A real estate business isn’t going to thrive in an uncertain housing market without leads. Unfortunately,  reliable real estate leads, are like mystical creatures. You hear about them, but you have yet to see if they really exist. There are a lot of theories out there as to what increases leads or helps you get leads at all. While some are effective, the majority are time wasters and can dampen your resources.

It doesn’t matter if you are a real estate broker, agent or property manager — you need to connect with ideal prospects to keep your business thriving.

Establish Your Site as a Valuable One

There are a lot of real estate sites out there that don’t focus on quality. Their content is poor, their blogs thin, and they repeat information that homeowners and buyers already know. Devote some time out of each day to craft high-quality posts and web content pieces. Taking your time goes a long way — your readers will notice the difference.

Remember That Leads Are Buyers

You are working to attract buyers, not just an endless list of leads. Make sure you have a campaign that attracts reliable, interested parties and not just a large list of people not interested in buying or selling. It is too easy to spend time and money creating a list of people that want free stuff — and these aren’t the leads that help your business grow.

Connect With Other Industry Professionals

As a real estate agent, you have connections to other related professionals — home inspectors, lenders, appraisers, etc. Network with these groups of professionals and do some cross-marketing. You can advertise for them, they advertise for you. Also, discuss creating a lead referral system. For example, a lender receives a lead about a potential homebuyer, but the home buyer doesn’t have an agent. He refers that lead you and you have not only a personal referral, but an interested party.

Upgrade Your Site’s SEO

SEO or search engine optimization, is an untapped gem for gaining more real estate leads. When people cannot find your website, they can’t learn about what you have to offer. Revamping your website and blog’s SEO can increase your organic traffic and give you a higher potential for hot leads. The rules regarding SEO have changed a lot over the past few years. Therefore, it is best to hire an expert to fix any SEO issues you might have and help develop a new optimization strategy based on the rules for today’s search engine.

There are plenty of ways to increase real estate leads. While you might be tempted to buy leads outright, this isn’t a reliable method for keeping your business afloat. You lose money during the purchase and if you buy leads from a company that shares their lists, your competition could have already gotten to those leads days before you even bought them. Your best and most profitable way to increase leads is by taking the simple, yet practical steps to help potential customers find you.