If you have your real estate website all built and ready for fresh content and hungry visitors, it’s time to start thinking of ways to monetize it. Here are the best ways to monetize your real estate website in 2018!
If you have your real estate website all built and ready for fresh content and hungry visitors, it’s time to start thinking of ways to monetize it. If you don’t have a website yet, check this to learn how you can create one in easy steps.
If you’re interested in applying these ways to monetize your real estate website, it’s a good idea to look through our tips on building the perfect landing page and our piece on making your real estate home page more inviting. Here are the best ways to monetize your real estate website in 2018:
1. Affiliate Marketing & Affiliate Links
Affiliate Marketing is one of the most popular ways to monetize a real estate website – it’s also one of the quickest ways to start making money off of your site. You start by researching potential products or services you would like to endorse for your readers or viewers.
Once the research part is out of the way and you struck a deal with a partner, it’s time to promote the product or service on your website – don’t forget your email subscribers as well.
If your following likes the product, they will click on the affiliate link (a unique link which recognizes that all traffic is indeed sent from your real estate website) and you will get a split of the sale price of that particular product.
Your commission can be between 30% of the service or product price, up to a whopping 70% but it all depends on the product or service you are endorsing. For example, if you are supporting a $200 product or service with a 50% commission, you’ll get $100 for referring a willing buyer.
What can I promote?
As a real estate agent, you can promote just about any product or service related to the real estate industry, make sure they are GOOD products. Otherwise, it might backfire. Examples include:
- Real estate e-books
- Landscaping services
- Home appraisal services
- Real estate manuals
- Legal services
- Real estate courses
- Banking services
The great thing about these products or services and the real estate industry itself is that you should be able to find plenty of endorsement opportunities from respectable companies.
Don’t just promote any product – offer your viewers more value by saving them the burden of researching a product or service they’re already interested in. You can and should create different real estate landing pages for each type of service or type of product you endorse to get those conversions through the roof.
Where can I find affiliate deals?
Clickbank – Clickbank offers high commissions by any standards, but good products are scarce on this platform. Starting an affiliate programme through ClickBank could be detrimental to your business.
ShareASale – ShareASale offers a wide range of accessories, clothes and other goods. With a little bit of luck, you could find the perfect product for your readers.
Commission Junction – Commission Junction offers plenty of reliable products for your visitors, but their commission may be lower than on other websites.
Amazon Associates – A huge market with various books and other valuable documentation about the real estate topic.
2. Selling Ad Space
There are two ways to go about selling ad space on your real estate website. The first and simplest is just incorporating Google’sAdSense on to your websites banners, sidebars, etc. If you have a lot of traffic, it could be a good pick. But we’ll take a look into the second option – selling ad space directly to companies willing to buy spots on different real estate sites or blogs.
When selling ad space to companies, you can get paid by thousands of impressions or CPM (the number of visitors viewing the ad) or just on a per-month system. Let’s break it down a bit:
Cost per Mille – If you have a lot of traffic (a couple of tens of thousands every month) you can opt for the CPM system.
Cost per Click – With CPC, your visitors will have to click on the ad itself and spend some time on the target website for you to get paid. This type of ad works best when your site is focused around specific products or services, and your viewership is niched.
Monthly Basis or Direct Fee – This is another standard method of selling ad space. You don’t need a lot of traffic, and it doesn’t matter if they click the ad or not – you will get paid at the beginning of the month for having the announcement on your website. Generally speaking, direct fee ads are cheaper than CPC or CPM.
Where can I sell ad space on my real estate website?
Options include AdvertiseSpace and BuySellAds, with the latter being the most popular website. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on these two, you can go with other sites as well.
The trick is to find a deal that’s appropriate for the amount AND type of traffic you’re getting.
3. Sell a Digital Product
If you have enough niched traffic on your website, developing and selling a digital product is the way to go. You’ll also be able to make the most of your traffic since there are no middlemen involved – it’s just you and your consumer. Just sell the digital product directly through your real estate website and get paid immediately.
The only downside to developing your digital product such as an E-book is the fact that it’s complicated and time-consuming. You need to make sure you’re selling something that’s not already available on the market for free. Integrating a digital product into your website can also be a bit of a hassle if you’re not tech savvy.
Creating a persuasive and professional landing page for your real estate product is essential for conversions.
4. Offer Consulting Services
If you have a lot of experience in the real estate industry, you should offer consulting services for greenhorn real estate agents. It’s also pretty easy to set up – you need to create a new section in your home page and menu, plus a beautiful landing page to boot and you’re good to go.
What you need to keep in mind though is the fact that you should probably offer your services for other markets or regions – if you provide consulting services locally, your clients may become competitors.
