Should You Pay for Real Estate Leads?

We decided to take a crack at answering this question when it came up on Alignable over the weekend. Here’s our response.

I would consider paying an SEO Agency to either do keyword research (to find the best Google search terms for your business) or do SEO work for your site on an ongoing basis an ongoing basis. Keyword research can be done for $300-$500 dollars; ongoing SEO Research can range from $375 per month up to $950 per month, depending on how many keywords that you want to target to get to the top of Google.

If you’re competing in the Real Estate market, I would consider just paying an SEO Agency to do keyword research and use those words on your site. I wouldn’t pay an Agency to do ongoing SEO work for your self.

Why? I’ve done Three-Six months of SEO Contract work in Real Estate. It’s extremely difficult to get ranked. The SEO difficulty is extremely high in real estate. It takes about 2-3 years on constant blogging, linkbuilding, in person marketing, PR work, and social media just to begin the process of being ranked.

If you’re determined to pay an SEO Agency to rank you for Search Terms, be prepared to pay 45K-60K per year over a 2-3 year period. The reason I’m saying this is because Greybeard realty, the main player in Real Estate, pays a SEO Agency 60K per year, just to rank them in the #4 or #5 position for search results. If you aren’t willing to pay at least 45K per year and work real hard at it for 2+ years, it’s a waste a money.

SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, is much better. If you’re paying for leads from Google Ads, Zillow, Realtor, or Facebook Ads, you can quickly test to see what’s working, if you’re generating leads, and if you’re converting your leads into customers.

I would try paying Zillow.com or Realtor.com and see if those leads convert. Try spending $2K-$4K in a 30 day window, make sure that you’re tracking your conversions, and see if that generates revenue.