Actual Results with Real Estate PPC: A Pathway to Success

 

You're always scouting for the most bang for your buck in terms of lead generation—and aren’t we all?

If you've been around long enough, you already know the value of Real Estate Pay-Per-Click (PPC to your digital marketing strategy. Basically, how it works is you’re leveraging Google Ads to handpick your audience at a massive scale.

You bid on relevant keywords so your ads are displayed to the right people at the right time. And as the name suggests, you don’t pay for every impression, only when somebody clicks on your ad. 

That is, every cent you spend is for potential leads who show genuine interest in your services. Cost-effective and precise – that's PPC for you.

But you don’t need a lecture on the wonderful benefits of PPC; everyone and their mother in the industry is using it. The more pertinent question for you is how are you using it to generate more leads?

And before you ask, yes, Ylopo has taken this strategy and enhanced and perfected it in a service package we call PPC 2.0. This powerhouse of a strategy can help you fill your lead 'fishbowl' consistently, so to speak, generating high-quality leads for you so you can close more deals.

Our unique approach to PPC can help you outshine competitors by transcending the constraints of traditional PPC campaigns.


But first, a quick rundown of all the lead generation tools that you need to succeed in 2024:

Ready to dive in deeper? Let's explore what PPC is, how it benefits you, and how Ylopo is taking PPC lead generation in real estate to new heights: it's the cheat code you've been waiting for to burst through the crowded real estate market.

 

Chapter 1: The ABCs of Real Estate Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

real estate ppc

As mentioned earlier, PPC is a digital ad strategy where you - the advertiser, only pay when a user clicks on your ad.

It’s effectively a shortcut to bring in more folks to your website, rather than waiting for them to find you organically.

Think of PPC as a flashy digital billboard that you set up on the internet expressway. The only cost you have to shell out for this billboard depends on the number of times prospects peek at your billboard (that is, click on your ad).

And we know that in the world of real estate in 2024, it's not just about concrete and windows; it's equally about pixels and data.

With PPC, you can place your bids on "keywords (those specific words or phrases that folks punch into search engines) that go hand in hand with your real estate gig. Keywords could be as simple as "houses for sale" or as specific as "3-bedroom condos in Denver, CO".

The Role of PPC in Real Estate Marketing

a compass on a map, symbolizing that you are no longer bound by traditional restraints with PPC

The ultimate goal?

To make your ad pop up at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and score maximum eyeballs.

But when you’re running PPC ads, your goal isn’t only to get seen. It goes beyond, giving real estate agents and brokers a leg-up in ways traditional marketing can't (more on this later).

With PPC, your reach isn't boxed in by location or the clock, either. Your digital ads can catch the eye of potential buyers or sellers anywhere, at any hour. This opens up a whole new universe of possibilities, reaching everyone from local lookers to global gurus.

PPC also lets you track and crunch data with ease, which is always great for data-driven tactic remarketing and campaign management.

Keeping tabs on clicks allows you to see what's hitting the mark and what's missing it, which keywords are crowd-pullers, and which ads are turning into real property inquiries or deals. 

PPC can also show fast results.

Unlike SEO strategies that need some time to pull in organic traffic, a well-planned PPC campaign can rev up your website traffic and get those leads rolling in right off the bat.

However, remember, nailing a PPC campaign isn't a set-and-forget deal. It's an ongoing journey that includes keyword sleuthing, data diving, and regular tweaking of the campaign blueprint.

End of the day, a poorly executed campaign means wasted money.

That’s why I highly recommend teaming up with a professional PPC campaign management solution like Ylopo to save you the time and the grief!

More on this later, but here’s a video of some of our biggest clients achieving results after switching over from the big portals to Ylopo:

 

Chapter 2: Keywords and Real Estate PPC

Keywords are the secret sauce that connects a curious potential client's search to your real estate PPC ad. These little powerhouses play a critical role in the advertising game, driving just the right folks to your real estate listings.

But without a proper keyword gameplan in place, even the best ad might lurk unseen in the corner.

The Big Deal About Keyword Selection

a magnifying glass with the word keyword. the word keyword is under a magnifying glass symbolizing keyword selection

Think of keywords as the codes that tie your ads to what people are searching for. That is to say that picking the right keyword to target in your campaign is key to rocketing your ad to the top of search engine results and snagging the attention of potential buyers or sellers.

One big detail that people often miss during keyword selection is that you’re not just pulling random words, you’re trying to figure out the intent behind a search.

People pay too much attention to search volume and cost per click—which are both important, don’t get me wrong—but completely ignore intent. 

But figuring out intent is half the battle; a cheap high-volume keyword is practically useless if it doesn’t bring in leads.

You need to hone in on keywords that reflect serious buyer or seller intentions. This will allow you to ramp up your ad's relevance, up its click-through rate, and skyrocket your chances of making a sale.

Crafting A Winning Keyword Strategy

a person's hand is typing on a laptop. the screen is showing a graph. the screen is showing a graph, symbolizing the dance required to craft a careful keyword strategy

I get it; easier said than done.

Building a successful keyword strategy isn't just about picking words related to buying or selling properties.

It's really a delicate dance of understanding the market, sizing up your competition, and getting inside your potential clients' search habits.

Especially if you’re doing it yourself, there’s no way around the fact that keywords don’t fall from the sky. You have to do your homework.

One thing is to make use of handy tools like Google Keyword Planner (which comes with full features unlocked when you set a budget for your Ads campaign) to uncover keywords that resonate with your target audience's intentions.

For realtors, popular keywords often include specific types of properties or neighborhoods and terms directly related to real estate transactions, like "homes for sale" or "luxury apartments in downtown Manhattan".

Another thing to keep an eye on is your competition’s keywords. Check out what they're using and how they're ranking. If they're scoring big with certain keywords, you might think about bringing them into your own list.

And don't forget about long-tail keywords! These keywords are three to five words long, which means they’re harder to type and draw fewer searches, but when it comes to drawing in high-intent searchers, they often pack a punch.

The Great Debate: Buyer vs Seller Keywords

two people sitting at a table with laptops and papers on it, one person is talking to the other

I personally love talking about this part. Let's tackle the age-old question: should I target buyer keywords or seller keywords?

"Just get me those seller keywords, that's all I need!" But let's break it down a little.

Why do seller campaigns tend to have a heftier price tag? And are there any perks of opting for a buyer campaign over a seller campaign?

Now, can we talk about why running a seller campaign can be a bit more of a splurge? And what could be the perks of maybe focusing on a buyer campaign versus a seller one?

But wait, there's more! Is there a better platform to net these sellers? Like, should you go Facebook over Google, or vice versa? Let's break it all down.

Why Seller Ads Cost More

a pile of coins on a table. the background is a wooden table. symbolizing the concept of costly leads

The reason why seller campaigns can really hit your pocket is due to fierce competition. The cost of leads generally boils down to how much you're shelling out on Google for each ad click.

And then from there, it's about what percentage of those folks are signing up once they land on your website. 

Mostly, the cost is driven by competition. The more folks bidding for a specific keyword on Google or a specific ad slot on Facebook, the pricier it's going to be to secure that spot.

Since seller leads are often seen as top-notch by many real estate agents, they're more expensive. The clicks cost more. It all really boils down to competition and cost.

Reasons to Shift Focus to Buyers

the circle of light in the center of the universe, symbolizing focusing on a target

But there are a couple of solid reasons to focus on buyers. One is cost. And two, a lot of sellers actually start their journey by looking for the home they want to buy first.

Sure, people search for real estate agents online and look up home values to kind of gauge interest. But really, the shiny new toy for the home seller is often the home they're moving into. 

Selling your home can be a bit of a hassle - it's not the most fun thing to do. It involves a lot of staging and prep work. But buying the next home? Now that's exciting. It's something to look forward to.

So even with all the chatter about what the score is between buyer and seller strategies, buyer campaigns, more often than not, turn out to be more cost-effective since a certain percentage of them will list anyway.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t run those classic home value ads, especially if you’re not on a tight budget; they have proven quite effective, and as that old saying goes: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So, in a nutshell, whether you decide to target buyers or sellers comes down to understanding your goals and the specifics of your market.

Neither is inherently better, but understanding the dynamics, costs, and strategies behind each can help you optimize your campaigns.

And don't forget that the journey of a buyer can often turn into a seller lead - sometimes you just need a little patience and strategy.

 

Chapter 3: Moving on from Traditional PPC to Ylopo's Supercharged PPC 2.0

man in a suit and tie standing in a lobby with a tablet computer in his hand

Battling for popular keywords, trying to make your ad content unique, and wrestling with campaign performance tracking - sound like a familiar scenario?

If you’ve done PPC advertising for a while, this song and dance will seem familiar to you.

The good old PPC method of bidding for keywords and managing your campaign clearly work, but as it is, it’s a 24/7 job and it’s not something you can sustain on top of all the other little things that you have to do throughout the day. 

High costs, time commitment, complexity, and potentially low ROI are just a few of the hurdles you might face. And then, when the payment stops, your ads disappear.

Well, we saw these speedbumps and decided to take the wheel – introducing PPC 2.0, a turbo-charged way for realtors to get chatting with their potential clients.

In a nutshell, PPC 2.0, courtesy of Ylopo, is like the high-performance sports car of strategies, powered by a deep understanding of the industry, high-tech innovation, and insights into what makes your clients tick. It changes the way real estate agents and brokers see and manage their PPC game.

PPC 2.0’s Features and Why They Matter

PPC 2.0 isn't just the old PPC method with a fresh coat of paint. Here are the features that give PPC 2.0 its razor edge:

Pinpoint Precision with Micro-Targeting

a blue map with a white sphere surrounded by pins and a map marker on it, with a blue background, symbolizing pin point lead targeting

What gives Ylopo's PPC 2.0 the edge over the old-school PPC tactics?

One way we’ve innovated is by weaving geo-mapping into our PPC campaigns. It helps you fine-tune your ad targeting by homing in on specific neighborhoods, cities, or regions.

Consider running a traditional PPC campaign for Santa Monica. The usual approach? Set up a campaign that targets Santa Monica (think "Santa Monica homes for sale"). 

But this strategy only nabs a fraction of those really interested in Santa Monica homes. Remember, Santa Monica is a kaleidoscope of 20+ neighborhoods, 50+ subdivisions, and a bunch of school districts.

PPC 2.0’s unique geo-mapping capability matches every neighborhood, subdivision, and school district within your target area and crafts a separate campaign for each of these nooks.

50%
In fact, these “long tail” locations drive over 50% of our client’s traffic, leaving the primary city in the dust.
a green uptrend arrow

With less competition for these ultra-specific keywords, the cost of traffic dips.

Plus, those potential clients who know exactly what they're looking for are usually further down the buying funnel, meaning the quality of leads skyrockets.

The beauty of it all is that it hits the nail on the head for a massive need in the real estate market – localization and micro-targeting.

Your prospects are looking for properties in areas they care about, and Ylopo's geo-mapping zooms in on these individual likes and dislikes. It makes your ads more relevant and hard-hitting by ensuring they get noticed by the people most likely to take action – those living in or showing an interest in particular areas.

It tosses out the 'spray and pray' tactic of casting a wide net and crossing your fingers for leads. Instead, it's more like a laser-guided 'sniper' approach, targeting customers based on what they're specifically interested in.

This tactic amps up the relevancy of your ads, which can lead to more clicks, better conversions, and a supercharged campaign performance.

Dynamic Inventory Management and Keyword Optimization

We don't stop there, though.

We've designed an algorithm that scouts for available listings in each targeted location several times a day. If the pickings are rich, we green-light those locations. If not, we pump the brakes. This fine-tuning enables us to trim your costs while beefing up the quality of your leads.

Another area where Ylopo's PPC 2.0 really steals the show is keyword optimization. Unlike old-school PPC methods that stick to a pre-set list of generic keywords, Ylopo's PPC 2.0 advocates a flexible keyword strategy.

It's like a live weather report, analyzing real-time data, spotting the trends, and figuring out what potential buyers or sellers are after.

This active analysis results in an ever-changing list of keywords that are bang on target with what the market wants right now. 

Your ads stay ahead of the game, catching the trending keywords wave before they become a battlefield.

Something worth mentioning here is how Ylopo’s PPC 2.0 strategy is designed to roll with the punches of changing market conditions. Say there's a sudden spike in property interest in a certain neighborhood due to a new mall or school, Ylopo’s system can quickly switch your ad focus towards these buzzworthy spots, giving you a leg up on your competitors.

Dynamic PPC Ads: Shake up the Status Quo

No two ways about it—traditional PPC ads are static, boring and often look alike across the board.

This results in consumers focusing more on the brand behind the ad, which can overshadow smaller businesses when heavyweights like Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com, and others join the bid.

This is where our PPC 2.0 truly shine. We refresh PPC ads several times a day using real-time home search results data.

The end result?

30%
We've noticed a surge in engagement by over 30% when using these dynamic ads.

Here are a couple of testimonials from very happy clients who have supercharged their PPC leads through PPC 2.0:

Grow Your PPC Leads with Ylopo's PPC 2.0

This is just a sneak peek into the transformation Ylopo is bringing to the PPC market. We can't wait to share the remarkable results of these optimizations. With our commitment to reducing costs and boosting lead quality, we're confident that PPC 2.0 will be a game-changer in your real estate marketing strategy.

Book a demo today and see what PPC 2.0 can do for your Google Ads efforts today!

About the Author

Aaron “Kiwi” Franklin

Head of Growth