As a real estate agent, you need to use the perfect mix of traditional and digital marketing tactics to generate traffic and attract new clients. With so many sellers’ agents advertising their services and their home listings on the World Wide Web, it can be very difficult to communicate to a target audience without having to worry about losing a majority of the audience to the competition. If you want your website visitors to skim your landing page and ultimately search for homes through your search engine, you must take control and tell them what to do with an effective call to action. Unfortunately, many agents have ineffective calls of action that are over-complicated and unclear. Here are some of the main reasons why a call to action, if not cleverly worded and placed, will fail on your site:

The Presence of Real Estate Giants makes it Difficult for Agents to Compete

There is no denying the fact that almost all home buyers start searching for real estate agents and properties online. With most consumers in the market turning to the Internet, you may assume that generating traffic to read your call to action would be easy. Unfortunately, with real estate giants like Zillow, realtor.com and Trulia to compete with, it can be difficult to establish yourself as an authority in the industry. It takes a strategic marketing plan that focuses on these leader’s weaknesses to slide under the radar.

Home Searching Features Are Nothing New

Every real estate agent has a home search feature on their website. When all professionals in an industry offer the same generic service, creating a sentence that entices the client to choose your tool over the rest can be difficult. You must find a unique phrase that makes your searching feature different than the rest to stand out.

It Is Not Original

Is your call to action something like “Click here and start searching for your dream home today”? This may be a legitimate phrase, but it is a generic one. It does not set you apart, it lacks creativity, and it does not leave someone wanting to know more. These are all the characteristics that effective calls will have.

You must take control of your website and appeal to a visitor’s curiosity when you are constructing a call to action that directs people to your home search tool. Be sure to place the messages effectively, use urgent language, offer information and always sweeten the deal to assure your visitors that there is a mutual value in what you are asking them to do.

Look for my next post where I provide specific examples to CTA’s that can be helpful.