These days there a lot of places on online for you spend ad dollars, but to what result? First let's look at the difference between advertising for brand and advertising for traffic. I am going to use Zillow as an example, because I have access to results, but the principles apply across any website, even the ads you see here on Active Rain.
Advertising for Branding
This is an ad promoting your brand in general. Think Miller Lite ads in the Superbowl. Everyone knows what Miller Lite is, Miller is just spending millions of ad dollars to stay top of mind the next time you go to the grocery store. The chances that someone saw one of those ads during the game and then immediately took an action like running to the grocery store to buy beer or put down their Bud Light down and instead grabbed a Miller, is extremely small.
Example of Brand Advertising:
The click through rate on these types of ads are low, however the reach of this ad (people who saw it) can be quite large.
The one week this ad ran on Zillow it was displayed 2949 times and had a click thru rate of 0.20%.
Keep in mind that general click thru rates on branding advertising run 0.05-0.08% (meaning 5 clicks for every 1000 times this ad was displayed). By running this type of advertising, you are not going to drive a lot of traffic to your website. You do this type of advertising so that in the future when someone in your farm area decides they want to call a Realtor, your phone rings.
Here's the problem I see all over the Internet. A Realtor says they want to increase traffic to their site. They run an ad like the one above. They get a very low click rate. They say the website didn't work for them.
Keep this general statement in mind- PEOPLE GO TO REAL ESTATE WEBSITES TO SEE REAL ESTATE. Knowing this, does this ad give people what they want?
Advertising for Clicks
Conversely, keeping the above statement in mind, let's look at advertising actual real estate.
Click through rates on these two ads, run for the same amount of time in the same zip codes as the branding ads, was 3.68% and 2.43% respectively. When shopping for real estate, especially in the beginning of the search, people primarily care about price and location. Sorry to crush any egos here, but they could really care less who is actually listing the property. So give them what they want and guide them to you. Entice them with listings to get them to your lair, where you from there you can demonstrate why they need to do business with you.
What I really found interesting in this example is that the ad with more information got more clicks. How many of you out there take the attitude of leaving off one key piece of information to try to lure people to call you for it? Today's consumer is a lot less likely to take this bait because they know if you aren't going to give them all the information, then they can go somewhere else and get it for free, anonymously, and instantly.
If they can look at 100 homes with all the information available and then they see your one listing with something missing, they are not going to go to the trouble of calling/emailing you then waiting for a response. Today's shopper wants ALL information upfront and ultimately will call/email the Agent when they are ready. They resent being "forced" into this conversation prematurely. And as a bonus, the clicks the Agent with the more complete ad got, were probably more qualified.
When advertising for clicks, always incorporate some type of call to action. "Your Realtor For Life" is not a call to action, it is a branding statement. Examples of compelling reasons to click: Open House this weekend, $5000 in closing costs, Just Reduced, Still time to pick your finishes, Click here, Free Neighborhood map, Free, Free, Free, Walk to public transportation.... Whatever works in your neck of the woods.
So sit back, grab a Miller (or a Bud), and think about your objective when doing online advertising, and them make sure your ad creative aligns with this goal.
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