5 fantastic ways estate agents can get high-quality web traffic

Generating quality web traffic at a manageable volume is crucial for letting and estate agents who want to increase the number of instructions/new properties they manage. The same goes for those who are looking to increase the likelihood of getting a property sold for the best value.

The truth is that it is often easier said than done, especially when trying to manage your time between online marketing efforts and day-to-day work. If you do not have a dedicated marketing department, the task may feel too difficult to conquer.

However, the businesses that master this area of inbound marketing find they can often get out of the vicious cycle of trying to keep a consistent pipeline of interest and new listings.

After careful talks with a number of companies in the industry, we thought it would be great to take a step back and look at some of the most effective ways to generate a healthy flow of web traffic to your estate/letting business.

Long gone are the days of keyword-stuffed pages geared towards tricking robots into thinking your web pages are perfectly optimised.

Thinking with a mindset of providing a solution to a problem is often the best start. Knowing this, there is (usually) a pattern for the way your potential customers will search online.

By understanding your prospects thought process you can pattern your web content to follow that. For instance, a person may type they are looking for a “3-bedroom apartment for sale in London”. Optimising your visible and meta content for this in a way that reads naturally can see you skyrocket up the search engine results pages.

If you'd like to know what on-page improvements can be made to your webpage for any given keyword, why not try out our free SEO page grader below?

The most important thing to remember is that search engines are smart. Their focus is on sharing and ranking content that is relevant and useful to people searching online. This means content that everyday humans can read is likely to rank better!

Another way to generate traffic to your site is through intentional social media marketing. For every product, there is a target audience. In real estate, you must know which social platforms have the largest gathering of your intended audience. With this information, you can focus your resource on where delivers the best results.

A great example that can be applied quickly and with little effort is to use YouTube and other video-driven sites to showcase walkthroughs of your property listings. These videos can contain links that direct customers to your site, and as a result, more traffic is generated.

Another winning strategy is to contribute to online groups and forums where homeowners, landlords and those seeking to rent or buy can be found. Sharing your industry experience alongside tips and tricks can help to set you apart as a thought leader, and genuinely helps to provide value to your potential clients (who will, in turn, visit your site for further support and info).

Many people shy away from paid search marketing either due to a lack of knowledge on how it works, a negative historic experience or simply due to a lack of budget to invest.

Yet, the estate and letting agents who take time to make informed decisions on which paid keywords actually bring in new work (as well as those that don't), see the value, and continue to tap into a marketing medium that is overlooked by too many.

So, consider using paid search for very targeted campaigns in your business covering small ad groups, demographics and geographies at a time. This method is preferable to that of a scattergun approach which sees your budget deplete without generating new business.

It is important to understand your metrics (like the average cost to acquire a new customer) and ensure the numbers tally up before you start, in turn making certain that Paid Search is a viable medium for you!

Generally speaking, when done right, using paid search can be cheaper and often delivers better returns than monthly subscriptions to portals and plans that offer no guarantee of a return on investment, alongside having you tied into lengthy contracts.

Be prepared to take the time to produce content on your site (and others) covering what you know best. There are many areas in the estate sales and lettings game where your experience and industry knowledge can prove to be a valuable contribution.

Start by thinking about producing content on the topics you're most often asked about (it's where you'll find it easiest to write). Also consider producing content that supports your strategic areas of growth like interior design, landlord inventory management and similar topics.

And, if like many people we speak to, you're concerned about your writing skills or generating quality ideas to start with, two fantastic resources that can help you on your way are:

1. Content Ideation Toolkit (free download)
2. CopyASSIST

So, you've spent time producing new content that is relevant to your market - now make sure it gets the highest levels of engagement by making the process to share it simple and straightforward. Having share buttons on your web pages that can be easily found, is important if you want them to be used.

You might want to have your share options fixed on the page (either to the right, left or bottom) so that a share is within clicking distance at any point. Also, think about using share button designs that are appealing to the eye - think colourful or large enough in order to set a precedent on your web page.

There are a number of free tools on the market that allow content to be shared on your site and a few worthwhile mentions are:

• ShareThis
• AddThis

Whether it's your downloadable resources, property listings, your blog or any other web content, it's important to up your sharing game!

If you feel the suggestions above can help you to overcome the challenge of generating an excellent quality and quantity of web traffic as an estate or letting agent, we're glad this article is for you.

We'd appreciate if you help another business in this space by sharing the article. Someone in your network will find it helpful, we hope!

You can also support us by partaking in the discussion using the comments section below if you think there are a few more points that need covering.