I can't stand paying big lead companies for leads. I also refuse to pay $5-$20 per click for visitors. As an independent broker I'm smart enough to know that the "best" leads will rarely make it to me no matter how much I pay per lead. And, even if I do get someone who actually answers the phone, odds are I'm just one of four or five people to have called them within the last 48 hours. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about.
It only took me a couple of orders with some of the big names out there to decide that I needed to just start generating internet leads on my own. It's important to note, at the time I made that decision, I had virtually no experience at all when it comes to websites and internet marketing. Fast forward two years and hundreds of hours later, I'm finally generating enough leads to keep me comfortable. And, I've developed quite an obsession with helping other real estate professionals do the same.
Over those two years I estimate that I spent about $4500 on internet marketing courses, tools, and other ways to "supercharge my web rankings", "explode my traffic," and "send a flood of visitors" to my websites. Let's just say I have a file folder full of so called "tools" and a pile of cd's and books that I may get to reading . . .some day.
Now, in all fairness, some of the tools are very useful and they can greatly help automate the process. There are few that I do actually use frequently and most of them had good information included with them. And, in quite a few cases, I just never got around to spending the time to implement them or learn how to properly use them.
I'm going to let you in on a secret, you can build a website that ranks well in the search engines and generates leads for less than $100 a year. Starting from scratch, with virtually no tools or experience, this can be accomplished in just a few of months if you are willing to put in some work. I'd estimate that with as little as an hour a day, you will be able to archive results. Now, the more time you spend, the better the results.
I do have one warning, you will not start raking in the search engines and generating exclusive leads overnight. It can even take a few months for your new website to even start showing up in the search engines. Persistence is the key and if you stick with it, you will be rewarded.
(Note, while I've personally focused on the mortgage side, the steps, tips and techniques that I use to generate mortgage leads should convert easly over to real estate leads.)
Over the coming weeks, both on my blog (Mortgage Marketing Ideas)and here at ActiveRain,I'm going to go over what you need to do step by step to build your own exclusive mortgage lead generation website. I'll go over topics like hosting, domain names, keywords, blogs, link building, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and much more.
I can't tell you how great it feels to flip on my computer and see an email with the heading "NEW LEAD" pop up in Outlook! I want to help you achieve that feeling as well.
I'd love to hear from other agents, brokers, and loan officers who have had success generating thier own leads without using a "turnkey" system.
Stay tuned for more!
-Joe Ramirez
Note: I formally started this series of posts here: A Step By Step Guide To Creating and Marketing Your Own Lead Generation Website
Original Post: Internet Lead Generation
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