RISMEDIA, August 5, 2010—I was talking with a buddy of mine and fellow real estate professional recently, and he laid some heavy stuff on me. He gave me the exact formula he had used to generate 987 unique visitors to his website generating 40 leads and 5 appointments—all within the span of 7 days. So I wanted to share his real estate success story in order for you to find the same amount of success he did.
The source of all the traffic was Craigslist and he used the principles I outline in my Craigslist Marketing Matrix. However, he used a different formula for his ads and lead conversion than I have been teaching. I know there is “more than one way to skin a cat” and so I think you’ll find this formula to be helpful and hope that you choose to use it:
Here’s his ‘Secret Formula’:
For the 7 days he posted a total of 30 Craigslist ads. His ads were for specific listings but used curiosity-driven copywriting and also included a call to action as we prescribe. The 30 ads were five different listings he posted six different times during the week. Here is the basic structure he used: (per the Craigslist fields which need to be filled in).
Price: Left Blank (creates more curiosity)
BR: Included
Headline: Curiosity driven, ex: Country Living at it’s Best (Motivated Seller) or Below Market Rancher (Virtual Tour)
Body:
Offer with CTA
Example:
SEARCH MLS ONLINE
Want to Search the local MLS online? Save time and access up-to-the-minute information
Go To (link on your website that offers free IDX search)
Info on property referenced in headline
Example:
Take advantage of TAX CREDITS and possible SELLER HELP to make it happen for you!
Enjoy the country! Right next to State Game Lands. Enough parking for all your toys.
Convenient route to Rt. 66 & to all areas.
Furnace, septic, and well pump serviced, nice glass top stove, wood fireplace, washer and dryer all included so you can move right in.
For More Photos and Virtual Tour Visit (link on your website to specific listing)
Picture of listing
Now I am sure that some of you are thinking, this differs from what you have seen me recommend in the past, which is to send all traffic to unbranded lead capture pages. But again, I am wise enough to realize there is more than one way to convert leads and this is clearly working for my buddy and I plan to test it in my business as well.
Let me again summarize his results using this formula:
987 unique visitors to his site
40 leads—people who filled out something on the site providing their information
5 appointments—this number will go up as these are all leads that came in over the span of 7 days—2 are already signed to buyer agency and another one will be 2 transactions as they need to sell their existing home.
This is pretty powerful stuff.
Josh Schoenly has “cracked the code” to lead generation on Craigslist. In just the last year, he generated 4,678 leads using his own system. For a limited time, you can download Josh’s Craigslist Marketing “Cheat Sheet” and accompanying 30 minute video explaining his system at www.CraigslistMarketingMatrix.com.
