How to generate Real Estate leads online for FREE

Before we jump into the explanation of how to generate real estate leads online, it is important to understand that the value of a purchase is high and it takes more time to convince people that YOU are the right person to go with. 

From the moment you first contact a client to the moment they sign a contract, there are many chances for prospects to change their minds about selling a house or buying. They can also find a better deal from another real estate agent making you a loser in the deal. 

How do you build a pipeline of clients without advertising budgets? 

Many real estate professionals don’t have huge marketing budgets but they still have to generate new clients and meet monthly goals. Today there are many opportunities to generate leads online, and your online assets work for you while you are asleep.

What is Real estate Lead?

A real estate lead is considered to be the contact information of a person who is interested in real estate services. Due to the nature of the business, people can only be contacted at the beginning of the buying journey and it can take months for them to sign with us. 

According to a recent survey in 2019, people spend an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes online on a daily basis. The big portion of this time is spent on mobile devices. You can read more about it here.

It is expected that before making a big decision such as buying or selling property (it applies to commercial real estate too), potential clients will spend a lot of time researching online. With this in mind, you need to start building a relationship with them by providing relevant content that answers their questions and addresses their concerns. 

Marketers and salespeople have been using this strategy for decades, it is called solution selling. The best selling strategy is to consult a potential client. Through consultation and advice, you build trust. 

When they are ready to take a step forward they call YOU as an expert in that field and someone they trust more than others. 

Below, I will show a few steps on how to apply the SOLUTION SELLING strategy online and generate leads for your real estate business at scale.

This strategy will work for real estate businesses of any size, whether you are a solo agent or the owner of a real estate agency with many realtors.

Before we begin I assume you already have a website with some basic information, if not here’s an article on how to create one (How to create a website yourself). 

How to generate real estate leads

1. Leverage Social Media
2. 30 Min free consultation
3. Google local business
4. Blogging  

Leverage Social Media

Note: Don’t expect results in the first three-four months, if you were never active and just started your page, it will take time to grow your audience. I always suggest focusing on only one platform so that you can manage to be active. The key to success in Social media is the volume of content you produce.

LinkedIn will be a good choice for real estate professionals. It doesn’t have as much noise (cat pictures, vacation photos) as it is on Facebook. 

Some recent LinkedIn stats:

• 154 million American workers have LinkedIn profiles
• 50%of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn
• 91% of executives rate LinkedIn as their first choice for the professionally relevant content

Based on the stats above LinkedIn is the perfect platform to build your Real Estate brand on Social Media.

Tips:

1. Find a recent, high quality, professional photo that shows your character.
2. Grow your network by adding relevant people. Think of people who might be your best prospects. The good thing about LinkedIn is that you can search for people by job title. 
3. Create a custom introduction. Introduce yourself when you add people on LinkedIn. Treat social media as a real-world interaction and you will succeed.  
4. Get reviews from your previous customers. There’s a recommendations section on LinkedIn.
5. Share relevant Real Estate articles or your own recorded videos, ask questions and engage in conversations. 
6. Share other people’s content, don’t just focus on Real Estate. 

Offer 30 minutes free consultation 

Offer a 30 min consultation which you can do through skype call

How to find people for a consultation

Create an article on LinkedIn where you discuss some common issues or customer pain points. There is no need to create a long 1000+ words article. Keep it simple and short. You can make it in the form of Questions and answers. Include a good picture that will draw more attention.

At the end of the paragraph offer a consultation.

Topic examples: 

• How to determine a fair price for your house
• Top buyer mistakes
• How to prepare your house for sale
• Investing in real estate 

Here’s an example of how someone posted an article on LinkedIn which draws attention and attracts people to join the waiting list for FREE beta access. 

I really like this example because first, they state the problem tell a little bit about a solution and in the last line they invite you to join the waiting list (In marketing – Call To Action). The waiting list gives a feeling of urgency. 

1. State problem. For example: “Can’t sell your house?” “Don’t know where to start?” “Looking for investment opportunities?”
2. Offer a solution. For example: “Experienced team focused on commercial Real Estate will….” 
3. Call To Action. For example: “Sign up for a 30 min FREE consultation”
4. Follow up…

Google local business

Do you have a Google My Business account? No? It’s time to create one. 

Essentially you’re registering your business on Google so that they can show it on the map and/or on google search when someone looks for real estate services.  

On the screenshot below I typed “real estate agent” in google search and within the results, at the top, you can see google businesses. 
People can see your address, phone number, reviews, website, and operation hours. 

Benefits of Google My Business:

• Free website traffic 
• Free real estate leads
• Establishes credibility. People like to see when something online has its offline address. The offline location gives more credibility to the business. They can go to the Google street view and check how your office building looks like before calling you or submitting a form on the website. 
• Google My business gives customers a platform for feedback. Businesses with more feedback have more credibility. 

Tips for Google business:

• Complete your business information and add a description
• Add pictures to your business profile 
• Ask your previous or existing customers to leave a review (You want to have as many 5-star reviews as possible)
• Reply to reviews. For example: “Thank you, John, it is a pleasure to work with you.”
• You can create posts to promote your event or, content
• Upload a video

Start blogging 

Offer unique content in your blogs and show your expertise in real estate. It will attract free traffic to your website and generate real estate leads online.

Tips for real estate blogging:

• Write local articles.
• The benefit of local articles is narrow targeting, this means that you’re showing your expertise within a specific neighbourhood. People who live there or who are looking to buy there will be more interested in getting in touch with you.

For example: ‘Why people choose to live in NAME district’, ‘Most attractive neighbourhoods for investors’, ‘Housing options in 600,000 – 750,000 price range’.

• Target 

• Add more visuals, people like pictures

• Share articles on LinkedIn (or any other social media platform you use)

• Share your articles with existing customers via email