engines to provide a complete summary of your page. This improves search results and can increase your chances of being ranked higher.
Schema markups can, for instance, provide important information such as your location and contact information. They also help you to identify the niche clients that you serve.
A plugin can be downloaded and installed to add schema markup to WordPress websites. Or, you can manually create tags with HTML code.
Advertise on Search Engines & Social Media
You can include both paid and unpaid leads in your real estate lead generation strategy. However, you will be more successful if your strategy includes both.
Search engines and social media can be used to generate both, and this is where we are going.
Paid advertising can generate more leads quickly or be combined with other strategies to produce long-term results.
Online advertising can be viewed as virtual farming, which will allow you to make the most of it. Your ultimate goal should be to increase brand recognition, not get every lead right away.
If you make engaging content for potential customers, these channels can still provide great leads.
Online advertising is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads. However, it can also be very ineffective if you aren’t able to manage it correctly.
The options below will give you an idea about how much and where you could use paid ads.
- Facebook advertising and Instagram: You have the option to create ads that target certain areas, people with specific interests, or people you wish to work with and offer the appraisal.
- Search engine optimization: Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are the most used services. These services allow you to target keywords and show your listings on search engine result pages (SERP). You can set them up so that they look like the rest.
- Google My Business: Fill the right sidebar with your information, including your name, phone number, and a link to your website.
- These pages are for local communities: They can link to internet exchange data feeds and display homes that are available in a specific market. These pages can be a powerful tool in your listing strategy.
- NextDoor: A social platform where neighbors can chat about local issues and find lost dogs. Here, you can connect with people in your local area who are interested or need an appraisal to decide to sell their properties or understand how to boost their value.
What You Must Always Remember
Real estate appraisal leads might not immediately produce results, but they can help you grow your business on the awareness side and not only on sales/deals.
Besides, you shouldn’t accept random leads. You must make sure they are high-quality leads and worth your time and effort.
This is an enormous task, as all strategies are not simple, and each can be pretty complex.
However, you can combine them all when you create or build your lead generation plan and see how they connect.
This will make it easier for both you and your sales team to expand your brand and get those appraisal leads.
Just be patient and work towards long-term results that will pay off your lead generation efforts.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Real Estate Appraisal Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers.Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Real Estate Appraisal Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Real Estate Appraisal Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.