Thanks to rising mortgage rates and skyrocketing home prices, the once booming housing industry has slowed to a crawl. This seemingly quick change in fortunes has forced home builder marketers to quickly pivot their marketing priorities to focus on driving high-quality traffic and leads to fill their sales pipeline.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how long this market cycle will continue so it\u2019s important that you\u2019re prepared. Here\u2019s how you can maintain a strong online presence and bring in high quality traffic and leads during this season.<\/p>\n
The flashiest website design and best content marketing strategy are nothing if you can\u2019t be found online. Making sure your business can be found online is important.<\/p>\n
One way home builders can be found online is by investing in their local SEO strategy<\/strong><\/a>. Since home buying is local by design, focusing on local SEO remains an effective way to appear in relevant local searches when buyers are looking for new homes in their area.<\/p>\n Builders can increase their appearances in local searches by doing the following:<\/p>\n Optimize for Google My Business: <\/strong>Google My Business allows home builders to be found in the 3-Pack on the Google Search results, the section of a search result that shows the top three local businesses in the area. It also lets customers leave reviews that serve as social proof for the builder.<\/p>\n List homes on listing networks: <\/strong>Listing networks heavily leverage a local SEO strategy \u2013 that\u2019s why they always appear in every search. Make sure you syndicate your new construction homes to appear on listing website sites to increase your visibility.<\/p>\n We dive deeper in how builders can leverage local search<\/strong><\/a> in their SEO strategy in this blog post.<\/p>\n Another way builders can build visibility is by incorporating a location-based marketing strategy like geofencing.\u00a0 Geofencing is a great way for home builders to generate more qualified leads, raise awareness, and increase foot traffic in ways that listing networks and search engines aren\u2019t capable of. Here are some of the benefits of targeting home buyers through geofencing<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Once buyers have found you online, you need to give them a reason to explore your website. A common sales mistake is to immediately go for the sale. Focus on connecting and engaging with these buyers by creating timely and valuable content that provide help or answers their questions.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve long since championed the importance of having a compelling website. Successful home builders are investing in websites that provide a robust online shopping experience<\/strong><\/a> with the important features buyers want during their shopping phase. Buyers want digital tools \u2013 like high-quality photos and videos detailed home information, floorplans, virtual tours, and interactive maps to name a few \u2013 that enhance the traditional home buying experience.<\/p>\n New homes are an expensive and heavily researched product \u2013 no one wakes up and decides to buy a house. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to provide buyers with the information they need to make an informed decision. Now that interest rates and home prices have continually ticked upwards, buyers are spending more time carefully researching their options than ever before.<\/p>\n Developing content that meets the needs of buyers in each stage of the buying process allows your business to connect with the buyer and show that you understand their current situation. Here are several different types of content you should be creating for each stage of the buyer\u2019s journey<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n By providing all the information home buyers need to make their decisions, you\u2019re more likely to convert them into a lead. You always want to give clear instructions of what you want buyers to do after landing on your website.<\/p>\n A call-to-action (CTA) is a prompt that tells your audience to do something specific. They\u2019re usually found at the end of a blog post, webpage, eblast, or ad, but can also appear on social media messages. Creating an effective CTA is more complex than just adding \u2018Buy Now!\u2019 to a caption or website button. Here are a few helpful tips for creating clear and effective calls-to-action<\/strong><\/a> that will hook your audience and generate more leads.<\/p>\n Just as critical as an effective CTA, landing pages always work to convert visitors to leads<\/strong><\/a>. Landing pages help convert website visitors from your digital campaigns into leads and sales by speaking directly to their interests. Instead of dropping buyers to your homepage and expecting them to figure out where to go next, landing pages direct homebuyers to a single place where they can quickly and easily find the information they\u2019re looking for, increasing the chances they will provide their contact information to join an interest list, schedule a tour, or register to view more homes.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve spent a lot of time and effort attracting, engaging, and finally converting a buyer into a lead. But your work is not done yet. It\u2019s important to continue nurturing this lead through the rest of their buying journey. That\u2019s where email marketing shines.<\/p>\n Email marketing remains a valuable tool in a home builder\u2019s digital marketing strategy. It gives builders a direct way of providing relevant, valuable information buyers need to achieve their goal of buying a new home. Blindly sending out emails without a plan is ineffective and damages your credibility with buyers. Take the time necessary to develop a strategic plan<\/strong><\/a> to guide the design, content, and measurement of your campaigns.<\/p>\nEngage<\/h3>\n
Convert<\/h3>\n
Nurture<\/h3>\n