On a real estate website people generally opt in to hear from you via one of four methods:

• They say yes to a special report
• They do a search for a home
• They use the automated “what’s my home worth” form
• They send an e-mail through your contact me form

When they do this, they give you important information about themselves, and unless you use this information to be choosy about what you send them, your drip campaign can serve to annoy rather than impress.

As a real estate copywriter I have occasion to visit a large number of real estate websites. As a form of market research, I occasionally I leave my name, just to see what people are sending.

And what I’ve found lately isn’t pretty.

On one site I used the contact form to write the agent with a question. I never got an answer to the question, but I’ve been getting an avalanche of emails that are targeted to – no one. Some are about selling, some are about buying, and none tell me why I might want to choose this agent. In fact, they’re so poorly written that they’d have a negative impact even if they were targeted to me.

Another site sends me short e-mails telling me that if I’m still looking for a house, I should call. On this site I had asked to be included in his newsletter. Some news.

Another one sends a message each week telling me there are no matches for my search. What search? This was another site where I had signed up to get a real estate ezine.

While the purpose of the autoresponder is to make me think I’m getting special attention from the agent, and to reinforce the idea that this agent is THE one to call, these messages convey the opposite feeling.

So what should you do instead?

First, take the time to set up a separate autoresponder campaign for each type of buyer or seller. Let them opt in to get a special report, and when you mail to them, keep to that topic.

If they’ve asked for information about doing a short sale, talk to them about short sales. Don’t send them tips on finding a mortgage broker to handle their new home purchase or talk to them about making a list of “must have” features before they search for that home.

If they’ve asked for information about the First Time Buyer Credit, talk to them about the credit and then talk about how to find that first home. Don’t send them information related to listing and selling.

And for Pete’s sake… send something of value when you write. Those messages that say nothing but “I’m here, use me” are a waste of time for both you and your prospects.

If someone actually has done a search and asked to be sent new listings when they come into MLS, then letting them know when there are no new matches is a good idea. But if they haven’t done a search, or haven’t asked to be sent the new listings, why would you send that? For them, your message is nothing more than spam.

Yes, it does take a little extra effort to set up targeted campaigns. And yes, you do have to write or buy good messages to load into your autoresponders. But the results will be worth the effort.

Finally, if someone sends an inquiry via your contact form, that’s not an invitation for you to send them information they haven’t asked for. That’s a request for you to send a personal response to a specific question. You should answer that mail yourself, and not with an autoresponder.

Get To Know Your Buyer Prospects

Last year was a banner year for first-time buyers. “First-Time home buyers reached the highest market share on record” (47%) last year dating all the way back to 1981. The report also stated the median age of first-time buyers was 30 with an average income of $61,600.

Now there were special factors influencing the results above, like tax incentives and higher affordability, but last year’s first-time buyer increase is part of a trend (the previous year was 41%) which reveals that nearly half of the buyers market is made up of first-time buyers.

When it comes to marketing your website, this information is a clear indicator of some of the content you need. Of course, a property search is a given. Beyond that, your website should also have content geared toward providing information that is useful for first-time buyers. Some ideas would be articles on the factors that determine home price, explanations of the different types of available loans, descriptions of the home buying process and how to be prepared. Any content of this type would serve as good sticky content to better inform prospective buyers and establish loyalty.

These buyers are also relatively young, in their mid-thirties, and we know that these younger buyers are technology addicts. Find and serve them where they are; through your own branded website or blog on the Internet, in social media spaces like Facebook and Twitter, through video on portals like YouTube, as well as in ad spaces for mobile devices.

Buyers Are On The Internet

Of course, buyers use many resources when looking for a home. However, “90 percent use the Internet.” Let’s say that again, 90% of buyers use the Internet when searching for a home. If you currently are not actively marketing your real estate business on the Internet, you are missing the boat, big time.

Of that 90% that are searching for a home on the Internet, 87% still rely on a real estate agent to help them in the process. This is even further supported by the fact that “8 out of 10 home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home purchased through a real estate agent.” This is great news for Realtors and clearly indicates that buyers recognize the need for professional assistance when working through the home buying process, even when they begin that process online.

Also keep in mind that the average buyer spent 12 weeks (roughly 2 1/2 months) searching and viewed 12 homes before making a final decision to buy. Some patience and a good follow-up marketing effort (like a drip email campaign) is clearly crucial in converting prospects.

The report mentioned that 40% of buyers “look at print or newspaper ads” when home searching. And it stated that a meager 3% of buyers learned about the home they purchased through print, newspaper ads, a home book, or a magazine. The trend is clear. While there are still opportunities for hooking buyers in print, it would be wise to consider spending the majority of your marketing dollars in prospecting online.

What were the most popular Internet resources for buyers? 60% used local metropolitan listing services, 46% visited real estate company websites and Realtor.com, 45% frequented real estate agent websites, 30% used other websites with real estate listings, 17% checked out for-sale-by-owner sites, and 9% tried local newspaper sites.

The data above clearly indicates that buyers wanted to see real estate listing information more than anything else. This is vital to keep in mind when showcasing content on your website. Firstly, make sure you have property search capability on your website. Secondly, be sure to feature your property search and listings in a prominent way. Give those buyers the information they really want. Don’t make them dig for anything.

Don’t Forget About Sellers

With 2009 being a buyers market, it’s no surprise that the NAR report emphasized buyer trends and data. However, there is still some good seller information there too. Namely, if 47% of the buyers were first-timers, then that means 53% of the buyers had something to sell. This point should never be lost in your prospecting strategies both online and offline.

“Eighty-Five percent of sellers used a real estate professional” and 80% of that group used a full-service brokerage. Homes sold without a Realtor’s assistance hit a record low of 6 percent. These are daunting numbers for anyone trying to sell a home on their own without professional help. Add to those facts that the “median home price for sellers who used an agent was $215,000 vs. $172,000 for a home sold directly by an owner” and the choice to use a Realtor when selling a home has never been more obvious.

A resounding “64 percent of sellers chose their agent based on referral or had used the same agent in the past.” Additionally, reputation and trustworthiness were the most important factors for respondents in choosing a Realtor. This data points to maintaining a strong follow-up campaign with previous clients and your sphere of influence. Increase the reach and strength of your follow-up by integrating social networking technologies (once again, portals like Facebook and Twitter) into your online marketing effort. Doing this successfully will not only keep your previous clients in the loop of your activities, but gain you some referrals as well.

Based on the new NAR buyer and seller data, it is evident that an online marketing strategy is crucial to prospecting for both buyers and sellers. The tried and true property search is still the feature element of any real estate website, but creating some informative content can go a long way to helping the large pool of first-time buyers in the marketplace. Internet marketing is also key in picking up sellers with social networking being the main strategy to scoring referrals and repeat business in 2010.

This real estate professional has even gone one extra step and attempted to promote the website online. They run banner ads in prominent places for real estate seekers and are even conducting Google Adwords pay-per-click campaigns to generate web site traffic.

They have done all of the above, and yet, have received no leads. It just doesn’t seem fair.

When a client relays a story similar to that described above, I immediately take a look at their website and review three things:

1. Are they maximizing lead capture methods?
2. Are they properly leveraging a property search on their website?
3. Do they use a variety of lead capture forms throughout the site?

Generating Leads

We know from previous lessons, that the role of a real estate website has changed. The current primary function of a real estate website is to serve as a prospecting tool. Therefore, the primary goal of any realtor web site is to generate leads.

In generating leads, there are a couple things to keep in mind. First, generating leads is more of a process of information gathering than it is of direct selling. This is in contrast to straight selling like you see on e-commerce websites. When pushing traffic to your website, the focus should be on funneling that traffic through lead capture methods to convert the visitors into prospects.

A successful website visit is one in which a visitor provides you with prospect information. In the least, you are shooting for a customer name and email address. You may also get a phone number, or even better, the prospect may call you directly. Point being that you want to use your website as a prospecting tool to begin building a subscriber base of prospects that you can then work into your client pipeline.

Leverage A Property Search

Lesson two discussed in detail the importance of an IDX property search to your real estate website. MLS listings are exclusive and privileged professional information. Access to this information is what truly distinguishes you as a real estate professional. In addition, when prospects surf the web, their primary reason for visiting a real estate website is to search for property.

Knowing these things, it is essential that you leverage the property search on your website to gain as much information as possible from potential prospects. It’s not enough just to offer the listing information. IDX information should be embedded with methods of lead capture that encourage visitors to become leads.

For an example of some lead capture ideas that should be integrated in your IDX, conduct a property search in Scottsdale on the Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty website. Upon the initial page load of listing results, you can see options to “Create a FREE Account” and “Save This Listing.” Both of these are integrated methods of lead capture encouraging visitors to give their information.

The image above is a good example of nesting lead capture within listing information. Visitors to the website want to see listing information above everything else. So by surrounding this information with lead capture methods, opportunities for lead conversion are created. All of the lead capture methods are indicated by yellow checkmarks. This one listing detail features seven methods of lead capture.

Lead Capture Forms

Your property search will carry the load of generating most of your website leads. However, you can use additional content like lead capture forms to prompt visitors to give their lead information. The advantage of lead capture forms is two-fold: a) they are an additional opportunity to meet a prospect need and b) they add more content to your website.

Lead capture forms provide a great way to meet different prospect needs. Most visitors will be visiting the website to use the property search. But there are still a small handful of other visitors that may be looking to list a property or get local information. Lead capture forms are perfect for addressing the needs of these varying prospect opportunities.

I recommend to clients that they add a lead capture form to every page on their website. Regardless of what the page content is about, from a marketing perspective, every type of content is an opportunity to ask for lead information. Lead capture forms are a great way to integrate these methods into the content itself. Even a page of testimonials provides a great opportunity to pitch your services and ask for prospect information.

Here are some ideas for lead capture forms to use on your website:

• Free Home Evaluation
• Property Request
• List Your Home
• Local Market Snapshot
• Hot Foreclosure Deals
• Real Estate Newsletter
• Real Estate Reports
• Buyer Request
• Seller Request
• FSBO Tips

Just thinking about your services and what you can offer to clients can yield additional ideas for lead capture forms on your website.

To sum up, lead capture is pivotal to the success of your real estate website as a prospecting tool. There is no better way to generate website leads and fill your prospect pipeline than through the maximization of lead capture methods, whether integrated throughout your IDX or leveraged through lead capture forms on your website.

The next lesson discusses how to make your website king of the Internet forest so be sure to check it out.