This article is part one of a real estate PPC series.
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What is PPC?
PPC stands for pay-per-click, a type of marketing in which real estate agents pay each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it's a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically. It helps you get seen on search engines for queries related to buying and selling homes in your area so you can drive visitors to your website, generate leads, close more homes, and stand out in a competitive market.
When we talk about PPC, we’re referring to ads that are displayed at the top of search engine results. You can find PPC ads on all search engines, but Google is by far the most popular.
To show up at the top of the search results, you bid on keyword phrases that your target audience is searching – for example, “Vancouver homes for sale.” Every time a buyer or seller clicks one of your ads and goes to your website, you’ll pay around $0.40-0.80.
These types of ads allow real estate agents to display ads relevant to what buyers and sellers are searching for. For example, John is starting his home buyer’s journey and looking at what’s available on the market. He searches “homes for sale in Vancouver” and thousands of page results show up. Because you’re running PPC ads using John’s keyword, your ad is shown on the first page of google and above all the organic search results, making it easy for John to find your website.
Why should real estate agents run PPC ads?
PPC ads can be one of the most cost effective ways to drive traffic to your website and generate high quality leads.
Why is it so valuable?
- Attract Qualified and High Intent Leads
When leads come through a Facebook or Instagram ad, they are quite often “window shopping.” They have seen a house that they like the look of and have clicked through to your website and offered up their details to view the property.
With PPC, you’re targeting people in the exact moment they’re searching for homes, and these leads are generally further down the funnel than any other platform. When someone searches “Vancouver homes for sale” you know that their goal is to find real estate listings and buy a home in Vancouver. Your ad will appear and direct them to your website which will give them exactly what they’re searching for. That makes them a pretty good candidate to become a real client!
- Be Seen
While organic marketing efforts are focused on getting your content on the first page of Google, PPC advertising slots are already there – so why not take advantage of them and start generating business?
Google's algorithm changes over the last couple of years have pretty much filled the first page of "yourtown real estate" search results with the big players – outranking independent realtor websites every time.
Climbing the organic search rankings for keywords can take years and thousands of dollars, but sometimes there is a need for more instant results. Now, you can skip to the front of the queue and generate more leads simply by running PPC ads.
- Superior Return On Investment
Everything that can be measured, can be improved.
Unlike many other advertising options, PPC campaigns are easy to measure, which means that you can improve your ads until they are fully optimized and generating results. In a market that moves so fast, you want to make sure your ads remain relevant and are always attracting your target audience.
At Avenue, we generate buyers leads at an average cost per lead of $12.
While cost per lead is based on factors like your local competition and market, buyers agents can expect to spend $7-14 per lead. If you're able to turn even 2% of your leads into clients, a cost per lead between $7-14 means you're only paying between $250-1,000 in PPC ads per home close.
This type of ROI has huge potential in helping you attract more leads and close homes, which is why we recommend PPC to all of our clients looking to generate high quality leads.
Where do real estate PPC ads appear & what do they look like?
PPC search ads can appear at the top and bottom of the organic search results on both desktop and mobile. While we often think of ads as visually distinct elements, paid search ads look very similar to the organic search results, but are labeled with “Ad” to distinguish them.
How do Google Ads work?
Google Ads is one of the most popular PPC platforms. It works as an auction, where people bid money for clicks. Google doesn’t just want to show people the ads from the highest bidder – they could be horrible ads – they’d rather show them a more relevant and better ad by someone who pays less, because that keeps users coming back to Google.
This is where Quality Score comes into play. Your quality score is determined by each ad’s click through rate, relevance of each keyword to your ad, and the landing page quality. When more people click your ad, that’s a strong indication that your ads are relevant and helpful to users, so Google rewards you with higher ad rankings and lower costs.
How does Avenue use PPC?
Effective PPC campaigns need a strong lead capture system on your website, otherwise you’re missing out on potential leads. When a potential lead clicks one of your ads and goes to your website, a prompted lead capture form will be triggered where they will have to submit their contact information before continuing to browse your website. For more information on how the prompted lead capture form works, click here.
PPC represents huge potential for real estate agents to grow their business, but it can be overwhelming with how much time goes into improving your quality score and overall campaign performance.
At Avenue, we take the guesswork out of managing your campaigns, so you can focus and dedicate your time on what you do best: selling real estate. We create a compelling and consistent message that combines the right keywords, ad messaging, and site experience to generate leads for your business. We don’t stop there, though. We regularly test and analyze every aspect of your campaign and rigorously optimize it so you can truly get the most out of your ad spend.
If you’re interested in adding PPC to your services, book a free 1:1 consultation here.
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Missed the other blogs in this PPC series?
Part 1: The Value of PPC
Part 2: The Cost of PPC For Real Estate
Part 3: The ROI of Real Estate PPC
