Why you need a real estate landing page for your digital ads

Thinking of digital ads? You need a real estate landing page. Here’s why.

No online advertising campaign is complete without a place for interested home buyers and sellers to end up after they click-through.  The most effective solution is a real estate landing page, the goal of which is to expand on the promises made in the initial ad and entice a reader to provide contact information.

Naturally, this widens the scope of any online ad campaign.

While you will get some results by pushing inbound leads directly to your home page, the risk is that you’re moving the relationship along too quickly. There’s a reason why The Bachelor waits four weeks into their reality dating “journey” to take a smitten bride-to-be home to the parents.

Think of it this way: your home page is for everyone, whereas a landing page is for those who cared enough to click on your ad. Exclusivity sells, after all, and here are some ways to leverage that concept using real estate landing pages.

The key to a real estate landing pages: keep it simple

Assuming you’re working with an advertising partner that uses retargeting to deliver ads on multiple websites (Adwerx is one such example), research suggests you’ll earn a click-through after at least three impressions.  

This means the viewer has invested their time—a valuable asset—in what you’ve been trying to tell them. So you have to be sure to deliver what they rather hear.

Thus, a landing page has to be simple. It’s easy to lose leads if you try to tell them too much or share too big a story.  

The most effective landing pages stay strictly on point. If your ad on CNN.com promises expertise on a specific zip code, your landing page needs to fulfill that promise. Consider using specific sales examples and sharing “inside” knowledge.

There can’t be only one: use multiple landing pages for your real estate business

Don’t use the same page for every ad or instance of your real estate brand online. Create pages that coincide with click-throughs from your Twitter profile, LinkedIn account, and Facebook page.

Each real estate landing page should reference the referral source and use a distinct message in conjunction with your message.

Don’t populate these pages with anything too lengthy, as it doesn’t necessarily overlap well with social media.

Use your manners! Create Thank You pages for real estate

Real estate landing pages have an array of uses. One not leveraged nearly often enough is the “Thank You” page delivered after a person asks for more information on a listing or subscribes to a quarterly market report.

Every instance of eyes on your web presence should in some way be used to your advantage.

Thank You page tactics could include sending subscribers to a testimonial page, a specific blog post or an event registration page.

Don’t forget about mobile for real estate ads

Landing pages have to accommodate mobile users.

Customers are probably browsing the web while on mass transit, riding in Ubers, and waiting in line at lunch. This is a good thing, as it gives real estate agents that many more opportunities to get in front of a prospect.

This is another reason to keep landing pages simple in design and most of all direct in message. Mobile viewing environments compacts content and lengthens the scroll. Ensure your content can adjust quickly and that your site doesn’t upset the viewer with visual bugs or hide-to-find calls to action.

You have to earn your real estate leads

Real estate agents are competing with each other on multiple fronts. Portals like Zillow and Realtor.com have evolved into massive online consumer brands. Thus creating a race among the real estate agents for the highest paid position on each site.

Real estate content is pushed through news sites, consumer product outlets, financial advice websites, and a host of other web destinations. Furthermore, it’s harder than ever to earn brand awareness if you’re not proactively advertising and managing web-specific marketing campaigns. You can’t risk losing a lead because of missteps after the all-important click-through.

As a result, a carefully constructed and targeted real estate landing page is an agent’s best tool for capturing the click-throughs your online ads have earned you.