Are you maximising the power of Google and PPC to drive more leads and valuation?
Although the property market is changing, especially in comparison to the two extraordinary years just gone, I am hearing from agents I speak to that January 2023 has been positive and busier than expected. This is good news.
Whether the market is stabilising, or even reducing, this is no time to stop your marketing or take your eye off your estate agent website. On the contrary, the estate agents who will shine this year are the ones who maintain or increase their marketing efforts right now. Do you have your 2023 marketing plan sorted? Are you covering all marketing channels? How visible is your brand and business online?
Are you confident in your estate agent website design and its ability to drive business and valuations? Is your website appealing and easy to use for prospective sellers, landlords, buyers and tenants?
Is there a silver bullet to estate agency marketing?
The answer is no. Unfortunately there is no silver bullet to successful estate agency marketing. Rather, success lies in making sure your brand appears front and centre across multiple channels, consistently and frequently in order to instil recognition and trust. This in turn, will lead to more sales.
In this article, and upcoming articles in the same series, we will look at the importance of online prominence and examine the different business listings, or profiles, on Google for estate agent websites.
We'll talk about how and where your website and business can be found online and how paid campaigns (PPC / Google Adwords) Google Reviews and SEO services can help you improve and maintain your visibility and ranking. This, your online profile and visibility, will ultimately lead to more enquiries and business growth, whatever the market.
Online visibility: where does your website appear in the SERPs?
Making sure your estate agent website is discoverable on Google is a crucial starting point of your marketing. Google is your window to the world and you need your business to be presented in the optimum way, to the largest audiences. That means securing a prominent position in the SERPs - search engine results pages - AND having an estate agent website that is engaging, informative and easy to navigate.
The search engine results page will display the following:
- Paid ads (PPC adwords) that best match your search query - as judged by Google
- Map listings showing Google Business Profiles (previously Google My Business until 2022) that best match your search query - as judged by Google
- Organic results that best match your search query - as judged by Google
Paid search ads (Google PPC / Adwords)
Paid ads can be a relatively quick way of ‘buying’ clicks and hopefully conversions, i.e. valuations. It needs to be set up properly and your ads need to to be well-written, based on search volumes, key-words and your campaign goals. The ads should link to a decent landing page where the user finds it easy to carry out an action, or ‘complete a website goal’.
Dedicated landing pages for your PPC campaign
Dedicated landing pages are useful and can be created relatively simply, depending on your website infrastructure and provider. It can be a worthwhile investment so speak to your website provider before commencing paid search campaigns. Here at PropertyStream, we can advise on the best destination pages for your campaign and, if required, build stand-alone, cost-effective landing pages proven to increase conversions.
For most estate agents, the primary goal will be to complete a valuation booking form. The landing page ideally needs to be stripped back to avoid overload of information that can distract the visitor. Too much noise can reduce the chances of goal completion. Your landing page should equally contain enough, useful, information that reflects the advert they have clicked on.
Consider the intent of the user, from typing in their search criteria, to finding your ad and clicking on it. What are they expecting to see? Make sure you deliver a natural and sensible journey for the visitor - this will improve your conversion rate of leads.
Google PPC and budgets
Budgets need to allow for a setup fee (get an expert to do this so that your ads are set up correctly) and ongoing management, as well as the media amount you decide to allocate to the campaign itself. The media spend is what you pay Google every time someone clicks on your ad. You can cap the budget so you are in control of your spend.
The aim is to drive your CPC (cost per click) down and deliver the lowest possible CPA (cost per acquisition, or lead) in order for your campaign to achieve the highest possible ROI (return on investment). In other words, the maximum amount of estate agent valuation leads and enquiries, for the lowest possible cost.
We offer strategy, set-up and ad-management services for Google advertising using our UK based team with full experience and understanding of the property industry.
If you would like to find out how we can help you improve your estate agent website visibility on Google, email marketing@propertystream.co or contact our Marketing & Content Director Pernilla Tweddle on 0330 242 0647 for a chat.
Next time we will cover the two other estate agent listings on Google - Google Maps and the organic results. And we'll touch on the million dollar question - how do you outrank your competitors in the order of the Google listings? We'll unravel the complex myth of SEO - Search Engine Optimisation - and explain it in plain English.
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Did you know, in addition to Google ads services and SEO, PropertyStream can help with:
- Brochure and val pack copywriting and design
- Blogs, copywriting and content creation
- Creation of quarterly marketing campaigns for online and offline channels
- Flyers / Rightmove banners / canvassing letters / social media graphics and videos
- Social media marketing (organic and paid)
- Animations and videos - the best in the industry! Take a look at some of our work here.
Email marketing@propertystream.co or contact our Marketing & Content Director Pernilla Tweddle on 0330 242 0647 for a chat.