PPC for property: a guide to getting big results

PPC: for property businesses, it’s one of the most effective advertising strategies on the planet. Unlock ROI for your business with our actionable advice.

The property sector is hyper competitive. You need your marketing to be lean, mean and effective. Despite the myriad marketing methodologies at your fingertips, you wouldn’t exactly bet your house on any them to drive ROI.

Except for perhaps one. Because, managed correctly, PPC advertising can drive a predictable stream of warm leads your way. Week after week, month after month.

In this article we will explain how. But first…

Get results without paying a penny…

What if you could enjoy the business-growth benefits of a professionally managed PPC campaign, without paying a penny upfront? We specialise in lead generation campaigns for property businesses. And we’re so confident in our process that we can cover your ad spend. Browse some case studies. Find out how we work. Or get in touch to arrange a free discovery call.

“Since working with Adbetter, our digital paid media channels have grown to be one of our most consistent generators of high-quality leads. Our lead volumes from paid media channels have increased over 1,400% whilst maintaining a low cost per lead.”

– Matthew Fawl, Director, Alesco Investment Property

What is PPC for property?

PPC (pay per click) advertising is a way of buying exposure to your brand via ads that are published via the web or social media. Those ads you see in your social media feed? And the sponsored listings at the top of your Google search results? Yeah, they’re PPC ads. You can use them to generate fresh leads for your business.

Who can use PPC for property?

Agents, brokers, developers, architects. Property managers, property marketers and interior designers. The property sector is a large, deeply entwined ecosystem of many different professions.

Here’s a few examples of how different property professionals can get results using PPC.

·   Property brokers: connect with people interested in buying local properties.

·   Property agencies: establish your brand as a local expert and drive traffic to your portfolio of properties.

·   Property investors: find homeowners who are looking to sell quickly and gather data on where to focus investment efforts.

·   Property developers: promote new developments and find off plan buyers.

·   Property management companies: promote your services to property owners who are considering buy to let.

·   Builders, renovators and contractors: promote your services to people who are designing their dream home.

8 benefits of using PPC for property

Non-PPC advertising strategies have their place. But they also share a common denominator: uncertainty. If you are looking for more confidence in your new business pipeline, PPC is the only thing that reliably generates high volume, high intent leads.Here are eight reasons you might want to get involved.

1. Target your audience by location

One of the biggest benefits of PPC for property is the ability to set your campaigns to display in specific geographic locations. That’s invaluable in a sector where the search for properties and services is always localised. It ensures that your ads reach people who are searching for properties in a certain region or live within a reasonable distance of your property-based services.

2. Find the people who want to find you

Location is far from the only way of making sure your ads find the right people. PPC platforms put sophisticated audience targeting tools at your fingertips. For instance, you can target people who have visited certain websites that suggest they have a need for your services. Or you can target people based on their job title, income, education, hobbies and a whole lot more.

3. It’s cost effective

The name says it all. With PPC you only pay when someone actually engages with your ad. And if they’re making the effort to engage with your ad, there’s a good chance they’re interested in becoming a customer. This model helps to keep your ad spend accountable and maximises your chances of ROI. Because unlike other advertising platforms, you are paying for actual engagement rather than exposure.

4. Bring flexibility to your budget

With PPC you can set daily, weekly and monthly spending limits – yours to adjust as needed. You can also put an immediate pause on your spending within a matter of clicks. You retain full control of your budget.

5. You can get fast results

It can take weeks – sometimes months – to see the impact of some advertising strategies. With PPC you can begin shifting the needle immediately. Once your ad is approved – it usually takes just a few hours – it’s out there working to drive engagement for your business. And you get real-time analytics on how your ad is performing.

6. Generate competitive advantage

You don’t need us to tell you that it’s competitive out there in the property sector. Taking the time to learn about pay per click advertising can put you streets ahead of your competitors. And the more you optimise your campaigns, the more you drive home that advantage.

7. You build your own proprietary data

Every new lead you uncover is yours to nurture a one-to-one relationship with. And an opportunity to gather data that your competitors don’t have. That’s far better than the antiquated strategy of cold calling numbers from a generic lead list and hoping for the best.

8. Get the insight you need to optimise

Tap into performance analytics that reveal where your campaign is getting results. See what’s driving clicks. And discover the messages that people are most receptive to. Armed with this data you can iterate and optimise your campaigns over time, making sure your ads are working as hard as possible for your business.

PPC for property: choosing the right platform

The PPC landscape is expansive. But for businesses in the property sector, the most effective platforms tend to be:

·   The Google Search Network

·   Facebook and Instagram

·   The Google Display Network

Google Search Network

Search ads are text-based ads that appear on the search engine results pages (SERPs). They are highly effective at capturing intent-driven traffic – and enable your business to soar to the top of the results at the precise moment someone searches for the type of services or properties that you provide.

>> A complete guide to Google ads for real estate leads

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram are inherently visual places. That makes them perfect for flaunting imagery that showcases your properties and services. Unlike advertising on Google search, your ads aren’t being served in response to an expressed interest in your services. But with the right audience targeting, you can still make sure your ads are displayed to people who are highly likely to be interested in your business – if not now then in the future.

These social channels are also a great place to experiment with short videos, which tend to be more engaging than static image ads and enable you to share content such as property walkthroughs, before and afters and virtual tours.

>> Why you should use Facebook ads for commercial real estate
>> How to boost revenue with Instagram ads for real estate
>> TikTok ads for real estate: should you bother?

Google Display Network

The Google Display Network (GDN) allows you to publish display ads across a vast network of websites and mobile apps. It’s no overstatement to say that you can reach almost any website via the GDN, which also encompasses YouTube and Gmail.

Display ads are particularly useful for showcasing property images and raising awareness about your services to a highly curated audience.

>> Display ads for real estate: a short guide for success
>> YouTube ads for real estate: a guide to getting results

8 tips for getting results with PPC property ads

1. Know your numbers

With PPC for property, you have to commit to spending if you want to generate meaningful returns. Given the potentially lucrative nature of the industry, the top keywords on Google can be expensive. As for campaigns on Facebook or Instagram, you will need to run your ads at a high volume for the platform to learn how to optimise your campaigns for success. And that requires cash.

It’s natural to feel resistant to a large outlay on an unfamiliar advertising model. That’s why it can be beneficial to partner with an expert that can derisk your spend until you feel more comfortable. If you do want to go it alone, it’s important to have a good understanding of where your profit margins are as a business. And start small before incrementally increasing your budget.

2. Find the right keywords  

With Google search PPC, you have to bid on keywords that you want your ad to be displayed for. So it’s important to be strategic about your keyword selection. This requires putting yourself in the position of your target audience and thinking about what they might search for if they were trying to find your business – such as “properties for sale in Bristol” or “holiday homes in Cornwall”. It’s something of a detective job. But you can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to research the various costs and search volumes associated with different keywords. 

3. Be sure to utilise geotargeting

We’ve already covered the rewards of geotargeting earlier in this article. But it’s important to remember to utilise this audience targeting feature when you are setting up your campaign. There’s no point serving your property renovation ads to people in Shetland if you are unwilling to work outside of Swansea.

4. Remember your reader

Today’s consumer is bombarded with ads. Even with the most refined audience targeting, you must make sure your ads cut through the noise. Words matter – and finding the right ones isn’t always easy. You only have a second or two to land a message that makes your reader pay attention.

Imagine yourself talking one-on-one to the person on the end of your ad. Think about what their property ambitions are. Consider what their doubts might be about using your service. And if you want some inspiration, find out how an expert writes copy for paid media ads.

5. Test, test and test again

PPC platforms make it easy to experiment. For each campaign you will have the option to add a number of image options and captions/descriptions. Your platform will then test the variants against one another, before preferentially displaying the best performing ad combinations to increase your chances of getting results. Feed the machine..

6. Landing page optimisation

Your pay per click ads need to take your lead somewhere. And the best place is almost always a landing page that is unique to the ad that your lead has clicked on. The primary function of your landing pages is to gather information about your lead so you can begin a lead nurture campaign.

For instance, you could include a form that enables your lead to view a selection of properties in exchange for them answering a few simple questions about the type of property they’re looking for.

7. Great photography is a must

Whether it’s for your social media ads or your landing pages, great photography is non-negotiable. Properties and property-related services are expensive – and your leads need to feel the wow factor. Remember, holiday homes are deeply aspirational purchases. Poor quality photography can seriously dent your chances of success with PPC for property.

8. Unleash a retargeting campaign

Winning a new lead is always exciting. But it’s just the start of the journey. The next step is to create a retargeting campaign that allows you to nurture your leads with content that nudges them towards becoming a customer.
Your nurture campaigns could take the form of a telephone call, a series of marketing emails or even follow up ads on social media that reveal more about your properties or services.

>> 6 expert tips for real estate retargeting ads

What are the latest trends in PPC for property?

As video editing technology becomes more user-friendly, the use of paid video campaigns is increasing when it comes to PPC for property. Ditto the use of drones to capture evocative property photography.

Elsewhere the use of data analytics is growing ever more sophisticated. With the right tracking you can get valuable, actionable insight on the areas of your campaign that are triggering the best results – enabling you to incrementally improve campaign performance over time and keep your ad spend accountable.

PPC for property: 8 mistakes to avoid

1. Not using location targeting: geotargeting is an absolute no brainer for most businesses in the property sector. Failing to utilise it can result in your ads being served in irrelevant locations – potentially wasting ad spend.

2. Ignoring negative keywords: specifying negative keywords prevents your ad from being displayed when certain words are included in the user’s search query. A simple example: let’s say you have properties for sale in Manchester, but don’t deal with rentals. If you’ve bid for the keyword “properties in Manchester”, you might have “rental” and “for rent” as your negative keywords.

3. Poor ad copy: boring, uninspiring or unclear ad copy will almost always fail to capture your audience’s attention and reduce potential clickthroughs.

4. Skipping A/B testing: the opportunity to experiment with different ad copy and visual assets is one that should be taken.

5. Overlooking landing pages: sending traffic to poorly designed or irrelevant landing pages will significantly reduce conversion rates. And remember: always optimise for mobile.

6. Lack of retargeting: the lead-to-sales time in the property sector is typically longer than most other industries. People need time to consider their options. That means you should have a lead nurture and retargeting strategy in place to nudge your new leads towards conversion.

7. Ignoring analytics: failing to monitor your campaign performance data is failing to take the opportunity to improve your ROI over time.8. Chasing vanity metrics: it’s tempting to get carried away trying to get your ads in front of as many people as possible. But it’s usually better to market to a smaller group of high-intent leads, rather than a larger group of people who are likely to be lukewarm.

What to look for in a pay per click partner

PPC can be confusing – and thanks to the high costs associated with PPC for property, the stakes are high. But you don’t have to go it alone.

We are a PPC agency that specialises in lead generation for real estate and property businesses. We have everything you need from a strategic partner.

Experience? Check.

Results? Check.

Case studies? Check.

The ability to track all onward KPIs? Check.

Monthly reports showing exactly how we’re getting results for your business?

Check, check, check, check, check. Best of all, we may even be able to cover your ad spend.Get in touchand let’s arrange a short discovery call. Ready when you are.

You might also be interested in:

>>A smarter way to supercharge your property investment leads
>>13 lead generation tactics for property developers
>>The secret to finding commercial property leads that convert
>>Grow your business with Facebook ads for property
>>New home advertising: how PPC can unlock huge returns
>>Holiday home advertising: how to get big results with PPC