10th
I’m not a Countrywide, Wells Fargo or Lending Tree yet I want to advertise online…is it worth it?
In the Real Estate business competing for terms like ‘home loan’ or ‘refinance’ is next to impossible on an organic search front due to the large lenders having hundreds of sites, microsites, and online information referring to them regarding loans. In essence, they’ve won the link popularity contest and are now deemed the most ‘relevant’.
Paid search however is a bit different because there is room for even the small guy to have a fighting chance at showing up high in the sponsored links area. One can imagine what the cost per click on a term like ‘refinance’ must be (around $10 from experience). At $10/click a small lender or brokerage firm would have to have a pretty hefty marketing budget to play in that game and not many do, in fact the referral business tends to be the best bet for most brokers.
Does this mean forget advertising online because it’s already been done and is so saturated with big dollar lenders that it’s not worth it? The short answer is NO.
I have had recent experience with the loan business, in fact I launched a first ever online lead-generation campaign for a small San Francisco based lender. The trick isn’t always to try and compete with the big guys like Countrywide Home Loans or Lending Tree but rather find a niche area where your business fits in. You might just find it’s a segment of the market that the larger companies just overlooked or perhaps made a decision to not pursue.
I’m confident there are opportunities for smaller players to still make an impression (pardon the pun) online. To find out how I would approach a real estate ad campaign send me an email at adam@infocation.com or read about some of the services Infocation has to offer. If you haven’t already visited my personal portfolio site I invite you to browse AdamSouza.com.
Happy Marketing!adamsouza.com
