by threshold | Sep 27, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Marketing, Tech/Web
Abby Browning
Google has announced that Google Analytics is getting its most significant update ever with the release of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). On July 1, 2023, GA4 will officially replace Universal Analytics (UA). Each day after this date, your UA will stop processing new hits. To make sure that your real estate marketing isn’t disrupted, we’ve put together a list of some key differences in the new instance and what you need to do to prepare.
What are some of the key differences between UA and GA4?
1. New & Improved Data Model
Universal Analytics relied on a hit-based data model tracking items like pageviews, events, and more. While UA has worked for simple site tracking, there was a need to keep up with the ever-changing and increasingly complex web and in-app environments to gain valuable insights and collect quality data. So, GA4 was built on an event-driven data model. This means that everything is an event from a pageview to a click to a file download.
2. Events
Because GA4 is built on an event-driven data model, events in GA4 have gotten an update. You may be used to seeing Events in UA structured with a Category, Action, and Label. GA4 has simplified events by requiring only Event Name and Event Parameters and automatically collects certain events on your website.
- Automatically Collected Events are collected by default and measure basic interactions with your website. These events include first visit, page views, session start, and user engagement. A comprehensive list can be found here.
- Enhanced Measurement captures optional events automatically that can be enabled/disabled at any time and measures additional engagement opportunities on your website, like scrolls, outbound clicks, file downloads, site search, and video engagement. More information about Enhanced Measurement can be found here.
Plus you can modify events, create custom events, and if you’re using GTM, you can easily push events into GA4.
3. Goals vs. Conversions
Because the events in GA4 have been improved, conversion tracking has been simplified to understand conversions based on specific events. Instead of creating goals, we can now use events in GA4 and mark them as conversions. Instead of setting permanent goals, GA4 gives us 30 conversion slots that can be turned on and off in order to keep the data we’ve collected while freeing up slots for the future. You won’t want to mark every event as a conversion but take advantage of modifying or creating custom events to drill down on the conversions you want when someone takes a specific action on your website (ex: view a “thank you” page view after a form completion).
4. Front-End Redesign and Navigation
The entire front-end and back-end was redesigned to offer more flexibility and insights across all of your digital properties. Because the front-end has been redesigned, when you log-in for the first time, your left hand navigation will look slightly different. You’ll be used to seeing your ABC’s in UA – Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversions. GA4 has restructured the nav to Reports, Explore, and Advertising. Don’t worry, everything you need will still be there (and eventually more), but it’s a little easier to navigate and understand. You’ll find a bulk of what you are looking for by using the Reports section to view acquisition and engagement.
5. Behavior Flow Vs. Exploration Templates
If you’re like us, you may use Behavior Flow in UA to understand the user journey on your website. Behavior Flow will be replaced by two new Exploration Templates in GA4.
- Funnel Exploration Report – a funnel is a specific, pre-designed path you want your user to take while visiting your website. For example, if you want to track users who look at a specific floor plan and make a purchase, you could set up a funnel to track a series of events like “floor plans” > “check availability” > “select unit” > “start application.” The funnel exploration report will give you insights into where users are falling off in your desired funnel.
- Path Exploration Report – a free-flow user journey report that is not predetermined like the Funnel Exploration Report. The Path Exploration report lets you follow your user’s journey to see where they go and how they interact with your site. This is a great way to measure organic behavior and gain valuable insights.
Within Explore, there are several other Exploration Templates that you can take advantage of now, like Segment Overlap, User Explorer, Cohort Exploration, and User Lifetime.
6. Terminology
GA4 has adopted some new terminology that better fits with the event-driven data model it has adopted. By measuring events, we’re able to measure and track engagement on the site, so you might see terms like “bounce rate” going away.
The first term to keep an eye out for is “Engaged Sessions” meaning a session must last longer than 10 seconds, include at least one conversion, or includes 2 or more pages views.
“Engagement Rate” will replace “Bounce Rate” currently found in UA and will measure the percentage of engaged sessions on your website. For example, if you had 100 sessions and 70 of them were engaged (Engaged Sessions above), your engagement rate would be 70%.
What do I need to do to prepare for the switch to GA4?
1. Create a GA4 Property
As soon as possible, the first step you need to take is to create a new GA4 property and implement GA4 alongside your existing UA to begin data collection. This will allow you to gather the historical insights you need to measure your results over time when UA stops processing hits on July 1, 2023.
Most likely, you are already using Universal Analytics. The easiest way to create a GA4 property is to log in to your UA, navigate to Admin, and select “GA4 Setup Assistant” in the middle column labeled Property. This will prompt you to create a new Google Analytics 4 Property.
After your GA4 property has been created, the screen will prompt you to go to your new GA4 property, so let’s do it!
2. Implement GA4
The next step you’ll want to complete is implementation. You can implement GA4 one of two ways. You can add code directly to your website or you can implement GA4 using Google Tag Manager. Adding via GTM is very easy, so let’s explore that option together.
First, you’ll want to grab your Measurement ID from GA4 by navigating to Admin > Data Streams > Web. Copy your Measurement ID.
Open up your Google Tag Manager account and navigate to the correct container. Go to Tags > New Tag > Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration. Copy and paste the Measurement ID and set a trigger to fire on All Pages. Save your tag and publish.
Congrats! You have successfully completed the implementation of GA4.
3. Set Up Conversions
If you are currently not tracking any goals in Universal Analytics, you don’t need to worry about this step right now. If you are tracking goals, now would be the perfect time to convert those to conversions in GA4. This is also very simple and can be done from the Setup Assistant in your Admin view in GA4. Under Setup Assistant, look for the section labeled Property Settings and select “Set Up Conversions.” You will see a prompt that says “Import From Universal Analytics”
You will see the available goals to import. Click “Import selected conversions.” It may take up to 24 hours for data to start populating, but to view these new conversions in GA4, navigate to Configure > Conversions > Conversion Events.
Amazing work, you’ve successfully created, implemented, and imported goals into your new GA4 property. What’s next? Start getting familiar with the new instance and keep an eye out for more features and capabilities in GA4 overtime. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted.
In Conclusion
In summary, we’ve covered some of the key differences between UA and GA4 and the creation and implementation of GA4. We hope this gives you a better understanding of how to prepare and what to expect for GA4 in the upcoming year. As new features are released, we’ll be sure to keep you updated. If you have any questions about how GA4 will affect your real estate marketing efforts, we’d love to connect with you.
by threshold | Sep 19, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Thought Leadership
 Ava Page
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It’s no secret that real estate has become a predominantly online industry in recent years. The convenience and accessibility of online listings, tours, applications, and leases is unmatched. In knowing all of this, why not take your real estate marketing to the next level by taking advantage of the holy grail of online marketing that is social media?
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, it’s significant to point out that based on a recent PEW Institute research study, over ⅓ of US adults get their daily news from social media platforms, with Facebook again taking the lead. No matter your opinions on this fact, it’s no secret that with the majority of people using 1 or more social media platforms daily – and with over 30% of people getting their daily news from social media platforms – you could reach a significantly higher audience in your marketing campaign by taking advantage of social media.
By creating a strong social media presence, you will soon be capitalizing on an audience that you would otherwise be missing out on. It’s also worth noting that the use of social media grows rapidly each and every year, so the sooner you can get started on your campaign, the better.
First, let’s take a look at the top social media platforms of 2022 based on active monthly users.
As you can see, Facebook has the heaviest active user platform with nearly 3 billion active monthly users worldwide. Youtube and Instagram are both close behind, each with over 2 billion monthly active users, and TikTok is the final platform which reaches over 1 billion active users each month. It is worth noting, however, that even though LinkedIn has a smaller reach – about 750 million active users per month – it is still a great business-based platform to take advantage of when tackling real estate digital marketing strategies, especially in the corporate marketing world.
Now that you have a better idea at which platforms are the best options to use, let’s now look at some of the top corporate social media accounts across multiple platforms to analyze what makes them so successful in their marketing campaigns and how you can replicate their success for your real estate marketing campaigns.
Nike
With over 150 million Instagram followers, Nike is getting our top spot for this list. The main reason that Nike has been able to reach so many people across platforms is because they inspire people. Whether it be through their inspirational stories of athletes around the world, their support for causes like BLM and women’s equality, or even just their interaction with users surrounding their new products, Nike has cracked the code on corporate social media branding.
Starbucks
Starbucks’ corporate social media accounts are wildly successful across multiple platforms due to their positive outlook exemplified in each and every post, their support of important social causes, and their inclusive content campaigns. It’s not uncommon to see Starbucks reply to dozens of users each day, and that’s because their interactions with users makes them feel more connected to the brand. Knowing that there are real people behind the screen who truly want to connect with their users is a great tool to implement in your real estate digital marketing campaign.
Shopify
Shopify has mastered the importance of being able to target every entrepreneur in search of a service like their own. They appeal to their target audiences by using bright, colorful, and inspiring designs for their posts. Additionally, they often voice their support for important social and environmental causes, showing that they too are standing up for the things that their consumers believe in, and will benefit from.
Square
Square’s social media campaign is simple: clients first. While they have different campaign focuses for each social media platform, each of their campaigns offer modern, clean, and user-focused content that expresses how much their clients mean to them. After all, where would a business be without their clients? Another reason the brand remains so popular is as a result of their outspokenness on important social issues.
GoPro
Not only does GoPro highlight a range of adventures from users of their products, but they also follow a similar pattern to aforementioned Square, in the fact that they will focus each platform to a certain campaign, rather than mimic the same content across multiple platforms. Their company Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube all highlight different areas of their services, while always following the same content pattern and brand voice.
So, a few key takeaways from this list:
- Keep content positive
- Bright colors and clean, modern designs are IN
- Show your support for important social and environmental issues
- Don’t be afraid to shift your focus across multiple platforms
- Discover your brand voice and be consistent
Now that we’ve covered the most popular platforms and keys to success, let’s shift our focus to specific tools that you can use to get your campaign started, or improve on what you’ve already got.
Set goals for your business
A rule of thumb for setting goals for yourself or your business’ real estate digital marketing campaign is to follow the SMART plan, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Based goals. While goals are important, it’s even more important to decipher the difference between an achievable goal, and an unachievable goal. Setting goals that are unachievable will not result in any growth for your brand. In fact, it will more than likely result in a regression of your brand’s campaign success.
Keeping your goal specific can prevent your goal from becoming too broad, which can cause harder measurability. Measurability means being able to see an actual figure, whether it is a growth in active users, engagement, clicks, you name it – just make sure there is a specific, measurable figure to be obtained. Attainable and realistic often come hand in hand, as there is rarely a realistic goal to be had that is unattainable. For example: if your current social media accounts have under 1,000 followers, it’s unrealistic to create a goal of reaching 500,000 active users by the end of the month. However, through trend and insight data, you can gather your current growth data and discover a number that is more realistic for your brand.
Finally, time-based is one of the most important milestones in this goal setting process. If there is no end date in sight, how will you know when you have reached your goals? If it takes 5 years to reach a small goal that could have been completed in 6 months, what are you gaining? Similarly, don’t pinch yourself into an unrealistic time frame of a project that needs 1 year to hit its target, but try to push it all to get done in 6 months. Now, will there be times that you hit goals early? Absolutely. Will there be goals that maybe take a few extra days, weeks, months to complete? Definitely. Yet, knowing that you have a goal in place that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based are going to result in the most growth, and target goals for your brand.
Here are some great places to start with creating new goals for social media growth:
- Increase your brand awareness: if no one knows who you are, how do you expect to push your brand’s information?
- Grow your audience: how many people do you want to reach? What is a realistic time frame and measurement to track this?
- Boost your engagement: respond to followers, answer inquiries, and increase your posts.
- Increase traffic: track your conversions, clicks, bounce rates, and other measurable data to see where you are most successful, and where you need to improve.
Research your target audience
First thing’s first, nail down the demographic you want to target the most with your campaigns. If you’re trying to appeal to millennials, you will have to use much different tactics than if you are working to appeal to boomers, and vice versa. Once you’ve got your demographic down, then you can move forward with your campaign.
Once you’ve reached your demographic, it’s important to research what platforms are going to be the most successful for your target audience.
- Gen Z and Millennials: Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
- Boomers: Facebook
- Industry Specific: LinkedIn
- Women: Pinterest
- Men: Facebook
While this is not an end-all be-all list, it is a general outline to start with when determining your base’s highest used platforms to create the most effective content. The key to all of this is actually conducting this research. Every brand and every target audience is different, so if there’s anything you remember, it should be this: don’t assume anything.
Decide what metrics are most important to your brand
There is no one metric that is superior to all others when it comes to real estate digital marketing, and this is because all brands and marketing campaigns are different. What you must decide when creating your campaign is what metrics are the most important to the success of your brand.
Here are a few thought starters on what metrics could be right for you:
- Clicks across various sites and platforms
- Reach
- Traffic: both paid and organic
- Bounce rates
- Site and platform engagement
- Hashtag performance
Regardless of which metrics you find to be most important in your campaign, it is important to recognize it early on, and set SMART goals to continue enhancing your metrics over time. Stagnation, while not all bad, should not be your end goal, but rather a healthy growth increase over time. Remember what we said earlier: social media use continues to grow steadily every year, which means yours should too!
Content creation
Now that you’ve got a better idea of what goals should be in place for your brand’s social media and real estate digital marketing campaign, you can focus on the content theme you’d like to follow. Looking back at some of the top social media brands above, one of the most common themes across each brand were optimism, inspiration, and showing support for important social and environmental issues.
Once you discover your brand voice, you can begin to incorporate it into each of your social media posts across various platforms. Whether you decide to mirror your posts across all platforms like Starbucks or Nike, or take a similar approach to Square and GoPro and give each platform a specific purpose, you want to make sure all of your posts are consistent, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing.
Starbucks
Starbucks loves to keep their focus piece front and center, and includes bright, colorful backgrounds that revolve around their themed drink or personal focus.
Nike
Nike allows their photos to speak for themselves, keeping a strong focus on the main element in their content, with a simple or blurred background so as not to distract from the content focus.
GoPro
GoPro is known for their adventurous spirit through their products, and they make sure to capitalize on it through their social media posts. Simple, straightforward images enhanced to keep up that bright aesthetic and maintain the centered focus of their content choices.
Establishing this cohesiveness expresses a level of professionalism and organization for your brand that social media users love to follow. No matter your brand’s aesthetic, be sure to get started on it early!
Moving on from appearances, it’s important to discuss what your content should actually contain. This goes hand in hand with our earlier portion about researching your target audience, and here’s why: your target audience is a “target” for a reason. There are certain things about your brand that are drawing them in, and the more you capitalize on those areas, the more successful your campaign will be. However, without researching what your target audience cares the most about, your campaign will flounder.
Hashtag research is one of the most important areas to nail down for real estate digital marketing, especially with a new or young social media campaign. Hashtags are one of the most effective ways to associate your brand with the topics that your target audience cares most about. Learn what your followers – and prospective followers – want to hear about, and capitalize on it. Inflict and HashTagsForLikes are two examples of tools you can use to expand on your hashtag research, and expand your social media reach all at once.
Engaging content should be the goal of any social media campaign, but what does that term really mean? For content to be engaging, it not only needs to be interesting and relevant to your audience, but it needs to give your audience the chance for some type of interaction. Whether it’s likes, clicks, tags, comments, or any other interaction, encouraging your audience to do more than just read your post is a great way to nudge them in the right direction, as well as expanding your reach.
This can be done through promotions, contests, hashtag campaigns, and even just asking questions through your posts, and giving them an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. Even if not all of your audience goes through with that extra engagement, it will cause them to think a little deeper about your brand, regardless – even if they don’t realize it.
Learn the best times to post for active engagement across different platforms. Some scheduling tools like Hootsuite will recommend you the most popular times for each platform on any given day when scheduling ahead, but it’s still worth researching for yourself to get that upper hand over your competitors. After all, what’s the point in posting at a time when half of your intended audience won’t see your message?
Never stop improving. We can all agree that just because something works, doesn’t mean it can’t be better. This must be your constant mindset when creating, updating, and maintaining a social media marketing campaign. Trends fade in and out nearly every day. The world changes every day. Even your own business can change its message at the drop of a hat. Always being prepared for any one of these scenarios is the key to maintaining a successful social media presence, and continuing to grow at a healthy rate.
Choose your content form
From platform to platform, there are certain content types that will always succeed. However, it is important to recognize a couple of specific content types that work best for certain social media platforms.
Stories
- Stories are a great time-sensitive method of posting that will inadvertently activate your followers’ FOMO complex, increasing your interaction and engagement. This is a great tool for adding in some personalized content, behind-the-scenes projects, and can be posted far more often than regular posts without feeling too overwhelming.
Best Platforms
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- Instagram
- Facebook
- Snapchat
Reels
- Short-form videos are quickly becoming the most popular method of social media marketing, and overall content posting. Getting ahead of the competition and stepping up your reel-game early is a great resource for setting yourself apart from competitors.
Best Platforms
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- Instagram
- TikTok
- Facebook
Remind your audience that you’re relatable
There is a time and place for corporate and business-based writing voice, but social media is not that place! Keeping things casual with your followers lets them know that you are real, relatable, and reachable.
Followers are 10x more likely to engage with a brand that they feel is personable, friendly, and relatable, so be sure and capitalize on that! Both regular posts and stories/reels are great ways to tackle this, and can boost your engagement, which is what we all want, right?
Be sure to ask questions, and include times and spaces to give your audience a chance at regular interaction. This can not only increase engagement, but can also result in your brand being featured on pages and platforms that it otherwise would not, and can increase traffic as well.
To conclude
Starting or improving your social media marketing campaigns doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming, contrary to popular belief. In fact, you can even reach out to one of our awesome Threshold employees and see how we can grow your social media presence.
Remember, the place to start a new campaign is by creating a SMART goal for your brand and your real estate digital marketing campaign. How are you going to start yours? Let us know in the comments, or on our Threshold Instagram or Facebook page!
If you want to continue receiving this type of content, be sure and subscribe to our monthly email and newsletter!
by threshold | Aug 29, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Marketing
During a time where so much of the real estate market is uncertain, being able to increase renewal rates is one of the driving forces for today’s real estate marketing strategies. Whether it be apartment marketing, student-housing marketing, or any other renter-heavy market in between, here are 5 marketing strategies to boost your renewal rates.
Begin the renewal process early
Do not wait until lease-up time to begin the renewal process. Oftentimes, any changes this late in the process will not be met graciously by tenants, and will result in a loss of renewal. Giving your tenants a few months notice to make any necessary changes to their rates or lease conditions will be more well received. This can be done in-person or digitally, just be sure to follow-up to confirm that your message has been received and agreed upon before assuming they will be returning for a new lease period.
The last thing you want is a tenant who choose not to renew at the last second, and finding yourself scrambling to find new tenants for a property you weren’t expecting to fill. While this can’t always be avoided, knowing that you did everything you could is going to be a great strategy in increasing your lease renewals.
Create lasting landlord-tenant relationships
This can be done in many ways, but the best way to achieve this is to maintain regular communication with tenants. This way, they know that you are always available for any issues that may arise, and in turn know that you are always there to answer any questions – especially about lease renewals!
From a renter’s perspective, knowing that they have a landlord or property manager who is easily accessible and understanding of any issues that could potentially pop up, whether it’s in their home or their lease, is something that is very valuable! So much so, that it could be the deciding factor in renewing their lease or moving somewhere else.
Raise rent steadily, not suddenly
All renters and landlords alike know that rent increases are inevitable. However, raising rates in a more gradual manner rather than suddenly will go over much more smoothly with current tenants – especially long term tenants.
Rather than a large rate hike every x-amount of years, look instead at the possibility of small, gradual increases every 1-2 renewal cycles for your current tenants, and apply that fixed rate increase to incoming tenants. Long-term tenants will appreciate this, and will oftentimes feel a sense of loyalty to their landlords for allowing them to get a “better deal” than incoming tenants, all while you are still making the necessary profit you need to succeed.
Be ready to accept feedback
Nobody’s perfect, and there will always be challenges that renters and landlords alike will face when it comes to their properties. Knowing how to react and respond to both positive and negative feedback will result in stronger relationships that can create a lasting bond with tenants. If a tenant comes to you with an issue, whether it seems serious or not to you, it is your responsibility to handle it in the best way for your tenant. Tenants who know that their landlords will take their requests seriously will consider staying at a certain property much longer than tenants who know they will never be heard, or respected.
Keeping an open line of communication with your tenants is very important, and this can be done through your marketing strategies! Regular satisfaction surveys are a great way for you to receive quality feedback from your tenants. Surveys help gather data that you otherwise could be missing out on that can help maximize occupancy for your properties, as well as your marketing strategies for prospective tenants – double win!
Just as importantly, this type of open communication to allow feedback from your current tenants will help to remind them that their voices DO matter! This feeling of importance can go a long way when it comes time for tenants to decide whether or not they want to stay in their current property and re-up their lease.
Take advantage of content marketing
Content marketing does not need to be focused solely on new tenants. Building a healthy and sustainable social media and online presence with current tenants is just as important as working to appeal to prospective tenants. Keeping your tenants informed with current events, issues, and even promotions helps to build those positive relationships and maintain an open line of communication. This can be achieved through any number of strategies:
Social Media
Social media is a great way to stay connected with current tenants, keep them updated on your properties, community events, and any other regular or emergency communication that must be relayed. Be sure to pay attention to your target audience, and what platforms are going to result in the most engagement.
For example, those with a senior living target market are going to want to focus heavily on Facebook, while student housing markets will be best to focus on Instagram and TikTok as their primary platforms. Syncing up your social media posts with any website, Google My Business, or other important posts regarding your properties is a great way to manage your marketing strategies.
Regular social media engagement lets your tenants know that you are an active part of not only managing your properties, but are also active in your line of communication. Even regularly scheduled posts, stories, and reels will be a constant reminder to them of all the great things that come along with your properties and can help with maintaining that personal connection they have to their home, and its management.
Blog Posts
Biweekly or monthly blog posts to your website are a great way to keep your tenants engaged! Personalized content adds a touch of relativity and relevance for your audience that they would otherwise be missing out on.
This is also a great way to establish and emphasize your brand voice to your tenants, letting them know that behind the screen, you’re a real person just like them! This can establish a great connection with your tenants, and can encourage them to want to renew their lease with an organization that they feel a connection to, rather than one that only sees them as a paycheck. Giving them inside tips and tricks of the trade, local recommendations, and more can be a great way to show that you’re ready to go that extra mile.
Google My Business (GMB)
Creating, completing, and verifying a GMB profile for your properties can work wonders for your SEO, as well as your overall target audience engagement – that means current tenants. These profiles allow you to promote your business as well as give a chance to current and previous tenants to leave their own feedback.
This interaction allows for current tenants to review all of the things that make your properties so great! Not only from their eyes, but from the eyes of other tenants, too. What better way to convince them to renew their lease with your property than to show them all of the ways it is revered by others?
Email Marketing and Newsletters
In today’s digital age, it’s not uncommon to check your inbox at least once -if not multiple times- per day, so be sure and capitalize on that. Monthly or biweekly newsletters are a great way to stay on top of open communication with your renters. This can also be a great way to promote blog posts each month – see what we mean about syncing up your content marketing strategies?
These emails and newsletters can also include any possible promotions for your properties, local events and activities, seasonal announcements, and other information you’d like to relay to your tenants. This establishes a personal touch, and ensures that your residents are always aware of that open line of communication.
In conclusion
Even though there is no perfect one-size-fits-all way to manage real estate properties, hopefully these tips will allow for you to create better, longer-lasting relationships with current tenants to increase your renewal rates. After all, at the end of the day, increased renewal rates result in happier tenants and property managers alike!
For more tips and information about digital and real estate marketing, take a look at the rest of our blogs, right here on our website! You can also subscribe to our email newsletter, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
by threshold | Aug 12, 2022 | Design, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Tech/Web, Thought Leadership
Anooj Francis
How does website development impact lead generation?
Did you know that in today’s digital age, over 90% of prospective renters and homeowners begin their search for a new home online? Miles before most people decide to contact a realtor, online searches are the most common way to discover available properties. How are these properties found so easily? Strong website design and development.
When building a real estate website, there are two significant aspects to consider: your customers and search engines. When prospective customers search for properties, you need a well-optimized website to show up on Google or other search engines. Though, you can’t just leave it at that; you also need a well-designed and user-friendly website so customers can find their desired future home quickly and efficiently.
Additionally, websites are able to do the work when humans are not. Unlike landlords, property managers, and real estate agents, websites don’t have office hours. A prospective renter or homeowner could visit your website at any time, of any day, of any week. Let’s not forget, websites allow you the chance to brand your company as well as your properties. First impressions can be tough, but when it comes to having a well-developed website, the first impression of your property will always be a positive one.
Don’t forget, your website is a way for you to not only showcase your real estate properties but also your organization. Include a section that can showcase all of your accomplishments, and show why you and your properties should be chosen over the competition. Any awards, client testimonials, and other ways to (tastefully) brag on your success is a great way to subtly set you aside from the crowd.
Why is optimized web design important during website development?
Nearly 80% of prospective renters will sign a lease without ever visiting the property. You read that right – without visiting the property. What makes them so sure about making such a commitment? Having all of the information they need right at their fingertips. High resolution photos, videos, and offering virtual tours are more often than not the deciding factors for prospective renters when it comes to committing to a lease. None of this could be done, however, without an optimized website design.
When we talk about optimized site design, we’re referring to the design process that is used during development which allows the site access to prime optimization for search engines such as Google and Bing. It also covers the on-page SEO best practices designers and developers must follow when building websites.
Think about it: how can you expect to generate leads online without a website strong enough to rank on the first page of the SERP (search engine results page)?
Any traffic to your website that is not the result of paid advertising is referred to as organic traffic. These are customers who landed on your site after performing a Google search based on its suggested results. Referencing an article from Smart Insights, the top ranked search result receives nearly 40% of all organic traffic clicks, followed by the second result at only 18.4% – less than half of what the first listed website receives. The third search result? Only 10% of clicks.
Ask yourself: when you’re conducting your own Google search, where do you start?
Because there are an astronomical amount of real estate websites out there to choose from, the challenge for many website owners and developers alike is finding a balance between user-friendly and SEO-friendly websites. Many organizations have independent teams for web development and digital marketing, which – while often formed with good intentions – can sometimes further complicate matters if not handled properly.
While the goal of the digital marketing team is to ensure the site has enough content for Google to rank it effectively for user search queries, the development team focuses on keeping the visual and user aspects of the site as simple as can be. Collaboration is only possible in companies that know the importance of digital marketing even before the site is designed. At companies like Threshold, the marketing team and the development team work hand in hand to give valid inputs to be considered at the time of creation.
How does Threshold Agency develop well-optimized websites?
If someone is searching for a specific floor plan in your area, how can you ensure that your listing will populate first in the Google search results? There are a few ways we can help with that. At Threshold, we know high-intent organic traffic is more valuable than any other traffic form, which is why we develop highly optimized websites to increase search engine rankings leading to more high-quality leads.
During the discovery phase, the marketing and creative teams ensure that we are creating websites that work well and are easy for visitors to navigate so they can find the information they’re looking for.
The designers will then take that information and design the website based on the ideas evolved from the discovery phase. Included in this second phase, a writer from our creative team will develop the website copy, which focuses on the target audience and a high-intent, high-quality organic keyword strategy.
Once completed with the second phase of development, the designers pass on their design to the developers. In this stage, the developers ensure everything the designers envisioned is working effectively with the site’s optimization so as not to cross the search engine boundaries.
To give you more of a focus, here are a few areas that our developers make sure to optimize during the early stages of development that impact the final rankings of a website in a search engine.
Website Speed
One of the most critical factors of Google page ranking is website speed, simply due to the fact that no one likes a website that takes an extended period of time to load. Anything past a couple of seconds and most users will bounce to a new site. To help decrease load time, our developers optimize the file sizes (images, videos, scripts), only use trusted plugins, and use an advanced caching system from the host site.
Mobile Responsive Design
Based on an article from CNBC, in the next three years, 3/4 of the world will use mobile devices to access the internet. A responsive website ensures your target audience has a seamless experience whether they are browsing your site from a computer or mobile device. This also helps to boost your search engine ranking, seeing as Google promotes mobile-friendly websites above those that are only desktop friendly. With 3/4 of the world moving to only using mobile devices, can you blame them?
As the website is created, run data scans and collect metrics through each phase of the development process. This allows for any changes to the website’s design or coding to remain monitored.
Sitemaps
Even though search engine bots are brilliant, it’s a good idea for us to point them in the right direction, and we do this through sitemaps. Sitemaps include all of the indexable web pages and links on a website. If we have a sitemap declared in the robots.txt, the search engine bots will first crawl through those pages. Simply said, if search engines are not finding your pages, this means means that organic traffic won’t find your pages. And as we said earlier, organic traffic is the most important traffic you want reaching your website.
Accessibility
While getting customers to the website is the main focus of an optimized site, many forget that the website needs to be accessible by everyone. At Threshold, we use Google Tools and User Way to ensure the website meets all the accessibility standards. This means your site is easily ready and accessible for people with physical and situational disabilities, as well as socioeconomic restrictions on bandwidth and website speed.
Indexable Content
Nowadays, in the web industry, we say content is king. Search engines use more AI technologies to crawl through the entire content of websites. If it can’t be crawled, it is not an SEO-friendly site. It means the likelihood of that page appearing in the search engine results is very low. At Threshold, creative writers write content for the targeted audience, and developers use the WordPress editor to apply the content where the content is in HTML and is easily indexable by search engines like Google.
The key to creating a well-optimized site is to bridge the gap between web development and search engine optimization. The collaboration between various teams from the start ensures that your website is fully optimized for SEO and usability. Providing value for customers is the key to impressing search engines. Where there is high-quality content, strong on-page SEO and excellent user experience, you will improve your presence on the internet and increase qualified leads.
In Conclusion
As the need for strong digital marketing in real estate increases seemingly by the day, so does the need for having a well-developed website. Today, real estate website optimization is so much more than metrics on a chart, it translates directly into potentially hundreds, if not thousands, of new leads.
So, ask yourself: are you confident in your real estate website?
by threshold | Jul 25, 2022 | Creative, Digital Marketing, Marketing
We know it isn’t easy to find a place to start when it comes to creating a marketing strategy for brand new developments. That’s why we’re here to help you! Check out this list of real estate marketing tactics for your new development, and let us help you get started.
Always Start With Market Research
Not sure where to start? Market research is the perfect place to begin to define your product and audience. Who are you trying to target? What are your biggest selling points? What differentiates you from your competition? Hold a focus group to see what really resonates with the audience you’re looking to target. Researching your market is only the first step in effectively building your brand and marketing strategy. In order to truly implement a successful marketing campaign for your new development, you must stay on top of marketing trends within your market and target audience.
Develop Branding Early On
After your market research is complete, it’s time to start branding your new development. Building your brand, even if you know exactly what you want to create, can be a challenging process, but take it one step at a time! Trying to do too much at once can result in your final product feeling rushed, and that’s the last thing you want for your brand.
Naming
Simply put, decide what you want your brand to go by – this is the fun stuff! Keeping your name simple allows you to focus on what you’re trying to promote so it doesn’t get lost in your messaging. Remember that focus group we recommended? Present your favorite 3-5 names to a diverse group of people who fit within your target audience to determine what name will resonate best in the market and with your audience.
Logos
Once your name is chosen, start working on your logo design. The most important thing for you to keep in mind when designing your logo is what kind of scheme you want to follow. Your logo will drive the rest of your brand, and creating a cohesive brand across platforms is what will set you apart from the competition and will seriously boost your brand image!
Voice
Similar to brand image, brand voice is something that needs to be established early on in the development process. However you want to be known is up to you, but keeping that voice consistent across all platforms and communication shows that your brand knows exactly what it is and what it wants.
Create An SEO-Friendly Website
Once you’ve nailed down your branding, it’s time to start building your website. The best way to connect with current and prospective tenants is to allow access to a functional and well constructed website. Launching a branded landing page while your full website gets built is the best way to begin building an audience while capturing valuable traffic. Encourage VIP sign-ups through your contact form and send them teaser content about what’s coming to the market.
While your landing page is getting to work on capturing leads and traffic, this gives you time to spend on your full website. Here are some key considerations you’ll want to be sure to include:
- Invest in high-quality interior and exterior renderings to display until you have hi-res photography of your new development
- Invest in high-quality 2D or 3D floor plans and prominently display them on your home page and floor plans page
- Consider PMS integrations like Entrata or Yardi for a seamless user experience
- Include virtual tours for those that may not be able to visit your property in person
- Utilize a chatbot for lead capture and engagement
- Include videos of your community or walk-throughs of your floor plans
While video and high quality renderings and photography are important to include on your website, don’t forget about including a well researched SEO marketing keyword strategy. Building a website that not only looks good but is built with foundational SEO is key to increasing organic traffic to your website for high volume, low competition keywords. And we can’t stress this enough, ensure that you have added Google Analytics to your website to measure traffic and user behavior on the site.
Design Branded Marketing Collateral
Even though our world is becoming increasingly digital, marketing collateral still has a purpose. If you are trying to save on print costs, one of the perks of brochures, flyers, or floor plan sheets is that they can all be digitized and sent through email or displayed on your website.
- Printed or Digital Brochures
- Printed or Digital Flyers
- Stickers
- Pocket Folders
- Printed or Digital Branded Floor Plan Sheets
- Permanent Signage
Bonus: Take advantage of QR Codes on your marketing collateral! Rather than just including a link, give them that direct and instant access with a QR code to whatever it is you are highlighting in your promo product.
Promotional Products
Let’s be real – every offer is a little sweeter when there’s swag involved! Creating and developing promotional products offers a sense of personalization. Always make your residents (both current and prospective) feel like they are important, because they are! When choosing your promotional products, be sure they are items useful and relevant to your target audience. You won’t want to give koozies and bottle openers to senior living residents, just as you wouldn’t want to give an eyeglass case to those in student housing. Stay on top of marketing trends to know what the best supplies are for your target market!
Take advantage of your location as well! Live near a beach, lake, or river? Items like sunglasses and beach bags are great products! Located near the mountains? Custom hiking and biking accessories could be a great way for you to develop that relationship with potential and current residents. See where we’re going with this? Marketing assets are all around you if you know where, and how, to look.
While it can be fun crafting designs for your promotional products, it’s best to keep things simple – you don’t want to overwhelm your promotional products. Using your brand’s color scheme and including a simple, clear logo is going to be far more effective than creating a flashy design that takes away from the purpose – to promote your brand!
Don’t Forget Content Marketing
Social Media
In today’s age of social media, it’s no surprise that it has become such an important part of marketing – especially in real estate marketing. Promote yourself across different platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, to ensure that your message reaches the maximum potential target audiences, focusing on content that sets you apart from your competition. No matter which platforms you use, remember to stay active to gain new followers, and to engage with them frequently.
Email Marketing
Email marketing, when done correctly, can still be a very powerful tool that helps drive and nurture leads. If you’re looking for how to more effectively utilize an email marketing campaign, we recommend taking a look at our recent post on How To Use Email Marketing To Nurture Leads & Learn More Leases.
Google My Business (GMB)
Completing and verifying your GMB profile is not only a great tool for boosting engagement and your online presence, but it also improves your local SEO ranking. GMB profiles provide the opportunity for people to review your business and it gives you an opportunity to engage with and respond to the reviews. But do you know about GMB posts? Promote events or offer limited time specials through your posts to drive traffic to your website. GMB posts are a must to help share relevant content and information all while building your location authority. This tells Google that your business is legit, so over time, you’ll rank higher in the search results.
Invest In Digital Marketing
Now that you’ve identified your brand, built your brand, and teased your brand through organic content, you might be thinking you’ve done everything you need to do. Not quite. Knowing how to effectively implement paid strategies during each phase of your new development is another great tool to have in your pocket. We recommend breaking your real estate digital marketing strategy into four phases:
Phase 1: Brand Awareness
Starting with a small budget, build brand awareness in the early stages while your new development is being built through the use of display campaigns. Serve ads through the Google Display Network or start with a social ads campaign with “Coming Soon” or “Sign Up For Our VIP List” messaging by targeting a local radius and specific audiences, like people who are “renters” and “moving soon.” As you continue to drive traffic to your landing page or website through both paid and organic channels, you’ll be building an audience that can be retargeted later on in your lease-up strategy.
Phase 2: Pre-Lease
As you move into pre-leasing, it’s time to think about ramping up your budget for paid advertising to drive as much traffic as you can to start signing leases. We recommend launching a Search campaign at this stage while utilizing “Now Pre-Leasing” or “Secure Your Spot Early” messaging. As you drive traffic to your website through targeted keyword searches, consider pairing your paid search campaign with a strong retargeting campaign to target previous website visitors to continue to build brand awareness and drive even more traffic to your landing page or website.
Phase 3: Now Open
Congratulations! Construction is complete and you are ready to start actively leasing for people looking to move-in now. Adjust your messaging to drive urgency around immediate move-ins. And if you haven’t had professional photography taken, now is the time. Don’t even think about decreasing your budget just yet! If you haven’t reached 92% occupancy, those paid advertising dollars are still going to be put to good use as you lease-up your remaining units.
Phase 4: Maintain
We think another congratulations is in order now that you’ve reached your leasing goals. Once you reach stabilization, we recommend pulling back on your digital marketing budget, but don’t turn everything off completely. You’ll start to move into renewals soon and may see some turnover, so it’s best to continue maintaining your online presence to create a steady flow of traffic to your website to capture renters at all stages of their journey. When they are ready to make a decision about their housing search, we want them to make that decision with you. Plus, turning off your paid advertising and turning everything back on later leads to higher costs down the line. We recommend checking out a previous post about Why You Shouldn’t Pause Digital Campaigns Once You’re 100% Leased.
If you enjoyed these new development marketing tips, feel free to reach out to our real estate marketing experts today to help you with any questions, concerns, projects, or tasks you may have involving your new developments!
