Odds are you already know how non-negotiable a high-performing website site is to your real estate business’s success. Why? Because across every age and demographic the first step both homesellers and homebuyers now take is to go online.
What you might not know, however, is how to optimize your real estate landing pages for conversions. In other words, how to generate more leads and get better online results.
In answer to the question, “What is a landing page?” Jason Pummill explains:
“A landing page (sometimes also referred to as a squeeze page) can be any page your visitor lands on after selecting a call to action online or offline. The single purpose of a landing page is to drive your visitor toward a conversion goal, such as prompting a buyer or seller inquiry.”
In other words, landing pages are one-off web properties — stand alone URLs — that exist for one reason and one reason only: to get your visitors to take action.
Naturally, the action your landing page exists to create — its one, all-consuming “conversion goal” — can run the gamut including starting an online chat, becoming a “fan” on social media and joining an email list.
But, be warned: the No. 1, conversion-killing mistake real estate agents make with landing pages is trying to make them all things to all people. Landing pages get overloaded with multiple calls-to-actions, diluted with multiple offers, crowded by multiple audiences, and eventually die all because they try to overreach.
[Tweet “The No. 1 conversion-killing landing page mistake is trying to make them all things to everyone.”]
These fatal mistakes are precisely why one principle can skyrocket the results of your real estate landing pages: less is more.
To put some cold, hard numbers behind this claim, consider InvestorCarrot’s recent article: “How Our ‘Stacked Hero’ Page Brought 38.54% More Motivated Seller Leads.”
You can click through the above link to see exactly how their motivated sellers landing page evolved; however, the key changes all surrounded eliminating unnecessary elements as well as getting super specific about who their target audience was, where they were located and exactly what they’d get by submitting their information.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison:
| Control Version (Before) | Variation Version (After) |
| Layout and design | |
| Three columns | One column |
| Narrow form fields and button | Page-wide form fields and buttons |
| Headline | |
| No location or offer: “Need to sell your house fast?” |
Specific location and offer:
“Sell your house fast in Portland, get a guaranteed fair all-cash offer” |
| Other on-page elements | |
| Phone number included | Phone number not included |
| Six lines of text below the headline | One line of text below the headline |
Source Credit: InvestorCarrot
Notice that all the changes were focused on decreasing extraneous information and increasing relevancy.
The principle of one
You can apply the same universal principle — less really is more — to your landing pages as well by getting singular with the following elements:
1. One goal
Before you create a landing page — or when reviewing the landing pages you already have — decide for yourself the one thing you want visitors to actually do.
If you want them to sign up for your email list, then there’s no reason to include social media icons, a navigation bar, or even your agency’s phone number. Pare it down.
2. One audience
Is you landing page targeted at buyers or sellers, flippers or investors, families or single-person households? The more narrow your audience, the more powerful your landing page becomes.
In fact, try to build your landing page as though you were having a real conversation with one real person, such as a recently divorced single parent who desperately needs space and safety but is nervous about his or her less-than-perfect credit.
[Tweet “The more narrow your audience, the more powerful your landing page becomes.”]
3. One location
Just like your goal and audience, get uber specific about the geographic region your landing page will serve.
Instead of including the state or city you operate in — or even worse, not including a location at all — consider including the names of specific neighborhoods or landmarks that your target audience is already familiar with and searching for.
4. One offer
The offer on your landing page is where the bulk of its converting power comes from. So, what free offer will you use to entice visitors into completing your one goal?
It might be an e-book on how to avoid common homebuying mistakes or it might be a guaranteed cash offer within a certain timeframe. Whatever it is — you only get one.
5. One call to action
Having one call to action doesn’t mean having just one button on your landing page. But it does mean every button, form and link — basically anything and everything your visitor can click — should be geared toward the one goal you’ve set for your page. Anything that doesn’t get them closer to that goal — get rid of it.
Landing-page results are about one thing
In the end, the one principle that can rocket the results of your real estate landing page is this: less is more. Although plenty of other conversion-rate optimization principles exist, you don’t have to become a conversion-rate-optimization guru to make a huge difference in your site’s bottom-line performance.
All you have to do is get specific, get simple and get singular. Afterall, that’s how you get results.
Aaron Orendorff is the founder and content strategist of iconiContent; he is based out of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Follow iconiContent on Twitter or connect with Aaron on LinkedIn.