Thursday, March 5, 2009

Online Leads

By Jeff Dedrick

A real estate lead is a compilation of real estate buyers and sellers contact information. They are acquired online through various real estate lead generation systems. You should look for a good real estate lead system that has effective and handy capture mechanisms in place that will ensure that when your target audience leave information, they leave accurate information follow up.

There are two main ways that you can use to capture real estate leads. One is buying a lead generation service, then paying for the leads provided. The payment can be done by either paying for each particular lead or you can subscribe to a monthly payment system. Secondly, you can have your own contact information on your website. Research shows that over 80% of a successful real estate deals starts online. You, as the real estate agent, need to create an effective lead through your website. The key is to make a website that generates huge targeted traffic to it. The best way to of doing this is making a website that is optimized for all the search engines available online.

To maximize the chances of generating more leads, your company can use both the lead generating companies and your own website. Whereas some lead generating companies give a single lead to only one agent, others give a single lead to many agents hence the buck stops with you to convert that lead into a sale. You do this by persistent non-annoying follow up.

Most lead forms filled by potential clients give either fake or incomplete information. You as a realtor need to be very persistent in getting the details. Even if it entails doing it manually on directories, reverse check-ups, or even visiting the listed property.

For an effective maximization of real estate leads, you need to have realistic expectations in your search coupled, with knowledge on developing an effective follow-up campaign. It may take a month or even 3 years to convert a lead into a sale, but this should not deter you from pursuing the lead. Apart from increasing the chances of a sale, it also creates a good profile for your company and the leads may create referrals for you.

Real estate leads are cost-effective and unlike other marketing tools, they are very effective since they give live opportunities for prospective clients to see your potential compared to the hordes of your competitors in the market. Other marketing tools are known to bombard clients with ads from all the corners filled with your competitors - 16651

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