One of the things that drives me craziest on the Internet is there is a lot of GOOD advice out there- but there is a distinct lack of explicit practical advice. Meaning, everyone wants to tell you that you need to generate leads from your real estate blog but they don't tell you how to specifically capture each type of lead. So, let's hit it. This post will show you how to use two conversion psychologies called "the cult of me" and "self qualification" to generate highly qualified investor and foreclosure property leads.
Goal: To attract more investors contacts
Strategy: Create a list of Top 10 Best Buy, REO, Foreclosure or Investment properties that you require users to register to receive. This will require 3 steps:
1. Create the list
2. Create a call to action button and lead conversion form
3. Create a blog post announcing your offering
Real Estate Investor Profile: The average investor that will find you online fins you because they are looking for information on investing in real estate. That means they probably are not a professional investor and are most likely a first time or part time investor that recognizes they need the help of a real estate professional to identify savvy investment properties.
Real Estate Investor Psychographics: A first time or part time investor is typically "new money" meaning they are self made and proud of what they have become. They feel good about their accomplishments and want to use what they have to make more money. They can be shrewd can like to be appreciated for their accomplishments. They often also like o feel like they are masters of their destiny's and like to have hand in making decisions that affect their future.
Implementation:
1. Create the list of best properties
The list MUST have value, so put some time into this. Cull through the MLS for foreclosure, investment, first time buyer, fixer upper, etc best buys. Put together a list in Microsoft Word where you take some of the MLS data like images, MLS#, Street Address, Description and your remarks on why you consider that particular property a best buy. Also, make sure that you fully brand the document with your logos, phone numbers, address and websites. Then save the document into a PDF and save to your drive in an easy to find location. You do not want to immediately publish this to your blog, because you want to create implied value and make people register so they can receive it.
Read akso: Top 5 Easy and Effective Listing Posts You Can Write for Your Real Estate Blog
2. Call Investors to Action with a button and a blog post
We will use the tried and true "fear of loss" psychology to get an investor contact.
A. Create a button or (steal the one below) that reads "Top 10 Investment Buys of the Month." Publish this button either at the top of your blog above your blog posts or in the side bar. Typically you can put this button inside a widget area so you have complete control over it now and in the future.
Steal these buttons:
Feel free to copy and paste these buttons into your blog and simply add a link to your conversion form for investors, foreclosures or other special offers
B. Write a post that publishes a couple of lesser but still interesting properties (as time goes by, you publish the previous month's list) talks about how you have compiled a list of the best foreclosure, short sale, tenant building investments, etc of the month that either have cash flow from day X, $X equity or are more than $X undervalued. Talk up how great these properties are how everyone needs to get this "exclusive list." Say something about how only the first 25 people to sign up for this list will get it (that doesn't mean you have to actually adhere to it - it is just a way to get people to act quickly). See, how that creates the need to act- the fear that they if they do not act, they will lose out on this great list of properties and someone else might scoop them up before they have the chance?
Read also: Get more real estate leads with killer call to actions on your blog and website
Read also: Steal these buttons: free real estate call to action buttons
3. Create a conversion form using The "Cult of Me" psychology
*Note: If you don't have ability to create custom conversion forms like RSS Pieces, then simply link your buttons back to your contact form and you can skip this part as it does not apply to your blog platform.
Read also: Generate More Real Estate Leads from your Blog with RSS Pieces Custom Form Builder
The number one thing you learn about people is THEY LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THEMSELVES. Hey, it's true- number uno is always ME! So, when you start thinking about conversion you need to think about it from the perspective of the "cult of me." This means, get people to answer questions about themselves that make them feel good about themselves!
What kinds of questions could make someone that feels good about their accomplishments and their status feel even better about themselves? Ask them things that directly relate to their accomplishments. Forget about whether or not you NEED this information for the form. That's not really important. Make them think you need it. (The only things you really need are their name, email and phone number - but you want to make sure they provide you with good contact info= so ask them things they WANT you to know about them). Starting to make sense yet?
Psychological Question Examples:
Please note: The following questions are simply examples of what you might want to ask. I explained the psychology behind each question so you can model other more relevant questions for your conversion forms.
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Question
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Psychology
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How much money are you able to put down?
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This let's them tell you how much money they have made that they are willing to put toward making more - it let's them show their success and show you they are savvy enough to understand they need to use that money to make other money.
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How much money do you want to invest in total?
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This let's them tell you how much money they could lose without impacting their lifestyle
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How much return on the investment do you expect?
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This let's them tell you their expectations for the investment and their overall self worth. It also let's them tell you how demanding they are.
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How much time are you willing to wait until ROI?
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This let's them feel as though they are making a decision that impacts their future and that they have a perceived control over how their money will work for them
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Preface the form with text makes the reader self qualify.
So, create text that tells people who is most qualified to receive the information you are providing. For example:
Please note that those investors most qualified to receive this information would be:
- Investors that can provide a down payment of 20% or more
- Investors that expect to more than 90 days before ROI
- Investors that expect to devote more than $X/mo towards their investment
There may be other or more relevant criteria you want to include here but these are a few examples. The more qualifying the criteria you include, the better your results will be.
4. At the end of the month or the beginning of the next month, publicly publish you list on your blog as a post
Show the properties that sold with big "sold signs" across them. This shows readers for the next month what they will be getting and what they could be missing out on. It is a good idea to publiuhs the call to action button for the next month's list at the bottom of this post.
To see an examples of sites using this technique, please visit:
Buffalo Niagara Falls Real Estate & Home Sales in WNY
(NOTE: within 1 day of using this call to action method, Colleen received 3 leads from it and a request for her best properties list)
Karma's a Bitch, especially when you get the blogosphere involved. So, here is a beautiful little story about a company, ePerks, that didn't quite like what one blogger did (Vlad Zablotskyy), so they are suspected of having attacked him personally all over the Internet (some NASTY stuff detailed below) and then sued him when he started talking about it and saying he suspected as much (IP addresses from ePerks and employee names have been linked to certian attacks as detailed below). Well, this is a blogger we are talking about and he would not take it laying down. So, he wrote all about it on his blog and next thing you know you have:
