Stop wasting money on digital ads that don’t convert!
Let’s face it. All real estate marketers want to get better returns on their digital advertising dollars. But the truth is…
Most digital ad campaigns fail long before they ever launch.
Statistical research shows 41% of your ad spend is wasted. If you’re like most people in our industry, that’s close to half your advertising budget right there.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
PPC campaign optimization isn’t hard. Once you understand what you’re doing wrong, you can course correct quickly. Avoiding common multifamily PPC pitfalls can improve your ad performance overnight.
Here’s how.
Why Real Estate Digital Advertising Fails
Digital advertising in real estate is unlike other industries.
Lead times are long. Competition is cutthroat. Cost per click increases year after year.
When someone types “homes for sale” or “condos for rent” into Google, they’re probably not buying or renting that day.
They’re researching.
Because of this, your ads have to work much harder than they would in other markets.
But most real estate marketers fall into the same traps repeatedly.
Throw money at as many keywords as possible. Ignore your landing pages. Set it and forget it.
Guess what happens?
Your budget disappears and your returns disappoint.
The 5 Biggest ROI Killers
Knowing what you’re doing wrong is half the battle. The biggest budget bleeders are common among real estate advertisers. Let’s take a look at what they are.
1. Overly Broad Targeting
This one is by far the biggest killer of all real estate ad campaigns.
You may think casting a wide net = more leads.
But let me tell you why that’s not the case.
Let’s start with keywords. Using broad match means that anytime someone searches for a word in your keyword list, you pay a dang nickel.
Watch out what words you include.
Say you have “real estate commissions” as one of your broad match terms. Guess who else sees your ads? Everyone searching for real estate jobs.
Now you’re paying money to have someone click on your ad that has zero intent to buy or rent from you.
The solution?
Use phrase match and exact match keywords. Target explicitly. And use negative keywords often.
2. Poor Landing Page Experience
Ooh wee. Now we’re onto something juicy.
You got the click! They’re on your landing page. Now what?
If you’re sending that user to your homepage or a generic property landing page, you’re tossing dollars out the window.
Remember earlier when I said they’re researching? Users need to go to a page that aligns EXACTLY with what they searched for.
Example: Johnny searches “two bedroom apartments downtown.” He should see results for TWO bedroom apartments located DOWNTOWN. Not your entire portfolio. Not an about us page. Hell, not a blog post.
Match that message up!
3. Improper Conversion Tracking
“How do I know my campaign is working?”
If you have to Google that or look at click data, you’re screwed.
Real estate has unique conversion events. Phone calls. Form submissions. Virtual tour requests.
Chances are your competition is tracking most, if not all of these events.
You shouldn’t be either.
Until you track what’s important to you, you’ll never truly know how to optimize.
4. Setting & Forgetting Campaigns
There’s a reason people say “set it and forget it” when talking about slow cookers.
Real estate digital advertising is not a slow cooker.
Competition is always changing bids. Market trends change monthly. Seasons change search behaviors.
Your campaigns need attention EVERY week.
Review them weekly for quick wins. Check on them MONTHLY for deep optimizations.
Successful advertisers are the ones who nurture their campaigns like a newborn baby.
5. Optimizing For Vanity Metrics
Oh boy, let’s talk about clicks and impressions.
Look, they both feel good to have high numbers on. Who doesn’t want more impressions, right?
Here’s the thing though…
Don’t make me laugh.
Alright, calm down.
I’m just saying that the only numbers that should matter are the ones that actually correlate to a business result.
Cost per lead. Cost per tour. Cost per lease signed.
Boom. There’s your metrics to improve.
Everything else is useless.
If you optimize for everything else your CTR could be amazing. But your leads could be terrible. That’s not improving. That’s flushing money down the toilet.
How To Fix Your Campaigns Fast
Good news! All these sins have forgiveness.
Do a quick audit of your current campaigns. See where you fall into these pitfalls. More than likely, you’re guilty of more than one.
After you know what you need to fix, prioritize.
Get your conversions tracking setup first. You can’t improve if you don’t know what is working. Second would be keywords. Trim the fat on those bad boys.
Now work on your landing pages. Create dedicated landing pages for your highest spending ad groups. Run tests with different headlines.
Lastly, schedule regular “check-ups” on your campaigns. Put it in your Google Calendar. Hold yourself accountable.
Better to go slow and steady than go all in and burn out.
Make small improvements each week. Before you know it, you’ll be leagues ahead of your competition.
Build A Winning Strategy
The smart money in real estate digital advertising approach campaign optimization a little differently.
They think of the long game. They test everything. And don’t make subjective decisions.
What does that look like?
- Start with a tight target market. Expand once you know what works.
- Only test 1 variable at a time. Change your headline OR your image OR your keywords. Not all three.
- Document, document, document. Take notes on your tests. You’ll start to see trends after a while.
- Compare yourself to past performance. Your business last month is more important than some random industry benchmark.
Real estate continues to become more competitive as the years fly by.
Advertising costs will most likely continue to rise. Those who succeed will be the ones who learn how to optimize today.
Wrapping Things Up
Killing your ROI in digital advertising is easy.
Real easy.
Fixing it takes a little work. But that work will be extremely rewarding.
The majority of advertisers make a few key mistakes with their ads. Generalized targeting. Lackluster landing pages. Weak conversion tracking. Setting and forgetting. Obsessing over things that don’t matter.
Let’s review:
- Create more specific keyword targets with phrase and exact matches
- Design landing pages that correlate with your ad copy
- Setup proper conversion tracking for ALL types of leads
- Monitor your campaigns on a weekly basis
- Only pay attention to metrics that connect to your revenue
Throwing money blindly at ads that won’t convert is silly. Optimize your campaigns using the tips above. Watch your returns begin to skyrocket.
