Luxury Lead Generation Websites
Here’s a fact about real estate websites you probably didn’t know. There’s almost nothing more challenging than creating a luxury branded website that actually drives organic traffic full of high-quality leads. Typically, real estate websites focus on one task or the other. Successfully doing both is a badge of honor.
Our very first BrandMaster luxury website has been a wild success. We created a gorgeous website that gives visitors the same impression as walking through a luxury home. You can take a tour of its main features below.
5-Month SEO Results
The real claim to fame, however, is the immediate and mind blowing SEO success of the website. It’s completely normal for brand new websites to take a year or more before they start seeing traction in terms of organic traffic.
Erika Borunda’s website shot off the starting line. After 5 short months, it’s already generating traffic of the very best kind. Content like our in-house interactive zip code maps and highly-detailed neighborhood pages are already ranking.
Not only are the pages ranking and therefore driving hyperlocal traffic, they are also impressing the hell out of that traffic. How do I know that? Check out the stats below.
- Average visit of 4 min or better
- Average user leaves the site and comes back at least one additional time
- The site already ranks in the search engines
- Over 50% of the visitor’s bookmark the site and come back as direct traffic
For the real estate space, the average visit time is about 20-30 seconds. Luxury Carlsbad Homes has an average visit time that’s 8 times higher. Perhaps even more impressive, about half of those visitors bookmark the site and return to check out listing again.
9-Month SEO Results
At Month 9, we’re ranking on the first page of Google for the following keywords:
- Luxury Carlsbad Homes
- Carlsbad Closing Costs
- 53 Melrose Carlsbad
- Robertson Ranch Carlsbad
- Sea Cliff Carlsbad
- Arroyo Vista Carlsbad
That’s 6 out of 16 targeted Luxury communities and 1 out of 3 published blog posts all on the first page of Google.
If you’ve ever tried your hand at real estate SEO or have hired an organic lead generation company, you know that’s INSANE. It’s a child prodigy of a website.
InboundREM vs. Our Competitors
Keep in mind that’s the results after 5 months with a low $600 monthly investment. Other SEO-focused lead generation companies charge that much or more simply to lease the website.
BoomTown charges $1000-$1500/month in licensing fees. Sierra Interactive, Luxury Presence, and Real Estate Webmasters typically charge $300-$500/month. None of that goes towards improving your website. It’s just the cost of renting the very site you paid $5000-$50,000+ to build.
InboundREM doesn’t work that way. You own your site, which means every cent of your monthly payments goes directly into lead generation efforts. By choosing InboundREM, Erika Borunda essentially traded expensive licensing fees for an expert SEO Marketing Campaign that beats the vast majority of real estate websites in terms of retaining high-quality traffic.
I can’t estimate a current ROI at this point. Erika hasn’t agreed to track her conversion metrics like other clients have. But given the current success and Erika’s luxury San Diego market, I would not be surprised if she returned somewhere between a 25X and 100X ROI after 18 months.
If you’d like to read about clients that have 10X ROI or better, you can check out our cases studies on Bret Wallace and Dean Short. If you’d like to find out how we can turn you into our next success story, schedule a meeting below.
Asking My Competitors For Quotes
I know that other companies that build branded luxury websites can charge huge markups. But that might not always be clear to realtors.
So I reached out to my competitors that provide luxury websites and have decent or better SEO chops. I asked for quotes on a website that looked EXACTLY like Erika Borunda’s, including an SEO package that would actually perform. Here’s what they think a website just like that should cost if they built it.
The costs are based on 18-month contracts, which is the standard beginning contract length for us. However, some companies, like Real Estate Webmasters, require a minimum of 36-month contracts to start.
Luxury Presence: $48,500 (Without CRM)
They said they would charge $3500 for Setup, plus $2500/month for SEO and licensing fees, which equals $48,500 for 18 months of service. They do not offer an integrated CRM.
Real Estate Webmasters: $63,000
They offered a free setup, $1000/month for licensing, and $2500/month as the minimum to achieve great SEO performance. That equals $63,000 for 18 months of service. However, it’s a 3-year contract, so you would pay at least $126,000 in total.
BoomTown!: $48,850
They offered an $1150 Setup, $1150/Month for licensing, and a bare minimum of $1000/month for lead generation, which equals at least $39,850 for 18 months of service. The price above is based on $1500/month for lead generation, which is still a moderate amount.
InboundREM: $16,300
Erika’s contract price was actually less since she agreed to be the first BrandMaster client. $16,300 is the cost of Erika’s website build, plus our basic SEO package.
It’s important to note that 2022 has been a flood of new clients. Based on the pricing and results from this case study, you can see why. You can also see why our pricing plans won’t stay the same forever.
Schedule a meeting below. Ask me about the possibility of being grandfathered into our current pricing plans even if you decide to commit later. Worst case scenario, I’ll give you an insider’s look about the best options for your needs, even if they don’t involve my services.
Schedule a Meeting
Let’s chat about how an SEO-focused website that YOU OWN, Google Business Profile Campaigns, or Custom Email Campaigns can generate high-quality leads and exceptional long-term ROI. If my services aren’t the best move for you, I’ll gladly point you in the right direction
Breaking It Down
Keep in mind, I asked these companies to let me know how much monthly SEO investment I would need to see decent performance. They all quoted 2-4X what I charge. They don’t think it’s possible to move the needle with less.
In a way, I can understand the hesitation to promise SEO performance without a sizeable budget. I can’t guarantee that all my clients will have the same success as Erika. Of course, my competitors probably won’t promise the world either, even with their quadrupled SEO spend.
What I can promise is that straight from the gate, InboundREM has created a marriage between our SEO expertise and a luxury branded site that Google LOVES.
A Note About REW Contracts
I’d like to warn my readers about the rather sleazy sales tactics that Real Estate Webmasters tried on me.
They offered to “slash the $5000 setup fee” for a big promotion they were currently running. My understanding based on many reports online and privately is that the standard monthly licensing fee is $399. They quoted $1000/month to me.
It seems that the contract saves you $5000 upfront, but hooks you for an extra $21,600 over their minimum 3-year contract. Of course, you’ll pay an extra $21,600 every three years after that.
They also “generously” offered 135 hours of agency time for custom work and SEO. The catch was that those hours had to be used by the end of June. I wrote them at the end of April.
If we finalized a contract in mid-May, and they managed to build the website in a month (despite their overloaded work queue), I would have two short weeks to request additional work.
I think I’d be lucky to use even a small fraction of that 135-hour retainer. Any SEO work after June costs $200/hour.
Our Website Build
Here were a few of the goals my team had as we set out to create a highly-effective luxury branded lead generation website.
- Upscale appearance with each page matching the meticulous detail required in the highest echelons of the real estate market
- Be effective in RANKING the website in the search engines.
- Create a STICKY website that inspires visitors to STAY for long periods and revisit the website repeatedly.
- Create conversion possibilities without the client necessarily having to add content to the website like photos and images (though sites will ALWAYS perform much better with these client contributions)
Let’s go deeper. Here is the exact content and pages included in the website build. As you can see, we created A LOT of content for Erika. Typically a site build like this costs $5500 for our clients.
Standard Pages
- Homepage
- Landing Pages [4]
- Carlsbad Overview
- Carlsbad Beach Homes
- Carlsbad Condos
Zip Code Map [all Carlsbad zip codes]
- 92008
- 92013
- 92009
- 92018
- 92010
- 92024
- 92011
- 92056
Knowledge Center
- Schools
- Hospitals
- Restaraunts
- Local Service providers relevant to real estate
Listings/Properties + Communities/Neighborhoods
- Carlsbad
- Robertson Ranch (Master Planned Community)
- Casero (Master Planned)
- 53 Melrose (Master Planned)
- Arroyo Vista (Subdivision)
- Carlsbad Beach Villas (Master Planned)
- Laguna Rivers
- Sea Cliff (Master Planned)
- Seabright
- Carlsbad Village
- Bressi Ranch
- La Costa
- La Costa Oaks South
- Calavera Hi Village
- Rancho Carillo
- Aviara
- Contact
- About
- Blog
In addition to the pages above, we also include a suite of features like WordPress plugins, IDX, interactive search maps, Instagram posts integration, CRM, and more.
Our SEO Marketing Campaign
This case study is very special because I’m including the details of her monthly $600 SEO Marketing Campaign. Listed below are the month-by-month contents for her contract.
As you can see, Erika gets A LOT of bang for her buck. The plan includes high-quality backlinks, 20+ guest posts, social media promotion, long-form SEOptimized blog content, and more.
It represents a typical InboundREM marketing plan. How can I deliver so much quality content for such a moderate price? Well, that’s something of a secret. A horde of secrets really.
Because I’ve been in the real estate technology world for so long, I’ve learned quite a few ways to maximize the power of our efforts. I’ve also built a highly synchronized team that makes short work of complex tasks.
MONTH ONE
- Tier 2 Homepage Boost (4 high-level properties, 50+ Web 2.0s}
- 16 Guest Blog Posts (For website content pages)
- Social Media Promotion for ALL pages on the website and all active rain guest blog posts
MONTH TWO
- Tier 1 Local Directories Campaign (Website placement in 30 local directories)
MONTH THREE
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Active Rain Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
- 60-day review
MONTH FOUR
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
MONTH FIVE
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Guest Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH SIX
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
- 120-day review
MONTH SEVEN
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Guest Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH EIGHT
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
- 180-day review
MONTH NINE
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Active Rain Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH TEN
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
MONTH ELEVEN
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Guest Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH TWELVE
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
- 1-Year review
MONTH THIRTEEN
- Review campaign and do additional link-building as necessary
MONTH FOURTEEN
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Guest Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH FIFTEEN
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
MONTH SIXTEEN
- Tier 3 1000-word Blog Post (includes photo optimization)
- Tier 1 500-word Guest Post (Linking to Tier 3)
- Tier 1 Social Promotion to both Blog Post and Guest Post
- 10 Tier 1 Web 2.0s directed towards Blog Post
MONTH SEVENTEEN
- DA-20 500-word Guest Blog Post pointed at Previous Month’s Tier 3
- Tier 1 Backlink Boost to Guest Blog Post
MONTH EIGHTEEN
- Review campaign and do additional link-building as necessary
As we’ve mentioned, the site build cost was $5500 and the 18-month SEO marketing campaign cost $10,800, totaling $16,300. Because Erika Borunda was our first BrandMaster client, her contract pricing looked a little different.
Schedule a Meeting
Let’s chat about how an SEO-focused website that YOU OWN, Google Business Profile Campaigns, or Custom Email Campaigns can generate high-quality leads and exceptional long-term ROI. If my services aren’t the best move for you, I’ll gladly point you in the right direction
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