Hi,
I have been talking to a PPC expert, and he was explaining the various strategies he uses... There's one strategy where we have very narrow real estate searches, for example:

1) St. Louis Homes
2) St. Louis Houses
3) Homes for sale in St. Louis

and then there's the broad search:

1) St. Louis

Both strategies seem to be working and our numbers of click throughs are increasing... However... nobody is calling us!! Do you think in real estate that the broad searching techniques do not work? It seems to me that broad searches are draw in a bunch of window shoppers/ dreamers, and that anybody who is serious and ready to buy now would have some very narrow search terms. For example:

1) St. Louis Homes 700s

Please let me know your thoughts.

What kind of traffic are you getting for your broad search traffic? I think that it's important to remember that they are probably 6 or more months away from purchasing, and don't really want to speak to anyone at the current time. That's why the phone won't ring, IMO.

What are you doing to capture your traffic to get email addresses and are you implementing a follow up program?

The thing is, I have this belief that there is no such thing as a bad lead. I think there are high quality leads, and low quality leads. Statistically speaking, every person you know will probably run across at least one (probably more) people looking to buy or sell a home. If you can capture the lead (be it them looking for real estate or just got to your site in a round about way) and follow up, you have a good chance to be at the headfront of their real estate mindshare so that when they do meet someone looking to buy/sell, they think of you.

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to browse Houston homes for sale or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.

Well, come to think of it, we are not doing anything for the 6 month window shoppers - that was scheduled for phase2 of the website development. We have a CONTACT US form, a SCHEDULE A VIEWING, and a SEND ME INFO ABOUT THIS PROPERTY, but we are not prompting any activity from casual shoppers. We need to go back and rethink that strategy.

Thanks for the info!

You should put a place where they can sign up to have all new listings emailed to them automatically. Or you could just require registration to see listing details.

Newbie,

What you have scheduled for phase two should have been phase one. Without a good IDX home search for the casual browsers and shoppers, with the ability for them to save searches, get emailed listing aletrs, etc., your site is not ready for PPC, and spending money on PPC is a waste.

I also do NOT recommend the broad type search you mentioned, and certainly never for such a huge metro area as all of St Louis. It is way too broad, subject wise and geographically, and will only attract the curiosity seekers, not serious shoppers. For my own real estate PPC clients, I only set up very tightly focused, city/town/community keyword phrases, and have other techniques to LIMIT the ad presentation to consumers who are really looking for real estate in those specific communities. Dig into the older threads on PPC in this forum, which have lots of specifics along this line.

Hi Ronnie!
Thanks for the advice! I wish I would've found you BEFORE we launched our PPC. Right now, it is on hold until we get the Saved Searches and Email Alerts setup. I'm not going to do any more Broad Searches either... I think that is very much a waste of money.

I will check out this forum and see the threads on this.

Seems to me that this is the overall marketing cycle with Pay Per Click:

1) Home Buyer/Seller goes to the Internet for Research. He searches on Google. He goes to visit multiple websites to do research. He is usually 6-9 months away from making a move.

2) He signs up on some website - either for homes to be emailed, or some free report or something...

3) At this point, real estate agents have his personal info, so they begin their email drip marketing to him, direct mail, even call him. This "incubation period" is very important. This is the time that is crucial to build a personal relationship.

4) After relationship is built with realtor, the home buyer/seller meets him in person. At this point the consumer has trust in this person, and they begin their search together.

So from everything I am reading, it is illogical to think that a serious home buyer who is 1 month from making a move will sit down and do a Google Search. We need to target all PPC to the buyer who is researching and is 6-9 months away.

I think you hit the nail directly on the head. For me, my average buyer takes 1-2 weeks to find a home and 30 days to close. A client that is one month away from a move shouldn't be on google, they should be writing an offer already.

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to browse Houston homes for sale or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.

Very, very interesting! 1-2 weeks to find a home? You are good Steve!! I will ask my realtors if they have a similiar timeframe.

Thanks for the info!!

Sure! I mostly have this average time is because I am very proactive an intentional when working with them. I don't show homes until they meet with me first, and are fully approved (not just qualified). Since I hammer out exactly what they want, by then, we are good to go to look at homes, and they usually find the home they want within the first 10 that they see.

Keep in mind the 1-2 week time frame is assuming my client has no problem getting financing.

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Steve Castaneda, Realtor

Specializing in Houston Real Estate. Feel free to browse Houston homes for sale or read about Real Estate Technology for agents.

Newbie,
I'm new to the forum but been around PPC for a long time.

One of the mistakes with PPC is that they have the wrong mentality. They want tons of clicks/traffic/visitors. That will become costly very quickly.

Really focus in on your ad. You basically want it to say, "If you want to buy a home in the St. Louis area and need help from an expert REALTOR, click here. Otherwise, don't bother clicking this ad."

Having that mindset can help you design an ad that will be tightly targeted.

Also, your point #2 above is a good one. Use free reports like "The Insider's Secrets To St. Louis Real Estate." Or "The St. Louis Housing Guide - How To Get The Same Home For Less Money."

Something catchy and intriguing that will get people to sign up and give you an email address. That proactive approach will get you exponentially more leads than just HOPING they sign up for your drip.