Since almost every real estate and Realtor search starts online, it’s safe to say most of them start on Google. Google is by far the most used search engine.
Just under 75% of every search made online is made through Google, and that number jumps to 93% of searches made on mobile devices.
You can rank above other local agents with Google Adwords.
It’s a simple and cost-effective way to make sure you show up in the first two results for a specific search. You can cover more keywords than with traditional SEO, as well. Focusing these keywords around your area and around real estate is a solid strategy.
91% of searchers don’t go past the first page of Google.
Because of this, if you and other agents are set up for SEO with local keywords, there might be too many to fit on the first page. The searches will vary from keyword to keyword. With Google Adwords, you can assure you’re on the first page.
You only get charged for your ad when someone clicks on it. You set a daily budget so you can choose how much is spent. You select your area, your target audience and what keywords you want to be linked with. So if you don’t get any traffic, you won’t get charged.
The more effort you put into getting visits to your website, the better your chances of getting a listing. The more detailed your keywords, the more impressions and clicks you’ll get.
Including your local area in your keywords and neighborhoods increases your chances of being a top result. Do a Google search for agents in your area and see what comes up. Then, search some other surrounding areas so you can see what is ranking for natural SEO and what is being paid for on Adwords.
Since this is keyword driven, this is by far the biggest aspect to running ads. One of the biggest mistakes is not using enough keywords.
You can have unlimited keywords and even break them down into groups if you want. You may want to use a few dozen of them. “Realtor in Atlanta,” “Atlanta home sales” and “Sell your home in Atlanta” can all be switched around.
It doesn’t hurt to have a robust amount of keywords. It won’t affect your daily budget. For comparison, big firms could have thousands and thousands of keywords per campaign.
The next mistake is using keywords with little value. Common keywords like agent, market, and sell quickly are great when accompanied with other words, but alone, they don’t stand out.
The Google Keyword Planner can help you research which keywords you should bid on and feature in your ad copy. Many of the same keywords you may feature on your website for SEO will be there, but don’t be afraid to go down the list further and incorporate those into your Adwords.
It needs to be one of the first things users see before clicking on your ad. Someone who knows exactly what you want from them and why could turn into a quality lead if they visit your website.
Someone who’s unclear probably won’t convert once they get to your website.
Your most important clicks are going to come from the specific zip codes you work in the most. Tailor each ad you run to a specific area. You can change the copy for specific ads in the same campaign and run them to different parts of your city.
You can also exclude a location or target in bulk.
Search ads help spread your awareness, but the best way to make sure you target homeowners is to use their display ads.This way, you can be sure only homeowners will click on the ads.
You have the option to select the interest, location, demographics, in-market and audiences these ads are shown to. Select only websites that homeowners and potential sellers would be browsing.
This is an effective way to target homeowners and raise your brand awareness.
Most ad platforms have a similar concept to Google’s remarketing ads. Set this up with Adwords, so when a user visits your website a cookie will be stored on their computer.
You advertise to them with a specific ad designed for these warm leads. Include a strong call to action, since they are already familiar with you. Click rates are higher with these types of ads.
68% of sellers contact their agent after seeing them on a search from their mobile device. You need to make sure you're running ads specific to this platform if you’re going to use Adwords.
The difference in these and desktop ads is the length of the ad. You only can put so much text on a mobile ad.
This also means your landing pages should be mobile optimized.
One of the biggest benefits of using Google Adwords is the in-depth tracking. You can track your site traffic from the ad, click-through rate, conversions, cost per click and impressions.
The impressions will tell you how well your targeting is working and how effective your keywords are. Cost per click shows you how well your ad copy converts.
Once you become familiar with the easy-to-use platform, you can test different ad copy in the same campaign and fine-tune each ad. If you send any traffic from your ad to a landing page that asks for contact information, then it’s simple to track your conversion rate from the Adwords clicks.
Google Adwords can be a useful tool that brings in cold leads from web searches. But what if your ads showed you’re more than just an average Realtor? Imagine if your ad said you were a published real estate author.
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