In the highly competitive world of Missouri real estate, any advantage you could have over the competition is well-worth chasing after—especially if you’re handling properties in St. Louis.
From advertisements and sales promos to open houses and cold calling scripts, there is a wide range of different methods you could use to sell more homes. Out of all the different strategies that you could possibly ever use, however, there’s one that could make a world of difference in your efforts for success: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns.
Why PPC matters for real estate marketers
Nowadays, scaling the search engine ranks and getting a top spot is a whole lot like making a fat commission off of a piece of prime property in the Downtown area: simple measures won’t suffice for hitting the target. Unlike the olden days when SEO and keyword stuffing would suffice, getting your listing on a coveted first-page spot calls for time and effort—which is where PPC comes in!
With more and more St. Louis-based realtors fawning over high-ranking spots, a few agents have taken their digital marketing game up a notch with PPC. They place bids to put their websites right in the feeds of customers, generating leads and garnering interest. Traditional SEO strategies are crucial, but they take time to implement and maintain, not to mention you’ll have to wait a while for results. Therefore, supplementing your online marketing efforts with pay-per-click campaigns could be perfect for bringing your goals into fruition.
With the help of a good PPC strategy, you can up the ante and draw more homebuyers and turn their aspirations of living in Missouri into a reality by positioning yourself as the solution they need. If you’ve been looking for a solution to reel in more business for your agency, then this is what you’re looking for!
A match made in heaven
Just like cash-ready customers and hot listings, a PPC campaign will merge well with your real estate marketing campaigns because of a few key reasons, such as:
Pay-per-click relies on localization in the same way real estate does
Given that real estate is a heavily-localized product, it makes sense that you must adopt something that can be used to reach out specifically to target consumers looking to live in your area. By bidding for the right keywords, you can use your PPC campaign to target the right consumers, pitching your services with a well-placed ad!
Well-built campaigns can be used to sift through pools of potential customers
One of the biggest problems that real estate agents face today is that they spend way too much time tending to every inquiry— even though most of them have little-to-no chances of conversion. Through the use of an optimized campaign, however, you can set up a few qualifications that will help narrow in on a qualified real estate shopper. With this, you’ll be able to spend more time on high-quality leads, securing more sales!
Tips for building an effective PPC campaign for your real estate business
Effective campaigns can be built with proper execution as well as time and cash investments. Should you find yourself in need of a successful campaign to give your practice the competitive edge it needs, here’s how you can optimize your PPC campaign:
1. Geotargeting your way to success
A simple, yet effective way to fine-tune your campaign’s performance is to use geotargeting so that your ads can be as precise as possible in terms of where they land.
This can be simply done by heading over to your AdWords campaign and selecting the “Location Options” tab and choose the following settings when bidding for and building your campaign:
- People in—who show interest in—your targeted locations, or;
- People in—who show interest in—your excluded locations
Choosing which particular area you’re targeting can greatly help ensure your ads end up in the search results page of anyone looking for listings in St. Louis—even if they aren’t currently in the area. You can supplement that with nested bid adjustments and city targeting to increase the number of quality leads that your agency gets!
2. Play negative keywords to your advantage
Another key to success that has helped realtors all across America find their footing in the world of PPC is the proper utilization of negative keywords.
Negative keywords can help to keep your ads from popping up in the results of certain types of homes, properties, or locations that you don’t offer. It may seem quite simple at first, but this strategy is a surefire way to save yourself a fortune instead of having half of your ad spend reach the wrong people.
3. Never overlook the power of Ad Extensions
Thanks to Google’s latest Ad Rank formula update, ad extensions now play a key role in determining the overall success of PPC campaigns and accompanying strategies— especially when the right add-ons are chosen.
Generally speaking, a balanced and effective campaign involves a minimum of three extensions per ad, such as this combination:
Extension 1: Location extensions
For many real estate agents, location extensions are a must-have because they help outfit your campaign with the ability to provide important information to potential clients. With location extensions, you can let prospective customers know of the distance to your office or listing, the location of the listing itself, and a number that can be called right away for inquiries.
Extension 2: Sitelink extensions
When paired with striking and captivating ad copy, sitelink extensions best flourish to help bring the best out of any PPC campaign. Sitelink extensions are optimal for any kind of real estate marketing campaign because they help drive interested customers directly to listings and conversely boost your website’s own CTRs and overall quality scores.
Extension 3: Price extensions
At the end of the day, most buyers search for homes within their price range. It is, therefore, wise to have the approximate price of your listing posted up for all to see. With the help of a price extension, you can directly provide the total price of a particular property so customers can find specific listings within their budget and contact you if they’re interested!
Conclusion
As a real estate agent in the ever-competitive St. Louis realty industry, it is vital that you leverage every single advantage your agency can get. This means it’s even more important to invest in a well-built PPC strategy. With the help of this quick and simple guide, you can start raking in more clients and even more profit!
Are you looking for a digital marketing agency to help you build an online presence for more sales and conversions? Get in touch to see how we can help you conquer the St. Louis real estate market today!